Thursday, August 22, 2019

Day 24 - Houlton, Maine to Conway, New Hampshire

Day 24

We left the My Brother's Place campground around 9:30 this morning - about 1/2 later than planned because we tried a different way to raise the front of the trailer and hook up the truck.  Our process has been to lower all the leveling jacks on the trailer then raise the trailer jack enough to get the truck ball underneath.  This involves a lot of manual cranking to raise, then lower the trailer.  I thought it might be easier using the trailer front leveling jacks to raise the trailer since I use my cordless drill for that.  It raised the trailer fine but didn't seem to hold the receiver steady.  We had to back and fill the truck several times to line everything up and, even if we were off just a little bit, it wouldn't seat.  Anyway, I don't think that idea will work well in the future.

We had about 180 miles of interstate (I-95 south) then 80 or so miles of back roads.  The interstate seemed to tax the truck a little more than normal.  Laura checked the weather and this area had winds out of the SW.  Guess which direction we were traveling...

After 150 miles we stopped for gas and averaged only 8 mpg.  Not good but, oh well.

Once we left I-95, I enjoyed the ride much more.  I love driving through the little towns and forests - even towing a 27 foot, 7,000 pound trailer. I think I'm getting much more used to driving the rig and relaxing along the way.  Especially now that I can stop pretty quick if someone does something stupid in front of me. About 1/2 hour after leaving the Interstate, Laura took this great picture of a lake.  It was cloudy most of the day but gradually cleared up.

We followed the back roads just on the Maine side of the New Hampshire boarder with our destination of Beach Family Camping in Conway, NH.  Lots of construction on the roads and, at one point, there was a warning of a 11 foot width up ahead.  It was a temporary bridge over a construction site with concrete sides.  Our trailer is only 8 feet wide so we had plenty of room.  It didn't look like it though.

The campsite we are in is pretty with lots of trees.  Unfortunately, as my brother-in-law Tom knows, it's impossible to grow grass under pine trees.  The pine needles kill the grass.  So, we are in a dirt area with a little mud from the rain last night.  Check out the picture of this campsite.

After settling in a bit, we took our wine to the beach.  Only about 200 yards away was this nice little river running by our campground.  As we were walking around, Laura said, "I found some beach glass" and started laughing.   Corona strikes again.

Tomorrow we will decide on three different adventures.

1. Ride the Conway valley train.  Lunch or just excursion.
2. Hike to Diana's Baths in North Conway.  When we come into a campground, I always ask the manager, "Is there something we should absolutely see while we are here?"  She mentioned this.
3. Drive to Deacon Street Pub in North Conway to see one of our favorite groups Dennis and Davey (or Four Feet, Two Shoes).  This is why we came here.  They only play on Friday nights.

While writing this, Laura and I discussed the options and I booked the lunch train out of Conway for 11:30am tomorrow.  Maybe when we get back from that, we'll drive to Diana's Baths.  But, we will definitely hit the Deacon Street Pub tomorrow for dinner and the band.

We also decided and finalized the last few days of our trip.  We will be here tomorrow and Friday then drive to Burlington, VT on Saturday.  Laura reserved us a spot at a family run campground called Maple Grove Campground.  We'll drive into Burlington on Saturday and visit the pubs near the water.  On weekends, they usually have great music playing.

Then, we will drive back to Catskill on Sunday morning / afternoon. My last living Uncle, my fathers brother Leo, passed away a few days ago and the funeral is Monday.  It was a good reason to get back, see that side of my family after many years, and start working on the boat.

We passed 3,000 miles today!

288 miles today (all towing) = 3,148 total trip miles





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