Our Travel Blog

Well true to form it rained most of the day. Luckily most of the outside work was done yesterday, just the WiFi and Satellite antennas to bring in, then disconnect the water, sewer and hydro tomorrow morning chuck a few things in the truck and off we go.

We went into the local town this afternoon to mail a card and get some booze to bring home, but the rest of the day was spent packing up and cleaning.

Despite the weather towards the end we had a great trip. Scenery round here is great, and the camp site was excellent. Hopefully the leaves will be changing colour as we head north tomorrow. That’s it for now, next episode should be from Texas in early January.

Not sure if I have put any pictures of the trailer on here before or not, so here are a couple.

Trailer with Truck in Background Monson,MA

Trailer, Monson MA

For once the day started of dry, but overcast. We decided to take advantage of the better weather and get some of the outside stuff dried up and  put away . The awning was covered in fallen leaves and was still quite wet so the leaves were brushed off and the awning left to dry out.  Some of the antennas came down, and the outdoor carpet was cleaned and dried. Next on the list was the BBQ which got a good cleaning as well. The rest can wait until tomorrow.

Yet another JoAnn fabric coupon arrived on Lyn’s laptop this week-end, but she had no intention of using it…. that is until a certain daughter-in-law (no names mentioned!!) asked Lyn if she would get her some fabric. Guess where we went this afternoon.

Actually the afternoon was quite pleasant with blue skies for a couple of hours, but the rain has now returned.

Looking at the forecast it looks as though we are going to see rain for the rest of our stay. This is a bit of a pain as we could do with a dry day on Tuesday so that we can dry things out before we leave. With the cooler temperatures at night there is condensation on the windows that doesn’t completely dry out the next day. As the trailer is going into storage for 3 months there is always the worry of mold.

After lunch the rain letup and the sun tried desperately to make an appearance. Lyn had a couple of short trips lined up so off we went. The first was to the site of some “massive cave like rock shelters” formed after the last ice age. Off we went, round the country lanes only to finish up 20 miles later at the exact point we started from. Never did see the shelters and never did work out where we went wrong!!

Next stop was for a nature walk around the site of an old lead mine. Everything went well, roads were followed and towns were passed we even finished up on Lead Mine Road but all we got to see was a plaque at the side of the road commemorating the area that was part of the old lead mine. Not doing too well here.

Gave up on the organised tours and headed for the local town for a bit of grocery shopping. On the way round the back lanes were chanced upon a sign for a dam, decided we’d try our luck one last time. Success! there really was a dam, so at least we managed to get some exercise in walking along it.

See the title

Again the weathermenpersons got it wrong, instead of waking up to a grey overcast day it was clear blue skies and a little cooler than forecast. After breakfast we set off for Essex Connecticut. Essex is about 80 miles south of here and is home to the Essex Steam Train.

Essex Steam Train

The engine and carriages were all built around 1920. We (I) opted to splash out the extra $5 each to travel first class! The Pullman Carriage, also known as the Parlor Car had 34 individual swivel seats, 17 down each side of the carriage. Each one a window (and aisle) seat.

The train journey was about 30 minutes, and in the spirit of useless trivia the train burns about 100lb of coal per mile and consumes about 100 gallons of water over that distance. After  30 minutes or so we arrived at Deep River to join the “Becky Thatcher” for a boat tour on the Connecticut River.

Becky Thatcher

The boat trip lasted about 90 minutes. The Connecticut is quite wide at this point and provides some excellent scenery. At the end of the cruise it was back onto the train for the return trip to Exeter.

A a worthwhile trip and a great day out.

The rain continued through the night, then cleared away this morning. However the sky was overcast and showers didn’t seem too far away. After breakfast we did our usual e-mail check, and Lyn got all excited…. More JoAnn fabric coupons had arrived.

Well, Thursday is grocery shopping day, and (so the logic goes) there is a supermarket right next to JoAnn fabrics….. you can see where this is going. So after lunch, off we went fabric  grocery shopping. As it turned out it passed the time as the heavens opened and there was nothing much else we could have done. At least with the tablet I could play Angry Birds while waiting in the truck!!

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A much clearer and cooler day, still got to the mid 70’s but the humidity has gone. Finally the rain they have been promising for the last week has arrived (1015 at night!).

Not a very productive day at all. Just lounged around the place and did very little…. just like being on vacation really!

Walking around the campsite showed that many of the seasonal campers had packed up their trailers for the year, leaving the place very quiet apart from the bl**dy chipmunks. If the state mascot for Massachusetts isn’t the chipmunk then it should be, they’re everywhere.

The neighbour across the road has us confused. Every day, and some times 2 or 3 times a day he will come out, start up his truck move it 10ft or so then switch off and go back inside. Each time he move it he parks it at a different angle… very intriguing.