Confessions from a month long RV trip

·        A dog puking in your lap just two minutes after leaving home does not ruin your entire trip.

·        You can take the man away from the cars, but… our first stop was the National Corvette Museum.

·        We have become extremely quick at setting up and taking down camp. We work well as a team.

·        You end up eating out more than you planned.

·        All campgrounds are not created equal. Amenities, other campers, etc.

·        RV toilets can, and will, get plugged up.

·        Ticks in New England LOVE our dogs.

·        If one person in an RV gets sick, the other will get sick also.

·        Urgent Care Clinics in New York and Virginia are pretty good!

·        Sometimes the RV antenna gets better reception than campground cable

·        Our favorite state to visit this trip was Maine.

·        When at a campground with extremely poor cell service, sometimes you stand with your hand in the air to try to get service.

·        You MUST love your spouse. You will be together 24/7 in a small space.

·        Pork chops taste better when cooked on the grill vs. a frying pan.

·        Yes, it is a tiny bathroom and odors will escape that tiny room. Overhead fans and odor eliminator are your friends.

·        Three dogs bring a lot of dirt, mud and grass into an RV. Including on the bed.

·        Check the campground washing machine before washing your clothes. Sometimes, “something” is in there and you have to rewash the load.

·        Inevitably you will discover something you need that your husband removed from the RV to save space.

·        Sheets can go a month without being washed. I don’t recommend it.

·        Clothes can be worn a few times without being washed.

·        If your husband gets lost in a parking lot and drives around in circles for a while, he doesn’t find it amusing that you are laughing hysterically until after the fact.

·        Trying to fit too much stuff into a month long trip wears you out.

·        Our next long trip will be off the cuff. We’ll go/do whatever we feel like doing that day.

·        You can pack a month’s worth of food into an RV. The only shopping we had to do was for milk and bread.

·        Bugs WILL find the small hole in a screen.

·        You will always need more wood blocks than you think.

·        Having a built in vacuum is EXTREMELY helpful. Especially with dogs.

·        Having at least one large fan to help air out the RV is helpful.

·        When stopping for gas, wash not only the windshield but the entire front of the RV to remove bugs.

·        You can’t make a sharp U-turn and you can’t back up with a car dolly attached.

·        The Good Sam GPS is amazing. It let’s you know if you can’t go down a certain road in the RV.

·        It makes the wife happy if you put up the decorative flag upon arriving at your site.

·        You may get a pull-thru site but that doesn’t mean you can leave your two car hooked up. The RV BARELY fit in one site.

·        It’s a good feeling when other campers ask if you’re in the “big rig”.

·        Yeti, RTIC, etc. cups are AWESOME to take along in the car. Great for the day trips and even when you return from an excursion, they still have ice!

·        Two people can easily drink an entire bottle of wine in one night.

·        Husbands can make a nice breakfast. If we had a tray, Debbie could have had breakfast in bed one morning.

·        Showers are not always possible every day. Not every campground has sewer hookups.

·        Always bring plenty of dog treats.

·        You can make some really good meals in an RV.

·        You can buy good lobster and flat iron steak in Maine.

·        You can buy some pretty crummy meals at restaurants.

·        You can buy BAD pizza and Chinese food in New York.

·        When visiting Niagara Falls, take dry clothes.

·        Niagara Falls has terrible road signs to show you where to go.

·        Tolls can be EXPENSIVE.

·        The good restaurants and view at Niagara Falls are on the Canadian side.

·        Adults can have fun on jumping pillows also.

·        Big cities are expensive to park in.

·        Tom turned into a fan of mass transit when we visited Washington, D.C.

·        Colonial Williamsburg would be a fun place to work.

·        We were able to see so much history.

·        If you are enjoying your grilled pork chops too much you will miss a rocket launch.

·        You will vacillate between being ready to be home and wishing the trip could last another week.

·        Online banking is a great invention.

·        You can get a great view of the Milky Way in some of the northern states.

·        Men seem to think they are smarter than the GPS. I’ve yet to see this as truth.

·        Do NOT run a fan to push the hot air out the window while flushing the toilet. Gag!!

·        Can we just go park by a lake and relax now?

Checking in!

