Pacific Time!

Yesterday we made the trip across Utah and well into Nevada before stopping for the evening in Winnemucca. From what I heard on the TV weather report it looks like we made it through there just in time. Altough it was in the 80s yesterday - the have posted a winter weather warning for Wednesday with a foot or so of snow forecast for the mountain areas east of Salt Lake City that we just came through. Crazy weather in this part of the country this time of year! The trip through Utah and eastern Nevada was pretty uneventful. After traveling throught the flat lands of Utah there are a couple of pretty steep climbs we had to negotiate coming into Nevada but the Winny managed to pull herself up the hills and then fight some more wind. We'll have to see how the gas mileage averaged out when we fuel up today.

Speaking of fuel - I think I have mentioned this before - but does anybody know why gasoline costs more on the east and west coasts than in the mid west? If we are getting so much crude oil from overseas I assume it comes to us on ships to our coasts - and I seem to remember seeing a lot of oil refineries on the coasts - so why is fuel cheaper away from the coasts? I think if you look at a political map of the US (you know - the "red" states and the "blue" states) - I think the answer lies there somehow. I'll leave it to you all to figure it out and let me know. So far the most expensive gas we purchased was in Maine at $2.649 per gallon and the least expensive was in Clive, IA at $2.359. It looks like I will be paying around $2.70 or so here in Nevada and around $3.00 in California. In spite of it all - it's a lot better than the $3.70 or so I averaged on this trip last year and even the $2.70 something I averaged in 2007.

So here are the pictures of yesterday's adventure.



Here is the Great Salt Lake ...

Here is where your table salt comes from - just a bit west of the Great Salt Lake ...

Bonneville Salt Flats (the home of land speed records!) ...

Here is Nevada (pretty much anyplace along I-80) ...

On another side note for anybody that cares - our new Verizon Wireless Broadband Internet setup here in the motorhome is working great. We have had a relatively high speed connection in every place we have stopped along the way and we have even used the internet while driving a couple of times to check on gas prices and other such stuff. Well Peggy did anyway - don't worry I haven't tried surfing the net while driving yet!

So this morning we head for Sister Marcie's place in Minden, NV - a short drive of only about 200 or so miles. It is supposed to be windy again today so I'm glad we only have a relatively short drive. We are looking forward to seeing Marcie & Don as well as niece Carin and her son Zach during our short stay in Minden.

Utah

It continued to stay windy all night last night and we ended up bringing in the slides to minimize the rockin and rollin. I really don't think the wind ever stops blowing in Wyoming. I'm pretty sure that if you dropped some litter in Rock Springs at noon it would be in Nebraska by 2 PM the same day. The wind was a little better today as we finished driving the rest of the way through Wyoming and into Utah to Salt Lake City.

We did see several herds of antelope along the highway today. They certainly aren't as skittish as deer! They just kept grazing as us crazy humans speed right by. Speaking of speeding right by - every time I make this trip I think of all the "stuff" we get by truck. All one has to do is watch any particular stretch of I-80 - at any time of the day or night - and notice all the trucks going in both directions to get a picture of what I'm talking about. I'm sure that at least 80% of all the traffic on this interstate is large tractor-trailer rigs pulling one, two, or sometimes three trailers. Think about that when you have your wheaties for breakfast tomorrow!

Once we got to the mountains of Utah we were treated to some pretty nice fall colors. The foliage in New England this time of year is prety hard to beat - but Utah has some pretty nice display as well.

We are staying at a new RV "Resort" here in North Salt Lake City. It's a little pricey - but a very nice facility in a relatively quiet spot north of town with some nice views of the city and the nearby mountains. It was around 83 degrees when we got her today and it is supposed to be about 87 here tomorrow. It is hard to believe that it was snowing when we came through here at almost the same time two years ago.

So tomorrow is driving day #9 and we are planning to drive across the barren northern Utah desert to the high desert of Nevada. We plan on making it to about Winnemucca before we call it a day. Only another 800 or so miles to go!

Windy in Mountain Time

Greetings from windy Rawlins, Wyoming. I think this is the third time we have stopped here at the KOA in Rawlins - and it has been windy every time. As I recall - the first time we stayed here the winds got up to around 50 mph and we pulled in the slides to ride out the storm! Actually it has been pretty windy all day as we drove west along I-80 right into the wind. Not only were we into the wind but we continued to drive uphill all the way ... leaving North Platte at about 2800 feet, cresting the continental divide just east of Laramie at 8700 feet and then finally to about 7500 feet here in Rawlins. I will fill up with gas tomorrow on our way out of town at the Flying J and I expect to get some pretty bad news regarding our gas mileage for today. Oh well - we have been doing pretty good on gas before today so hopefully we'll do better tomorrow.

Tonite is laundry night so Peggy is off finishing that chore while I goof off here at the computer. She is probably enjoying the break from sitting in the rig all day watching pretty much the same scenery go by mile after mile. Tomorrow we plan on completing our trip across the high prairie of Wyoming and then drop down into the high desert of Utah where we plan on staying tomorrow night in Salt Lake City.

We made it into Mountain Time today - just west of North Platte. I have always found it difficult for me to adjust to changing to Pacific Time when we have flown to the west coast. It seems easier to me to adjust to coming east from the west. But since we change an hour every 3 or 4 days when driving - the change seems more manageable. But then I have to adjust my evening TV watching! Central Time is really crazy with shows coming on an hour earlier than they should - and then it changes back to "normal" when I get to Mountain Time. Boy ... I tell you what ... this traveling is pretty tough on an old guy like me!

By-the-way - I really had no particular theme with the pictures posted on this entry. They are just some random shots of our last two days.

