5/22/06 (Monday): What an idyllic day we had! It’s cool, but very sunny here in southern Maine. We started the day with some great French toast—Wiley put a little nutmeg and cinnamon in the coating, and it was very good. I cleaned house while Wiley did a little map work. Then we packed a lunch and headed for LL Bean, about 25-30 miles north of here.

LL Bean was pretty neat. There were 3 separate stores (with another one under construction and due to open next weekend). We went in the hunting and fishing store first. Wiley needed some fishing line and bait. There was a trout pond with live trout right in the store. Then we headed over to the main store, where Wiley wanted to get some shorts and some hiking boots, and I needed a rain jacket and some tennis shoes. The shorts were on sale for $15, so we bought two pairs, but we couldn’t find hiking boots in his size. I found a jacket I liked for $55. Then I had the bright idea of checking out the children’s department. Don’t laugh, but Wiley and I both have small feet, and I can sometimes wear children’s clothing, and it’s often less expensive. We lucked out and found some great hiking boots for Wiley which were $30 cheaper than the adult ones (and there were no adult ones in his size). I found almost the same jacket as the ladies size I’d picked out, and it was $20 less. I also found some lightweight shoes (they’re called summer sneakers) that I really like. They’re not only light weight, but they breathe, so they feel nice and cool. We also looked at the LL Bean outlet, but it was all winter stuff. They did have some neat kayaks at greatly reduced prices because they were “blems.” We’re seriously considering buying a couple of kayaks when we get up there, but we’ve decided we’ll rent first to make sure we like kayaking, and then we’ll look for used kayaks. We can always come back to LL Bean if we can’t find a good used one. It’s only about 85 miles from Camden.

After we ate our picnic lunch, we headed down the coast on a couple of back roads to get some lighthouse pictures. Hunting for lighthouses is a great way to explore the coast, which is just breathtaking here. We went to Portland light first. It’s in a county park that also has the remains of Fort Williams, a WWI and WWII fort. We were surprised that we could see three lighthouses and another, older looking, fort (which we later learned was Ft. Georges). We walked the beach and looked at some tidal pools. The beach looked like huge slabs of petrified wood. It’s actually ancient sand from the bottom of the sea that was compressed as the continents collided and then shifted and heaved up and cracked as the continents drifted apart again. The tidal pools looked like little aquariums, with a variety of green plants and small fish and shellfish.

Next we went to a lobster shack near a lighthouse that’s on private land. We had coffee and dessert sitting on the patio on a cliff about 85 feet above the sea. We walked down this rocky beach, too, and looked at some more tidal pools. I’ll bet our flatlander legs are going to be feeling this tomorrow!

We headed back to camp, but couldn’t resist stopping to walk on the beach near the campground—what a contrast! It’s 7 miles of flat, sandy beach. Everywhere we’ve been, though, there are rocky islands right off shore. It looks like it would be really fun to kayak out to them.

It’s 6:30 now, and Wiley’s gone fishing. I have some potatoes and eggs cooking to make potato salad with. We bought some Portuguese sausage at the grocery a few days ago, and I’ll grill them to go with the potato salad for dinner. Life is good!

Here’s the next to the last update on our expenses:

Total spent to date - $2,194.15

Gas - $708.61

Groceries - $212.97

Tolls, Parking, Public Transportation - $66.40

Snacks - $19.29

Camping Fees - $546.41

Admission Fees - $182.89

Camper/Vehicle Repairs/Improvements - $274.09

Laundry - $12.75

Entertainment/Gifts - $40.87

Restaurant Meals - $129.87

We’ve been averaging 10.5 mpg, which is pretty good. Of course, that’s some driving without the camper. Our best mpg was 16.4, and our worst was 8.79.

We’re $94.15 over our budgeted amount of $2100, and we have 3 days to go. But that’s not too bad, considering that we bought a number of items for the camper (like a battery operated tire pump—which came in really handy!), and that gasoline and campground fees (unavoidable) were higher than we anticipated. We wanted to make sure that we saw and did everything that we wanted to do, and we have. It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We’re also saving money for a trip to Norway in 2008, so we’ll just dip into that to make up the difference. I think we did a pretty good job of estimating (and controlling) our expenses. It’s been very enlightening to keep track of everything we spend. I recommend it to everyone (for at least a month). We didn’t really try to control our spending (we’re naturally pretty frugal), but we were conscious of it because we were recording it. Our big weakness is eating out—especially when we’re traveling and see all these great places with food we don’t normally get to eat and neat atmosphere. We indulged ourselves a couple of times, but not nearly as much as we’d have liked.

Well, that’s it for another blog. We miss you all, but we’re sure having fun! Hope you’re enjoying it vicariously.

5/21/06 (Sunday): We’re in Maine! We left Scusset, MA about 10 AM this morning, and traffic was light. We had originally planned to stop in NH for the night, but the roads were good and we had no trouble getting around Boston, so we decided to push on. It’s 4 PM now, and we’re in a very nice (luxurious actually) campground in Old Orchard Beach. We’ll probabaly stay a couple of nights and then head for Megunticook Campground (our final destination) on Thursday.

We want to go to LL Bean and explore a little of the southern coast. First impressions: very rocky, cold, spitting rain, very dark forests with good sized white birch trees on the edge. Can’t wait to start exploring!

5/20/06 (Sunday): Today we went to Plymouth. We took the scenic route (3A) through a number of scenic towns, mostly on little coves or bays. We took a walking tour through the historic part of the town. We saw Plymouth Rock, which may or may not be where the Pilgrims first set foot on our shores in 1620. It now has a granite portico over it that was designed by some famous architect in the 1920’s.

The walking tour takes you up the banks of a creek that was the water source for the original settlement. Very pretty. There was a reconstructed grist mill, a cemetery with some really old grave markers, and everywhere you looked, peeks at the Atlantic. A reproduction of the Mayflower docked in the harbor really adds to the feeling that you’ve fallen back in time.

After our walking tour, we went to Plimouth Plantation, which is a living history museum. There’s a reconstruction of the Pilgrim settlement, the Wampanoag Native Americans and a craft demonstration area. Wiley and I were amazed that the homes in the settlement were so tiny, dark and primitive. We feel like our camper is a mansion in comparison. There was no glass in the tiny windows, no fireplaces (just fires built in a corner of the room), very little furniture, no cabinets. In fact, I think the Native American homes looked much more comfortable. I especially enjoyed the blacksmith demonstration. He was making nails. Everyone in the village stayed in character and in the 1600’s, including their language. It was pretty amazing how well they managed that with all the stupid questions people were throwing their way. There was a pair of obviously gay guys asking leading questions about homosexuality and religion in the early days, and that was pretty interesting. I thought the reenactors handled it very well.

We added two more lighthouses to our life list—Bug Light and Guinett. Very picturesque.