Can you believe we’ve been staying at campgrounds that have NO WiFi and NO cell phone signal? We’ve been in the boonies for the past week! This means I have a few days to catch up on. Check out this picture of Tom trying to get cell service. We did a lot of this!

After we left Niagara Falls we traveled the New York countryside in search of our campground for two nights. It turned out to be a very pretty wooded campground. We drove into the Adirondack Mountains and the fall colors there did not disappoint.

Unfortunately, when we left home Tom had a cold. This cold had turned into a nasty cough and Tom just felt miserable. I finally told him we were going to go into town and find an Urgent Care Clinic. When he didn’t argue with me I knew he must really be feeling miserable. The diagnosis was bronchitis. A trip to Walgreens to fill some prescriptions and we drove back to the campground. After dinner, Tom was in bed early.

Next on our itinerary was a couple days in Vermont. Fortunately it was a short drive. I offered to drive but Tom, being the man, insisted he drive. We arrived at Kenolie Village campground and as soon as we were set up I told Tom to go rest. He slept for 2 ½ hours, woke up for dinner and then fell asleep again on the couch. He woke up and went to bed. The antibiotics started to kick in within a couple days although Tom is still a bit tired.

Vermont welcomed us with some fabulous colors. They are still just beginning to pop but we were able to find a few spots that were very colorful. We began the morning with a stop at a place that makes cheese. We were able to peek through the windows and watch the process. There were samples to be tried and of course we had to buy some! We also found some Vermont maple syrup. The best thing that was there was a pumpkin spice truffle. Oh my goodness! Yes, it was to die for!

After lunch at Wendy’s… yes they have them in Vermont also… we headed out for a drive. We ended up on an unpaved road exploring the countryside. We happened upon a “garage sale” where the owner’s yard was the most eclectic mix of decorating I have ever seen. Bicycles hanging from trees, yard art made out of ski poles and skis, a windchime made from ski poles and various other items.  We never did see the owner of the place as no one showed up while we were there. At one point I lost Tom. My immediate thought was this would be the perfect horror movie. All these creepy items around us and Tom goes missing. Do I jump in the car and leave him saving myself and the dogs? Not to worry, Tom answered my call and all was well.

I found the place we stayed in Vermont to be a bit creepy as well. There were a lot of seasonal campers there and I felt like we were the outsiders. Everyone stared at us including when they drove down the road on looked into our RV. One of them even waved at me through the window. We are friendly people but they didn’t speak to us, just looked at us. haha

We drove through New Hampshire on to our next stop in Maine. The fall colors just kept getting better and better. On The Saco Family Campground was our home for a few days in Maine. This was a great campground on the Saco River. There was plenty of space between the sites and everyone was very friendly. The first day we decided to drive to Bar Harbor. Tom checked the map and didn’t think it looked too far. His failure was that we were not at the spot on the map he thought we were. We were quite a bit further south. So it turned out to be quite a long day. Bar Harbor has a fun downtown that reminded us of a Key West but with a northern vibe.

Portland, Maine was a much larger city. Portland is the largest city in Maine in fact. We drove around a bit and walked along the waterfront. This reminded me of Seattle. I decided I NEEDED to see a lighthouse. I happened to be talking about this while in a store and the friendly clerk mentioned there was one just 15 minutes away. Yay! Our GPS was a bit confused but eventually we did find the lighthouse. Not only did we find the lighthouse but it was also the site of Fort Williams and there were relics of the fort still on the grounds. The views were awesome. I would have liked to stay longer but we had three furballs waiting in the RV to be let out. They were happy to see us as usual. Well, they better be happy to see us! Back in the car we jumped to head to a restaurant the owner of the RV park told us about. The best seafood in Maine he said. It sounded good to me! Of course I had to have the Maine lobster! DUH!!! Tom, well Tom doesn’t like seafood. Crazy right??!! He ordered the flank steak steak and couldn’t get over how good it was. We were told we were in Maine during the peak fall color season. Maine had a drought this year. The colors are doing what they call "pop and drop". The leaves change and very quickly fall. All I know is we saw some incredible colors!

Tonight we are settled in at the Boston Minuteman Campground. We are about an hour drive from Boston. This campground reminds me of the campgrounds back in Montana so I feel right at home here. AND we have WiFi (sort of) and cell service. Tomorrow we shall be tourists in Boston. There is so much history there we should have a great day!

Until next time…