Hiking Around Jordan's Pond

This is our second trip to Downeast Maine.  Six years ago we were here over the 4th of July weekend.  It was busy then, but not as busy as it is now.  Despite the crowds we have had a great time the last few days.

We are camped at Forest Ridge Campground in Ellsworth, ME which is about 15 miles from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  One great thing about this lifestyle is seeing friends and meeting new ones.  On Saturday we took a short drive to Orrington, ME which is outside of Bangor.  We arrived at Rick and Barbara's place for a gourmet lunch (Menu - Asian spring roll, cole slaw, corn on the cob, chix lobster) and some catching up time.

Rick and I were in the same unit (Constant Watch PMO) back in the 1980's when we were stationed in Hawaii.  He relocated back here and he and Barbara finished their careers here.  It was great to be able to meet up with them again and enjoy their hospitality.

Earlier in the week, blog readers Randy and Pat, let us know they were camped near us and we got together on Sunday.  We met for the first time at this beautiful church

then went to lunch.  The time passed quickly at Finn's Irish Pub in Ellsworth.  I think we all had fish sandwiches which worked out well.

It was fun hearing about their 18 months on the road and learning of their three kids and what they are up to.  Randy and Pat are from Indiana but moved to Christiansburg VA where they retired and became full-timers.  Check out their blog:  click here

We got together again for some hiking in Acadia National Park around Jordan's Pond.  We drove over to the Visitor Center and took the free (LL Bean supported) bus to Jordan's Pond.

It was misting a little bit and we waited for the rain to let up.  Pam was the only one with a rain coat so the rest of us got a $1 poncho before we started out.

We took the counter clock-wise route and it was a beautiful hike.

 Pat noticed some beautiful tree growth through some rocks.

 We also saw some evidence of beavers at work.

The trail was the busiest hiking we had done in quite a while.  But with the steady stream of traffic, we were able to have a fellow hiker take our picture.

In the distance are the Bubbles.  The North Bubble (left) is 872' and the South (right) is 766'.  We passed near them at the far end of the pond.  At the end of the far end is this cool footbridge.

The first half of the hike took us to the far end of the pond.  On the return, we entered into a more difficult rocky area.

Though I didn't take any pictures, the rocks were part of the actual trail and we slowly hiked a couple hundred yards over them. They were flat and it was it was an easy hike.

Then we traveled along the board trail area.  This portion seemed to go on forever.  It was probably about 1/2 a mile but it required your complete attention.  I was concerned the split logs would be slippery with the light rain but it was not an issue.

Toward the end of the hike, we paused for about 20 minutes and had our picnic lunch off the trail near some rocks.

When we finished, we visited the gift shop again and then boarded the bus for the return trip to the Visitor Center.

 The hike around Jordan Pond is almost a 'must do' while at Acadia National Park.  And it was great spending time with our new friends Randy and Pat.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Time at Oak Haven Family Campground in Wales, MA

A typical day is usually different at each campground where we stay.  Our last stop was at Oak Haven Family Campground.

We picked this campground because it seemed to be about halfway between Hartford, CN and Providence, RI.  Our goal was to visit those two state capitols and we were able to do that.

 We arrived on a Thursday afternoon, checked into the campground.  We had reserved a site with 50 amp service but there was a good chance we would not be able to get a satellite TV reception from there, so we opted for a site that was open.  They put us in a corner spot along the back row.

We had to maneuver around a large 5th wheel to get back there, but we had already unhooked the car and found a level spot and made sure our satellite dish worked.  It did.

We had no sewer but there is a dump station at the campground. We are one 30 amp electric this time.  We opted for an open spot in the campground and had to manage how many big energy items we turned on at once.  For example, we can turn on the TV and microwave. But if we don't turn off the a/c, we get very close to popping the pedestal circuit breaker.  It's something we do to make sure things run OK.  If we don't, we have to turn something off and go out and reset the pedestal circuit but turning the switch on/off.

Once we were settled in, drove into Hartford and saw that state capitol.  It took us about 90 minutes to get there.  After the self-guided tour, we realized that the Mark Twain Museum was a few blocks away and we also did a quick visit to that museum.

