Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Vermont, in Conclusion

My blogging about the Vermont trip would be remiss if I didn't mention a few of the very odd coincidences that happened while we were there.

First, as I mentioned, a friend of Keith's family retired last Spring and has been hiking the Appalachian trail. What I didn't mention is that he was very, very close to our location in Vermont. The Appalachian Trail is over 2,000 miles long, only 150 of which are in Vermont, and we ended up in Vermont at the same time as Jerry. How crazy is that? We almost met up for a day with his wife, Sue, who is supporting him as he nears the finish.

Unfortunately, we missed Sue. But we did get to see one of Keith's cousins from New York City. The night before we left for Vermont, Anna posted on her Facebook that she was heading to a wedding in Vermont that weekend. Keith sent her a message and called her to say that we, too, were heading to Vermont. Where might you be?

Anna was close enough that she made it work, stopping by our campsite for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. It was so fun to be sitting in the woods in Vermont, catching up on life. The last time we saw Anna, we were on a beach in Costa Rica after her brother's wedding. It makes me wonder: Where will be meet up next? (Say "London," Fate! Please?!?)

Finally, after the trip was over, I wanted to relive some of it. I went on to our library's website to reserve some Vermont-related books. In addition to a plethora of guidebooks, I saw a book called Vintage Vermont Villainies by John Stark Bellamy II. That's weird, I thought, Isn't John Stark Bellamy II a Cleveland author?

And he was! He wrote seven true-crime books about his original home, Cleveland, before moving to Vermont. Along with the change of scenery, he changed his focus and is now telling the world about true crime in his new home.

We drove 9+ hours away from home, to come across all of these connections to home. This is one of those ways in that it seems like the world is a small place, getting smaller every day. But in a good way.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey look! I got a shout-out! :) It is pretty funny that it worked out so well. And I'm SO glad I got to see you guys, even for a little bit. And for the record, London sounds pretty darn good to me. See you there!

xox
Cousin Anna

M. Lubbers said...

You did, indeed!:) We were so glad that you made the time to stop by.

I love thinking that I said "London" as a completely offhand remark. But maybe, a few years from now, we'll be sitting in a pub and marveling at how it all it all came together ....

Jonathan said...

Fantastic story. The world is getting much smaller, isn't it.

We missed a good friend of ours in California a few years ago by a day. I've never been let forget it.

M. Lubbers said...

Jonathan: In California? That's crazy! Maybe the time-change interfered with the synchronicity;)

And I even forgot to mention one; when we visited the Park McCullough House, our tour guide was originally from Cincinnati and a UD alum (where she met her husband).