Chipmunk Whisperer

Friday was a car touring day.  We decided to drive way up into the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was another beautiful weather day.  We are hearing from the locals that this weather is much warmer than normal.  We won’t complain.  We stopped at all of the “tourist” attractions. Fall here isn’t quite as beautiful as at home.  I must say I am missing the bright oranges and reds and all the fall festivals. John and I always go to the Pumpkinfest in Damariscotta, Maine and the Pumpkin People in Jackson, NH.  This is one of the first years we haven’t attended these, but I have enjoyed them through others Facebook posts.  I think that is what travel is all about, learning about and enjoying new places, and learning to appreciate your hometown even more. Continue reading

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Brews and Views

It has been great to take some time off from moving down the road and enjoy an area.  Colorado was just what we needed.  We have taken in a couple of great hikes right close to where we are staying in Loveland. Continue reading

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Got Air?

On Monday we made the decision to turn south into Colorado from I-80.  The soonest appointment we could get at Camping World was one week out.  We booked a campground with our Passport America membership and we were pleased we could park for one week and settle in.  On the trip down to Colorado the receptionist at Camping World called us to let us know there was a cancellation for Tuesday and we would be getting in bright and early the next morning.  We took that opportunity figuring if a part needed to be ordered we would be in town for a week. Continue reading

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Met a nice state trooper…last name of Allen…

We were very surprised that everything on our list for Fleetwood was completed by Friday afternoon.  It was down to the wire on getting the last things checked off the list or we would have had to stay through the weekend.  We decided to stayone more night, in what is “affectionately” called “camp Decatur”.  It is a parking lot with electrical hooks up and you have to ride down the road to fill and empty your holding tanks.  We were glad to be out as construction starts on Monday.  They will be upgrading the spots for guests and will have full hook up sites by next spring.  That is good to know in case we need to make a return trip on a later date. Continue reading

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Indiana…Trying to keep active

For those of you who know the 3 of us, you know we like to stay active. This is becoming challenging in this area of Indiana. Continue reading

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Indiana Sand Dunes State Park

Wow- what a beautiful location.

We decided to take the long trek (2.5 hours each way) from Decatur to Indiana Sand Dunes state park while our RV started it’s first full day of warranty work.  We arrived at the visitors center just outside the park and stopped in to plan our day. The staff at the visitors center was very friendly and the facility was beautiful   They had information about the state park and the national seashore.  We followed their advice and spent the $12 entry fee for the state park to do the “3 dunes challenge”.  They even told us to stop back in to get free postcards and stickers after we completed the challenge.   This was a great recommendation as we have been itching to get a good hike in.

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Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Today was a beautiful day with partly cloudy skies and temperatures approaching 70 degrees. We headed into Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the morning to give us plenty of time to explore.  The park was only 15 minutes from our campground and the ride in was through very beautiful towns.  The houses were huge with well maintained yards.  We arrived at the visitors center in Peninsula just as one of the old steam engines was pulling in.  We stocked up on maps and headed out to explore.  The first stop was at Brandywine falls where we took a loop trail but couldn’t complete it because the bridge was out.  The hike turned into a 2 mile out and back.  The falls were huge and they were flowing pretty nicely due to all of the rain. Continue reading

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Hard Lesson #1

Yesterday was the first day we have driven the RV in rain.  We were a little nervous but everything went fine.  In fact we were pretty pleased that we were spending the cold (40’s) and rainy day driving because we certainly could not enjoy any outdoor activities.  We drove 310 miles from Watkins Glen to Streetsboro, Ohio. John was a little nervous about driving on the outskirts of Cleveland, but that ended up being no big deal.  The drive over was a scenic one with little traffic and good roads.  The bulk of the trip was on Route 86, the southern tier expressway. Continue reading

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Watkins Glen State Park- Wow!

Today we drove about 160 miles in the RV, a short day, but we wanted to spend the afternoon at Watkins Glen state park.  It is one the of the top 10 state parks in the U.S. and it did not disappoint. Continue reading

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It’s Becoming Real

Cobleskill, NY Walmart- beautiful location

Cobleskill, NY Walmart- beautiful location

Near peak foliage

Near peak foliage

The past 36 hours have been a whirlwind. On 9/30 I finished my last day of work as the nurse director of the emergency department at Midcoast Hospital. This has been an amazing place to work for over 29 years. They gave me a very nice send off party and it was really great to see everyone just before we headed off on this adventure.

Last night we packed wildly preparing for a morning departure. I’ve packed for plenty of 2-week trips but never for a 6-month adventure. We know we are going to see temps from freezing up to the 90’s on this trip so we need to be prepared for all seasons. Of course Gizmo’s full wardrobe is packed in the RV.

This morning was the final check on everything and then the hook up of the car behind the RV. This is the first time we had hooked up the car since we had it set up to tow. In fact, it was the first time we had done it since the gentleman at Camping World demonstrated it to us. The checklist was in hand and we triple checked it. We must have got it right because the transmission was still in place 350 miles later.

Today it seemed very strange to be driving down the road with no clear destination for the day, just a general direction we were headed in. John is enjoyed driving, says it drives like a big car. He was put trough all kinds of challenges today, from steep grades going through the Green mountains to 4 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic in NY. Gizmo was a trooper and spent most of the day snoring in my lap. We had planned to spend tonight in a campground but as the day got later a night in a Walmart parking lot was looking better by the minute. We used our All-Stays overnight Walmart app to find a great rest spot for the night. We took the exit for the Walmart and thought there must be a mistake because it was a nice country road. We thought there was no way a Super Walmart could be located here. Then a few miles down the road, there it was like an oasis. A quick trip into the store for some supplies and then it was time to relax, eat dinner and watch the sunset. Even though we did not know the destination for today, it was reassuring to know that we had all of our necessities close at hand in the RV.

Tomorrow we are hoping to visit Watkins Glen state park. It’s about a 3-hour ride from here.

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