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What a beautiful day we had today! The single advantage to days of pouring rain is that, when it's over, you really appreciate the sunshine!
We began the day with laundry and cleaning the rig. I lost one of my yellow socks, and, while we were getting set to go, a gentleman who'd been doing laundry with us came to our site and gave Jack my sock which he'd found! :)
After hooking the car back onto the RV, we drove across New Hampshire, stopping in Concord, the capital. We shot some outdoor photos, but were unable to go in, since it was Saturday. We ate lunch in the RV -- salami, yummy chicken salad, and delicious summer slaw from Hannaford Supermarket. And then we were on the road again.
An hour and a half later, we arrived in Durham, Maine, just up the road from Freeport. This will be our base of operations while we explore this area. We just contented ourselves with hooking up the RV, unhooking the car, and fixing ourselves a delicious dinner of chicken tortellini with pesto. Oh.. and I finally got Photoshop installed on this computer! So now I can share some photos. Here's one that I shot on this trip before the rain started. This was in Lansing, Michigan:
Last night it rained ALL night. I mean it poured most of the night! And this morning, we were all set to just dig in our heels and stay another night, since we didn't feel like driving in the rain and on possibly flooded roads. But the campground had other plans for us. It turned out that this campground was ordered to evacuate, because the river was expected to overflow its banks. It's level was supposed to exceed the level it reached one year when the whole campground was under water! So, in the pouring rain once again, we unhooked the utilities and hooked up the car and off we went again. The rain was not horrible -- just a light rain -- and there was none of the promised wind, to our relief. We drove to Brattleboro, Vermont, arriving at about 3:30. We're at the KOA here -- a very nice campground. And, it's NOT raining now! Moreover, it has not rained for a few hours. We drove into town when it was still raining, parking and walking down the hill into the artsy community for the Art Gallery Prowl, an event which they hold the first Friday evening of every month. Lucky us! The Prowl was good fun, with all the downtown stores open, lots of galleries, nice music being played at several of the venues. We enjoyed a really fine time! On our way home, we found a grocery store and restocked our fridge. We'd had to get rid of lots of food, which had frozen. The ruined stuff included all our fruits and vegetables. :/ But now we have new food. :)
Dona, I rather like the idea of filling the fridge with ice cream, since it was freezing everything, but that's not what we did! Instead, we went down the road to Amsterdam's Camping World (Alpin Haus RV) where they diagnosed and finally fixed our problem. It was a little wire affair which cost only $130 to diagnose and install. While they were doing this, we shopped at the CW store, laying in some supplies. Then we went to Subway for a bite of lunch. To my horror, I discovered that my credit card, the one I always use, was missing from its usual place in my pouch! We quickly retraced our financial steps, recalling that the last place I used my card was Applebee's in Herkimer. I had the receipt so I called and they HAD it! Happy! So, after paying for the job and our stuff with another card, we hopped into the car and drove the hour on the toll road ($1.80 each leg, since it was just the car!) back to Herkimer and got the card. Could you feel the change in atmospheric pressure when I heaved that sigh of relief? Back to Herkimer, we hooked up the car and headed on down the road. We made it to Glenville, NY. And did I mention that it's still raining? It rained this entire day! But we're keeping our spirits up and remaining optimistic that the clouds will clear, revealing that beautiful blue sky that we KNOW is hiding up there!
We awoke today in Niagara Falls, Ontario, discovering that, while the sky was gray, there seemed to be... no rain! We took advantage of this, emptying our tanks, unhooking the utilities, hooking up the car, and getting down the road! We went on the tollroad -- 90 -- stopping for lunch at an oasis Tim Horton's. Here's something funny that happened. We ordered a sandwich to split, a cup of soup, and a bottle of water. Then, after she had rung up the sale, I decided that I wanted a chocolate chip muffin, too. So I asked her if it would be too late to add one to our order. "No problem," she said, and she just gave it to us! We took the opportunity to get fuel, too, and we were on our way.We arrived about 4:30 at the Herkimer KOA, and it's lovely! Our site is right on the river, a fast-flowing stream which reminds me a bit of home! After a short break, we took off in the car to the town, in search of dinner. We found an Applebee's and that won. I got the cheese-filled meatballs with fettucini and Jack got a steak. His steak was tough but tasty, and mine was mushy and not tasty. In fact, when the server asked me if I wanted a take-home box, I said, "No, it wasn't that good." The manager was there, too, wanting to know if I had liked the dish, which is a new one for the chain. He said that many people were giving them the same review, and he told me that he was taking it off our bill. Well ok, that's fair, but I would rather that they would take the bad stuff off the menu to start with! We are averaging about 14.5 miles per gallon on this trip, towing the car behind the RV. The only problems we've had with anything are low tires on the car, which Jack aired up, and our refrigerator, which is FREEZING everything! We are going to Amsterdam's Camping World tomorrow for a 9:30 appointment to check up on that.
Actually, we just spent part of the day here. We awoke to a driving rain -- too much to drive in! So we opted to stay here another day and try to find some indoor things to do. Well, by the time we finished our leisurely breakfast, it was actually SUNNY out! So off we went to Fort Erie, to visit the fort there and get the history.It was a short drive -- probably less than 20 miles -- and a pretty drive. It didn't rain on our way, but it did get cloudy again. We went first to the Fort Erie History Museum in downtown Fort Erie. This museum is small, and dedicated to the memory of the small battle there which started Canada into its process of becoming a country. We had to drive a bit further to get to the actual Fort Erie. This is a quite nicely restored stone fort with lots of authentic accoutrements of the day, including some fine cannons! While it rained during some of our tour, we also enjoyed a few dry minutes where the sky was gray, heavy, and threatening. We drove back on up to Niagara Falls and parked at the Fallsview Casino. We enjoyed a walk around in the *smokefree* casino before hitting the Grand Buffet. It was... GRAND... and we feasted on many delicious foods.
We've had a fun few days, despite the weather. On Sunday, we went to church in London, Ontario. Jack did his research online, finding us a UCC church, and we ended up in a United Church of Canada! Their outlook is just like ours, though, so we found ourselves quite at home. Not only that, but the folks were very friendly. After church, we hooked the car up and drove on up the road to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Having arrived at our campground (Holiday Trav-L-Park) at a reasonable time, we unhooked and took the car into town for a look-about. The clouds were thickening and we did get some rain as we looked at the falls. It was still magnificent, and we got enough dry moments to grab a photo or two. We stopped at the Red Lobster, split an Admiral's Feast, and then finished off our evening at the DQ! Hey.. it was Sunday!Today we went into town a bit earlier, parking at a $5 a day lot and then walking all over the place. We arrived at the Skylon tower in time for lunch, and it was great! We split a burger and a dish of penne Alfredo as we watched the city spin around below us. Thank goodness the weather held out and afforded us some pleasing views. Yes, it was cloudy and gray all day, but at least the rain was limited to sprinkles. We came back home for some of Jack's soup which we'd frozen, and it was delish! Now it's pouring rain!