Driving Uphill

Another day - another 300 or so miles - and tonite we find ourselves in North Platte, Nebraska. We arrived in North Platte around 3:30 PM Central Time, got the rig set up, and then drove over to the "farm" to see Aunt Velma and Uncle Junior Perkins. We got a bonus in the deal as Peggy's cousin Tom from Denver was visiting his folks so we got to visit a bit with him as well. After a short visit we drove back to town and visited the local WalMart to replenish the motorhome larder ... we are just like the pioneers of the wagon train days - cross the great plains and pick up supplies in North Platte before continuing our trek across the plains to the great Rocky Mountains.


I did learn something today ... when you drive across Nebraska from east to west - you will just about double your elevation by the time you get to North Platte. We started off near Omaha this morning at about 1300 feet elevation and North Platte is at about 2700 feet. Nebraska looks flat but you are actually driving uphill all the way from east to west. As I remember - we will be closer to 6000 feet by the time we get to Wyoming tomorrow and will peak out at around 8700 feet before coming down into Cheyenne.


So tomorrow we leave the plains and enter the mountains and high desert of the west. Another day - another 300 or so miles.

Welcome Scarlet !!

Not too much new to report on the travel front this evening. We left our parking space among the soy bean plants in Illinois early this morning and tonight we are parked amongst the corn in Western Iowa - in Shelby, Iowa to be exact. We are staying in a small RV park in Shelby where we have stayed a couple of times in the past. Shelby appears to be not much more than an exit on the interstate with a few businessess - but it seems to be in the right place for us - so we'll stay the night once again and hit the road in the morning for Peggy's birth state - Nebraska - the Cornhusker State. We have now traveled about 1,577 miles since we left Maine - just about half way as I figure.

Our plan tomorrow is to drive to about North Platte, NE. North Platte is Peggy's birthplace and is still the home of her Uncle Junior and Aunt Velma. If the travel goes smooth and we make it to North Platte at a decent hour - perhaps we can fit in a visit with them again.

The really good news for today is that Peggy's youngest sister Robin delivered a new daughter, Scarlet Faith Umiko Ohara, into our world this morning. We understand that everbody is doing OK and we look forward to seeing Scarlet within a week or so!

There is nothing better than the arrival of a newborn to set your perspective on the world in the right place. Regardless of how tough the days' problems might seem - they seem to melt away with the arrival of a new life.

Happy Birthday Scarlet !!

Visiting with the Mellos

Yesterday we left Lake Erie had a relatively short driving day - making it through Cleveland - and pulled in to our parking spot around 1:30 PM near Toledo, OH. As planned - Patty and Jerry Mello pulled in around 3:00 in their 1968 Corvair powered UltraVan. Jerry completed the drivetrain restoration a few weeks ago and then took off immediately for a 1200 mile trip from thier home in Oregon to the Bay area in California. After returning to Oregon they only had a few days at home before they took off again to do some visiting in Washington state and then they took off heading east - destination east coast USA! They still have plenty of restoration work to do on their rig - but they seem to making the trip fine and are having a great adventure! As you can imagine from the pictures - they get a lot of interesting looks as they travel.

We spent the evening having dinner at our place and then had a great visit with Pat & Jerry. We got to visit a little more this morning before we headed out heading west and before they took off to complete their trip east. Who knows - maybe we'll get to meet up again somewhere before we get home. "Safe Travels" guys !!! 

We made it through the Chicago area today and pulled in this evening in Utica, IL. I guess we are now officially in the "mid-west." We are parked tonite in an RV park in the middle of a field of soy beans. Only a few more days of corn and soy beans and then we'll arrive in the high desert of Wyoming - and then we get to look forward to miles and miles of high desert scrub brush and a stray antelope or two. But until then ... tomorrow we hope to make it to just east of Omaha, Nebraska.

Happy Autumn !!!

Rollin Through the Empire State

Both Peggy and I were both pretty beat yesterday so we went to bed relatively early - around 10:00 PM. The good news was that the new mattress was muuuuch more comfortable than the original Winnebago supplied mattress that we removed after our last trip! The bad news was we woke up around 6:00 AM ready to go!

So we left Amsterdam around 7:30 or so and headed west. We had a pretty quiet day weather wise and didn't see any rain until right before we arrived here in near Erie, PA. Even then - it didn't last long. Tomorrow it's supposed to warm up a bit and the high should make it to around 80. As is always our goal - the drive was uneventful. We stopped for lunch near Buffalo at our favorite lunch eatery - Cracker Barrell. As they did last trip - once again Eric & Jen provided us with a pre-trip gift of a gift card to Cracker Barrell ... so we need to take advantage of our opportunities - Cracker Barrells get pretty scarce the further west you go!!

You may remember from our last trip through the Empire State that I discovered my new blood brothers - the Seneca nation - who happen to sell gas at 15 to 20 cents a gallon less than the rest of New York. So we visited them again at Exit 58 on I-90 and filled up the thirsty Winnebago to be ready for another day of driving tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow ... we called Patty and Jerry Mello last night. They made it to Rochester, MN yesterday so we compared notes and decided to meet for the evening tomorrow just outside Toledo. I understand the UltraVan is making the trip just fine! Jerry states that he drives around 55 MPH in the flatlands but did have to drop down to around 35 MPH  going up the mountains out west. Still - pretty impressive for driving a recently restored - late 60s/early 70s corvair powered 4200 pound RV! It ought to be a fun reunion tomorrow night!!

Repelling Boarders and Getting Underway

Even though we only had a "few" things to do yesterday - we both were cerainly beat after a very busy day. I spent most of the day finishing up my motorhome preparations and the last minute work around the house - like mowing the lawn. Peggy had a bunch of stuff to do in the house - and then there was "the mouse."

