Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?

Subject: RE: Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?
From: MickyMan
Date: 31 Jul 04 - 06:50 AM

I'm back on the trail tomorrow morning and should hit Middlebury in a few days. Still looking for ANY ideas which people might have. If you've ever been to Middlebury AT ALL then you know more than me and I'd appreciate any ideas. As I wrote earlier, I'm looking for busking places and also for some good lodging.   MickyMan

Subject: RE: Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?
From: MickyMan
Date: 30 Jul 04 - 06:45 PM

Still looking for ANY ideas which people might have. If you've ever been to Middlebury AT ALL then you know more than me and I'd appreciate any ideas. As I wrote earlier, I'm looking for busking places and also for some good lodging.   MickyMan

Subject: RE: Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?
From: MickyMan
Date: 30 Jul 04 - 02:15 PM

Hello again Mudcatters,
   Just a little background on my hike. I've finished 100 miles of my 280 mile journey which I started on July 16th. It takes a while to do this... I'm allowing 30 days (about 10 miles a day average). So I've got a while to go.
   But get this!!! I'm home in Colchester CT right now because I fell and hurt myself on a shopping trip in Rutland Vermont. There is a wonderful country inn at about the 100 mile mark so my wife came up to stay overnight with me and help me resupply for the next leg of the hike. We were shopping in Rutland and I tripped on a curb, slamming down on to the sidewalk. I broke my fall by putting my hands forward and badly sprained the palm area at the base of my thumbs. I thought they'd quickly heal but it turns out I need a
few days before I start using my trekking poles again.
So I can attest to the fact that SHOPPING WITH YOUR WIFE IS MUCH MORE DANGEROUS THAN HIKING OVER MOUNTAINS IN THE ROCKY WILDERNESS.
My wife brought me home so I'm now puttering around the house and watching the convention (Kerry-Edwards RULE!!). The plan is to be back on the trail by 9:00 Sunday morning. This extends my 30 day timetable for a few days but we didn't want to take any chances.
The actual hiking itself is lots and lots of fun in a perverse sort of way. It's like I'm back in the days of my youth playing in the woods. I walk alone all day in the beautiful wild woods with a 35 lb. pack on my back until I'm dog tired. Then I camp in crude filthy
shelters with other similarly sweaty misfits. The overwhelming feeling is one of complete exhaustion and wonder at the difficulty and beauty of it all. My body is getting into great shape and I'm meeting all kinds of interesting people.
   The first hundred miles of this trail are shared with the Applachian Trail and so I've been camping with people who have been on that trail since March. They've covered about 1600 miles of their 2100 mile walk. I call it the "University Of Backpacking" because they have taught me all kinds of camping, hiking, and cooking skills. This is my first long walk and so assistance is both needed and appreciated.
The culture of it all is wonderfully odd. Everybody has trail names conjured up from some incident or accident or philisophical bent. Here are the names that immediately come to mind
from over the last week or so... Stumblebum, Flippy, Maine Dish, Oxy-Moron, Trunks (fat legs like tree trunks), Bonfire, Night Rain, Wiz Kid, Four Winds, Overkill, Outhouse Repairman,Pony Express, Hiker Gnome. You get the picture (A lot like Mudcat, isn't it?).    My name has become "Strummystick" because I'm carrying
and playing a tiny 1 lb backpacking guitar-dulcimer kind of thing. One pound of luxury weight is certainly reason enough on the trail for the quick dedication of a trail name.
   I'm a settled middle-aged guy with enough income to pay for this trip and so my plan is to busk along the way and give the $$$ to some of the hikers who are short on funds. Forgive my vanity, but I just want to see what I can get on the street by playing in my hiking clothes with my gear next to me, claiming poverty.

MickyMan

( Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you Midchuck...I'm hiking South to North)

Subject: RE: Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?
From: Midchuck
Date: 30 Jul 04 - 12:10 PM

Should have posted a little sooner. I'm about 15 miles - west on US 4, north on 7 - from the Sherburne Pass crossing on Rt. 4. You could have come down and bummed a meal and a shower. Or are you going north to south?

Peter.

Subject: RE: Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?
From: GUEST,Hugh Jampton
Date: 30 Jul 04 - 11:44 AM

Hey, you, move on!

Subject: RE: Middlebury VT - Any good busking places?
From: MickyMan
Date: 30 Jul 04 - 09:11 AM

Times of day when there is walking traffic .... etc would also be appreciated.

Subject: Middlebury VT - Any good busking spots?
From: MickyMan
Date: 30 Jul 04 - 08:43 AM

I'm hiking End To End on the Vermont Long Trail and I'm approaching Middlebury, VT. Does anybody know where the best place would be to set up outside a group of stores or whatever so that I hit the tourists and students for some donated cash. I'm carrying a one pound MacNally Strum Stick and I know a pretty good bunch of songs now using those weird dulcimer chords.
    Any ideas would be appreciated since I don't know the area at all. Ideas for cheap lodging and good cheap food would also be helpful. So far I've done 100 miles of the 280 mile trail and I can certainly say that Vermont is a beautiful place. The land of Gillette & Mangson, Pete Sutherland, The MacCarthur Family ... etc. is certainly bringing the music out in me.
          Oh...my aching back, MickyMan   (Trailname - Strummystick)