FOR JUST a few days, but a fun few. We camped in Killington, Vermont.
Jenna and Jonny were headed north to meet with the engineer building a driveway at their vacation house site. Pam and I invited ourselves to go along.
Actually, I invited myself, and then I invited Pam. Because the kids are fun to camp with. But mostly because we’re at an age where I think we’re actually supposed to be obnoxious.
Jenna and Jonny got there Friday in their travel van, we drove up Saturday.
Jenna and Pam have a good time playing board games by lantern light…. Scrabble, Mad Libs, Taboo…
The road the house site’s on. Really just a trail through the trees but it’s on the books as a town road.
Small town, population 600. This is six miles outside of town. Around here it’s population almost nobody.
Except bears, they say. Though in eight days spread over three visits I’ve yet to see one.
The deed to the 5 acres bans construction within 200 feet of the property line shared with an 1,800-acre wildlife preserve. The deed calls it a “bear travel corridor,” which means… I don’t know what it means. Corridor? Maybe bears use it to get to water, to get from one seasonal food source to another, from fall feeding to where they den up for winter…
If they’re around, we’ll see them when the beechnuts and acorns start to drop.
A bear came through our campground in Killington after dark Saturday, though none of us saw it. We were playing board games at the picnic table, heard car horns honking two sites away. Then a horn blaring from the next site over.
Later on, horns again. Same horns. Then a state park ranger went by on an ATV. A minute later we heard her discouraging the visitor pyrotechnically.
It seemed like quite a lot of nighttime noise over an animal that doesn’t want to hurt anybody. It wants to grab a backpack that smells tasty and run. But I don’t know the facts of this particular bear. Maybe it sizes up the campground every night; has been fed through carelessness, or even on purpose, and is losing its natural fear of the naked ape.
In which case, it could become a hazard to said ape, so the ranger’s obliged to come out and fire the bear bangers and et cetera, et cetera.
The trail past the house site comes off a paved road and makes a loop into the woods for maybe three-quarters of a mile before it intersects again with the asphalt.
This was Sunday morning around 8…
Pam and I took a hike around the loop while Jenna and Jonny met with Doug the engineer.
After that, it was back to our camp in Killington…
Jenna and Pam camped in the van this weekend. Jonny set up his tent in the lean-to.
My camp around back. Got rained on fairly heavy Sunday night but stayed dry enough. I slept wonderfully.
Easy living around here. Jonny does all the cooking.
It’s not like I have time to cook. I’m busy running the entire Department of Lazing Around with no help whatsoever.
Laughing at… at…? At I don’t know what, all they do is laugh. It’s something one of the other girls texted or the granddaughters said or something on TikTok…
Yesterday it was back home to Little Rhody, where we have turkeys living in the wildflowers. The gone-by wildflowers. They’re gobbling down seeds to fatten up for the coming cold and dark.
Peeking out from under the tulip poplar.
Daughter #3 saw these fawns Sunday when she came over to the house to check on Zuzu the girl cat.
They belong to the one-eared doe. Third set of twins we’ve seen with her in the three years we’ve been seeing her.
We see them every day. They come up the bank behind our neighbor’s garage, cut across our front lawn and disappear into the woods.
Tony DePaul, September 7, 2021, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Loved the photos! Could almost picture the great family atmosphere around the camp…
Thanks, Vincent. Jonny and I were back up there last Friday to cut a trail across the property, like the one I had cut around the perimeter. We cut this new trail 200-feet west of the back property line, parallel to it.
That marks the boundary of the no-build zone. It’s stipulated in the deed: no construction within 200 feet of the adjacent wildlife preserve.
BTW, we just found out the preserve is a lot bigger than we thought. Jonny and Jenna had been told 1,800 acres. It’s more like 7,800.
That is a great and happy update. I am looking for such a paradise but hopefully closer to D1 in Colorado. We just got home from a trip across the northern border to drag home a 1950 Mercury M68 pickup. After the 5 motorcycles in the queue to be repaired, it will be a major project. Not running but turns.
Nice! The Mercury trucks weren’t sold in the States, were they? Canada only, I think. When you see the old ones advertised for sale, that’s mostly where they are. I don’t know much about them. The M68 looks to be heavy duty, maybe the equivalent of the Ford F3.
Thanks for the news, Roger.
Correct, built in Windsor I believe. Ford did not have many dealers in Canada and had just purchased Mercury so they rebadged the Ford using the previous generation of Ford molds. The grille on mine looks just like yours. Yes, it is a 1 ton truck and does have a dump bed which will make it fun. Lots of work to get it road worthy even if it will only go 45 MPH…
Very cool. If you want to, Roger, send me a photo or three I can run on the next installment of the Nickels.
I really liked the photos, particularly the mountains under the clouds. Effortless art on your part, and the trails, with and without your spouse.
Great outing!
Thanks, Robert. My son-in-law and I are headed back up Friday to blaze one more line through the woods. The driveway the site engineer proposed seems to run awfully close to a no-build zone on the property. Can’t build within 200 feet of the back property line. That’s the line shared with the adjacent wildlife preserve.
So… we know the compass bearing on the back line, just need to come down 200 feet and blaze a parallel line at the same heading.
Your tent looked, what…ship shape. Years of practice. Wonderful words, Tony. Say hello to Pam. Lovely outing this was. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Alix. I keep thinking I had better invest in a bigger tent before I wrench my aging back getting in & out of the little one. The little one travels nicely on a motorcycle, though. A roomier tent would add bulk and maybe an additional 13 pounds.
We have to catch up! I’ve been wondering if your move to Portland went off as planned
Sounds like fun for everyone. Love the turkeys and fawns. And think what a great place for you to visit next summer on those 90-degree-plus days.
I’d like to do some winter camping there in a few months. We’ve been told the area has sort of its own winter micro-climate, gets much more snow than the center of town just 6 miles away. All 6 miles are uphill, could definitely make a difference.
Hello Tony,
Camping in the woods, tenting, watching out for bears; it all sounds fun!
Will
Like the MABDR! I’ll have to call you one of these evenings soon to hear your MABDR story, Will.
Great reading and pix to boot.
Mmm. Bacon.
Bears may like bacon.
Matt
Adel, IA
Haha! Bacon on a smore, sure to bring ’em in.
Funny, in a campground I always wonder whether the people there before me cooked bacon in a pan, had a cup of grease to get rid of, did they throw it in the bushes, pour it in the fire ash…? But you’re right, Matt, you can grill bacon over coals and months later a bear will be interested in licking the grill.
Good to hear from you, Matt. Ride safe.
“dept of lazing around” was INDEED a good line, but that bacon over the fire photo, that’s IT man. bacon porn. thanks for the writing and the bacon porn.
I almost think we had bacon at every meal except one… and that one had fake bacon.
Obi-Wan Noximus Maximus… Do you feel the farce?
Haha!… may the farce be with you.
“I’m busy running the entire Department of Lazing Around without any help whatsoever “. My favorite line.
Years of experience have prepared me to shoulder responsibilities more awesome than most people can imagine.
My favorite, too.
This weekend was a little bit of Petticoat Junction, with me as Edgar Buchanan.
Make that three…
That looked fun. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for reading, Brad.
I wish I had big travels to scribble about. The little ones are fun, though. The stuff of everyday living. It’s all gravy!
Every day I try to remember not to forget that.