June 27 – Franconia State Park to St. Johnsbury, Vermont

After breakfast, we drove to “The Basin”, a large hole dug into solid granite rock by glacial action.

Just across the highway is “The Flume”. It reminded us of the Catwalk is Casa Grande National Monument that we visited on April 14th (see blog and Picasa). This canyon is a large crack in the granite that makes up this area of New Hampshire. Add water and a walkway to create what is called the Flume. The two-mile walk gave us a chance to stretch the aches out of the muscles we gained from yesterday’s hike. Thankfully, this trail is mostly level.

It was a quick 30-mile drive to the Moose River Campground in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. This is a very nice place with free wifi all for only $26 per night with Good Sams discount. One interesting thing is that WiFi is free but they charge for cable TV. This is a reversal of what we’ve encountered throughout this trip whenever a charge is called for.

The afternoon brought another thunderstorm. We are starting to get used to this. It’s still is a little unnerving when a bolt hits the ground at what appears to be nearby. We learned two rules in New Hampshire: 1. Don’t be the tallest object and 2. Don’t be near the tallest object. We were assigned a site that is under the tallest tree in this campground. I sure hope rule 2 doesn’t apply for this thunderstorm. 30-minutes later is was over. I guess rule two didn't apply today.

June 26 – Cannon Mountain

We saw our first bear this morning. It was on the ski slop of Cannon Mountain Ski Area in Franconia State Park. I walk toward it to get a better picture until it raised its head and looked my way. It kept looking so I move no closer. It was half way up the slope and I still hadn’t reached the bottom. She sure has good hearing. You can see these pictures on our Picasa site.

We rode the Cannon Mountain Tram to the top of the mountain so we could hike down from the top. That was a bad decision. As the hiking trail slope get steeper, it becomes easier to hike up than down. This trail drops almost 2200-feet over the 2-miles trail.

Cannon Mountain is a pile of granite without soil covering. It’s just a rock garden of large boulders that you have to scramble over. This is the most difficult hiking we have ever done and hope we never match its difficulty again.

About half way down the trail we caught up with a mom, dad, and young son on their way down. It was interesting to watch the mom and dad help the young boy through the tough spots and almost every place was tough. We saw three very happy people at the bottom of the trail. Make that five happy people, counting Mary and myself.

June 25th - Gorman to Francisca Notch

We awoke to rain this morning. Not the normal drizzle we are quickly becoming accustomed but continuous rain. We survived the night without any fresh bug bites. The weather report we picked up on the weather radio said we would have periods of rain for the next 3 days. Now we have to decide if we should stay put and wait for the rain to pass, skip going to some of the places we wanted to visit, like Mount Washington, or shuffle the order we do things by backtracking sections of our route.

We decided that we would skip some of the places we planned to visit. We’ve seem so much already and have so many new places to see, that missing one or two won’t spoil our trip. The weather was clearing by the time we left the local Wal-Mart after buying supplies.

We Mount Washington is one of the tallest mountains in east. You can drive to the top, for a fee, if your vehicle meets certain restrictions. Of course, our Roadtrek is why outside their limits. A tour van to the top is available for the trip but it does not spend much time on top of the mountain and you have to return in the same van. Given the weather, we decided not to make the trip up.

A weather monitoring station at the top of Mt. Washington is connected to the Weather Discovery Center in North Conway, NH. You can see reading for temperature, wind good decision not to go to the top. Static and interactive displays about weather are available within the center. I liked the wind canon. It looks like a drum and when tapped, would shoot a “ball of air” at a target of reflective tags.

The wild flowers are in full bloom in Crawford Notch. We didn’t know the names for any of them but they were certainly beautiful.

The ranger at the visitors’ center this morning said we had to see the Willey House site in Crawford Notch. She said this place is the reason the expression “Having the Willey’s” came into being. We came, we saw, we still, we didn’t get the “Willey’s”. A nice pond, including ducks that keep begging for food, and a short hiking trail are across the street.

The Cog Railway runs between Crawford Notch and the top of Mt. Washington, near the Mt. Washington Hotel. This is the opposite side of the mountain that the Auto Road is on. It is coal fired steam engine and pushes one car up the mountain. We were luck enough to watch as the little engine chugged out of the station on its way up the mountain. I took a couple of movies that are on the Picasa site.

The “old man of the mountain” is a rock outcropping in the Franconia Notch State Park that once appeared to be the profile of an old man. It may have at one time but it’s just an outcropping now.

We are staying tonight and tomorrow night at the Lafayette Campground in Franconia Notch State Park. We haven’t had many more bug bite. The black fly bites we each got yesterday are sufficient to remind us to be vigilant.

June 24th - Arcadia to Gorham, New Hampshire

We spent an hour getting the Roadtrek and ourselves ready to start traveling again. We enjoyed our 4 days exploring Arcadia National Park. It may not have live up to our unattainable expectations but we leave with memories of the natural beauty that is Acadia.

