Twelve hours at the Richmond park and ride

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Three reporters spent 12 straight hours at one of the busiest park and rides in the state -- on one of the busiest travel days of the year -- to get to know Vermont from a new perspective.

Brave Little State took a full-day detour to answer this question from Heather Channon of South Burlington:

"Who is using all of the park-and-ride lots?"

We met dozens of people who passed through the 158-spot lot in Richmond on Labor Day -- and their stories range from triumphant to tragic, and everything in-between.

Note: Our show is made for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We've also provided a transcript. Transcripts are generated using a combination of robots and human transcribers, and they may contain errors.

Josh Crane: And we are all sitting at the Richmond park and ride lot. We've been here for 11, oh God. (Laughter) We've been here for 11 hours and 43 minutes. We got here at 7:30 in the morning. It is almost 7:30 p.m., the sun is about to set and we have been here all in the name of trying to answer a listener's question about who are all the people that use these park and ride lots?

And inspired by some of our favorite episodes of This American Life, where they spend 24 hours at a diner or two days at the same rest stop, we thought, why not spend 12 straight hours at one of the busiest park and ride lots in Vermont. And boy, have we had quite the experience. I'm so tired I can barely put it into words right now. We're about to break, break out, it feels like.

Sabine Poux: I don't know if I remember how to, like, be a person in the world outside of this park and ride.

Burgess Brown: Life is simpler at the park and ride.

Josh Crane: We're really excited to tell you the story of what we just went through. And we are all very excited to go home and leave. So, um ...

Josh Crane: I feel like the whole drive it's been really foggy and misty and everything just lifted right as we were arriving.

Sabine Poux: Yeah, it's early. It's 7:30 ...

Josh Crane: Our time at the Richmond park and ride starts early. Twelve hours to go.

The lot is already about a quarter full when Sabine and I pull in. And we soon see Burgess, the other member of the BLS team.

Josh Crane: Our purpose here is simple: Hang out in this park and ride and meet as many people who pass through as possible. Do this all day long, for 12 straight hours. Only leave for food and bathroom breaks at the neighboring gas station store.

This 158-spot park and ride -- effectively, a big parking lot -- it's officially our whole universe until sunset.

Josh Crane: Burgess, can you just sort of describe what you can see right now?

Burgess Brown: Uh, yes, I can see some silos, some barn silos. We are surrounded by rolling hills. We've got Interstate-89 to our left, and a gas station in front of us, and then Camel's Hump in the distance with some clouds burning off as the sun is rising.

Josh Crane: It could be a lot worse, as far as parking lots go. In fact, the view is like catnip to two amateur photographers who roll into the park and ride shortly after we do. They're in matching white Subarus.

Josh Crane: Cédrick Meunier and Nolan Watt are in their early 20s. Cedrick lives in Quebec and Nolan lives in Ottawa. They met in the military.

They camped nearby and have already spent time in Burlington, where they visited "Canada Street."

Nolan Watt: I mean, look, if I saw that -- If I were, if I were to see that on the news and I'm sitting in Ottawa, would I go to Burlington because it's "Canada Street"? No. But am I happy that it's Canada Street now that I'm here? Yeah, sure, it's cool. Yeah.

Cédrick Meunier: Yep.

Sabine Poux: Cool. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy the rest of your days.

Josh Crane: Cédrick and Nolan finish taking photos and before long, they carry on down the road. And we carry on ... in place, with our grand park-and-ride experiment.

We're here to answer a question from a listener: Who uses all the park-and-ride lots in Vermont? And, specifically, who uses this park-and-ride lot -- which always looks really busy, no matter when you drive by.

So, here we are on a national holiday -- Labor Day, of all days -- to see who wanders in on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Josh Crane: We're sort of at, like, the start of what feels like a big adventure, except we're just gonna, like, stay here.

Josh Crane: As cars continue to file in, the three of us fan out to cover more ground. I notice a guy in a red Outback.

Mischa Tourin: My name is Mischa Torin. I'm going rock climbing at Marshfield Ledge.

Josh Crane: Mischa runs a local climbing non-profit. But I'd argue he's most notable for something else.