By that time, it was a little after 5:00 PM and we found a Chinese place for dinner.  It was a little 'hole in the wall' in a not-to-great neighborhood, but the food was terrific.  We had beef and broccoli fried rice, sweet and sour pork, egg rolls and a fortune cookie.  Dang!  I just realized we forgot what happened to the fortune cookie... oh well.  There was so much food in those two orders, we had a complete dinner of left-overs a couple of days later.

That night we noticed there were a few more rigs showing up and the place was starting to get more busy.  Not real crowded but we were about the only ones in the area where we were parked.  They have 3 or 4 areas of this big campground and we were in the area known as 'Snob Hill'.  Funny.  Hard to know what prompted that name.  Maybe it was because we were the closest to the small pavilion and pool and office.  But being on 30 amp in a grass field didn't seem like it was all that noteworthy.

After dinner, I found the dump station, trash dumpster and laundry facility.  The dump station looked easy enough to get into with plenty of room.  Nothing tricky about that.  30 yards away the dumpsters had permanent stairs between two.  The laundry facility was small but looked clean and orderly.  It was $1.50 and $2.00 for the washer/dryer. There was also a lending library with a bookcase full.

The campground was well maintained.  One thing I look for is if the grass is mowed.  I was surprised to see they hire someone to do that.  They also hanging flower baskets all around near the check-in office.  The office itself was roomy enough for a well-stocked camp store.  Next to it was a good sized swimming pool. It was a quiet evening of reading and TV.

Friday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast of cold cereal, bacon, coffee and orange juice.  We took showers and enjoyed some time together before we left for Providence RI a little after 9:00 AM.  We are in Wales, MA.  It is a small town and we have to drive 15-20 minutes to get to the interstate.

We left a little after 9:00 AM and drove through town over to I-84 and took it into Providence to see our second state capitol in two days.  We were able to drive right up to the building and park on the street which made for an easy walk.  The parking meters coin/iPhone app enabled if that makes sense.  It took me about 5 minutes to download the parking app and register, plus in our license plate number, and pay $2.50 for our spot for two hours.

When we finished up our time in the building, we didn't see any parks real close to us, so we had our picnic lunch in the car.  Pam makes the best lunches.  A simple turkey/cheese sandwich on wheat with some chips, veggies (celery and carrot sticks, radishes and some bell pepper slivers).  Before we left town, I saw that we were about 30 minutes from a Naval site and we drove over to it.

Turned out the map was wrong, no navy base although we did see some Coast Guard boats.  The was more like an old industrial area and a large ship maintenance area of some sort.  There was a large series of General Dynamics (Electric Boat) warehouses and at the end of the road was the ferry to Martha's Vineyard.  Interesting.  We also saw an old Air Force One jumbo jet static display.  It looked like it was open for tours occasionally but not very often.  Small area that looks like it had seen a more active time.

By now it was past 2:00 PM and we had 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get back to the campground so we left and made it back to Oak Haven.  After our return, I sorted through our brochures and information sheets and did some blog writing.

Something was going on in the pavilion next to our campsite and I found out it was a family reunion. About 80 folks from all over converged on that area of the campground for the afternoon. They were having a good time and had about three or four things going on it seemed.  Inside (the pavilion was a covered area with a wall on one side and three open access sides) they were playing music and eating and drinking.  In the field next to them I saw potato sack races and a tug-of-war for the kids.  Up near the pool a few teams were playing horseshoes.  This place is perfect for families.  It was a fun and well-behaved group.

It was another beautiful (and hot) New England day and I went over to the pool to do some more writing.  Since the campground office was only a few yards from there, I stopped in to talk with the  campground managers.  It seems as if we were now boxed in at our site with no access.  We were leaving the following morning and wanted to be sure we could get out of our campsite.  We were directly behind a 5th wheel in front of us.  He would have to move his picnic table and truck for us to get out.

When we arrived the previous day, we pulled into our site and turned around from the other side of the 5th wheel in front of us.  But at that time, the area was mostly empty and wide open.  Now however,  people were arriving for the weekend and they parked three rigs next to the guy in front of us.  Those rigs did not unhook their tow vehicles and they extended well into the row we were on.

Checkmate.
Nowhere to move.

The front office assured us those folks were leaving early the next morning.  We didn't know what early morning meant to them, but for us it was about 8:00 AM or earlier.  They said, they'd speak to the campers and make sure we could leave when we wanted to.