It seems that the motorhome gained a mouse while it was being worked on at the RV Store. I noticed a few droppings on the dash when I went to move the rig early in the morning and then upon further investigation - I found plenty of other evidence of our intruder. After informing Peggy that our motorhome preps would now involve a more intense cleaning than we anticipated - I went back outside to continue my freshwater tank flushing. When I opened up the door to the wet bay (where the freshwater hose connection and sewer hose connection is located) I found a very dead mouse - hopefully our only uninvited visitor. So after "repelling boarders" from the land yacht - we spent most of the day cleaning the rig, preparing the house, and loading our "stuff."

After a good nights sleep we finished our loading this morning and rolled out of Topsham around 9:00 AM. We had a very nice travel day weather-wise with a high around 70 degrees. During our drive today you certainly could see the first signs of Autumn in New England. Although the fall colors certainly aren't out in full splendor yet - you can definitely see the start with lots of reds, yellows, and oranges. We drove about 320 miles today and pulled in to a nice RV Park here in Amsterdam, NY around 3:30 PM. The RV park here is actually a Marina and RV Park located right on the banks of the Mohawk River.

Tomorrow our plan is to navigate our way west along the NY Throughway and make it to around Erie, PA. We've made this trip before, some of it just last month, but it's a pretty nice drive on a relatively smooth road so we'll hope for an uneventful trip and I'll try not to think about the cost of the tolls.

Oh-by-the-way - today we heard from our Oregon friends Pat and Jerry Mello who are heading east in their restored Corvair UltraVan. They are in South Dakota now so maybe we can meet up with them somewhere between here and there to say HI and swap some RV travel stories before they head further east and we continue our trek west. That would make the trip extra special!!

Single up all Lines

Friday - September 18th - the day we celebrate the birth of my fantastic wife - Happy birthday Peggy!!!

Today was a busy day in many respects. We started the day trying to get things done that needed to be done before we leave - but things that didn't require the motorhome to be here. Then around noon we drove over to Auburn to pick up the motorhome. They did manage to repair the leak on the #2 A/C System (finally), recharge the unit, and reinstall the whole system in the rig. I tested the system before we left and it appears to work OK so we'll head west and give it a workout to see how it holds up. After getting the rig home I got the oil changed, did a chassis service (grease job), replaced the air filter, and installed the tire pressure monitors.

While I was playing motorhome mechanic Peggy did our pre-travel grocery shopping.

After cleaning up from our busy afternoon, we joined Stacy & Kaj and Eric & Jen for dinner at the Olive Garden in Augusta to celebrate Peggy's birthday. We all had great meals and a few glasses of wine. Peggy only had one glass of wine but apparently that was plenty - ya'll will have to ask her for "the rest of the story."

Although we could load up the rig and hit the road tomorrow - we have decided that it will probably be best to take our time to load the rig tomorrow and take care of a couple more things around here - rather than rush to leave ... so we have decided to finish our preps tomorrow and leave early on Sunday. Since we plan on being gone for a couple months - we might as well get off to a rested start rather than forget to do half of what we ought to do.

So tomorrow we will finish loading stores and we'll single up all lines in preparation for getting the land yacht underway. (Don't cha just love that nautical lingo?) Look out you left-coasters -- we are (almost) on-our-way.

Waiting Impatiently

Here we sit - all dressed up and no place to go! We are mentally ready to hit the road for California, our local obligations are pretty much taken care of, the homestead is just about prepared, but we are without Winnebago!!! Yup - the Winny is still at the RV store getting its heat pump repaired - or is it? It seems the RV store has to subcontract its air conditioner/heat pump repairs and they have had problems getting their "guy" to show up. He was supposed to show up and work on the rig yesterday afternoon so we'll find out this morning how (or if) that went down. We are pretty much out of time for them to keep messin' with this repair so if they didn't fix it yesterday I think I may have to tell them to just put it back together the way it is - and live with it until we have more time to get it fixed. I hate to do that - but sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do!

Assuming we get the rig back early tomorrow (Friday) - I can probably get the work I need to do done and we can load it tomorrow and we can leave as planned on Saturday. If not - we may have to leave on Sunday (or later). Fortunately we are not on a super tight schedule and we can take a little extra time to try and get our preps done right. But I do have my limits!!! Did I ever tell you how much I hate taking anything into a repair place to have work done? Grrrrrr.

As probably everybody who reads this knows - we are making this trip primarily to help out Sister Jamie / Niece Decky and her son Derek. Derek is 11 years old and has been dealing with a brain stem tumor for several years now. Derek had an operation two months ago today and has been in the hospital ever since recovering and in rehabilitation. We found out last night that Derek will be having another operation today at 1:30 PM (PDT) - to remove part of his lower left lung since it is (and has been) a source of pnemonia and associated repiratory problems. Our thoughts today are with you all out there in Oakland.

Where Did Summer Go?

Wow - here it is September 13th ... football season has started and we are only about a week away from when the calendar says Fall begins. What happened to summer? I remember we had a few warm days last month but certainly not what one would call summer! OK - I give up - summer came and went and I missed it! So I now I look forward to a really nice Autumn season. Believe it or not there are a few trees here in Maine that are actually starting to change color already. The good news? .... the weather here in Maine continues to be pretty nice with plenty of sunshine.

We have been pretty busy this last week. We had a great time visiting with friends Darrell and Judy during their stay here in southern Maine, including some sightseeing here on the mid-coast, Frappes at Fat Boy in Brunswick, and scallops, clams, and lobster stew at Captain Mike's last evening!! It just doesn't get much better than that. I also stayed out of trouble by spending a couple of days laying on my back in a '67 Camaro installing a new headliner. I'm not sure how I got to be considered "experienced" at doing such work - but I got to tell ya that of all my car restoration experience - headliner installation in a mid '60s and earlier car is not one of my favorite things to do. But the job got done and it came out OK.

