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A Tale of Two Trips
By Deb Donovan A crowd of 16 cars, drivers, and navigators met amongst the mid-morning mist at the summit of Mount Wachusett on Saturday, October 5th, for the annual Wachusett Run. After a quick cup of coffee, maybe a donut (or two), and a brief driver's meeting, we were ready to roll. However, that was when Frank Caruccio discovered a significant puddle of oil under his beautiful '74 Berlina. It was clear that this wasn't going to be a quick fix. Rather than hold up the trip, Tom Letourneau, his grandson Cameron, and trip co-chairs Gene & Judy Durso volunteered to stay behind to help get Frank the necessary parts from Gene's garage in Leicester. And thus begins a Tale of Two Trips. Dan & Deb (the other co-hosts), in their 1988 Spider, led the remaining lucky 13 cars down the summit, out of the mist, and into the clear, crisp fall New England countryside. Views of Boston, sometimes visible from the mountainside and Route 31, wouldn't have been noticed, as the foliage was nearly peak and completely captivating all of the attention. The caravan proceeded through colonial Princeton, Holden, and Paxton centers, and out into the countryside littered with newly hayed fields getting ready for winter. Our morning route took us through Spencer, Oakham, and into picturesque New Braintree Center. We twisted our way through Hardwick, where we took a brief rest break. Refreshed, we travelled through the thickly wooded roads along the Quabbin. Interestingly, there is no visibility of the Quabbin from this side since all of the roads, which once led through the five towns taken for the reservoir, are gated and dead-end at the water. On a clear day, you can hike to the water's edge and clearly see the foundations of the homes taken nearly a hundred years ago. Back through Hardwick center past Lazy Mary's Pizzeria (which doubles as the US Post Office) and a few twists and turns later, we headed through New Braintree center again, but this time from a different direction. Blink, and it was gone. Then, suddenly, amidst fields, barns, horses, and sheep, there was a massive complex in the middle of nowhere. Who knew that the Massachusetts State Police Academy is in New Braintree? Off through the Brookfields (North, West, and just plain Brookfield) and we were finally at our lunch spot. Meanwhile, back atop the Mountain……..
Surprisingly, the two groups managed to meet almost simultaneously at the restaurant stop, Carmella's Kitchen in Brookfield. Carmella's is a small, local restaurant known for its homemade pasta and sauces. This small restaurant and our one waiter did an amazing job getting our groups watered and fed in short order. Dan surprised the group with a "post-trip gimmick rally" (his own invention). Everyone was asked to guess how many red barns we passed during our trip (Google was allowed). Some guessed zero (no, it was not a trick question). All but one of the guesses were 25 or under. And Tom Letourneau was disappointed to learn that his technically correct answer of "All of them" wasn't going to win the prize. The winner was Tom Freiberger with a guess of 64 (the correct answer was 59). When asked how he was so close, he shrugged and simply stated, "I'm from Vermont". Wachusett Run Participants
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(Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view, and then
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See the original event announcement
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