Catskills and New York City and New Jersey

Thursday October 7

We woke to more sunshine this morning but it was looking a bit precarious. Keeping fingers crossed we proceeded with breakfast, watching the news from home, dog walking and checking the internet and the campground books for a place to stay.

We had ruled out most options for one reason or another and were hoping for the Hill Top Farm Campground in the Catskill mountains, about a couple of hours in the toad from Queens in New York City where we were going to visit Art's nephew David and his wife Faye. Just before we left Art phoned the campground and spoke with the recorded voice.

While Gillian took the dogs for a last run around Art began getting the dish down, slides in, jacks retracted (all just a matter of pushing the right buttons!) and putting the lap top away and the dinette converted back to the dogs' bed. Last chore was for Gillian to go back to the bakery to buy a loaf of fresh baked bread, still warm from the oven.

As we set off through town Art was glad he had his sun glasses handy—the weather was improving by the minute. Today was another easy one almost all on freeways and only two and a half hours including a fifteen minute pee break at one of the rest areas.

As we cruised along Interstate 84 enjoying the scenery and the fall colours the cell phone rang—the campground returning our call and were pleased to book us in for three days. He gave Gillian alternate directions from what the GPS would show, three exits later, in order to avoid a long slow uphill grind in the motorhome.

Still it was mostly up hill from the highway, the last few miles on a windy country road and the last bit on a single track lane.

We stopped at the office and checked in, getting the half price “Passport America” rate for Thursday and the Seniors rate for Friday and Saturday! (Passport America rates usually aren't valid on weekends.) Three days for a bit under $100.00. A good price I guess for this close to NYC. At the office we were informed of the Volunteer Fire Department's Pancake Breakfast this coming Sunday. We should be well fed for our ongoing travels.

We followed the cart to our space alongside some tall trees set up. The site is very grassy and there had been a lot of rain recently so we went to get the pads to place under the jacks. There were only two thick ones and 2 pieces of half inch plywood. What happened to the other two? Art remembered washing the dirt off them two days ago when we were preparing to leave Whispering Pines and propping them up against the picnic table. Oh. That's where they are! We had previously driven away leaving two more of the one inch plywood pads at another campground. He was quite annoyed with himself as the one inch thick pads were very useful and scraps of one inch plywood are hard to find.

As Art was setting things up he realised that the tall trees we were parked beside were between us and the Starchoice satellites! How would he survive three days with out the TV or the internet! Just for the heck of it Art activated the dish controller and let it do its thing. The dish spun around, bobbled up and down, around again etc etc. Five minutes later it stopped its gyrations, locked on the signal. Hard to believe that we were lucky then there must be a tiny line of sight through the branches and foliage. The wind was blowing very strong and gusty and the signal did drop out a bit here and there but later in the evening the wind dropped and all was well!

Pushing his luck Art got out the high gain wifi antenna for the laptop but it couldn't find anything. Ah well, we can do with out e-mail and jokes for a few days! We'll compose the blog entries using Open Office and copy and paste to blogspot next week.

As dusk approached Gillian took the dogs for a longer walk around this large campground. On her return she remarked to Art “I didn't know that beavers ate apples”! She (and the very interested dogs) had spotted a beaver under an apple tree eating the windfalls! She grabbed the camera and went back to try for a photo but no luck. On the way back she saw two white tailed deer and a fox! No picture of them either.

There was a large pond posted "No Swimming" but they did have a swimming pool which was closed for the season of course. We could imagine that this would be a very popular park in the summer. Even this Columbus Day weekend several families arrived to occupy their waiting RV's.

Friday we went out to drive around the area, stopping first at Rock Hill for gas where Art asked where was the nearest place likely to have a brake/tail light bulb for the motorhome. The young lady pointed to a display at the back of the store where he found what he needed. When Art said that he thought he would have to go into Monticello for it she replied something to the effect that she had always called it "Montickelo"! He managed to keep a straight face.

We then continued to explore the area, driving into the town of Monticello where we stopped for groceries before heading back. Passing through Rock Hill again Art noticed a sign for a deli-cafe advertising Jamaican food so we pulled in to investigate. It was mostly take out--they had one tiny table--so we made our selections and carried them back to the park.

We took our food to a nearby table where we could enjoy the sun and the view along with our very good meal. The dogs too were interested but are well aware that begging at the table gets them nowhere.

