Thursday, July 29, 2010

# 99 Wasted Day & Wasted Night

The drugs didn't help. Mary still wasn't feeling great & I was feeling like crap. Wednesday, day & night, was a total waste & we will leave it at that. I guess we will have days like that from time to time. It doesn't make for good blogging material.

Thursday morning found us both feeling better. Not great but better, so we decided to take the truck instead of the bikes. Our destination today was Waterbury-Stowe Rd. Why that road? It seems to be the central location for the factory tours & outlet stores of Vermont. Our first stop was Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. Between the dozens of flavors, tens of thousands of pints, & temps going from 130 degrees to pasteurize to -40 degrees it was very interesting. The free samples were a perfect end to the tour. Ben & Jerry's charges for their tour which at first put me off, but once I found out all the money gets donated to local children's charities I felt good about it.

Next stop was the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. Not much of a tour but you could see the equipment they use & taste many of their products. The cider was awesome & several of the homemade jams, dips, & spreads found their way into our shopping bag. We also found a couple of spiced apple cider donuts in the bag. Farther on down the road was the Cabot Cheese annex & store. Unlimited samples of some of the best cheeses we have ever tasted. Again the shopping bag started to fill but we only have a small RV refrigerator so we had to restrain ourselves. Full of cheese we headed over to the Champlain Chocolate Co. Fortunately being full of cheese made it easy to exert self control. We left with a very small bag of what we wanted but did not need.

Tomorrow we leave for NY so when we got home we loaded the bikes & got a lot of things ready for our morning departure. Hopefully it will be an early night & an early morning. It is always better to get to our destination early enough to set up & get a good nights rest so that we can get an early start on enjoying our new neighborhood. So this is our last goodnight from our home in Vermont because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

#98 Still Crossing State Lines

With NH in our rear view mirror it was Vermont in the windshield. If you have been following us you know how much we enjoy the creations of Mother Nature but here in VT it is going to be different. On the agenda for the next few days is Cabot Cheese, Ben & Jerry's, the VT Teddy Bear Factory. Not exactly the finest of Mother nature but there will be fun & calories to be had.



Mary had not been feeling well for a couple of days but is doing much better. The problem is now I am having issues. Either Mary gave me what she had or I am allergic to the "Great State of Vermont". Mary stopped at a drug store & bought a veritable cornucopia of cold & allergy medicines. With any luck I will feel better & the factory tours can begin.



The weather looks promising for the next few days so miles will be put on the bikes. We will also try to get down to Lake Champlain. Until then I will drug myself & hope to feel better tomorrow in our home in Vermont because .....



Home is where we park it,

Frank & Mary

Sunday, July 25, 2010

#97 And Away We Go!!!!!!



Sundays weather looks kind of iffy so we figure Saturday would be our last day on the bikes. It's no fun loading them in the rain. After breakfast we headed out in search of covered bridges. The weather was beautiful and the roads were a motorcyclists dream. The curves, the hills, & driving through all the small towns it just seemed like we were driving down Main Street America. It is real & so much better than Main Street Disney.



The first bridge we drove over was a 4 trestle wooden bridge in Bath. At about 250' it is the longest wooden bridge in NH. Farther on down the road we drove over the Swiftwater Bridge. The bridge was smaller but no less photogenic. We then stopped for lunch. As I've said before, touristing is tough & we had worked up an appetite. After lunch we found the Haverhill Bridge but were not able to drive on it. It had been restored & was closed to vehicular traffic so we walked across it & took some more pictures. Mary will be posting them on FB.


It had been a wonderful day but we wanted to get home before the evening rains came. Also since it was going to rain most of Sunday we hoped to get the bikes loaded when we got home. Mary was exhausted & not feeling so great so she went to take a nap. I was feeling pretty good after a great day on the bikes so I loaded them in the trailer. No sooner did I have them loaded & the door locked up it started to rain. Talk about perfect timing.


Sunday we slept in. After a late breakfast Mary got started on some laundry & I began dumping our holding tanks. We try to get as much done the day before we leave to make our departure as painless as possible. It doesn't always work but we try. I went out to get some bread & milk & came home $124 poorer. Oh yeah there was almost 40 gallons of diesel fuel in there somewhere. It is so much easier to fill up without the trailer attached. Some of the local gas stations just don't have the room needed to pull in to the pumps with a 40' long & 13'6" high trailer.


Tomorrows ride is only about 120 miles so we don't have to be on the road too early. It will be an easy trip into Vermont, the land of Cabot cheese & Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We look forward to both. So this is our last goodnight from our home in NH because....


