Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

 

It has been raining since forever. I think I even saw Noah working at the end of the campground. I just followed the animals I saw going in that direction.

I didn’t even note the temps for today.  I did manage to get to the wash house early this morning without the umbrella. And I would have returned to the trailer unscathed except I stopped to help a man who was wandering around with his towel on his shoulder and his shaving kit in his hand muttering, “Do you know where the wash room is. I’ve been wondering around trying to find it. They should give you a map when you come here.” (They did, or at least we were given one showing where our trailer site is, how to get to it and where all the important buildings are. He must not have looked at all of it.) I pointed him in the right direction. I stayed around to make sure he didn’t find the one thing I didn’t tell him and sure enough he did. I had to call out to him to correct his journey. He said, “Thanks” and continued on his way. By the time I got back to the trailer my shirt was marked with little drops of water. It wasn’t a real gushing rain. But then it started.

Off to the Governor’s for breakfast. It was a decent breakfast for a reasonable cost, but as Tom said, “It’s not as cheap as the Palace.” (a place back home at which a group of men from the church meet.) When we were finished it still wasn’t time to go to St. Andrew so we went back to the trailer for a while. It was still raining when we left there.

We didn’t have much time to spend but we were more comfortable in the trailer than sitting in the van with damp clothing. It was pouring rain when we went to the van to go to church and we dodged the rain drops as we ran for the entrance. We didn’t bother to take the umbrellas because we didn’t know if they would have a place to put them.

There were several other vehicles with out of state license plates so we weren’t the only visitors. We were welcomed warmly when we entered and shown the way into the nave. There were two early elementary age young men handing out bulletins. Nice to see is generation of “the Church” trained to become active in its life. I felt very much at home there.

When we left St Andrew we, again, dodged the rain drops both in the parking lot and in the campground. After a quick lunch we bedded down for a quick nap. There was not much else we could do with the rain coming down and pour - I mean, poor visibility.

When we awoke the rain had settled down to a light shower. So we headed off the L.L. Bean Outlet which was just up the road and was having a sale. We did make a very, very small purchase but didn’t find anything else of interest to us. There were several people with arms full of items, “mainely” clothes. (There are several businesses that have made use of the name of their state in the names of their businesses.) It was only sprinkling very lightly now. Maybe, just maybe. . .

Now it was time for dinner. While we were eating it started to rain again. I think I could hear my heart drop to the floor. But, by the time it was time to do the dishes the rain had stopped again. After the dishes we started in on the logs and blogs and planning for our next few days including the weather for each of the next few days.

It seems that we have a reasonable chance for a somewhat nice day for tomorrow to get to the Penobscot Narrows Observatory; a one minute elevator ride to the top with a 380 degree panoramic view of the Maine countryside. We are promised at least a let up in the weather for tomorrow so we are hoping that we can get this visit in. It and Fort Knox Historical Site are the two things I would like to do while we are here. It “was named after Major General Henry Knox, America’s first Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolution.” (from the pamphlet “’Protector of the Penobscot’” distributed by the Department of Conservation, Bureau of Park and Lands, State of Maine). We will not be traveling around Big Sur or getting to New Brunswick for any caches.

It’s 8:10pm and it is still not raining. We are to have some showers sometime in the near future. I just hope we will be able to see what we want to see tomorrow.

Pleasant dreams to all.

 

 

Rain, Rain and More Rain

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Rain, Rain and More Rain

It was a chilly morning. It was 56 degrees inside the trailer and 49 degrees outside. But I never felt the 56 degrees inside because Tom turned the heater on when he left for the wash house. I got the good one.

We tried waffles this morning for breakfast. We use a Belgian Waffle Iron on the stove. The first one turned out very nice. But the second one was a disaster; one side didn’t stick to the waffle iron but the other side did. He had to scrape the waffle from the iron. We hoped that soaking it would take the remains of the waffle off the iron. I took the iron to the wash tub outside the wash house which is intended for washing dishes and anything else that needs it. Using a brush that is intended to be used on non stick surfaces the iron was made “clean” in good order. Now we are wondering if the waffle iron is still good or does it get thrown out.  [sigh]  We did enjoy the pancakes made with the rest of the waffle batter.