The Cole Transportation Museum in Bangor, Maine has an amazing collection of just about everything that has ever traveled over the roads and highways of Maine. Snowplows, fire truck, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, sleds, and many other things are all crammed into one large building. They even have a locomotive and a few railcars. I don’t think they have room to place another item in their collection without first expanding the building.

One reason Acadia may not have seemed special is Maine has beauty everywhere you look. Small lakes dot the countryside and around each lake are small picturesque towns. The people of Maine live as amphibians. Just as comfortable on land as they are in the water. Boats, canoes, kayaks, power boats big and small are everywhere. This relationship between lakes, towns and people isn’t more evident than on our drive along Route 2 from Augusta to Gorham, New Hampshire. With each turn of the road, a new lake and town appeared.

We spent the night at Moose Brook State Park in Gorham, New Hampshire. It’s a midsize campground with good facilities. The $23 price was a little higher that the $15 listed in the AAA camping guide. We are back in bug territory. This time they appear to be black flies. They are bigger than “no-see-ums” but have a bite that is just as nasty and itchy. At least the screens of the van keep them outside.

June 23rd – Down Day

Traveling is exhausting and we need to have a break every once and a while. Today is one of those days. We spent the morning preparing our itinerary for the next two weeks. Selecting the places we want to see, making sure we don’t drive too many miles each day, and choosing places we wish to stop for each night. The next two-week are going to be busy. We both are thankful we have a laptop and software for trip planning. It saves so much time and allows many alternatives to be evaluated.

The drizzle and light rain started early today and continued most of the day. The sun was only out for a few minutes. Even the wind picked up more than it had for the past few days. We selected our down day well.

Tomorrow, we turn west and start the forth and final leg of our trip. We have been traveling for almost 3-months and have covered 8521 miles according to the odometer. The GPS shows we’ve covered 8995 miles. Our readings on measured miles confirm that the odometer reads almost 5% low. I think the GPS reading is the most accurate.

June 22th – Great Cranberry Island

It’s a momentous day. No, better make that a stupendous day. I fixed a Spam Scramble for breakfast and Mary actually eat it. She cleaned her plate. Yes, Mary eat Spam.

We bought tickets for the 20-minute “Mail Boat and Ferry” to the Great Cranberry Island. The ferry provides the main commuter connection to the mainland for the residents of this island.

While waiting for the ferry, we watch a barge-auto-ferry unload and load its cargo. I could only hold one truck or two cars. We watch it make several trips throughout the day carrying everything for trucks, to boats on trailers, to cars.

Once onboard the ferry, we talked with a couple with their puppy that were spend the day on Little Cranberry Island, also served by this ferry.

Our day consisted of walking the two-mile long main road that stretches from the dock to the other end of the island. Many nice smaller and not so small houses lined both sides of the road. Most of the houses appeared to be vacant, probably vacation house. A few were definitely residents based upon the number of lobster traps stored in the front yards. It was nice to see a neighborhood where all the houses appeared to be well maintained and freshly painted.

A light drizzle started when we were halfway across the island. The skies have been threatening most of the morning. This appears to be the normal weather pattern around these parts. At least, it’s been that way for the past few days.

One interesting thing we noticed is that many cars and trucks on the island don’t have license plates. The owners just applied the annual tags to the area of the bumper that would have held license plates. Our guess is that this is the practice for vehicles that don’t leave the island.

We couldn’t find a restaurant for lunch. We settled for an ice cream from the little store near the dock. I had a snickers ice cream and Mary a Dove bar. Ice cream always tastes better when you are sitting at the shore.

The couple and their dog that went to Little Cranberry Island were on our return ferry. A local lady and her dog also joined us on the return trip. We later ran into the her working at the Pine Tree Market in Northeast Harbor.

June 21st - Acadia National Park

It was well after 6am before we started to move. The last night’s drizzle has stopped but the sky is overcast and threatening. We picked up a couple almond croissants when we stopped at Panera Bakery yesterday morning. There is nothing like an Almond Croissant for breakfast to put a little sunshine in your morning.

We are doing our driving tour of Acadia and the surrounding area today. Our first stop is Seal Harbor. This wasn’t a planned stop. We got lost trying to get to the visitors center and decide to continue into Seal Harbor. I can’t say much about it. It’s just a little seaport town with few attractive features.

The skies were clearing as we drove up to the top of Mount Cadillac. This is the highest peak in Acadia and also is the highest point along the entire eastern seaboard of the United States. It towers at a majestic 1530 feet above sea level. The 360-degree views over the surrounding ocean and islands are nice. We hiked up to the USGS benchmarks marking the top of the mountain. These are located across the road from the tourist area.