Wiley went fishing again when we got back to camp (hooked a few little ones, but no keepers). I lazed around and read my book. We ate up some leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow it’s off to Salisbury Beach State Park on the New Hampshire border. Guess it’s going to be a while before we get WiFi hookup again, so you’ll be reading these posts after the fact. We’re on the final leg of our adventure now.

5/19/06 (Friday): Another sunny morning. The sun comes up so early here in New England—it starts to get daylight around 4:30 in the morning! And Maine is even further east!! I’m an early riser anyhow, and light is one of the things that wakes me up. Oh, well, it’s a small price to pay for being so close to the coast. It’s so cool to be on an ordinary errand (grocery shopping or going to the Laundromat), round a curve and see a spectacular view. The views are especially fantastic because most of the coastline is high above the level of the sea.

But I digress. Wiley got up early this morning and went fishing in the Cape Cod canal. I took advantage of the quiet and had a lazy morning. I slept in until 7:30 and then lounged around in my robe until almost 9:30. I read my book, drank my coffee and watched a little TV. Wiley didn’t have any luck (it’s still early in the season here), and it was drizzling rain again, so we decided to go do laundry.

It’s amazing how much fun ordinary things like doing laundry can be when you’re doing something that’s such a great conversation starter as our adventure. We wiled away a couple of hours while the clothes were washing having interesting conversations with the other patrons. Everyone has a story, don’t they!

We were too hungry to wait for lunch back in the camper, so we had our first fast food of the trip—cheeseburgers and fries from Burger King across the street from the Laundromat. It didn’t taste nearly as good as I’d been remembering. I think I’m actually getting hooked on home cooked food again. It’s been fun planning and fixing meals now that I don’t have the time constraints of an office job. Of course, eating meals in gorgeous surroundings helps, too.

The weather cleared after lunch, so we drove to Woods Hole. We took a little side trip hoping to see a lighthouse on the way, but we couldn’t get to it. We did see a red fox crossing the road on our side trip, so it wasn’t entirely wasted gas. Woods Hole wasn’t all that interesting because you can’t get into any of the research facilities. We did enjoy the aquarium.

After dinner we took a walk along Cape Cod Canal. There’s a nice bike path, and even though it was windy and cold, there were quite a few people out fishing, walking and biking. The canal is very interesting. It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers as a shortcut around the Cape for mariners. It saves an average of 135 miles of coastline travel around the tip of Cape Cod. There’s a 13.5 mile paved trail on the shore. It can handle some pretty large vessels.

5/18/06 (Thurs.): Believe it or not, today started the same as yesterday with a flat tire on the camper (different tire). We were still camped close to Sullivan’s Tires, so we pumped it up with our new battery operated pump and limped back. The manager was a little surprised to see us! He had just found out that Hudson Tires in FL was going to pay the whole tab for the defective tire. I worried the whole time they were working on the tire that we had another defective tire and Firestone wasn’t going to swallow it. But it turned out we’d picked up a nail. What are the odds?! Eric, the manager at Sullivan’s, refused to take anything for fixing it, so other than the wasted time, we are not out of pocket.

So we got a late start, but we decided to make the trip we’d been planning for today anyhow. But first, we wanted to leave the expensive (and not worth it) private campground where we’d stayed because it was close to the tire place. We drove to Scusset Beach State Recreation area and got a very nice campsite for half the price of the private campground. The park is between the Cape Cod Canal and the ocean. More about this park later.

We headed for Provincetown on the very tip of Cape Cod right after lunch in the camper. We started by eating breakfast at a local hangout called “The Eatery.” It featured some Portuguese and typical New England items on the menu. I had a Portuguese omelet with linguica (a kind of sausage). Very good. Wiley considered the codfish cakes, baked beans and eggs entree, but he finally wimped out and ordered French toast. We’re watching the budget pretty carefully, and we’re not eating out much, but we want to take advantage of regional specialties. This is the first long vacation either of us has ever had, so we’re going to make the most of it. I think we kind of expected that it was going to cost more than we expected (if that makes any sense).

Provincetown is a long trip, but really beautiful. It’s a big island! I’d been to Cape Cod four years ago, but I’d never been out to Provincetown. The beaches on the west end of the island look much like all the Atlantic beaches in the Southeast—wide and flat and sandy. On the east end there are high sand cliffs. Trees grow right up to the edge, but there are no beaches to walk on. As you get closer to the tip, there’s water on both sides. There was much less traffic this visit than on my August visit, but it’s still a busy place.

We visited several lighthouses and took a 2 mile hike on a bike path through the high, wooded dunes. It was a lovely day—temperature in the low 70’s, a little breeze and lots of blue skies. I feel like I’m starting to dry out a little after our solid week of rain. Because we started so late, it was going on 6 PM by the time we were ready to head back to camp, so we went for broke again and stopped at a little dive by the side of the road that advertised really inexpensive seafood (Clams - $1). Turns out those were the happy hour prices, and we’d missed them. But we enjoyed a great meal and felt fortified for the 2-hour drive back to camp.

We were tired after the stressful start to the day and the long drive and hike. We were looking forward to coming back to camp. The season is not quite opened up here in the Northeast. The state park we’d wanted to stay at won’t open until next weekend. We’d heard that Scusset Beach was open, and we’d called several times, but we could never reach anyone. We took a chance and came anyhow, and it was open, with a sign saying to set up camp and check back the next morning to register. We took one of the sites that was marked as being available on the map at the ranger station and set up so we’d be all ready to crash when we got back at the end of the day.

So we got back at 8:30, it’s already dark, and lo and behold, the ranger station is open, and there’s a lot full of campers trying to register! We waited our turn, not nervous at all because we already had our campsite, but when our turn came, the ranger said someone had registered online for our site and we’d have to move to another site tomorrow! Plus, is we stayed in our site tonight, we couldn’t register for another site until tomorrow morning, and the campground was filling up fast. We reluctantly (and I’ll admit, somewhat verbally) decided to register for all three nights and move to another campsite tonight to assure that we got to keep the same site for the whole time we’ll be here.

Now the fun began. I’ve gotten pretty good at backing up the camper. But it was dark. REALLY dark. I couldn’t see Wiley, let alone his hand signals. Somehow or other, with a lot of great teamwork and a pretty good flashlight, I got it parked. Our new $5,000 roof is only six inches from a tree limb that we never saw, and it’s not as nice a site, but we’re parked. Happy ending, right? Not quite. It wasn’t over yet.

I went in to open the slide and couldn’t find Monkey. I always like to know where Monkey is before I open the slide, because I’ve read about pets hiding between the walls of the slide and the camper and getting crushed. (As an aside, Monkey loves to ride the slide. She sits on the floor or the couch like a queen and looks from side-to-side as it moves in and out.) We checked everywhere in the camper, calling and putting out food and catnip, but no Monkey. We’d been in and out of the camper several times while we were trying to park it and get it set up. She must have escaped through the door.

