Meet "Joe the Plumber"!

As the leaves fall it looks like a carpet of gold and brown on the green grass.

The Old Round Church in Richmond has 16 sides, and was built in 1812.

Keagan Harsha of WCAX-TV interviews a "Joe the Plumber" impersonator!

You are never too old to play in the colorful leaves.

How could it be Friday already? Time flies when you are having fun.


The weather this morning was cloudy with peeks of sunshine when we got up. By 10:15 we had driven by a bank sign that reported the temperature at 47 degrees, but thankfully there was no wind. We headed south in the state for our drive today, hoping to find more brilliant foliage.

In the northern part of the state near Stowe where we are staying, the fall foliage is spotty at best. However, on our drive today we discovered that the colorful foliage was better on the west side of the Green Mountains. It was still considered “peek” in that area. And, by the time we stopped for lunch the skies had become deep blue and great for photos.


We must be getting a bit brain-weary. At lunch Olen handed the waitress his room key (It is the same size as a credit card!) to pay for our lunch. As you might guess, she came back to our table and insisted on a “real” credit card.


We stopped several times today for interesting views and photos. One stop was to see an old round church building, another stop was to see a huge pumpkin (over 500 pounds?) in the back of a pickup truck. (It doesn’t take much to entertain us!) Another stop was at Moss Glen Falls, and still another at a turnoff from Middlebury Gap road to see something called Texas Falls.



When we arrived at Texas Falls we discovered that the hiking trail was closed and the road to the picnic area washed out. After we read the information posted on the board we learned that they had a major flood in the area August 6, and it would be years before all the damage to the hiking trails in the area will be completely repaired.


As we started to drive out of the parking lot, a TV crew drove up to do a story on how much of the damage had not yet been repaired. They were from WCAX-TV in Burlington, and we later learned that the reporter was a young man named Keagan Harsha, and his videographer, Robin. On a whim, Olen rolled down his car window, stopped the reporter and yelled, “I’m Joe the Plumber, if you want to ask me anything.”


The young man looked a bit puzzled. “Are you serious?” he asked?


We laughed. “No!” Olen told him. “We were just teasing.”


The nice young man smiled back at Olen. “You never know. I have already interviewed two plumbers named Joe this morning.” We all laughed again.


I absolutely HAD to have a photo of this for my blog! He looked like he was a fun-loving type, so I decided to push him a bit.


“I’m going to ask a strange favor. I do a travel blog, and I would love to have a photo of you with my husband to accompany my write-up for today. Would you please pose with him?”


He smiled. “Sure. Let me get my mike so it will look real!”


I hope you all appreciate the accompanying photo. While he had has gear out, he actually interviewed Olen about our travel in the state. We watched Keagan’s report on TV tonight, but he did not include Olen’s interview, so no real claim to fame. However, he was a great sport.

I wonder how many other “Joe the Plumbers” he will interview tomorrow??


On the serious side, this afternoon we learned of the health problems of our friend Benjie. He is in our thoughts and prayers as he is in the hospital undergoing testing and surgery.