Selling the RV

 This is about nine years after the last blog. Fittingly, it is the finale of the series. It entails the selling (sigh! yeah!) of the rv.

It is said the that the two best days regarding owning a boat are the day you buy - and then the day you sell it. I think the same applies to the owning of an rv. As I remember it, there were 2 main reasons we decided to sell. 

The first one had to do with our original expectation of traveling America at length geographically. With the understanding that we had and still do not have a great need to see every sight in the country, we had covered the eastern U.S. We had traveled previously in the western U.S. by flight and seen really the best scenic vistas and otherwise. This encompassed a lot less sightseeing than most people, but how many times can you be blown away by mountains, cities, etc. It all seemed to start running together. When we started balancing the hassle of the rv and travel in general with the thrills, it just did not seem worth it. Being "dull" people may work itself into the conversation here, or maybe difficult to impress, or maybe just getting old and the hassle was really working on us. Some enjoy the rv parks/camping aspects, not us. Other things such as the growing needs at home for six grandchildren definitely takes precedence.

Secondly, indeed, hassle....  the rv.  To review some that sticks with us even after nine years, a place and expense to park it and even the having window broken mysteriously, a license plate stolen, checking on it when not in use, winterizing, dewinterizing, mechanical issues, replacement of things like the front curtains that did not exist anymore, etc. A major rv issue was our experiences with mountains. A gas engine just does not cut it. It takes a "pusher," a diesel engine to travel extensively up and down in altitude with any degree of speed. 

We never intended to keep the rv for that long. The dogs were a major part of getting an rv in the first place, i.e., not putting them in a kennel during our travel and so on. One of them was no longer with us and the other was getting very old. My health impacted on the possibility that Gin would have to drive if necessary. Her attitude could best be described as "NO WAY!" 

It was time to sell.

I put ads in RV Trader and Craigslist. One serious reply was received after a month or so via Craigslist. Long story short and by the way, much more could be told about the sale. It was a cash deal negotiated that was fair to both. They were a wonderful family of four. Our rv had found a good home. It was a happy day when we delivered for both us and the family receiving the rv in their driveway.

We enjoyed the rv. I tease Gin all the time about getting another one. It will never happen for mostly reasons related to my health and just old people not being able to cope with the many needs of having another child, the rv, at this stage in our life. We had a great time. We had trying times. We spent a lot of time fretting about rv when we had it and not being in it. I have spent a lot of time dreaming about getting another one. The dogs loved their many adventures, including not being in a kennel, and certainly we did too. The positives outweighed the negatives by a large margin.

I am glad we did it! 

This completes this blog series. I enjoyed doing - and for the many, many people who did not read, you probably did not miss anything. However, if you are in the brotherhood/sisterhood of having had an rv, well, you probably did not miss anything either. You have already experienced it.

Happy Trails...

The Drive to Ashville, North Carolina

We went to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennesee.  On the trip down, we stopped in Virginia at at Camping World Store to return a front curtain that was mail ordered.  It was an ugly color and it could not be hung using the apparatus we have in our rv, so a return was in order.  The good thing about the stop was that there was a REI type store next to Camping World and Gin found a jacket she had been shopping extensively for.  It was kind of a bright pink and looked good on her.  I tried to buy a matching one, but couldn't find my size - NOT.

With towed vehicle, our rv measures about 50 feet in length.  We took great care whenever leaving interstate 81 to make sure that the gas stations or places we stopped could facilitate our navigation without having to back up, which is impossible without damaging the towing system.  This has always been somewhat of a hassle, but success has been experienced -  so far, so good as the optimist said as he passed the tenth floor after jumping off a twenty story building.

We stayed the first night in a very nice rv park.  Gin and the dog took a long walk all over the park, which took almost a half of an hour, while I connected the essentials.  The car was left attached in the pull-through to avoid some of that chore of hooking up the tow bar, etc.

While places like this advertise the internet, it is glacial in its speed.  Rv places generally are not up to speed, pun intended, in the technology arena.

It was a very quiet location - no train whistles, airplanes taking off/landing and other, many noises we have encountered.  I am reporting this because it news.  My belief is that it has to be something unusual to be reported and this was definitely in the unusual category like man bites dog sort of.

Driving these days has become much easier as reported previously and compared to the initial days of nail-biting and Malox.  We were anxious to try out some sites in and on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We visited a mountain type farm display and took the dog with us.  It was pretty interesting.   Of course, mountains are scenic without even trying.

