Wed., 9 Oct/13

Set the bedroom TV to wake us at 8 am. We had breakfast in the RV. We also made a picnic lunch. We are not being frugal. We just want to enjoy the fresh air and scenery. The temperature was warm enough to travel "top off".  Love the fresh smell - often accented by the odour of wood smoke from nearby chimneys.

Our mission for today was to take the slow back roads to enjoy the riot of fall colours. The Interstate offers sweeping vistas of colour; however, the back roads have virtually no road allowance, allowing the tree branches to hover over the road. Part of our first section was on an almost one-lane dirt road at 30 mph as it wound from farm to farm. It's so neat when leaves flutter into the car from the branches above.

We eventually got on VT-14 southbound and passed through the Royaltons. Like Alburg(h) and Randolph, there are several Royaltons (N, S, etc.). Often given as Sharon, VT, the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial Visitor Center is technically in South Randolph.

Even if you are not a Mormon - this is a beautiful and peaceful place. Also, if you enjoy history, it is well worth a visit.

Thanks to the light traffic we continued along the slow roads at speeds less than those posted allowing us to enjoy this beautiful fall weather and scenery. Eventually we reached the King Arthur Flour Bakery, Café, Kitchen, and Shop in Norwich, VT on US-5 South.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop

We make a point of stopping here when in the area. They have quiet a following who only use their flour. There are many boxed items as well. We usually get the cheddar bread mix and other offerings.

There are picnic tables outside to enjoy the bread, desserts or coffee, etc. offered by their excellent on-site bakery. We both decided on the pecan-cinnamon rolls for dessert and headed for the picnic tables.

We enjoyed a relax lunch the prepared to continue our explorations.

Returning to the car I found a near-perfect maple leaf. It's a keeper.

Soon we were on the road again heading to another regular stop - Quechee Gorge Village.

We had our picnic; otherwise, we would have probably eaten at the Farmer's Diner here.

As usual we found a few things we didn't know we needed or wanted including a piece of Danforth Pewter made here in Vermont.

We "snacked" our way through the main store which features samples of Cabot cheeses and spreads. This always works with - we did buy some of what we sampled.

Our next destination was Sam's Club in Concord, NH. I wanted to stop in to renew my membership. We took I-89 there and back. On the return we connected to US-202 then SR-9 to Keene, NH. We continued on SR-9 back into Vermont where we headed north on US-5.

Here we made another usual stop at Basketville in Putney, VT.

I found a neat metal sign to add to my Route 66 wall.

Now that it was almost dark we decided to return a mile back on US-5 then take I-89 at Exit 4 and return to the RV.

We decided to finish our picnic sandwiches for supper - then watched TV in bed until we fell asleep (TV was on timer - were zonked out before it turned off - must have been all that fresh air.)