July 9, 2010 Drive Drive Drive

This was going to be a long day. It was still hot when we got up so showers and away. We will stop and get some breakfast along the way. We left camp at 0633 and crossed at Ogdensburg at 0705. Breakfast at Rotten Ronnies in Prescott and down the 401 we go. We are off to Alliston and Sarnia today. We stopped for fuel at one of the few open service centres on the 401. Marla had noticed some smoke from the Timmie's on our way in but we really didn't think much of it. By the time I finished fueling the Jetta black smoking was billowing out from behind the building. As I was paying I asked the attendent if there was a fire. She hadn't noticed! Just as I got my receipt she got the call to hit the emergency shutoffs to the tanks. Needless to say we made a quick exit from that service centre! Fire trucks were coming down the 401 as we left!
We made a stop in Alliston to visit my mother and then we were off to Sarnia. One stop at the factory yarn outlet in Listowel
( http://www.yarnfactoryoutlet.com/ )
and we arrived at 0641PM after a very long day. We are staying at our daughter Laurie and husband Deacon's house for a few days and then off to some friends in Courthright for a boat day and expect to leave for Iowa possibly on Thursday July 15th.

July 8, 2010 A touristy morning then drive drive

We were up and away at 0853 bound for Shelburne/Burlington Vt area on Lake Champlain. We did a couple of tours this morning. The first was the Vermont Wildflower Farm - basically a seed shop and a short bug infested walk outside. Next stop was the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and time for another factory tour.

http://www.vermontteddybear.com/Static/About-Us.aspx

We had the address for an antique shop in Burlington that advertised antique jewlery - Marla was on the hunt for sweater guard but we struck out on this pursuit. Oh well there is always  www.etsy.com

We now had an afternoon of driving ahead of us. Back to hwy 2 which travels up the middle of Lake Champlain on Grand Isle into New York State. We stopped at Coles Creek State Park just outside of Massena Ny. We got a great site right on the St. Lawrence River.

July 7, 2010 Time to spend some serious money and onward to Vermont!

We knew we needed new tires for the Jetta at some point this year so why not take advantage of our duty free allowance and no sales tax! We left the campsite at 0859 and went to Littleton NH right on the border with Vermont. We picked out our new tires, took in a couple of stores in the plaza and 20 minutes later we were off! Up and down the Interstate for half an hour to put some miles on and back to the tire store to have the wheels re-torqued.

This was our afternoon to be touristy. We stopped at The Farmers Daughter store just outside of St. Johnsbury - Marla bought some Vermon Maple syrup and a couple of other maple products. Tourist business seems to be really slow along Hwy 2 this year - the store is for sale and I don't expect it to be open much longer if business doesn't pick up.

We stopped at Little River State Park just outside of Waterbury Vt. We setup camp and headed back to town. Waterbury is just south of Stowe if that helps locate it. We had picked up some tourist pamphlets at the border so we stopped at a cidery for a sample of cider and apparently famous cider donuts and a  Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream - factory tour! Who knew they were here - not us.

We had a huge campsite against the side of a hill. We took a walk in the evening down to the swimming beach - we didn't swim. We are in the middle of the heat wave - it has been 98F the last 2 days.

July 6, 2010 It's another Outlet Mall Day

Up relatively early and on the road at 0847. Today we were off to North Conway NH. Like Freeport the town is mostly a shopping destination but one big difference - there is no sales tax in New Hampshire. After a relatively restrained shopping trip we stopped outside of town at Jigger Johnson campground in the White Mountain National Forest at 3PM. We had a nice site again just a short pathway from the Swift River.

July 5, 2010 On the road again and still eating seafood!

We got away at 0715 and headed out from Riverview. We stopped in Sussex and as promised the Walmart had the 4 pack of butane for our single burner stove. And of course they had a lot of other stuff that we couldn't live without. So with lighter wallets we departed and crossed the border at Calais Maine.
We had sampled lobster, scallop and shrimp along the coast of Maine on the trip out and Marla had a whole lobster in New Brunswich - now for the ultimate comparison. The Eagles Nest in Brewer, Me. We had discovered this place on a previous trip. It was packed then and it was packed this time!

The winner and still champion by a knockout!

On the road for another couple of hours and we stopped for the day at 325 eastern time at Two Rivers Campground on the Kennebec River outside of Skowhegan Me.  We went for a swim in the pool and had an easy evening.