Home is where we park it,


Frank & Mary

Friday, July 23, 2010

#96 MOOOOOOOOSE!!!!

As expected it was a late night & as promised we saw moose. The night wasn't perfect though. The tour bus had broken down so the driver showed up with a borrowed 14 passenger van. The van was borrowed from a kayak tour company so it was a bit soggy with trash bag seat covers. Oh well they promised moose so let's see what happens. Basically they drove us up & down the local roads where moose are regularly spotted. With flood & spot lights we searched the roadside woods. Once the sun was completely down the moose started to appear. First there was a female with a calf. A little farther down the road we spotted the whole family, a bull, cow, & calf. It was dark & the moose stay in the woods so photography was very iffy. Mary got a few pictures & will post them on FB.

Roaming the roads in & around the mountains we saw more moose, some deer, & found a bear rummaging through a restaurant dumpster. By the time the "Moose Safari" was over it was after 11 pm & we had about a 45 minute ride home. It was already late so we figured we would look for more moose. Well there were no more moose but we did see another bear & a family of raccoon. Mary was starting to feel like Marlin Perkins in her own version of Wild Kingdom. I think we will be shopping for safari gear soon. She will be ready for the next safari.

Today we took the bikes out & just rode with no destination in mind. We took pictures of waterfalls, stopped at a covered bridge, & checked out a cider mill & bakery. Tomorrow we will do more nothing on the bikes & see what we shall see. I enjoy reading your comments & look forward to more in the future. Until the next blog, Ta Ta from our home in NH because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary & Bullwinkle

Thursday, July 22, 2010

#95 In Search Of Moose

The first thing I would like to do is thank everyone who has started to comment on the blog. Mary lets me know when people talk about the blog but it is nice to get the comments directly & encourages me to write more. So, again thank you & keep the comments coming.

Wednesday turned out to be a pretty miserable day weather wise. We slept in until the rain let up & decided to tour the area in the truck. It was a short drive over to Franconia Notch & the visitor center to see what there was to do for us tourists. I think that is what I will start to put down as my occupation, "Professional Tourist". Armed with a stack of pamphlets that would choke a moose we headed down the road. We stopped at "The Basin" which is a naturally carved pot hole fed by streams & water falls. We weren't the only ones who saw a photo-op so the woods were filled with tri-pods, cameras, lenses, & the click-click-click of dozens of cameras. Mary will be posting on FB shortly. There were also a few brave(or foolish) souls who thought it would be nice to take a dip in the 45-50 degree mountain spring water. BRRRRRRR!!!!!

Continuing on down the pike we stopped at the viewing sites of "The Old Man of The Mountain". The Old Man is a natural rock formation featured on NH licence plates & state quarter but has since collapsed. Since its collapse in 2003 large numbers of people feel that it should be rebuilt. I personally don't think that man should rebuild what Mother Nature built & caused to collapse. Nature is a process that includes creation & destruction. We can't stop Mother Nature. If man was around should he have stopped the erosion that is the Grand Canyon, the volcanoes that are Hawaii, the glacier that made the New England shore line, & more? No, what man should do is minimize his own impact on that that was created by Mother Nature so that generations can see the process that is Mother Nature. Well I'm off my soap box because it is starting to rain.

Mary has found us a "Moose Safari" & hopefully we will see moose this evening. We will be getting in late so the blog & photos will probably not get posted 'til Friday. It is time to get dinner put together so we can head out on the "Moose Safari". If we "bag" ourselves some moose, with a camera of course, we will share with everyone as soon as possible. Until then from our "Moose Safari" base camp (aka home) in Twin Mt NH because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

#94 Back Home, Again?

Sunday was spent getting ready to leave Bar Harbor. Mary's lobster hunt was officially over so our sights were set on New Hampshire. Yes, we are back in NH so we are sort of back home. This time we are in northern NH up near Mt Washington. Our ride from Bar Harbor to Twin Mountains NH was a little different from our normal travels. There are no interstates from point A to point B so we took mostly 2 lane state roads through the small New England towns in Maine & NH. The roads were good & we got to see more of small town America.

Once settled in we decided to go to Mt Washington the next day. Tuesday we rode up to the mountain & I convinced Mary that it would be fun to ride to the summit so off we go. 8 miles of twisting, winding, narrow, no guard rail, climb from 1800' to 6288'. Oh by the way part of the road wasn't paved & wasn't wide enough for 2 cars to pass. As Mary says, "it was freakin' awesome!". The views from the top were unbelievable with the clouds floating by below us & clear views between the clouds to the bottom of the mountain. Again the only sound was click, click, click from Mary's camera( see FB).