And again, even with a new smoke alarm, the alarm went off with the cooking of the waffles. It has always done that. Tom even bought a new alarm hoping that it wouldn’t sound off but it did. Don’t know what’s going on with that.

At about 10:15, 53 degrees and showery we headed out to do the things that needed to get done: find the church, find the restaurant and buy some water. When we go camping we go prepared with the name and address of a church and then always go looking for it so that we know how far it is, how long it takes us to get there and what time the worship services are. We just don’t like to be surprised on Sunday morning. We were surprised to find out that St. Andrew’s is almost next to Darling’s Chevrolet dealership. We KNOW how to get there! It’s an easy less than 10 minute trip to get there and we know that the worship service is at 10:30.

And another thing we have been doing in the later years of camping is to go to a restaurant for Sunday breakfast. Looks like this year we will be going before we go to worship. Tom had remembered seeing a sign outside a restaurant saying that it is open every day at 6:30 but he didn’t know the name of the restaurant or where he saw the sign, except that it was on our way to the RV park on Wednesday. So we went looking. And we found it. We will be eating at the Governor’s Restaurant on Sunday morning before worship.

Now off to buy groceries. We did not see a supermarket in our travels through and around town. However we did see a Wal-Mart. It just irks me to support Wal-Mart but I had no choice. We made short order of finding what we wanted and left.

We put our purchases away and it was soon lunch time. We decided to eat and go out “sight-seeing” anyway despite the showers and generally misty weather. We ate, gathered the camera, scenic tour book and water bottles and were off to see what we could find en route and at Schoodic Point which is off of Rt 1 onto the Schoodic Peninsula. What wonders there were to behold! Even in the showery mist one could see that the leaves are beginning to turn color. We are about 2 weeks early but Maine is a fine place to see them start to turn color. I took about 100 pictures around the peninsula, mostly of the water. Everywhere there was water. Some of the places had soft waves lapping the shore while other places boasted big sassy waves hurling themselves at the rocks making white sprays of water. This was at Schoodic Point, the very end of the peninsula. Even on such a gray day as this it was a wonder to behold. And we spotted a light house on our trip around the peninsula. They are wonderful to see. When we were in the area of the point I could hear the bell buoy exclaiming its watchfulness. It was like music.

After we finished on the peninsula we headed north again to see if we could find the “Maine Coastal Island Wildlife Refuge” as stated in our Scenic Tours book. But what we found was the “Downeast Coastal Conservancy” which is involved in environmental conservation of the whole area. There was a trail from the parking area but we didn’t take it on this rainy day.
The road on which we found the conservancy seemed to be a back road in Maine. The houses were not well maintained and yards were full of various odds and ends. There was one yard that had lobster traps stacked high and wide. Almost everyone seemed to be in the lobster business in one way or another. I wanted to take a picture of the yard but missed my opportunity going in one direction and couldn’t find it going in the other. Oh well, I saw it and I will remember it.
We turned the van toward our “home away from home” at about 3:30 and were there about 4:15 at 59 degrees. We had driven about 100 miles today. Then we “crawled in” for a short nap before dinner. And as another tradition was upheld tonight, we had corned beef hash and peas for dinner on a rainy day.

Dinner and dishes are finished and we sit here for a quiet time before bed; another day finished. We are 69 degrees inside and 55 outside. With all of the cloud cover we may not have such a cold night. We shall see.

Lord, we thank you!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Lord, we thank you!

When I heard Tom go out the door this morning I looked at the clock which was telling me that it was 6:18. Oh, I thought, I can stay here until 6:30. The next thing I know it was 6:40! I quickly got up, took care of my needs and started to make the bed in preparation for loading it with the things we put on the sofa over night. So goes life in a small room. Soon Tom came back, and both of us prepared ourselves for the day.