June 30 - July 4, 2010 Relaxing Moncton

We spent the next few days relaxing at Marla's mother house in Riverview, NB which is just across from Moncton. On Friday we  did a little shopping for the trip and found the traffic engineers in Moncton and the screwup fairy have a lot in common - drive drive park..drive drive park..3 hours later we got back with a partial shopping complete. It was quicker to leave the Mountain Road shopping area take the bypass to Dieppe and come back through the city on Main St.We found the cheap supply of butane canisters which Walmart sells in a 4 pack for 11.99 were not to be found in the city but possibly in Sussex.(we will stop there on our way back to Maine) so off to Canadian Tire and we picked up 2 canisters at 4.29 each!
On Saturday after an early breakfast we were off to Alma (just outside of Fundy National Park) for a craft fair, fresh lobsters and sticky buns!  Marla's cousin Sylvia works there but we didn't see her this trip -  http://www.bakersjournal.com/content/view/738/38/

Marla and her Mother enjoyed their lobster feast. It was the long week and
Spike TV had on their Force of July Weekend Star Wars marathon on so while the ladies enjoyed the outdoors I enjoyed Star Wars!



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June 30, 2010 On the road to New Brunswick

Up a little later today - we still hadn't decided whether to stay another night or push on to Marla's mothers house. We would decide over coffee.  As nice as the campsite was we decided we would leave today and cross the border at Calais today rather than tomorrow with the Canada Day crowds. Our teardrop friend dropped by and told us he was also leaving and that his campsite was going to be open if we wanted it - he had this great campsite which was right on the waters edge while ours was elevated a bit. We had already made up our minds to move on although it was tempting just to move down to his site. We had another visit then just enough time to break camp and get out before the 11AM checkout.

We got to Calais and were through Canadian Customs in about 5 minutes so looks like the right decision was made. Tomorrow would be a different story with the Canada Day crowds.

We stopped for a seafood lunch at Ossie's between St. Andrew's and St. George's. There was quite a bit of local traffic including the local police which is always a good sign for an eatery. We were the only out of province plate in the parking lot. The lobster roll was #2 for the trip while I had my first scallop roll. Yummy.

We arrived at Marla's mother's house at 354PM. We had travelled 4554 KM or 2846 miles. Time to settle in for a few days. We still haven't gotten a firm plan for the return trip but I'm sure it will come to us when we climb back into the car next week.

The Jetta's mileage was what we had hoped for as we averaged 50.8 Cdn mpg or 42.3 US mpg.

June 29, 2010 Touristy Day in Maine

A little slower getting underway but still on the road at 9AM. We were driving along Route 1 when we happened upon Perry's Nuthouse. Marla remembers visiting there on a family vacation when she was younger. At one time it was a famous Maine touriest attraction but now it is mostly souveneirs. We stopped for a bit and bought some fudge and then on the road again.

We stopped at Bar Harbor for lunch - Marla another lobster roll and I had a scallop roll this time. Marla reports the lobster roll was much better while my scallops were fine.

I had no sooner said there should be a winery around here somewhere soon according to the roadmap (gotta love a roadmap that shows wineries!) and there was a sign to Bartlet Estates Winery. We took a 1 mile detour to the winery and sampled quite a few different types of their wine. They have mostly apple, pear or blueberry wines but they have won quite a few awards  and they were quite tasty. We bought 2 bottles and hit the road again. Time to get to the campsite early for a change.

We stopped for the night at Cobscook State Park about an hour south of Calais Maine and had a very nice site right on the bay. There was another teardrop camper from northern Maine at the park and we had a nice visit with him and his two dogs. We showed him ours and he showed us his. Now for those of you with your minds in the gutter climb out - we're talking about the trailers - ours is a commercially made model while he made his over a period of a year. He has been to Arizona with his teardrop - this was just a quick trip to check out the area while his wife was in Iowa.

June 28, 2010 The Day the Budget took a Beating

Two words to finish the budget - Freeport Maine. Not a place to visit on a budget. The whole town seems to be one huge outlet mall shopping mecca. Originally one of the claims to fame for Freeport was the flagship store for LL Bean but now there is store after store offering outlets. We arrived early in the morning and managed to find a pull through parking spot for the Jetta and Rascal and off we went. We really only went into 4 or 5 stores but the budget was history. At least they were all great buys. I had been looking for some Keen walking shoes in my size for our fall trip to Europe and I finally found them at LL Bean. Marla found some great buys at The North Face Outlet.
We left Freeport and headed north along Route 1. We stopped for lunch at the Brunswick Diner - they had a sign proclaiming Maine's best lobster roll - Marla tells me not so much. I had a shrimp roll and it was the best I had ever had - mind you it was the first one I had ever had!

We continued north and stopped at Camden Hills State Park just outside of Camden. We setup camp and headed back into town to be touristy for a bit.

Sunday June 27, 2010 Time to head North along the Coast

We said goodbye to Walmart, picked up a coffee at Dunkin Donuts - it didn't seem like a good time to break out the stove and brew some coffee!

