Final RV Thoughts for the Year

It is now November and the RV is safely nestled in for the winter.  We will go down about once a month to start it and move it a foot or so, but it is largely done and over until we think about a possible southern trip in February or March.  The truth is that it is never over (for instance, why is that yellow light on the dashboard showing up and should it be taken seriously when the manual - what a laugh it is - says to ignore it until you shouldn't) with this hulk of machinery, but it is a lull of sorts.

Some final thoughts, at least regarding the RV

1. The final analysis of success depends on where the base line is.  If the base line is our expectations after we bought the rv, but before we actually started using the rv, then it has been a positive and worthwhile experience.  We began with reasonable hopes for fun and adventure with higher levels of anxiety than we should have.  We traveled more than we ever would have, got to see some nice country, and were able to manage small crises in the beginning.  The last trip to New England was really good with only a few rv glitches and we have learned to not be overly anxious or fatalistic about things that happen.  The seemingly major crises, which were really only inexperience, have largely been ameliorated and previous problems have been worked out to become routinized without anguish.  I would give it a grade of B from this baseline.
2. If the baseline is the romantic dreams of traveling often, far, and with great adventure - those when deciding to actually pursue the purchase of an rv - it did not meet my expectations when speaking for myself (Roger).  In particular, learning to comfortably drive without the anxiety of hauling eighteen thousand pounds, top heavy pounds buffeted by the flapping of butterfly wings, down the road safely was a real learning experience.  There are also a lot of routine procedures of setting up at campgrounds, maintenance, care/feeding of the rv, and planning headaches that are not dreamlike, unless you count the ones that cause you to sit bolt upright in the middle of the night.  This probably has more to do with me than  most people.  Gin works really hard in taking care of the rv and the dogs, more than I ever could or would want to do.  From this baseline, it gets a C- .
3. If the baseline is considered to be after the first harrowing experiences with the rv - a real down period, it has gone well.  We are reasonably comfortable with dealing with most of what caused sleeplessness at first.  These issues largely were related to many of the things above, but they have been mostly resolved.  Grade A

Overall, it has been fun, but anxiety producing at times.  Making decisions and agonizing over small problems have detracted from the overall experience, but we are satisfied.  As reported early on, we don't have to put the dogs in the kennel, we get to sleep in our own beds, use our own bathroom/shower, and have flexibility to do the things we want.  It is not a money saver in the short or long run.  We understood that to begin with.  It is a terrible investment from a strict accounting perspective, but we knew that too.  

We will begin thinking about the southern trip, if any, after a few weeks.  Right now, we are rv'ed out and will enjoy the respite with Thanksgiving three weeks away...

Braking, Winter, and Hurricane Sandy

The Stay-in-Play, the toad supplementary braking system was high on my priority list.  It was a major investment and important to any long trip or mountainous driving to be done.  I really put in some time trying to figure out what was wrong with the system and learning how it operated.  If nothing else, I wanted to be somewhat knowledgeable about it when calling.  That was a major question, do I call the installer or the manufacturer.

I called the company finally.  Without a doubt, it may have been the best overall experience with a company over a defective product that I have ever had.  To avoid me having to go 2 hours for a fix at the installer's dealership, they sent me a new unit that I thought could be replaced by me  without much anguish.  Long story short, I did replace the unit and it is now working - miracle of miracles.

After talking to an rv repair place to a man who I had made a connection with at an rv show, a time has been set up for winterization of the rv.  Never mind that the appointment is set up on the back edge of Hurricane Sandy...

We put a $100 worth of gas in the rv 2 days ago (brought it up from a quarter of a tank to about three quarters of a tank) with the intention of using it and the generator if Sandy lasts more than three or four days.  We will see...

It is now after Hurricane Sandy.  We had very little damage to the house, none to the rv, and did not lose electricity.  In this area, we were very lucky when considering the tv coverage of the folks in NJ and NY.  I can't imagine...

We delayed the winterization of the rv for a day, but took it in yesterday.  The owner, a man who we had bought a car from long ago in a Buick dealership, was wonderful.  He answered a thousand (well, maybe 999) questions we had, did the work with his rv tech, and charged us less than what we had anticipated.  It was a very positive experience with his service work.  I have to tell you that that only happens occasionally.  Most of the time we are the hydrant and the service people are the dog.

The rv is now put to bed until sometime in the winter.  It is a big relief.

I will try to wrap up some final thoughts for the year in the next episode...

