I decided to pass on the weekend gathering but rather visit him midweek to help scout locations on Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I departed on my 5-1/2 hour drive to Woodstock, Vermont. Clouds and light rain followed me all the way on the New York State Thruway and into the Green Mountain state.
A red barn and the first colors of fall under slate-colored skies caused me to pull over and break out my cameras for the first photos of the day near Manchester. Continuing a little farther north on Route 7, the skies began to lighten and a faint rainbow appeared ahead, which I interpreted as a harbinger of good things to come.
I arrived in Woodstock around 5 pm and Loren suggested that we immediately jump into his Jeep in hopes of getting a sunset on the peak foliage of central Vermont. As we drove up a country road in nearby Pomfret the sun broke through under the clouds and illuminated Sleepy Hollow Farm to perfection! The brief illumination lasted only 10 minutes, however our drive back down the mountain through Barnard allowed for window shooting of colorful vistas, farms and livestock.
After a quick bowl of multi-grain Cheerios we were out the door at 6 AM on Thursday with plans to be attendance at the ritual sunrise gathering at
Jenne Farm in nearby Reading. As we turned onto Jenne Road we encountered about a dozen cars and the expected line-up of photographers, all vying for the best spot on the road and adjacent field. It wasn't the classic Jenne Farm vista we were after, but rather a shot of this strange phenomenon.
The weather forecast of a wonderful sunrise never materialized and the disgruntled mob reluctantly departed without their shot.
Loren and I continued on our sojourn throughout central and northern Vermont, which included visiting as many covered bridges as possible for a personal project of Loren's. I suggested that we revisit some classic locations like Waits River and East Orange, places I often frequented in the 1970s. We continued northwesterly towards the Green Mountains where I got my geology "fix" and reveled at climbing through the awesome Precambrian-aged boulders found at Smugglers' Notch.
The weatherman lied! Gray clouds blanketed Vermont for the entire day. Accepting that no sunset was in our future, we decided to chase something more elusive than sunlit foliage... a moose! From Smugglers Notch we continued northward to within about 15 miles from the Canadian border to an area where Loren had previously seen (but didn't photograph) a moose.
In Loren's 4-wheel drive Jeep, we drove through the barely passable roads traversing the wetlands near Belvidere in search of a moose. Moose Crossing signs were everywhere but no moose were to be found. Two moose tracks were the only things we saw.
After a few hours of searching, our patience was finally rewarded...not with a moose sighting, but rather a 1-minute brilliant illumination of the wetlands which generated some of the best shots of the day.
Friday morning offered more the of same dreary weather, so I departed early taking the back roads home where I finally got my moose photo ...in downtown Bennington!
As the title implies, there are far more to appreciate and love about New Jersey than the negative press often implies. 
Thank you
