After three grueling months of prepping and moving out of our home, a three or four day ride to Connecticut wasn't sounding too bad. I could sit and do NOTHING. And I did!
We left out of Texas on a Saturday morning and made it to our destination in Connecticut on Monday evening, one day ahead of schedule and even after breaking down in rural Virginia. The kids were eager to arrive and voted to keep pushing forward.
We did what Greg has named "The Cracker Barrel Express". That means that we drive until evening and aim at pulling into a Cracker Barrel at around 8 pm. They have RV parking (although we are a bit long for them) and you can stay the night for FREE. It isn't totally free since we go inside and eat dinner but it's a great meal that I don't have to cook, it is quiet, and we are able to roll out early in the morning.
During our second day of travel, the truck began throwing a code. It was the same code we got last year when we were heading through the mountains, "Low fuel rail pressure". It was still running fine but worrisome since we thought that issue had been fixed. Well after throwing the code a few more times (probably over a couple hours), the truck began to lose power. Greg decided to head for the exit and it was a good thing he did because as we exited, we lost all power and rolled to a stop on the shoulder. It was 6 pm.
Greg got to work investigating the problem while I tried to get the roadside assistance process going. In the end, Greg discovered some loose parts near the fuel pump primer. We had lost around 10 gallons of fuel (which our fuel gauge could not detect) and so we simply ran out of diesel before we should have. FORTUNATELY, Greg was able to determine this AND the closest building to us was a gas station, WITH diesel! So Greg tightened it all up, put a little diesel in and the truck started up! We jumped in and headed to fill up and set out on the road again, arriving at the Cracker Barrel around 9 pm. I have probably said it before, but we are SO fortunate that Greg is so handy and knowledgeable about this stuff.
As I said, we made it to the campground a day early and the campground was very willing to accommodate us. This place is great and the owner has been awesome (we stayed here once before when my stepsister had passed away).
The kids have been having a blast! There are soooo many kids here and they have activities at the rec center nearly every hour from 9 am until about 3:30 pm. Here's an example of what a couple of days look like:
Jordan loves all of the arts and crafts and Jacob has enjoyed the field games.
They have been walking and riding their bikes a lot and they met up with some old friends. There is also a pool and lake here for swimming and non-motorized boating.
Being in a small state is fun. Within a matter of a couple hours, you can travel into another state! So our first big outing was a weekend trip to NYC! This was more relaxed than our last trip when we had to squeeze everything in, so I think the kids enjoyed it much more. We found a hotel to stay in near Times Square and drove in. We checked out a couple of the local restaurants like John's Pizza and Mama Ruth's, went to the Museum of Natural History, watched a free Three Musketeers theatrical performance in a park (Jacob's fave),
walked the Hi-Line after eating in Chelsea Market, went to the American Girl store
and went to see School of Rock.
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| (Getting some autographs after the performance) |
Next, we went to Six Flags New England in Massachusetts. Believe it or not, we had to drag the kids there! They have had so much fun at the campground that they do not want to leave. But just as we thought, they had a great time.
Then we drove to the little town of Essex. It was so pretty and quaint. Jacob said he wanted to live there. We had lunch on a little island and visited the Connecticut River Museum. Some of the homes here date back to before the Revolutionary War!! I was so AMAZED!
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| (Built in 1720!) |
In the museum, we sat in a Turtle Submarine Replica from the Revolutionary War, built the frame of a ship and learned that Essex was also the sight of attack by British soldiers in the War of 1812. They burned many of their ships and stole their rum!
From there, we drove a little further north and had dinner with one of my old coworkers, Shari. It is always good to see and chat with her. Sadly, I forgot to get a picture.
Back in CT, we checked out Devil's Hopyard State Park. I told them all, "It's a short hike, just under 2 miles. It won't take us long!" I think next time I will remember to check the elevation. It wasn't easy and considering we haven't hiked in 3 months, it was really pretty tough. And I don't think I have mentioned this, but it is hot and SUPER humid here!
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| (Chapman Falls) |
Next up was a visit to the Mark Twain House and Museum. This was a guided tour of the house where Mark Twain lived and completed many of the books he is famous for. He had the house built and lived there from 1874 until 1891 when finances became difficult. They moved to Europe where they could live more cheaply. One of his daughters returned to the home and died soon afterwards from meningitis. The family could not bear to live there after that and so they sold the home in 1903. It was very interesting to tour through and learn that they spent $200 per WEEK on food for entertaining. This was almost as much as one of their servants made in a YEAR and more than I spend weekly 100+ years later!
My final news is that we have closed on our house! No more worry about that! The closing went smoothly. Interestingly, they have mobile notaries! When it was time to sign the documents, a notary came out to our campground and we completed the necessary paperwork and she took care of getting it back to Austin. Easy peasy! So we officially said good-bye to Janabyrd Ln. and we are okay with that (although we will miss our awesome neighbors).
We are now heading for another month long stay in Bar Harbor. Can't wait to have some of the most delicious ice cream I have ever tasted!!