Well it looks like we have finally made a decision. We are now planning on leaving for California next Saturday - the 19th ... contingent on having our Motorhome back from the Motorhome and RV Supercenter ("the RV store"). It's a long story - but the RV store is still working on repairing the heat pump system in our motorhome. Hopefully we can get it back mid next week so we can finish our trip preps and hit the road on Saturday. If not ... we'll adjust our plans and do what we have to do.

So we are now in trip planning and preparation mode. Lists to make and items to cross off ... let the fun begin!

Laboring on Labor Day

Whew - am I glad the Labor Day holiday is over! While many of you were using the long holiday weekend to rest, relax, and get away from work - I was working my buttocks off. Now that particular part of my anatomy could use a little work reduction program but I think I took it too far this weekend.

After Peggy and I finished the driveway work on Saturday I decided to finally tackle the limbs on the big front yard oak tree on Sunday. Since I was too chicken to climb a ladder some 30 or so feet up the side of this tree - without someone else to blame if something bad happened - I tricked Eric into coming over to give me some help. I will refrain from going into a lot of detail here ... but let's just say that in spite of having to climb the shaky ladder and operate a chain saw with one hand while holding on with the other --- the objective was achieved  (the limbs I wanted removed were removed), no calls to 911 were involved, and no health insurance use or reform was necessary. 

Of course having all those limbs down meant that someone had to clean up that mess and haul all the tree-trash off to the local solid waste facility (a.k.a. - da dump). So Peggy helped me on that chore yesterday and we finished off the job this morning (Tuesday). Like I said - Whew - I'm glad that job is done!

Tomorrow I think we will slow down a bit. We both have some running around to do in the morning and we are looking forward to seeing and visiting with our RVing friends Darrell and Judy in the late afternoon/evening after they arrive here in Maine from New Hampshire. Rumor has it that Stacy may even come by to say Hi!

Everybody have a great 09/09/09 ...

Happy Labor Day!

Boy have we had a great run of really nice weather! It has now been 7 days since we last had rain and it has been gorgeous every day - mid 70s to low 80s - and lots of sun. Even better - more of the same is forecast for the next several days!! We deserve it after all the rain in June and July. I heard on the news the other night that it is official - 2009 was the wettest on record for the summer months of June - July - August.

We took the Winnebago over to the dealership in Auburn on Wednesday to have the Air Conditioner looked at. They spent Thursday morning confirming the results of the troubleshooting I had already done and determined that the unit had apparently lost it's charge of refrigerant. So they called to get permission to remove the unit from the rig and they will have an AC company come in to find/fix the leak and recharge the unit. I suspect a solder joint has cracked and will need to be resoldered. Hopefully they will get it fixed this upcoming week.

Yesterday Peggy and I finally finished a project I started back in June and we sealcoated the driveway. We managed to complete the job in about 2 hours and we only had a minor amount of the black tar like stuff on us. Whew - I'm sure glad that project is done.

Our fulltiming friends Darrell and Judy should have finished their workamping stint at Lake George yesterday and will be heading for Maine in a few days. We look forward to visiting with them again as they hit the road again and re-commence Wandering America.

We are continuing to plan a potential trip to California. We have made the trip 3 times now in the last 4 years so we pretty much know the way. If we go - we will sorta be on a mission so we will probably drive straight across Interstate 80 again. The potential return trip is very much unplanned - coming back east in what might be Novemberish will require a much more southern route I think.

You may recall from an earlier entry - the story I told you about our friends Patty and Jerry from Oregon who were restoring the old Corvair based UltraVan. I understand their rig is ready to roll and that they will be heading east in a couple of weeks. If we are still here on the east coast - we hope to hook up with them here in Maine or perhaps down in Delaware. If we are heading west - we'll have to try and meet them somewhere in mid-america.

We hope everybody is enjoying your Labor Day Weekend.!

Plans & Stats

So what are our plans? Well it looks like one short term option is off the table. The potential for going to work for a few months down in New Hampshire has played its course and just didn't work out. It was nice to be thought of and called to see if I would consider the position - but the compensation offered just didn't match up with what I think my time is worth. So one option down and several left to consider.

We are continuing to consider a near term trip out to California to do what we can to help out my sister and her family. We have a few more things to work out before we make that decision - but we are preparing for the trip nonetheless. So that means preparing the motorhome for an extended trip again. Since I have exhausted my troubleshooting on my air conditioner problem - I will be taking it to the RV Dealer today to let them fix it. I hate to pay their labor costs but I think I have no other choice this time. After we get it back I will have the standard chores to do like change the oil and do a chassis service (grease job) and then it should be ready to roll again.

One thing we have already done is change the bed. We have never really liked the original mattress we got with the rig - but we made it tolerable by adding a 1 inch standard foam pad and a couple of inch memory foam pad. But during our recent trip we decided to swap the mattress with the relatively new mattress we had on the bed in the spare bedroom upstairs - so we did that yesterday. What a difference! I'm actually looking forward to sleeping on it now ... whenever our next trip may be.

Since our recent trip was pretty short I haven't bothered posting my traditional boring post-trip statistics. So instead, I thought I would post some 5 year statistics. We purchased the motorhome in May of 2004 and didn't use it much in the first few months we owned it so although it's now September - I declare it is close enough to call it now the 5 Year Anniversary. So here goes ...

