Progress Report

 I can't believe it but we halfway through our year-long trip.  I thought it would be a time to offer some thoughts on how it is going and to give some tips on RVing for the long haul.  In no particular order, these random thoughts are:

• Don't bother going to Moab, UT anymore.  It used to be a cool place but has become so over-run with 'adventurers' screaming around town on dirt bikes and 4-wheelers. It is kinda obnoxious. Instead, go to Escalante or find more remote areas off the map.  Southern Utah has many great places and insanely cool scenery.  Go out and find it.
• Don't go to Nevada.
• Get those pressure monitors for RV tires.  You still get flat tires but you can change them before they become massive blowouts.
• We have found that we don't really care for 'RV parks', the more upscale ones with the huge RVs crammed in.  There are way too many rules enforced enthusiastically by someone who takes their job way too seriously.  We like state and county parks that [Horrors!] allow tent campers with families.  Way cheaper too.
• Bring your own gas to California. It would be cheaper to tow your own tanker and fill it in any other state except Nevada [see above].  We found gas in other areas that was less than half the price.
• Make sure the AC in your RV works.  If not for ours we would be found lying in the grass in Wisconsin gasping like fish out of water.
• Screw Elon Musk and Starlink.  I have been remote-working with my computer using hot-spot off my phone and it has been fine.  Plus, you can sit in your underwear during Zoom meetings with the camera off and claim you have a bad connection. We can even stream movies most places.
• There are LOTS of trees in Oregon and Washington [I counted them] Clear those rainforests.
• I am not a great world traveler but can't imagine anywhere that has more variety and beautiful scenery than the USA.  From the red-rock canyons of Utah to the amazing northwest coast, all across the Rockies, the expansive cornfields of the midwest, the Great Lakes Region. New England and the northeast coast in fall! Forget about it! We were constantly blown away by the diversity and interesting terrain. 
• My but they drive fast in Montana. At one point we were passed on the interstate by a boat [on trailer] going about 20 mph faster than we were.  I admit to being a bit of a wimp when pulling the trailer.  Our F-150 has the power to pull a 26 ft trailer but gets muscled around a bit when the wind blows so we keep it to a sedate 62 mph, 
• We are enjoying the trip but sometimes feel like we need to be doing something new and different every day.  It's been like this since April and is getting a bit exhausting.  That said, we tend to be ready to move on to the next place after about 3-4 days.  We [I] are trying to relax a bit and just realize that wherever we are is 'home' and doing nothing is just fine.
• With all the issues that come up keeping an RV working for the long haul I am learning to face each challenge calmly and patiently...just kidding.  Things going wrong still piss me off and I guess that will never change.
• We've decided that people reach terminal niceness somewhere on the rural Minnesota-Wisconsin border.  With all the divisiveness in the country today it is a bit easy to pick 'sides' and think the 'other side' is evil.  There are a lot of very nice people everywhere [and, yes, a few real assholes too] but the nice ones have varied ideologies and beliefs. Let's give each other a break.
• There sure is a lot of corn in this country.  Holy Crap! What do they do with it all?
• We are seeing quite a few roundabouts at road intersections.  I like the ones that aren't too busy as they seem to keep things moving [Kelly says I like them cos' I don't stop at stop signs anyway...some truth to that] but when they get too busy they are a bit of a cluster.  Especially towing a trailer.
• We've grown to dislike 'tourist towns'.  There are always too many people, too little parking, too many stores selling stuff we don't want [and can't afford] and Sub-par $60 lunches [Really!]
• Trailer living aint so bad.  True, there is not much space, you're taking showers in questionable campground shower enclosures with no room to put your socks on without getting them wet, you are always looking for the next space to camp [this can be challenging] but you get used to it and it is kinda cozy.  We find that, although it is nice to have a break from trailer living, we are glad to get back in our trailer after a few days.
• We all have much more than we need to live.  Kelly and I noticed this even more on our cross-country bike trip but we are seeing it again.  Unfortunately, I'm sure we'll forget it a short while after we return.
• I'm a shitty fisherman and have now not caught fish in more places than I can remember across the country.  Must be some kind of record.
• Don't bring your dog on a trip like this.  We love Kasha but she keeps us from doing many things we would have loved to do.
• It often helps to find camping places on-line but call them to make the reservation.  When it looks like places are full-up you can often call and find cancellations.