Now I’m really panicked—we get the headlamps on and walk through the campground calling her. My flashlight picked up glowing eyes, and a cat came up to me, but it wasn’t Monkey. By now I’m in tears and almost hysterical. I’ve had great anxiety that Monkey was not going to like traveling or that this trip was somehow going to be bad for her, and now I’ve lost her 1500 miles from home. Wiley set off to search the last unsearched quadrant of the campground, and I set off to re-search the area by the campsite we’d just vacated. As I turned on my flashlight, I spotted her under the camper! Happy reunion, treats all around, and we’re off to bed. Never a dull moment!

Oh, speaking of never a dull moment reminds me—we talked to Wiley’s mother last night, and we had a letter from Nationwide saying they were canceling

Scattered showers are forecast for tomorrow, so we’re thinking about going to Woods Hole, which will be inside exhibits. We also need to do some laundry and go grocery shopping.

5/17/06 (Wednesday): Wow—what a day! It was supposed to be a short (85 miles) hop from Mystic, CT to East Falmouth, MA. Following our usual routine getting the camper ready for the road, we noticed one of our brand new tires was very low—40 psi instead of 65 psi. We’d just bought and charged up an inflator pump, so we pumped it up and planned to keep an eye on it. We couldn’t see any nails or screws in it, but it was awfully muddy.

At our first rest stop on the RI border, we checked the tire again, and it was back down to 40. Trouble. We pumped it up again and got directions to the nearest tire store, which happened to be at the next exit. It was just your typical Firestone Tire store in a strip mall. Kind of a tight squeeze for a 28-foot trailer behind a super cab F150, but we managed. The kid running the shop was just this side of rude. He obviously didn’t want to have anything to do with even looking at the tire to see what might be wrong. He gave me a song and dance about how they didn’t have the right torque wrenches to put the wheel back on safely! What a crock! I may be an old lady, but I know you don’t need a special wrench just because it’s a 15” trailer tire!

Anyhow, he sent us across the street to a trailer shop, which didn’t have anything to do with tires. At least the guy there was nice enough to direct us to another tire shop (Rolands Tires in Swansea, MA). They couldn’t have been nicer. They took the wheel off and saw a bulge in the sidewall. They thought there was a separation, which is really not a good thing. They also noticed that all the valve stems leaked if you moved them. They speculated that maybe we’d hit a big pothole or run into something. We didn’t remember doing anything like that, but some of the campgrounds had some potholes from all the rain, so it was possible. They didn’t carry Goodyear tires, but they were kind enough to call ahead to a tire store in Cape Cod, which is where we were headed anyhow. They pumped everything up and put the tires back on and gave us some new caps for the valve stems (which we’d managed to lose somewhere in the process of all the checking of tire pressure). They didn’t charge us a penny, and they even called ahead to the new place to get them to hold the tires for us! If you’re ever in Swansea and need tires, I recommend them!

So we headed off on I-195 to the Cape. There was another tense moment when, with the turn to the Cape in sight, we saw a sign that said “Tunnel—No Combustibles.” As directed, we got off on Exit 5, but there wasn’t a sign in sight to tell us how to get back on the highway! Fortunately, I had my master navigator with me, and he wound us through the city streets and got us back on the highway, tire and driver’s nerves intact (more or less).

We finally got onto the Cape, found the third tire dealer (Sullivans), and they were as nice as the folks at Rolands! To make a very long story a little shorter, they finally got the tire off and found that it was a manufacturing defect causing the bulge. There were two radials too close together so that in one spot the tire was triple thick. They called the shop in Orlando that sold us the tires in April, and are making arrangements to get the tire back to Goodyear. They put in all new valve stems and told us to come back tomorrow to settle up—no money has yet changed hands! He said he would work it out with the Orlando store and we probably wouldn’t owe anything except a pro rated amount for the replacement tire. Whew!

By now it was almost 5 PM, and we couldn’t reach the state park where we were planning to camp, so we made reservations at a private campground. We’ll find the state park and camp there tomorrow night.

That’s it for tonight. We’re pooped. We’re hoping to go to Wood’s Hole tomorrow.

5-16-06 (Tuesday): It rained all day again today. There’s extensive flooding all over New England. We’re staying one more night at the campground near Mystic. We’ve chosen a route to Cape Cod that looks like it will avoid the problem areas. We leave tomorrow morning, and should be at the western edge of the Cape by early afternoon. We’ll stay there for a couple of days and then head for Maine. We’d like to arrive in Maine no later than the 27^th. That will give us a week to explore the area around our home for the summer.

We had a great day today. We went to the Pemaquid Indian reservation museum. It was absolutely outstanding. I’d say it was at least equal to any of the Smithsonian museums I’ve ever been to. The attention to detail was amazing. There were lots of videos and dioramas, but my favorite was a village reconstruction that you walked through. There was an audio device that you carried with you that gave detailed information about eaach part of the scene. Everything was so realistic—the stream was real water, the figurines had dirty feet, the people all looked different. I highly recommend this museum for anyone who has any interest at all in Native Americans. There’s also a casino on the reservation, but we weren’t interested in gambling, so we skipped that.

We are finally seeing a little blue sky (6:30 pm) now, and the newscasters are saying most of the floodwaters are starting to go down. It’s going to take several days, at least, before the waters recede enough to estimate what the damages were. Apparently there’s been some damage to the superstructures of bridges and dams. I’m nervous about leaving tomorrow, but we really have to get on the road. We’re making the stop in Capae Cod partly to give the waters in Maine time to recede and partly because Wiley has always wanted to see the lighthouses there. We haven’t heard any reports of flooding there, so we’re hoping it’ll be okay.

May 15, 2006 (Monday): The rain continues—it’s gotten rather frightening. There are reports on TV that there’s serious flooding all over New England. We’re pretty high and dry at our campground near Mystic, CT, and we’ve decided to stay here for another day. There’s more heavy rain coming tomorrow morning (Tuesday). We’re hoping to head to Cape Cod on Wednesday. That will be our final stop before the push to Maine. There’s serious flooding in southern Maine as well. We’re having a hard time deciding whether to leave now and go around the flooding, or wait for it to subside and hope the new band of storms coming tonight and tomorrow and the new low coming through on Thursday and Friday won’t cause even worse flooding. Mark is following road conditions for us because we don’t have reliable internet service here.