Overall miles driven - 48,340 (The rig actually has a little over 50,000 miles on it but it had 1,745 miles on it when we got it new (delivery miles from Iowa))

Nights in paid campgounds - 288
Nights in Friends/Relatives Driveways - 50 (approximate)
Number of Different Campgrounds - 117
Number of camprounds visited multiple times - 18
Longest stay in one place - 30 days (approximate) - Quiring RV Resort, B&B, and Day Spa
Longest stay in paid campground - 12 days - Rainbow Plantation (Escapees Park), Summerdale, AL

Miles towing a car - 46,330
Miles towing our 2006 Saturn Vue - 36,081
Miles driving our 2006 Saturn Vue - 37,173

Average Motorhome miles per year - 9,668
Most Motorhome miles in a calendar year - 14,327 (2007)

States Visited -  43 (Still need WA, MT, ND, WI, & MI in the "lower 48" plus AK and HI)

Fun Days - Most of 'em
Interesting Days - All of 'em

Home Again

Peg and I arrived home yesterday afternoon after a leisurely 4 hour drive. Four hours to go about 130 miles - I'll say that was leisurely! When one travels along route 302 in NH and Maine - on a Friday - in late summer - and on a nice day - one should expect plenty of traffic, plenty of shoppers in North Conway, NH and Windham, ME , and one might as well take ones time. There really is no other choice. Anyway - we arrived safe and sound and got most of the necessary stuff unloaded.

Now comes the interesting question. When do we go again - and where to? I may or may not be working for the next couple of months so we could be parking the rig down in the Seacoast area of NH for awhile. The detailed negotiations are in full swing and if I were a betting man (and I am) - I would bet that Mikee will stay unemployed for the near future. Then there is a possibility that we may suddenly take off for California to help out my sister and family while they deal with their granson's medical issues. Or, we may stay put for the rest of the calendar year and then head southwest for the winter months. Lots of potential possibilities, much yet to be determined, and lots of issues to consider. In the meantime - we'll get the rig ready to roll again, take care of things that need to be done around the house, and stay flexible.

O Little Town of Bethlehem (Revised 0840 8/28/2009)

-NOTE-

If you read this Blog entry between 8:00 AM and 8:40 AM on Friday Morning - Plans have Changed. See Below!!!

Another day - another beautiful morning! Today, morning is in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the little town of Bethlehem - hmmm where have I heard that before? Today is also the last full day of our 2009 New York/ New England Summer Adventure. We see on the weather report that tomorrow is going to be a real rainy/windy nasty day - so we have decided to head home today - while the weather is pretty nice.

After we made the short, but very picturesque, drive from Vermont to here in New Hampshire yesterday - we unhitched the Vue and drove down the highway to Franconia Notch State Park to do some sightseeing. We drove around Franconia a little, managed to drive by the campground where we stayed with the kids some 25 years ago, and made our way over to the Flume Gorge. Since we hadn't toured the Flume in our past visits - we decided to pay the fee and take the hike. The Flume itself is a very unique granite walled gorge with a small steam running at the bottom. The hike from the bottom to the top is about 1/4 mile - up a pretty steep slope. You all know how I like uphill hikes - but we took our time and stopped frequently for photo ops. Whether Peggy took any pictures or not - the "photo ops" were a good thing!

Once we finished with our hike at the Flume we drove to the Old Man In The Mountain Historical Site. The last time we were here - so was the "Old Man." This famous granite face landmark fell off its mountainside a number of years ago and the site is now just "Historical." I remember the day I heard the news of the Old Man's falling - it was a sad day for the nation, New England, and certainly for New Hampshire.

After leaving the Old Man we drove to Littleton, visited WalMart to pick up a couple of items, decided to let Applebee's do the cooking for dinner, and then headed back to Bethlehem for a quiet evening.

Our trip has been relatively short, but interesting, fun, and relaxing as well. As always - we'll be glad to be "home." For full-time RVers "Home" is where you park IT. For us - "Home" is where we park US - sometimes in good 'ol Topsham, ME - sometimes in the Blue and White Winnebago.

Hiking and Napping in VT

Brrrrr! The temps are in the low 40s this morning in the mountains of Vermont. It's a good thing I set the heater to come on around 68 degrees last night or we would be popcicles this morning. Since the #2 A/C Unit still is out of commission and is also part of the heat pump system - we are using the propane heater. It's a little hard to believe that only a few days ago we were dealing with 90 degree plus temperatures!

After a nice relaxing morning yesterday we drove over to the Quechee Gorge State Park and stopped into the info center. After looking at their park map of the trail system I noted that that in addition to the trail leading to the bottom of the Gorge that we had walked in years past - there is also a trail that heads north towards Dewey's Pond and a small dam. This dam was the source of power for Dewey's Mill - a wool processing facility from the late 1800s. Since I wasn't looking forward to the elevation change going down the trail to the river's edge (actually it was the trip back up I wasn't looking forward to) I asked the nice older woman in the info center what the elevation change was going down the other trail. "None" she answered. Well that sounded pretty good to me so I convinced Peggy that we should take that hike instead - so off we went. It didn't take too long to figure out that the nice lady LIED to me. Although the drop in elevation was probably a little less than going the other way - it certainly wasn't "None!"

We continued down the trail following the Gorge to the dam which appears to still house a small hydroelectric station and then we continued down the path to Dewey's Pond and then walked across the causeway to the opposite side of the Pond. The walk probably wasn't more than 3/4 of a mile and it was certainly scenic. After taking a break sitting on a couple of rocks on the far side of the pond we headed back up the trail and managed to make it up the "None" elevation change back to the car. Even though the temps were in the mid 70s with a cloud cover - we were both pretty sweaty when we got back so we decided to forego a previously considered trip to do some tourist shopping. So instead we drove back to the motorhome and had a small lunch followed by a nap for Peggy and some time on the internet for me.

