Danby, VT (USA)

I'd heard from one of my relatives (Elizabeth H.) that she was visiting her summer home in Danby, VT and I made plans to visit her.  She has been so nice over the years, assisting me with my AT hiking by letting me stay at her place whenever I was in Vermont.  Today, I worked a shorter day than normal and, at 1400, departed Hanover (via I-89).  I drove across the Connecticut River and then used I-91 to reach the Ascutney area.  I then got on VT-131, which I used to reach VT-103.  Along the way, I listened to audiobooks.  As I passed through Ludlow (flooded during the Summer), I was forced to stop in a few places because of HUGE road washouts.  At one spot, the entire road seemed to have fallen into the river!  In each case, there were delays while a single line of cars tried to skirt the area.  Eventually, I ended up on VT-140 and used that (and some back roads) to get to Weatherford.  On the way, I saw lots of pretty foliage.  Once I was on US-7, it was a short distance to Danby.  I arrived at Elizabeth's by 1530 and spent more than three hours visiting with her.  We also had a nice dinner (she always finds good meats, cheeses and side dishes!).  At 1900, I said goodbye to her and drove north on US-7, all the way to Rutland (listened to more audiobooks).  Because of the darkness and because the roads I'd used earlier in the daytime were closed for the night for additional construction, I got on US-4 and used it to drive east towards Hanover.  Surprisingly, I didn't encounter any traffic on the way back to my condo.  However, there was a LOT of construction and major slow-downs for dirt/gravel, etc. to the west of Woodstock.  After that section of road, though, I made good time to my home (arrived at around 2045).  Glad I could visit with Elizabeth again!