Tuesday in the North East Kingdom

Yesterday Susan and I traveled to the NEK to meet people and talk to them to see how business was, and what they were concerned about. The first stop of the day was at the St.

Johnsbury senior center, where we stopped in to have lunch. It was a really nice place, and we were given a very warm reception as we talked to all of them about the challenges and problems they face from day to day.

After lunch we started around St Johnsbury talking to businesses and residents, and from Aquarealm to town clerk, we told them about the campaign, and they told us what was concerning them. We stopped at a little cafe in St Johnsbury for cold drinks, and once we were done we were back in the cars and off to Lyndonville.

In Lyndonville we met a great deal of the business community as we fought the heat (and common sense). It was well worth the trip however, as we met everybody from the pharmacists who had a little bit of everything in their store, to a woman who just bought a fabric store, and was starting to become successful because of all of the sales she made online.

After touring downtown we continued our quest for the perfect ice cream in Vermont at Carmans in Lyndon. Neither me or Susan was in the mood for a creemie, and we both went for cookie dough which was fantastic at 5pm. We saw a clock downtown display the temperature, it was still 93 degrees.

After Lyndon we traveled to East Burke to a house party that a friend of Susan's was hosting for her. Suzanne Masland was a very nice woman who had clearly been friends with Susan for a very long time. I had a burger Suzanne made (delicious), and helped set up. Soon other people started to show up.

The great thing about house parties is that they are so simple for me. Susan loves to talk to people, and she loves to make a connection and really get to the root of what people are thinking, and wants to know how she can help Vermonters. If you put her in a room full of people who are there to discuss exactly those issues with her, there is really nothing else that needs to be done.

I headed out probably a half hour before everybody else did, went for a swim above the waterfall in East Burke, and headed down to Bradford to visit my girlfriend. It was a long day, but a very successful one for Team Bartlett.

Andrew Desmarais.