Sunday, October 27, 2013

What a trip!

Well, this trip is just about finished.  We spent last night in Oklahoma City and today we drove to Amarillo where we will spend the next two nights before continuing on home to New Mexico.  
Back in Amarillo it was another beautiful evening. 

We put about 8000 miles on our rig, so it needs an oil change. After towing the trailer through the Adirondack, Appalachian, Great Smoky and Ozark Mountains, it needs new brake pads as well.  So, Monday morning is going to be spent at the Ford dealership.  Tuesday morning is scheduled to be spent at the KZ dealer for a new awning to be installed.  During a rain shower we discovered that the awning had received some hail damage during last spring's hail storm in Amarillo. 

View of Lake Ontario from Four Mile Creek Campground. 

All in all it was a fantastic trip.  Some long days of driving, to be sure, but some great memories.  We saw how RVs are built and had ours repaired.  

Building RVs from the ground up. 

We saw three of the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and Boston, the birthplace of American independance.  We walked in the footsteps the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock; of Paul Revere, John Hancock, Sam Adams and countless other patriots.  
Site of the Boston Massacre which helped start the American Revolution. 

We saw the eastern US mountain ranges, Chesapeake Bay, the fall foliage that New England is famous for, and of course our kids and grand kids.  



We drove miles down the Eastern Seaboard on US 1. We enjoyed lobster in Portland, Maine, Lienenkugel beer in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, St. Julian wine in Paw Paw, Michigan, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Green Mountain coffee and maple syrup in Vermont. In Amish country we bought Gugisberg cheese in rural Indiana and farm fresh vegetables from the flea market in Shipshewana.  In Upstate New York we bought apples from a roadside fruit stand operated by an immigrant who barely spoke English, but was proud just to be here.  We visited L.L. Bean's Flagship Store, Outlet Store and Home Store as well as other outlet stores in Freeport, Maine.

We spent nights in private campgrounds, state parks and parking lots. We spent some nights at various Cabela's stores and some at Cracker Barrel restaurants.
Dawn at Cabela's. 

Staying at Cracker Barrel usually resulted in letting them prepare breakfast for us the following morning.  Almost every breakfast they prepare includes grits and I came to the realization that I still don't understand grits. Where do they come from and what are they for?  They must have been invented by someone who was really, really hungry and had nothing else to eat.

We decided that our next trip might last as long as this one, but it would entail less driving and more camping. The only place where we spent more that 3 nights was in Shipshewana and that was because we were having repairs made first and attending the owner's rally later.  


We made some new friends along the way and look forward to meeting up with them somewhere down the road.



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