Trip to NH

Trip back to NH

We finally pulled out of Galveston on Monday, May 18th, two months later than we originally planned thanks to coronavirus. We did have a lovely stay here and will look forward to being back again next winter for a few months. Since our doctors are now down in this general area, this will become a regular stop in our travels. 

We weren’t going far on Monday – just to Livingston, TX about 140 miles north. First stop in route was to get the RV inspected. We had planned ahead. Seeing as we’re towing 40 feet behind us, we don’t go anyplace without making sure we’ll fit! We were headed to an RV/Truck Service place that was recommended by Escapees (an RV community). Sure enough it worked fine. The driveway was narrow, and we almost sailed past the entrance since Google and Garmin were a little off. But we got there and the guy was super nice. $7 for an RV Inspection. He basically just looked at it. I guess he figures if you drove it in, then it’s road worthy. From there we headed to the campground. Naturally, just to make things more interesting, the exit off the highway we were supposed to take was closed for construction… and so was the next exit. Garmin re-routed us. Not my favorite thing, but I’m getting better about not freaking out over it. We plan the route before we set out in the morning, and I don’t like deviations. Aren’t I fun to travel with????

The campground we’ll be at for the next 5 nights is called Camp Jason RV Park. It’s small (21 sites) but perfectly fine. We walked the whole campground the first night… all 1/4 mile of it. 

Tuesday, May 19th

We had spent Monday afternoon in our tiny home filling out the necessary paperwork to get the RV registered at the Tax Office. Monday was their first day open in 2 months, and we heard the line was 30 deep out the door. We arrived at the Polk County Tax Office at 7:15AM on Tuesday. They opened at 8AM. Gary was 5th in line. They were letting one person in at a time. I went along for moral support but waited in the truck. Since they were only allowing one person in, Gary was going to register the Fifth Wheel. He finally got inside at about 8:45AM. Mind you there were about 6 workers inside spaced out behind the counter but only one was seeing walk-ins. The others appeared to be twiddling their thumbs but that could be a false impression. The clerk took one glance at Gary’s paperwork and said “I’m sorry I can’t process this. Your wife is listed on the title, too. I need to see her license for identification.” Gary says she’s in the truck outside. I’ll call her. The woman says “No, sorry, you have to go outside to the back of the line.” Gary was not a happy camper. Back to the end of the line he went…  a bit like a Seinfeld episode. “No soup for you!” This time we waited in line together. 

Coincidentally there was a husband & wife who had been standing behind Gary. They were full time RVers from San Diego looking to have Texas be their domicile to save on taxes. In their case, they had both been standing in line… but again, only one person can go in at a time. The husband went in with his wife’s driver’s license. But, she hadn’t signed one of the forms. Same thing happened to him…. he tells the clerk “My wife is right outside the door. I can have her sign.” Nope, you have to go to the back of the line and next time bring in the paperwork with her signature already on it. Ugh. The whole thing was comical! We ended up chatting with them for awhile, safely distanced, of course. In their case, to add insult to injury, the Tax Office was only doing one transaction per family per day. They needed to register their truck AND RV but could only register one that day. They had to come back tomorrow to start the whole fun process all over again. For us, the second time standing in line was the charm, and we were finally done by about 10:30. 

That same day we visited Lake Livingston State Park. It’s the second largest lake in Texas. Very pretty. Unfortunately, it was unusually hot while we were here. Just our luck. So we drove around and walked briefly in a few areas. There are some nice hiking trails but those will wait for another time. Too hot! 

Wednesday thru Friday, May 20 – 22nd

I was able to get a couple of loads of laundry done at the campground. We placed a pick-up order for groceries through Walmart. Of course, they didn’t have everything, so that still meant going into HEB for the missing items. Best laid plans. We checked out various campgrounds in the area so that if we come through this way again, we’ll have some other options. This campground was very nice, but small and a bit cramped. Friday we watched it fill up for the holiday weekend.

We also headed to the attorney’s office this week to sign all of our Estate Planning paperwork. That was a little unique since all 6 of us had masks on…. Gary and I, the attorney, and the two witnesses and notary. At least it’s all done now. 