Then, it was on to the pool.  I snuck in a little nap and then found my iPad did not like the direct sunlight.  The error message said, "Hot!" turn off and reduce the temperature.  That solved that for now.

I talked with the woman next to me.  Her husband and her, along with their two kids, had been coming to the family campground for years.  It was a summer get-a-way for them and they had a seasonal site.  Turns out I before I went swimming I paused at the horseshoe pits and watched the competition for a while.  I used to pitch horseshoes back in the day so that was fun.  The lady's oldest had just graduated from the American Institute of Culinary Arts near Hyde Park.  Their daughter was a new high school graduate and already had a job.

She mentioned there was going to be a "Taste of Oak Haven" food competition going on later in the evening in the pavilion.  It started at 7:00 PM.  People who entered the contest brought their favorite food.  For a quarter, you get a sample of their food in a little cup about the size of a cup cake wrapper.
Nice people. I thought I might have to try it and see what people were serving.

It was getting to be a little after 5 o'clock so I left and returned to the Roadrunner.  Pam had put a roast in the crock pot so we had that for dinner.  We watched some news and then baseball.  Meanwhile at the pavilion I could see the mass of people there for the reunion were packing up and leaving.  They cleared out the place in plenty of time for a different group who were participating in the Taste of "Oak Haven".

At about 20 minutes after 7:00 PM I took my four quarters and participated in the "Taste of Oak Haven".  I almost gave myself indigestion because of poor planning.  I just stopped at couple of dishes that looked good and almost had indigestion.  Some dishes did not mix that well.  My first choice was "Lava Rock brownies".  Rich and fluffy, with a shot of whipped cream on top, it was worth my $.25.  Next, I sampled a large smoked meatball wrapped in bacon. As I was eyeing my next taste, Kristi (from the pool) saw me and took me over to meet her husband and kids.  Their son the chef had an Asian mushroom beansprout mix that was great.  Their daughter had a simple blueberry cheesecake.  Yikes!  I was sooo full!   It was fun to meet the rest of her family and to try out some of other Tastes of Oak Haven.

When I returned to our site, I met the owner of the 5th wheel parked in front of us.  We chatted for about 30 minutes.  It was fun to hear his story.  They had been on the road in their new rig and returning from time in Montana.  They were headed back to Maine.  He was more than glad to move his truck and the picnic table.

Yesterday morning we got up our normal time yesterday morning, cleaned up, packed up and saw we had a clear path to exit.  We moved around the 5th wheel in front of us at about 7:30 AM.  We made our way to the dump station, emptied our tanks, hooked up the tow car.  By 8:15 AM we were on the road headed for 4th Cliff Military Campground in Humarock, MA.

Our time at Oak Haven Family Campground was another typical good park and memorable few days.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

If you haven't left a comment in a while, feel free to do so - its always great to know you are out there!  Thanks!

Camping Our Way From Virginia to NY - Summer 2018

Thought I'd give an update of where we've been over the last few weeks.  We are now on our 'Summer 2018 Trip' to the Northeast.

Malek Visitor's Center, USMA, West Point

We're currently at the military campground at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
On the map below, our location would be at the northernmost point (F). We were here six years ago.  The campground hasn't changed much but the Visitor's Center at the USMA is brand new.  More on that and some of what we've been seeing.

We stayed in Virginia Beach all of May and most of June.  

Sea Mist RV Campground, Virginia Beach, VA

The last day of June, we made a quick trip

Rest Stop Along the Way

to South Carolina for some annual motorhome maintenance

Cross Country RV Park, Denver, SC

and got to see D and Jackie in Lincolnton, NC and Cindy in SC.  We headed back to the Virginia Beach area for a couple of weeks near Williamsburg, VA.   Our first stint for a few days was in Newport News.

 Newport News City Campground, Newport News, VA

King's River Campground, Cheatham Annex, Williamsburg, VA

There we got to see Bill and Kris and spend more time with Kelly, Jon and the grandkids.  Before we left we spent some time with Jon's parents (Diane and Marty), up from Augusta GA for a few days,

We drove a long day after departing Williamsburg and made it to out reserved site at Mountain Springs RV Resort just north of Shartlesburg, PA off I-78.

