Chad didn’t sleep. It was hot. He was sweaty. But he woke up in good spirits and ready to ride. After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and bread with peanut butter, we set out on the Burlington Island Line Trail. It is used by commuters and people out for exercise and makes it really easy to get to the downtown area. There is an entrance to the trail a few campsites down from ours. If you go left, you head into the city for 4 miles. If you go right, you head out to the causeway on Lake Champlain for 9 miles.
We started by going into the city and around the marina (dodging kindergarten kids at summer camp at various spots along the way) and then turned around to head towards the other end. The highlight was the Colchester causeway. For about 3 miles, you ride on a narrow man-made passageway into the middle of the lake. At the end, you can take a ferry to the next island to continue on a 40-mile loop of the islands. The weather was perfect and the lake looked spectacular.
We decided to head back toward town and grab a quick lunch of hotdogs and chips before showering and running errands. Our main goal of the evening was to find a more efficient way of eating (and eating well) while on the road. We’ve found that we are still in the bikepacking/bicycle touring mentality in that we are thinking about weight instead of comfort while at our campsite (and we’re tired of eating out). We got a cooler that will be able to hold more food as we head into Maine. Our secondary goal was to get Chelsea some hiking sandals. After browsing at a couple of stores on the walking street in town, Chelsea found the exact pair she was looking for. Surprisingly, Chad, who is a picky picky shopper, found a pair he liked as well.
We spent the evening making dinner on the fire, chatting with our neighbors, and enjoying being outside. One of the things we like about camping is that the people around us are often from places across the U.S. At this campground, being close to Canada, we also got to hear lots of French spoken throughout the camp.