Saturday, May 23rd

We left Livingston at 9AM and headed to Shady Pines RV Park in Texarkana, TX. A lovely ride on 59 North. The road alternated between high speed and a reduced speed as you went through various small towns. We saw lots of grazing cattle, lots of trees and a hilly terrain. A little different than the usual flat Texas landscape with large wide open vistas we’re accustomed to seeing. 

The campground was fairly empty on Saturday, even though it was a holiday weekend. As I was walking around to stretch my legs after the drive, I ran into a couple sitting outside their Arctic Fox. It’s the same brand RV as what we have. That started a conversation. He’s a pilot with Southwest Airlines, retiring in October, but hasn’t flown since mid March when coronavirus started. His routes were cancelled. Now he’s got vacation time and sick time to use up and his wife doesn’t want him going back to work. I don’t think he’s going back to work. We wives rule. They live in Annapolis, MD and have a second home in Las Vegas, which they recently sold. They have four boys scattered around the country. All of whom are gainfully employed except for the one who decided that going into retail with JC Penny was a good idea and now he’s furloughed. Oh well. The pilot and his wife are looking to re-locate possibly to the North Dallas area. Given a little more time…. I probably could have found out what their favorite colors are and what they had for breakfast. But, as it was, it was getting warm standing in the sun so I continued on. That’s when I noticed the Alaska plate on the 5th wheel. Not sure what that was about, and I missed my opportunity to ask as we’re leaving tomorrow.  

Sunday thru Monday, May 24th & 25th

We traveled to EZ Daze RV Park in Southaven, MS… just outside Memphis. The Arkansas roads left a little something to be desired… rather like a washboard but it was a pretty drive along I-30 East then on to I-40. A rural drive with newly planted crops along the sides of the highway. Traffic was fairly light. Not your typical Memorial Day weekend. The roads into Tennessee and Mississippi weren’t much better. The infrastructure in our country is embarrassingly awful (sigh), but that’s a rant for another day. Sunday afternoon was hot. We spent it watching Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Phil Mickelson play golf for charity, which was very entertaining with the back & forth banter between them. And fun to see a live sporting event once again! In the evening we walked the campground, which is fairly large with a lot of long term folks… probably working in the area. 

Monday, Memorial Day, was another warm one. I did some reading, texting, finished up a card I was making, and we headed out for fuel and to pick up a small grocery order at Kroger. We had Kroger points to use up. We spent… drum roll please… 59.9 cents per gallon on fuel. That was a treat! For another treat, since we were in the Memphis area, for dinner we had take out at Tom’s BBQ & Deli…. featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Very good! We enjoyed it immensely!

Tuesday, May 26th

We were up and ready to pull out of our site Tuesday morning at 9AM. However, sites at this particular campground are short for our 40 ft. rig. Soooooo Gary had to knock on our neighbor’s door to ask him to please move his truck so we could get out. He works in the area so is a long term resident in the campground. His truck was blocking part of the road. He commented that he gets asked to move it all the time. Hmmmm…. so maybe it would make sense to park it elsewhere? Just a thought. Anyway, he was nice enough, and we were on our way. 

We continued heading East on I-40 thru part of Tennessee and 65 North into Kentucky. Road conditions were nasty in Tennessee… incredibly bumpy, jarring, uneven…. basically a patchwork mess. Kentucky roads were better. The scenery was pretty throughout both states… mostly rural… with lots of trees and rolling hills in Kentucky with cattle grazing and newly planted crops. Not many RVs on the road and not a ton of cars but lots of trucks. Around the big cities speed limits are merely a suggestion. We landed at Cave Country RV Campground in Cave City, KY located near Mammoth Cave National Park and the Corvette Museum, both of which we had visited two years ago, and closed now because of Covid 19. 

Nice campground with spacious pull thru sites and located near farmland making for nice views. Once parked, we realized electricity was out on a few appliances. Gary did some investigating, checking and testing and realized that some of our electrical circuit breakers in the RV were on the fritz. We think it’s because of all the jarring on the roads today. Luckily I have a handy hubby and he was able to swap out some of the breakers to fix the situation temporarily until we can get some new ones. But not what you want to do after driving for 6 hours today. 