Before breakfast Tom went out to check the mouse traps. We had caught TWO hitch-hikers. After we ate Tom emptied the traps and reset them again. Tomorrow we shall see how many we catch.
Breakfast was a simple matter of oatmeal and then we started packing the things we would need for our trip to “the Island.” Acadia National Park is part of Mt. Desert Island in the Downeast region of Maine. The land for Acadia was once owned by some very rich people. They decided that they wanted to do something to preserve the environment so they donated it to an agency which became the National Park Service. We realized that our heavier coats were in the van at the dealership. But we decided to go anyway. We wanted to take the loop and visit Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and climb Cadillac Mountain among other sights.

Just at the end of our preparations there was a knock at our door. It was Lincoln, the man who drove us to the dealership to pick up the loaner car. He told us that the van was ready. It was just about 9am and it was ready for us! We were expecting to have to field a phone call mid afternoon and drive back to the dealership to get it. So we loaded the Impala, stopped at the office to mail a card and headed off to Darling’s Chevrolet Dealership. We saw the van parked in the front lot so Tom pulled up beside it and, at my suggestion, left me to transfer our belongings to the van. He came out to me just as I was finishing my job. We were ready to go to the island without any strings.

By 9:30 we were pulling out of Darling’s lot and were headed for the island. We stopped at the Information Center and got a hang tag for the van. We headed onto the one way loop around the park and soon met up with the people who wanted us to pay for the privilege to drive around the park. Tom showed the man our senior pass and his driver’s license and in we went, for free. That Senior Pass has already saved us more than we paid for it and it is good for ever.

We stopped to see Sand Beach and so did a lot of other people. Parking was at a premium. But the second time through the lot we found a place. We headed for the beach. It didn’t take me long to decide that this was the day that I was going to fulfill my dream. If I couldn’t swim in the ocean I was going to get my feet wet. Oh, I guess I could have gone swimming but I wasn’t willing to get down to next to nothing to swim in cold water and come out in high 60 degree weather. So Tom went back to the van for my sandals while I took of my shoes and socks and rolled up the legs of my jeans. I went into the shallow water. I was not satisfied. I wanted to go in deeper. I rolled up my jeans a little higher and went out a little further. I was looking for a wave that was coming in a little high and with some force to it. I got it. Truly. It hit the front of my legs and splashed up my legs covering my jeans where I had rolled them up. I was more surprised that I was so wet than at it being cold. It wasn’t really that cold. I wasn’t worried. I knew they would dry. When I was able to tear myself away from the water I put on my sandals. I’d rather the sand dry off my feet in the sandals than in my sneakers. Oh, by the way. I wasn’t the only one who was getting their feet wet either.

I heard a voice while I was putting the sandals on and continued a conversation with “the voice.” We talked about the rain that was supposed to be coming in at 2pm. But how could it? The sky was so blue and the sun was out so perfectly. When I looked up I found that I was talking to a Park Ranger. She was really sure that the rains were coming this afternoon. It was then about noon.
We decided that we would snack carefully on what we had and then stop at the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound for our Lobster dinner. Yum!

We stopped at the Thunder Hole. It’s a configuration of the granite rocks that when the waves at high tide come into the “hole” (space between the rocks) it makes a loud thundering sound. We were past high tide so they only splashed upon the rocks. Still no rain.

We drove up Cadillac Mountain. At 1535 ft it is, at least, the highest point on the east coast of the United States. It was 53 degrees in the sunshine. It afforded a wonderful view of the water on both sides of the mountain. This was about 3pm. The skies were gray but still no rain.