What was interesting also was trying to leave the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Without much consideration, we elected to take a connecting road back to I81.  Little did we know how steep, winding, and hard to navigate it was going to be.  It seemed like our rear-end passed us on some of the hairpin turns.  I seemed to be standing up at times and only the seat belt kept me from sliding right into the windshield - okay, a little literary license here.  The picture does not do justice to the experience.  We will take care to avoid that sort of road in the future, I hope.  We wanted to stop at one of the major attractions, but missed the turn and it was miles before finding place that we could turn around.  It was not worth it.

We stayed the second night in a rv park that featured hundreds of cows practically surrounding us.  Again, thankfully, it was quiet, another uncommon event.

We arrived at Boone, NC the next day in early afternoon.  The rv park was tight and crowded, but there was really no other choice.  We had to honk our horn to get someone to move their truck out of our spot, but it was done fairly quickly.

We decided to head out and do some things right away without doing a complete hookup.  The long way, a wrong way, was used to get to our destination.  It was probably the most consistently curvy road I have ever driven on and includes the creek beds in West Virginia.

We went to a unique shopping area in a small town named ?.  I got scent of potpourri right away.  My general rule is that any store that has scent is not for me.  It was everywhere, so I went to a park and sat to wait on Gin.  I am sure she would say that the whole place was "so cute."  This is another general rule - well, you know by now.

We found and visited the famous general store once back in Boone.  Gin got a couple of things and I bought some food - my kind of place.  Afterwards, we went to eat at one of the recommended restaurants.  I almost ordered the shrimp and grits, just to see what it is like, but chickened out and ordered their signature dish, which I have forgotten what it was now.  Wish I had ordered the grits.  Anyhow, it was pretty good and it was a nice ending to a long day - or not...

Back at the park, it was dark.  Just dark, not a dark and stormy night.  I got the remainder of the rv hooked up items completed, but could not find the cable connection for tv - CRISIS.  A kind man in the office showed me where it was and the night was saved.

Our next stop was Ashville, NC.  We wanted to see the Biltmore Estate.  After visiting the AAA office, we continued to say that we have gotten more than our money's worth by belonging.  A kind, young lady pointed us toward some local sights and places to eat.  Some good advice for the Biltmore was given also.

On the way to Ashville, we pulled into a gas station behind a car and sat waiting for the car to leave - and sat and sat.  Finally, I went into the convenience store attached and asked whose car it was.  Nobody knew, GULP.  Backing up is impossible with a towed vehicle as noted above and there was not room to get around the car in front of us.  The only possibility was to unhook the towed car and then manuever both the rv and car past the obstruction.  Talk about a real time consuming tenuous process...  One of the ladies in the store thought that the owner of the car might be in the restroom and had been there for awhile.  Sure enough, after about ten minutes, a pale looking young lady appeared and moved her car.   She was obviously not feeling well.  Case closed.  By the way, gas prices were approaching three dollars a galleon in this region or Tennessee, I don't remember.

Because the Biltmore is a most of the day sort of experience, we went to the Grove Inn in the afternoon we got there, which is on a hillside above Ashville.  Although it is a working hotel and a very large, busy one at that, it is also a tourist attraction.  It was as advertised and a good experience.  We really enjoyed it.  From there, we went to a shopping area that was recommended.  Despite getting lost and turned around, we found it and enjoyed this area also.  Gin bought a unique soap dispenser and I bought pumpkin spice fudge and chocolate fudge - my kind of place.  Gin has a thing about pumpkin spice coffee and the fudge seemed like a good idea - and it was!  Gin would NEVER buy something like the fudge for herself, but somehow, it is okay for me to get it and than she enjoys it.  Go figure.

The Biltmore visit is in the next post....

R Trouble V

RV, thy middle name is "Trouble."

We expected June through August to be largely a down time for the rv.  Down time turned out to be with a capital "D."