We took the Interstate north and stopped at the Mass. Welcome Center just south of Boston. We were lucky as they had just reopened the month before after having been closed all of last year. Even luckier they had early hours - opened at 7AM - we arrived at about 7:45. The JFK Museum opened at 9AM so off we went and arrived just after opening. We spent about 2 hours touring the exhibits. There is a 20 minutes film before you enter the 21 exhibits so it doesn't take that long to do the entire museum. We have been to the Clinton and Eisenhower Museums and found this probably had the least amount of material but certainly had the most beautiful setting. It is on a point of land overlooking Boston Harbor. The Clinton library had the most information but so far the Eisenhower Museum was probably just about the right size.

We left the museum and headed north, glad that it was a Sunday so traffic was no worse. We decided if we ever visited Boston again we probably would not drive and if we did it would have to be a Sunday!

We stopped for lunch at the New Hampshire Welcome Center. New Hampshire has about 20 miles of seacoast and everyone from three states was there today. If you've been to Myrtle Beach at Easter or driven the main drag at Grand Bend on a summer weekend that's what the seashore road through New Hampshire is like - 20 miles of traffic congestion.

We crossed the border into Maine and stopped for the night at Wells Maine - not on the beach but on Route 1. We had our most expensive campsite of the trip so far at $34.24 for the night. We had been on the road for a week so this was also laundry night - $1.75 to wash and $1.75 to dry.

Never say Never - We ended up at a Wal-Mart for the night!

Today was a very long day. We broke camp at 8 in the morning and basically drove all day until 1030 at night. We had intended on heading east and camping in the Catskills Mountains just north of New York City. We did see some campgrounds early in the day but we weren't ready to stop. So through the Catskills and of course nothing to be found! We crossed the Hudson River at Red Hook and ended up heading south until we were in Hyde Park NY where the FDR library and museum is located - who knew! We usually stop at these museums once per trip and we were already planning on the JFK library in Boston. It was late in the day and we were too close to New York City for comfort so time to turn on the GPS and plug in a village in Conneticut. We certainly followed some interesting roads - at one point it turned into a dirt lane and had stone fences on both sides. There were some huge old houses - I guess thats how the other half lives. Anyway into CT on a small road and of course no visitor centre. It seems the best idea is to return to the Interstate when entering a new state so you can get a current roadmap and camping information. So we ended up on the Atlantic coast of CT on a Saturday night still looking for a campsite. We stopped at a State Park and they were full up - we knew we were in trouble when they said "Good Luck!" Heading north up the coast of CT into Rhode Island and still no luck - even the truck stops there had gates and wanted you to pay to spend the night. We were at the point of stopping at a motel when we saw a big Wal-Mart sign. We pulled in and there was a small motorhome and a campervan. What the heck - we went in and asked the greeter if this was one of the Walmarts you could camp and he said as far as he knew - just park over at the farside of the parking lot. We used the restrooms and retired for the night - it wasn't the best night's sleep but better than nothing. We woke up and found a Mexican couple having there SUV unloaded from a tow truck. He spent some time stopping and starting and staring at the tires but not going anywhere - I would guess a transmission problem. We went into the store, used the facilities and spent some money. We came out to find a police officer giving the Mexican couple a bit of a hard time. I looked off to the edge of the parking lot and noticed a "No Overnight Parking" sign. We were hitched up and left as this seemed like a good time to leave!

June 25, 2010 Backroads of Oh to PA

We followed the backroads of Ohio south of Toledo and Cleveland.  We stopped for lunch at the Pennsylvania welcome centre and then eastward again. We stopped at Dewdrop Recreation Area in the Allegheny National Forest. This was a very nice area built developed around a water resovoir used for controlling water levels. We had a nice campsite in the forest up on a little hill overlooking the lake. We were close to the washrooms and showers as well which is always a bonus!

Today was the first day we set the dining shelter up so we had a place to sit away from the bugs. So far the single burner butane stove has worked well. We also brought the Coleman propane grill stove.

June 24, 2010 - Luddington to Toledo and points in between

Today we continued down the East Coast of Lake Michigan to Holland Michigan. This was a place we had always wanted to visit when we lived in Sarnia but never made it to. Well at this time of year we could have missed it. There is a tulip festival in the spring which would be nice to see and the beaches are supposed to be nice. Other than that just your typical tourist town to spend lots of money in.

We left Holland and headed inland through southern Michigan into the backroads of Indianna east of Elkhard. We passed a Thor and Forest River plant on our travels. Into Ohio and through a town that must have been hit by a tornado - the town hall and firehall was half destroyed and trees down all over the place.
Today was the first time we had to use the "Bible" (Woodals Directory) to find a campsite. We tried the GPS but both places we tried were seasonal campgrounds. We ended up just outside of Toledo in a former KOA. As we found out later also on the flight path for Toledo airport!