OUR TRIP TO THE CANADIAN MARITIMES BEGINS: CLARKSTON, GA TO SAUGERTIES, NY—Monday-Sunday, June 1-7, 2015

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CLARKSTON, GA TO SAUGERTIES, NY—Monday-Sunday, June 1-7, 2015

Clarkston, GA to Mars, NC--Monday, June 1, 2015

Our starting mileage was 44,309. At 2:43, the clouds were threatening an afternoon shower and it was 86 degrees out.

We had planned to leave several days prior to this, but wanted to be home for an important business call that was scheduled for today at 1:00 pm. Because of the delay, Rosie was completely packed and ready to go except for the frozen food and that had been collected into plastic bags ready to be put into the freezer.

Heading up I-85, we encountered heavier than usual traffic. This traffic stayed with us a long time and therefore it took significantly longer than usual to get north as far as the town of Commerce where we stopped at the big truck stop for gas. Gas here was $2.59 a gal and she took 24 gallons for a total cost of $62.93. Drove out of the station into the now pouring rain, and continued up I-85 as far as Greenville, where we turned onto I-25/26 heading north-west over the mountains. The aim, as usual, was to avoid I-95 (which is THE north/south route from New York to Florida) and take I-81, a much more scenic freeway, north through the Shenandoah Valley and, thereby, avoid the traffic mess around DC.

Partway to I-81, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, we stopped for the night at a Comfort Inn in the community of Mars Hill, NC. We had made this reservation from home using credit card points, so free night’s stay, but didn’t expect to arrive so late due to the heavy traffic and the rain. When we checked we were told by the desk clerk that all the restaurants, except a Waffle House, were closed. Neither Valerie nor I saw any other restaurants in this tiny community, so we headed to the Waffle House for dinner of pork chops and hash browns. With 2 good-sized pork chops apiece, we had enough food for another meal.

Mars, NC to Martinsburg, WV--Tuesday, June 2^nd

On the road at 7:42 am, this morning, driving into heavy fog at 60 degrees. Mileage is at 44,530. Rest in Peace, Wendell—today is the one year anniversary of his suicide.

Happy Birthday, Christopher! Checking Facebook last night, we saw that you and LeeLi are in Vietnam. Hope you had a good time.

After the motel breakfast, we continued our drive on I-26. The wild flowers are blooming along the freeway and the mountains are playing “peek-a-boo” with the fog. Both adding to the visual enjoyment of the trip.

At Christianberg, we filled up her gas tank. Mileage was 44,730, gas at $2.39 a gallon for a total bill of $58.07. Continued driving on through the Valley until we got to Martinsburg, West Virginia, and pulled into a Walmart. Valerie got out and asked permission to spend the night and was told it was ok. We parked in the back, next to a frontage road, perpendicular to a couple of “sleeping” truckers. We ate our left over pork chops for dinner with other stuff we had brought cooked from home. We then quickly settled in to read for awhile only to be startled by the sound of an 18 wheeler maneuvering right into the front side of Rosie. There was no need for him to get that close, as there was plenty of empty space in this parking lot. He was backing up and was so close, I had moved to the side door thinking to yell at him or honk the horn when he stopped. Needless to say, we were not happy, and muttering, we moved to another space further away.

Martinsburg, WV to Frackville, PA--Wednesday, June 3^rd

Martinsburg, West Virginia Walmart. Really noisy this morning as we are alongside both the frontage road and I-81 and the trucks are laboring a bit up a grade. Our starting mileage is 44,960 and the temperature is a cool 59 degrees.

First thing this morning is breakfast at a nearby Waffle House. While there, using a new to us app on our phone, we texted a message to Christopher in Singapore. We then got onto I-81 and continued going due north and were soon into the state of Pennsylvania (PA). Chicory, catalpa trees, and a pink member of the pea family intertwined with yellow honeysuckle were all blooming profusely on the sides of the road.

At Jonestown, PA, we got gas for $2.739 per gal and she took 23.718 gallons for a cost of $65.44. Got lunch at Micky D’s and, new to us, Sharon had an artisan chicken grilled sandwich and Valerie had a sirloin burger.

We decided to stay tonight at a PA State Park that on the map was right off the freeway near Frackville. The sign off the freeway told us where to exit to the park, but then there was no sign to tell us which way to turn afterwards. We picked a right turn and should have gone left to then cross under the freeway. So at the bottom of a real steep hill we turned around and did so. We then drove through a coal mining area and the road went alongside three different cemeteries—one was Catholic and another was clearly some sort of Slavic Orthodox—Ukrainian perhaps, and the third appeared to be a community cemetery. We wondered if the Slavs were brought in to work the mines. Finally, found Locust Lake State Park and checked in.

As we crossed over the dam embankment that makes the lake, I saw a pair of bluebirds and then later in the same area, a pair of cedar-waxwings. We have never seen so many chipmunks running around! All the females must have had HUGE litters this spring. We were afraid we would run over some of them as we found a space and settled in.

