THE GOAT FROM HELL

[pwt54]

I mentioned the “Goat from Hell” in 2 of my posts. Andy asked not to leave you folks hanging on for an explanation. He’s right. In order to understand this story you have to know something about West Haven, VT. West Haven is a unique place in VT. It’s the only place in VT that you can see the sun rise in New York. Looking at a map of VT you can see why. It is a peninsula surround by the vast wasteland of New York. It is the only place in VT that has a sizable population of Rattlesnakes !!! It has a different “feel” to it. It’s quiet with very low traffic. It’s the kind of place where you can stop to look at some cows and hear only the birds, the wind, and the cow chomping the grass.
Yesterday my Brother Mike and I decided to go down to Dead Creek and check the snow geese and to Shoreham to pick apples. I was going to take foliage photos along the way. We checked the snow geese but there wasn’t much going on so we went to the Bridge Restaurant for some great food. Then we took some back roads to Shoreham so we could pick some apples. I took some great photos on the way. (check my Shoreham Farm photo in the gallery) When we got to the orchard there was some fancy doings going on with all kinds of government officials including the Governor ! We snuck around to the orchard and picked apples. After we were done Mike said he want to go to the southern end of West Haven to see the vultures we saw there earlier this summer. I said the vultures were probably gone. We argued a bit then off we went to West Haven. There are only 2 ways to get to the south end of West Haven. The River Road, which we tried earlier, but the river was over the River Road. The second way was to go to White Hall NY and take NY route 10 and the East Bay Road over the bridge to the River Road.
We decided to do the Whitehall route because we weren’t sure how the River Road was doing. The first thing we noticed when we crossed the bridge was that the river was not over the road anymore. We turned left and went down to check for the vultures. No vultures but some nice photos. We went back to the bridge but Mike begged me to do the River Road. He didn’t have to beg too much. In the 5 years we have been exploring here we have never been able to finish the River Road. It can be that bad. So off we went. The foliage in this area isn’t that good because of the type of trees. But this could be history for us and there was one last old farm we had left to do. The road is rough but easy for an AWD or 4WD with good ground clearance. We found the last farm. The building had all fallen in but the wood was still there. Huge hand hewn beams over a foot wide, square nails, and some old farm equipment. This was a large farm. We spent a lot of time exploring. On the way back out we saw 14 deer in different places, rabbits, and a flock of Canada Geese. There are quite a few beef cattle farms here.
Mike decided that he wanted to go to the Benson General Store for coffee. It sounded alright to me but I should have known better. The last time we went to Benson from West Haven we encountered the “Pig that thought it was a Cow”. We had just crossed the Border between Benson and West Haven when I saw this group of cow eating at a round bale of hay. I stopped to take a photo. Just then the cows separated and out charges this pig, grunting and squealing, and heading right for the car. I took a quick photo and took off. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the pig hopping around in the middle of the road. (Mike got an extra large coffee when we got to Benson.)
Anyway, I missed the warning and headed to Benson. About 2 miles south of Benson, I saw this large goat trotting up the road on my side and in the same direction. I slowed down and watched it edge toward the middle. I stopped and it trotted on for about another 100 feet. Then it turned around and shook its head. That’s not a good sign. I grabbed my canon camera and used the movie mode to record it as it came back to my Subaru and sniffed around. In the meantime my brother had rolled down his window for a better look. The goat came around and butted my front passenger tire a couple of times. Then it headed for my brother snorting and grunting. My brother panicked and rolled up the window. The goat put it’s face up against the window still snorting and grunting and my brother was yelling at it. (I didn’t get a movie of this because I was laughing too hard) When it started to chew on my side view mirror I figured it was time to leave, so I drove off slowly. The darned thing started trotting after us. It kept up until I hit 20 mph and then it stopped and glared at us. When we got to the store my brother started to go in but stopped to talk to somebody about the “Goat from Hell”. I yelled out that the goat might still be coming, so he ran in and came out with 2 extra large coffees this time.
So that’s what happened. Once again let me warn you not to take the River Road in a car and if you plan to go to Benson after you are done in West Haven, don’t bring my brother with you. There’s no telling what will happen. I will take him because I can use the excitement.

[Andy]

Great Story, Phil. You had me laughing out loud several times. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Michelle]

Nice............I needed a good laugh. NOW we all know the story of the " Goat from Hell ".
Thanks for not leaving us hanging.

[pwt54]

I tried to talk my brother into going back to Benson to check out a couple of old roads and he refused. I guess he's still having nightmares.