Month: September 2019

WheRVe we been? Our travels, 3rd quarter 2019

We don’t always make plans without consulting our calendar or a map first, but when we do, we end up having to drive from Maine to southern California!

Luckily, we had almost a month between events. And hey, maybe next year, we’ll try the Washington-Florida diagonal to make things even.

Here’s the summary of our 3rd quarter travels, mapped with a little help from Google.

RV miles traveled this quarter: about 5512

The briefest possible description: we went from PA to IN to MA to VT to NY to ME, then spent about 3 weeks rolling to CA.

Erie, PA, June 30 – July 7: As I mentioned in our 2nd quarter wrap-up, we spent 4th of July week moochdocking in a cousin’s driveway, and hanging out with Tim’s cousins and auntie.

Knowing that pie crust is one of my culinary challenges, Tim’s aunt invited me over for Pie Camp, and walked me step by step through her no-fail process. I had my own pie tin, and did all the measuring and mixing my own self. Look at that thing!
(She also taught me her method of hard boiling eggs, and I think I’ve finally got it now. Yes, I can make bread in the shape of a perfect frigging lobster, but I regularly fail at eggs.)
We also did some kayaking on Lake Erie, ate our weight in gyros at the Greek Festival, and just enjoyed a relaxing time with family.

Howe, IN, July 7-11: We went back to the DRV factory for Round 2 (ding ding!) of warranty repair work. The punch list had grown after our first visit in February, and since we were already in the general area, we had the repair team attack it.

We know that things go wrong with all RVs, even new ones, and ours has been no exception. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing, and we are both of the opinion that our unit must have missed Quality Control Check Day before it left the factory.

This article explains a lot of the weak points and outright failures in the RV industry, and provides ample evidence that we are not alone.

But misery loves company!
While in IN, we finally got to meet Andrea & Shawn of 40foothouse, and reconnected with friends Michael & Kelly of Performance Trailer Braking — all full-time RVers.
And speaking of performances, we watched some Amish mommies leave the park with their kiddos. They made it look just as easy as piling everyone into a minivan and backing out.

But then, they do learn early.

Massachusetts, July 12-30: We’ve been to Boston before, so this time we focused our sightseeing efforts on some of the outlying areas, like Bedford, Lexington, Concord, and Salem.

We saw Minute Men monuments, Walden Pond, and several cemeteries containing the remains of people who were around to witness the birth of our nation.
Oh, and I got a little witchy in Salem.
I bet brooms don’t break down nearly as often as RVs do. Hmmmm.
We also celebrated our anniversary by taking a ride back in time.
One of the stops on our honeymoon in 1992 was the historic carousel in Fall River, MA, so we recreated the photo 27 years later.
Grayer hair, wider ass, but by golly, that is the same horse.

Waterbury, VT, July 30 – Aug 1: Remember our partners in crime, Chip & Penni from our Amazon Camperforce days? We really have stayed friends! Waterbury is their home, and when we said we’d like to come visit, they offered up boondocking space at their summer location.

Ice cream played a big role in our time together.
We went out for maple creemees, and of course made the pilgrimage to Ben & Jerry’s.
To Chip, it’s a former employer. To me? The holy land, and a visit I’ve been waiting to make for 30+ years!

Albany, NY, Aug 1-11: The good news is that my Auntie Judith turns 85 this year, and a big big surprise party was planned for her in her home town of Albany. The bad news is that I jumped the gun on making a campground reservation, and had to hide for ten days so as not to spoil a surprise that took a year to plan, and involved family members arriving under top secret conditions from locations across the country!

And how do you hide a 41-foot 5th wheel? You can’t.
So even though we were at an exceptionally lovely state park that whole time, I kept my mouth shut and my social media posts vague.
And it worked.
That was one utterly gobsmacked aunt/sister/mother/grandmother/great grandmother, and we hope to surprise her again at 90. Or maybe 88, just to keep her guessing.
(She’ll read this, so please take a moment to face NY and shout, “Happy birthday, Judith!”)

Maine, Aug. 12-19: I’ve already written about this adventure in detail, so here are two photos I haven’t posted yet.

The lobster “roll” I made for a potluck vs. an actual ready-to-eat lobster on my plate.
They could be twins. Right?
(Click for my bread recipe)
Between Tim’s naval career and our RV travels, we’ve admired a lot of coastlines.
Maine’s gets an A+.

The long diagonal from Maine to California, Aug. 19 – Sept. 10: For the first 11 days, we stopped for only one or two nights at a time, before spending the next 11 just south of Tucson. Tim has an aunt & uncle there, so we were able to visit with them and make ample use of their garage for building our solar panel frames.

We are joining the “cult” of RV solar power.
Tim may eventually write up the nitty gritty on that, because all I’ve really learned from this process is that I’m good at metal grinding.
Who knew?
I will instead heap praise upon two friends who assisted with some of the physical labor.
My childhood pal, Mark (who went to the Mexican dentist with us a while back), gave us a hand under sweltering conditions in Tucson, and Ted did the same in Escondido.
Love those guys!
As part of the solar power system installation, we have also joined the Cult of the Battle Born. These batteries get a lot of hype in the RV world — so much that I fully expected to hear a choir of angels when I opened each box.
But I did not, so I’ve added glowy starbursty things to the photo.
We’ll see what happens once we’ve actually got them all wired up and working.
Along the way: more meals with RV friends!
Remember Andrea & Shawn from our stop in Indiana, just a few inches up above? Hung out again in New Mexico.
Then, we met up in Tucson with Julie & Sean of Chickery’s Travels, who we’d met in Texas last year.
And finally, we reconnected with Ted & Jan of the Wandering Kolbs, for the first time since we met in Arizona, in January of 2017.
We’re all neighbors. We just rarely meet up in the same neighborhood twice.