Tom was very interested in seeing a lighthouse. The only one that visitors to the park could see was at the southernmost tip of Acadia National Park. We decided that this was doable. So off we went again. We had to go north before we could go south to the lighthouse. There weren’t many cars in the parking lot when we arrived but there were more when we left and more coming. We traveled a path down to the steps that led to rock on which one could walk to the lighthouse to take pictures. I stopped at the stairs. They were very steep. I told Tom to go. He knew that I wasn’t going to make it. I had a nice conversation with a woman who wouldn’t go down them either. I did get to see the top of the lighthouse while standing at the side of the parking lot. 3:40 and not rain. Not a sign.

Off to dinner. The Trenton Bridge is so named because it is set at the Trenton side of the Trenton Bridge. We picked our lobsters from the cooler, they were weighed and cooked. We found some place to sit and wait for our number to be called. When it was we went for them. They were in a rectangular pan with some reasonable sides to it. Our tools were a nut cracker and a seafood pick. We sat at the table and devoured two lobsters. When we left the restaurant at about 5:20 it was raining.
We were soon back at the trailer where the inside temperature was 59 degrees and the outside temperature was 53 agrees. The heater was put on. We did the dishes and settled down for a relaxing evening. We could hear the rain on the roof of the trailer sometimes but not always. It’s supposed to get a little more serious later on.

This afternoon Tom said something like “What a welcomed change in fortunes.” I agree.

We went to the campground office for bread and came back with . . .

September 27, 2012

We went to the campground office for bread and came back with . . .

My day started at around 7am when Tom came back from the wash house. It was 63 degrees in the trailer and 53 degrees outside. It was so nice.

Showers taken and scrambled eggs for breakfast, we gathered our things to go to Acadia National Park. We were on the road by 10am. But first, before the Park we tried for two of the geocaches that were close to us. We found them without any trouble. I think they were meant to be easy. These were our first two caches in Maine. One of the spots was very interesting. It was a nice place by a pond or lake; very peaceful. One could spend a lot of time there just being.

Then we headed south on Route 3 toward the Park. Then the van died. Dead. No go. Tom coasted it to the side of the road and it stopped right in the middle of someone's driveway. If the berm weren't sand and small stones I think it would have coasted past the driveway.

We had gas; and the battery worked the starter very well, but the engine would not start. We called AAA. We had a flatbed pull up within about an hour. The driver took us to a Chevy dealership (which we agreed to when we talked with the operator at Maine’s AAA) about 10 miles in the other direction. We past the campground on the way to the dealership. This is the first time that I got to ride in the cab of a flatbed and I hope it’s the last. And this was all before noon.

Because it was lunch time they weren’t going to look at the van right away and they had something else going when they came back from lunch so “it would be two or three o’clock until someone could look at it.” They nicely offered some options, one of which was to take us across the street to a place at which we could get lunch. Since we wanted to be around when they found out what was wrong with the van we accepted their offer. The Courtesy Shuttle took us across the street. It was a very busy highway and we were thankful for their offer.

Lunch was reasonable but we didn’t want to spend the time there waiting. I called back across the street and asked it the shuttle could come get us when it was free. After a while it came.

The lounge at the dealership was a much nicer place to wait, and wait we did for over an hour. As soon as I disappeared into the restroom they came to tell Tom that we needed a new fuel pump. Can you say $800 plus? But, as Tom said several times today, if it was going to happen it was better on this road than on the interstate highways pulling the trailer. Indeed. So they offered to drive us around to where the van was in the shop so that we could get out of it what we needed. We did and then they drove us back to the campground.

But we were still left with only one slice of bread. We decided that we would walk up, -  yes, up - to the campground store and buy a loaf of bread. We had nothing else to do.

We asked about the bread and they didn’t have any. They don’t sell bread. She offered to buy us a loaf when she was out tonight and send it by our site with someone who works with her and who is our neighbor. That was settled. We started to talk about our day and we told her about the van. She asked, “And they didn’t offer you a loaner car?” We said that they didn’t and she said, “I’ll call them. I don’t mind.”

