Burlington, VT

At some point I think the government should declare certain cities to be failed cities, shut them down, and move everyone to Florida. Case in point: Flint, MI. And Buffalo, NY. It poured the whole time I was there, the downtown was completely dead (in all senses of the word), the roads were terrible, and in the morning I had to deal with the craziest, thickest fog I've ever seen. I couldn't read the road signs. I couldn't even make out the car in front of me. It didn't burn off until 30 miles out of Buffalo. They regularly get three feet of lake-effect snow in the winter, and the whole city smells like salami. And people LIVE there. Voluntarily. Why?

It was good to finally drive through upstate New York, even though doing it via the interstate is pretty boring. When I finally left the interstate to drive to the ferry across Lake Champlain, it was just like a postcard: farms, little towns, porches, old 1940s pickup trucks. The lake was beautiful, and Vermont was beautiful. Also full of farms, little towns, etc. Burlington was a cute town, and great fun in the summer. Wouldn't want to be there in the winter. I met up with an old friend and we walked around the downtown and shared fish tacos and Dark n' Stormies at a marina bar.

Today officially marks the next-to-last day of the road trip. I'll drive through New Hampshire and Maine to Boston, where I'll spend the night with another old friend, and then head to Virginia tomorrow.