The air conditioning was a concern.  On the way to Luray (sounds like a song title), the fan would only operate on one speed and even then, the air was not that cool.  That was not a problem as it was a relatively nice time of the year in April.  After extensive research, I determined that it would take about six hundred dollars, no kidding, of labor alone to fix the fan speed problem.  The labor intensive job required taking the dash off to get at the recalcitrant part, the fan control switch.  Determined by my frugal nature and sense of high adventure, I left early one morning with my trusty tools and a resolve to fix the problem myself - or at least give it the old college try.  Long story short, my Rube Goldberg remedies did not work.  After about 2 hours of these, I got frustrated, searched for a way to reach up under the dash, and fix the control manually.  I soon learned that it would require an Orangutan's reach and dexterity to reach the problem area under ordinary circumstance.  However, by imitating a pretzel, that is, laying on my back across the seat and transmission housing with one foot leveraged against the couch, going up by the steering column while missing the abundant jungle of wiring, grunting like pig in flight, and holding my tongue counterclockwise to oppose the electromagnetic flux of the earth's rotational forces, I was able to have one hand on the back of the control and the other on the control knob.  With a weak push on each hand against the ac culprit controls, I was able to then cause the fan control knob to regulate the speed of the fan.  Now to get out of this position....

The ac obviously needed recharging.  I took it in to a local guy and had it done.  Case closed - famous last words.

When taking the rv back to the storage facility, I heard a beeping never heard before.  Upon parking the rv and checking around it for problems related to the beeping, I noticed an orangish fluid underneath.  The mechanic was called and the rv taken back.  It was not ac fluid, it was hydraulic fluid that was leaking from the automatic levelers.  So, the rv was back in the shop.

In their infinite wisdom, the manufactures had put the hydraulic lines so they would rub against the battery tray and eventually sever the lines.  Grrr!

A week later, I went to pick up the rv.  It was out front on all four levelers up all the way.  I thought, good to know that they work now.  I got in the rv where the mechanic was and he was checking out something else, the infamous yellow warning light for service previously mentioned.  He said, I'll raise the levelers so that you can see that they work."  I said, "Uhh, Bob, they are already raised."  To save time and space and to not bore myself or the reader, it went something like this.  Bob surprised - Bob confounded - levelers win battle - Bob fighting valiantly with meters, screwdrivers, wooden beams, hammer, flashlights - Bob under rv with rain pouring down and flowing under the rv trying to disable levelers - levelers laughing (I swear that I heard them) at us both - and so on. One and a half hours later, the rv was in the shop with a promise to get it fixed.  Bob never cussed once.  What a guy!

A few days later, the levelers were fixed after ordering a part from a vendor/manufacturer.  Between the ac and levelers issues,  we had spent around thirteen hundred dollars.  Just an average adventure month with the rv.

The daughter's baby time is getting close, and other things came up, so no trips.  Nothing to sweat with the rv, right?  The guy from the storage lot calls and says that a window is broken on the side of the rv.  It appeared that a bird had flown into the side of a window and made a quarter sized hole - which promptly grew into a hoola hoop sized hole when touched.  It is amazingly easier and probably less expensive to replace the whole window frame with the windows in them than customize a tempered glass window for that type of vehicle.  It took four weeks and close to a thousand dollars, most of it covered by insurance, to repair.

Okay, free and clear, right?  The day the window was installed in the storage area, I was checking out the rv in general and noticed something strange.  There was no license plate on the front of the rv.  I was chiding myself for not putting it on well and checked the back one.  No plate there either.  Being an amateur detective of sorts with the emphasis on sorts, I concluded that the bird that broke the window had also taken off the plates and absconded with them.  Absconded is professional talk for took Roger's plates away to make him cry, cuss, etc.

Police report, spent hours getting new plates (would have been more except for a marvelously, kind woman at the MVA - how often does one get to say that), and wringing hands over possible safety of the storage lot.  The sheriff's department located the plates today on a van with a guy saying, "Who me?" in regard to the stolen plates.

To read the above, one would think that this was a terrible, trying, testing, tiresome, experience.  I can report to you that it is a HELLUVA  lot worse than that.  Glad to get that out of my system - well, somewhat anyway.

We are going to the Hershey rv show next week and to the Smoky Mountains the following week.  Unless..............

Jellystone Park with the Grandkids

Once again, this is being written many weeks after the events and the chronology and accuracy of the memories are to be taken with a grain of salt.

We were invited to spend the weekend with the grandkids at Jellystone Campgrounds in Luray, Virginia.  They were to stay in a cabin and we would stay in the rv.  A major decision was to tow or not to tow (sounds a little like Shakespeare, kick in the rear or something along those lines).  We decided that the general rule would be that if it was a go to, then camp, and pretty much stay there, that towing was not necessary.  As reported previously, driving the rv without the tow is vastly different in a positive way.  To not tow was the choice.

