The drive to Sebago Lake State Park in Maine was quite
pleasant via mostly back roads. It is open season for moose hunting and at a
rest area we encountered two trucks with trailers, sporting the results of such
hunt. These are quite large animals, although high on seemingly slender legs,
but with sizable antlers and meat-wise well worth the effort. Larry Kuhns, a
neighbor from State College, on occasion shared some from a hunt of theirs, out
of which Willem made biltong, the South African quasi equivalent of American
beef jerky. Simultaneously Willem also used beef for comparison and thought the
moose meat perhaps resulted in nicer biltong. Moose feed on berries, which may
account for the difference in taste.
Sebago Lake turned out to be a surprise, given the fact that
we got there by default, when we could only get a six-day reservation in New
Hampshire and had to find a spot for one night in between. It is a very
beautiful place with an equally pretty camp site for us and words to the effect
of staying longer were not in short supply! We arrived relatively early in the
day and departed by mid day, the next, so we could take as much as possible advantage
of the venue.
For the trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, we
turned on a GPS, which kept us on real back roads with no regrets. Not even
when missing the same turn twice (!) and correcting for it, placed us on a
private road with the most spectacular lake scene imaginable. Back on track,
the scenery got better all the time and it was clear that the famous New
England foliage was catching up with us. Our reservation was for a spot in the
Campton campground of the White Mountains National Forrest. We had a tremendous
site, buried in the woods, with trees probably in excess of 80 feet in height
and 2 1/2 feet in diameter. It was going
to be our first ‘dry camp’ since Killbear in Ontario, meaning no hookups. It would also test the electrical improvements
and backup battery configuration with French overtones, as intimated before
(see Problem Solving – Initial). During our stay, the camp ground was at times
virtually deserted, which meant that we could boldly claim the allowed
generator running time from 8 to 10 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. We thus had AC for
running appliances as well as charging batteries that are otherwise charged
from the truck alternator, when on the road. This regimen kept us powered up
for 6 days and completely independent.
We were fortunate with the weather – quite warm days and nights well
above freezing. But the mornings were chilly and Willem usually turned the
catalytic propane heater on at around 7 a.m. and switched to the RV’s gas
furnace when AC came on. The reason being that although the furnace does not
require AC, the blower needs 12V DC, which is less demanding while batteries
are charged simultaneously. The catalytic propane heater is proving to be one
of our better acquisitions, in being most efficient and clean – with water
vapor and carbon dioxide as combustion products, while one has to crank a
window somewhat for ventilation and replenishing oxygen.
We headed north the next morning and stopped at a visitor
information center, where a knowledgeable fellow suggested a route to drive for
the best foliage viewing that day. He proved correct and Fickie had a field day
with his camera. We made it back to camp by 5:00 p.m. and after a good meal and
some chatting and planning for the next day, turned in for the night. The second
day we returned to the information office at the Flume Gorge in the Franconia
Notch State Park and paid a relatively steep entrance fee to do the 2 mile loop
throughout the Flume and back to the visitor center. It was advertized as taking one hour and 15
minutes but the place lent itself very much to photography and the light was so
great that at least 2 hours went by. It entailed some stiff climbing at times,
so we didn’t go out further that day but returned leisurely to camp, while
appreciating the beautiful scenery. The weather held up remarkably well and on
the third morning we ventured south to the Winnipesaukee Lake area, where the
foliage lagged behind the scenery to the north, but the lake was beautiful with
scores of varying nuances as the road winded along the shore. On the way back
the consensus was that we should have clam chowder for dinner, which meant that
Willem was on duty, preparing a dish he had concocted the first time many years
ago in State College. It was favorably
received by all four mouths .