The staff at the Visitors’ center didn’t give us any new attractions to visit. They said we should basically do what we had planned to do. They also said most Californians are not very impressed by the Maine coast. This was a true statement. The east coast shore seems to be missing the interaction between the sea and rocky shore. The water just seems to slide against the rocks where the oceans of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington crash against the rocky shoreline.

We drove to Bar Harbor for an afternoon of walking, shopping, and lunch. Bar Harbor is a basic upper-class seaport tourist town with upscale art dealerships, a wide selection of hotels and trinket stores, and many restaurants. We selected the Parkside Restaurant for lunch and had very nice clam cake sandwiches served on a croissant with salad greens on the side. We also shared a cup of clam chowder.

We continued along the park loop drive to Sand Beach arriving shortly after the sun burned off the overcast. This is one of the few places in this area that has a sandy beach. Many people, including us, enjoyed the afternoon sunshine at this little stretch of beach.

June 20 – Freeport to Acadia National Park

Freeport, Maine is the home of L. L. Bean. After spending a little time walking around the downtown area, we both believe the town’s name should be changed to either Retailport or Outletport.

The town is filled with every imaginable retail or outlet store. My imagination is limited in that area but you can trust Mary’s. She said there are stores here that even she didn’t know about. Now that is an admission. Mary purchased a pair of shorts and a skirt and I resisted.

The drive along I-95 from Freeport to the route 3 turnoff near Bangor, Maine was some of the easiest driving we’ve done in a while. It was 65 mph all the way with few interchanges.

Route 3 was mostly 45 to 55 mph and passed thru numerous small town as it wound its way to Acadia. We stopped in Ellsworth for a soft-service ice cream due to our fears we would have to do without for the 5 days we will be staying in Acadia.

We arrived at the Blackwoods Campground around 3:30. A light mist was falling that grow heavier during the night. We had the half sandwiches we saved from yesterday’s lunch.

We were in bed by 6:30 pm. Neither one of us stirred until 6 am the next morning.

June 19 - Cape Cod to Freeport, ME

We left Cape Cod after spending 2 wonderful days exploring much of that area. We could have spent a couple more days just lying around the beach without growing too bored.

Once again, we are driving in the opposite direction of traffic. We aren’t sure what traffic forces are in action. Of course, we don’t mind watching traffic as long as we aren’t in the thick of it.

We had to stop at Pilgrim Rock. We could see why the pilgrims chose to land on this specific rock --- It was the only one with the correct date engraved on it.

The Mayflower II reconstruction is near to the rock. Although it was not open for tour at the time we arrived, it’s interesting to see the size of their boat.

We approached Boston during the morning commute on route 3. We had planned to circumvent the traffic by traveling around Boston along I-95 but the traffic started at least 10 miles before we reached our turnoff. It was stop and go but mostly stop for about 45-minutes. Traffic was still heavy as we connected to I-95 but at least it was more go than stop.

After a quick stop at a Panera Bakery to use the Internet, we crossed into New Hampshire. You have to be careful not to miss New Hampshire because there is only about 15-miles of road before we entered Maine. New Hampshire collect a $1 toll for that 15-miles. They sure know how collect from mostly out-of-state travelers.

We stopped in York for lunch and to do laundry. We found a nice little restaurant, Rick’s, in the same building as the Laundromat. I had a good meatball sandwich and Mary had a BLT while the laundry was churning in the machine.

The laundry owner scolded Mary for slamming a dryer door. He said, “if you slam that door again you will have to leave”. Not wanting to be stuck doing laundry alone, I opened and closed the drier doors from then on. Mary wasn’t a happy camper by this time. So, we left the laundry with a few cloths still a tad damp.

Mary decided that we should take highway 1 all the way to the Plymouth Lighthouse. The drive was exhausting. The speed limit kept changing from 25 to 35 then 40 and back to 25. Every corner had a cross walk that you have to watch for pedestrians --- they definitely have the right-of-way in these parts. We noticed when we were walking in York that the drivers would stop even when they thought we might cross a street. We were still standing on the sidewalk looking at a map but the drivers would stop just in case. Either the people are overly friendly or the cops overly enforce the law.

Our gas and propane was running low. We looked for a gas station that sold both in every little town we came across but no luck. I finally stopped at an off brand station --- lured by the $2.959 price. We had seen lower prices in Massachusetts. A little further on we stopped at a propane dealer and picked up 4-gallons of propane. They don’t usually sell that small of amount but they took the time to help us. Of course, just a few miles further up the road we found a gas station that also sold propane and their gas price was less than what we had paid.

We arrived at the Portland Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth a few minutes after it had closed. I don’t think we missed much except for a chance to buy a pin to add to Mary’s growing collection.