Homeward Bound

On the way home from Quechee Gorge, we discussed about seeing the other areas and sights that Gin had marked on her primary planning tool, a road map.  It didn't take long to figure out that we were pretty much seeing the same thing, but in different locales.  It made the decision to head for home a fairly easy one.  I had been using the phrase, "the end of the internet," and that was the case with New England - for the moment.  At that time and at the time of this writing, about 2 weeks later, we were and are happy with our trip.  The fall foliage was terrific in Maine and the general sightseeing was interesting and fun.  However, there was a point of diminishing returns...

We decided to make the trip home in three days, two medium drives and one very short one.  It was mostly interstate.  If I haven't mentioned it recently, my driving is much more comfortable than at the start.  Though, the longer drives still gave me anticipation of fatigue.

The first day began poorly.  The supplementary braking system that was installed on the toad would not function.  That was not a major problem because of spending little time on the way home in severe mountains, but to have a big purchase for a current and future need was a bummer of sorts.  The second downer was a road map being incorrect.  No, it was not our incorrect reading of the map.  The map was wrong, dead wrong.  It took us about thirteen miles in the wrong direction, which is not disastrous  but inconvenient and a negative addition to an already long drive.  The good result was that it forced us back onto the interstate, which was easier and probably faster driving.  Before getting to the interstate, we pulled over for lunch in a semi-scenic spot.  The rv is really nice in this aspect as it allows me to eat lunch standing up - a pleasant feeling after sitting in one position for a while.  I have often wondered why fast food restaurants along traveling venues don't offer standing up tables for people to stretch their legs after sitting and driving for long periods of time.

Gin had been really good at locating campgrounds that were possible stopping for overnight points.  One was almost perfect except that it did not have 50 amp service and we were not able to locate our converter for the 30 amp plug.  The owner of the campground offered to loan us a converter if we stayed there.  This was a smart business move in his part as we ended up there for the night.  In fact, he stayed a few minutes late to make sure we got there and settled in.  Before we got to the campground, the scenery in upstate New Your was really good.  It was a somewhat cloudy day,  but we think that the fall foliage there was at its peak.

That night, I studied the map and talked with Gin about trying to make it home the next day instead of the medium and short drives over two days.  We decided to give it a go.

I drove faster than previously over the two day trip.  Our speed was between 60 and 65.  On the first day, Columbus Day, the traffic was heavy, but moving well for the most part.  We had a 30 minute backup going through Lake George, NY, a resort area.  The second day was much lighter traffic and we have to remember that in the future - long drives during the week and not on holidays.

We made it home by four or so the second day.  It turned out to be a good decision.  I was tired, though prepared to wrestle with the unhooking of the toad in the storage lot for the rv, but lo and behold, it was not bound up as it usually is.  It literally came apart with a gentle tug or two.  A good ending to a long day...

The next day we unloaded and cleaned the rv in front of our home.  It was a lengthy and tiring job.  Washing the rv is a major undertaking when especially trying to get the stains off from water dripping down the sides, etc.  It took me a couple of days to recoup.  Another thing to remember, Gin and I both agree that that job should be done over two days.

Next decisions - how to deal with the bum supplementary braking system and getting winterization for the rv.

Warren, Woodstock, and Quechee Gorge

We are off to see Warren, Vermont.  Mostly, we wanted to see the general store there.  I know, one more general store.  We followed the map to go by the shortest route.  The way following the red lines on the map was much longer and presumably, would take significantly longer.

We started out over roads that we had traveled before.  Then, we turned onto one of the black line roads.  Up hill is an understatement.  It felt like one of those roller coaster rides where you are practically on your back.  Not really, but some embellishment here makes for a better story.  Soon, we left the paved road.  There is photo evidence of this non-embellishment segment of the story.

Driving on the unpaved road was a real hoot (we are in the toad, not the rv.)  It reminded me of bygone days in West Virginia - except these road were relatively smooth and not like what they called the hard road back home, that is, a dry creek bed.  It seemed like we were going up forever, but the fun part of going down was soon to come.

It was mostly paved road as shown.  There was a good bit of traffic going over the mountain for a Sunday morning.

We took a wrong turn, of course, but as frequently happens, it was an interesting one.  We stopped at a small, roadside community that basically had one store.  They sold unique things as we had seen in many other places in Vermont.  The one I was most interested in - not to purchase, but to marvel at how it was done - was a ceramic birdhouse.  My interest attracted the proprietor of the store who happened to be the creator of the artistic birdhouse in question.  She explained a lot about it and probably more than I wanted to know.