We didn’t let the rain stop us from having a very nice day today. We went into Mystic Seaport. There was never actually a seaport at Mystic. It’s a living history museum, sort of like Greenfield Village, where they’ve recreated a New England seaport with buildings they’ve moved from other places. It was really fascinating. We toured a shipyard where they’re restoring old tall ships. We saw two tall ships which were getting ready to leave the port and travel north. We later saw them out in the ocean near the lighthouses in Stonington Borough. It was fascinating to see how these old wooden sailing ships were built. The shipbuilders didn’t start with plans. They started with small models carved from wood. Then they’d draw the layout on a large floor and cut the pieces according to that layout. A variety of kinds of wood were used, depending on their characteristics. Live oak, yellow and white pine and locust are some of the varieties I remember. The ships were launched before they were completed to make room for construction of the next ships. They were completed at the dockside. There were many shipyards in New England, and the ships they built (3-5 per year) were crucial to the economy of the country, because roads were limited and treacherous.

We boarded a ship called the L.A. Dunton, which was a fishing boat. It carried 8-10 dories from which the fishing actually took place. Two men fished with trawl lines that had lots of hooks spaced along them. The crew quarters were tiny, and they fished even in the winter, so there were wood stoves in the quarters. Imagine how hazardous that was!

Then we saw various historic homes, a school and church and some other interesting sites. (My friend, Lucie, is thinking about coming up to visit us this summer in Maine, and maybe swing by Mystic Seaport before she returns. You’ll love it, Lucie! You could easily spend 2 days here.)

There’s a restaurant on the museum grounds, but we opted to walk down into town a few blocks to a restaurant we’d seen coming in. (Lucie—skip the rest of this paragraph. You’ll be tempted to break your diet!) It was called “Kitchen Little,” and it was TINY! There were only 4-5 tables inside. We got there early, but by the time our food came, a line was forming outside (all locals as far as I could tell). I got a scallop sandwich (delicious, sweet, fried scallops on a crusty roll, served with tartar sauce and lemon). It was yummy! Wiley had a fish sandwich that also looked scrumptious. We shared a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie which was to die for. The combination of sweet and tart and the flaky crust…m-m-m!

After our tour of Mystic Seaport, we drove 4 miles north to Stonington to see the lighthouse there. It’s a tiny little thing, which was eventually closed because it couldn’t been seen very far out. There was a little museum with some interesting relics. I especially enjoyed the exhibit on an eccentric local resident, the son of a prominent family, who was spruned by the lady of his choice because he didn’t have enough money. He spent the rest of his life trying to earn enough money to win her (she, meanwhile, married, had a family and passed away before him). He did this by building rental houses, while saving money every way he could, including making his clothes and everything he needed. They had a picture of him—he looked like the worst kind of street person! We went up in the lighthouse and enjoyed a spectacular view.

We did a little grocery shopping on the way home. Wiley’s got the foccacia bread we picked up for just $2.99 in the oven right now. We got 2 of them—they’re great, homemade looking bread crusts with big chunks of grilled bell peppers and onions on top. Wiley added some pepperoni to his side. It smells wonderful in our little home right now! We also picked up a roasted chicken for tomorrow’s dinner. The leftovers will make a good lunch. We’ve only eaten out twice this whole trip, and I’d like to keep it that way. When you’ve got your home with you wherever you go, there’s no excuse for not having good, inexpensive, homemade meals. At some point, I’m going to record some of my recipes for healthy, quick, delicious meals for 2 people that can be made with minimal equipment and mess. Wiley doesn’t know it, but I think I’m going to make some dessert bars to go with the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream we bought for dessert.

I’m going to go over to the rec hall and post this now. If anyone hears anything about flooding problems in the I-95 corridor between CT and ME, please give us a call on the cell!

5/14/06 (Sunday): Happy Mother’s Day to all my friends who are mothers and grandmothers! A special Mother’s Day wish to Kristin, who’s expecting my third granddaughter in July. I’m so glad you’re feeling better!

It was cold and rainy today (again). We decided to leave the campground in Madison, CT, where we were camped last night and head up to Mystic Seaport. It was a short trip, but sort of stressful in the rain. I worry about having to make an emergency stop hauling almost 9,000 pounds behind me!

We had picked out a campground just south of Mystic Seaport. We had a hard time finding it (turned the wrong way off I-95), and then were kind of dismayed at the muddy roads. But we took a chance on it anyhow. After navigating through the mud and potholes, the first site they assigned us was already occupied! So we trekked back to the office and were assigned a second site. The turn onto the road to that site was at such a sharp angle that we couldn’t make it. Back to the office we went, and this time I asked for a refund. They were very gracious about it.

We came up the road another 15 miles or so to another (much more expensive) campground in the town of Mystic. It’s very soggy, too, but at least it has paved roads! There’s a Prowler 5^th wheel a few sites down that looks almost exactly like ours—I can’t wait to see who’s in it. I’d love to talk to them about how they like theirs. We’re very happy with ours so far. I especially like the arrangement of lights—there’s one available everywhere I need it, including one each for reading in bed. There are also lots of windows, so it feels bright and airy (even on rainy days).

Tonight we did some laundry, watched news on cable TV, and heated up leftovers for dinner. Wiley spent some time planning our day in Mystic Seaport tomorrow. We’re definitely going to do the museum and shops (not to buy anything, but because the shops are in really old houses). If we have time, we’d also like to do the Pemaquid Indian museum nearby.

Tuesday we’ll head through Rhode Island and on into MA. We’ll spend several days on Cape Cod. Sure wish this rain would stop!

I spoke with both my sons today (thanks, guys), and also to my friend, Lucie. Lucie has been inspired by this blog to start one of her own. I’ve been amazed to find that journaling my experience has been one of the best parts of the trip for me. We are having an adventure, in the true sense of the word. We’re taking chances and making discoveries about ourselves and our country. It’s a real growth experience. For me, the hardest part has been overcoming my fears (some rational, some not). I’ve worried a lot about safety, money, missing my family and friends, giving up my home and possessions, starting a new job, and myriad other real and imaginary possibilities.

I feel so empowered to be not only accomplishing our goals, but for the most part enjoying it! It’s involved a lot of planning and organization, and it’s very satisfying to see our plans being implemented and our organizational efforts making our lives easier every day. I feel freed from the daily urgency of working life and more able to concentrate on what’s truly important. The journaling has been a way to track our progress geographically and record what we’ve seen and done, but it’s also been a way to capture fleeting thoughts and feelings. So I say: “Go for it, Lucie—you’re gonna love it!”

It’s also been very good for us to be recording all our expenses. I’ve always been frugal, but I’ve never kept a detailed expense report before. It’s very enlightening! We expected gasoline to be a major expense, but have been surprised that campground fees are so high (on average, $30/night—almost as much as a motel). We could stay at state parks more cheaply, but they haven’t been located on our route.