We camped at Winslow Memorial Park and Campground in Freeport, Maine. It a nice little campground on the coast that has hiking trails and great facilities. Our site is back a few rows from the shoreline but we have that wonderful smell of the ocean in our site. The bathrooms are ambidextrous or asexual. Each room has a toilet, sink, and shower. It’s almost like being at home. Showers are 25-cents for 3-minutes. Oh yes, there are mosquitoes. Mary stepped outside last night for a few seconds and got a bite on her hand. At least they aren’t as bad as the “no-see-ums”. We both still have bite marks from a week ago.

We discussed our travel options for the next few days and decided to go directly to Acadia Nation Park with only a few quick stops. We should arrive at the park by 3-pm Wednesday. Acadia is the third corner of our trip. We’ll stay there until Sunday or Monday before starting our westward leg home.

June 18th - Provincetown, MA

We spent the day at the north end of Cape Cod, in Provincetown, MA. One thing I’m thankful for is that this is still the off-season. I can’t imagine what it would be like to drive these narrow streets with the traffic that high season surely brings. Even with this level of traffic we were constantly dodging delivery truck, bikes, and pedestrians as we inched our way from the east to west end of Commercial Street.

The town is an interesting collection of tourist stores, restaurants, and bars. There doesn’t seem to be much else. It’s a great place to people watch while eating an ice cream. Some people were very colorful while others are as drab as the beach sand. There certainly was a mixture of sexual preferences openly displayed. It was like being back in California.

We walked the docks at the Provincetown marina. One side of the dock had several commercial fishing boat tied up. An assortment of charter fishing, whale watching, and cruise boats lined the other side.

The 253-foot tall Pilgrim Monument towered over the north tip of Cape Cod. It was visible from just about every place we stopped. This monument is dedicated to the pilgrims that arrived on the Mayflower and drafted the “Mayflower Compact” in 1620. It wasn’t until later that the pilgrims moved on to Plymouth and stumbled over that rock.

June 17 – Cape Cod

We left Christine and Phillip’s house this morning and drove up to Cape Cod. There was little traffic along I-95 and highway 6.

We stopped at the Cape Code visitors’ center at Salt Pond. The rangers were very helpful in their recommendations of things we could do but explained that the season hasn’t started yet so many of the ranger lead activities won’t start for a few weeks.

The Nauset Lighthouse is one of many located on Cape Cod. It is open for visitors in the afternoon but we decided not to wait for it to open.

Marconi beach is the site of a wireless station build by Marconi in 1901. From this location the first radio messages between the US and England were sent in 1903. This is also the station that maintained communications with the Titanic before she sank. There are only a few bits of concrete and wood left at the site.

We camped at the North of Highland campground located only a few miles from the tip of Cape Code. This is a private campground that is covered with trees that have trunks no larger than 6-inches in diameter. The number of trees make driving and parking at sites difficult. The sites are well spaced but are without hookups. Most spaces in the campground are empty. Of the few sites that have equipment, most are only used during the weekends and sit empty weekdays.

June 16 – Westport, MA

We spent last night at Horseneck State beach campground. It was a comfortable campground with good facilities. The sites are well spaced but lacking ground cover, they appear close together. The beach was covered with cobble size stones that made walking along the shore impossible.

We are visiting Christine and Philip today. Christine is one of a group of friends that hung out at commons during my years at college. Earlier in this trip, we visited Tomas and Joey, two other members of that gang.

We arrive at Christine and Phillip’s house just before 1pm and had lunch that included fresh salad greens picked from Phillip’s garden. After a tour of the area, we spend an hour relaxing on the beach near their house.

Before returning home, Phillip stopped at a local farm and picked rhubarb for a tart he planned to make after dinner.

We had a nice dinner at the Back Eddy restaurant. The place was packed even for a Saturday Night. The time waiting for our table passed quickly on the dock behind the building that we shared with about 50 others that were enjoying a nice evening out. I had scallops and Mary had the grilled salmon. Both dishes were prepared perfectly.

Back at home, Phillip baked his rhubarb-blueberry tart while we all sat outside enjoying an evening of conversation around a fire while watching the fireflies dance in the trees. The tart was as fantastic as was this day.

June 12-14 Belmont and Watertown, MA

One of the true pleasures of travel is spending time with friends that we haven’t seen in years. Jane and Camilla are two people we met on our Australia-New Zealand cruise many years ago and we only have a chance to see every 5 or 10 years. We keep up with email through the years but there is nothing like being together to share conversation and good food.

We spent three wonderful days talking, eating, and walking in the parks around their neighborhood. Of course, watching Red Sox games was mandatory. Bostonians do love their sox. I only wish we could have stayed one more day for the SF Giants arrived in town to play the sox on the day we left.

Driving in Boston is interesting. Most Boston drivers consider the highway laws to be just suggestions. We were lucky that Camilla did most of the driving. I don’t think I’d have lasted long driving the Roadtrek not knowing which laws are actually laws and which are suggestions. I sure one of the very plentiful police officers would be more than happy to give me an expensive lesson.