Off we went in the correct direction for the Warren General Store.  Got there and found a place to park right in front of the store.  Park is a general term here with the front of the car nearly touching the porch of the store and the bumper nearly on the road.  There was a crowd there and it did not look like there were many places to park.  It was an authentic general store that was old, really old.  The floor creaked, was worn and nowhere was there a level square foot in the whole store.  Once again, there were many unusual things for sale.  Women on the second floor were paying big bucks for clothing that was nice and probably homemade for the most part.  Gin may correct this when she reads this, but that was my impression.

I think I learned something else here.  My enthusiasm for general stores was waning...

On our way to Woodstock, there was a scenic place to view.  An enterprising, older gentlemen who certainly had a business that Obama's government made possible, was selling maple products.  You could taste the various types and grades of maple syrup and there were maple candies to sample too.  We bought some syrup and asked for a recommendation for lunch.  He said there was three places up the road apiece that he could recommend.  Two were normal and looking right squarely at Gin, said that the third one had "natural/healthy foods.  He spit on the ground after saying that.  Not really, but I was getting kind of bored with this and wanted to express my opinion of health foods.  At any rate, he said that at one of the places they should be told that Uncle Bill of Mom and Pops Maple Products had sent us.

We ate at one of the places and had a fairly good lunch.  The interesting part of the lunch was the original soda fountain in the restaurant.  There was a mix of tourists and locals, but mostly, it was tourists.  Judge for yourself.

Woodstock had been recommended by the campground office person.  We got there and traffic was bumper to bumper.  Found a parking place and walked back into town via the town square.  There was the ubiquitous fund raising campaign in a small area for a local soccer team.  We had been on a pie kick and decided to split a piece of apple crumb pie.  It was so good, we got another piece.  Yum!

The stores in Woodstock were actually more commercial and much more numerous than in Stowe.  However, they had many items that were unusual.  As an aside, when does the unusual become usual?  Gin bought a bottle of chocolate red wine - go figure, and a toy for a future gift for Tommy.  It was a future gift because it was so - here we go again - unusual and we determined through a scientific process, that it was something so good and unique that it would never be found again anywhere.  Or, maybe it was the sugar from the maple samples or apple pie that affected us...

Next was the Quechee Gorge.  It was a gorge.  It was a gorge.  Although I was impressed, it was a gorge. 

 We were beginning to come to an understanding that we had reached the end of internet as a commercial once portrayed.  Everything was beginning to look the same, even the unusual stuff.  In the touristy shopping area associated with the gorge, there was a sampling area of different Cabot cheeses.  Some people were treating it more like dinner.  We did end up buying some cheddar seasoning to put on popcorn.  Got it home and it was not the same.  Concluded that they must have put a lot more on the sampling popcorn then we could manage at home.

It was a long day and we headed back to the campground.

A Day of Rest, Odds and Ins

Saturday was forecast to be a day of rain, all day, in every way.  It was an easy choice to sit back, do some planning, and take care of some chores.  The planning was not that difficult in the end.  Easy for me to say as Gin is the ultimate detail person and has a wider range of sightseeing interests that she feels are important.  We decided to take a circular route that included the Warren General Store, mountain scenery, and the Quechee Gorge.

On that Saturday, we went to the grocery store for some replenishment of things.  One issue throughout the trip has been water.  We have been skittish about drinking the water at campgrounds and this is compounded by the fact that the water lines in the rv have probably been winterized with antifreeze.  Mix that with the fresh water tank having water in it for a long time and not being that happy with the source, bottled water was being used exclusively for cooking, drinking, brushing teeth, etc.  We were using about a gallon of water per person per day.  That was one of the major items on our shopping lists.

Gin went into the trip with ideas for doing some regular cooking.  I did not.  I saw it as a hassle and unnecessary - so many restaurants and so little time.  Her health concerns for both of us and self discipline are quite stringent.  In the end, we did mainly lunches out when sightseeing away from the rv and then light dinner, if any.  We do that when eating out for our day trips near home.  Lunches were sandwiches when at the rv and then some prepared food that was nuked.  Gin also had several frozen leftover dinners that we started with.  All of the above seemed to work as a strategy.  We got to sample the local fare, eat convenient/quick lunches when traveling without the hassle of trying to find a place to park an rv with a toad, not cook when tired from sightseeing, and maintain somewhat of a balanced diet with the mostly healthy foods we ate on the rv.  We returned home and were pleased to see our weights the same or slightly less, in fact.  As to the cholesterol intake, etc., it was mild compared to eating out all the time.

