October 11, 2009 (Sun) Bernard, ME to ~Dodge, MA (383/800 miles) - Overnight parking in highway rest areas tends to be dangerous and it's illegal in most states especially in the East. But sometimes the old adage "Any port in a storm" becomes appropriate. More later. But first:
We seriously debated going to church this morning since Dick would be assisting in the service but the long trip ahead had to be considered. So we reluctantly said good bye at about 8:30 and started North on SR-102 (you have to go north to get off the island) bound ultimately for Fayetteville, NY and home. The traffic on SR-3 to Ellsworth, ME was very light, nothing at all like it had been Friday afternoon, so we got there in good time. It's almost impossible for us to pass an L.L.Bean outlet store. The one in Ellsworth is one of the best so, of course, we had to stop. Joy found a couple of good bargains and after cashing in some coupons we'd earned managed to drop a total of $21. The fall colors have really popped out. The landscapes and views along US-1 and the Maine Turnpike were spectacular to say the least. We stopped at the New Hampshire State Liquor Store (tax free) and found the prices little better than sales in New Jersey including sales tax.But we went on and got a few bottles anyway.
License plates of interest:
PEST
ARRRRR with a sticker of the Jolly Roger flag (skull and crossbones) on left side of the trunk.
Hildene gave us the option of two Walmarts as potential "camping" sites. We chose Garner, MA because it was a little further along. It was not a supercenter nor was it in a very good location. We didn't even go in. The two young clerks in a near by McDonald's gave directions to the supercenter in Fitchburg. With Hildene's help we went back 10 miles, wound through some unlikely areas of the city and found a Walmart which turned out not to be a supercenter either. After a long talk with a couple of friendly customer service people and a frazzled young manager we learned that the policy of allowing overnight parking had recently been changed. For this store? For this area? For non-supercenters in general? For all Walmart stores? We neglected to find out, but we couldn't stay there. It was just as well. It too was in a questionable neighborhood and questionable "neighbors" appeared to be hanging around in the parking lot going in and out of the store. We had wanted to take SR-2 across the state as a more interesting alternative to the high speed Massachusetts Turnpike. But we decided to go south, find the supercenter in Worcester - surely there was one there - and take the Mass Pike in the morning. We couldn't find it. With Hildene's help we had a wonderful tour of Worcester's seedier sections - we are going to have an in-depth talk with her when we get home! - and gave it up.
The first rest area on the Mass Pike was busy and it appeared several vehicles of various types had settled in for the night. We found a not-so-level, out of the way spot and got ready to spend the night - minimally. We deployed the bed but didn't make it up and we didn't get completely ready for bed ourselves. We wanted to be able to beat it out of there at a moment's notice if a caller stopped by, whether cop or bad guy.
Q055182 Mass Pike rest area near Dodge, MA
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October 12, 2009 (Mon) ~Dodge, MA to ~Palmer, MA (30/830 miles) - We both woke up (if that's the right term since we hadn't slept) at about 1:30am because it was cold, our blankets kept falling off and the cold leather couch was slippery. We thought that if we were going to get into trouble it would be because we were there longer than just to rest. And most of the "overnighters" had left. So we decided to move to the next rest area. Many people regularly travel at night. It sure is the time to do that! The highway as all but empty and very peaceful. The music we found on the radio added to the serenity. It was great adventure.
The car parking area here is completely empty. We thought we'd be real obvious if we parked there for any length of time. Several trucks were parked in an area on the other side of the building near the diesel pumps, which were obviously closed. So we found a dark corner and climbed into the back again. We fully made up the bed this time but we stayed dressed.
Q055212 Mass Pike rest area near Palmer, MA
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October 12, 2009 (Mon still) ~Palmer, MA to ~Lee, MA (48/876 miles) - It was quiet when we went to bed but it didn't stay that way long. Trucks began to come and go. Diesel engines started up and shut down. A couple of times a truck would pull up beside us and sit for a while with its engine running - annoying in itself but Joy worried that we'd be blocked in. Our efforts to avoid getting in the way had become cause for us not to be able to sleep. When we could we climbed back into Q's cab and got back on the highway. Sleep? Maybe a total of an hour off and on over two hours.
