After the adventure race, the team went up to Island Pond for a recovery week. The beautiful surroundings made it a great place to setup shop for some low key water skiing, mountain biking and moose stalking. As it worked out, the last full day we were there was Independence Day, and the town put on a fireworks display to send us off.
The thing that hit me most from the trip was the level of community that I observed. As we drove around town and the surrounding area, honks and waves were exchanged with almost every passer-by. Neighbors would come by to share drinks and stories by the nightly bonfire with a hand wave or shout of invitation. A friend blindly offered his daughter’s outdoor playhouse for use on a parade float and even participated in the excruciating painful process of its relocation onto the trailer. When the movie rental shop (also a gas station and grocery) didn’t have the title we were looking for, a quick phone call was made and the movie was borrowed from a neighbor, but we could leave only after being given a tour of their gorgeous home.
The mix of full-time residents, summer cottage owners and weekend transplants has created something here that I truly admire. While it is clearly not an urban setting where you can walk to everything one needs (the nearest traffic signal is about a 45 minute drive away), I never got the stranded feeling I often get in much less rural settings. The local businesses might not be as efficient or well stocked as a Walmart, but if you have a question there is someone who knows the answer behind the counter. Even without traffic signals or stop signs, traffic yields to pedestrians crossing the street in town. This was all so different from all the neighborhoods I’ve lived in recently, and it just seemed so natural and sincere.
A special thanks to my hosts for the week. If it wasn’t clear already, I had a wonderful time.
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