Massachusetts

Well, we did make it to MA on Friday, 9/27 after an arduous journey across the Midwest from MN.  

The leaves are changing color--

Glad to be here and PARKED for awhile.

We got setup in our CG and then drove into Amherst to meet Larry, Jacky, and Hannah at The Loose Goose Cafe.  We ended up at the "diner" for dinner!!

Hannah had soccer games after school so we attended those.

That is Hannah in the white shirt and red shorts.

I think that is her 'favorite' pose (hands on hips!!).

She is #31.

They got their soccer shirts after the game.

She really enjoys playing and you can tell by watching how aggressive she is on the field!!

On Saturday they all came out to the CG in the afternoon.  We had a great dinner of chicken wings, steak, cole slaw, etc. and then sat around the fire.

Hannah was in charge of the fire and kept it going all night.  She decided that we should try to fry an egg on the stone closest to the fire!!

 

We were surprised how long it took to actually cook and in the end it looked edible, but we didn't try it!!

What better way to spend a Saturday night - watching an egg cook by the fire!!


We had more leaves changing in the CG:

We ended up back at the diner on Tuesday, the 15th to wait for Hannah to get home from her soccer game that was away.

 Hannah got home, we picked her up and then went back to their place for the evening.  Couldn't resist a couple more shots of Hannah!!

It was a perfect time of year to visit MA.  Wish we could have stayed longer, but the road beckons.....

On the Road to Massachusetts (a few more stops along the way)

We left Indianapolis on Wednesday morning, the 25th and headed East.  We made it accross the rest of Indiana, thru Ohio, and into Pennsylvania before stopping in Rockwood, PA. for the night (427 miles).

The next day we were on the road again and made it to the eastern side of PA. to a place called Scotrun (271 miles).  Camped there, unhooked, and went into town to the first 'diner' that we saw.  (Diners are very popular out east).  At this particular diner, it didn't matter what you ordered, soup came with it (either chicken noodle or veg. beef - both homemade and delicious!).

On Friday we drove thru some mountainous country (Poconos) and came to a small town called Maybrook.  Drove over a couple of bumps in the road and the tire pressure system alarm goes off and says that a tire is losing air fast. So we drive a couple of blocks looking for a gas station to try to put air in it when, lo and behold, there is a tire shop at the next corner!!  We turn on to a side street and pull over to the side of the road.  Unfortunately, the guy did not have a jack big enough to lift our trailer, but we carry some 2x6x8 boards with us (for when we need to level our trailer at a CG that has an uneven site) so I got those out and spaced them apart and backed up on them raising the tire that was flat.  Turns out that it was a bad valve stem so he replaced that and we were back on the road in about an hour.

Drove thru NY state and saw some interesting signs along the way.  They have recently passed a law making texting while driving illegal.



We didn't get any pictures along the way, but this is a picture of Gov. Cuomo introducing the signs back in Sept when the law was passed.

We 'finally' made it to our CG in Monson, MA. (230 miles or a total of 2000 miles in 6 days). 

More later... 

On the Road to Massachusetts (with a few stops along the way)

We left Pipestone on Saturday morning, the 21st.  Or, at least we tried to!  We had stopped at McDonalds for coffee and when we came out, the tire pressure system for the trailer tires said we had two tires with low air pressure (about 50 lbs and should be 80).  So we drove over to Amdahls garage and had them checked out.  Couldn't find a leak anywhere so we aired them up to 80 and took off.

We drove all the way to Davenport, IA. (430 miles) and had no more tire issues along the way.  One of those unexplainable things, I guess.  Spent the night in a nice county park and the next day, drove to Allendale, MI. (350 miles).  Nice lighthouse along the way at one of the rest stops.

In Allendale we visited with friends (Bennie and Marie Benson) who were camp hosting at a KOA Campground there.  

We originally met them in Alaska and found out that they were from Allen, TX so we became immediate friends. Marie had an excellent dinner prepared for us and then we played several games of cards.

The next morning we left for Indianapolis, IN. (284 miles) to meet up with Judy's sister, Pam and her husband, Steve, who were visiting their son and daughter-in-law, (Matt and Jenelle) and their twin boys, Marcus and Graydon.

We found our campground in Ciero, IN. and then drove into town to meet up with everyone at the motel where Pam and Steve were staying.  Stephanie and Jesse had also driven down from Minneapolis.  

We had dinner in the lobby (Pam had made chili and corn bread) and then sat around and talked.

The next day Pam and Steve brought the twins out to the campground for the day.  We took them to the playground, threw stones in the river, had lunch by the campfire, and had smores after.  I think they had a great time.

We crunched up newspaper to start the fire.

The boys were looking for twigs to help get the fire started.

Got it going good.

Waited for the logs to catch on fire.

Watched our hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches to cook.

Got the table set.  A couple next to us gave us half a watermelon from their garden.

Some alone time, I guess.

We filled a bucket with water,

 and the boys helped me put the fire out by sprinkling water on the coals.

The couple that gave us the watermelon were in a Cardinal 5th wheel.  Judy liked the picture of a cardinal on the side of the trailer.

Later that day we cleaned up and drove in to Indianapolis to meet up with Matt and Jenelle and Stephanie and Jesse for supper at a brewery/pizza restaurant.

Matt is a professor at Butler College and he was giving a recital on Tuesday night which is the main reason we made it a point to include them in our travels.

This is the cover of his CD.

For each of his songs (which he wrote), Jenelle's brother had created a picture which is shown on the screen behind Matt.

It was a fantastic performance played to a full house!!