We’ve got 10 days left until we get to our campground in Maine. So far, out of our $2100 budget we’ve spent:

Gas - $523.78
Groceries - $100.12
Tolls, Parking, Public Transportation - $61.75
Snacks - $14.29
Camping Fees - $363.45
Admission Fees - $52.00
Camper/Vehicle Repairs and Improvements - $174.46
Laundry - $14.75
Entertainment/Gifts - $36.87
Restaurant Meals - $98.15
Total Expenses - $1,515.22

That leaves about $585 ($58.50/day) for the rest of our trip. We’ve come 1782 miles, at an average of 9.9 mpg gas. We estimate that we have about another 400 miles to go. If gas continues to be about $3/gallon and we continue to average about 10 mpg, gas should cost $120 (we’ll say $200 to be safe). $585 less $200 is $385, or $38.50/day for everything other than gas. With campgrounds averaging $30 a night, it’s obvious that we’re going to have to cut back somewhere. Of course, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so we may decide to break the budget, since we do have some other funds. We don’t want to miss going somewhere we might not get another chance to see.

That’s it for tonight—I’m ready to crawl into my warm, dry bed and let the sound of the rain on the roof lull me to sleep. Goodnight!

5/13/06 (Saturday): Today we took the coast road into New Haven. It was very scenic, with lots of Revolutionary War era homes, fishing villages on little coves, and Spring flowers and trees everywhere. After yesterday’s rain, all the creeks were raging and foaming. The dogwood (pink and white), lilacs, rhododendron, azaleas, and wisteria were in full bloom. We're camped near the little town of Madison, CT, and I got a kick out of this sign in front of a local travel agency:

In New Haven, we went to the Peabody Museum of Natural History on the Yale campus. We enjoyed the Machu Pichu exhibit (the ruins were originally discovered by a Yale professor). We also saw lots of fossil skeletons of dinosaurs and other extinct animals. Their display on the Native Americans was pretty good, too.

We walked around the Yale campus some. There were some really old buildings and lots of old trees.

After a picnic lunch in the parking lot, we drove to Lighthouse Point Park on Long Island Sound in East Haven, across the sound from New Haven. We saw the New Haven Harbor Lighthouse and keepers house. Out on the horizon, we could just make out the southwest ledge lighthouse. There were lots of ring necked ducks paddling near the shore. Wiley fished (unsuccessfully) for about an hour. Some of the other fishermen told him to use squid, not shrimp, next time. I guess these northern fish don’t know a good thing when they get the chance!

We took the scenic route back. The shoreline here is amazing—lots of big rocks and coves. There were a number of tiny islands with houses on them. The islands weren’t much bigger than the houses! The only way to get to them would be by boat. We’re truly not in Orlando any more!

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back. We’re going to grill some bratwurst for dinner. Tomorrow we head for Mystic Seaport.

5/12/06 – Friday: It was cold and rainy today, so we had an at home day. This really is beginning to feel like home. We have everything organized except the cat’s latrine and the laundry basket—we keep moving them around.

We went out early in the day to try to catch the train the New Haven so we could go to the Yale museum of natural history, but the trains only run during rush hour. We stopped at Hammonassett State Park and Wiley walked down to the beach, but it was really cold and wet, so we just came back.

I made potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. It’s fun to cook in the camper because everything is so compact and accessible. I brought my good pots and pans and knives—we’re not vacationing, we’re living here. I also brought my “company” towels--little touch of luxury!

I read my book for a little after lunch and then fell asleep on the couch. Wiley reviewed his maps and planned the next part of our journey, and then he fell asleep. He’s doing a great job, not only as navigator, but also as tour guide.

We watched a little tube in the afternoon (first time in quite a while), and caught up on our email and blog. Then I made turkey burgers on the George Foreman grill (great invention!), tossed salad and oven fries for dinner. Yum! We finished up with a piece of the Ghirardelli chocolate that Mark and Heather brought us on their visit.

If the rain stops, we’re going to go to New Haven tomorrow and catch that museum. We’ll stay one more night at this campground and then head out tomorrow morning for Mystic Seaport. We might also go to an Indian reservation near there.

5/11/06 (Thursday): It was a very long day today, all driving. There aren’t any campgrounds or good rest stops anywhere between Harrisburg, PA and mid-coast CT! We stopped at a shopping center at lunch time and got the oil changed in the truck. Ate a sandwich in the camper. Wiley did a little grocery shopping and I rested and read for a while. We took interstates most of the way. There were several places in NJ where the roads were very rough, with steep grades. The interstate was interrupted by long stretches where it was under construction. We knew there was going to be a toll to cross the Hudson River, but imagine our shock when the fee was $25! It seems that because the 5^th wheel hooks to the bed of the truck (as opposed to a bumper hitch), we get charged like an 18-wheeler. We didn’t hit as much traffic in the NY area as we expected, but when we got to CT the traffic was extremely heavy. It took us 4 hours to travel roughly 62 miles! We finally got into the campground (Clinton, CT) at 7:30, had a sandwich and fell into bed. We didn’t even hook everything up. At least the rain held off.

It’s supposed to be rainy and cold for the next couple of days, so tomorrow we’re going to try to find a museum or something indoors to do. Wiley is looking forward to doing a little salt water fishing, too.

5/10/06 (Tues.): Great day today. We went to Hershey, PA, in the morning. They have a free tour that’s probably one of the best free things I’ve ever done. It covers the whole process of making chocolate, from the cacao bean growing and picking through the manufacturing process. It’s part written, part video and part ride through a mock processing plant. There’s also a mock-up of a Hershey Kisses plant where kids can make and wrap their own kisses (we skipped this part), and a very large gift store. We also skipped the gardens (there’s an admission fee, and it’s a little early for most of the flowers in this part of the world) and the amusement park (which is only open on weekends until summer).

We took a trolley ride that was very interesting. Milton Hershey had several unsuccessful attempts at making caramels. He actually went bankrupt twice, and was on the verge of a third bankruptcy when he had the idea of dipping the caramels in chocolate, which was popular in Europe, but not well known in the U.S. At the eleventh hour, he went to the bank that was about to foreclose on his business and convinced them not only to hold off on the foreclosure, but also to lend him enough to fund the new chocolate business. The owner of the bank personally guaranteed the loan. Hershey went to Switzerland to learn the chocolate business. He missed the boat back to the U.S. (literally), and was very angry that they wouldn’t refund his fare. I think he probably had a change of heart within a short period of time, though. The boat was the Titanic.

The new chocolate business was a huge success, and within a few years, Mr. Hershey went from bankruptcy to great wealth. He married, but was unable to have a family of his own, so he and his wife endowed a school for underprivileged children which is still operating. It’s a pretty fantastic operation, with a number of beautiful homes, staffed with house parents. There are all kinds of facilities and the kids get a first class education and training in the careers of their choice. They can even get scholarships to college. When Hershey died, he left his entire fortune in trust to the school, and it’s now worth billions of dollars.

