Thank you Mr. Jello.......

6:31 am - Friday - September 28th - Smithfield, Rhode Island (I've been wanting to type that for a very, very, very long time now) - Just 14 miles northwest of Providence - 58º F, 89% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the north by northeast......heavy cloud cover, raining with a forecast high for today of 58º F......wow, at 6:31 am we have already reached the high temperature for today!

We changed our view on Thursday.  We had intended to only drive about 100 miles south on I-89 to the Elks Lodge in Lebanon, NH, but I get ahead of myself.  As opposed to Wednesday, Thursday was an exceptional day for driving.....

.....the views were big, and long, which is rare, in my experience, for the northeast.....

.......TLE caught this picture of some local foliage along our morning route......the color is beginning to appear, and was more obvious than our photos could capture.....

.....we cruised southward on I-89 enjoying the views, and loving being on the move once again after 5 days in Burlington.  We stopped at a Rest Area about 55 miles into our 100 mile day to take a break.  While we were stopped I checked the weather for the next few days and saw that there was a 100% chance of rain Friday all along our route to Rhode Island.  The total distance to the Elks Lodge in Rhode Island was around 281 miles at the beginning of our day, and we still had over 225 miles to go.  That is way further than we traditionally travel in one day in the Newell, and the last 50 would be in heavy traffic areas around Boston.  Nonetheless, we made a decision to make the entire drive to Rhode Island Thursday to avoid driving in the rain.  Heavy traffic is bad enough in a 40,000 lb. vehicle, but heavy traffic AND rain around Boston is something I had no interest in experiencing firsthand.  Had we planned better we would have left Burlington much earlier than 9:30 am to be sure we got through the Boston traffic before 3 pm, but we didn't.  In spite of knowing we would be circumnavigating Boston between 3 and 5 pm smack dab in the middle of 'rush hour' we forged ahead anyway.

But, first things first......we needed to dump our black and gray tanks after 5 days in Burlington, as we would have no sewer connection at the Elks Lodge in Smithfield, RI, nor a dump station.  Finding a place to dump that is easily accessible along I-89 is difficult at best.  I did find a Vermont State park near White River Junction called Quechee Gorge State Park where we could dump, but it was 2.5 miles off the Interstate.  Unfortunately that was our best option.  Secondly, we needed to take on diesel fuel.  We haven't 'paid the rent' since May 12th, and we were down under 1/2 tank, which is not bad, but it I knew as we proceeded further south it would only get more expensive, in Vermont the going price for diesel seems to be $3.19.....in fact this seems to be the going rate in most of New England.  Further south I was seeing prices in the $3.45 range.

We arrived in White River around 11:30 am and proceeded directly to Quechee Gorge State park to dump.  It cost us $15, but the dump was one of the nicer ones we have used over the years.  Everything was in good working order, which is rare......

Quechee Gorge State Park dump station

.....we were in and out in about 30 minutes and on our way back to the Interstate.  We had noticed  a Mobil Oil fuel station as we exited the Interstate with a posted diesel price of $3.19/gallon.....of course.  We decided to take on fuel there.....the station is directly across the street from the southbound entrance to I-89.....perfect.

We ended up taking on 114 gallons of diesel, and it took close to 45 minutes....we had a very, very slow pump!  Nevertheless, we were on our way south once again just before 1 pm with an estimated ETA of 4:00 pm in Smithfield, RI.....at that point we had about 181 miles to go to our destination......

.....we actually made good time on I-89, and I-93, and with about 45 miles to go on I-93 we were finally coming to the I-95 exchange......I-95 would take us to I-295, and into Rhode Island.  Then the traffic just came to a stop about 2 miles before the transition road.....it took us close to 30 minutes to clear the interchange, and then the traffic on I-95 was stop and go for 3 miles....another 30 minutes before the traffic began to flow again, and then it completely stopped two more times before we covered the remaining 11 miles to I-295.  By the time we merged on to I-295 our ETA had ballooned to 5:45 pm, and that is the time we arrived at the Elks Lodge....about 15 minutes before sundown......that was one long day.....8 hours and 15 minutes to cover 281 miles.

 This is how it was the last time we passed through the Boston area

Rhode Island....at last!

They have two water/electric sites at the Smithfield, RI Elks Lodge and we snagged the last one.  They are both back in sites, and there was not enough length in the site for us to leave the trailer attached to the Newell so we had to drop it on the other side of their rather large parking lot......

