There’s a stretch of highway in Vermont, just after you cross the bridge from New York that spans the southern point of Lake Champlain, where you can simultaneously view the Green Mountains, to the east, and the Adirondacks, to the west.

Yesterday evening, as the sun was setting, we did just that. As we made our way north toward Burlington, the last of the light lingered long enough to paint the Vermont side with even more vibrant color, to lace the silhouetted New Work profile with strands of gold, and to cause the lake between the states to shine like liquid mercury.

But it was getting late, and setting up a tripod would have taken too long. Besides, it was the kind of day where the driving revealed view after view after marvelous view, and to stop would have broken the rhythm of the experience. What we had been doing all day was really, in the classic nomenclature of vacationing, “motoring” in the very best sense of the word. So I didn’t take the photograph.

THE DAY: Rebekah and I had awoken in Waterford to a refreshing 64-degrees, and then spent almost the entire day cruising the Adirondack Mountain National Park. We motored deliberately and joyfully, punctuating the drive with lunch at Saranac Lake, a brief tour of John Brown’s grave site and farm (from what we can tell he’s pretty much done with the “mouldering”), and a cool hike through the truly spectacular Ausable Chasm.

John Brown, for those of you who have forgotten, was the man who added violence to his religious zeal and decided he was right enough to kill people whom he disagreed with. Along with his sons, Brown became involved in the terrorism that plagued Kansas in the mid 1850’s.  Then in 1859 he seized the federal armory in Harpers Ferry with the intention of sparking an insurrection against slavery, a move that led to his arrest, his  execution, and the famous song, “John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave… his soul is marching on…”).

John Brown’s story reminds me of the critically important difference between faith and fanaticism, and between blind religion and living according to the Gospel of Love.

As per usual, these travels Rebekah and I take together are seldom restricted to simply looking at the scenery. Stay tuned for more, as we spend a day in Vermont on our way to Connecticut – DEREK