Mary was so excited about getting to the top of the mountain she hadn't thought too much about the ride down. The road is not for the faint of heart. So much so that while we were at the top a gentleman had to make arraignments to have someone drive his car down because his wife was having a panic attack. All of a sudden Mary started to think about the ride down. This was just another case of Mary being the only one who didn't have faith in Mary. We took our time, stopped at pull-offs to relax, & had no problems with the descent. Mary was "Woo Hoo"-ing all the way home.

We stopped for groceries on the way & ran into our obligatory rain storm. A quick stop to don rain gear & we proceeded home. All in all an awesome day. Tomorrow we are on the lookout for moose on one of the guided "Moose Safaris". So tonight we will dream of mooses or meese or moose or whatever in our home in Twin Mountains NH because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Saturday, July 17, 2010

#93 Back On The Lobster Trail

Friday morning we were supposed to do the sunrise thing at Cadillac Mt. It didn't happen. The 3:30am alarm just annoyed us so we rolled over & went back to sleep. We've seen sunrises & we saw Cadillac Mt so we will put them together in our mind & call it done. I woke up around 9am but Mary wasn't feeling well so I let her sleep & went out to find some breakfast. I had heard about a good bagel place & I needed my bagel fix. By the time I got home Mary was up but still under the weather. I called & cancelled our lunch reservations at the Jordon Pond House. It is a restaurant that is known for their popovers as well as the view of Jordon Pond. We'll try it another time. Mary got herself cleaned up because she wasn't going to miss the carriage ride on the Rockefeller Carriage Road Bridge tour.
.
The carriage ride was fun. The driver was funny as well as informative & the carriage road itself was beautiful. The road was built specifically for horses, bicycles, & pedestrians to protect the woodland experience for the enjoyment of the general public. Mary was feeling better & taking pictures like a clicking bandit. FB friends can check out the pics. After the carriage ride she felt good enough to go to the Jordan Pond House so off we go to see if we can get in without reservations. Our timing was perfect! They were cleaning up after lunch & setting up for dinner so we walked right in. We shared a lobster quiche, salad, seafood chowder, & of course popovers. It was as delicious as everyone had promised & the view was the perfect back drop. Fog was starting to roll in so we hopped on the bikes & headed home.

Saturday morning the weather was absolutely perfect so after breakfast we headed out in search of a lighthouse. The Bass Harbor Head Light is on the opposite side of the island from Bar Harbor so we figured we wouldn't have to deal with any disruptions from having the First Family in town. It was a great ride out to the lighthouse & we climbed the rocks to get that perfect picture, again seen on FB. We left the lighthouse & rode around Bass Harbor to Bernard & had lunch at Thurston's. It's a little seafood shack right on the pier overlooking the harbor. We had a crab roll that tasted like no other crab we had ever had & corn & clam chowder that could have been a meal all by itself. More pictures of the harbor that look like the idealized fishing villages seen in photos & movies. On the way home Mary got a little bit adventurous & started turning down side streets just to see where they went. I personally love doing that but she usually likes to have everything planned out in advance. We wound up in Northeast Harbor which is just another cute little town that looks like it was passed by the last 100 years.

Finally found our way home & we have to remark about how the Obamas have kept their word about not disrupting anyone else's time in Acadia. It turns out that they were at the Bass Head Light about the same time that we were. If we hadn't seen it on the Internet we wouldn't have known that our paths came close to crossing. The only inconvenience we dealt with was rubberneckers trying to see the Presidential airplane at the airport. It wasn't even the Air Force One, it was a smaller jet that from the road looked like some of the other private jets that we have seen in & out of the airport.
.
Now it is time for dinner & Mary is ready for her LOBSTER! On down the road to Lunt's Lobster Pound. No, it's not a place where they keep stray lobsters. Pound just means that in addition to a regular menu you can order lobsters sized by the pound. Lobsters are cooked outside & boiled or grilled over an open fire. If you have seen the pics on FB you can see that Mary definitely enjoyed herself & is thinking about going back tomorrow! We will worry about tomorrow tomorrow.
.
Tonight we get some rest because tomorrow we have to work some "gettin' ready to leave" around the lobster eatin'. So until the next blog goodnight from our home next door to the Obama family in Bar Harbor ME because...
.
Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary & Melvin "The Dear Departed Lobster"
PS Let me know how the picture works. I am trying to get more "blog" savy




Thursday, July 15, 2010

#92 Whoda Thunk?