The drive there was uneventful.  I am getting used to driving the rv in a relatively stress free way.  Still, about four hours is enough for one day.  Five hours is possible with breaks.  It may be the same for car driving because that has not been done for quite a while.  We stopped in Lewisburg at a higher end discount (does that make sense?) outlet place.  We had been there before and liked the nicer brands and had found good goods for good prices.   Goody!  Not this time, however.  Our dog did okay being left in the rv while we shopped.  We did not run the generator to keep him cool as it was a relatively cool day, much like the weather we have had since then - one of the coolest springs and early summers that I can remember.  In general, the dog has done well when left alone.  We tried to cool off the rv as much as possible before leaving him, but the fan for the ac was operating on one speed only.  Another thing to get corrected...

Jellystone Park was nice.  The reservations clerk put us at an rv site right across from the kids' cabin.

 There were people on one side of us and the other side was open.  Setup went well and arrangements were made to de-winterize by getting the antifreeze out of the plumbing systems.  No problems so far...

After dinner, we wanted to wash up some dishes, but alas, no hot water.  After checking that everything was turned on and various combinations of the infamous by-pass, cold water, hot water, fresh, water, water water, and nuclear reactor valves near the radioactive core controlled by a super computer that the NSA has not been able to hack into yet, it was determined that the cold water valve was stuck.  Oddly enough, not having the cold run into the hot water tank means that the no hot water can be made.  There was a brochure in the office that featured a rv repairman's number, but after calling ten times or so during the first 36 hours there, we amazingly arrived at the conclusion that the number was no longer working.  No hot water is not the end of the world.  Camping means roughing it to a certain extent and no shower the next morning was not a major problem.

Saturday was a great day weather-wise and the kids made the best of it.  We did the paddle boats, miniature golf, kick ball, gold mining, throwing the lacrosse ball, the birthday party for the campground, and assorted other activities throughout the day.  When I say "we," it means they were active, Gin participated sometimes, and I was as inactive as possible.  I believe that not burning calories protects the environment.

The main activity that the kids and their father enjoyed was the bouncy area.  It was basically an uncovered area with air filled, strong plastic that provided a big time bounce.  It covered about three to four hundred square feet and the kids loved it when the father got on it with them and bounced them in the air if they were near him.  It was quite the workout  for all.  I watched in adherence to my environmental concerns.

Gin took a shower at the kids cabin late on Saturday and I used the bathhouse on Sunday morning for the same.  It was okay, but nothing to compare with the South of the Border showers mentioned previously.

We cooked out over a fire Saturday night.  Gin and I had been drooling over the idea of the wood grilled hamburgers - real hamburgers, not the 93 percent fat free cardboard that has no taste.  Sadly, we were not that excited about these hamburgers cooked that way.  However, the kids must have had hundreds of s'mores and I had a few too - well, just the marshmallow.  It was a good time and pretty good eating in general.

Sunday, we had tentatively planned to go to Luray caverns.  Everyone was tired and so we headed home instead.  Luray is close enough and on the way for future trips that we will take advantage at a another time.

The trip home was comfortable even though there was traffic and delays due to Sunday travelers.  The best part of the trip was a barbecued chicken place along side of the a river.  It was yummy.  These roadside places are invariably good with the chicken cooked over wood or charcoal and are frequently manned by various clubs - Lion, Rotary, or the such.  This one was for profit, a business run by young guys doing a great job.

On to home.  Time to figure out how to fix the fan for the ac and any other maintenance adventures that  await us.  Little did we know...

A Trip Cut Short - Winterizing Adventures

This episode is being written a full month after the events...

Back at the ranch, park, or whatever it is in Tampa, it continued to be warm.  We were enjoying the park in general and being somewhat lazy, or at least I was.  Gin tends to be more active and need things to do.  Me, I like to start slow and then taper off.

In reference to the mild physical discomfort mentioned in the previous blog, it began to play a major role in our plans.  It had gotten so that I was experiencing mild angina from minor exertion and decided to tell Gin about it.  I had not mentioned it previously because of believing that I was just out of shape from not exercising regularly due to foot problems and so on.  When we discussed it finally, she correctly, as she does so often, pointed out that a phone call to the cardiologist was in order to get some professional advice rather than trying to figure out what was going on ourselves.