After lunch Art changed the faulty brake and tail light bulb that he had been neglecting for some weeks. Fortunately we had not caught the attention of the authorities! Perhaps because the car we were towing had working lights. Perhaps because we were just lucky!

While removing the plastic lens he realised that one of the four screws was missing. When checking the other three lights (brake/tail and signal) he found that they too were each missing one screw! Cost savings at the factory? Brass screws are expensive after all.

Saturday was our long awaited day to visit Art's nephew David and his wife Faye in New York City. We had no plans to sight see in the big city, just catching up on Family.

With the dogs to look after we decided that trying to see NYC while being fair to the dogs was going to be difficult. If we later feel that we want to do the tourist thing we will make arrangements for the dogs at home and fly out for a week or so. We might add in Washington DC and a few other cities and make it a tour of a week or two by air.

After breakfast and such we finally set off for Queens. The GPS said we would get there at 12:58--time would tell.

Traffic going towards NYC was much lighter than we had expected it to be. Out bound traffic on this holiday weekend Saturday was much heavier. For the first hour and more the displayed ETA never varied by more than a minute.

Then the toll booths arrived. At the first we lost four minutes. Another eight minutes at the next and finally in the city the traffic caught up with us. We arrived about half an hour "late", managed to back the tracker up the very steep and narrow driveway and we had arrived safe and sound.

We hadn't seen David and Faye for years, when they had just begun their post grad studies. David is now a prof at a New York university and Faye is doing research in Manhattan. They have a very nice 90 year old house in Jamaica NY that they are in the process of renovating and they are doing a wonderful job doing most of the work themselves.

We had lots to catch up on, so we all (dogs included) repaired to the garden. We chatted for hours during which Gillian took off for a while to take the dogs for a walk around the block. Or two. Or three. She went round and round but finally found her way back to the house, ready for a beer while the dogs entertained themselves with the resident squirrel population.

After a while Faye announced that dinner was served! It started with salad and prawns and moved on to roast beef and gravy--Lots of gravy! Faye, like Art, is a real gravy fan. Gillian often tells Art "It's not supposed to be soup!" And Faye agrees with Art that we would like it to be! Oh yes, there were veggies too: Potatoes, asparagus, and I can't remember what else. (Should write this stuff down sooner than a week later!) A huge serving of fruit crumble and ice cream followed with the coffee.

All too soon it was time to retrace our steps back to the Catskills. All was well as we left the drive way and their street, even finding the right turn over the bridge then the GPS began to play tricks: It was leading us home via a different route than the one we came in on! One confusing set of exits was all it took--a wrong turn and we had some 40 blocks of NY City traffic before we were back on a freeway out of town. Traffic was heavy--as heavy as we had seen hours before streaming out of the city as we were meandering inwards.

We arrived home two and a half hours later, Gillian finding the return trip more stressful than the drive into town. And this time Art had been driving!

Sunday morning we woke to another beautiful sunny day and leisurely got ready to depart; feeding the dogs then packing everything up, bring in the slides and retract the jacks. Once all was ready we jumped into the car and set off to find the Mountaindale Volunteer Fire Department's Pancake Breakfast.

Squeezing into a parking place we went in to enjoy pancakes, scrambled eggs, "Western Eggs" (scrambled with onion and peppers), sausage patties and home fries washed down with unlimited amounts of orange juice and coffee. The food was very well prepared and was very tasty. We visited with several locals who were surprise and pleased that we had found their small town (population about 1200). The day was very reminiscent of similar events held at home in Willis Point by the Willis Point Volunteer Fire Department's fund raising efforts.

Pics to come if we can get them out of the camera! We had left our usual camera behind and were surprised to find in the car's glove compartment an old camera with still working batteries. The only problem is that this camera won't talk to the laptop. We will have to locate the card reader squirreled away in here somewhere!

It was 12:30 before we actually hit the road in the bus, tracker trailing behind on our way to New Jersey. Another great day with great scenery. Our route took us along the I-84 freeway to the point were the New Jersey/Pennsylvania borders abut New York's.

Here we turned south east into Pennsylvania and followed the Delaware River then crossed the river into New Jersey.

We stopped for the night at Jugtown Mountain Campsites near West Portal N.J. This was a large campground with just enough trees to interfere with the satellite signal so no TV tonight. Trekker was pleased with the large open field in the middle where Gillian threw his ball until they were both tired out.

Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island

Sunday morning we woke to more sunshine. What a treat, two sunny days in a row! Not in a hurry today, we have several relatively short travel days ahead; part of our plan is to overnight in as many states as possible. For the most part, the states on the east coast as small and easy to cross in a day. In fact we will, after Massachusetts, drive through Connecticut with out spending the night, catching that state on our way to New York later in the week.


Sometime after noon we set off and stopped in the town of Bennington to photograph AbqL's proof of location. Here we noticed several fanciful moose sculptures on the road side.

We had parked in a vacant lot while Gillian went to take the requisite photos while Art stayed with the dogs. He was quickly distracted by some wonderful smells and went to investigate. On the corner was a food cart selling hot dogs, hamburgers, kielbasa with sauerkraut, corn chowder etc. All advertised as all natural ingredients and fresh made. Art noticed that the wieners and hamburger patties didn't go on the grill until ordered and the beef patties were formed at that time as well! Not quite fast food. There was a crowd standing around that had already ordered and were waiting for their food to cook. Art got in line and was just doctoring his hot dog when Gillian arrived and bought a corn chowder to go. Sorry no pics of the stand--hands were full!

Back in the rig we set off again, lunch taken care of. Gillian's soup was too hot for her so she set it aside for a while. She later pronounced it "The best ever."


Just into Williamstown we were stopped by a voluntary toll, operated by the local Volunteer Fire Department. As a long time member (17 years) Art couldn't say no and handed over a few dollars.

As we continued across Massachusetts, essentially on highway 9, the weather remained good, the drive enjoyable until the clouds rolled in and the rain began drizzle down. Soon however we arrived at Sturbridge and Yogi Bear's Jellystone RV Park.



Between showers Gillian headed up the hill to the laundry where she got a weeks worth of washing done. As is common in RV parks the dryers were rather inefficient, it took a couple of attempts to get things dry enough to put away.

At any rate, all we needed was done; fresh water filled, black and grey water tanks emptied, satellite dish working so we watched the news from home and went to bed to the sound of rain on the roof.

We woke to the continuing rain, had breakfast, spent a bit of time on the internet trying to plan our trip to New York City where we would visit Art's nephew. How close dared we take the rig? That is the question of the week.

Happily it was just a short trip today, the driving rain making driving a chore. We stuck mainly to the Interstate 395 south through Connecticut and then the 138 into Rhode Island.

The Whispering Pines RV Park sounded good and we found it without trouble. The office was closed, the sign on the office read "Open at 1:00 PM. As it was 1:35 we parked for a few minutes wondering what to do. The place was heavily treed and the roads very narrow. We were just about to leave when a man arrived on a golf cart labeled "Security" We had a word and he set off in search for someone. A few minutes later another cart arrived and led us to a space out in the open. Satellite TV again!


Our site was not exactly flat but with a couple of blocks under the right rear wheel and the hydraulic jacks we got level and stable. The rain continued to pour down so we spent minimal time outside. Gillian though decided that we should make use of their laundry facilities, so she picked up the laundry bag, detergent and roll of quarters and set off. It was a long walk up hill, by the time she got done trudging back and forth she was well ready for "happy" hour. The dryers weren't particularly efficient so we ended up with clothes hanging all over the inside of the rig. It kind of reminded Art of his bachelor days in the rooming house he lived in in Kelowna.


In the morning, rain continuing, we decided to carry on anyway for a planned visit back into to Massachusetts to Cape Cod. We couldn't have chosen a day with worse weather. Well maybe we could have; at least there was no hurricane. Just a two and a half hour drive in rain and fog.

We managed a few interesting pics along the way but for the most part there was nothing to see. Trying for a photo of the bridge, Gillian said "Are you taking a picture of my nose?" "Of course not!" replied Art.


Until he looked at the photo. Then he couldn't resist posting it. It is after all a very cute nose!




By now it was getting on to lunch time. Checking the road atlas we noticed that the first town along the north coast was Sandwich! How fortuitous! Entering the town name into the GPS (the road atlas wasn't too clear as to the best route) and off we went.






Somewhere along the way the navigator (the one with the not so cute nose) made a small error and we missed the turn to the town centre. Before we could turn around we came across this sign and jumping quickly on the brakes, though missing the entrance, Gillian was able to turn into the exit!








The exterior looked promising, the interior even more so.







