Haven't blogged in a little over a week.
We arrived at Coldbrook RV Resort in Barre (pronounced 'Berrie'), Massachusetts on Thursday, June 7 and left this morning, Friday, June 15. It was one month ago today that we pulled out of the RV storage facility in Manassas, Va.
We really enjoy the time we spend traveling in the coach. In fact, the more time we spend on the road the more we look forward to selling or leasing our townhouse and spending all our time living and traveling in the coach.
The other day someone was asking me about the amount of space inside our coach.
I was just looking at the brochure for our 2011 Winnebago 42qd and the square footage isn't shown in the specs. I like knowing the various measurements, weights, capacities etc. of our rig and keep meaning to measure the floor space - maybe I'll get out the tape measure tomorrow.
Here's a diagram of the layout.
With the three slides extended, there's more than enough room for two adults, a golden retriever and a crazy-ass little shichon to peacefully coexist. As soon as she stops latching onto Travis' tail and 'getting him going' it'll be even better.
But I digress...
One reason for our northeastern excursion was the wedding of my sister's oldest son, Nick. The wedding took place last Saturday, June 9. Both my kids and their fiances flew up for the occasion - so in addition to celebrating the marriage of my nephew (their cousin) it was a wonderful opportunity for family members who had not yet met Andy and Molly - to do so.
The wedding came off without a hitch. Well, there was the intended 'hitching', which was quite lovely and perfectly executed. Everyone had a great time at the reception, where there was plenty of dancing, socializing and all the attendant festivities associated with such an occasion. At one point during the celebration it was requested that all married couples take the dance floor. As the music played the DJ asked that all couples married for less than five years take their leave - then ten years - then fifteen...etc. Suzanne and I were the last couple standing - winning a gift certificate and a bottle of wine in honor of our 38 years of marriage.
So that was fun.
Aaron and Molly won a lottery scratch ticket in some sort of contest/game.
At first they were excited...
Then, not so much...
Suzanne and me with our kids, my mom, and future son-in-law and daughter-in-law
I told my brother Jim's stepson, David that I'd mention him in my next blog. Here's your shout-out, David! I'm a man of my word. Seriously, it was good seeing you. Come down to Virginia and visit sometime!
Aaron and Molly spent Saturday and Sunday nights in the coach with us. On Sunday, Allie and Andy joined us at the coach for breakfast then drove to Boston for a Red Sox game and to visit with friends before flying back home. Aaron, Molly, Suzanne & I drove to Concord where we walked around Walden Pond, visited the Louisa May Alcott house, dined at the Colonial Inn and explored an historic cemetery - a fun and interesting afternoon.
Molly & Suzanne preparing breakfast Sunday Morning
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, we stayed in the area at Coldbrook RV (not-a) Resort until Friday (today) - spending time with my mom, brothers and sister and their spouses. It's been a year since we last saw each other so it was great to catch up and spend some quality family time. We're a pretty close bunch and always have a good time when we get together.
Yesterday I installed a Weboost Drive 4G-X in the coach. It's an antenna/booster gadget that significantly increases cell signals. Suzanne depends on strong cell signals when using our hotspot for work related internet connectivity. We also watch shows on Netflix with some regularity. The installation was pretty straight ahead. Planning the routing of the cables and location of the components took more time than the actual installation. It was very cool to see the substantial increase in signal strength when I plugged it in! It'll be even cooler when we're able to get a signal in a location where we would otherwise have no signal.
Our next purchase is going to be a Garmin Truck Navigation device. We've had too many stressful navigational experiences - today being one. While following Google Maps directions I had to make a last minute detour to avoid a 12' 6" overpass (the coach is 12' 11"). Luckily, I spotted the height sign in time to make the only turn possible (in a busy downtown location) in order to avoid an embarrassing situation. I'm confident I wouldn't have attempted driving under the bridge - I would have recognized the potential problem without having seen the sign. But unhooking from the car and getting turned around in a busy part of town wouldn't have been a whole lot of fun.
There's an in-dash bus-specific navigation device in the coach but it sucks. It's taken us on a few wild goose chases and has, on more than one occasion, asked us to make U-turns where U-turns aren't an option.
So, we are now at Ellis-Haven Campground in Plymouth, Massachusetts where we will remain for the next seven or eight days. For a couple of those days it'll be just me and the dogs as Suzanne has to fly to Newark, NJ for meetings & such. Upon her return, we'll head for the coast of Maine for a week of seafood and recreation.
Thanks for reading the blog!
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