A Wee Glimpse of New England

After leaving Jean Paul and Celine we drove to Houlton, Maine where we boondocked at the Walmart for the night. We needed to exchange the few Canadian dollars we had and pick up our mail that we arranged to have forwarded to us. The next day we drove to the Black Bear Campground in Salisbury, Massachusetts where we were greeted with hot (98) and humid (98%) weather that had us holed up in the AC for a couple days. It was pretty difficult to take after a summer of very comfortable weather. The temps did moderate and we did a little exploring in the area.

There are thousands of boats in the harbors in every little town we visited.
We visited the Salem Maritime National Historical Site where they trace the seafaring history of this once important port. Salem ships played an important role as privateers during the Revolutionary War and brought riches from the Far East. The importance of the port declined when bigger clipper ships, which were too deep for the harbor, came into use. The ship, Friendship, is a replica of a typical merchant ship of the time.

This is the last of thirteen Custom Houses built in Salem to collect taxes on cargoes imported into the country. The oldest dates back to colonial times. The tariffs were the largest source of income for the early US government.

The Derby House, built in 1762, is the oldest brick house in Salem. It was the home of sea merchant, Elias Hasket Derby, Americas first millionaire.

This is the home of Salem native and author Nathaniel Hawthorne. He worked at the Custom House while struggling to become an author. Through his friendship with President Franklin Pierce he obtained a more lucrative job as a Surveyor. After Pierce's party lost the election Hawthorne lost his job and eventually turned this ordeal into his first novel, The Scarlet Letter.

The House of Seven Gables was owned by his cousin when it became the setting of Hawthorne's second novel. The tour of the house is very worthwhile with its secret stairs and hallways. No interior pictures were allowed.

One reason we wanted to stop in this area was to see Gini and Bob Huntley, our neighbors at the Rose Parade HOP. We visited their lovely home then went to dinner and had an enjoyable evening sharing tales of our travels. It was the third time this summer we met up with RVing friends on the road.

The Man at the Wheel statue was originally dedicated in 1923 to celebrate Gloucester's three hundredth anniversary. It is now part of a memorial to the more than 5000 Gloucester fishermen who have lost their lives at sea. Among the more recent names are the crew of the Andrea Gail who were immortalized in Sebastian Junger's book, The Perfect Storm. It is chilling to see so many names of those lost at sea from this one small town.

An old plant in scenic Gloucester Harbor.

Another town we "tried" to visit was Rockport, MA. It is another picturesque harbor town filled with shops and restaurants. Unfortunately it was so busy we were unable to find a parking spot after driving through the town three times when we finally just gave up. Despite the heat we had a great time here and plan to return in the future during the fall season in hopes of cooler weather and smaller crowds to take in more of the many, many historical sites.

On the Road Again

We ended our five week stay with an old tradition of watching both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 with Tom & Georgie. It was a great but long day and we could not hang to the end only making about 1000 miles. So after a wonderful five weeks in WashPA visiting family and friends we are on the road again. We left early Memorial Day morning with the plan of staying in a Walmart. As we got near our expected destination we decided it was way to hot and humid and if we dry camped we would have to run the generator all night so we could have AC. We ended up paying and staying at the Lickdale Campground in Jonestown, PA. It was a nice place but we did not drink the kool aid.

We wanted to collect some new states for our map and "our rule" is we have to spend a night, so the next day we stayed at the Cedar Ridge Campground in Montague, NJ. It was a short drive which gave us a good part of the day to explore the area including the Delaware River Gap National Recreation Area. This is one of those places that made us wish we had kayaks. There are many places to launch a boat and a float trip would be a great way to get up close with the land and water along a stretch of river with very few houses. We did a short hike in the park to see two waterfalls. We also went to Grey Towers in Milford. It is the family home of Gifford Pinchot, a former Pennsylvania governor and head of the US Forest Service. We got to tour the grounds but were too late to tour the house. Once again this is an excuse to return.

On day three we traveled in six states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, which is something we have never done in the motorhome. The drive was only 235 miles so it was not really a big deal but driving that distance out West rarely gets you into two states so we thought it was pretty cool. We stayed one night at Hidden Acres Camping in Dummerston, VT and were able to add another state. We plan on getting MA, CT and RI on the return trip. At Hidden Acres we spent the evening with our RV neighbors, Jim & Gina Portesi, who have only been fulltiming a short while in their new to them Dutch Star. We had a great evening sharing stories of our adventures.

On day four we drove to Pine Knoll Campground in Albany, NH, another new state, where we are staying for three days to explore the White Mountains. We will be cover that in our next blog.

The Delaware River at the Gap. It looks very inviting. We crossed several big rivers (Monongahela, Youghiogheny, Susquehanna, Delaware, Hudson & Connecticut) the last four days. They are all bigger than most of the western waterways we have seen.
A small forest lined stream in the Gap.

Silverthread Falls is the second highest in Pennsylvania. The rock looks like it was carved by people not mother nature.

Dingmans Falls is a beautiful cascade of water.

A interesting toad who was not interested in us.

Pinchot's Grey Towers is administered by the Forest Service rather than the Park Service.

Some of the garden at Grey Towers