Deane Calcagni: Ugh. I wish that I had a good excuse. (Laughter) But, OK. Two minutes in climber time is like early.

Josh Crane: This is Deane Calcagni.

Deane Calcagni: Yeah. My first name is D-E-A-N-E. I am the great grandson of the former Governor of Vermont, Deane C. Davis, so I have him to blame for that obnoxious spelling of it.

Josh Crane: Now that their whole crew has arrived, our conversation turns to the task ahead of them: rock climbing.

Deane Calcagni: And I'm psyched to get on a route called "The Swarm," which I have not done yet. I've only done part of it.

Josh Crane: Here's the other climber in their party, Dustin Leatherman.

Dustin Leatherman: I've known Deane for three years, and one of, probably early on, he started talking about The Swarm. So today is the culmination of that conversation.

Josh Crane: You know, I'll be here when you get back, so I'm excited to hear how it goes.

Josh Crane: Apparently, it's rock climber-o-clock at the park and ride. Burgess and Sabine see a familiar face pull into the lot.

Josh Crane: Jasper Jarecki is one of Burgess's friends. He pulls up in a VW bus with his dog, Otis.

Jasper Jarecki: He's six, and always wants to be sitting in the driver's seat.

Josh Crane: Jasper is also a climber. He's a youth rock climbing coach in Essex.

Jasper Jarecki: And kids, if you don't know, are really, really good rock climbers. And so it's really fun to work with kids.

Burgess Brown: Why are they good rock climbers?

Jasper Jarecki: I think a lot of people tell you it's because they don't weigh that much. I think it has more to do with their, like, general energy level and curiosity that hasn't been squashed by the big, bad world yet.

Josh Crane: But today, Jasper's not coaching any kids. He's spending his day off going climbing with friends in Appalachian Gap -- including Andrew Morin.

Andrew Morin: Today, we'll just be just climbing, having fun, bringing the dogs.

Josh Crane: The climbers are off on their adventures, the fog has lifted, and the morning rush is now in full swing. Cars are streaming into the park and ride. Sabine, Burgess and I keep up the best we can.

We find a couple of sisters heading out for their annual beach tradition.

Sara Walker: Our birthdays are only four days apart. So, yeah, it's kind of a joint birthday situation.

Josh Crane: A family visiting from Utah, turning down whatever dirt roads pique their interest.

Josh Crane: And we run into a group of friends who have been in the same fantasy football league for more than 20 years.

Glenn Varricchione: (Laughter) We do it for the socialization and the beer.

Josh Crane: They're meeting up to go for a hike, which is a common theme among park-and-ride patrons this morning.

Josh Crane: Today, the park and ride is also a rendezvous location for people attending Labor Day festivities around the state. We spot a new arrival wearing a kilt and ghillies.

Tammy McKean is meeting a bandmate and carpooling to the parade in Northfield.

Josh Crane: There's another group going to the same parade -- and they're very conspicuous. They're towing a giant horse trailer painted bright red and yellow -- and also some sort of vintage stretch SUV limo, an 8-door Chevy.

Josh Crane: The Shriners are in a rush, so they don't linger. But it turns out their horse trailer is full of go-karts, that they'll drive up and over the old Chevy limo during the parade.

A few spots away, Lisa Barrett is sitting in her car and wearing a shirt that says "RESIST." She's heading the other direction, to a Labor Day rally in Burlington.

Lisa Barrett: I was in college in the '60s, so I started going to rallies and protests...

Josh Crane: She's waiting for her friend, who she always goes to protests with. They originally met the same way everyone makes friends of like-minded political persuasions ...

Lisa Barrett: And I've been doing it since 1995 and I used to teach it, and she was originally one of my students. And then we became friends, and we discovered we shared the same politics.

Sabine Poux: Wow.

Josh Crane: It turns out that this park and ride is also a popular spot for a pretty specific kind of meet-up. Near the end of the lot, a man and a woman pull up in separate cars. Two kids get out of their mom's car and run to hug their dad, Arthur Campbell.

Josh Crane: What brings you here?