 Mountain Springs RV Resort

We hit the rains the whole way from Virginia Beach, but it hasn't been too bad.  They have been a series of hard rains, light rains and then now rain.  It hasn't been a constant downpour.  We carry an umbrella and wear rain gear and have kept dry.

Round Pond Campground, USMA, West Point

We snagged this site which is pretty level.  We are glad to be able to get satellite TV.  The internet and cell phone reception is sketchy at best.  I'm posting this from Starbucks at West Point which has great Wi-Fi.

We've seen a lot here and along the Hudson River Valley.  Over the last few days here, we re-visited the USMA Museum which is outstanding.  We also took another windshield tour around the premises and got some great views of the Hudson River.

Earlier we took a day trip over the Hyde Park (FDR home, Presidential Library and Museum), Val-Kill (Eleanor Roosevelt's Retreat) and the Vanderbilt Mansion.  Earlier today we made the two-hour drive to see Martin Van Buren's home in Kinderbrook.  We'll be telling those stories about our times there in the coming weeks.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Overnight at Monahans Sandhills State Park with Mr. T

Pam found a Texas State Park along our route from Aledo Texas (near Fort Worth) to Benson Arizona.

It was too far to drive in one day.  In fact we divided it up into a more comfortable three days and made a reservation at Monahans Sandhill State Park.  It reminded me a little of White Sands National Monument but on a smaller scale.

We haven't stayed in too many Texas State Parks over the years but we were glad to find this one.
The entrance provided for easy access off I-10 was a well designed with the ranch sign over the road.

The Visitor Center where we registered had an area out back that led to a desert trail that looked inviting.

 Inside they had a display and history center that included information on the expansion of the Texas and Pacific Railway through southern Texas in the 1880s.  A surveyor for the railroad, John Monahan was dispatched to find water for the workers laying the tracks in that area.  He found water and workers congregated there, eventually establishing businesses and the small town.

 In 1926, oil was found in the area and the boom began!  As we concluded our quick tour of the displays, we were met by Park Ranger Arturo T.  He said, "You probably won't remember my last name, folks here call me Mr. T."

 Mr. T. told us the area was in the midst of another oil boom and the area had grown to over 30,000 people and was likely to reach the high of a few years ago of 60,000 population.  Interesting.
He also said the State Park had to sift through potential guests wanting to stay in the campground because a lot of the oil workers ask to stay at the park.  Instead, many workers end up staying in over-priced RV parks that have sprung up all over for miles around.

One thing we will remember about Monahans is the oil boom that IS occurring in the area.  Miles and miles of oil related businesses near Odessa, Midland and Monahans as well as all the 'pump jacks' (what we just called oil wells) dotting the horizon.

Turns out Mr. T. is from Roswell NM and we are within a few years age-wise.  I asked if he knew the legendary LPGA golfer Nancy Lopez who was from NM.  He said, "Believe it or not, my Father-In-Law was best friends with Nancy Lopez' father".  How about that?

We moved on and found our campsite in the midst of the mounds of sand dunes.  What an anomoly in the middle of the country side.

 If you notice, we decided not to open the front DS slide.  I was just a little too close to the campground road for my liking so we didn't do that.  Ended up being fine for a one night stay.

 This is a photo (above) of our spot next to the sand dunes.

We got our walking sticks and walked about a quarter of a mile up to the top and looked around.  It was beautiful.

 We loved our unique spot in the middle of west Texas.  I hand no idea there was a few square miles of real sand dunes out here.  It was beautiful.

And so was the sunrise next morning from our site.

 On the way out we had to wait a few minutes for a very long trail to pass and we had time to take another photo of the visitor center from the entrance road.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Back In the Saddle - Traveling Again

The short story is we left Virginia Beach early Tuesday morning and headed down I-95.  We put in a pretty good day and camped overnight just off I-95 in Florence SC.

From there we drove to Lake City FL for another overnight stay.  Then we had a short drive over to Eglin AFB where we are presently camped at Postl Point military campground- one of our favorite places.

Tonight we are scheduled to have dinner with long time friend Karin.

