We left Cleveland behind us and followed highway 90 along Lake Erie into Pennsylvania. We looked into taking a detour to overnight at Niagara Falls, but we weren’t confident about where we could park the rig for the night, so we made a right and headed east across the bottom of New York state. A couple of hours later we stopped for the night at a Pilot Travel Center in Bath, NY. We got a good night’s sleep, and Suebee enjoyed a nice walk in the morning before we hit the road.

Driving through New York was fantastic. The scenery was phenomenal, the roads well maintained, and they had lots of rest areas along the way. We passed within striking distance of the finger lakes, and many other places we intend to visit in a future trip. We went off-highway after Albany, and took the scenic route into southern Vermont. We drove through Green Mountain National Forest, and really got a first hand look at why Vermont is called “The Green Mountain State.” We also narrowly avoided tragedy – there we were, all eight tons of us barreling down the mountain around a blind curve just inches from the opposing traffic when there in the middle of the road was an novice backpacker. With a pack about twice her size, she seemed blissfully unaware of her own two feet being on the road and not on the trail. I was able to safely take about a foot and a half of the oncoming traffic lane, and also blow my horn so that the hiker spun around and just-in-time turned her giant pack out of the road (even though her body was still on it). We took a pit stop shortly thereafter so I could vent for a few moments about how careless people can be, before continuing on towards New Hampshire.

We spent the rest of the day making our way across New Hampshire. We met a friend for dinner and enjoyed the best Thai food that Dover has to offer, and after parting ways we did something we hadn’t done since leaving home…we traveled on highway 95. In all it’s congested glory, I-95 was everything was exactly as we’d left it four months prior; we crossed into Maine and soon arrived at a travel center ready for another night’s rest. We woke up early and started our day with five dollar coffees, and then set off on a walking adventure to make use of a laundromat in a hilly New England fishing town, and even came across a flock of wild turkeys. Mornin’ Chorin’ accomplished, we pointed the truck north and made our way up the coast the rest of the way to Bangor.

We had an invitation to stay with family during our visit to Maine, parking our camper in the side yard between the house and a row of boulders. It was for sure the tightest spot we’ve ever backed in to. Kristin and I had to break out the two-way radios and make four very calculated attempts to get it just right. We finally got the rig shoehorned in with just enough space on each side to walk around. After we got set up, we walked down to the lake to enjoy the view, and I even had my coffee out on the dock a couple mornings.

We had a real blast in Maine. We got to spend time with family, drive through Stephen King’s neighborhood like total creepers, and spend some quality time on our bikes (Kristin on her bicycle and me on the mini-bike). For Kristin’s birthday I really wanted to find her the gravel bike she’d been dreaming about, but they’re just not available due to pandemic related supply chain shortages. I called every bike shop in Maine and none of them could do anything to help, except for Sidecountry Sports in Rockland Maine. Sidecountry didn’t have any of the Salsa Cycles that Kristin has set her mind on, but they did have a gravel frame in her size, and the willingness to source the parts to build her a completely custom bike! We hung out in the store all evening while Kristin worked with Matt and Harvey picking out everything from the tires, gears, and handlebars to the neon green grip tape and hot pink pedals. A few days later we made to trek back down to Rockland so Kristin could take her new bike, MAM, for a test ride. Kristin came back from her test ride smiling from ear to ear and we loaded her in the truck and headed back to Bangor.

I’m a huge nerd, and I get nerdy with various hobbies and interests – like RV’s, Solar Power, Mobile Broadband, etc… Being a nerd myself, it’s been really fantastic watching Kristin completely nerd out with her new bike. This bike is awesome! She’s way faster on it, and it’s purpose built for the type of gravel racing she’s into. What’s also cool is that some gravel trails also allow motorized vehicles, so I can go with her on the mini-bike more often and we get to explore together. She picked out some really cool parts, too – like a “one by” gear setup, so the front crankset only has one gear, while the rear cassette is huge and covers all the ratios she’ll need. She also got these really great tubeless tires, that have an internal self-healing coating that seals small punctures instantly (for big ones she has a really sweet plug kit). She also got neon-green grip tape, which looks absolutely stellar on the bike despite not being “matchy-matchy”.

The real draw for us to come to Bangor was to attend the wedding of Kristin’s cousin. The family that wasn’t already local all arrived, and everyone dressed to the nines and showed up to give the happy couple a fine send-off into their new marriage. We stayed out far too late (but not as late as some) and really enjoyed the privilege of being part of the celebration. We woke up the next day, and it was time to pack up again. With many thanks to Kristin’s family for hosting us, we hitched up and hit the road again.

A few hours later and we were in New Hampshire, at a little RV resort on the Squamscott River. We really enjoyed it there, but we could only stay a few days due to the high demand at campgrounds brought on by the beautiful weather. We packed up again mid-week and went to a secluded little state park with tall pines and a small pond. The campground was really nice, and we even got to make a friendly acquaintance with another full-time RV couple who have been on the road about as long as we have. They spotted Kristin’s new bike while walking their dogs, and we got to chatting and found out just how much we had in common. We had booked the rest of August at the state park, but there ended up being a couple minor issues. The first, which is just a fact of life, was an unrelenting swarm of very persistent mosquitoes. The second was that the tall pines weren’t allowing much sun to hit our solar panels, and we were having to run the generator for about four hours a day to keep to meet our power needs.

Before we left the state park though, Hurricane Henri came through. We decided to play it by ear, since we can always pack and go with little notice, but ALL of our neighbors left. We ended up staying as it turned out to be just heavy rain by the time it got to us, but it was creepily quiet when we woke up. Suebee and I went out to inspect the grounds and found that we were alone.

Kristin looked up some camping further north and we headed up into Vermont and spent the last ten days of our New England adventure in the Northeast Kingdom. It turns out Vermont was like hitting a home run for us. We both really liked Vermont and we got to enjoy fantastic weather, phenomenal scenery, the easy pace of small town life, and some absolutely bangin’ homemade donuts every weekend. Pretty much everywhere you turn there’s a picturesque mountain with a ultra-clear creek running by, or farmers marked with just exactly what you need. There’s also no shortage of bike trails all around, which made Kristin very happy, and there are literally apple trees everywhere. On at least one occasion we pulled over, plucked an apple right off a branch, and went right on down the road with a tasty snack.

I think we were both a little sad to wave goodbye to the Northeast Kingdom when it was finally time to pull up the jacks and go, but home is wherever we park it, so I’m sure we’ll make our way there again.

Until next time,
-Adam