Today we plan on heading a bit north and east to the Franconia area of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We visited this area many years ago on our first motorhome trip with the kids. I'm guessing that trip was about 25 years ago and the motorhome was a 26' rented unit from U-Haul. We had fun that trip and we hope to have more of the same this time.

Well it looks like Mikee may be going back to work for a couple of months. I have been contacted by some folks who want me to help out on a project in Seabrook, New Hampshire over the next couple of months. Since the timing looks pretty good and it's not far from home - I think I may take them up on the offer if we can work out the details. If it all comes together I think we may set up the motorhome down in Seabrook and Peggy can spend some time down there and/or I'll commute back home on the weekends. A lot of details yet to be figured out - ya'll will have to stay tuned and find out what happens. I can't wait to figure it all out myself!

Quechee, VT

Yesterday was a slow day - especially for a travel day. As advertised - we left Lake George around 10:00 or so and made the 100 mile drive to the Quechee/White River Junction, VT area and arrived here about 1:00 PM. We stopped for lunch at the VT Info Center on the NY/VT border, but other than that, we made the drive straight through. Route 4 was in good shape and except for some tight quarters due to some road construction on Route 149 around Ft. Ann - the trip went pretty well.

We are staying at a very nice KOA here in Quechee - just east of the Quechee Gorge. After settling in at the KOA we took a drive in the car and visited Quechee Gorge where we took a few pictures but didn't take the trail down to the bottom of the gorge. Peggy wants to save that for today. I want to save that for the 12th of Never. I explained that we already took that hike around 15 years ago. She explained that she did't care. I'll tell you how I lost the argument in tomorrow's entry. After our visit to the top of Quechee Gorge we drove over to Woodstock, VT to visit a few covered bridges in the area and take some pictures - and then we made the trip back to Quechee. On the way back we made a stop into the State Park just east of the Gorge. The State Park is a very nice Army Corps of Engineer Campground with really big sites. There are no "facilities" at the sites but the campground would it be a nice place to stop for a few days and at about half the cost of what we are paying at the KOA - maybe on a future trip. 

Today we plan on a bit of sightseeing and probably a hike down (and back up!) into a Gorge to see a river up close that I've already seen but need to experience again. I know Darrell/Judy - "the hill is my friend!!"

Goofing Off - Again

Today is a travel day again as Peggy and I say our short term goodbyes to the Pattersons here in Lake George. We look forward to seeing them again in Maine in a couple of weeks!

Yesterday was a very comfortable day weather-wise and we pretty much filled the day with leisure. Peggy and Judy did a little running about in the AM while Darrell and I generally goofed off. That was followed by Peggy and I doing some serious goofing off in the afternoon including taking a long walk around the campground before heading over to the Pattersons for a nice dinner, another post-dinner walk about, and some great conversation. All-in-All a fun day here in the Adirondacks.

Today we plan on a short drive of about a hundred miles over curvy Route 4 to Quechee, Vermont on the VT/NH border. We plan on staying a couple of nights - seeing the sights - and doing some more general goofing off. We haven't traveled through Vermont in several years so I am looking forward to seeing the pretty countryside - even if I have to pay close attention to the curvy road at the same time! New England really is a pretty area in the summer and fall. And speaking of fall - much to Peggy's angst we have seen several maple trees starting to turn bright red. It's still summer here - but fall is not far away. I noticed the temp this morning was right around 60 degrees. I love this time of year!

Goofing Off

Time to catch up.

Yesterday we planned to drive east to Schenectady - and we did - but the park where we had planned to stay the night was full so we decided to continue our trek and drove the remaining 80 or so miles to Lake George where we checked-in here at Lake George Escape RV Resort a day early. After checking in and setting up camp we met up with Darrell and Judy and then drove the short distance to the Lucky Star Cafe in Warrensburg and had some great burgers and fries. We finished the day with a bit of visiting, watched the NASCAR Race in Bristol, TN, and had a great nights sleep.

This morning we started off with a trip to WalMart to reload the larder here in the motorhome. After fininshing that important chore we walked over to the Patterson rig and Peggy and Judy visited while Darrell and I performed a repair on his DC power system. The afternoon was spent doing other necessary chores like laundry and other such fun stuff.

This evening Peggy and I hosted the Pattersons for dinner. Peggy made a new (to us) shrimp taco recipe that turned out great and then we spent some more time visiting while listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof of the RV. It must be summertime in upstate NY because it seems everytime we are here in the summer - we are always dodging (or not) thunderstorms. Oh well - it keeps the dust down I guess.

Tomorrow we have more of the same planned. Goof off - visit some and enjoy good company - followed by more goofing off. It's a tough job - but the Maineiacs are up to the task!

Genealogy is Hard Work

Yesterday we had a super busy day! We started off the day with a trip south through Olean to the local attraction - Rock City. You may remember that we visited Rock City on Lookout Mountain in Georgia (or was it Tennessee? - it was pretty close) a year or so ago - but this Rock City was in NY - but almost in Pennsylvania! This one was a similar formation of large rocks - not anywhere near as big in area - but an interesting formation anyway. Our walk through Rock City was a little damp as a rainstorm was moving through - but we managed to make the hike without getting too drenched and without slipping too much on the wet moss covered rocks. Whew - that was enough exercise for the day!