During a break of the seemingly perpetual rain,

 we decided to unroll the awning.  Letting it dry from time to time may prevent mold and deterioration of the fabric.  Alas, one side caught as it was starting and it ended up being cockeyed and possibly stuck - not a good thing.  Luckily, after much thought and moaning, and with trepidation, we decided to give it a shot by hitting the rewind button without trying to do anything else.  It worked.  Another calamity avoided.

Off to Warren and Woodstock, Vermont tomorrow, with a stop at the Quechee Gorge...

New Campground and Stowe, Vermont

We were headed for Randolph, Vermont the next day.  It was tentatively scheduled to be our base of operations for the next few days, including over the Columbus holiday weekend that concerned us about being able to get reservations at an rv park.

We arrived at the Abel Mountain Family Campground and got set up.  We are getting better at the whole process, although overconfidence is the friend of disaster.  It will rear its ugly head at some point and bite us.

The last places have had cable tv.  That is a real plus.  We got to watch the Orioles continue their winning ways.  Amazingly, Gin is becoming a baseball fan.  Cats barking and all of that...

The Green mountains are nearby as well as the ubiquitous train that is seemingly a must feature of every campground.  However, it did not bother us at all.

Our first excursion was about fifty minutes away, Stowe, Vermont.  It is a lovely, little town that is quite touristy.  The main attraction for us was the two, not one but two, general stores that were side by side.  In each were some unique items that were not seen anywhere else in our travels around the Mid-Atlantic area.  Gin commented, quite correctly in my humble opinion, that the unique items had a "hippie" quality" as well as many of the clothing styles.  It was not sunny, but not that cloudy either.  Needless to say, it had rained or was going to rain.  In our experience, that is always the case...

There were all kinds of jams, jellies, tangy and hot sauces, pretzels, nuts, and candies to sample and/or to buy.  We did.

Wildlife that was stuffed (life, stuffed?) was around.  The bear in the picture with me is about sixty percent of the size of the one that we encountered in Glacier National Park a couple of years ago.  This one was much friendlier or at least less obnoxious.

The traditional white church with a tall steeple, a staple in Vermont towns, was there to see.

Instead of a lunch in a restaurant, we found a roadside market quite by accident that had wonderful roast beef sandwiches on their homemade bread.  It was the cheapest and one of the best lunches we had.  Sitting outside was relatively bug free (but not wasp free), but of course, the wooden picnic tables were damp.  I do not like eating outside - never have and never will.

After lunch, we visited the Von Trappe Family Lodge - you know, the Sound of Music family.  Missed the only tour of the day, which no guide or info had warned us about.  We walked the grounds within the limits of what not buying an expensive ticket would allow.  The tickets really only permitted nature trail walks and the like.  There was nothing that would add to our interest in the Von Trappe family, so adios.

But it has great scenery from the altitude on the high point.

From the Von Trappe Lodge, we attended the Stowe Craft Fair.  We are amazed at the creativity and beauty of some of the displays.  There were all kinds of tasting of various jams and so on just like the general stores.  There was also practically a whole tent devoted to wines and other spirits.  I tasted what was the best rye whiskey ever.  Often, companies advertise as "sippin whiskey."   I've never found that to be the case as the alcohol is too strong when taken neat.  In this case, it was strong, but very tasty and very smooth.  Would have been tempted to buy a bottle, but at $67 dollars, no dice - especially when it would take me until 105 to finish the bottle at the rate I drink.  Gin gagged when she took her mini sip, so in the eyes of the beholder....

Back to the campground for planning the next days.....

Rangely Lakes, Maine

The objective today was Rangely Lakes.  We stopped on the way at an info booth in Rumford, Vermont, to see if there was anything else to sight see.  We encountered the genuine article of a true Maine character in the info office.  He had the accent, character, and demeanor or what you might expect.  Turns out, there is not much to really see in Rumford.  His best suggestion was the paper mill in town - "Yes sirree Bob, when them there trucks unload the wood chips, the truck is prit near straight up and down."  Okay, I may have thrown a little hillbilly in that quote, but through my West Virginia upbringing filter, that is exactly what I heard.  We chuckled over that one.

Reminds me of some DownEast, Maine humor.  Bill says to Bob, "Jed had to put his dog down t'other day."  Bob, "T'were he mad?"  Bill, "Dog T'weren't too damn pleased!"

The leaves were still in peak from the day before, which may seem to be a strange thing to say.  However, we will to learn by experience that the peak season may last a few days or a less depending on rain, wind, and the forces of weather.