I called the office of the cardiologist and explained the symptoms to the medical assistant.  She consulted with the doctor while I remained on the phone and came back with saying that the doctor wanted to see me at 2:30 that day.  "Uhh, I'm in Florida on an RV trip."  She replied, "Ohh."  After a three way conversation that included inquiring whether I needed to go to an emergency room or not (it was not nearly that kind of problem), we were urged to get back to Baltimore as soon as possible and that a week from that day would be the time to see the doctor.  More to come...

We stayed another two days with the admonition from the doctor to "take it easy."  Now this is the kind of advice that I can really take and run with - figuratively speaking of course because running was strictly not allowed.  We continued to enjoy the time there and left a day early than we had reservations for.  We had been planning to visit the east coast of Florida to visit Cape Canaveral and the vicinity, but with the change in plans, our trip was effectively cut about three days short in Florida and possibly one or two on the way back home.

Impending weather was an issue for the trip.  There was a severe weather warning for Jacksonville and the east coast and there was essentially no way to avoid it.  We had tried to avoid traveling in rainy weather, but had no choice.  Onward and forward....

We got to Jacksonville on the first day and it looked like we could skirt the severe weather with good timing and actually got further than we planned for the first day.  See the previous blog about planning and the universe laughing - there was a complete stoppage on I95 above Jacksonville.  We ended up staying at the rv park previously stayed at on the way down.  It was okay because of the familiarity of the facility.  The rain battered our rv.  With the tornado warning, it was kind of exciting, frightening, and so on.  Being in a powerful rain storm in an rv is like being in a tin can beaten by hyperactive marimba musicians that have od'ed on Red Bull, well at least close to that.

We took off the next day with no problems.  Out goal was to get to northern South Carolina, but we went further and ended up at the infamous South of the Border.  Gin wanted to shop there.  We had been once before and I can only describe this place as being so bad that it is good.  We got there and were directed to a site that was basically under water on one side.  We went to another site with the permission of the rv park office and it was not appropriate either.  Another site proved to be fine, although we had only thirty amp service.  That proved to be no problem with our handy, dandy adapter.

I wanted to take a shower, so for the first time ever in an rv park, I used the public bath house.  Other than the mold on the wall, IT WAS THE BEST SHOWER I'VE HAD EVER.  Ever since the federal/state laws have put limits on volume of water from shower heads, taking a shower is a wimpy experience at best.  This baby pumped out water in a stinging, hot spray that was practically like a power washer.  It was good, good, good.  My kingdom for a shower like that at home...

It had been sunny when I went to take the shower.  Did I mention what a great shower it was?  Anyhow, at the time we had decided to go shopping at Pedro's South of the Border, the sky clouded up and it poured rain.  No shopping, no Pedro, no schlocky merchandise to pore over.  Oh well, plans and all of that.

The next stop was above Richmond for two reasons.  We wanted to get relatively close to home for a short drive the final day and there was an rv dealership near the campground.  Now for our adventure in winterizing.  By coming back early to Baltimore, we faced freezing weather, which is a huge hazard for the water lines and tanks in the rv and potentially disastrous for the water damage to the rv.  I had read up interminably on the web about how to winterize the rv, so no problem, right?  Got the antifreeze, spent an hour figuring out how to get it into the fresh water tank, and put the suggested two gallons in.  The water pump would not pump it into the water lines as so universally stated in many web sites.  Could I have interpreted the information wrong?  You damn betcha!  Or the info was wrong.  Anyhow, back to dealership for more antifreeze.  This time, a man overhearing my request for more antifreeze said, "I sure hope that you didn't put that in the fresh water tank."  Gulp!  He proceeded to sell me a simple pump for installing the antifreeze in the water lines through the city water outlet.  Problem solved - except for the antifreeze now in the fresh water tank.  Stay tuned for that adventure that has not happened yet.

We got home the next day, put the rv in storage, and got ready for the visit to the cardiologists the next day.  Friday, the doctor, Monday at University Hospital, another stent, and home the next day.  A persistent mystery of how my cholesterol has been so very low throughout my life and still getting clogged arteries is bugging me and my doctors.  It is what it is.

Since then, it has consistently been freezing temperatures in the mornings.  Winterizing into April is a must.  Have to remember that in the future.

Stay tuned for our Virginia trip to Jellystone Park RV camp and Luray Caverns in Virginia - and dewinterizing the rv...

Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Tampa

Gin had selected St. Augustine as a must see place in Florida.  We decided to travel from Jacksonville to there by car because getting reservations near St. Augustine proved to be impossible due to the Daytona racing calendar.