Next we made an interesting drive of about 40 miles to Belmont, NY. The drive was interesting because we let Lola (the GPS) do the driving and she took us on some pretty remote roads through some really pretty NY farmland. We made the trip to Belmont for two reasons: 1) because a few Evingham's were supposed to be buried in the local cemetery and; 2) because it is the County Seat of Allegany County and I wanted to look at their census records for the mid 1800s when I believe my ancestors were in this area. We found the cemetery first and believe it or not - I found the Evingham's I was looking for in a pretty big cemetery and without a cemetery map!! I'm not sure yet how these folks are related to me but I'm sure they are somehow. After saying our respects to these 19th century relatives - Peggy and I spent an hour or so looking through the original census records for the area from the 1855, 1860, 1865, and 1870 census'. It seems that New York performed a census every 5 years (at least in those days) in addition to the every 10 year federal census. With a bit of good guessing and some pure luck we were able to find entries documenting that my Great Grandfather William lived in nearby Scio, NY in 1860 (age 2 years), and 1865 (age 7 years) along with his father William, mother Jane, 3 older sisters, and 1 older brother. Since these Evringham's (then spelled Evingham) also lived in Scio in 1855 - it is pretty apparent that my Great Grandfather was born there as well. We also learned that my Great-Great Grandfather William was born in nearby Livingston County and that Great-Great Grandmother Jane was born in, also nearby, Niagara County. Pretty exciting - huh!

After leaving Belmont we decided we had to drive to Scio and see what it looked like - so we did. It looks a lot like the rest of the area - rolling hills - lots of trees - beautiful valleys and lots of small farms After finishing our genealogy research for the day we headed back to our homebase in Franklinville to settle in for the evening and ride out a pretty loud and rainy thunderstorm.

This morning we decided to modify our previous plans a bit and we headed north towards Buffalo and Rochester, Ny instead of back along the way we came. Since we learned that GGGF William was born in Livingston County - we thought we would go visit the Livingston County Historian - look through their records - and see what else we could learn. We arrived in Mount Morris to visit the County Historian around 3:30 PM and looked through more census records from 1820, 1830, and 1840 where we found evidence of Everingham's (notice the spelling difference again - census takers weren't real particular about such things and since GGGF William and GGGM Jane were both listed in the previous census records as unable to read or write - the name spelling was often different). One entry for a Jonathan Everingham was particularly interesting as it sorta fits with some other info I previously have found. It is suspected that this Jonathan was the father of my GGGF William - but I have some more research to do on this suspicion. Anyway - this Jonathan character lived in Dansville, NY in 1820. We left the historian's office around 4:30 - drove about 20 miles south to visit Dansville where we found the same sort of beautiful green hills, valleys, and small farms - and then headed back to our new home base in Byron, NY.

Boy - this chasing ancestors can be hard work!!

With this new info in hand I declare our genealogy researching over for now. Tomorrow we plan on heading east towards Schenectady where I plan on staying tomorrow night before we head north again to Lake George where we will be invading the rest and relaxation of Darrell and Judy who will have had at least one day of rest since all their grankids left town.

Take a breath you two - we are on our way.

Spooking in Cattaraugus County

Yesterday was a very nice day here in the mountains of western New York. Partly cloudy, around 80 degrees, and even the humidity wasn't too bad. Peg and I got a slow start yesterday and I did manage to get in some more AC Unit troubleshooting in the morning. I think I have the problem narrowed down to a run capacitor on the 2nd AC Unit and I could swap the #1 and #2 unit capacitors to be sure but that looks like a bit of a hassle - so I think I will just try to find a replacement someplace between here and home and give that a try.

After we got going yesterday we drove to Olean, NY which is probably the largest city in the area. Olean grew up as a transportation hub because of its location near the Allegany River and since a couple of railroads were built through there in the late 1880s. But Olean's real claim to fame is its connection to the oil industry! It seems that the first discovery of crude oil on the North American continent occurred near here and helped to name Olean as a derivative of the Latin word for oil. I have found evidence that my ancestors on the Evringham side were in this area in the 1850 to 1880 era and my Aunt gave me a number of pictures that were taken at a couple of portrait studios in Olean back in that era - so we decided to check out the local Historical and Preservation Society to see what we could find. The Society is housed in a very old and beautiful Victorian style house in downtown Olean. We toured the museum, talked to the curator, and spent some time looking through some old references seeing what, if any information we could find about the Evringhams (or Evingham as spelled by some of the family in those days). We didn't find much about my ancestors but the museum was very interesting. Since the local library was right across the street we spent some time in their local history area and looked in some more references with similar success.

After leaving Olean we drove to the smaller town of Cuba, NY where I have found census information from 1850 showing that my great grandfather had lived there as a child. We checked out some more references at the local library with no real success, drove around town a bit, and then headed over to Belmont and Amity, NY to check out that area as well. We finally headed back to the campground here in Franklinville and got "home" around 6 PM. It was a long day of "spooking" around - but fun nonetheless. We plan on getting out and doing some more "spooking" today - who knows what we might find!

I should have mentioned yesterday that although we are in a pretty remote area of NY - our communication capabilities are super here! Our cell phone coverage here in the campground is full scale and so is my mobile broadband signal! I saw a cell tower on a nearby hill that must have Verizon equipment. All that and cable TV too - right here in the enchanted mountains of Cattaraugus County, NY - life certainly is good for us Maineiacs.

I think the plan is to leave here tomorrow and travel a hundred or so miles back east to check out some more old Evringham haunts for a day or so and then head north to Lake George to visit with Darrell and Judy Patterson - our full-timing friends who are finishing up their summer workamping jobs. It has been several months since we last saw them in March in Alabama and we are looking forward to our visit!

Staying Put (For a Few Days Anyway)

Yesterday we made it further West to Franklinville, NY. Franklinville is in the Western NY mountain region just a little east of Allegheny State Park. We expect to stay here for a few days while we do a bit of exploring in the area, searching out some Evringham ancestors and generally enjoying the sights. We'll try and take some pictures during our outings so we can post a few - what we have seen of the area so far is very nice. Lots of hills, valleys, streams and trees.

