Mystic to Rhode Island

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Wednesday 23^rdOctober

Quakertown, PA – Mystic, Connecticut Coastline

287 miles travelled

Overcast and cool – 11c

A long driving day is ahead today, so after scrambled eggs for brekky we depart early- heading for the coastline of Connecticut. We dropped the $37 into the slot at the camping ground office as it wasn’t yet open and Nancy didn’t answer the knock at her trailer door. Generally the camp ground is very quiet and we notice in the brochure that everyone has to pack up and leave before the 1^st of November. In fact many of the RV parks are already closed, so we are finishing our RV travel in these parts just in time. As we depart Quakertown we realise how pretty it is around these parts. Much of the beauty we had missed yesterday, as we had arrived after dark. The Bucks County area has quaint villages, picturesque covered bridges and historic country inns. With the autumn leaves now in full colour it is really lovely scenery. We hit the highway aiming for our first stop of the day at Orange County Choppers in Newburgh, New York-Home of Paul Teutul Snr and the Discovery Channels 'American Chopper'! We arrived about 12 noon and had a good look around, recognising a lot of the bikes that have been shown on the show. Shaun was in V-Twin heaven! The fire bike had a huge display set up, with a whole bunch of fire helmets surrounding the bike and thousands of international Fire Department patches adorning the walls. Shaun added one from NZ and put it in pride of place above the bike.

Back on the road we spied a great looking supermarket called Adam’s Fair Acre Farms and thought this sounded like the type of place we like to shop at and decided to stock up on provisions for the rest of the week. Sure enough, much of their produce was organic, gourmet and very fresh. We spent ages in there – looking at the huge variety of organic goods – and not too expensive either; which makes a nice change from New Zealand. We stocked up on fresh greens, cereals, soups, cheese, wraps, ciabatta rolls, berries, yoghurt, juices and much more. We also threw in a delicious looking Adam’s own freshly made apple pie (we are in New York state after all!) and to go with it we bought some Hudson Valley blueberry ice cream – can’t wait until tonight for that. It all came to just $135 – a bargain for the quantity and quality purchased. By this time it was 2pm and we thought we’d hang about in the supermarket car park and feast on some of what we had just bought for a delicious lunch. On the road again just before 3pm, we crossed the Beacon Bridge over the Hudson River (another toll) and we were heading for Connecticut. We took main routes overall and still managed to view some wonderful autumn scenery. Mystic Country in the eastern part of the State is our chosen destination to make home tonight. It is a destination rich in history and has an abundance of things to do and see. We need some rest to explore all this tomorrow – so a camping ground we must find. Also being given a “KOA Value Kard” rewards membership from Camping Travel, we chose one of their recommended sites - Mystic Koa Kampground. Their office was closed but they provided a late check-in service with envelopes left in the laundry giving instructions as to the available sites. We took one and made our way to the Safari end of the park – deep and dark and away from any signs of civilisation! Given that the park was virtually empty we chose to ignore these instructions and parked close to all of the facilities. We settled in for the night and watched some TV in our motor-home, ate dinner and researched tomorrow’s drive. We heated up the apple pie in the RV's oven and the ice cream was rather delicious!

Thursday 24^th October

Fine and sunny – 12'C

Mystic, CT – Newport, RI

100 miles travelled

What a gorgeous morning! Clear blue skies and crisp cool air. It’s great to be alive! We planned on doing the laundry at the park before departing but the lack of necessary quarters and the late opening time of the office meant we needed to defer this menial task - oh well, never mind! We were only on the road a few minutes and we crossed the border into the state of Rhode Island. Choosing the scenic route we head north for Providence. Again the scenery was stunning with red, orange and golden leaves fluttering from the trees. The little townships were a delight, with Wickford scoring the highest on the cute-o-meter. On arrival into Providence we stopped at the information centre to get a map of the town and some tips on how to see the best of it. The guy was most helpful, circling all the most interesting parts. Off we went to explore the town and we loved the Italian district with its road markings in the colours of the Italian flag. The park above the city gave us a good view and is apparently where the professional photographers go to get their Providence city pics. A couple of streets below is Benefit Street where there are some of the oldest colonial homes in the USA. They are so charming and with the Halloween decorations and autumn leaves in all their glory, it is a very pretty sight. This street also takes us past the second oldest library in the US and some lovely buildings of the Brown University. All the streets are so narrow and quite different to what we experienced in Washington DC where the city there was established from the outset as a capital for the nation; with its expansive streets and parks. Before leaving Rhode Island’s capital we sat in the motor-home overlooking the waterfront after picking up a wonderful coffee from the Coffee Exchange. It is a great coffee house that roasts its own beans and sells a dozen or so different blends out of large bins. Our route down to Newport was again a scenic one; taking in towns such as Warren and Bristol – so gorgeous. We also stumbled across the Samsonite factory. Being fans of this luggage brand we spent ages investigating all their range trying to decide what and if we needed anything. In typical DC fashion we left with a small purchase – a couple of travel umbrellas, a luggage tag and a coin purse. Back on the scenic highway 114 we were lucky to drive through some of it at a snail’s pace, as there was a school bus in front of us. Over here when a school bus stops to let the children off it extends out a stop sign and a barrier arm. All traffic on both sides of the street must stop or face a large fine. The buses are also getting equipped with cameras to allow for identification of anyone breaking the law. Arrival into Middletown just after 4pm saw us pull in to another Good Sam motor camp – Meadowlark RV Park on 132 Prospect Road. This one doesn’t have any kitchens, showers or toilets but we have those on-board – so no worries there. The main thing we need tonight is a laundry and wi-fi - so we are sorted. Positioned between two huge 5^th wheelers we felt a little squeezed, but happy as the sun streamed in and we got the laundry on.

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Comments

[Annmaree]

Looks like you've hit middle America ;-)
Winabago, HUGE pumpkin, gorgeous Autumn leaves - what more could you want ! Still love the pic of your jandled feet on the deck chair checking out the sunset xx