Did I mention the crappy road conditions in our country??????

We walked this charming campground after dinner and sat outside since it was so pleasant and watched the sun go down. There was a train track nearby. Trains were going threw off & an all night. The first time it happened we didn’t know what it was and our tiny home shook. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. We actually like the sound of trains so it didn’t really bother us. Of course, the air conditioning was on. I guess I might feel differently if the windows were all open and the sound was even louder. 

Wednesday, May 27th

Today we headed further north and landed at Lebanon/Cincinnati NE KOA Campground. After being in the south for months with everything in bloom, it’s striking me unusual to see trees newly leafed out in all different beautiful shades of green. Like a painting.

Once again road conditions could be better but scenery through Kentucky was picturesque with rolling hills and cattle grazing. 

It definitely seems as though there are more trucks on the road, unless it just seems that way because there are fewer cars, and not many RVs. Of course, the summer hasn’t begun yet. Not that this will be a normal summer. 

We ended up running a few errands here. One was to Home Depot to get the new circuit breakers Gary needed to do the repairs on our tiny home. The other was to get fuel with the last of our Kroger Reward points before we run out of Krogers up north.

Thursday thru Friday, May 28th & 29th

We continued through Ohio… such gorgeous countryside…. with trees leafing out and crops planted. Just about every color of green imaginable. We landed at Evergreen Campground RV Park in the heart of Ohio Amish country. While driving, we did see several Amish riding their horse drawn carriages. 

We’ve been at this campground before. Beautiful scenery as its surrounded by farmland. We were supposed to only be here one night but with heavy rain expected the following day, we decided to extend our stay one more night to avoid driving in rain. That meant I had to make some changes to other reservations by moving them out a day, thankfully that all worked out. We sat outside Thursday evening and watched the sun go down. Very late sunset here… 8:45. Cloud formations were beautiful against the rolling hills. 

Friday since we were parked for the day, we had the added benefit of being able to watch my grand nephew Drew’s high school graduation live streamed from Frisco, TX. So thankful that we could have the opportunity to watch him walk across the stage. A very different high school graduation for this year’s graduates, but just as huge a milestone! Best of luck Drew as you begin college in the Fall! You got this!! 

It was a showery day. We watched the campground fill up with locals for the weekend. Also we were able to get one last load of laundry done before we land in NH next week. The laundry facility at the campground is a big one and is also used by the Amish when the weather is bad, and they can’t dry their clothes outside. There was a horse and buggy parked out front. Don’t see that everyday!

Saturday thru Sunday, May 30th & 31st

We headed east along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Just a gorgeous ride! More rolling hills and newly planted crops in perfect rows of varying shades of brown and green depending upon what was planted or not planted. Hillsides of every green color imaginable with trees leafing out. So pretty! We arrived at Twin Grove RV Resort in Pine Grove, PA. A huge place with a large seasonal population and several state parks nearby. Some lovely views from the campground with long pull thru sites for us and a decent amount of space between sites. After checking in and getting settled, we sat outside and enjoyed the exquisite weather. After dinner we did a 2 mile walk over hill and dale in the campground and didn’t cover it all. Big place. 

On the down side, Gary noticed a stress crack in the Filon (type of fiberglass) siding at the base of our bedroom slide caused no doubt from the jostling on the roads and flexing of our rig. It’s always something with these homes on wheels. 

Sunday we visited Boxcar Rocks also called High Rocks or the Chinese Wall. This outcropping of conglomerate rock (think big rocks mushed together with smaller rocks) got its most common name of Boxcar Rocks during the building of Gold Mine Road, which, by the way, is like no other road we’ve been on…. Holy Cow…. winding up and up with tight turns. The road was built in the 1940s. At the time, a local politician referred to the boulders as a “Railroad Wreck of Boxcars.” These rocks are rumored to be left over from melting glacial deposits during the last ice age; however, many dispute the presence of glaciers this far south in Pennsylvania. The rocks’ history continued thousands of years later, when their alcoves became a camping place for Native Americans who were rumored to have sent smoke signals to hunting parties along the Blue Mountains from the top of the rocks.