......we quickly backed into our site, hooked up to the 30 amp electrical, and then sat down to breath a collective sigh of relief, and to rejoice in the fact we would not being doing that drive in the rain on Friday.  I as sit here Friday morning composing today's missive it is raining, and should continue raining most of the day......we made the right decision to arrive here on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!

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The 'Maine' objective of our trip.....

6:26 am - Saturday - May 12th - Portland, ME - 37º F, 79% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the west by northwest......partly cloudy skies with a forecast high today of 54º F.  We roll our wheels in less than 2 hours......Southwest Harbor, ME here we come!

The temperature Friday morning at 7:14 am in Lynnfield, MA was 60º F....the warmest morning temperature we have had in almost one month since we left Fontana, CA.  We only had about 96 miles to go this day to Portland, ME.  We were on the road before 10 am merging on to I-95 northbound.....the traffic was light going north, but 'stop and go' going south into Boston.  

It was only a few miles to the New Hampshire state line, and then only another 15 miles before we crossed into Maine for the first time in our lives.......

.......we crossed the Maine state line within 30 minutes and by 12 pm we were exiting the turnpike just a couple miles shy of Portland, ME....there is a Cabela's at exit 42 where you can park an RV for free overnight.......

.......I-95 from Boston to the New Hampshire border is a free road, but as soon as you enter New Hampshire it becomes a toll road.....it cost us $5 to travel the short 15 miles through the lovely state of New Hampshire. Then we entered Maine where we were required to pay another $10.50 from the state line to Portland......

......we found a nice, long pull through site behind Cabela's right near their dump station, changed clothes, extracted the VW from the trailer, and then headed directly over to the Portland Head Lighthouse.  We drove surface streets to avoid paying anymore tolls this day.  With 25 minutes we arrived at the lighthouse which is located on the grounds of the former Fort Williams, and now named Fort Williams Park.......

.....the Portland Head Lighthouse was commissioned in 1790 by then President George Washington and is the oldest operating lighthouse in Maine.  It began its life with an 4th Order Fresnel lens being illuminated via whale oil, which was later replaced with a 2nd Order Fresnel lens.  In 1958 it was replaced with an Aero Beacon, and now has a DCB-224 Aero Beacon.

   

.....this rugged, rocky coastline is exactly how I imagined it would look.....

  

......on the other end of Fort Williams Park is the site of the old Goddard Mansion which stood adjacent to Cape Cottage Hotel (a summer hotel) owned by Goddard.  The hotel is no longer there, and only the native stone walls of the mansion still exist......

.....the mansion was acquired by the Army in 1896 and used to house married enlisted men on the base.

We both remarked how nice it was to be breathing sea air again after three years in which time we have spent most of our time at elevation.   Breathing all that fresh ocean air activated our appetites, so we jumped in the VW and headed into downtown Portland around 1 pm to Becky's Diner (Yelp gives them 4 stars on over 500 reviews!).  This fine little diner was featured a few years ago on Triple 'D', which was the reason we chose them for lunch........

......we both ordered a cup of coffee, and I a cup of haddock chowder followed by another lobster roll.......

.....TLE ordered their Crab Swiss Melt.....all the food was scrumptious.....just perfect for a coolish day!

We were back home by 3:30 pm relaxing and looking forward to arriving in Southwest Harbor sometime Saturday afternoon.  I was telling TLE that at the beginning of our 3,000+ mile trip to Maine I was a little anxious about such a long trip taking us so far from our familiar stomping grounds.  I always wonder what might go wrong on such a long trip....after all it is not if things will go wrong, but when.  As of Friday nothing has gone wrong after traveling 3,206 miles.....nothing except the oil temperature wire that I fixed in Oklahoma City.......

.....since we had the radiator cleaned in Albuquerque on our 3rd day out from Fontana the engine, oil and tranny temperatures have been the best they have ever been.  In that distance we have used only 3 quarts of oil, plus we have been averaging right at 7 miles per gallon.

The sun is shinning, the road beckons.......life is good!  It has been two months since we left our winter jobs at Desert View, and we are very excited about our upcoming summer adventures....stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Boston.......

7:14 am - Friday - May 11th - Lynnfield, MA - 60º F, 62% humidity, wind 12  mph out of the west by northwest.......clear blue skies with a forecast high of 64º F.  We roll our wheels in 2 hours.