I also want to spend some time doing some more troubleshooting on the 2nd Air Conditioner problem. It has cooled off considerably and the high today is forecasted to be only about 80 degrees - but I know that won't last - so getting the AC fixed is still a priority for me!

We hope everybody is having a great day !!!

Spoiled - and Lovin It

Day Two finds the Maineiacs near Davenport, NY. Where is Davenport you ask??? well it's near Oneonta of course. We made the relatively short drive this morning/early afternoon, arriving here around 2 PM. Davenport is right next door to the middle of nowhere. Here at the campground we have zero TV signals and one bar once in awhile on our cell phone, but we do have an internet connection! It may be slow - but it does work.

It was another hot and muggy day during our travels today. I did some amount of troubleshooting on our #2 air conditioner early this morning and it looks like I can rule out a bad start capacitor. We survived the day again on 1 AC unit but I hope it doesn't get any hotter. I don't do hot and muggy very well without a little help from good ol refrigeration. I'm spoiled, I know it, and I probably wont change.

On the good news front - I reset the knock sensor trouble code that was causing the check engine light yesterday and it didn't return during today's travels. I still think it will return - but hopefully it will hold off until we get home and I can deal with it then.

So tomorrow we'll be off again further west and a little more south in NY. It ought to be interesting. We will be traveling through country we haven't seen before and through an area where my ancestors on the Evringham side once called home. I wonder how they dealt with the heat and humidity in the mid 1800s - they probably weren't as spoiled as me!

On-The-Road Again

Well - we're on-the-road. We left Topsham around noon after Peg did her Sunday School thing and then a lunch at the Fairground Cafe with Stacy and Kaj. We made it as far as around Springfield, MA where we decided to call it a day. The drive did not go without its interesting moments - lots of Sunday going home traffic on a hot and humid New England day - stop and go traffic pretty much all along our route on the Mass Turnpike and a couple of technical hiccups we'll have to deal with.

First of all - it appears that one of our air conditioning units is not working. It's a good thing that we have two 120 Volt AC units as well as the engine driven dash unit! It was pretty warm today - around 90 or so - and we needed to run the generator and the one 120 Volt unit along with the dash unit to stay comfortable. I suspect the #2 120 Volt unit has a fried start capacitor - I'll need to check that out some time in the next day or so. The second problem appeared about 20 miles before we reached our destination when the "Check Engine" light came on. The engine was running fine so we finished our trip and got set up here at the campground before I broke out the diagnostic scan tool and found out that the engine knock sensor was causing a fault code. I reset the fault code and we'll see how things go tomorrow ... but these things don't tend to fix themselves so I'll probably be looking to replace the knock sensor before too long.

Oh well - these motorhomes are intricate devices with lots of things that can go wrong - so if this is the worse that it gets - we can deal with it!

All-in-all a safe day - good weather - and we got where we were headed.

I also got to check out my new broadband wireless internet set-up here in the motorhome - and it works great!! It's nice not having to worry about whether or not the campground has a wireless system - and whether or not it works.

Tomorrow - Destination someplace in Southern New York

Helping The Economy

August sure is turning out to be a better month weather-wise than July. We have had a couple of rain showers this last week but the weather has been generally very nice - a little humid earlier in the week but not too bad lately. The really good news is that the long range forecast looks like more of the same.

Well the motorhome is pretty well ready to go. The wax job is done, the Tire Pressure Monitor sensors are on, the water system has been flushed and re-filled, and the few tools I take have been reloaded. All we have left is to load some clothes and food and we're ready to roll. Preparing for a trip in the summer is a whole lot easier that in February!! I did accomplish one "upgrade" last week when I went out and purchased a small portable air compressor at Home Depot to carry in the rig. I have been carrying a portable combination DC Power Supply/Jump Starter/AC Inverter/DC Compressor gadget that I find is pretty handy - but the Small DC Compressor takes forever to add a few pounds to those big 22.5" tires at around 100 pounds. Since I am kind off a nut about checking and adjusting tire air pressure - I decided I wanted a better compressor. The unit I bought is AC powered, puts out 135 pounds, and fits quite nicely in one of our side compartments. It's really not all that heavy and even has wheels and a retractable handle if one wants to move it around. I know - ya'll think Mikee just wanted a new gadget - well I did - and now the national economy is a little better off.

Oh - I also helped Nan buy a new car this week! It seems she decided last weekend that she needed a new car to replace her 1995 Ford Explorer that looks brand new and only had 72,000 miles on it. Since my sister Jamie and BIL Ernie are more than pretty busy lately helping out with their grandson Derek who is in the hospital several hundred miles away in Sacramento recovering from surgery - I did a little leg work on the internet and gave Nan a few suggestions on models to look at - on Wednesday. I got a call from Jamie on Thursday telling me they (Nan) bought a new Honda CRV on Thursday. Nan sure doesn't waste any time once her mind is made up does she!!

This brings me to my rant of the week. Since our federal government decided to spend a couple more billion $$ on its "Cash For Clunkers" program - and since Nan's Explorer was considered an "Clunker" and therefore eligible for "free" government cash - Nan took the cash and the Explorer will now have to be destroyed. TRUST ME - although the Explorer was some 14 years old - it was not a "Clunker"!! So here's how I see the deal ...

1. Nan got about the same deal on the new CRV that she would have gotten with a regular trade-in deal and normal haggling on the sticker price.

2. Nan now has to pay income tax on the $4,500 dollars of "free" government money.

3. The dealership lost out on a used car sale.

4. Somebody lost an opportunity to get a really nice used car.

5. The overall impact to the world's environment over the next 100 years is imperceptible at best and debatable at that.

6. Taxpayers of the future will now foot the bill for this expensive Bad Deal For America.

OK - I'm done now.

Bottom Line ... Nan likes her new car!!!