I will tell you that her husband didn’t have a chance once she made up her mind that she wanted to marry him. She talked the dealership into giving us a loaner car because we were only here for 2 days (a slight exaggeration) and we were on our way to see the Park when the van stopped working. Then she said, “Now we have to get you there” and picked up the phone and called someone. We found out that it was her husband and she asked him to take us back to the dealership. He did. He even stayed around to make sure there were no hitches for us to get the loaner car.

I’m not sure how all this came down but we were supposed to talk with Dave. But we were talking with Dana who worked with us about the van and I heard him saying “Deb must have called.” And “We don’t usually give out loaner cars except to people who buy their cars from us. But in this case we want visitors to Maine to think of us as a friendly place.”   Well, it certainly is . . . if you have the right connections.

So we went to the campground office for bread and came back with a 2011 Chevy Impala to use until they fix the van. Can’t beat that!

On the way back to the campground we stopped off at Walmart to buy bread and a mouse trap. We were able to find both. The trap is set in the storage area under the sofa. I haven’t heard our hitch-hiker running around tonight yet.

It is almost bed time. We are ready to crawl in now but it is a bit early yet. Tomorrow we try again to go to the island. Because the high tide is a bit later tomorrow we have a chance to hear the Thunder Hole. A thunderous bang only occurs as the tide is coming in on windy days. Tomorrow should be a good day for it. We will try again.

It is 9:18pm; it is 65 degrees inside the trailer and 46 degrees outside. Brrrrr!

Mixed Blessings!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Mixed Blessings!

Tom was up early as usual but not as early as sometimes. When he left I woke up. It was about 6:20. I spent the next 10 minutes trying to stay awake. Then I roused myself out of bed and tried to get the morning started.  It was 61 degrees inside and 54 degrees outside. Not bad. We’ve had colder mornings.

We had some rain showers before breakfast. They were just enough to make you a bit damp but not enough to wet everything. During breakfast we had some real rain. We thought we were going to have a problem with hitching the trailer and getting out of the campground. But all things settled down again and we were able to make our usual preparations with just some dampness. We were out of the campground at 9:37 and 60 degrees.

There seemed to be more color in the trees as we started out today although the sun was hidden by the clouds all day. And then as we drove closer to the coast the trees lost that color and were back to mostly green.

Two things I noticed yesterday: First was how much the scenery reminded me of New Jersey’s shore. Then I realized that we were riding along the Atlantic coast ways. We saw many marinas. The only thing missing was the smell of the salty air. Maybe it was because the windows of the van were closed.

The second thing was how much the road sides reminded me of the thru-ways of Maine remind me of the thru-ways of Mississippi and Alabama. The road sides for a significant distance from the road are grass and then a stand of trees. Pennsylvania’s high ways have trees and bushes almost right up to the side of the road.

Last year while we were in one of the western states there were signs at the rest stops warning us of snakes. In Maine, there are signs warning us of Moose in the road. We didn’t see any. I tried to take a picture of one of the signs but they didn’t turn out too well. Tom saved the best one but I guess it wasn’t the greatest.

No geocaching today but the GPSR seems to be working okay. Tom says that there are four caches rather close to this camp ground.

We arrived here a little after noon and took care of what needed to be done on the outside with the trailer and the site and then had lunch. A trip to the wash house, which is wayyyyyyy over there, was followed by a well-deserved nap.

We did some more setting up on the inside of the trailer and looked at all of the pieces of literature on the area that we picked up at the welcome center. We still have to decide whether we want to drive around the park or take the free shuttle bus.

Time for supper. We decided to just have some good warm soup. Thankfully the trailer is equipped with a microwave oven. We were using paper soup bowls and were having a hard time handling them when they were full of soup. We put it on a paper plate. Not too much better. Then we put the bowl and the plate on a “hard” plate (Melamine the set of which happened to be a wedding gift almost 48 years ago.) and that didn’t work. It got so hot that Tom couldn’t handle it. Then we thought about Melamine was around before microwave ovens. So we must remember to be sure to use the microwave safe bowls which we bought last year for just that purpose.