Right now: We’re parked on site at the pumpkin patch for our seasonal jobs in Escondido. We’ll work 7 days a week for the entire month of October, co-managing all the fun things with another couple: hay rides, corn maze, school field trips, petting zoo, sunflower field, and of course pumpkins!

It was Ted & Jan who got us into this job.
They’ve returned for their third season at a Pumpkin Station location, and we figured that if they like it that much, it’s worth giving it a try.
Here we go!

Where to next? Uhhh… I guess we’d better figure that out by Halloween, eh? We might go visit family in WA, or we might hide out in the desert for a while, to get some use of that solar power system. Or both!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter for updates as we go.

We started full-timing in August of 2015, but I didn’t think to do an annual review until the end of 2016, and it was just a listing on Facebook of places we’d visited. After that, I started using a quarterly format.

15 reasons we acted like kids at summer camp in Maine

Take my money!

Although I thrive on our usual “roll by the seats of our pants” style of unplanned travel, I also enjoy an occasional event or trip for which all we have to do is pay a fee and show up on time, because someone else has done all the legwork and planning for us.

And that is exactly the experience we had last month, at the Escapees Downeast Maine Hangout in Sullivan.

Hangouts are a brand new addition to the Escapees slate of social events for RVers, and since we already counted the program directors as friends, and knew we’d be in the right part of the country, we registered for the Hangout in Maine as soon as we heard about it. Also? I’d never been to Maine!

The week’s schedule was packed full of events. None were mandatory; all were thoroughly researched; and all were described in a printed packet containing detailed instructions on locations, times, and any additional fees.

I think you’ll see pretty quickly how that 8 days in August felt so much like summer camp to us. In roughly chronological order:

1. We went on a group excursion to a historical site.

A visit to Fort Knox was combined with…
one to the adjacent Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory.

2. We went to a lobster bake.

I mangled and ate my first whole lobster!
The folks at Bar Harbor Lobster Bakes were very patient about helping out us newbies, plus there were instructions on our place mats.

3. We went blueberry picking.

The proprietor of Beddington Ridge Farm taught us how to use a rake to collect berries, and although it felt a little like cheating, I used it after picking my first container by hand. Definitely went faster!

I’ve still got 2 pints of these wild blueberries in my freezer. What should I make?

4. We went biking.

Views from the Schoodic Loop Road were breathtaking.
And speaking of breath, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced cleaner, fresher air than we did in Maine. The sea! The pines!
Aaaahhhhhh.

5. We sang camp songs and other hits at karaoke night.

I taught our fellow attendees a song I remembered from my own summer camp days.
It’s about a skunk.
Let us all give thanks that there is no video or audio of this moment.
(Photo credit: D. Goldstein)

6. We went hiking.

Tim and I hiked several miles on our own in Acadia National Park, then joined our group for a ranger guided tour along the Ocean Path.
We obediently flashed the official Hangout sign — the Hawaiian “hang loose,” or shaka — when we saw the camera.
(Photo credit: D. Goldstein)

7. We admired the sunset from atop a mountain.

Our group spread blankets and unfolded chairs at the perfect time to view the setting sun from Cadillac Mountain.

8. We went on a boat tour.

All aboard! Acadia By Sea gave us a different view of places we’d hiked and biked, plus an education on the area’s wildlife and history.
We saw harbor seals, harbor porpoises, bald eagles, osprey, cormorants, and two historic light houses.

9. We got ice cream!

This triple scoop of guilt came from Udder Heaven in Bar Harbor. It was our first stop for ice cream, but not our last! At least all that hiking and biking burned off some of it.

10. We went to a local festival.

Wild blueberry season in Maine means lots of wild blueberry festivals.
Tim and I celebrated this one by running in the annual 5-mile race, which benefited a regional cancer charity. We also treated ourselves to some home grown goodies.

11. We went kayaking.

Our 6-mile guided group tour rewarded us with even more fantastic views, and an upper body workout to balance all the walking, hiking, running and biking we’d done.
Have I mentioned that we had a lot of excess calories to burn?

12. We saw real live lumberjacks in action.

If you ever get the chance to attend Timber Tina’s Great Maine Lumberjack Show, do it.
It’s a bargain, it’s family friendly, it’s entertaining as all get out, and let me just add that lumberjacks sport very pleasing physiques. Very.

13. We stayed in a campground.

Acadia Seashore Camping & Cabins offers RV hookups, tent sites, and even two cabins and two rental RVs.
The owners are friendly and attentive, and the campground boasts views of both bay and mountains.
We’d go back!
Flanders Bay

14. We obeyed the directions of our camp directors.

OK, so David & Cheryl of Landmark Adventures were already friends of ours, and by “obeyed the directions of,” I really mean “posed for selfies and enjoyed all the fun with.”
(Photo credit: D. Goldstein)

15. We shared potluck meals with our fellow campers.

I made a “lobster roll” out of my family famous challah dough. Because Maine.
And it made sense to bring the state’s most famous CRUSTacean to brunch.
(Photo credit: M. McIlraith)

And that wasn’t even all! I didn’t post pictures of the campfires, blueberry recipe contest, craft class, outdoor movie night, star viewing, or all our new friends (44 people in 25 rigs).

We even left with mosquito bites on our legs, just like summer camp when we were kids.

Oh, and you’d better believe we signed up for another Hangout. Next year: Mexico!

Disclaimer: This blog was neither solicited nor compensated by the Escapees RV Club, nor any business mentioned or linked to herein. All opinions are our own; all mistakes are Emily’s (and I’ll correct them if you ask nicely, after I finish smacking my forehead and sighing grumpily).