Local loop through Vermont
Sun August 26, 2018
(~372 miles)

The weekend approached and Sunday was shaping up to be a decent opportunity to get out for a ride after a couple weeks off the bike for life reasons. I sketched out a route up to southern Vermont to pick up a couple bonuses for the Team Strange Melting Pot Grand Tour. With just a couple stops to make and the whole day to work with, I enjoyed a pleasant and familiar cruise up MA-122 through the middle of the state, enjoying the heavy farm smells and lush sights of late summer.

I picked up SR-2 in Orange MA and patiently moseyed westward with the traffic along Millers River. After Greenfield, I broke off the main road to enjoy familiar NER routing up to Colrain, where I joined Route 112 for a lively run north into Vermont. I picked up the iconic VT Route 100 in Jacksonville, and zipped north happily before arriving in the village of Jamaica to snap the bonus photo at the town limit sign.

I continued north on 100 for many more miles to Weston, for a planned lunch stop at the NER-recommended  Bryant House restaurant. I noticed a Help Wanted sign on my way in to the restaurant, which is located inside an older house-like building. There were plenty of folks lined up for the ice cream window around back, but the restaurant wasn’t that busy, and I found myself a seat at the bar. Where I proceeded to sit, unnoticed and unattended by the wait staff, who seemed to be scrambling around in a fairly disorganized fashion.

I tried several times to make eye contact with the woman who appeared to be waiting tables, to no avail. I observed no courtesy in her interactions with other patrons, and finally she glanced at me and asked if I needed a menu or was just drinking. I asked for a menu and got one a few minutes later, without so much as a smile or asking to see what I might want to drink.

I turned to the older man sitting next to me, who was getting ready to leave with his wife.

“I’m guessing that a quick lunch stop will be out of the question here, right?” indicating the staff with a nod of my head.

“Oh, the food came out pretty quick, once you order it,” he said. “The thing is getting their attention to get your order placed!”

I thanked him and sat for several more minutes, feeling completely ignored, and not at all welcome. I’d just wanted to get a quick lunch here before heading home. Finally, when the waitress went out to the front room to seat some folks who’d just arrived, I walked out. The menu looked good enough, but not sure I’ll want to return to receive that kind of service.

I’d have to find another eatery back along the way, but first I had one more stop to make in the small village of Peru VT on SR-11 up in the Green Mountains National Forest.

Feeling hungry, I continued back south on Route 100, when I spotted a likely place at the T-intersection back in Jamaica. A former gas station has been remodeled into a locally-sourced Vermont-hipster-style burger-n-shake place, with a young staff and minimalist decor. Meet Honeypie.

The menu selections were a bit different, and interesting, and not cheap. “The sLAMBer” sounded great, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a $14 burger (!) just then, so I settled for “the Spaniard” – a locally made chorizo sausage with onions and peppers. Plus a piece of honey pie (sprinkled with sea salt)!

No sides were included, so the meal was a bit pricey for the amount of food you get, but it was tasty and hit the spot. The pie was delicious. I’ll stop in again to try another selection and maybe a shake some time. The vegetarian options mean I can bring along my wife as well. I hope the place does well on this well-trodden biker route.

The ride home was uneventful – a nice jaunt down VT-30 to Brattleboro and then highway the rest of the way back – MA-2, I-190, I-290, MA-146.