We were talking about something, got distracted and missed the exit.  We ended up traveling an extra fifteen to twenty miles because of that.  The navigation feature on her phone was turned off, but it may not have been speaking anything anyhow.  For some reason, when we decide to go a different way and ignore "her," the navigation stops speaking to us.  Who says machines are not alive.

We paid (probably too much) for the guided tour by trolley.  The tour guides had a clever and amusing repertoire of history and interesting tidbits during the tour.  You could get off the trolley and catch another one every fifteen minutes.

Lunch was the Columbia Restaurant, a Spanish oriented place.  The decor was wonderful as seen below.  Our food was not as good as it sounded from the description on the menu, but it was good in general.  This was a restaurant where ambiance made up for better than average food.

The trolley tour guide pointed out numerous features of St. Augustine and a lot of the history.  It was interesting for the most part.  For example, there is a long, low lying depression on one side of the city that was the location of the moat.  Another interesting story was about the white washing of the fort during a battle to fool the British.  St. Augustine history in as few words as possible - Spanish, British, Spanish, Indians, British, Flagler, railroad - but you get the picture.  We visited the Basilica  in addition to the required totally touristy shopping locations.  We enjoyed the day, but it was still cool and a hot coffee hit the spot in the afternoon.  All of the walking took its toll on me for some reason, but more on this later.

The third day in Jacksonville was a day to relax and rest.  We did take a drive to see what the city looked like and explore in general.  Everything in Florida, so far, has a nice, new appearance.

On Tuesday, we drove to Tampa to our week's reservation at a rv park there.  We wanted to be near Dunedin, on the coast as Gin had read about things to do there.  We arrived and immediately found a situation that left something to be desired.  The entry sign clearly said that rvs should go to the right around a very tight circle to end up in front of the office for registration.  Gin and I both recognized that it was going to be a very difficult turn with our car in tow.  By stopping ahead and with the forewarning, a wide turn was initiated that looked like it was going to take out the right side of the driveway's vegetation  signs, three palm trees, a dumpster, three old ladies with poodles, and assorted landscaping.  We avoided scraping the landscaping, just barely, and stopped as directed in front of the office with the toad in a precarious position that might cause it to run over a good sized rock that could damage the car.  Well, that could wait until after registration.  To jump ahead a little, the next day we saw a longer rv with a toad trying to do the same thing, but the length made it impossible.  An irate lady was demanding that park personnel help her husband, probably in his mid to upper seventies, unhook the dolly holding the car, move it to a location past the circle, then hook it up again.  She was dead on with her anger.  For a park of this quality, this was a very strange situation that defies belief in that it was not addressed.

We registered and went out to survey the potential for disaster.  I decided that almost taking the office wall down with the front, right of the rv would work..... and heavens to Mercatroids, it did with three frog hairs to spare.  I found a flat spot to unhook the toad before getting to the assigned site and another miracle occurred with a smooth unhooking.  Onto the site....  All the sites were back-in, which meant turning a 32 foot vehicle into a narrow spot that was bordered by a large tree and a large landscaping tie on the other side.  Gin gave me directions from outside and behind the rv while I was backing, but the real progress was made when a gentleman showed her that the post designating the site could be simply lifted up and out of its hole.  This logistical task took only a minute or two, but several nearby senior citizens were seen rolling on the ground, not dying, but shaking with laughter - not really, but it makes for a good story.

We got settled in.  It was warm and for the first time, it felt like Florida.  As we ascertained from visiting other nearby rv parks, this was far and away the best rv park that we could have been in.  We were really lucky.  Gin's extensive research and planning played a role in the choice, but we were lucky that that they even had a vacancy.  Every once in a while...

The park had a dog run that was very well taken care of - an oddity for the ones we have visited.  It also had a warm water bath for the dog, which he appreciated.  The main activity seemed for everyone to have a dog and walk it, so Gin was right at home.  People were friendly, even though we were in the vast minority of short term rvers.  In particular, our next door neighbor from Branson, Missouri filled us in on everything we needed to know.  We went for a relatively long walk with the dog.  Once again with the extensive walking, there was some discomfort on my part.

Our neighbor, when asked, said that the next day park activity, a barbecue  was well attended.  As one our goals for the trip was to eat a grilled hamburger, that is, one cooked over charcoal briquets or a wood fire, this seemed like a good idea.  We went and the hamburger was delicious.  It was the first real hamburger, not the 93% fat free ones cooked over a gas grill, that we had had in over a year.  We sat down in one of the limited remaining spots with a couple from Illinois.  We had a conversation about the park, rvs, and so on.  It was a nice time.  It was warm and it was nice.  Ahh, Florida...