June 9th - 11th - Woodland Valley Public Campground.

I would have liked to call this the Catskills weekend but we are not venturing outside of the van except when absolutely necessary. This place is filled with “No-See-Ums”. Little tiny flies with pit-bull sized mouths that leave large raised welts everyplace they bite. And they seem to bite everyplace.

Mary and I are both covered with itchy red bit marks. Even the Benadryl Itch Relief Stick doesn’t provide very much relief from the itching. I went outside of a few minutes to cook Saturday night’s dinner and returned with 10 bites just on my right knee. Mary put on mesquite repellant only to be told by the park ranger that it seems to act more as an attractant than a repellant for these little guys.

We spent Sunday night cautioning each other against scratching the itch. For scratching just makes the itch worse. It will be nice to have this place behind us.

We decided if we ever have circumstances similar to this again, we either move on immediately or make a run for home.

June 8th - Hyde Park

This morning we stopped at the Kingston, NY Panera Bakery for breakfast and WiFi. Panera Bakeries are so easy to find along the east coast and they make a relatively good Almond Croissant.

We spent the day along the eastern bank of the Hudson River in Hyde Park, NY. This is the location of the Franklin D. Roosevelt home, Presidential Library, and Museum, and the Vanderbilt Manson.

The museum details FDR’s life from birth thru this four presidential terms. It is amazing how much he did in his life and the time he was in the White House. Many programs that changed the way America and Americans live, work, and retire all stated in his administration.

At the height of the depression, his administration brought disposable income to the people that needed it most and would use it for the basic needs of life. This is in marked contrast to several of the past administrations that given money to the rich in the belief they will allow it to “trickle down” to the poor. I guess trickle is the operative word here.

The FDR archives occupy the top floor of the FDR museum building. We didn’t enter that area.

The FDR childhood home is a relative basic mansion when contrasted with the Vanderbilt’s that is just a little farther up river.

Franklin, Eleanor, and their dog, Fila, graves are located in the rose garden.

The Vanderbilt Mansion is an interesting contrast to the Roosevelt home. Both are stately but the Vanderbilt definitely feels like a mansion with its marble facades, sweeping stairways, and grand rooms. It felt similar to a small scale Hearst Castle --- for those who have toured the Hearst Castle on the west coast.

The US Park Service tour guide said, “the only reason Vanderbilt could accrue his money and live in this style was because there was no income tax at that time”. I guess it had nothing to do with resourcefulness, entrepreneur spirit, and drive. It’s funny how Bill Gate and Warren Buffet managed in our time with income tax. I don’t like a two-bit tour guide telling the youth of today to forget about trying to get ahead.

We drove to the Woodland Valley Public Campground for three days of down time. This campground is located in the middle of the Catskills, away from just about everything including newspapers and TV.

June 7th – Steamtown to Rosendale, NY

We return to Steamtown to watch a coal fired steam locomotive in action. It was a sight out of history. The Clouds of smoke and steam accompanied by an unforgettable sound of steam power came from the 4-6-4 locomotive. This brought back memories of the steam locomotives I saw when I was a kid. Yes, I’m old enough to remember them. I can only imagine what the sight and sounds would have been if this were one of the big behemoths.

I created a couple of movies and placed them in a separate directory in Picasa.

Milford is a town advertised as a historic place. It was a disappointment.

We stopped at the Wal-Mart in Middletown, NY to get the oil changed in the Roadtrek and stock up on supplies for our 4-night stay in the Catskills.

We were planning to stay in the Catskills tonight and driving down to the Hudson River to tour the Franklin D. Roosevelt estate and Vanderbilt Mansion tomorrow but decide to stay the night nearer to the Hudson River tonight. The visitors’ center in New Paltz, NY gave us the names of a couple RV campground that weren’t too far away. We chose Creekview Campsites in Rosendale, NY. It’s a nice little place to overnight.

Tomorrow’s drive to the two estates will be much easier and I wont have to drive again for several days once we reach the Catskills tomorrow afternoon. We both are looking forward to having a few down-days where we can just relax.

I left the tracker off all day so there will be another hole in our track. This is the second time I’ve done that on this trip. Some of the other holes in the track are due to poor coverage of the APRS network.

June 6th – Scranton, PA

The temperature dropped below 50-degrees during the night. This is the first cold we’ve felt for more than a month. We have been warm enough even in the New York rain; Wet but comfortable.

It was a quick 1-hour drive from Dingmans Ferry campground to Scranton, PA along I-84.

Steamtown National Historic Site is dedicated to Steam trains and the facilities that made steam powered travel possible. All the locomotives in their collection are coal-powered steam with one exception. We have seen many train museums on this trip and we have a few more to visit but this one is unique because it not only has running coal-powered locomotives but also has actively operating repair and rebuilding facilities for steam locomotives.