We are not sure what the second half of this trip will be like as we are coming into winter and will have to find warmer weather for the duration.  I dunno...the Carolina's?, Florida Keys? Texas?  Stay tuned and we'll find out.

Cape Cod and Beyond

 After enjoying our, nearly, monthlong stay in Wisconsin we made a mad dash across the 'flyover states' [so called because planes fly over these states to get somewhere else] to stay for a time with our nephew, Jeff and his dog Dusky. Jeff is a marine biologist living on Cape Cod. Luckily, Kasha and Dusky got along quite well and were buddies for the week. Kelly was scheduled to fly out of Boston to attend the wedding of another nephew, Chase, who is getting married back in Colorado.  Best of luck to the new couple.  The trip from Wisconsin to Massachusetts was a bit of a blur with long travel days and short evenings.  After a long day ending in Schenectady, NY we tried to set up camp at a casino where, we had heard, you could camp for free.  The casino ended up being in downtown Schenectady and we were coming in during rush hour.  Poor planning on our part.  After white-knuckling the truck and trailer through downtown traffic, where many Schenectadyans were kind enough to point us in the proper direction with their middle fingers, we finally found the casino only to find a tight and very crowded parking lot with no sign of RV camping in sight.  We made as quick an exit as we could and finally found a camp spot at a very nice campground along the Mohawk River.  The rest of the drive was long but pretty pleasant driving.  The leaves are already changing color in western Mass. and [avoiding highways] we travelled through many scenic little towns, all with the required big white church and cozy general store.  It was really quite pleasant.

While Kelly was off to the wedding in CO I spent the week in Jeff's driveway [in the trailer] and caught up on work and chores.  Jeff spends a lot of his summer on the ocean and has access to a constant supply of fresh fish.  We enjoyed some of the best seafood you will get anywhere, all cooked to perfection on his backyard grill.  I got to get a good ride of about 20 miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, another very nice Rails-to-Trails project.  I would have liked to explore the entire trail which goes almost all the way to the tip of the Cape but time did not allow.  I'm getting spoiled by all these rail trails which don't have much in the way of hills.  When I get back to CO I'm going to need an e-bike to keep up.

After Kelly's return we took a few days to explore the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  We stayed at a classic New England inn called the Wayside Inn in Bethlehem, NH.  The weather continued to be perfect indian summer with clear warm days and cool nights.  We spent the few days we had checking out the local small towns.  The leaves were just starting to change color and the local mountains were beautiful.  I hadn't been to this part of NH in many years and Kelly had never been here.  We just loved touring through these picture-perfect towns and mountain scenes.

Returning to our trailer on the Cape we enjoyed a weekend with some family who were gathering at Jeff's place.  His newly engaged sister, Rynn, and her intended, Alex, came out from Colorado.  Jeff's folks drove up from NJ and Jeff's cousins from Florida were also there.  I hadn't seen them since they were young kids.  A good friend of Rynn's was able to drive up with the NJ folks and surprise Rynn as well.  It was all pretty coincidental that we were all in the same place and time and it was great to catch up with all.  Kelly and I also took a day to check out Provincetown which sits at the very tip of Cape Cod.  Although being very touristy, P-town, as it is known, has a certain rough-edged charm to it with some very funky-looking bars we would have loved to investigate if we didn't have a longish ride back. Just outside of town, on Hwy 6, Kelly noticed a sign saying something about Bishop, CA where she grew up.  We flipped a U to check it out and found that the sign noted the end to Hwy 6 which starts in Bishop.  Very cool!  We wanted to check out the beach on the way back and give Kasha some exercise so we stopped off on a public beach on the Atlantic side of the cape where Kasha was able to chase some sticks in the surf.  She also took off swimming after some 800 lb gray seals who were floating by...a bad idea on many levels as these waters are frequented by great white sharks as well as the huge seals. Bad Dog!