Arthur Campbell: We usually have our, uh, family -- we change, uh, shifts with the kids.

Josh Crane: Arthur says he's seen other families with separated parents doing the same thing.

Arthur Campbell: I noticed that there's other families doing the same thing here.

Josh Crane: And then there are those who are here for an entirely singular purpose.

Sabine Poux: Just a second. We're reporting a story about the park and ride and who's here today and what people are up to.

Richard Spradling: Oh, well, this will be interesting for you. My colleague and I are on our way to pick somebody up who passed away. We work for a funeral home.

Josh Crane: That's right. Richard Spradling and his colleague are meeting to go pick up a dead body. They're not thrilled about working today, on Labor Day, but duty calls.

Richard Spradling: Yeah, he's the one on call today, and I was the one that drew the short straw, since it's a holiday and all.

We talk to the family, initiate, you know, when we're gonna meet, get an idea of what they're looking at for arrangements and so forth, pick up their loved one, assure them they're gonna get to where they need to be safe and sound and everything like that.

Sabine Poux: That sounds like an emotionally intense job.

Richard Spradling: It can be, yeah, it's definitely not for everyone. I just got into it randomly, and here I am, six years later, doing it.

Josh Crane: By 11 a.m., the park and ride is nearly full of cars. But all their occupants have left to go about their days -- the hikers hiking, beachgoers beaching. Miles away, the Northfield Labor Day Parade is in full swing.

The high of the morning rush has faded. And we are baking in a parking lot in full sun with no one but each other to talk to.

Sabine Poux: What do you think is the most beautiful park and ride in the state?

Josh Crane: So this is, there's like, basically, Celebrity. You guys ever played Celebrity?

Josh Crane: While we're sitting here, doing, effectively, nothing, some Vermonters have been out running up really tall mountains.

Like a couple of guys I find stretching in the middle of the park and ride.

Josh Crane: Ben Tonelli and Will Landis just completed a trail run up and down Vermont's tallest peak -- Mt. Mansfield. And it turns out that BLS wasn't far from their minds out on the trail. When I ask them what they talked about ...

Josh Crane: They also talked a lot about birds. Ben is a bird biologist, and he says you can find some pretty unique birds up the mountain.

Ben Tonelli: So one of them is the Bicknell's thrush, which should be the state bird, hot take. It looks a lot like the hermit thrush, which is the state bird, but the Bicknell's thrush is, in the United States, this is one of, like, the very few places you can find it is at the top of Mount Mansfield.

Josh Crane: The song of Bicknell's thrush mind as well be the lunchtime bell. Sabine, Burgess and I have been scheming all morning about getting some fried chicken from the gas station next door and it's almost time to chow down.

But when I notice a guy zoom in on a motorcycle, I've gotta go see what's up

Daniel Baker: I got off the interstate because I had a big bug smash my screen on my windshield so...

Josh Crane: Daniel Baker of Barre is in the middle of a joyride. He'll continue on towards Stowe, just as soon as he can wipe all of what remains of the bug off his helmet.

Daniel Baker: It just -- boom! Could have been a bird too. I don't know. It's pretty big. Snapped my head back.

Josh Crane: What do you like about taking your motorcycle for a spin?

Daniel Baker: You can work out your demons, and, you know, you get a little stress relief. It's relaxing. Nice, beautiful day. Nothing better to do besides ride a motorcycle on a day like today.

Josh Crane: Working on it with a little "throttle therapy," as he calls it. He says one of his demons right now is the high cost of living.

Daniel Baker: You know, I worked all week. I got my paycheck, paid the bills, and you're broke, you know, it's just how it is, you know. So it's just like, ugh. S****y day.

Josh Crane: I can tell there's something else bugging him. And eventually he opens up. He tells me a close friend from high school died just a few days ago, from an opioid overdose.

Daniel Baker: It's an epidemic in the world right now. Drugs are a very bad thing, you know. He was a really funny person. He should have been a comedian, but, you know, he got depressed and went the wrong way, and that s*** grabbed a hold of him. And, you know, you can't do that stuff.

Josh Crane: Daniel seems almost ready to get back on the road. He's a truck driver for a living, and says he never stays still for long.