The pictures do not do justice to what we saw.  This and the day before were the best foliage of the entire trip.  To reiterate, New England simply provides foliage that has not been seen by us anywhere.

Not everything was about the foliage.  We ran across some hunters that had their dogs in the back of the truck.

Bethel, Maine - Peak Foliage Time

The drive to our campground near Bethel, New Hampshire was relatively uneventful.  It was in rain, of course.  We arrived at the campground and told the lady who stopped by to welcome us - the office was officially closed at the time, two thirty in the afternoon - that it might be more appropriately named hilltop something.  The driveway into the campground was steep, very steep.  However, the site was a pull through and fairly flat, a plus compared to some places we had been.  

We went to the office at three to check in at the time the office opened.  Bill, the office guy, gave suggestions as to places we might go to to sight see.  He acted as though he had not done it before and we were thinking that this stop might be a bust.  

Hooking up the rv and unhooking the car had been no problem, so we decided to check out the town of Bethel.  Gin had heard so many good things about the town, our expectations were high.  It was a nice town.  It was a nice town.  It was a nice town.  No, I did not have a stroke.  It was a nice town.  There was nothing there of interest to even stop and look into.  We drove around several times and explored every nook and cranny in about 42 seconds flat.  It was a nice town.

Moving on...   We then decided to go to one of the scenic places that Bill recommended, Grafton Notch.  It was still spritzing rain, but we didn't have anything else to do, so we went.  As it turned out, the main attraction was not the falls that we saw, but the fall foliage at its peak.  The colors were overwhelming.  The colors were overwhelming - see no stroke above.  There were brilliant reds, yellows, oranges, and they were everywhere we looked.  Nothing Gin or I had ever seen could compare.  This foliage made the whole trip worth it.  This foliage made the - well, you get it.

 

 

One little item of interest was our hybrid which gets a bazillion miles per galleon of gas.  Since it was twenty eight miles out to the end of where we going and we had seventy some miles left according to the gas digital readout, I thought that we could gas up on the way out and have a margin of error.  There were no gas stations on the way out.  I could repeat this sentence here, but you are probably tire of that.  REALLY, THERE WERE NO GAS STATIONS ANYWHERE.  Gulp!  Normally, I am not one to worry about this situation, but not only were there no gas stations, there were no houses, no people, signs of civilization, no signal on Gin's smart phone to check where civilization was, and only one moose on the way as we started worrying - and the moose wasn't talking.  She was just munching away and could care less about how our dried bones would look to future adventurers who had the gasoline in their tanks like they should have.  

Finally, we came across a road crew, the only human beings (some might dispute that, but they were one of the prettiest sights our sore eyes have seen) to ask where we could find a gas station.  We were told the nearest one was probably in a small town in New Hampshire, remember that we started in Maine.  Part of the plan I had for gas was to get to Upton, Maine, a small town on the map.  When we passed through Upton, there were three houses spread a half mile apart, two of which were dilapidated ones with nine vehicles surrounding them in West Virginia's state car color, rust with primer red   in a few spots.  No sign of life was around them.  The third house had a picture of Anthony Perkins on the front door.

So, I babied the hybrid like I never have before.  The gas mileage for that ten miles was probably two bazillion miles per galleon.  Anticlimactically, we got there and put gas in the car.  To make a play on an old commercial, "How do you spell relief?"  G a s

We went to a place in Bethel suggested by Bill for dinner.  Had pizza in the dining room because the pub in the basement had a waiting list.  Pizza was goooooooood!  Gin had a Sam Adams draft.  What a treat for us.

Tomorrow, we are off to Rangely Lakes, high altitude bodies of water......

Poppin Over to Acadia National Park

It took longer than we expected to get to Acadia, but after missing the turn into the campground with faulty directions from the phone navigation app, we got there in sunshine, no less.

We had decided to try to do as much of Acadia as possible because of difficult campground reservations on the impending Columbus Day Holiday and move on the next day to Bethel, Maine.  The ladies in the campground office were extremely helpful in suggesting the highlights and routes to best enjoy Acadia.  They were right on target.

We first drove up Cadilac Mountain.  The scenery was wonderful on the way up, but the view from the top was spectacular.  To look out and see Bar Harbor and the many small islands dotting the ocean nearby was breathtaking.   For myself and with no reading about Acadia, I expected the typical, flat, sandy island with sandy beaches, etc.  However, coastline is composed of huge rocks, crashing waving and trees that pretty much go right to the water.  We stopped at Thunder Gulch, Otter Point, and Sandy Beach.  The latter is a seemingly paradoxical, to me at least, mix of sandy beach and the aforementioned rocks, etc.  It was all very spectacular and well worth the relatively short amount of time we spent on Acadia.