While Gillian went to wash up Art made an executive decision and ordered two Boddingtons, a favourite English ale. The menu was extensive and held much promise, which it lived up to. Chicken Pot Pie for Gillian and a Turkey Pastie for Art. No room for desert!


After this most enjoyable break in an otherwise dreary day we continued on along the coast road to where the cape turned north. We turn around and took the main highway back, covering in forty minutes what had taken us an hour and a half on the “scenic” route. After a stop for gas we changed drivers, Art took the wheel and we returned through the rain to the rig in time for dinner. We did get a little lost a few miles from home but it only cost us a few minutes, which paid off the next morning as we found a shorter route to the freeway!

The heavy rain continued, pounding on the roof throughout the night. We woke in the morning to pouring rain and as Art went out to connect the car he noticed the right rear jack had settled a little.

In retrospect we should have put pads under the rear jacks. The overnight rain had resulted in a small stream running under the motorhome, right over the jacks. The right rear jack had sunk a few inches into the mud overnight. This of course is the the jack with the weakest retract springs! This had happened several years ago in a grassy field and that time it took us half an hour to extract it!

All packed up Art started the engine, letting the air pressure build, retracting the slides then the stabilizer jacks. They all came up, including the one in the mud. When we parked here and leveled up the right rear tires came off the ground. This situation is not recommended so Art lifted the right side even more, slipped a one inch plywood pad under each tire and lower them down again. Remember this.

There was no sewer connection at our site so we drove to the dump station to find a large muddy puddle covering the site so we set off with near full waste tanks. We would need a little waste water management tonight.

Wednesday, Oct 6th

By 10:50 we were on the road again still in driving rain. We were on our way to New York but had still not spent a night in Connecticut (though we had passed through) to earn the sticker. We had planned to get as close to the New York state line as possible but the rain made driving a real chore so two hours later gave up and stopped at a Walmart in Waterbury, Connecticut for the night.

We pulled off into a parking area at the far side of the Walmart lot and Gillian went in to ask permission to stay the night. Art meanwhile put the jacks down and the slides out hoping for an affirmative response. Gillian soon returned to confirm our welcome so Art turned on the inverter and activated the dish controller, set up the lap top and new external wifi antenna and Presto! We had TV and internet. The wifi was courtesy Panera Bakery across the street so after the dogs were walked we walked over for coffee and scones and to thank them for the wireless. Worth the trip.

Art's cell phone (now with our US AT&T chip installed) beeped with a text message—the phone card was about to expire! Still over $100.00 on it, but the time was about to run out. We had a one year card, updated last year on our way to Mexico. He dashed into Walmart to buy a new $100.00 card—only $96.00 plus tax! The phone is now now good to October 2011 ! With $200.00 credit we won't be afraid to use the phone!

USA at last: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont

Before leaving the Walmart parking lot in St John New Brunswick we made use of the internet access from Starbucks for a last e-mail check and were glad we did. We found one of importance--a document that had to be signed and witnessed and mailed to our broker. The timing was pretty close--not licensed to operate in the U.S. our broker could not take instructions from us if were were in that country! We printed it out and went into the next door CIBC (bank) where we had our signatures witnessed, mailed the envelope and set off for the USA.

We weren't in a big rush, we weren't planning on going far so didn't set off until afternoon. Looking for a place to stop for lunch we saw an information (?) symbol on a highway sign and took the exit. It was 10 miles to the town of Black's Harbour where the information centre was located and it was closed when we got there! We parked in the lot, made a sandwich and backtracked to the highway and south once again.

At the Canada US Border crossing at St Stephen, New Brunswick and Calais, Maine, we were greeted with "Where are you from? Are you on your way home?" When told "Not directly, we'll spend a month or six weeks in the US then head into Mexico for the winter" the border agent asked if we would be leaving any thing such as gifts in the US. We said no and were sent on with a "have a nice trip". The agent's demeanour through the entire conversation was brusque to say the least. No sign of a smile or any hint of friendliness or smile. Nevertheless the words were good and shortly after we had entered the country we realised that we had not thrown out (as planned) our planter of herbs that travel on the dash!





Half an hour south of the crossing we stopped for another "Location" photo with AbqL the traveling rock. Here near the town of Perry we crossed the 45th parallel.

The rain and fog stayed with us for most of the day, the temperature however was quite reasonable. We stopped at a boat launch where there was room to turn around and gave the dogs a bit of a break. Believe it or not there are a couple of fishing boats at anchor just off the beach. Click the picture, you might make them out.

About half an hour later on a very rough section of road through a construction area all the warning lights flashed just for a moment, accompanied with a momentary sound of air dumping the all returned to normal. Except for the speedometer which now read ZERO! After a while of Gillian monitoring our speed on the laptop (which is connected to the engine computer) she decided to bring up a larger gauge that would display the speed in MPH in a font large enough for Art to be able to read from behind the wheel. Just the occasional glance would be enough to keep us safe and free from tickets!

After the break the weather continued to deteriorate, increasing rain and wind until we arrived at the campsite in Bar Harbour, Maine. We chose a site not too close to the trees not so much for the satellite, but to be clear of falling branches! The forecast was for increasing winds overnight with sustained speeds of 30 to 50 knots and gusts to 70 knots. The trees were swaying and bending, gusts would occasionally rock the motorhome but not enough to cause the satellite dish to loose the signal!

The ground had been wet here for quite a while, long enough in any case to allow these mushrooms to flourish alongside our campsite. Though pretty, we knew enough to NOT be tempted. With our recent run of luck they would have proved deadly! Or perhaps they are a rare delicacy that we missed out on! Any one out there recognise them?

October 1st! Already!

Once again we set off at "the crack of noon" heading for New Hampshire.

Besides just seeing the country one of our aims this trip is to add the "stick on states" stickers to our map. Our rule is that just passing through a state doesn't earn a sticker--we have to spend at least on night in the RV. This adds a complication to route planning.

Weather today was much the same, scenic though and still the fall colours to enjoy, although some sunshine would be nice.

As we drove off Art realised that the speedometer was working again! Last night he had posted a question on www.rv.net and this morning had received a full explanation as to how the signals to the gauges are processed and what may have caused the problem; a loose or slightly corroded terminal in a connector some where along the line. Apparently all the info on all the gauges is carried via a three wire cable--ground, power and data. Each gauge takes the data it needs. It seems that you can switch connectors from one gauge to another and the gauges will still work normally!

An hour and a half later we stopped for fuel at Bucksport, Maine for fuel. Art was intrigued by the very common sign offering "clean" diesel. He wonders if he could buy dirty diesel at a cheaper rate and allow his fuel filters to earn their cost!

This was a pretty spot, we took a few photos and while Art fueled the rig Gillian walked up the street to a grocery store to stock up. Fuel done Art pulled around behind the station to wait for her return.

Moving on we came across a beautiful bridge that had replaced the old one and shortly after that an interesting formation in a rock cut.

At 6:15 in the rain, the last town before we left New Hampshire (remember the comments above about routing!) we pulled off the freeway to Seabrook just 2 miles short of the Massachusetts bordedr . No RV parks in sight, we had set the GPS to Walmart in Hampton. The navigator (who shall remain unnamed as she would be cooking dinner) had by mistake clicked on one located 18 miles south of where we had planned to stay. Same road, different address!

We pulled in to find signs posted "No Overnight Parking or Camping. Tow Away"! Not impressed. (Some municipalities have bylaws prohibiting this) Gillian went into the store to speak with customer service to ask if they had any idea where we could stop for the night. We were told we could in fact stay here! The sign was there to give them the option! We could park "over by the bank". Before the "sun" went down we were joined by two more rigs.

In the morning we woke to something strange: a bright light shining through the window! Sunshine!

We set off on a beautiful day, wonderful scenery, we very much enjoyed the drive. We found a nice lunch stop where Gillian could walk the dogs along the river.







The fall colours were much more enjoyable in the bright sunshone than in the previous dreary rain.










We continued to enjoy the views as we traveled througn the many villages, fall colours or not. It was so nice to see a bright sunny day again.









By 4:30 had arrived at our stopping spot for the night, Greenwood Lodge and Campsite near Bennington, Vermont.



The view from the rig at our campsite was wonderful. As the sun set it became stunning.

The dogs loved this place. Lots of walks in the woods, a stream and mill pond. . . . Though Trekker was not allowed in the swimming hole pictured the stream and mill pond not far away was allowed and he got his swim. This would be a wonderful place to spend your vacation. We imagine that during the summer it would be very popular. We almost regret that it is too far away to visit regularly.