When we left Hershey, we headed for Lancaster—Amish country. It was an odd combination of tourist traps and beautiful old farms with bearded Amish men working the fields with mules. We stopped for lunch at Miller’s Smorgasbord, which was well worth the $21 each tab. We sampled pickled beets, potato stuffing, chicken pot pie and shoo fly pie. Wiley ate a lot of shrimp. While we ate, we watched an Amish farmer raking the alfalfa hay with four mules. The mules were very well trained—they turned the corners of the field by side-stepping in unison! Unfortunately, the other side of the old fashioned farming was the big truck spraying liquid cow manure—quite odiferous! It made me stop and think about the true meaning of “all natural” and “organic!”

We also visited the Mennonite Visitors Center and saw a film and museum about the history of the Mennonites. I was surprised to learn that it’s a very old Christian religion, dating back to the Inquisition. The major reason for the break from the state religion of Switzerland (where the religion began) was that they believed in baptizing people old enough to make an informed decision to accept Christ as their savior. They were called Ana Baptists, meaning that they were re-baptized. The religion spread to Germany and other European countries, where the believers were horribly persecuted. Some members migrated to the U.S. with Quakers and settled in PA. Their religion emphasizes community service and simplicity in their personal lives. At some point after they came to the U.S., another split in the congregants occurred because some church members thought they should be even less worldly. They became the Amish.

Speaking of simplicity, I’ve been thinking a lot about how Wiley and I are simplifying our lives by leaving our home and most possessions behind. Actually, I think people who live less worldly lives are not living more simply. It’s hard and complicated work to raise and process your own food, forego modern conveniences and take care of your own family and community without government support. Wiley and I are living without so many possessions, but we’re certainly not without conveniences. We have a cell phone, laptop, heat and air conditioning, running water (including a shower and flush toilet), and a truck. We’re trying to re-prioritize. There’s a big difference between doing what’s urgent and doing what’s important, and it’s very easy to lose sight of what’s important when circumstances seem urgent.

We’re leaving tomorrow morning for CT. Wiley is eagerly anticipating some salt water fishing in CT, RI and MA. I’m a little nervous about driving around New York City, but it’s got to be done. We’ll time our trip to avoid rush hour. We’re taking the interstate, and we’re going to limit our drive to about 4 hours. We’re hoping to make our way up the seacoast the rest of the trip. The only stop that we’ve already planned is Cape Cod. Otherwise, we’re winging it. Spontaneity is great fun!

A few odds and ends that might be interesting:

We’ve been in touch with the people who handled our estate sale—the check is in the mail. We made $1300 from the first part of the sale. They still have some of our stuff, which will be sold at auction.

We also contacted the real estate company that’s managing our house. We were not happy to learn that the tenant (or one of his friends) was smoking a cigar in the house. The real estate agent promised to make the point (again) with the tenants that there’s no smoking in the house. We also asked him to remind the tenants that the dog isn’t allowed in the garden. The good news is that the deposits have cleared and will be in our bank account by tomorrow.

We’ve traveled 1377 miles so far. Our average gas mileage has been 9.72 (that figure includes some days when we traveled without the camper attached, and some days when we were either driving up and down steep hills and/or driving in stop-and-go traffic). That’s pretty close to the 10 mpg we’d hoped for. The average price of gas has been $2.89/gallon.

Our expenses to date total:

Gas - $468.25
Groceries - $46.06
Tolls, Parking, Public Transportation - $41.50
Snacks - $14.29
Camping Fees - $268.95
Admission Fees: $39
Camper Repairs/Improvements: $105.60
Laundry - $3.50
Entertainment/Gifts – $21
Restaurant Meals - $98.15

We budgeted a total of $2100 for the trip, we’ve spent $1,106.30, and we have $993.70 left (assuming I’ve set up my spreadsheets correctly!). We’re a little more than ¼ the way into the trip time-wise, but more than halfway distance-wise. We’re definitely going to have to cut back on restaurant meals! We had hoped to do some dry camping (Walmart parking lots) or at least camp in some low-cost parks, but Walmart no longer allows overnight parking, and cheaper campgrounds have not been convenient. We’ll have to try harder on that score, too.

You’re all in our thoughts. We hope you’re enjoying our adventure vicariously.

5/9/06 – Tuesday: We had a short day today. We left Upper Marlboro, MD, and drove to PA, between Hershey and Lancaster. We’re at a KOA campground near the Susquehana River. We were surprised when we rounded a curve and saw some really big cooling towers for a nuclear power plant. There was a historical marker noting that it was the site of the 3 Mile Island accident!

We drove into the little town of Elizabethtown to pick up some supplies. I got a very nice haircut at a little salon on the main drag. Back at camp, I took Monkey for a little walk. She’s really enjoying this trip. When I got out the leash, she jumped into my lap and stuck her own head in the harness! Then she walked down the steps of the camper and set out across the grass like she’d been doing it all her life.

Tomorrow we’re going to Hershey and possibly Lancaster for a tour of Amish country. If we don’t get the Amish country tour in tomorrow, we’re undecided whether we’ll leave or do it Thursday. There’s a big storm coming this way, and I hate the idea of driving in the rain. Plus, I’ve been dreading this part of the trip. There’s no way to avoid the congestion of New York City unless we get into the mountains, which is also some stressful driving. Wiley’s been doing an amazing job of navigating on this trip. He’s managed to find nice campgrounds and figure out approximately when we’ll get to where we’re going.

It’s funny how the things that you worry about usually don’t happen. We’re having a great trip. I’m so proud of us for living our dream. It’s been very scary at times, but none of the things we worried about have happened. And there have been lots of unexpected pleasures. We’ve met some great people. The couple who manages this campground spent a lot of time talking to us about their experiences.

I’m hoping that the trip around NY will wind up being just another one of those things I worried about that never happened.

Monday, 5/8/06: The weather forecast last night looked so bad that we decided not to leave for PA today. Instead, we did a little research and figured out that we were near a Metro station (D.C.’s subway). So we decided to visit the new American Indian museum. We waited until rush hour was over and drove about 10 miles, parked at the station, and had a very nice trip to downtown. Every major city should have good public transportation. The stations and trains were clean and safe, information regarding routes and schedules was clear and the personnel were helpful and polite.

The museum was different from any I’d ever been to. The focus was not on artifacts, but on people. There was extensive written documentation about different groups of the people of the Americas, with a few artifacts to represent the cultural and spiritual attributes. I thought it was too much reading. I’d rather read a book than stand in a crowd and read. We did enjoy the movie, though. We left earlier than planned, and went to the national botanic gardens. It was rainy and cold outside, but we felt like we were back in FL in the gardens! The orchids were fantastic, and there were a number of plants we’d never seen before.

