Oct 27, 2019 - Boston

Yesterday we drove the undulating semi mountainous I 95 to I 395 and on to Newton Mass. on the outskirts of Boston. We passed by but above towns and small cities along the sea. Inland I 395 treated us to an avenue of reds, scarleets, crimsons and some fire orange maples. The yellows and majority of oranges had already browned and some had dropped. We passed through Connecticut and Rhode Island on our way to Massachusetts. The sun was shining...a beautiful day! We found a hotel...Indigo...in Newton and spent the night. Parking AND breakfast...

Sep 12, 2019 - Eastham, Cape Cod, MA

The journey to Cape Cod was unremarkable except for the circuitous route from Hartford to the Cape. True to the old saying that "you can't get there from here", we took a winding route of 185 miles because there is no direct east-west highway. It was CT-2 to I-395 to US-6 to I-195 to MA-25 to US-6! The map shows this as a zig to the southeast, a zag to the northeast, then mores zigs and zags. The 'best' route, according to GPS and google maps, is slightly shorter by 10 miles on major highways but involves I-90 (Mass Pike) and I-495. These...

Aug 10, 2019 - JFK Presidential Library and Museum

Arrived at JKF’s Presidential Museum and Library this morning right as they opened at 9. The orientation film dealt w/ his political career up to his nomination at the Democratic National Convention on July 15, 1960 in Los Angeles. The first exhibits then continued on about the 1960 campaign, and from there a chronological discussion of the highlights of his presidency…Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, civil rights, commitment to space, etc. There was quite a bit of video footage, for example there was an exhibit that showed his entire...

Jul 11, 2019 - Littleton, Massachusetts

It has been about three weeks since the last trip report so we will try and bring everyone up to date. We stayed in New Jersey for 16 days visiting friends and relatives. We have stayed in this campground several times and the only really problem is that the campground is about 30 miles from where our friends and relatives live in the Collingswood area. As a result we must have put on about 600 miles on our truck over that sixteen day period. One of our visits was to an assisted care center in Collingswood where the wife of a man that had a...

Jun 2, 2019 - A mixed day and Quack, quack...

A short blog because I am really tired and still recovering from moving from part 1 of the tour (west cosst) to part 2 (east coast). Normal blogging activity should resume again tomorrow xx (Written in bits over past 2 days - hope it’s not too disjointed. I am now in Boston! Yesterday was a blur of travel - we disembarked the ship at 8, did a 4 hour whirlwind tour of Seattle, spent a few hours waiting at the airport (that’s after managing to get through security!), had a 5 hour plane flight to Boston - arriving at midnight, spent a good 20...

Jun 2, 2019 - Day 17 - Cape Ann Campground - Gloucester, Mass.

Another cool, cloudy morning in Gloucester. The dog and I retrace our steps from the night before and I realize when I thought I was lost last night, I was actually exactly where I should have been - right next to the office. I just couldn't recognize it in the dark. I really need to bring my phone with me. The plan is to meet at my cousins house at noon to try on foul weather gear in preparation for the afternoon sail on the schooner Ardelle. The truck needs gas and we're out of wine, so before we head to my cousin's, I rectify both those...

Jun 1, 2019 - Day 16 - Cape Ann Campground - Gloucester, Mass.

Another cool, overcast (with a bit of fog) morning. LJ and I take a long walk through the upper parts of the campground. When we get back, there's a text from my cousin that says they're going to be tied up for the day and that we're on our own until we meet for dinner at her brother's house. That actually fits perfectly into our plan; we need to get airline reservations for Wendy's trip to Germany at the end of June. Plus, we have no plan for once we leave this park on Monday. We need to be in Southern Maryland next Thursday, but Monday...

May 31, 2019 - Day 15 - Cape Ann Campground - Gloucester, Mass.

My canine alarm clock wakes me promptly at 6am, but I manage to convince him that it's too early to go for a walk (mostly by snarling at him). About 6:45 I am just awake enough get his leash on and off we go. It's surprisingly pleasant outside; stark contrast to last evening with the cold rain. Sunny, no wind - I instantly regret the multiple layers of clothing I've got on, but once outside, LJ is on the prowl and it's too big a pain to go back. So we head up the hill into the campground and go exploring. The road winds around a large,...

May 30, 2019 - Day 14 - Cape Ann Campground - Gloucester, Mass.

Almost hated to leave this KOA. Really a nice spot. We'll have to come back when we have more time and check out the local area. There's a nearby lake with a lot of highly rated restaurants. But duty calls and we roll out about 8:15. Hopefully the last long drive of the trip. I-90 in New York continues to be surprisingly nice. A few rough patches but overall I'd give it a B (Ohio gets an A). It starts raining a bit as we continue eastward but the traffic is light and we make good time. The only issue is the dang door - it continues to...

May 15, 2019 - Brimfield Day 2

MAY 15 – Brimfield the Second Day We pulled our half-paralyzed bodies out of bed this morning at 5 am, hoping for better weather and better shopping and younger bodies. Well, the weather was only slightly better, the shopping was slightly better (south side had more bargains), but our bodies were the same old bodies! It was cold so we wore our same dirty clothes – the one bad weather change of clothes we brought with us. By noon, we had covered most of the south side of Brimfield (we did the North side the day before). It started to spit...

May 14, 2019 - Brimfield Day One

We were up at the crack of dawn and got to Brimfield by 7 am and THE PARKING WAS GONE!!! We had scouted out two or three different places the night before but they were NOT available, so we went all the way to the one located almost in town and past all the sales to park which made it incredibly difficult if you need to make a run to the car to unload so you can shop some more (we only did it once – the second time we were not going to go back out). We got there early, so it was only $8 – the rest of the day it was $10. The line of cars...

May 13, 2019 - Niagara Falls to Brimfield MA

Long driving day today – we hit 2,000 miles of driving. We went almost all the way across New York, then went over some mountains into Massachusetts (who knew they had mountains – I didn’t – and there was SNOW!). It rained the whole day, but it couldn’t dampen our spirits. When we stopped along the NY turnpike, there was an Amish farmer’s stand where we bought homemade syrup and honey. Also, got our little girls some NY t-shirts. AND, the highlight of the today’s trip was traveling through Auburn, NY, home of our very own Father Andy....