One of the reasons we stopped here in Lynnfield, MA was so we could spend a day in Boston.  TLE did all the leg work as far as figuring out which train to take into Boston, where to park, and what to see.....I added in Fenway Park as a must see location near the end of our day, but I get ahead of myself......

 Boston bound on the Purple Line into North Station

We left the Newell around 9 am to drive a few miles over to the Wakefield Train Station (MBTA*) to catch the 9:46 am train into Boston.  There are about 200 parking spaces allocated for those using the train, and we managed to snag the last one.  The total round trip cost to ride the Purple Line into and out of Boston was $27.  The train arrived promptly at 9:46 am, and we were disembarking the train at North Station just 30 minutes later........

 The entrance to TD Garden where the Celtics play basketball is located inside North Station

.....I did not know this, but the TD Garden entrance where the Boston Celtics play their basketball games is located in North Station.....that is about as simple as it gets!

We bought a couple of cups of coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts inside the station and sat down to get our bearings before beginning our walking tour of Boston.  Many people here at the Elks Lodge suggested we follow the 'Freedom Trail' and that is what we set out to do as we walked down Causeway Street toward Boston Common where the 'Freedom Trail' visitor center is located....

 Boston Common 

......you can pay to be part of a guided tour ($10/person for Seniors) by a person dressed in period costume, or you can pay $3 to buy the map and guide yourself......we decided upon the later.....

From the beginning of the 'Freedom Trail' to the end is 2.5 miles.......every 100-200 feet was a historical landmark.....I didn't take pictures of all of them........

 There were many red brick churches along the route......a lot......

 First public school

 Old City Hall

 Old State House

Beautiful building

 Feneuil Hall was closed for construction, however Quincy Market was open!

 Of course.....located inside Quincy Market

 Freedom Trail markers

 The Paul Revere home

 TD Garden from the bridge which crosses the Charles River

 This red brick line guided us along the 'Freedom Trail'

.....we gradually made it to the USS Constitution aka: Old Ironsides around 12:15 pm....this was one of the highlights of the walking tour for me.......she was nicknamed 'Old Ironsides' due to the tendency of cannon balls to bounce off her oak plank sides......

 Can you imagine how loud it was when those cannon were being fired?

 'Steerage'

......you would have had to be pretty short to effectively maneuver below deck.....very, very low overhead....at least for moi......

 USS Constitution

.....we also visited the USS Constitution Museum........

 A scale model of the USS Constitution....fully rigged

 The Charles River

.....we decided not to go up to Bunker Hill as by this time it was after 1 pm and we were both getting hungry, so we headed back to Quincy Market to get our first Lobsta' Roll and Clam Chowda' of the summer.....we chose 'Boston Chowda' which gets 4 stars from Yelp....

 First of many lobsta' rolls and clam chowda' this summer

......we walked outside to find a bench to sit on and enjoy our purchases.....OMG....everything was so delicious!

At this point it was about 1:30 pm....too early to head back to North Station.....we decided on the spot to walk over to Fenway Park (2.5 miles away, and then 3.0 miles back to North Station from there).  We are walkers, as you know, so walking almost 6 miles round trip does not phase us at all.  We walked steadily arriving at Fenway Park off Ipswich just about 2:20 pm.....

....we walked the streets around the entire stadium and then went into the Bleacher Bar to get a brew and snap a few pictures of the inside of Fenway Park......you can pay to take a tour of the inside of Fenway Park, but it is $20/person.....I think the Bleacher Bar was a satisactory alternative.....

 Taken from inside the 'Bleacher Bar'

 'Big Green Monster' in the right of the picture

 Having a brew before we begin our 3 mile walk back to North Station

.....once again, this was another big highlight for me.....have always wanted to visit this iconic ballpark!

When we exited the Bleacher Bar it was 2:40 pm, and we had a 3 mile walk back to North Station.  We didn't have to be there by any particular time, but we did want to get on the train before rush hour began.  We figured we would arrive at North Station around 3:40 pm, and that is exactly when we arrived.  We went to Gate 5 and stepped right on to the train back to Wakefield.....no waiting....we had perfect timing!

We were back in Wakefield and in the VW by 4:20 pm, and home by 4:30 pm.....really tired, but with big grins on our faces.....in all we covered over 10 miles walking around Boston.....

See the red arrow with North Station in Red above it....that is where we began our walk, and ended our walk

......TLE used a red marker to trace everywhere we went (see above).....I'm tired now just looking at this map!  

Thanks for stopping by!

*MBTA = Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

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