Tuesday night brought all the rain that was forecast & it was still raining Wednesday morning. Our plans were to use the truck & that seemed like an excellent idea. We went out for breakfast & then headed out to Schoodic Point. This is another part of Acadia National Park but is located about 45 minutes from the main section of the park. After some pretty rough local roads & a few tiny little towns we found Shoodic Point. The roads in the park are meticulously maintained & a pleasure to drive. Inlets, coves, a lighthouse & we had just barely entered the park. After a few more miles & numerous curves we found the "Point". The rock formations & the waves crashing on them put on a show that had us burning up the data cards. Digital photography is a wonderful thing with what seems like a limitless amount of picture storage. With spray shooting as much as 20 feet & possibly more in the air we had an amazing & always changing backdrop to our pictures. We drove back through more quaint fishing villages with plenty of photo-ops on our way home. With a quick stop at "Wally World" we finally decided to call it a day & went home to relax the rest of the evening.

Wednesday we woke up to beautiful weather & plans to ride the bikes all day. With 4 more days here we figured that we could take our time to see the rest of the sights on our list. WRONG!! The morning radio report surprised us with the news that we were going to have company. It turns out that the Obama family has decided to join us in Bar Harbor for the weekend. With some of the roads & sections of the park being closed at various times it looked like we were down to 2 days, Thursday & Friday, to see what we wanted to see. Oh well, it's a good thing our plans are written in "jello".

So it was on to Cadillac Mountain. At 1500 feet it isn't the tallest mountain but it is the one place on the east coast that you can see the sun rise before anyone else in the US. That is planned for tomorrow morning. After that we drove the park loop again but without the fog of our first day. Pictures of some of the things we saw before, but this time in the sunshine, & pics of things we couldn't see because of the fog. Check out the pics on Mary's FB but it's not the same as being there. I don't know what it is but we just can't seem to get enough of the water. The power of the waves is mesmerising & the number of pictures is indicative of that.

On the way home we became aware that our breakfast was gone so we go into Bar Harbor before the First Family madness for something to eat. With all the lobster on the menu what does Mary pick? A hamburger!!! Has she finally had enough lobster? Nope, just has a hankering for a big greasy burger & is saving it for the "lobster pound" tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, with plans for sunrise on Cadillac Mt we need to get to bed early. 3:30am rolls around early so I sign off early from our home in Bar Harbor because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

#91 Welcome To Bah Hahbah (Huh?)

It was an easy 130 miles plus 20 miles of off roading through construction that would give a Jeep fits. Of course Mary was driving & she accused me of planning the whole thing. We arrived at our campground & got settled in. Since it was early we decided to take the bikes & check out the Bar Harbor area & get our pass for Acadia National Park. The pass is good for the whole week so we figured we would get it now to get it out of the way. Brochures gathered & advice garnered we headed home for dinner & an evening of planning for the next week.

Tuesday started off foggy but Acadia was on the schedule so we hit the road. We thought the fog might not let us see Acadia well but we were wrong. Yes we couldn't see some of the park but what we could see was given a mystical aura. The rocky shore line shrouded in fog gave us some awesome photo ops ( check out Mary on FB). Waves crashing on the rocks one after another was mesmerizing. Climbing over the rocks like kids we took picture after picture. The rock formations size was mind boggling.

The only thing I can say is Disney just can't compete with Mother Nature. We have seen some amazing things in our travels. In New York we have seen the Empire State Building & Niagara Falls, in St. Louis we have seen the Arch & the Mississippi, we have seen the monuments of Washington DC & we have seen the Grand Canyon & were impressed by them all. Impressed yes but also in awe when it comes to the creations of Mother Nature. Man did not imagine, design, or create these gifts, man can only claim to have found what already existed.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain so we will take the truck & do some errands. Maybe get some laundry done, make a few phone calls, & just take care of things that need taking care of. We feel that we have an amazing life but it is still life & that includes all the everyday chores we all have. We look forward to more of Acadia & Bar Harbor from our home in Bar Harbor Maine because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Sunday, July 11, 2010

#90 Maine Part 2

Saturday & Sunday the rain rolled in. Since we leave Saco ME for parts north it seemed like a good time to relax & take our time getting ready for the next leg of our adventure. I was rudely awakened Saturday with "hurry up, it's not raining!". So with sleep still in my eyes & no coffee(how uncivilized!?) we loaded the motorcycles. It's no fun loading them when it is raining & the weekend forecast wasn't bike friendly so it was a good idea. It just didn't seem so at the time, but as usual Mary was right. After breakfast, catching up on the Internet, & walking the dog we both looked at each other & said"Nap Time!".

