Road trip no. 1, or Mini in the snow

Well I suppose we should've expected it -- snow in Vermont just before Easter that is. Susan and I left Dick and Dorothy's house about 9 a.m. Wednesday under cloudy and chilly skies with a hint of rain in the air. After our requisite stop at the Barnes & Noble in Ingleside just off the Mass Pike and on I-91, where we browsed and lingered before heading back north. We had generally smooth weather with a few showers. Of course this being Vermont that was about to change.

By the time we crossed the state line into southern Vermont we saw our first wet snow swirling around the little Mini. And by the time we reached Ludlow and the Green Mountains the roads had become coated with wet, icy slush amidst the driving wet snow, and north of town as the route 103 climbed the mountains traffic slowed to a crawl.

We saw no plow trucks anywhere but between Ludlow and the edge of Rutland we saw one car flipped off the road and a truck that had also lost control and run into a power line. Pretty nasty to be sure.

Lacking snow tires or chains the little Mini handled the snow just fine -- better than I did that's for sure -- and we were soon pulling into the city where the roads were, for the moment, just wet. But we soon started to hear reports that more snow predicted for later that night. And of course the predictions proved right.

Our original plan had been to stay with our friend Winnie Wednesday and Thursday nights but by the late afternoon Wednesday it was clear the weather had taken a very nasty turn. And since Winnie lives way up in the wild mountain fastness of Chittenden where the roads can frequently disappear for days on end beneath tons of snow we opted to spend the night in the city. So we got a room at a nearby Best Western (the old Hogge Penny from our Chittenden days).

And snow we got -- Winnie said the next day they received 14 inches up in Chittenden and Rutland probably got a half a foot or so. The snow continued as showers off and on throughout Thursday so we decided to just stay at the hotel through Friday morning.

The weather notwithstanding our 48 hours in Rutland went quickly: we cleaned out our safety deposit box, dropped the computer off with Billy D to have him do some preventive maintenance, we both paid a visit to the dentist, Susie visited the hospital and spent some time catching up with old friends there, and of course dropped by Mr. Twitters to see Becky and Joe.

We also too the opportunity to eat at two of our favorite places: Little Harry's on Wednesday evening where we met with Jack and Pat Facey, and caught up on lives in transition; and then on Thursday at Countryman's Pleasure with Winnie -- always the source of wonderful stories and lots of laughs. What a smile she keeps on her heart. The food was good, the company great and the weather cold and wintry. But it's Vermont after all.

Friday morning dawned clear, very cold with a blue sky and hints of overcast lingering among the mountains. We showered, dressed and checked out of the hotel and drove a couple of kilometers to Sugar n' Spice where we met our old friend Harris for breakfast. It was great catching up with him -- his life too is in flux as he moves toward realizing a lifelong dream of sailing and living in the Caribbean. A wonderful man and always an enjoyable companion to spend a little time sharing a few moments of life.

It was strange being back in Rutland. I'm not sure how exactly why. It seemed as if we were visiting a place we were only familiar with in a broadly general sense, a place we had traveled to often in the past but only in a casual way. Plenty of memories hovered around the edges of street names to be sure but we felt almost as if we had just been on an extended vacation here of a dozen years, just passing through.

And so we were.

Steve