Woke up early and started my teleworking in the early AM. Ate breakfast (snacks) in the room and planned to work longer. However, some of my meetings were canceled, so I called one of the apartment complexes to move a scheduled viewings (earlier) to 0930. When this was successful, I went to Timberwood Commons and took a tour with one of the leasing agents. We walked around between buildings and the weather felt great! After we finished, I went back to my hotel to do some more teleworking. Finished up some calls at around noon and ate lunch (snacks) in the room. By that point the pull of the outdoors was overwhelming - so I closed up my computer and left the hotel. After almost a week of research on places to live, I decided it would be a good idea take a walk on a section of the AT (since it was close!). During more than two months of isolation due to COVID-19, I've been able to get a lot of interesting walks in near my house. But there is no substitute for a day on a real trail. And today was an awesome day get "get back out there." The sun was shining, it was dry and the temps were in the low 60s. I drove across the Connecticut River into White River Junction (VT) and took US-4 to Old River Road just north of town. This road paralleled the west bank of the White River all the way (part of it was gravel) to the western edge of the town of West Hartford. I had visited the place before (see JUL 2019) and quickly located the trailhead at the corner of Tigertown Road and Podunk Road. Decided not to carry any hiking gear, so this excursion should probably be classified as a "walk", rather than a hike. Starting at around 1230, I walked back (SOBO) towards the White River, crossing under I-89 and walking through West Hartford on VT-14. There were a lot of pretty farms and people out working in their yards. The river was calm and had a lot of cool stone/sand bars. The light breeze was filled with pleasant smells of grass and spring flowers. The first part of the section took me on paved roads and I passed several historic buildings. I even saw someone's home with a sign that indicated their location on the AT (1722 miles from Springer). Turned around at the bridge that crossed the river (Quechee - West Hartford Road) and backtracked to my car. The woods were beckoning, so I headed NOBO into the trees. This part of the section took me into a climb of about 500 feet. Even among the warmly lit pine groves, though, Vermont once again showed its true colors as "Vermud"... I didn't see any people on the trail all day but I spotted another hiker (with a backpack) who was walking on the gravel portion of Podunk Road when I came out of the woods at my turnaround point. I immediately headed back towards my car on the gravel (later paved) surface. All the way back, I was really digging the warm sun and pleasant scenery. Finished my walk at around 1345 after about three miles. Headed out of town to the north (on VT-14) until I was able to get on I-89 - then drove back to Lebanon. At the hotel, I did some more telework (between 1430 and 1630). I took another break to get some gas and supplies at the nearby Irving gas station (1655) and then did some more telework after that. Ate dinner (frozen meal) in my room and wrote up a recap of my househunting. Read and watched TV for the rest of the night. Went to bed at 2300. Very glad I was able to get out in such a great day in New England - I'm know I'm going to love living in the area! AT Today = 1.40 miles / Grand Total AT = 1558.56 miles