You can hike about 4 miles over hilly terrain in and over the rocks. We opted for a 4/10 mile route in to see some of the rocks and then hiked back out. We also had to do a Home Depot run so Gary could get the supplies to do a temporary fix on our stress crack. Always something! Again the weather was beautiful today. Sunny and in the low 70s with no humidity. We will be back at this campground again in the fall with friends for several days so will look forward to exploring the state parks further in this area. There’s lots to see!

Even the trip to Home Depot was entertaining with a scenic drive over hills and dales to get there. I do not know how these people drive on these roads in the winter!

I definitely think the roads are busier than they would have been a few weeks ago since the country is opening. And, here, in Pennsylvania, this campground was packed for the weekend with locals but emptied out on Sunday. The thing about camping is that even if it’s busy, everyone has their individual private space so social distancing can still be maintained quite easily. 

Monday, June 1st

We traveled 81 North to 84 East once again enjoying beautiful scenery of rolling hills and lots of  trees newly leafed out. Our destination was Copake Camping Resort in Copake, NY. When we made this reservation, there weren’t a ton of campgrounds open in NY. This one was well off the highway. Oh my… we left the highway and landed on picturesque country roads. Gary thought it was a “fun” drive. I thought it was less so. Maybe because I was glued to our Garmin navigation to make sure we didn’t make a wrong turn on this lovely back country road. In any event we landed at Copake Camping Resort, and we were the only “transients” there. Everyone else was a seasonal camper i.e. visiting on weekends, which meant the place was practically deserted during the week! Had a fun 2.5 mile walk around the campground checking out all the nooks and crannies. 

As we travel north, we definitely have noticed an uptick in coronavirus preparedness. At the two campgrounds in Livingston and Texarkana, TX the offices were open with few precautions. In Mississippi our reservation information was left outside for us to pick up so no interaction with humans. In Kentucky I headed into the office and was met by the clerk wearing a mask behind a plexiglass partition. I also had a mask on. At the two Ohio locations, one staff member met us outside with the paperwork wearing a mask and at the second Ohio location, the staff members in the office were behind a plexiglass partition (no mask). In PA, there was a sign on the door “No Mask, No Service.” And when Gary visited the Home Depot in PA, it was the only place we’d been where EVERYONE (shoppers and staff) were all wearing masks, which was a good thing since the place was busy! Here at this campground in NY, we were met outside by an attendant wearing a mask. Also in New York we saw highway signs proclaiming “Help our Heroes. Don’t Speed.” Other signs proclaimed that masks are mandatory in public. You can tell the Northeast is still in the midst of dealing with coronavirus. 

Tuesday, June 2nd

I was much more relaxed leaving Copake this morning! I could actually enjoy the beautiful ride through the farmland and rolling hills over the country roads before landing on I-90 East. I guess because we’d already done it yesterday. We were back on familiar roads crossing Massachusetts and heading into New Hampshire. I asked Gary “Does it feel weird coming back to NH to a campground and not our home of the past 35 years?” He said no, not really, and I felt the same. It feels like another extended camping stay! We landed at Old Stage Campground in Madbury NH in the early afternoon after traveling over 2,000 miles from Galveston. Our summer home for the next 3 1/2 months. Unfortunately…. we had one little hiccup coming into their fairly narrow drive. Our awning snagged on a high tree limb so we will need a repair. Probably an expensive one because there are no cheap repairs on RVs! Ugh. In hindsight, we should have waited for an escort to the site. Live and learn! In any event, an escort did arrive to help us with the back-in procedure. We got positioned nicely. And have a very spacious, quiet and treed sight to enjoy for the summer. 

I’m not sure what the summer will hold with coronavirus still being with us, but we will take each day as it comes and enjoy them to the max! We look forward to seeing Mom (for now that will be through a closed window until restrictions change) and social distancing with Ellen & Wayne and our wonderful friends. A new normal!

I’ll probably send the occasional blog post over the summer just to let you know what we’re up to!

Be safe. Stay healthy, and enjoy the remainder of the spring and the onset of summer. We’ll look forward to getting together with many of our New England local friends even if it’s socially distanced!