One special treat is the ranger lead tour through the repair facilities where we saw two locomotives disassembled and in the process of being rebuilt by paid staff and volunteers. The sight of one of these monsters with its shroud of iron removed is something that everyone should see in order to truly understand what made these behemoths go and the labor required to keep them going.

In the display area, a full-size, once operating locomotive has been cut-away to clearly show how all the internal systems interacted. This one display is worth the trip to Steamtown.

All steam engines must have a mandatory periodic of checks, so Wednesday’s train runs are handled with a diesel-electric engine. That locomotive is the one exception in their collection. We will try to come back tomorrow to see the steam engine running.

The once active Scranton train depot has been converted into a Radisson Hotel. The waiting room is now Carmen’s Restaurant, where we had the lunchtime buffet. The meal was good but the real treat was spending time in this spectacular building.

The Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour is tourist gem that Scranton has to offer. Here, we climbed onboard a cable car and rode to a depth of 300-feet into the shafts of a once operating anthracite mine. The guides are primarily from coal mining families. They told stores about the conditions and suffering the old miners and their families lived through. The way the mine owners treated the workers is disgraceful and it’s even more disgraceful to think our government allowed the owners to continue that treatment for as long at they did – and possibly, still do.

We spent the night just outside of Scranton at the Lackawanna State Park campground. Our site has 50-amp electrical service and the facilities are clean and newly renovated. The price is a bargain at only $13 per night with our senior citizen’s discount. The regular $16 price would still have been a bargain. If I had the choice of being young or taking the discount, I would gladly pay the additional $3. Not many in my age group would chose otherwise.

June 5 – Delaware Water Gap

It’s time to leave the NYC area. We’ve done everything we had hoped to do with the exception of walking on the Brooklyn Bridge. Surprisingly, I think both of us would have liked to spend a few more days here. Liberty Marina RV Park made getting around so easy with its good connections into the New Jersey/New York City transit system.

We’ve changed our travel plans again. Steamtown in Scranton, PA is back on our itinerary. This is one place that has been off and on our list of places since we started planning this trip.

After a stop at a Panera bakery for breakfast and WiFi, we drove a couple of miles to the Campmor store in Paramus, NJ. We receive their catalog a few times each year and have purchased several camping items via mail order. It’s a larger store than either of us imagined. It looks like it has expanded several times over the years by buying out the neighboring stores and cutting a doorway into the wall. They have a good assortment of merchandise at fairly good prices. We resisted a few temptations.

Our drive on I-80 was quick but tiring. We stopped at the Pennsylvania Visitors’ center located near the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The staff talked us into visiting the area and gave directions to a local Federal campground at Dingmans ferry. We decided not to stop at any of the recommended attractions and instead, drove directly to the campground and took much needed naps. Not directly, a stop at the local Dairy Queen was necessary.

June 4th – Manhattan

We relaxed over breakfast this morning to let all the working people get to the office before setting off on today’s adventure. The rain that started yesterday afternoon continues heavy at times. The weatherman said this is the remains of Tropical Storm Berry than has been moving up the east coast for several days.

A ferry runs from the Liberty Harbor Marine to Pier 11 every 30-minutes during the morning and afternoon hours. This $5.50 took us directly to the southern end of Manhattan.

We only had to walk a few block from pier11 to the Staten Island Ferry building. This free 30-minute ferry runs between Southern Manhattan and Staten Island. I’ve seen this ferry in so many old movies that it was on my ‘A-list’. Barbara Straisand even performed a video from its deck. Barbara’s parade may not have been rained upon but ours sure was. We had to ride inside for the entire round trip.

Back in Manhattan, we walked up to the financial district. With the rain still falling heavily, I was able to stand next to the Wall Street Bull.

We decided to walk up to Little Italy for lunch. After a few block we were drenched even though we had an umbrella and rain jackets. We stumbled upon the old Federal Hall national monument and decided it was an opportunity to get out of the rain. Federal hall was the first capital building. George Washington took his first oath of office and the senate met in this building for many years. I also found that the electric hand dryers in this building’s bathrooms are wonderful coat dryers. Just a few minutes of hot air down each jacket sleeve produced fantastic results.

The rain was starting to let up a little by the time our jackets were nearly dry, so we continued our trek to Little Italy. The Pomodoro restaurant had fairly good pizza and really bad coffee. The rain finally stopped by the time lunch our lunch was finished. We started our return to catch an afternoon ferry.

We walked past several bakeries and pastry shop on our return walk but we couldn’t walk past Eileen’s Special Cheese Cake without stopping. This is simply the best New York style cheesecake. They sell small cheesecake tarts that are about 3-inches in diameter. How could we say no? Mine had the raspberry topping and Mary the Blueberry. We were surely in cheesecake heaven by the time we walked out the door.

