Montpelier to Henry

25 June 09 - Duff is doing fine! The delay for this blog is me-lost the paper with his password. So, to bring you up to date, I'm backtracking to the 25th. Duff & Max were ready to go by 8 a.m. in Montpelier. He didn't get on the road until almost 9 a.m. because he was waiting for the News Examiner (local paper) reporter to arrive. The weather was comfortable, sunny, and they took off without any problems..., that is, until the first hill appeared. He walked the uphill parts to Soda Springs, and every other hill that suddenly was a lot steeper than he remembered. Mosquitoes were out in force; even, Max was biting at them. Duff applied Bull Frog repellent on both of them to help with the mosquito attacks. Duff finally pulled into his Henry campsite at 5 p.m. with just enough time to pitch a tent, shower, and get something to eat. He was exhausted, because he'd just walked a quarter of the 50 miles. He arrived in camp just after the small cafe closed, and resorted to eating his dehydrated foods. Duff asked the owner of the campsite if he could buy a couple bottles of beer; since the owner didn't have a liquor license; there was none to sell. Word traveled quickly through the RV park, and soon, a fellow camper brought Duff a camp chair and 4 bottles of beer. A storm was approaching, and Duff was ready to sleep, so he and Max climbed into the tent, and the storm hit; strong winds, torrential downpours, and thunder & lightning persisted throughout much of the night. The tent held, so they did stay dry, but Max was restless, since he'd never experienced a storm like this. In the morning, with a lull in the storm, Duff prepared to depart about 8 a.m. Then another burst of rain and wind started. It was much too strong to ride, so Duff & Max hunkered down in the camp latrine until about 11 a.m. Much to his dismay, everything was soaked. He dried out Max's blanket so at least he'd start out on something dry, but the day looked like it promised more rain.