"Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. Discuss…” This indelible line, uttered by Linda Richman on her show Coffee Talk runs through my head every single time I hear the state's name. Coffee Talk, or more accurately “Cawfee Tawk” was, of course, a skit on Saturday Night Live with Mike Meyers as Linda Richman. The skit was such a hit they did it 17 times with different guest hosts doing horrendous Long Island accents. This was during the second heyday of SNL in the mid-

After a pitstop in Ithaca, I started northeast on my three-state run to close out New England. First up was Vermont. I had been to Vermont a handful of times before, but only for work retreats. I worked for six and a half years for a Boston-based software company. Once a year we would get the company together in Vermont for a week-long retreat. I'd fly into Burlington, grab dinner with the team, then we'd drive about an hour into the country. We’d stay at a place with a summ