We got our second winds in the gardens and decided to take the Metro a little further to Alexandria. We enjoyed a long walk (about 18 blocks) from the Metro station on King Street to Old Town. We started at the Visitor Center and got maps and information on a walking tour. I wish I hadn’t forgotten my camera—Alexandria is a beautiful and historic city. We saw “flounder houses,” which have a flat, featureless and windowless wall on one side, where the roof is steeply pitched. The other side has two windows way up at the top that look sort of like the eyes on the side of a flounder. We also saw “spite houses,” which were built in the alleys between two existing buildings. They’re very narrow, and stick out into the alley, which is why they were called spite houses—they slowed down traffic in the alleys, thus thwarting or “spiting” a perceived nuisance. There were some cobblestone streets, which were paved with the ballast stones of 18^th century ships. Many of the houses were built in the early 1700’s, some by sea captains when Alexandria was as important as New York and Boston as a port of entry. We saw several places that George Washington frequented, including his town house and church (Christ Church). When I was a kid growing up in Washington, D.C., I had the Revolutionary and Civil wars all confused in my mind, because there is extensive history of both wars in the area. It’s a fascinating place, and we had a good day exploring.

Sunday 5/7/06: We’re still in the Upper Marlboro, MD, area at Duncan Family Campground. This morning we ran some errands, then drove out 301 to my Uncle Dean’s house. We visited with him and my cousin Kenny and his fiancée Susan for a while, then went to a park where there was a surprise birthday party for my Aunt Dottie. She turned 80—she looks great!

It was fun to see my cousins, Donna, Diane and Dottie (nicknamed Duke) and their families. Coincidentally, my cousin Donna and her husband Dave just started full timing in their motor home, and were planning a trip to Maine this summer! Needless to say, they’re going to visit us for a few days while they’re up there.

We’re really enjoying the new flexibility in our lives. Each evening, we sit down and decide where we’re going and what we’re doing the next day. But we feel easy about changing our minds if something (like a chance to see relatives) appeals to us more. We’re planning to leave for PA tomorrow, but the weather forecast doesn’t look so good, so we may change our minds and stay another day. I don’t want to drive the 5^th wheel in rain and wind.

Thursday 5-5-06: We “nested” today. Did some housekeeping first thing, then sat around and read the paper. I kept noticing things that could be reorganized to work better. We’ve got it feeling like home now.

Wiley packed us a nice lunch and we headed out to see Stratford Plantation, the house where Robert E. Lee was born. He didn’t grow up there, though; he grew up in Alexandria. The land (1500 acres) was originally bought by his father, Thomas, who built a fantastic mansion for his wife, Hannah. Robert’s brothers, Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, were Declaration of Independence signers. While we were going through the house, I was thinking about how tumultuous those times must have been. Just imagine having three sons who (in the eyes of many citizens) were committing treason! The two younger Lee brothers, Arthur and William, were diplomats. The house is amazing. There are eight chimneys, four on each end of the house. In Robert’s day, the two clusters of chimneys were connected by a platform. The family slept up there on hot summer nights, and sometimes even held dances. We ate our picnic lunch in the shade of some very large, old trees. I saw bluebirds, which I haven’t seen in many years.

Lucie, I thought of you today. The docent who gave us the tour was so knowledgeable about so many aspects of life in the 1700’s and the Lee family. The group we toured with was quite impressed. She was dressed like an indentured servant, and we all felt as though we’d traveled back in time. Daily life was so much more difficult then. She described how the cook and helpers spent 10-12 hours every day cooking in a room that could get so hot that there were little boys whose only job was to keep the hems of the women’s dresses wet so that they wouldn’t catch fire! They were responsible for feeding the very large Lee family and constant groups of guests every single day. Then, during harvest and planting time, they cooked for the field hands as well in order to free them for harvesting and planting. Imagine how much bread they had to make from scratch every day!

After lunch, we drove through the countryside to a little town right on Chesapeake Bay. The countryside is beautiful here. The azaleas and dogwood trees are in bloom. Also snowball bushes, forsythia and a tree with pale lavender clusters of blossoms which someone told us was called a “paloma” tree. I never heard of it before, but it’s lovely. Wiley hoped to do some fishing, but there was no access to the water. It was a beautiful drive, though. Lots and lots of history in this area! Westmoreland Park, where we’re staying, is situated between George Washington’s birthplace and Robert E. Lee’s! We did a little shopping instead. We wanted to build a little shelf over the sofa, both to have a place to sit a glass and also to keep Monkey from getting down behind the sofa and into the exterior storage space. We bought the materials at a little old fashioned hardware store, and Wiley installed it when we got back.

I called a few of my relatives who live in this area tonight, and it turns out there’s a surprise 80^th birthday party for my Aunt Dot. We’ve been invited to attend on Sunday. It’ll give me a chance to see my cousins that I haven’t seen in about 15 years. We’ll have to drive to Annapolis (about 3 hours), but at least we won’t have to take the camper.

Last night I set up some spreadsheets to help us track our expenses. We’ve budgeted $2100 for the trip up, and at least $500 of that is earmarked for gasoline. It’ll be pretty interesting to see what the trip costs us, and it will be helpful to know what to expect on future trips. We’re not particularly trying to economize—we’re rather frugal by nature—but I suspect we’ll be surprised by some of the ways money trickles out of our hands.

That’s it for tonight. Got to get my beauty sleep!

Thursday, 5-4-06. Much better day today. We enjoyed a great night’s sleep at the KOA. It was very quiet, and we slept with the windows open under a heavy blanket. The temperature in the daytime has been in the low 80’s, but at night it feels quite cool (maybe 50’s). Great sleeping weather.

There were free Belgian waffles and coffee at the camp store, so after we hooked up and got ready for the day, we had a nice breakfast. We hit the road about 8:30 (on I-95). There was very little traffic. We’ve noticed that once we left FL, the drivers have been very polite. They don’t tailgate, they actually let you merge onto the highway in front of you, they use their signals, and they get back in the right lane as soon as they’ve passed you, and I haven’t heard a horn since we left FL!

My cousin Art gave us excellent directions, and we had no trouble finding the mall where we were able to park the rig easily near the restaurant. It was great fun catching up with Art and Ginny and showing off our new home. They camped for many years, starting in a tent and moving up to larger trailers. They haven’t been camping in some time now, but I think Ginny has the bug again! Thanks for such a nice treat, Art and Ginny!

We went a little further on I-95, then took off on 301 toward Westmoreland State Park. It was a pretty ride through lots of Revolutionary War history. We saw Patrick Henry’s birthplace in Studley, the Garrett farm where John Wilkes Booth was captured after he assassinated Lincoln, and several historic towns. Westmoreland State Park is in the Northern Neck of Virginia, right where the Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The park sits on top of high, sandy cliffs, which are loaded with Miocene era marine fossils.