Thunder Gulch

Dinner was at Jordan's Pond.  The featured attraction there was their world famous popovers as shown below.  Very impressive visually, but lacking a substance as far as I am concerned.  I like my bread heavy as opposed the the light, airy popover.  The jam served with the popovers was "homemade" and really good.

Got back to the rv around eight.

Decided that we had hit the high spots at Acadia and will move on to Bethel, Maine tomorrow.  Route 2 is going to be the primary road.  It should be an interesting drive.

Raining on Flying Pigs, Lobsters, and L.L. Bean

It's raining again with a forecast of only thirty percent chance of it.  Reminds me of the national weather service forecast of a few years ago.  By using supercomputers and the combined expertise of all the brainpower there, they predicted that there was a fifty percent chance of more snow that year.  Think about it, fifty percent essentially means that it might or might not snow more...

Drove to Freeport.  Nice little town and we were there early after waking up about daylight. Got a good parking place right in the L.L. Bean complex.  Went to the Home Store, the outlet, and then to the regular retail outlet.  Lots of good stuff of which none that I need or bought and neither did Gin.  Overall, though, it was mildly disappointing in terms of expectations.  

We found the When Pigs Fly Bakery as suggested in a guide.  They had all kinds of unusual breads and samples of most.  Bought some with cranberries, dates, nuts, and other stuff.  It was great.

Lunch was at the local lobster pound.  Gin got a large lobster and I got sea food chowder. Gin loved the butter with the lobster.  My chowder was good.  It was an authentic New England experience.  The rain was pouring.  It was chilly.  We enjoyed it as an authentic New England experience.

Went back to the rv for a planning session.  Discovered that the Columbus Day weekend was going to overrun the campgrounds.  We moved up our timetable somewhat and decided to go to Acadia National early the next morning.

Although it stopped raining for about twenty minutes at one point, it started again and kept it up most of the night.  

Off to Acadia next...

On the Way and Our First Night in Maine

We decamped to go to Portland.  Of course, it was still raining.  Now I know how big the national debt is because about 16 trillion raindrops per hour fell through the night and into the morning, but it quit around daybreak.   Had a little trouble with the self levelers, but am getting used to mini-crises.  It worked out with a little patience and some cussing at manufactures in general.  Not all stuff is their fault.  The pantry that is a 

multi-bracketted, vertical holder of the cereal for the dogs and me, would not slide out. Now, this is a major crisis.  After much surveying, grunting while laying on the floor, and applying higher levels of engineering expertise that I don't have, Dan mentioned that most operate by a lever somewhere.  When he was saying that on the phone while while Gin was talking to Beth, I saw something that suspiciously looked like a lever.  HELLO!  Problem solved.

Just as an aside, while dealing with all of the little issues such as above, I have noticed approximately half the national debt number of screws that are missing, not turned all the way in, etc.  That doesn't include the brittle plastic tabs I broke off the screen between the bathroom fan and the vent.  Of course, the fan blades had come off the fan spindle connected to the fan motor, connected by 2 flimsy metallic thingamabobs held by a whichamacallit and so on.

The drive through Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and then Maine went well for the most part. There was some drizzle at times, but nothing terrible.  The roads in Connecticut, New York, and parts of Massachusetts were very, very bumpy at times.  People picture the drivers of class A motorhomes as smiling, serene, and loving life on the road.  For me, although it is getting better, a bumpy road causes me to be a mover and shaker - not the kind you are thinking about.  Dishes rattle, joints creak, the top heavy chassis is frequently leaning, the wind makes noise, my teeth are rattling, and there are other noises too many to describe.  One salesman described driving an rv as managing an earthquake following behind you.  Not bad.

Got to the campground.  The new supplementary braking system seemed to work fine, but how do you know?  Unhooking was okay, although Gin has to learn that the car has to have the ignition on for it to move - a minor problem.

Hooked up in the rain.  The number of raindrops falling on my head now numbers the amount of dollars our democratic governor has increased our taxes by.  A washer was missing from the fresh water hose, but I had extra washers - see previous blog about cats barking.

Rain, rain, and more rain.  Gin had to take the dogs out.  It was darker than the insides of a wolf.  More fun.