After a few hours of good sleep Mary decided to join in the parks activities. They were "tye-dying" t-shirts. It was mostly kids but since Mary is young at heart she fit right in & was a help to some of the little ones that had never heard of or done tye-dying. Flash backs from the 70's of beer, t-shirts, more beer, dye, & more beer, all followed be an unexplained tye-dye tattoo that lasted weeks kept me out of the fun. I was the self designated photographer documenting the event. Mary on the other hand had a blast & came away with a on of a kind memento( see pics on FB).

Sunday we dumped our tanks, scrubbed some of the bugs off the front of the rig, & did some laundry all in preparation of our Monday departure. We don't have to be on the road super early so we may partake of the park's Pancake Breakfast at the Merry Moose. Reasonable prices & we don't have to cook. Our next destination is Bar Harbor ME, just 150 miles down the road. It should be an easy drive & we will be there for a week. There are a number of things we want to see & do one of which is to see puffins. They are a strange looking little bird & Mary thinks they are cute. I guess when she calls me cute she means that I am a strange looking bird. Oh well, she loves me & I can't figure out why.

So this is our last good night from Saco ME but there will be more good nights from our home as we travel down the road because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

PS Happy B-Days to Al & Bob, & Happy Anniversary to Kim & Joe

Friday, July 9, 2010

#89 Shopping & Lighthouses

Wednesday we got up & Mary didn't feel like riding the bikes so it seemed like a good day to shop. There is really no good day to shop for me & I'm sure a lot of you guys will agree, just not in front of the wife. Well on to the outlet mall in Freeport ME. It is supposed to look like a little New England village but looks more like a Disney rendition. It had the usual outlet mall stores plus several tourist dollar black holes. You know the ones with the same t-shirts, key chains, mugs, post cards, magnets, ashtrays, shot glasses, etc as every other tourist trap. If you are from Pinellas County think John's Pass in Maine. We bought NOTHING of substance, some post cards & a t-shirt & it was time to leave. On the way out of Freeport I spotted a bakery called The Flying Pig. Anyone who knows Mary knows she has a thing about pigs and if you know me I have a thing about bakeries so it was a must stop. It was all home made breads, cakes, & cookies. I was in heaven! I bought a loaf of garlic sourdough bread & we each picked out a cookie. Yes, one cookie each. They were the size of dinner plates & sinfully good.

Shopping must be tiring because Mary fell asleep shortly after the truck started moving. A half hour later I woke her & asked if she wanted to see a 1700 lb moose. She perked up when she realized we were at Len Libby's Candy Store, home to Lenny the 1700lb chocolate moose. Check Mary's photos on FB. We had to buy some chocolates but did restrain ourselves & only spent about $10. That was enough for me to call it a day.

Thursday we spent the whole day on the bikes. We started at Camp Ellis Beach & rode the water front north. Past all the beach homes & beach communities, we saw Old Orchard Beach Pier & it's amusement park & we arrived at Cape Elizabeth. The lighthouse there is privately owned & not operating. The owners keep it painted but that's about it. Kind of a let down so off we go to find the Portland Head Lighthouse. There was a sign for Two Lights Lighthouse but we were led to understand that there was a fee. We don't want to go in the lighthouse or any attached museums, we just want to get close enough to see them & take a couple of pictures so we went on. After a wrong turn here, some construction there, we finally find Portland Head Light. The sea fog was a bit thick & Mary was upset that she wouldn't get any good pictures but if you see her pics on FB the fog gave the picture character & insight as to the reason for lighthouses. We stopped at the smallest Post Office we had been to yet. The Cape Elizabeth Station had maybe 20 PO boxes & barely enough room for Mary & me to fit inside. I also think the clerk might have been appointed the job by Ben Franklin himself.

Friday we didn't want to do anything, so we didn't! Breakfast at noon, the morning dog walk at 2pm, & got ready for dinner at 5pm. We need a Chinese food fix & had heard about a really good place in Scarborough. It did not disappoint. We did a little grocery shopping & called it a day. Mary posts on FB & I blog & it is then good night from our home in Saco ME because...

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

#88Maine? Lobster?? Uh Oh!!!