Working our way up the coast, our next stop was in the town of Wells, Maine.  It was the first time in Maine for both Kelly and I.  Although I spent my first 30 years on the east coast my travels had never gotten me this far north before.  Wells is a small coastal town a bit south of Portland and, like the rest of the Maine coast as we were to discover, is very scenic and has a nice laid-back feel to it.  We spent our days playing ball with Kasha on the fairly empty beaches and taking in some sun.  The weather continued its run of perfect days in the 70's and cool nights.

Wanting to see some of the other sea towns nearby we took time to do some exploring.  A bit south of Wells lies the town of Ogunquit so we headed down for the day to see what there was to see.  I had read about a walk along the coast called the Marginal Way.  The name had me intrigued.  Should we expect 'marginal' conditions?  Was the trail incomplete?  I had to know. Coming into town, traffic was challenging with angled 4-way intersections offering no guidance on right-of-way or stopping...kind of a free-for-all.  Forget about parking.  I am, at my very core, opposed to paying to park my car but there was not a free parking spot to be had within 5-miles.  Believe me, I checked.  Finally, throwing down a twenty to leave my car for a few hours we hiked down to the start of the Marginal Way only to find that they don't allow dogs, leashed or not.  Back to the truck we went and exiled Kasha to the back seat while we explored the trail.  Well, we found the trail not to be marginal at all.  It was quite beautiful actually, winding it's way along the sea cliff with waves crashing on the rocks below. Classic Maine coast!  The town itself was charming, of course, but we have found that we are not fond of the tourist towns, They tend to be, invariably, overcrowded and full of stores that sell stuff.  Can you imagine!  That would be fine except we can't afford the stuff they have and have nowhere to put it if we could.  These towns also happen to be full of tourists.  We get enough of that at home.

While in the area we had to stop by Kennebunkport where the [George] Bush's have their summer home.  This was a mistake.  While charming to look at, it was another tourist spot full of snooty people, too much traffic and no parking.  I can't help wondering what these places are like in the height of tourist season.  Yikes! After getting evicted from a restaurant because Kasha greeted one of the workers  a tad enthusiastically, we made our exit from town and moved up the coast a bit. This led us to the town of Orchard Beach, They were pretty much shut down for the year but you could tell it must be pretty hopping during the summer proper.  There was a nice beach and boardwalk where we were able to get a burger and beer on an outside deck overlooking the ocean.  Dogs were welcome and it was very chill.  Our kind of place.

Heading north up the coast our next stop was Camden, ME [where the forest meets the sea], another lovely coastal town which we enjoyed very much.  I was able to get out for some very pleasant road riding on my bike along rolling hills with great scenery and little traffic. Very nice.  Our campground was situated right next to the water and there was a great little picnic area right on the water where you could see a lovely sunrise...if you were up early enough.

Our next stop will be near Acadia National Park which should be one of the high points of our trip so until next time...

Megunticook camp picnic area

The Marginal Way

End of the line

Acadia colors on the East Coast Greenway

Marginal way 

Camden hike view

Camden estuary

P-town ship in building. Don't know why

Wayside Inn creek

In the spirit

Hamming it up

Wisconsin

 Our travels next took us to central Wisconsin where we spent a bit of time in the tiny town of Wilton.  We set up camp in the pleasant little town park, a short walk from town.  These town parks are our favorite places to camp as they are generally spacious, quiet, clean and pretty.  This camp spot was no different and, although the park was next to a cornfield [as is everything in the state] the bugs weren't TOO bad. Kelly got bit up a little but we were lucky to have power for AC so we could hide out in the trailer as this was probably the most hot/humid weather we had seen so far.

