September 16, 2009

We gingerly backed out of our spot, early, this rainy morning, and continued north, through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and stopped at Exit #1 in Pennsylvania.

We feel quite confident about our signal communications: I stand on the left rear of the motor home, backing up on foot as he backs up the 35,000 lb. vehicle. I use hand/arm signals so he knows when to veer left, right, straight back, or stop. He does not move one inch unless he sees me in the rear view mirror. I watch for ruts, rocks, tree branches, low wires, and other motor homes, as Tom works his way out of some tricky situations. Only once did we injure someone’s motor home – a rear-view mirror was snapped off. Oh, and then Tom scraped our tail light off, on a metal pillar. And then there was the time he “wrapped” the motor home around a tree and scraped the graphic off the side. I was there each time, so I am not blameless.

Back to our trip - Tom and I both have observed that Tennessee has the absolutely most friendliest folks (sorry ‘bout the grammar ya’ll). Both of us have been waited on by helpful, pleasant servers everywhere in Tennessee. This has been our experience every time we’ve been in this state.

Virginia – the interstate scenery here is beautiful! Years ago, when Tom first drove through the state, he remarked that in Virginia, every hill has a “purpose.” This time, I decided to test that theory. Here are the results: every hill had something on it – a barn, a house, a truck, a flag, a tree, a grove of trees, a tobacco crop. Those were more common; least common was a prison, and a scarecrow.

Tom set the tomtom to make a noise whenever we approach a gas station. So the monotony of interstate driving is now broken with “Bonnnnng….CUCKoo,” at most exits.

Another free overnight – we are in a parking lot across from an RV center in Pennsyvania. Hope you stay with us – the adventures will soon begin, but first, we have to put these 2500 miles behind us.

(440 miles)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

So, we traversed Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York,  Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and into Maine, where we stopped at Freeport, ME, in the L. L. Bean parking lot where motor homes may overnight. We LOVE free overnight camping. Even though we don’t have electricity or other services (this is known as “dry camping”), we do have a generator, so if we are careful, we can watch T.V., turn on lights, and plug in our computers. The four nights we’ve been gone, we’ve spent a total of $12.50 on overnight fees.

L. L. Bean is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They don’t have locks on their doors! We are anxious to see our Max and his parents, but we really need several hours of sleep, some “down time,” and a little tour through the Bean shops before we head towards Kents Hill tomorrow. Tom drove 12 hours today and is exhausted. We’ve been constantly on the road since Monday morning, and have driven 2000 miles. And motor home driving is definitely more stressful than driving in the Hyundai, or the Jeep. But…………….we are looking forward so much to tomorrow and seeing MAX, Christelle, and Brian.

(578 miles)