The longer version goes like this.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to leave Virginia Beach on our planned departure the day after Christmas.  Pam has been fighting the crud for about three weeks on and off.  In the middle of that she developed pink eye that moved to both eyes.

After treatment of pink eye, it cleared up and she worked through the ups and downs of flu-like stuff that ended up being a sinus infection.  Some days were better that others and we decided to go to Urgent Care to start some antibiotics. The antibiotics appear to be working and she's feeling much better.  I've had a touch of something but think I'm now over it and pretty much back to normal.

We were glad to feel well and get up early and pull out on Tuesday.  Early -- as in we got up just after 5:30 am and had breakfast and started packing up.  I had done most of it the night before so there wasn't much to do emptied the sewer hose, turned off the water hose and packed it, and unplugged the power cord.  In all it took us about 15 minutes to also get the slides in and the car hooked up.

On Monday, we had turned on the diesel Engine Pre-Heat button and the Roadrunner had no problem cranking up.  The HWH hydraulic jacks control box near the driver seat was beeping its head off indicating the jacks were up.  But the truth was, two jacks were just about an inch off the ground without any action on our part.  Not sure what that was about.  I spray the jack shafts with WD-40 periodically, especially after sitting for three months.  I did that a few days ago.  The treatments prevents the jacks from sticking when they retract.

The Driver Side bedroom slide did not go all the way in when Pam pressed the button to retract.  Pam pushed the slide out and retracted it again to make a good seal.  Checking how well the slides retract is part of our walk around checklist.

When I got in the driver seat and start to pull out of the site, I noticed one of the headlight beams was brighter than the other.  I put it in Park and went outside to investigate, finding one of the two main lights on the DS was out.  The headlight has two LED main bulbs, plus six smaller ones -- so it was not entirely dark.  A new light bulb is something else to replace next time we have a dry sunny spot to do some minor maintenance.

After that, we pulled out and made our way off base and over to the freeway and drove toward Emporia, VA and our connection to I-95 heading south.

We obviously have mixed emotions leaving our sons and daughters and grandchildren in Virginia until we return in the Spring.   It is going to get harder to leave so we are talking about the time when we might start doing Extended Time instead of Full Time RVing.  But we'll save that for another post.

We love being back on the road.  And after being at the same campground for a number of months, we wondered what we had forgotten.  Driving the Roadrunner is a breeze and it is a smooth ride.  Everything was moving along beautifully hour after hour and mile after mile.

We were headed south on I-95 the day after Christmas and true to our expectations, it got busy and slow at times.  We had one slowdown that last almost an hour.  Last time we did this it was worse.  And then the engine hesitated.  Over the next couple of hours it got progressively chuggier (is that a word?) and we had to seriously talk about getting it checked out.

We called ahead and made reservations at the Hilton Head turnoff at Lake Jasper Campground. We've stayed there and liked it.  But we were about three hours away near Florence SC.  We found a Freightliner repair shop off the highway and pulled in.  We were able to get in ASAP and we suggested it might need new fuel filters since the Roadrunner had been sitting for months.

Theoretically, they don't need to be changed until 12-15 months and we had new ones replaced last June.  I got the two spares we carry and the tech installed them and revved the engine good and hard for a few minutes.  The check engine light went out.  By now it was 2:30 and time to call it a day.

We cancelled our reservation at Lake Jasper and got a spot at Florence RV Resort.  I thought the place looked familiar but we weren't sure.  We were able to also get our propane tank filled which saved a separate stop down the road.  The lady behind the desk confirmed we had stayed there in December 2011.

Yikes!  Sometimes we don't even remember where we have been!   We had an uneventful evening and got to bed early and left the next morning again before the sun came up.

On Wednesday, we drove south to Jacksonville and then took the beltway west to I-10 until we reached Lake City and stayed at the Lake City RV Resort.  It was fine for an overnight stay.  I liked the campground because the owners are putting a lot of effort into it and are doing a good job on improvements and maintenance.  Nothing fancy but a good place for a one night stay.

Then it was back on the road on a soggy, misty, rainy day.

Again we made decent time and were able to get to Eglin AFB, Postl Point FamCamp about noon.  We got the last spot in the area and gladly took it.  Its a million dollar view even on a sketchy day.

That's a recap of the last couple of days.  More to follow.

As always, thanks for checking out this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!