After the dishes were done we decided to get the computers out and do our respective jobs on them. Tom used the laptop, new for our trip out west last year, and I use my netbook. I couldn’t get but 2 out of 5 bars at this campground. When Tom was finished he offered me the laptop. I couldn’t refuse him. When I looked at the speed that was on the laptop and I was surprised. It was 5 bars! I’m sure that age of the computers has something to do with it.

I took so long looking at my mail and doing some other things than the blog that it became bed time. We walked to the wash house and when we came back Tom headed for bed. So the things in the trailer are in a new configuration.  But there will be more moving around space, when I go to bed.

But the biggest surprise of this day is that we are sharing the trailer with a mouse. I’ve been finding these little black “pieces of dirt” all over the place. And what was clean when I went to bed had “dirt” on it when I got up. Tom said that we just couldn’t have a mouse in the trailer but this is not so. I saw him tonight. We looked at each other eye to eye before he almost fell off the window valence. He saved himself, climbed up onto the top of the valence and scampered away.

What was so interesting at the valence is that this is where we keep our snacks all protected in Lock ‘N’ Lock plastic boxes. We learned during our 40 years on camping that one keeps all food in rodent proof containers. Only this year I didn’t do it. I had some Lance crackers that I just put the box out. This is the first year that I made them available and I missed the rule of protecting all foods.

I sat here writing this piece of history and listening to strange noises; noises that shouldn’t be in a quiet trailer. There was the sound of cellophane crackling and the sound of movement within the trailer both overhead and in the walls around me. I even got up and looked around. Nothing. Back to the computer. Then I heard this noise over my head and behind me. I turned my head and looked up. …

He’s back; he ran on the back of the sofa and behind my shirt. I wish I knew what to do to catch him tonight.  I’m just not fast enough to swat him and get him. That ornery little thing! He just ran along the back of the sofa behind my back about half way down from the top of the back. I think I’d better put the box of Lance crackers in the refrigerator for the night and check the rest of the trailer for other food stuffs. I guess I’ll have to take the trash out to the van for the night when I go to bed. There’s food scraps in that. Oh, geesh!

…And I saw that little fur ball looking back at me. Did you know that mice have rounded and not pointed ears? I’m going to bed at this ungodly hour. I can’t stand listening to these ungodly noises and wondering if I’m going to be sharing this sofa with a mouse any time soon. I hope I can go to sleep.

I'll Have Some of That, Please

September 25, 2012

[A note about yesterday's post: I must apologize for all of the typos and any grammar mistakes in what I posted yesterday. I was so tired and typing on a laptop that I don't use often so it felt kinda funny. My typing is not perfect at anytime. But I had corrected so many mistakes and I still didn't find them all. I hope tonight's post is better.]

"I'll Have Some Of That, Please."

By the time Tom awoke this morning at about 5:50am, it was 47.3 degrees in the trailer and 43.6 degrees outside. We could not make enough heat with our bodies to heat both us and the trailer. Since we have such heavy sleeping bags we don't turn the heater on during the night. Tom is the one who awakens early so he gets up and turns the heater on and goes out to shave. I'm the one who benefits.  I fell back to sleep and finally got up at 6:30. Tom returned from shaving not too much later to a reasonably warm trailer.

We had a slow morning even though we wanted to leave the campground by about 9am to 9:30am. But it didn’t happen. When Tom registered at the office when we arrived he was given the number of the site where we will be on Columbus Day weekend. We wanted to look it up. We found it in the “corner” of a loop of “seasonal” people. These are the people who park their trailers there for the summer and come to visit them mostly on weekends. It’s a nice big place. We will enjoy it.