Went out to dinner at a family restaurant recommended by AAA.  Nothing in Maine is close. It the most spread out thing since I dated Fat Myrtle in high school.  Took 25 minutes to get there.  However, the food was good, the atmosphere real New England (we were the only strangers to the owners there), there was a piano player who played oldies, and we met some folks in their mid eighties who were delightful.  They heard us tell the waitress that we are from Baltimore and being Red Sox fans, they struck up a conversation.  Nice people there and would recommend it to anybody.

Gin had a lobster roll and we both had blueberry pie.  We never have desert, but this was suggested in the AAA book and it was as right as rain - wait a minute, I would not consider rain right at this point (see 16 trillion above)

Tomorrow, we head for L.L. Bean in Freeport in the toad.  Gin is looking forward to more lobster.

A Toad Reborn

We took it easy while waiting for the car to be finished the next morning. , The dogs will be meowing and the cats barking tonight because they finished the job by 11:15.  Of course, lunch was from 12 to 12.30 so we could not pick it up until after 12.30.  Decamping was not a problem with the dreaded black water draining not being necessary - Yeah!  We got to the shop, were oriented to the supplementary device by an excellent technician, and went in for the bill.  It took about thirty minutes for the bill to be done and paid.  Got a show price for the unit which saved us about four hundred dollars, so it is tough to complain much.  I am very satisfied to this point about the experience.

We were off to the booming metropolis of Metamoras, PA.  The campground there was about the only alternative unless we wanted to drive an hour more.  With the uncertainty of when the car would be completed, we opted for the relatively short ride of nearly 3 hours.  

The campground was cheap - probably for a good reason.  First the manager(?) told us to hook-up in the wrong site.  Had to have her walk out to the site to prove it to her.  

Then, the toad was dead, ded, doornail dead, no battery, zilch, nada, etc.  Very frustrating after the supposed and expensive fix.  Turns out that it was an idiosyncrasy with a key that we had had made.  After calling AAA and then figuring out the problem myself (see dogs meowing above...), we cancelled the service call just as the guy arrived.  He was understanding and said that he also really understood hybrids and would take a look just to make sure.  With his infinite understanding of electromechanics and probable mail order degree in engineering, he said it was a loose wire.  Didn't say anything but thanks for the memory.

Actually the AAA guy and manager were both nice, but both were inept.  I know, the kettle and pot thing....

Anyway, back to the campground.   It was beside I84 and noisy as could be with the big trucks.  It was raining hard much of the night.  It sounded like the inside of a drum at times.  Amazingly, it did not bother me that much or Gin who lives better through chemistry, that is, by taking a sleeping pill.

We decided to cut our driving the next day by half because of the driving rain that was predicted, pun intended.  It was not as bad driving with the toad as my anxieties had thought they would be, but it was not pleasant in any sense.  We frequently drove around 50 mph, but many other people were too.  It was a good decision as we would have been on the beltway around Boston at a prerush hour time.  Not good.  I would just as soon be beaten with a stick as drive at that time around Boston.

Got to the campground and wanted a pull through so we wouldn't have to unhook the toad.  The only available pull through was a 30 amp, which I thought we had a converter for in the rv, but was not.  So, we unhooked the toad and then hooked up the rv in the rain.  It sounds worse than it was - well, maybe not....

Off to near Portland, Maine tomorrow if the universe is willing and the crick don't rise...

Cabelas, Love, and Uturns

We are on our way to New England.  Our first stop is Shartlesville, PA, a campground near the rv repair shop in which we will have a supplementary braking system for the toad installed. It is really needed for the towing as even the hills along route 10 demonstrated on the way here.  No real problems, but the mountains in NE will create a lot of wear and tear on the rv, imho.

It took about 40 minutes to hook up the toad and get out of the lot.

Some observations on the way up

     Folks along Lancaster and Reading really keep their property attractive

     Route 10 was a two lane, curvy road

     I am much more comfortable driving now

     Farm machinery rules the road in rural PA - slow, slooooow

The drop off for the toad work involved a uturn through a Hess gas station with the toad behind and then through a hardware store parking lot on the way back.  I am learning that the no uturns signs for businesses mean maybe and will try my best not to do this, but the PA road rules almost demand it for rvs.  I doubt if the businesses will ticket us, but the PA state police will for sure when making an illegal turn on the highway.

The rv feels like a race car without the toad behind.

