Day 4 - Milton, VT (Day 2)

Today was a Burlington play day.

The Weather
It rained some overnight, but the sun offered a cheery greeting in the morning. We had a few thundershowers in the early and late afternoon. The sky was nearly cloudless at sunset.

Wires Computing
Jordan is quite the entrepreneur. He opened a cell  phone and computer repair service nearly a year ago. He's got the experience, talent, personality and location (in the heart of the University of Vermont district) to be quite successful. We went to visit his office.

Jordan and Amanda work on a phone

He's got a showpiece computer.

He provides a comfortable waiting area.

... and lots of confidence.

His business is growing steadily through AT&T, Verizon and word-of-mouth referrals. Full time involvement isn't too far away.

ECHO Lake Aquarium
After lunch Dave, Carol and Dick headed to the harbor and toured the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center.  There were lots of fun exhibits and activities. Most were intended for children ... we learned a lot. 

They had a great deck overlooking the harbor.

Dave and Dick discuss one of their dad's inventions.

Hockey Game
Dave plays ice hockey ... and he's really good at it. He has a wicked wrist shot and is known as the team's "scoring machine". We got to see a game tonight.

Dave's team won 6-0. Dave scored in the first and second periods. He nearly had a hat-trick, but his shot hit the goal post with 18 seconds left in the game. Pretty cool for a guy over 50.

Apologies for the reflections in the pictures.

The Zamboni preps the ice

Dave warms up

Dave is #12

This was a really fun day.

Day 3 - Lake George, NY to Milton, VT

We got to Dick's brother's home as planned today.  The trip consisted of 113 miles of driving and a 10 mile ferry ride across Lake Champlain.  It was a great day from beginning to end.

The Weather
It was mostly sunny, with a light breeze and temperatures in the low 70s.

The Campground
We've rated quite a few campgrounds in the past few weeks.  Our stop last night would certainly have qualified as being outstanding.  Ledge View RV Park was pleasant in every way we could imagine.

Entrance

Office

Lots of trees wrap the sites.

Site 106

On the Way
We took I-87N out of Lake George to reach the ferry landing at Port Kent. The scenery was beautiful.

The Adirondacks from I-87N

 

Approaching Port Kent

The 1 hour ferry cruise across Lake Champlain was delightful.

We were the last on and last off.

NY shoreline, leaving Port Kent

The ferry provided a nice break from driving.

We had lots of sailing partners.

Lighthouse on Burlington Harbor breakwater

Milton is 17 miles north of Burlington.  It's an easy drive on I-89N.

Dave's home

Dick and brother Dave

Jordan and Amanda

Dinner at Apollo Diner after a busy day

We're staying at Dave's for the next few days.

Question of the day
This is a bit like the sound of a falling tree in a forest.  If a trailer travels 10 miles on a ferry (but, it's wheels don't go around), does its mileage history increase by 10 miles?

Day 2 – Westfield, NY to Lake George, NY

Today was a great day for traveling. Skies were heavily clouded in the morning, but gradually cleared. It was cool and calm. The roads were in good condition.

The morning cloud formations caught our eye.

Barcelona
We reported yesterday that we had stopped for the night in Westfield. Not so. The campground's mailing address is Westfield. It's actually located just outside Barcelona ... across the Thruway from Westfield.

Getting ready to leave - Site #18

We stopped by the Barcelona Harbor on the way out of town and captured a little history.

Barcelona Harbor

The Barcelona Lighthouse was constructed in 1829. It overlooks the Barcelona Harbor and aided sailors on Lake Erie until it was deactivated in 1859. It was the first lighthouse in the world to be powered by natural gas.

Barcelona Lighthouse

The Sea Lion is another big attraction in the harbor. It's a reproduction of a late 16th century 3-masted, square rigged English merchant sailing vessel.

Sea Lion

The Route

We traveled 378 miles. The route followed the NY Thruway east from Westfield to Fonda. We then took NY-30A north to Johnstown, NY-29 east to Saratoga Springs, then I-87 north to Lake George.  Like yesterday, the drive on secondary roads was much more scenic.