 Our location was great, being located about mid-point on the Elroy-Sparta bike trail, another Rails-to-Trails path that runs through the farmlands for a distance of about 33 miles.  It was a great place to get a few longer rides in and handy for taking Kasha on walks. The trail passes through three tunnels along its route and, on our first ride, Kelly and I encountered two of them.  These tunnels are unlighted so I followed Kelly closely since she had the only light on her e-bike.  The second tunnel is fairly long [about 3/4 mile] and was a good turning around point so we only explored the first hundred yards or so of the cold, dripping entrance before deciding we'd had enough.

The town was less than exciting with one tavern available for dining out and the only food available at the local Dollar General store.  Canned Chef Boyardee ravioli is ok for the first three nights but loses its allure pretty rapidly.  Actually, they were surprisingly well stocked, and we managed quite well.

The upside of the limited eateries available was that the 2 restaurants close by were pretty darn good.  I had a burger at the Wilton tavern and it was probably the best burger I've had on the whole trip and the combo with fries was a whopping $8.  We ate here a few times on our stay and the food was consistently excellent and inexpensive.  There was another farm-to-table type restaurant not far away that is located in an old schoolhouse.  We tried this one out as well and were delighted to find that it, too was great food at the most reasonable prices we had seen so far.  When leaving, we chatted with the owner and ended up leaving with an armful of free produce from their garden. I'd been 'jonesing' for some good tomatoes the whole trip and these did not disappoint.

The next phase of our trip was scheduled to be spending some time with our friends from Shorewood, WI, Bob and Susan.  We started off by camping a few nights in a state campground near Belgium, WI. Located on the shore of Lk Michigan, this campsite was very private due to the dense vegetation surrounding each campsite.  This was a dry-camp [no power, sewer hookup or water] so we had a chance to give our solar system a test.  All worked great!  We found that we can dry camp about a week without needing any utility hookup if we are careful with water. 

 This is another location located near a Rails-to-Trails bike path, this one the Ozaukee Interurban trail.  Kelly and I had ridden this during our tour around Lk Michigan many years ago and we were able to do a few day rides on this trip.  We were pleased to see that the bakery in Oostburg was still in operation as they have the best dang apple fritters on the planet.  Good motivation for a ride.  Kasha was again in heaven, with lots of stick fetching on the nearby Lk MI beach and walks on the trails in the park.

After leaving the camp we were treated to a few nights of living indoors at Bob and Susan's house. Thanks, guys, for your generous hospitality ...it was much needed. We would be staying in the area almost 2 weeks so we rented a spot to leave the trailer in storage for the duration.  We had to pay for a month but it was only $100 [less than 3 nights camping] and we got to enjoy indoor plumbing, a real bed and some space for a while. Shorewood is a lovely suburb of Milwaukee and has a great blend of suburban living with urban attractions close by.  

We happened to be in Milwaukee for one of my favorite events, Milwaukee Irish Fest.  This is held in a huge venue right on the shores of the lake and features some great Irish music, dancing and cultural displays.  Bob had arranged for the four of us to serve beer for a few hours and we were entertained by the musicians playing in the tent right next to ours.

For our next WI adventure we decided to leave the RV in storage and motel it for a few days in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  Our motel was [suprise!] located near another Rails-to-Trails bike path, this time the Ahnapee Trail which starts in Sturgeon Bay and extends through WI farmlands and towns for about 48 miles. We got a few very nice miles in with the great weather continuing for us.

After returning to Shorewood, we then headed out for our stay at the lake house.  While the ladies took the cars up, Bob, Del and I rode the last 40 miles to the house on a combination of bike trail and rural roads.  This was some of the nicest bike riding I've done in years and made me realize how much I miss road riding on scenic, untraveled roads.  I enjoy my mountain and gravel rides in CO but miss road biking a bit. Especially, riding with a group in such perfect conditions.  In the morning, we loaded up the bikes for all and did another great ride on the bike trails of Peninsula State Park and finished the day with some beers and pizza at a local beer garden with some entertaining live music. The house was beautiful and the company even better.  Thanks to all our WI friends for making this a memorable trip.

Bob the yoga master

Lake Michigan shoreline

Lk Mi Sunrise

Lake Michigan shoreline