COLCHESTER, VT.  Today we saw clear skies and sunshine for the first time since we entered the state of New York five days ago.  It was a joy to drive through the last of New York and into Vermont, with mountains in the distance and rolling farmlands and trees whose leaves had started to turn for autumn.  Pumpkins for sale along the way and a very upbeat appearance in neatly kept towns and homes.

Mountains in View in Vermont

Rolling Hills and Farmlands

Harvested Hay Bales

 We could not see Lake Champlain to the west of our route, surrounded by thick forests.  As we drew closer to our destination, we drove through Shelburne, a beautiful little town.  Then into Burlington, a larger town but equally beautiful.  These are some of the nicest towns I have seen in upper New England.

We reached our destination, Colchester, just north of Burlington.  I had been expecting Colchester, the smaller town, to be a relief after passing through one more larger old northern city like Burlington.  What a pleasant surprise!  The whole area is wonderful, and the smaller Colchester is where the Costco is located.  Needless to say we wasted no time in getting over there for some much-needed shopping.  They were stocking up for winter, putting out space heaters and winter clothing over many tables.  Great prices as usual.

After this I drove Betty over to a nail salon for a pedicure, then I drove into Burlington to a Verison store to get my Verison jetpack to work.  It quit three days ago, so getting wifi became very difficult.  Turns out the SIM card got loose somehow.  The Verison man opened up the unit and tightened it back up.  Problem solved.  I used the remaining time to drive to the south of Lake Champlain to shoot a couple photos before picking Betty up from the salon.

View Northwest Toward Lake Champlain

Back at the RV park, one Tiffin motorhome after another was pulling in, since many who will be attending the rally next week in Essex Junction had the same idea we had to stay at this park prior to  the rally.  Monday morning there will be a mass migration out of here headed for the rally.  Oct 1-4 are the dates of the rally.  Our greatest anticipation for the rally is getting our hydraulic system fixed, along with the front AC unit that went out when we were in Coeur d'Alene.  And our cable TV network has never worked, so getting that fixed will be our third mechanical relief of the visit.  Many other things are also planned by the Tiffin rally managers.