Mark had decided to give it up and drive the rest of the way without stopping again, but Joy thought we should try again. The rest area near Lee, MA was small and there were 3 or 4 cars in the mostly level lot. We pulled in under a tree and went back to bed. The outside thermometer read 31°
Q055260 Mass Pike rest area near Lee, MA
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October 12, 2009 (Mon still) ~Lee, MA to Fayetteville, NY (167/1043 miles) - We slept solidly for three hours! We were not all that much interested in getting back on the road but after eating some breakfast that's what we did. An hour later we were lost in the Albany/Rensselaer, NY area! We thought that going up US-9 would be almost as good, time wise, as I-90 and a more direct and scenic route to US-20. And would avoid some tolls. The map made no indication that we'd be dumped onto Rensselaer city streets. Hildene picked this time to do her worst acting up - she'd go off just as we needed to find a turn, then take forever to find a satellite. By the time she did we'd be past the turn. Or the street route markings would differ from her directions often putting us in the wrong lane to make the proper turn - probably because her maps are out of date. When we finally found our way to US-20 the drive was beautiful. Traffic was relatively light and the fall foliage was spectacular.
License plate: GIDDI YP
We arrived in Fayetteville at 12:30pm badly in need of sleep, showers and a change of clothes - but super happy to see Shane sitting on his tricycle waiting for us. We were happy to see Jennifer too, of course, and Dave when he got home from work. We went to bed early.
October 13, 2009 (Tue) Fayetteville, NY (2) - It rained during the night which was good for sleeping and we sure did that. In bed at 8:30pm and woke at 7:00am. This has been a family day. Joy went with Jennifer when she delivered Shane to his day school and Mark went when she picked him up. Between trips we took an auto tour of downtown Syracuse (an ill fated shopping trip) and spent time just hanging out. Lunch at Wegman's was interesting and the hot wings and pizza (pick up) for dinner were great.
Q055427 Dave and Jennifer's yard
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October 14, 2009 (Wed) Fayetteville, NY to Home (302/1345 miles) - Yesterday someone in one of the stores was saying that the temperature was going down to 20°. It didn't. Our thermometer showed 37° outside and that's what the TV was saying it was this morning. So much for grass roots weather forecasting. The official forecasts for tonight are calling for the possibility of snow flurries. We were leaving just in time! We saw Dave off to work and Shane onto his school bus - what an interesting emotional adventure that was! He's too little to be going off by himself like that. We said good bye to Jennifer and got on the road about 10:00am. We weren't in desperate need of gas so we bypassed what we considered to be prices too high ($2.59) - until we began to pass stations selling it for $2.69, $2.79 and even $2.89. We finally stopped for some $2.59 gas, wishing we could have made it to New Jersey where it was $2.15/gallon.
The rest of the trip home was relatively, and thankfully, unremarkable. The colors of the trees along RT 17 appeared to be past prime, which was surprising but still quite beautiful. The traffic was very light and easy until we got close in to the New York City area. The Garden State Parkway had its usual percentage of maniac drivers.
License plates:
BUY COWS
HUGABUG (on a VW beetle convertible)
We got home about 4:40pm (cloudy 55°)
Q055729 Home
QC95-02 The Long Trip Home
QC95-01 A visit in Maine
October 8, 2009 (Thur) Home to Roxbury, CT (136/136 miles) - We both had Dr appointments this morning - we are happy to report that we are good for another 3 months at least - so an early start was out of the question. But that was OK because we only had a short way to go on this first leg. We had left most of our packing for today so we were busy before and after and finally got off at about 2:00pm. (66° sunny with some clouds) Gas was our first order of business. The local Raceway has always had the best prices in the area but they have gone to charging a different prices for cash and credit. That makes for a good deal when paying cash but not when using a credit card so we waved as we went by. $2.15 a gallon at the Race Star at the Rt 36 parkway exit was a 34¢/gal savings - relatively big bucks when filling a motor home gas tank.