As soon as we got set up, we hiked a lovely trail through a hardwood forest, which angled steeply down to a swamp, ending at a beach at the base of Horsehead Cliffs. We saw an eagle sitting in a tree on top of the cliffs at the beginning of the trail, and a nuthatch creeping down one of the trees. We didn’t have time to do much hunting, but each of us found a shark’s tooth. In a little creek that flowed out of the swamp and into the river, we saw two animals in the water. One was definitely an otter, but I think the other might have been a small beaver or a muskrat (I have to look up muskrats—I’m not sure what they look like). We hiked back admiring the sunset over the river.

We enjoyed leftovers for dinner, and plan to turn in early. Tomorrow we’re going to have a quiet day with no driving. We’ll probably hike back to the beach. While we’re camped here, we’re going to go to Baltimore for the day one day and do the tourist bit. Another day we’ll tour the historic sites in this area. We leave on Monday, probably heading toward Hershey, PA

5/3/06 – Wednesday: Today was a little too long. We got a late start because we explored Magnolia Springs State Park (where we spent the night). The park was the site of a Confederate prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. The spring was rather small, but very pretty. It bubbled up out of a deep hole in a sandy bottom. There were LOTS of turtles (at least 15-20 at a time popped up everywhere you got close to the edge). We also saw some large bream (fish). We also visited the Bo Ginn Aquatic Education Center. Admission was included in the camping fee.

We finally left around 10:00 AM. We planned to stop somewhere for breakfast. Big mistake. We didn’t find a restaurant until noon—and we were very hungry and more than a little cranky by then. The roads in SC were pretty bad. We started out on US 1, which had been so beautiful through GA. It was bumpy and had a good bit of traffic. At one point, there was a low bridge sign (12’ 8”). I didn’t pay attention to it until we were almost under it. I slowed way down, but it was too late to stop (cars behind me). Just as the hood of the truck went under the bridge, I looked up and saw gouges in the underside where others had scraped. Whew!! Now I know that we’re shorter than 12’ 8”!

There were quite a few Revolutionary War sites in SC. We especially enjoyed passing through Camden, where there were some historic homes. The little town of Patrick was surrounded by large tracts of pine trees. We didn’t notice any lumbering going on, which seemed odd since the trees were planted in rows. Then we saw the sign for the pine straw festival on the town hall. We started noticing that the ground under all the pine trees was raked completely bare!

Just before Columbia, we cut over (a long way) to I-95. It was also in bad shape, and it had lots of fast moving traffic and trucks. We wanted to get at least as far Raleigh so that we could meet my cousin, Art, and his wife, Ginny, for lunch in the Richmond area on Thursday. We finally pulled into a KOA campground at 8:45 PM (about 10 hours with me behind the wheel). We won’t put in such long days in the future.

After we set up, we headed immediately for a BBQ joint the campground host told us about. We were their last customers of the day. I enjoyed a BBQ pork sandwich (I almost never eat pork, but when in SC, do as the S Carolinians do)—delicious!

Even though it was late, I decided to journal the day for the blog. I got carried away, downloading the pictures from my camera and adding them and going into great detail about the day. I clicked on “post,” and then went to view the site. Nothing! Over an hour’s work, and it was not updated. From now on, I’m journaling first in MS Word and saving it. Then I’ll copy it to the website.

Tuesday, 5/2/06: It was really great to see Julie and John one last time before we left. After a pleasant breakfast with them, we left around 8:00 AM. If we had planned it, we couldn’t have had a nicer day. We’ve decided that we’re going to stick predominantly to major roads, but not the interstate. We started on 301 near Ocala, and took it and U.S. 1 today. We went through some beautiful country: horse farms near Ocala, then cattle ranches and woodlands with scattered southern towns. There was a lovely old frame church in Citra near the intersection of Hwy 301 and CR 18. It had unusual windows with arched panes on all four sides. Doves were etched on several panes. 301 was mostly dual lane and there was almost no traffic.

As we neared the GA state line, the wild flowers in the median were gorgeous—bright yellow, red, purple and orange. It sure looked better than shaggy pasture grass, and I’m sure they saved mowing costs! We went through our first weigh station at the GA state line. The signs indicated that trucks, pickups, trailers and 18-wheelers all had to stop, so we did. They waved us on, and we never did see how much we weighed. At some point we need to stop at a truck stop and weigh our truck and trailer and then both together to make sure we’re within the towing capacity of our truck.

As lunchtime approached, we came upon the Okeefenokee Swamp Park. We’d been there once before and taken the boat ride through the swamp (a neat thing to do, if you’ve never tried it). This time we decided to pull into the picnic area for lunch. They’ve added some old cabins and a gift store—very quaint. One of the cabins dated to the Seminole Indian wars (1835?), when it belonged to the Wildes family, who were massacred. What a great lunch break! We really feel like we’re on vacation now.

Another interesting stretch of road (I think we were on US 1 by now) was at Alma, which bills itself as the blueberry capital of GA. There were quite a few blueberry fields (groves? patches?) along the way. The blueberries were all green, which was interesting, because we know the blueberries in FL are ripe—Wiley’s sister, Cathy, picked some just before we left! The cornfields got progressively younger as we headed north, too. There was Zellwood (FL) corn in the supermarket when we left, and by the time we got to GA, it wasn’t even knee high.

We decided to call it a day near Augusta, GA, in a state park called Magnolia Springs. We’re camped beside a pretty little lake right now. We took a 1.4-mile walk on the nature trail before dinner. We saw a tiny little ring-necked snake. It was very pretty—dark red in color. I thought it was a fast-moving earth worm at first! There was also lots of sassafras. I have fond memories of my Girl Scout days when we plucked the young shrubs and chewed the root for its delicious licorice flavor. My grandmother made tea from it. We had a nice chat with the campground hosts. They’re workampers, like us, and this is their first assignment. They’re enjoying it a lot.

I made macaroni with tomato/meat sauce and canned asparagus for dinner. Not fancy, but it sure tasted good. We’d worked up an excellent appetite, and the lake view was as good as the best restaurants we’ve ever been to.

We’ve come roughly 400 miles so far. We’ve filled up twice--$59.29 in FL (20.5 gallons) and $52.67 in GA (18.8 gallons). That’s about 10 mpg, which is about what we expected. Hopefully, by avoiding the mountains, we’ll be able to keep it at that. We’ve budgeted $500 for gasoline for the whole trip (assuming about $3 per gallon). Gas was $2.89 in Orlando, and went down to about $2.78 in GA.

Monkey is taking it all in stride. We checked on her several times today to make sure it wasn’t too hot in the camper and that she was okay. She was usually either curled up beside the bed or on the couch. She’s eating and sleeping well. When we got to camp, I put her on the leash and took her for a short walk. She likes that!

We’re going to look at the spring head tomorrow, and then head out by 8 AM. We hope to reach the NC/VA border tomorrow (via US 1). Then we’ll be in Richmond for lunch with my cousin, Art, and his wife Ginny on Thursday. From there, we’ll spend a couple of days in the Baltimore area. After that… who knows? We’re on vacation!