Daniel Baker: Always keep it moving. Always moving. My high energy, I got ADHD so I'm just hyperactive constantly, go, go, go, go, go.

Josh Crane: His bike -- it's a really nice one. He says it can go up to 200 miles an hour.

Josh Crane: Daniel speeds away and I speed back to the other side of the park and ride to meet Sabine and Burgess for lunch. We'll be right back, just as soon as we finish our midday gas station feast.

Josh Crane: Welcome back to Brave Little State's 12-hour marathon at the park and ride. It's high noon -- almost halfway through this little reporting experiment.

We've just finished tucking into some chicken sandwiches from the gas station, but they're not quite giving us the energy boost we were hoping for.

Josh Crane: We need a shot in the arm, something to snap us out of this food coma. Luckily, we get it. The energy shifts all at once with the arrival of a bonafide VIP.

Josh Crane: So, could you introduce yourself and explain what brings you to this park and ride?

Heather Channon: (Laughter) I am Heather.

Josh Crane: Heather Channon of South Burlington -- our park-and-ride muse, the question-asker who inspired this episode.

Heather Channon: And I asked the question a few months ago or so, "Why are all of the park and rides in Vermont so popular and full, and what are people using them for?"

Josh Crane: Heather has moved around a bunch -- North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, England. But the park and rides in those places didn't leave much of an impression. Because, you know, why would they?

Then, she moved to Vermont. And she drives by this park and ride all the time.

Heather Channon: There's always so many cars at this park and ride, specifically.

Josh Crane: Thanks to Heather, we're all feeling reinvigorated with a sense of purpose. And we fan out again to talk to more park and riders. Sabine spots two women in one corner of the lot who are putting their arms around each other and laughing.

Sabine Poux: What are you two meeting up to do?

Charmaine Godin: I sold her my truck, and we're signing another paper that didn't get signed.

Josh Crane: Charmaine Godin and Irene Rich stand in front of a blue Tacoma truck. Charmaine sold it to Irene 10 days ago.

Josh Crane: They're meeting up again to sign a piece of paper the bank needs to make the sale official. But this doesn't feel like your average business transaction.

Josh Crane: Irene explains that she had to give up her truck not that long ago. So when she saw Charmaine's listing on Facebook marketplace -- of the same model -- she was stoked.

Irene Rich: I can't even tell you how happy -- I cried, totally. I was just so happy to have a truck back. It just is empowering. You feel like, I can take things, you know, I can go to the dump when I need to go to the dump. I don't need to ask somebody to help me.

Josh Crane: Charmaine and Irene have to get on with their business, and we say goodbye. A lot of these interactions -- they're somewhat fleeting. People have things to do, places to go, trucks to sell. A lot of people tell us, straight up, they don't have time to talk with us at all.

And then there's Jason Jones. I meet him outside his black Nissan SUV.

Josh Crane: So what brings you here?

Jason Jones: Uh, actually exchanging my daughter. It's exchange day for the littles. I'm divorced.

Jason Jones: Hang out, bike ride, put something on the smoker so they can enjoy some, a little taste of where I'm from, Texas.

Josh Crane: Jason Jones originally came to Vermont to attend military school before moving to the west coast to serve in the Navy. He's been back in Vermont for a while, and he doesn't work anymore, for health reasons.

Jason Jones: Medically retired. Got a horrible diagnosis, but I'm still around.

Josh Crane: I'm sorry to hear that. Do you mind if I ask what your diagnosis was?

Jason Jones: ALS.

Josh Crane: ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. People with ALS progressively lose control of their muscle movements, and eventually lose the ability to walk, talk and breathe. The typical prognosis is 3-5 years. Jason was diagnosed a decade ago.

Jason Jones: You can kind of look at it as borrowed time. I had goals. My goals were to see all my kids, you know, graduate, because they were small children. And right now I'm tracking for that goal.

Josh Crane: Do you mind if I ask, what does it feel like to have ALS?

Jason Jones: It's horrible. It's ... the best way to put it is you're kind of, your body is slowly dying around you, so you feel everything, but you just can't move.

Josh Crane: Are there any things in particular that you just sort of like, especially, miss being able to do?

Jason Jones: Um, pick up and hug my kids, that's the hardest part. My seven year old, like, I can't pick them up, you know, just the physical stuff.

Kali McPeters: He's four and a half. I'm his mom. I'm Kali. And we are waiting for Gigi.

Josh Crane: Costa is standing on the hood of his mom's car. Once his grandma Gigi arrives, they're headed to the racetrack.

Josh Crane: OK. And what do you -- how do you think we could make our story better?

Josh Crane: Monster trucks and -- we gotta add some monster trucks and race cars.

Josh Crane: Right as Costa is solving all of our storytelling problems, his grandma pulls up.

Josh Crane: It's after 5 p.m. On a typical work day, we'd be heading home right about now. On this day ...

Sabine Poux: Ah! We're so happy you're here.

Josh Crane: We've enlisted our wonderful colleague, Elodie Reed, to bring us some dinner.

Josh Crane: With our pizza dinner behind us -- thanks, Elodie -- we're officially in the home stretch. The main thing we're looking forward to at this point is just getting the heck out of here.

But first, some familiar faces start to return from their day-long adventures.

Josh Crane: Jasper Jarecki and his dog Otis have returned from their climbing expedition in Appalachian Gap. He and his friends set up some new routes.

Jasper Jarecki: They were really fun. They're like brand new climbs. And anyone who's excited about rock climbing in Vermont will be happy that they're there.

Josh Crane: Another Camel's Hump hiker didn't intend to stop here until one of the tires on his car came loose.

Brendan Grahn: It started shaking all over the place. Just really got my attention real quick.

Josh Crane: There's one group who hasn't shown up yet -- those rock climbers I met first thing in the morning, who were going to climb The Swarm.

But just as the sun starts to dip in the sky, and I begin to lose hope, I see a red Outback pull into the lot.

Josh Crane: Mischa Tourin, Dustin Leatherman and Deane Calcagni -- the rock climbers I've been waiting for. I'm excited to hear about their adventures, and it turns out they're a little excited to see me, too.

Josh Crane: One story I'm eager to hear about -- their experience on "The Swarm", the climbing route Deane's had on his bucket list for years. They finally did it.

Deane Calcagni: We did. No, it was so nice. It was perfect weather. No bugs.

Mischa Tourin: I'll probably remember catching Dustin as he took, like, a 10-foot slide down the slab at the very start of the climb. He went a little left when he should have gone right where there were some better holds.

Josh Crane: Dustin takes the light ribbing in stride. It sounds like a memorable day all around.

Dustin Leatherman: Being at the top of the Marshfield Ledge, just looking out, it's just, it's like, pristine Vermont.

Dustin Leatherman: And, you know, it's such a privilege to just be able to go do this, right? And as just, like, on a day off, that's, that's something that I think a lot of people don't really get to experience all that often.

Josh Crane: Going home. Sleeping. Now that sounds pretty good. Finally, our 12 hours at the park and ride is up.

Sabine Poux: This has been a great adventure to do with both of you. I'm so happy that it was all of us doing this together.

Josh Crane: Yeah. Before this gets too sappy, we should go home.

Sabine Poux: Josh, we have to go to another park and ride just to get my car. (Laughter) Two park and rides, one day.

Burgess Brown: I'm going to take the leftover pizza. And the leftover cookie.

Thanks to Heather Channon for the great question -- and for hanging out with us at the park and ride!

This episode was reported and produced by Josh Crane, Sabine Poux and Burgess Brown. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our Executive Producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Elodie Reed, Amy Tatko, Tricia Roy, Jessica Fay, Betsy LeBlanc, Sara Walker, Robert Blandon, Terrance Sayers, John Aruzza, Dave Stone, Glenn Varricchione, Tricia Roy, Cliff Mix, Minda Stridsberg, Brendan Grahn, Jean Koegler, Brenda Rose, Pete Niarchos and everyone else we spoke to at the Richmond park and ride on Labor Day 2025.

As always, our journalism is better when you're a part of it:

Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.