We made one last stop at an Au Bon Pain pastry stop for a few treat for our return ferry ride. The Cream de Flour, a delightful blending of buttery dough and pastry cream, didn’t make it aboard the ferry.

June 3 – Ellis and Liberty Islands

This day started early or more correctly, the prior night never ended. Seems there was some big event nearby and the area just outside the Liberty Harbor RV Park was used for parking. One or two cars kept their music going until almost 2:30am when the event ended and celebration started moving into the parking lot.

The police arrived at about the same time with lights flashing and sirens adding to the musical rhapsody. The police would drive from group to group looking for intoxicated individuals. The patty-wagon arrived about 20-minutes later to provide “alternative” transportation for those selected few.

Quiet once again returned to the RV Park at 3:24 am.

We are up, dressed, and had breakfast by 7am so we can catch the light rail. Our goal is to get two of the limited tickets to tour the inside of the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Park in New Jersey is only two stops from our station. It’s a little farther than we thought we wanted to walk given all the walking we expect to do today.

The light rail dropped us off at one side of Liberty Park and the ferry to Ellis and Liberty islands is on the other side. It was a brisk 20-minute walk for us but the weather and temperature was perfect this morning and we enjoy walking.

The ferry terminal is an old train/ferry terminal that has been partially restored to service as an entry point to the Liberty and Ellis Islands. We were able to get tickets for the Statue base tour. Tours into the statue itself are no longer available at any time.

We made the required pass through the metal detector security point before boarding the ferry. Our Statue of Liberty tour was for the hours between 8:45 and 12:45, so we chose to tour her first.

We had to pass through a more complex security check in order to enter the statue base. This consisted of a GE-Entry II explosive detector followed by a metal detector. The tour starts at the Liberty museum where structure, construction timeline, finances, key persons, and construction methods are presented.

You can choose to climb the 156 stairs to the observation deck or ride an elevator. We choose to take the stairs. That may make up for the ice cream we eat at Coney Island yesterday.

The observation deck provides great views of the New York skyline, the bay, and all the boats and ferries running across the water. We watched the Staten Island ferry make several runs… we want to ride that tomorrow. You also get several unique upward views of the statue from the observation deck. Before we descended the stairway to ground level, two openings under the statue provide views of the internal structure.

Our next stop was Ellis Island. This was the primary entry point into the United States during the period of the great migration. My mother’s parents came from Italy during this period. One interesting thing we found was only steerage (or third class) passengers entered thru Ellis Island. First and second passengers were discharged at the New York docks before the boats continued to Ellis Island to discharge the remaining passengers. Again, money has its privileges.

All the ship manifests have been computerized and search facilities are available at the Family History center on Ellis Island and on the Internet. We spent a half-hours searching the computer archives for my grandfather’s records but couldn’t find a match. I may continue this search when we get home.

We retraced our path back to the Liberty Harbor RV Park and we both took a nap before dinner.

June 2 – Coney Island

We left our Flying J camping spot this morning and traveled along the New Jersey Turnpike. The smog along the east coast cities has been unbelievable. I grow up in Los Angeles, once the smog capital of the world, and I can’t remember many days with as much smog as we’ve seen in Baltimore, Washington DC, and New Jersey.

We are staying at the Liberty Harbor Marine and RV Park in Jersey City, NJ, where you can see the Statue of Liberty across the harbor. It’s basically a gravel lot with water and electricity at each $60 per night site but as the saying goes, “Location, Location, Location”. There isn’t an alternative if you want to see New York without having to drive. Light rail and PATH stations are within walking distance.

We took the New Jersey Light rail to the Exchange Station, where we connected to the PATH for a ride to the 33rd street station. From there, we connected to the ‘D’ New York subway to reach Coney Island. At times I felt like a mouse running through a maze looking for a piece of cheese. The trip took about 2-hours because of a couple mistakes but it went rather smoothly. Coney Island is a fun place to spend a Saturday afternoon. Happy families were visible everywhere. This wasn’t the case in many of the parts of New York we saw getting here.

Our first stop was the Cyclone roller coaster. I’ve heard about and seen pictures of the cyclone for most of my life and had to ride it at least once. I’m beginning to believe that old bodies and old roller coaster don’t go well together. The fare is $6 and it has to be one of the most jarring and rough coasters I’ve ever been on. I tried to take pictures during the ride but discovered that it’s impossible to aim a camera while holding on for dear life with both hands. You can get a second ride for only $4 but Mary and I independently decided that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Our second stop was the Original Nathan’s Hot Dogs. This is a real gourmet treat when served with grilled onions. We each had one but I’m sure I could have eaten several more.

A walk on the boardwalk was our next treat. We walked by the old parachute ride and after seeing how high that structure is, I’m kind of glad it was no longer in operation. At least this way, I didn’t have to think up some lame excuse for not riding.