While looking for a grocery store, we came across Cabelas.  We did not know what kind of store it is, but it is BIG.  Turns out to be a an outdoor outfitter.  They had a huge parking lot with room for sixty or so rvs and hundreds of cars.  We spend about an hour there.  They have great merchandise if one is an outdoorsman or like that kind of clothing. It was quality stuff with comparable pricing.  Lots of camo clothing, ammo, guns, fishing supplies, a pond with fish in it, stuffed animals (kept looking for deer crossing signs), and some bargains too for some things.  It was busy for a late Wednesday afternoon.  The second amendment is the rule here.  A sign in front of the store says to check your firearms there...

We missed the turn for the rv camp despite some precise directions from the office.  An interesting thing we saw was a Love's gas plaza.  Must have been 100 trucks there.  It was like they were having a party or something.  Went the wrong way in the lot and got a wave from a driver passing by.  I thought he was being friendly and he probably was. Retrospectively, he may have been communicating to me about going the wrong way and saying that he spared our puny existence in our 31 foot rv by not being run over by a HUGE semi.

The Appalachian Campground is nice.  While in the lot at Cabelas, I thought it was a good idea to call and make reservations at 4 o'clock.  Luck that I did.  They closed at five and we would have been stuck with no place to camp - unless we pretended like we were a truck at Loves and boondocked.  They had cable, which is really nice.  It was our first experience with that as opposed to the very spotty antenna reception.  There were no trains too - a first for us.  I woke up several times during the night with the silence and said, "What was that?"

Will pick up the toad by noon according to the shop's schedule.  Yeah, fat chance!

People Plan: The Universe Laughs

Gin is the planner.  I am the plodder.  I especially plod when it comes to plans.

We arranged to have a 12 volt line running from the rv to toad so that the battery of the toad will not be dead after towing for several hours.  It has not been tested yet.  I hope it works.  It wasn't cheap to put in.  RV mechanics charge about $100 an hour and the guy who installed the line for us probably gave us a break on the hours, but it was still enough for about eleven rounds of golf (at senior rates),  12 good lunches, 13 days of car rental, and 14 partridges in a pear tree.

The pressing issue, pun intended, for the brakes in the toad is critical as we begin to plan for our New England trip.  We probably qualify as "leaf peepers."  The fall foilage is beautiful and what better place to enjoy it than New England.  New England means hills, mountains, and severe circumstances for an rv towing a vehicle.  A supplementary braking system is in order just to protect the rv braking system and probably by law, although the laws are about clear as mud when it they are looked up.

The cost for a supplemental braking system for the toad is about one and half times the total value of all things in the paragraph before last and a gold record by the Partridge Family to boot.  So, being a frugal person (cheap also fits many times), I wanted to shop around for a "deal."  Long story short, places were either not experienced at putting in the system I wanted, too expensive, or did not seem reliable.

We had heard and seen wondrous things about the Hershey RV Show, the one in Pennsylvania and appearing on tv several times.  Gin and I have had basically positive feelings about the ones we attended, so off we went in the car.  It was a nearly 2 hour trip and we got there one-half hour after the opening of the first day.  The place was jam packed already.  There must have been a thousand, no embellishment, rvs there by dealers and more than a hundred vendors with products, not to mention a walk from the nearly filled parking lots that had Sherpas for hire to help with the lengthy hike.

One of the vendors did indeed offer a deal on installation of the exact braking system that I wanted.  The only problem was that the dealer was over 2 hours away and could install it with the earliest time being 3 days after we wanted to leave for New England.  It was decided to make the dealership a stop on the way to New England and get the work done by delaying the trip for 3 days.

We belong to AAA.  We have more than gotten our money's worth with maps, campground guides, and some discounts for tickets, etc.  The time for making tentative arrangements, times, and routes for our trip had arrived.

Long ago in a place far from away, I was involved in professional development with the topic of data analysis.  I preached that to determine causal relationships, one must reduce variables in order to make decisions.   How many variables are there for a trip like this?  Well, there are places that are absolute must sees or stops (see dealership above), highways that have different numbers of lanes, mountains, forests, driving distance capacities for me, places that dogs are allowed or not, 30 or 50 amp services, non-refundable reservations, trains that go by in the night (just like every village having an idiot, campgrounds have trains that travel by only at night with 3000 decibel whistles), reviews of scenic areas on the internet, the electromagnetic flux of the earth, and so on.   We tried the route planning of several services and found the AAA one to fit our needs the best.  I didn't have to gargle that night.  I just poured in the mouthwash and the shaking did the rest.

It remains to be seen how all of this planning turns out, but being a cynical person like I am about some things, perhaps it is time that you reread the title.......