66 miles from Ticonderoga, NY to Bethel, VT. The forecast for today was for possible late afternoon showers, but we awoke at 6:00 to light rain with no real end in sight, per the Weather Channel. Overnight low of 50 meant the early riding was slightly less than ideal; the good news was that we were at least able to get all our raingear on prior to leaving the motel room.

Caught the 8:00 ferry across Lake Champlain to Vermont. A ferry (not the one we rode) has been operating at this location since the mid-1700's! Arrived in Middlebury around 10:00 and got some lodging suggestions for down the road, then hit the library for a weather forecast, and had lunch while things dried up a bit. Learned later that Middlebury College has the most expensive or 2nd most expensive college in the U.S. - nice little town and campus.

We finally set off for Middlebury Gap, a climb of 1,500 feet, around 1:00 and found the early going a little rough: 12% grade for about half a mile. Luckily, the road leveled out and we had more reasonable climbing until the final mile of 12% again. At the top, we met 4 hikers on Vermont's Long Trail, a 290-mile long hiking trail that traverses the length of the state. They were recent college grads who were looking for jobs in Boston and decided to take some time off, hike the trail, and hope for better karma. We had a really nice chat with them and wished them well in their quest for gainful employment.

Tonight we stayed at the Greenhurst Inn, our first B&B of the trip, and enjoyed our visit with Diane, the hostess. She even let us borrow her car for the short drive to dinner at a local brewpub where we had a nice dinner and a great local IPA. No, Eric, it wasn't quite up to Town Hall's standard bearer!

More rain in the forecast for tomorrow and Friday so we're not sure how far we'll get tomorrow. Priuses - 11: a new record!