No trip to Coney Island would be complete without ice cream. That may not a universally accepted truth but many of the people at Coney Island believe in it this day. We both had soft-serve ice cream cones with sprinkles. The trick is to figure out how to eat one before they melt over you hand.

Our return trip followed much the same route without the mistakes. We took the ‘N’ subway to the 34th street station where we connected to the PATH. PATH took us to Newport station and our connection to the New Jersey Light Rail. We arrived back at the Roadtrek around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Neither of us had the energy to go out for dinner, even if we know where to go, so we settled on a few California Rolls sushi. The bed is going to feel good tonight.

June 1st – Baltimore, MD

We had a comfortable night at the Gosnolds Hope Park in Hampton, VA.

We drove up I-95. Skirting past Richmond on I-295, and rejoined I-95 for a trip right through Washington, DC. We could have bypassed DC also be decided that we wanted to look at a few of the old buildings. We didn’t stop on this trip since we had spent a week there several years ago. That city hasn’t changed except for a few of the residents.

The smog became unbelievably thick just before reaching Washington, DC and continued that way throughout the day. How can a society live in conditions like this? And why isn’t anyone doing anything about it? Of course, that’s a hard question to ask when we are consuming our share of gasoline and contributing to the air pollution.

Baltimore is a strange town. It has obvious area of urban decay and disadvantaged people. But, the waterfront has gone through a rebuilding that is unbelievable. We were drawn to the waterfront to see the USS Constitution and regretted not allocating the entire day to the waterfront area. My only caution is to research parking in the waterfront area. We paid $14 for 2-hours to park the Roadtrek. Our choices were limited due because its almost 9-foot height just won’t fit inside most parking structures.

We did rush our tour of the Constitution so we could spend a few minutes on a retired Coast Guard cutter that has been converted to a museum. We didn’t have time to tour the submarine, lighthouse, and several other things we would have visited if we had the time. We spent a little time running along the great brick walkways that stretch the length of the revitalized waterfront.

Our next stop and the reason we left the waterfront so early, was to maximize our time at the B&O railroad museum. And that decision was a good one. This museum is one of the best railroad museums we ever had the pleasure to visit. The number and quality of trains rivals and may exceed the Sacramento Railroad Museum. The engines cover a wide range of years and include coal, oil, and diesel-electric models. The sizes range from a reconstructed model of “Tom Thumb” to a few engines that are too large to fit into their roundhouse. We stayed until the museum closed and I think we managed to see everything. This is a place that should be visited by all railroad buffs.

We spent the night at a Flying J on I-95 that is just inside New Jersey. There, we filled the gas tank and topped off our propane before settling in for the night.

May 31 – Wright Brothers Monument

Sadly, we have to leave the Outer Bank today. We could have stayed several more days just walking along the beach in the mornings and relaxing in the afternoon. But our time is short and we feel we’ve provided sufficient nourishment for the local mosquitoes. Actually, we aren’t sure if all our bites are due to mosquitoes or some other critters. All we know is the bites form large welts and itch like the devil.

Our only tourist stop today is the Wright Brothers monument at Kitty Hawk on the outer bank. The National Park service has done a fairly good job of caring for the site. A large stone marks the point where the first flight left the ground and markers show the termination points for the first four flights. It’s very moving to be able to walk on this site that has brought so much change to our world.

Mary and I both enjoyed the sculpture in a field behind the Wright Brother memorial. It depicts the men and machine on the day of the first flight. You can walk around the men and even climb onboard the airplane.

The presentations and programs put on by the park service didn’t say enough about Wilbur and Orville sacrifices, skills, and creative genius.

We stopped at the Norfolk, VA Costco for gas and to replenish our supplies. The day ended at the Gosnolds Hope Park in Hampton, VA. This is same park we stayed at before heading into the Outer Bank just a few days ago. I guess we just can’t resist that $10.40 bargain.

May 30 – Orcacoke Island

We walked from our camp to the beach this sunny morning. There is nothing like a morning walk on the beach to make everything right with the world.

We decided to take the ferry to Orcacake Island today. Since this 40-minute ferry ride is free, what can we loose?

Orcacoke Island is definitely a tourist spot. Multi-story Condos and apartment cover just about every inch of buildable space. Most are new and empty. We continue to be surprised by the lack of RV travelers. The campgrounds throughout the area remain empty or nearly so.

At the end of the island is Orcacoke village. Again, tourism is industry one. We looked at the lighthouse and looked around a few of the shops.

We had lunch at Flying Melon restaurant in the village. The Crab – Corn Chowder was outstanding but the Crab Cake sandwich not prepared properly. We sent it back but the second one wasn’t much better.

The ferry ride back to Hatteras was uneventful. It was interesting watching the GPS track out in the bay.