Journal Entry, October 10, 1996

October 10, 1996, 7:12 p.m.

We are staying in the parking lot of an Ames store. It is a lot like K-Mart. The name of the town is Wells River and it is located in northern Vermont on the banks of the Connecticut River. We have traveled from Bennington across Hwy 9 to Brattleboro and then on Hwy 91 north. The mountains are spectacular. It has been a cool, rainy day and the mist and fog have sporadically filled the mountains with a picture book look.

The motorhome has taken the mountains well. It has struggled a few times on some of the longer and steeper grades. The ride from Bennington to Brattleboro along a smooth two-lane road was gorgeous. We stopped about midway to play along a mountain stream that paralleled the road. Numerous rocks, large and small, filled the river; the temptation was too great so the kids found the necessary rocks to cross the river.

It was about 60 feet wide. Buddy had a ball. He tried climbing the rocks and really seemed to enjoy walking in the river. Kelly fell in the water about three-quarters of the way across, and soon after Stacy slipped and fell off a rock. Stacy had a small but nasty puncture wound on her shin. It was fairly deep and it hurt. We got back into the RV much wetter and continued on. Near White River Jct we stopped at a very pretty rest area that gave the kids an opportunity to rock climb. It was about 6:00 and we decided it was too early to stop for the night, so we continued to this spot in Wells River.

We are having continued differences of opinion about where to sleep. Betsy is worried about the legality of parking in rest areas and is uncomfortable parking in some of the places we stop. She hears every noise and does not sleep well (which is not unusual for her). She worries… I sleep like a baby and feel we need to conserve our money and sleep where we don’t have to pay. It seems we are able to go about three days with water and waste, maybe four depending on use. Tomorrow we will get a campsite and regroup and recharge.

Beautiful New England

We are headed to Bangor Maine/Bar Harbor and Arcadia National Park. Tomorrow we will head north along Hwy 2 north of White Mountain National Forest. White Mountain is the tallest peak in New Hampshire at 6288 feet. And from there we’ll head into Maine.

We have traveled about 1300 miles. We are growing more comfortable with our new home. The generator is a problem we will need to address — it won’t run longer than 45 minutes. The car worked well in Bennington and was very useful. I will feel better when we start down the coast and reach warmer weather. It should be spectacular.

We got propane today and it cost $1.70 a gallon. The tank is filled and it seems to last a long time.

We will go to bed early without power and get an early start. The rain is still pouring down…

Mark Blondin, www.talesup.com