Locust Lake State Park, Frackville, PA to Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area (DWG), PA--Thursday, June 4^th

Low clouds/overcast this morning with the temperature at 55 degrees. Starting mileage was 45,135.

We have three problems with Rosie that we felt needed to be looked at before we continued very far on our travels—one, she would “shake” when the brakes were applied going down a steep hill; second, the bin that holds the cords for the electrical and water connections would not shut/lock; and third the drawer that holds the house batteries would not unlock and open so we could check if the batteries needed water. We used some tape on the bin to hold it closed until we could get it fixed. We looked up on line for the nearest RV repair place and found a Camper’s World located in Kingston, NY not too far from the PA border. Plotted a way there and so took I-80 east off I-81 and quickly found ourselves in ski country as the roads off this freeway lead to resorts and recreational venues in these Pocono Mountains.

Right before crossing the Delaware River, we turned onto highway 209 and headed north again, first going through the picturesque tourist town of Stroudsburg. To our surprise, this road right along the Delaware River, drops you into the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area that is administered by the National Park Service. We had never even heard of it before. Since there looked like some things to see and do here, we decided to get a camp spot for the night. We were really disappointed by the camping venue’s condition—unkempt, pot-holed, and sad looking. The campgrounds are operated by a private company, but our Senior Card discount at 50%!s(MISSING)till applied. We would have been really unhappy to have had to pay the full $42 fee per night.

Dingmans Campground, Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area (DWG), PA to Saugerties, NY--Friday, June 5th

At 8:18 am this morning it is 57 degrees out with low clouds. Starting mileage is 45,235.

The DWG Area encompasses almost 70,000 acres along the Delaware River in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. At the south end of the Park the river cuts an S-shaped curve pass through the mountains, forming the “Gap”. Since New York City and Philadelphia are so close (currently about 2 hours travel time), in the 1800s resorts flourished throughout the region and city dwellers would spend their summers here out of the heat. This is the area that made many of the old time comedians and vaudeville acts, like Danny Kaye and Sid Caesar, as they “played the Poconos” for the summer season.

This morning we drove further along highway 209, to the Dingmans Falls Visitor’s Center. We parked Rosie II and then walked along the boardwalk that followed Dingmans Creek to see a couple of the many falls (the park has hundreds) that tumble off the Pocono Plateau. Here the predominate tree is the Hemlock, and the forest floor is covered with ferns and other lush foliage. The sides of the creek’s ravines are covered in rhododendrons. Unfortunately, we are too early, for their blooming season is in July. They will be spectacular then. The domestic “rhodies” are already blooming in people’s yards. I wonder what makes the two—domestic versus wild, have such different seasons??

The first waterfall we came to is called Silver Thread Falls and the larger one is Dingmans Creek Falls. After taking pictures of both, on our way back, we spotted a warbler picking at bugs around the wood railings of the boardwalk. We had hoped it was a Blackburnian Warbler that was known to hang out in Hemlock trees, but after visiting with the rangers in the visitor’s center, we all decided that it was not quite that elusive bird, but a Black-throated Green Warbler instead. Valerie’s pictures of it were ok for ID-ing the bird, but it definitely flunked posing 101 as it NEVER sat still.

Crossed into the state of New York and found the large, busy Camper’s World. Unfortunately, after driving all this way, we were told that they had no appointments available ‘til the middle of July. Obviously, we could not wait around for a month, so got out the maps and books and then trundled on up the road. Since we were now further east than we had originally planned, we decided to continue north, on 9, that follows along the Hudson River. We had been along a portion of this road years ago coming back from our trip to Newfoundland with Wendell.

We stopped for lunch at a “silver” dinner and had a huge senior special meal at a really reasonable price. We both took a whole meal portion (for us) back to Rosie II to eat for our dinner. Using the restaurant wifi, we located a campground ahead at the town of Saugerties and called to see if they had a vacancy since we were now at a weekend. They did, and so continued on 9N through the town of Saugerties and took a small road to the Campground.

We pulled in to register and Valerie got to talking with the owner about our mechanical problems and he came and took a look at Rosie. He showed Valerie a trick to closing the type of lock that Rosie has on all her outside drawers and bins. That fixed the problem with closing the bin we use to hook her up to water and electrical power. Why no one had ever shown us this in the 5 years we have struggled with these funny locks, I have no idea. Two guys looked at the battery drawer and concurred with the Camper’s World guy who said that the lock might have to be drilled out. Even then, they were not sure if that would be a solution. Since the batteries seemed to be holding the charge ok, we decided to proceed and see if a Roadtrek dealer could be found along the way. The brake problem needed to looked at by a Chevy dealer and they could be found in most big communities.

We hunkered down for the weekend (June 6^th and 7^th) in the very nice Rip Van Winkle Campground, as it rained the whole time.

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