Our Goldilocks Story

It’s usually pretty easy to bring a day’s driving to an end.  Not today.  We ended up going to four campgrounds before settling in for the night. Two were closed and had no late-check-in procedures.  We checked into a third, discovered the assigned site was too small and inaccessible for us to fit … then got a refund and left.  The fourth campground (Ledge View RV Park) was just right!

Tomorrow

We’re about 90 miles south of Port Kent, the departure point for the ferry to Burlington. We should arrive at Dick’s brother’s home by early afternoon tomorrow.

Day 1 - Columbus, OH to Westfield, NY

Today was the first day of what should be a pretty long journey.  The short version: We dealt with some "everyday stuff" in the morning, left Columbus at 1pm, and ended the day camped near Lake Erie in Westfield, NY.  But, there's much more to tell.

Life on the Road

We're going to be living in a much smaller home for the next few months. It's 23' long and 8' feet wide. We've been practicing the lifestyle for quite a while now and can assure you that it only works for really good friends.

Take a look inside.

Front from the kitchen.

Back from the kitchen.

We think it looks bigger when everything's connected.

The Route

We drove 276 miles today. The trip started in Hilliard, went from I-270N to I-71, north on I-71 to I-271 near Medina, east on I-271 to I-90, then east on I-90 to NY-5, and east on NY-5 to Westfield. We've traveled this particular interstate route many times. It was uneventful.

The NY-5 portion was another story. It followed the Lake Erie shoreline closely and had miles of vineyards on both sides of the highway. It provided a welcome change of scenery.

It turns out our stopping point is just a few miles from Lake Chautauqua. We visited there just a month ago. 

The Weather

It was mostly gray, cloudy and windy with daytime temperatures ranging between 65 and 73. The sun peeked through a few times and we encountered intermittent misting near the lake. It got pretty cool at night. 

Lake Erie shore at sunset

Interesting Stuff

This looked like quite a DIY project.

The Campground

We're staying at the Westfield/Lake Erie KOA.  It's Ok.

T-Day Minus 1

Getting extended time away from home is a lot like escaping earth's gravitational pull. It's a challenge, but well worth the preparation.

We're drawn to the mystery of the open road despite being restrained by everyday things. We need to get untangled. There are appointments to make, reschedule or cancel. Services need to be suspended or cancelled. Mail has to be forwarded. There's maintenance and cleaning to be done, plant care to be arranged. The lists (yes, lists) get long and seem to grow the closer we get to departure.

Truth is, we've come to like the getting ready part. It's part of the journey. The good news is that time's up when we get to T-Day.

T-Day is tomorrow ... and we're leaving right after an early morning appointment.

Getting Ready

We plan to leave sometime during the last week of July.  But, there are some things to take care of first.

Trailer Flooring
Trailer preparation got more complicated this year because we decided to have laminate flooring installed before leaving. We met a recommended Airstream restorer in northern Ohio during our spring outing. Steve (an owner of P&S Trailer) inspected the job, quoted the work and said it would take about a week.  We made an appointment to deliver the trailer on July 7th. The work was completed on July 10th and we picked it up on the 11th. The work was done sooner than predicted and the result was fantastic!

P&S Trailer is located on US-6 just west of Helena, between Fremont and Bowling Green. It's the place to go for Airstream repairs in our book.

Maintenance
Trailer wheel bearings have been greased. Brake pads, tires and batteries have been checked and are ready to go.

Tow vehicle maintenance is done.

Trailer Name
This topic certainly has no bearing on when we leave, but it should be good for a chuckle.

We've toyed with a name for our trailer for a number of years. Silver Bullet kept rising to the top of the list. Somehow it didn't stick. We finally found a name that reflects the nice curves of an Airstream trailer ... Badonkadink. Never heard of the name? Google it on the Urban Dictionary.

Badonkadink will be leaving for Canada soon.