The locals like to talk about challenging VT roads but the talk of rt 108 in Smuglers notch is no joke. Vermont has two sets of mountains the familiar Green and the more stately White Mountains. As I prepare for my return home to NYC I embarked on a mini adventure.
The road through Smuglers Noth is breathtaking but nervous and unskilled drivers should go elsewhere. The last time I did make it to the top but the roads are even worse on the other sise narrow and windy and your safest bet is to stay as far to the right without smashing into rocks. This is all predicated on the driver going the otherway having similar skill.
I went from Stowe North in search of 105 back home. Well I never found 105 but I did find Eden and the section between Eden and Montgomery is Moose Alley. I finally saw one in the disance in the swamp with my binoculars. It was much more angular then I thought. The mosquitoes were brutal and if you can stay in the car.
On the way home I found Belvedere Corners then Bakersfield and a amazing site on Route 36. Sunset on a clear night overlooking Lake Champlain and the NY Islands is breath quite a view. However it is on a hill that is fairly steep.
I look foward to returning home but I wish the circumstances were better.
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9 comments:
bakersfield? i didn't know you had to go through california to get to new york from vermont!
Beak:
I saddened me to hear of your situation. But having spent years with the government I can understand how you are feeling.
I cannot help but feel G*D has a door open for you that will be so much better. Do not lose faith.
It is good to know you got to live a dream. You are right so many people never have.
With all your knowlege and skills I am sure that you will land in high cotton.
Ummm would you consider running against a certain Senator in NY. You will have my support if you do :)
I hope you had a good adventure despite the mosquitoes.
Nanc
There is a tiny hamlet named Bakerfield on the end of Route 36.
It takes one directly to Smuglers Notch. God Bless my friend Neil who drives this in Winter.
Justin
Thank You for your kind words. I want to stress I did nothing wrong but am part of a layoff of 1200 workers. The kick in the groin is that the government is advertising for the same exact jobs and will spend ten thousand dollars on paperwork and security checks on each applicant.
Some of these people have been doing the job for eight years. A normal employer would give a person an extra ten points for having done the job. We get no extra points and have to sit for a test with a 2/3 failure rate. The odds of even getting selected for such a test are very low.
I have a dear friend Suzy who is the epitome of what this job calls for. She never qualified to take the test but has done the job for three years. She went to NYC and NO
for the government and is swept away. My mentor Steve has a masters degree from an elite University and did not qualify to take the test. Some people who were less skilled qualified to take the test twice.
Moreover the actual test has zero relevance to what we do each and every day.
Relevence and government in the same sentence? Are you running a fever? I'm with Justin, you are a person with qualifications and G*D has a door HE will open in good time!
I remember when we drove into CA. in '91, driving into Watsonville fron 5. No guardrails coming down the mountains! My late quipped that that was how Californians practiced population control! Driving from Santa Cruz to San Jose was just as treacherous, we had black ice in one spot because a spring insisted that the road was it's proper course! Until they put in barriers between the lanes, there was a fatality in the morning and another for the evening commute! My late went only as far as Scott's Valley, but I always prayed during his commute!
Beauty can be dangerous!
Good morning and G*D bless!
tmw
Beak:
I fully understand and I know that it was not anything you did wrong.
I found out long ago when things like this happened it came down to office politics somewhere in Washington. Some new boy comes in and comes up with something called cost savings. And the government being the ignorant beast it is say oh wow, well you just go right out there and implement that and we can tell people "see we are really saving money".
I watched this happen several times in the DOL. A lot of good people were laid off and oddly enough they kept the least qualified and posted new positions and wound up hiring newly unqualified to do the job.
To some what I am about to say may seem out of place at this moment but, try to enjoy this respit and reflect on the good that came out of what you did. There is a door that will open for you just listen to your heart.
G*D bless and you are in my prayers always.
Thanks Justin
The reality is that it will be impossible for me to return as there is a plethora of GS-11 and GS-12 allready unemployed. Then there are lawyers who rate a GS12 and masters degree types who rate a GS-11.
It was a great time but I will never get a chance to take the test
again. Even if I do 2/3 of people doing the job fail that test.
The final chapters of my story will not be composed at DHS.
of course, i knew that, beak! we have a sonora right up the road.
Beak:
Nothing is impossible remember that. The impossible just takes a little longer. I have faith in you and you will win out.
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