Brookline is in our rear view mirrors & it was 6am. Just like I planned or at least hoped. We made Chichester before 7:30 & had time for breakfast. No one wanted to cook & there was a Dunkin' Donuts down the block. D&D, how can you go wrong? It was just far enough for the dog's morning walk. By the time we were done Camping World was opening & they took our rig in. We had reservations for that evening in Maine but our "jello" had us staying at Camping World overnight if need be. The service guys gave us good news & bad news. The good was that the satellite was fixed & that the slide was fine except for a couple of loose bolts. The bad news was some water damage that I knew about had reached the point that it need looking into. We will make plans for that when we stay in FL this winter.When all was said & done we were on the road by 3pm & the "jello" was not needed.

Well we are now in Maine & you know what that means...LOBSTER!!!!! Lobster & lighthouses seems to be the theme of this jaunt through New England so off we were. We started in Kittery & worked our way north. Some how we missed what ever we were looking for in Kittery & wound up in York. It worked out just fine since this is the home of Nubble Light. We drove past York Beach. The beaches here look nothing like the beaches we've seen from Long Island's south shore to Florida. It's mostly rocks & what sand there is is much darker. Nubble Light was pretty neat. Being on an island separated from the mainland by only a couple of hundred feet it was connected by a small cable car for supplies. Think clothes line & a big bucket. People had to still go by boat.

Driving & touristing is hard work so we had worked up an appetite. What should we have? Maine? LOBSTER! On a recommendation we stopped at the Maine Diner on Rt 1 in Wells. Mary is the lobster lover, I can take it or leave it. I chose to take & I chose wisely. I won't bore you(or tease you) with the details but if you are ever in this area stop in. You won't be disappointed & thank you Laura.

Bellys full we continued our search for lighthouses. Next stop Kennebunkport. A quaint little town with the stigma of being the home of George H Bush. Just beyond in Cape Porpoise we found Goat Island Lighthouse. With a moderate zoom lens we got some great pictures from the rocks. There was an even better view from the pier. I was looking at the boats moored in Porpoise Cove & Mary was watching them unload lobsters from a boat into a refrigerated truck. I kept a good eye on Mary. We didn't need any truck hijackings on this trip. Back into Kennebunkport for some pictures & postcards & it was time to head home. Foxy was waiting & doesn't like her dinner to be late.

We are still full from our late lunch so after unloading the bikes, walking the dog, & blogging I am calling it a night. So I will lay my head down thinking about tomorrow's adventures & Mary will lay hers down dreaming of lobster & this will be in our home in Saco ME because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary

Sunday, July 4, 2010

#87 A Big Bang In Small Town America

Happy 4th of July! We are in Brookline NH for one more night & what a night it is. When we made our travel plans we made sure that we were off the road for the holiday. Checking in early gets us out of the holiday traffic & we avoid the rush of holiday campers. What we didn't know was that this RV park has their own 4th of July celebration which includes a pork roast/pot luck dinner & fireworks. We couldn't miss the patriotic celebration so with folding chairs on our backs & Mary's mac-n-cheese in hand we went. The food was delicious, the company was pleasant, & our hosts delightful. After dinner we walked the dog, turned the radio up so she wouldn't hear the fireworks, & returned for the show. Now this is just a small RV park, no more than 50 sites, so we didn't expect too much. Were we wrong! 30 minutes of continuous professional style pyrotechnics set to patriotic music had everyone entertained & impressed. Field & Stream RV Park is proud of their Annual 4th of July Pork Roast & Fireworks & justifiably so. We highly recommend anyone camping in this area around the "4th" seriously consider this the place to stay.


After the show was over we went back to our rig & were serenaded for the next hour or so by the fireworks displays put on by the local municipalities, parks, clubs, & individuals. These are not pyromaniacs, these are patriotic citizens celebrating America the way they know best, the small town American way. It shouldn't be any other way & I was happy & proud to be asked to be part of it. It has quieted down now & the dog is calming down. She handles it OK but still doesn't like it.


Tomorrow we leave Brookline & are headed to Maine, but first we are making a stop in Chichester NH. The issues we were having with our satellite are being addressed & the slide noises are going to get checked out. We plan on being there when they open their doors so we can get in & out & still have time to make our next stop in Maine. If not then we will just have to be a day late. There's that "plans written in jello" thing again. It just means you have to go with the flow. So we will try to get to bed early & get up early. Hopefully we can be on the road by 6am. If we get there as early as I hope we will have breakfast in the parking lot while we wait for the RV shop to open.

So this is our last good night from Brookline but not the last from our home because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary