At Large

The buses are coming! The buses are coming!

Welcome to October in eastern New York, western Connecticut and Massachusetts, and Vermont. Welcome to the cavalcade of Vanhool, MCI and Prevost motor coaches rolling up and down Route 7 and Route 22, crossing the Mass Pike, winding up to Maine, crossing through New Hampshire and back, all in honor of “photoperiodism.” Although its devotees may appear to be following the arcane precepts of a splinter religion, it’s simply the scientific term for the annual cycle of nature they’ve come to experience. It’s our regional version of those who venture to Stonehenge to observe the summer solstice.

The leaves are changing color.

Color on display

With the enthusiasm that perhaps Paul Revere used to announce the imminent arrival of the British, countless merchants, innkeepers, and operators of farm stands across the entire region have braced for this moment. It is “leaf peeper” season in New England, and the local economy is about to experience that autumnal shot in the arm that propels businesses forward until the next stop, Halloween, and then Thanksgiving.

For those not interested in slipping into the family vehicle and wandering aimlessly through New England back roads, searching for the perfect radiant sugar maple, red oak, or Kousa dogwood, tour operators have long seized on the notion of creating packages designed to appeal to many. Those are the buses that appear every year at this time, whisking occupants through the radiant displays of color.

One-day excursions, often starting in retirement villages, wind through a predetermined itinerary, stopping for lunch and a bit of shopping, then return back home. At the other end of the spectrum, if the budget allows and the devotion to leaf season is intense, for a mere $4,000 one can book a nine-day itinerary that includes nights spent in historic inns, visits to museums, historic recreations in Sturbridge Village and Mystic Seaport … and many, many shopping opportunities. Remember Exit Through the Gift Shop?

Predicting the weather

Determining when to venture out to greet the blazing hillsides, to take dozens of pictures that you’ll likely never look at again, and generally bask in the radiant color requires a bit of luck, some focused information, and, for some, folk tales and superstitions. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been projecting seasonal color changes since 1792. The Weather Channel and AccuWeather deliver 24/7 weather information that, as autumn approaches, include accurate predictions about the progress of changing leaves. 

With all of that as a preface, dare we ask the question “What’s the fuss?” 

This changing of the leaves has happened every year for a very long time. They’re trees. The leaves were green, now they’re yellow, orange, and red … then falling brown and blowing across the lawn. It happened last year in the same way. It will happen again next year. Everybody relax.

But wait.

We willingly admit that the traditional role of the curmudgeon does manifest itself occasionally, but this may be a time to keep it repressed and let the “leaf peepers” off the list of things to criticize.  Let them have their day – or nine days – if they so choose.

But wait! There’s more.

There is a mystical beauty to be discovered observing in nature going through its annual cycle of disappearing chlorophyll as days are shorter and nights longer and cooler. There is definable magic about colors that always existed in leaves finally being able to emerge and be seen by a fawning audience. If the annual pilgrimage is blessed with a few days of brilliant sun and clear blue skies, then all the better. If the lunch stop or shopping side trip manage to enrich the coffers of local restaurants and shops, then what’s the harm?

Forewarned is forearmed. There will be drivers unfamiliar with our local roads who drive appreciably slower than we’re used to traveling. Patience may not be a quality that we’ve all cultivated, but this time of year, it’s worth exercising. Honking incessantly and yelling at drivers as we finally find a place to pass should be discouraged for these few weeks. The optional punctuating hand signal should also be retired for a bit. After all, as talented singer/songwriter and Vermont native Noah Kahan opined, recently, when being interviewed by Seth Meyers on his late-night television show, “New Englanders may not be outwardly nice, but they’re really very kind.”

Be kind. The buses are coming. •