Chapter 1: Rochester to Maine
June 19 to June 26, 1997
Full-timing day has arrived. We'll be heading out as soon as I finish this note. The house sold, the walk through and closing went smoothly, we're all packed up, and (hopefully) all the last minute details have been cleaned up. We're heading to New York City, for a day or two of museums, mansions, and gardens, then to Newport, then to Maine and on up into New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
The above was written on June 19, but I had Email problems, and it didn't get sent. I think I've got that problem fixed - we'll see. It's now June 26. We've been full timers for a week. We're sitting in Duck Puddle Campground, on Lake Pemaquid ME. It's been incredibly hectic getting here, so we've booked here for a week of unwinding, organizing, and maintenance. We spent an extra two days camped in the driveway at Clover Street after closing, using the garage as a staging area for organizing the last of our pile of possessions. Even so, we left Rochester with a lot undone - things sort of got poured into the trailer and truck haphazardly in the rush to get on our way before the new owner got tired of squatters. Now we're trying to find out where everything is, and finish all the things that didn't get done at home.
It was very hot last week in the NYC area, and we hoped we had come far enough north to get away from it.
The temperature is in the low 80's in Maine today, so we *almost* made it far enough. It's a relief to be away from the big city. We spent quite a lot of time sitting in traffic jams on our way to visiting mansions and gardens and art museums and friends in and around NY. We left the trailer at a campground 60 miles north of NYC and this was just barely far enough out to avoid the mobs. (We sat on the western approach to the Tappan Zee bridge for at least 15 minutes, barely moving - on a Saturday afternoon).
Those of you who appreciate contemporary sculpture should definitely visit Storm King Art Center the next time you are in this part of the world. Much of the exhibit is outdoors - huge art objects set in rolling terrain in the midst of contrasting areas of grass, clover, and various grains, mowed into patterns that complemented the art. To me, much of the sculpture looked like random piles of leftover industrial construction debris. I did find a few things I liked, and the overall atmosphere of the site was wonderful.
I still can't get my Konnex Koupler acoustic coupler to talk to Sprynet, so we've had trouble getting our Email. Once, it talked to AOL at 4800 baud on an old carbon-granule pay phone, but wouldn't connect to Sprynet at all. We'll get this figured out eventually - others have reported success with this gadget.
We'll be visiting friends tomorrow, and we'll impose on them to download and upload Email. So far it's all via 800 numbers. The places we want to camp and visit don't seem to be the places that Sprynet has local access numbers.
Our first Wal-Mart experience was very pleasant. Our first 76 Truck Stop/"Travel Plaza" was a disaster. After four days in a full-service campground, we got a late start on our trip to the next campground, in Maine. When it got to be 7pm, we were getting tired, and Helen was searching Map'n'Go for a convenient campground. At this point I noticed a billboard advertising a 76 Truck Stop at the next exit. We pulled in and noticed it said "free parking with fillup" - so we filled up and drove into the gated parking area, in a line of semis. Big mistake! We were immediately in a traffic jam, amid what seemed like hundreds of big trucks, all milling around looking for non-existent parking places. We finally got a temporary gap when we could back up, make a sharp turn, and dive into an aisle that was relatively uncrowded and led to the exit. We just cleared the exit to the parking lot and found another traffic jam getting back out the main drive to the highway - apparently a semi had broken down near the entrance. We turned on the CB and listened to colorful language for 15 minutes. (Trucker A: "What's it gonna take to get outta this &*^$% place?" Trucker B: "a *&^% miracle". Soon after, a wrecker maneuvered in, the offending truck got moved, and we were on our way. Channel 19 was full of chatter to the effect of "stay the *^%$ away from the 76". Even without the driveway jam-up, the parking area was hopelessly crowded. We felt lucky that it only cost us half an hour.
Another 10 miles down the road, we happened to see a Wal-Mart along the highway. We got off at the next exit, and found our way back to the Wal-Mart. After parking in a remote corner of the lot, we walked in toward the store, found the little white security truck with the flashing light, and asked about overnight parking. The polite, well-spoken security man said we were welcome to park, but to please not stay a week, and said we had picked the perfect place to park. We spent a peaceful night, did a little shopping, and went on our way fairly early the next morning. Another four hours brought us to Duck Puddle Campground, on Lake Pemaquid, not too far from Damariscotta, ME, where I'm writing this.
To be continued ...