Also in the same loop is a large, about 6‘bear carved out of a real trunk of a tree. It is holding a sign with the people’s name on it and some other things. I would have taken a picture of it but the camera was back at the van. Tom said that we would be back there so we left it for the next time.

We found another trailer with some logs that were at least somewhat carved with a chain saw. There was a bear with a fishing pole that had a wood fish hanging on the line, a beaver, an eagle and a raccoon. I want pictures of all of these too.

We finally were on the road by 10am with a temperature of 59 degrees. One thing I realized as we were driving was that most of the “churches” that I did get to see were no longer holding worship services. They were senior centers, doctor’s offices, stores, etc. Is this the wave of the future? One town we went through didn’t have any churches in it, at least not along the main road through town.

Back to the geocaching: We did 3 caches today: two in MA before lunch and one in New Hampshire in the afternoon. The GPSR was acting like it should today but I still think we will probably need a new one. But then, again, maybe it’s acting funny because it needs to be used more often. But we’ve found a lot of the ones around us. Maybe we need to see if there are any new caches near us and go get them.

We didn’t get our 200 miles in until about 4pm. That’s much later than yesterday. It was a fantastically beautiful day. Just like yesterday. I’ll have another one just like it tomorrow, thank you, please.

We found the campground without a problem. It’s a KOA campground. We have never in our 40-something odd years of camping stayed in a KOA. It’s not a bad place. Very few people are here.

Tom and I set up camp. Then he went for gas as I was trying to make better sense out of the inside of the trailer. When he came back we had supper and did the dishes. Then came the blogs and the logging of the geocaching finds.

It was just about dark by 7pm. I’m not used to this. I liked it better this summer when it was 8:45pm and you could still see a bit. Bummer!

Now it is close to 9pm and it is 71 degrees inside (but that’s at the table where a laptop and a netbook are both creating heat) and 56 degrees outside. I know that soon I will be in bed.
Statistics for today:
221 miles driven today
4 hr 3 minutes actual travel time
6 hr 20 minutes from the time we started this morning until be pulled into this campground

Off we go!!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Off we go!!

 It was such a beautiful morning. I would have loved to just sit and watch it come in. But not gonna happen. Too much to do before we could leave.

I was up so late last night trying to get my things ready. Much later than I wanted to be. But hey! That's life.

We finally were on the road by 9:20. We were in NJ by 9:45 (it's not that far from us), in NY by 11:00 and in CT by 11:35. WE hit the 100 mile mark at 11:20 and the 150 mile marker at 12:10. When all was said and done we rode 255 miles in 4hrs 44 min drivng time (or 6hr 25 min total which counts stops stops for lunch, Visitors Center and nature).

Our campground, Sunsetview Campground in MA, is nice and very quiet. It is busier on the week ends. We Will be coming back here for the Columbus Day weekend. Since the campground closes on October 15, they will be having some special celebrations. Sites are rather close to each other but we usually end up saying "It's only for one night."

No matter were we were today the leaves were just starting to turn color. It was a hint of what it coming.

The only thing that went really wrong today is that our Global Positioning System Receiver (GPSR) is going wacky. There is a cache (as in geocache - yes we believe in hunting buried treasue) that we passed coming here but we couldn't get it because our gpsr was telling us that it was way far away and that as we sat by the side of the road to check out the GPSR it told us that we were going 50 mph. Now Tom has the thing acting correctly. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
It's almost 9 pm (48 degrees outside and 66 degrees inside). I'm ready for bed. It will be a quick, cold trip to the wash house and then to bed in a comfy, warm sleeping bag. I don't know how early we are going to get up tomorrow but I think I will have a hard time. But we have to move our home so I can't stay in bed.

Take care, our traveling buddies. We'll talk with you tomorrow.

Setting things up

Hello everybody! This is the start of a new blog, Our trip this year will be to New England (mainly Maine!) and New York (Lake George and Niagara Falls), with a couple stops in North Central PA. We are leaving Sept. 24. We'll try to keep you up-to-date.