Around the greater New York City area, and in some other parts of the motoring country, a motor home is considered to be a truck - at least when it comes to paying tolls. As we've mentioned before, The Garden State Parkway tolls are now double that of passenger cars as are the tolls on most other roads and bridges. We think this is a little unfair just because Q has dual wheels in back. He is, after all, just a glorified passenger car (sorry Q). You can imagine our shock when the toll collector at the Tappan Zee Bridge crossing the Hudson River asked for triple the car toll of $5.00. We can't possibly be causing that much more wear and tear! We'll go a different way next time.
Other than that the trip was unremarkable. Getting turned around in Jerry and Margot's long driveway was a little tight but we were able to find a rare level spot and joined them for a delicious spare ribs dinner. The festivities were interrupted briefly for Jerry to take Margot to the hospital emergency room, she injured her leg preparing dinner, a known high risk activity.
Q054523 Jerry and Margot's driveway.
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October 9, 2009 (Fri) Roxbury, CT to Bernard, ME (276/417 miles) - We'd hoped to be off very early. We knew we had a tough 300 miles to go and we didn't want to get to Dick and Ruth's place too late. It didn't work out that way. Our alarm didn't go off so we were over an hour late getting started (7:17am 49° cloudy). Wanting to avoid more toll ticket shock we had decided to take a slightly longer (we thought) route to avoid the Massachusetts Turnpike and the tolls around Boston, MA. On the way, we asked Hildene to do some calculations for us. She determined that going the "long" way would add about 3 hours to our trip. Not good! So back to Plan A.
Yesterday the trees gave only a hint of the season. Yellows and browns here and there gave promise of things to come. Today, as we drove north, there was more color - a long way from true fall foliage but enough to make us think that in a couple of days and a little further north the landscape would be ablaze. It also made us think that others, many others, would soon be out meandering along these roads enjoying the colors and slowing traffic to a crawl. But we'd forgotten that this was a 3 day weekend (Columbus Day on Monday) and might very well be the last relatively mild weekend of the year. People with nowhere in particular to go were already clogging the roads. US-1 along the coast of Maine is notoriously bad in the Summer was only marginally better today. We'd have made better time on foot in the small "touristy" towns and we'd inevitably get behind a elderly driver or slow truck on the open but winding roads.
The traffic on SR-3 between Ellsworth, ME and Mount Desert Island is normally heavy and often aggravating but today was the worst we've ever encountered. It rivaled a Friday afternoon southbound on the New Jersey's Garden State Parkway in the summer. The whole distance, about 10 miles, was a parking lot! It added another 45 minutes to an already over long trip. There was construction at the intersection of SR-2 where it turns East for Bar Harbor and SR-102 but it wasn't so extensive as to cause the backup. We concluded that it was really just plain old heavy 3 day weekend traffic. We were glad to let the Bar Harbor bound weekenders battle it out while we headed South on SR-102. Bernard is almost as far south as one can go by car in Mount Desert Island. Dick and Ruth's home sits just off Bass Harbor and overlooks the water. Beautiful spot.
The others arrived later - Roger and Marty, 30 minutes and Jerry and Margot 45. It was great for all of us to be together again - almost all of us, we missed Ruth.
October 10, 2009 (Sat) Bernard, ME (2) - Because of her spinal stenosis and other problems, Ruth now needs more care than Dick can give her so she has moved into a nursing/assisted living facility in Bar Harbor. That was our destination this morning. Ruth joined us in the "Music Room" with a panoramic view of Frenchman Bay where we all sat in a circle and reminisced, with plenty of laughter, about "old times". Ruth seemed to enjoy it as much as we did. Soon the dining room staff threw us out so they could set up for lunch. It was hard leaving her, as we had to do, knowing how much she had enjoyed our being there and how much she would like to be with us the rest of the weekend.
Lunch, naps (we're all getting older you know) and just hanging out filled our afternoon.
As they left last night to go back to their Bed & Breakfast in Southwest Harbor Roger and Marty clipped Q's step with their bumper disabling its ability to retract. Mark worked on it for a while last night but the dark and a light drizzle limited the effort. After we got back from Bar Harbor he worked on it again and was able to force it up into the travel position but it needs serious attention when we get home.
Q054799 Dick & Ruth's driveway