The next day, we went to a state park on the gulf coast.  We shelled mainly.  Got a bunch of shells for the grandkids.  It was nice and warm, but a breeze was just right.  Other than the sun block I had to apply, it was a good time.  There were some shell veterans there, one who said she had been doing it for fifteen years and that she did crafts all the time.  Later we went to public beach in the state park and ate lunch.  The fish sandwiches were relatively good, but loaded with whatever they deep fried them in. It was very pleasant and we took our good old time for lunch.

We decided that with the time we had that going into Dunedin, was a thing to do, even though that was planned for the next day.  The shops looked unique and I was surprised that Gin did not want to spend hours in them.  She did go into one and I headed for the bakery near by after sitting in the car for a while.  Long story short, we got some of the best carrot cake that I have ever had.  Back to the park and a very light dinner as is our custom when having bought lunch.  Bought lunches usually are more than we can eat and require very little for the remainder of the day.

The next day, we went back to Dunedin, primarily for the advertised farmer's market.  Gin got some strawberryies, which she said were wonderful.  She did some shopping, not much.

We then drove down to Clearwater and had lunch.  Driving into Clearwater was spectacular with its views over the water and with the unusually designed bridge. The Clearwater area has a spectacular beach, with hordes of people to populate them and the environs.  Traffic, traffic, traffic...  The lunch was good and it was enjoyable to eat outside.  We have yet to encounter many, if any, bugs around eating areas or otherwise - certainly not like we are used to in Maryland.

We decided to proceed on down to St. Petersburg on alternate route 19.  Bad choice as it was stop and go like rush hour for miles and miles.  We finally got to the city after going across country and hitting the interstate.  I had heard about the terrible traffic in Florida during snowbird season and have confirmed it!

Without a planned designation in St. Petes, we latched onto an advertised area that was labeled Bay Walk.  It looked like it had been a design for an upscale shopping area near the bay, but probably had succumbed to the 2008 crash and never recovered - a real bust.  Back to the park....

Florida Bound - Cold, Cold, Cold

We are off to Florida, a day later than expected, but off.  It was supposed to rain the anticipated day of leaving, so we decided that driving in good weather for the days following was more important than driving on Saturday of Presidents' Day Weekend.  Little did we know...

The first day was uneventful, although slow.  Going out and around Baltimore was more time consuming than going through tunnels and not going through D.C. as we usually do in a car had the same result.  It was worth the extra time in light of driving through a narrow Baltimore tunnel that is frequently 2-way traffic with stoppages.  I've been stopped on the bottom of the old Harbor Tunnel with a drip, drip, drip on the windshield - waiting for the Chesapeake Bay to collapse in on me - no fun!  D. C. has one murderous stretch of hectic, narrow driving lanes that makes me a little nervous even in a car, so no rv there.

The campground in Roanoke Rapids, NC, was nice the first night, but cold enough to (you fill in the blank).  Plus, the beds were cold and had a lack of latent heat.  I slept in sweat pants, two layers on top, and a hooded sweat shirt with the hood up and was still cold part of the night.  Heat loss in an rv is incredible.  I wondered whether we would run out of lp gas for heating or not.

The second day was equally uneventful driving wise.  The campground was in a stand of pines in good ole boy South Carolina - yehaw!  People were nice there as they usually are in the South - at least, in my experiences.  Cold?  You bet, even though the outside temperature was in the fifties and forties.  Same pajamas as before, but no hood over my head.  By the way, Gin was cold the first night, which had happened only in a different timeline in another universe for her.  The second night, she was hot - back to normal.

Back to the little and knowing...  From the very first mile on I95 the next day, I knew that the dreaded wind was going to be a problem.  No, it was more than a problem.  As stated before, butterflies have been know to rock the rv when sitting still.  The wind was ferocious, meaner than an alligator when the pond goes dry, and more persistent than a broke bill collector.  Driving the rv was like a ride in an arcade with the side to side gusts coming from all directions, or so it seemed.  At times, with my hands at say six o'clock, the wheel would have to be rapidly (Roger has been known to be quick at the dessert table - frequent too) adjusted to the eight or four o'clock position and then back.  It was nasty and really hard work for over four hours.  The smartest thing we did was take a break every hour to my nerves and gear up for the next round.

We arrived at the rv park in Jacksonville somewhat frazzled, but intact with only a few incidents that would have saved me some previous dental costs by grinding teeth down to the crown level in nanoseconds.  Flamingo Lake rv Park was huge but relatively spread out around the lake.  It was nice, but still cold - sweat pants, etc.  Our poor dog, who had had a major haircut before leaving, shook at times and required a sweater too.  I spoke with some people the next day there and those not hibernating were friendly.  We did see some rv igloos heading south.  Those dogs, those amazing dogs, were faster than my rv at times.

Our rv radio has lousy reception and rarely can get only one station and most of the time none.  Spoke with a guy in Camping World our first day in Jacksonville and he astutely pointed out that it was a reception problem.  I had figured that out as the prime suspect, but was narrowly thinking about the problem as being behind the radio and was focusing on how to take the face off and getting it out of the dash.  In my conversation with the Camping World guy, he made me think about the antenna on the roof - duh.  Got back to rv and looked for the antenna, it was broken off.  I hadn't noticed that before.  This was a conversation starter for people in the park and of course, we discussed all other kinds of things too. More about the antenna later.

So, into Jacksonville on Saturday, errands and general survey of Jacksonville on Sunday, and off to St. Augustine the next day.  I can't wait for the Fountain of Youth....

A New Year - 2013

A new year - a cold January - a cold beginning to February that even a Super Bowl win will not warm up - a need for warmth, warmth - a desire to go where no man has gone before... Well, at least to Florida, with apologies to Trekkies out there (among the legions of those who do not read my blog too).

We have had very tentative plans to go south this winter and the time has come to fish or cut bait.  For a number of reasons, we have put off making the decision until now - and it looks like a go.  Got things to do with taking care of business - taxes, paper stoppage, cable, etc. - before heading out.  Oh, and to get the rv ready, a small and important detail.

The rv should have the oil changed and the air conditioning fluids checked.  Have to find a place to do that.  Our rv resource works on the rv parts of the unit only.  The motor and chassis stuff needs to be done elsewhere.

The rv needs to be dewinterized also.  I'll have to read up on that on the internet.  As usual, there will be a lot of articles, blogs, and tips on how to do that.  Even though most are good, there is always that nagging doubt about whether it can be done right or not.  The pesky heater bypass valve is already calling my name and saying, "I'm one of the seventeen valves near the hot water heater and you have forgotten which one I am."  Never mind that turning the wrong one will unleash nuclear tipped missiles from North Korea or reveal the true cause of "global warming" - no pressure here.

In going to the rv to assess what we need to do for the trip, Gin alertly noticed parts of a yellow light cover in front of the rv.  Turns out that the main tactic for holding the parts of the rv together, spit and bubble gum, failed and caused a lens cover to pop off in some high wind and break when hitting the ground.  Of course, finding a one-of-a-kind lens cover specific only to this manufacturer in stock anywhere is nearly impossible, so a call to the manufacturer of the rv, to a recommended dealer, and the dealer back to the manufacturer was in order.  With expedited shipping, it may delay our trip by a day.  Weather may do the same thing, so ..... oh, well.

Then there was the $125 oil change.... but they don't work on air conditioning.

Gin is already planning the stops and has put every rv campground into a itinerary on the AAA website, the best we have found in planning for mice and men.  Three days of driving look to be in store, with a full six hours of playing chicken with the speedsters from New York and Quebec on I95 each day.  We hope to avoid any freezing weather because we will have dewinterized.  I just hope that the rv knows that it has been done.  Water damage to an rv is like a tusami to an earthquake or some such analogy that is unlikely to ever appear on the SAT.

We are watching the weather.  We will try to avoid the rain down the east coast, but it is a balancing act between delay by the rain and traveling on the first day of the long weekend.  Patience patience, weather reports that are conflicting - changing by the minute, more patience, nature is a mother...

A major obstacle or variable in the planning is the Daytona race week.  Apparently, nearly a million race fans descend upon and around the environs of the Daytona Raceway that they affectionately call Race Week, which last eight days.  They must use the metric system or something.  Car race fans, bikers, and the such are in abundance and apparently rvers love it too.  Not my cup of tea. After all, we are mice and men according to the above.

On a sad note, one of our dogs is gone.  Age caught up with her, as it will with all of us eventually.  Although we have only one dog now, the title will remain the same as she will always be with us in our hearts and adventures. 

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......