We did a small loop from Campton, retracing a route we
covered earlier, the next day and figured the coloring was more intense and
hard to beat. That got us back to camp early, so we could download photos and
work on this account for updating the blog. As it were, we were out of reach
for our Wi-Fi hotspot to work, although about a mile from camp and out of the
woods we had a connection to update correspondence and business matters. But it
isn’t very practical to operate a laptop continuously, with the truck engine
running. We aren’t sure about what to expect at our next stop, the Little River
State Park in Vermont. Hopefully our hotspot will save the day right inside the
RV. (It didn’t!)
Having done plenty of sightseeing, our last full day in New
Hampshire was spent on planning the next two weeks. Getting from Little River
to the Adirondacks one has to get around or across Lake Champlain. Around means
a significant road trip and across means a ferry trip with truck and RV
complete. At Little River we finalized our intended route to North Pole RV Park
in Wilmington, NY, after 3 days at this very beautiful park in Vermont. It is a
very basic outfit with essentially dry camping, which made it 9 days in a row
sans services. But we coped pretty good, relying on propane gas and 12 Volts
during hours we could not run our generator. Willem and Susan drove to the
nearby town of Waterford one day to get to a laundromat, where Susan could
spend 2 hours on the internet writing and chatting away with relatives all
over, grand children and the odd friend she could reach. Fickie and Stella did
a lot of hiking attractive trails.
Another day went into
a road trip for three of us while Willem volunteered to do house cleaning and
work on the blog. The road trip took us to the little village of Stowe, where
an October Fest was in full swing, then to the Trapp family establishment where
the family, upon whose life the popular 1960’s movie, The Sound of Music,
was based, had settled. Quite an
experience in this most impressive setting and gardens. Then onward past the
Ben and Jerry ice cream factory where the line was too prohibitively long on
the Saturday afternoon to join it for a closer look. Sunday morning had us
departing for the Adirondacks in New York, where we had a reservation in a
private camp ground. We’ve been following the vulnerability of access to National
and possibly State Parks to the current political mess in Washington with
increasing interest. Although not an immediate concern, it may become so toward
the end of October when the second phase of our trip is scheduled to kick off.
The weather turned south on us and the trip to Wilmington,
New York, met with light rain and cloudiness. Lake Champlain appeared on the
right and finally we could cross the relatively new bridge for Port Henry in
New York. After Susan and Stella’s lunch snacks at the tourist information
center, we were back on the road and the scenery gradually improved through
private land in the Adirondacks. It was quite an up and down affair before we
reached the campground close to North Pole, New York. It is an attractive
private camp ground with full hookups and even including cable TV hookup and
Wi-Fi. The weather forecast for the next day was for starting out good but rain
moving in with a rapid moving system running north-east from the Deep South. We
thus decided to limit our excursion for the day to Lake Placid before the
weather would force us back to camp. However, the claim to fame of Lake Placid,
being the location of the 1980 Winter Olympics, remains a tremendous selling
point. It is a real charming town overflowing with tourists and money spending
opportunities to match. We drove by just about all of this and parked at the
Olympic Ice Skating facility, where our attention was caught by the North
Atlantic Ice Skating Championships underway. Meanwhile the weather
deteriorated, leading us to get tickets, watch some of the junior action and
stay for the ladies long program in the afternoon. It turned out to be a pretty
interesting way of avoiding the rain and not limited to the confines of a
travel trailer.
Back in camp the forecast was for more rain and strong wind,
which were borne out throughout the night, with the RV at times not as sturdy
as it normally is. Nothing to be concerned about but certainly a reminder of
the difference between a house and a RV. Afterwards we learned that wind gusts of up to
67 m.ph. were recorded in the area. We awoke to a bright sunny morning with a rather
chilly wind, though and thus decided to stay put and do paper work and laundry.
Later in the afternoon the Wi-Fi connection improved so as to facilitate
Skyping and Fickie and Stella were glad to have direct contact with their
children abroad. Our final day at North Pole Camp was warmer and sunny, which
enabled a road trip to White Face Mountain – all the way to the top with
remarkable views on a crystal clear day.
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