Chatfield Hollow State Park

Chatfield Hollow State Park

 There is another state park near where we are staying so we decided to go have a look.  It is closed to traffic for the season but we were allowed to park and walk in.  There are a lot of hiking trails and we hiked over the river and thru the woods.

Swampwalk

This is not a big park but it was lovely.  After hiking the woods for a while we found the "swampwalk".... a boardwalk that weaves in and around a swampy wooded area.  Nothing exciting to look at other than swampy brush and water but it was kinda neat anyway.

Later, we met up with our daughter, Teresa, when she got off work and we went to a coffee shop and visited for a short while before she had to go on to a planned event.  We'll see her again tomorrow and the weekend. 

Gillette Castle State Park

Frost again this morning!  But it should be warming up the rest of this week.  The office was closed when we got here yesterday so we found the caretaker and he said we could stay for a week and gave us a discounted weekly rate.  He also mentioned that they were advertising on the radio for those areas that are still without electricity that they can come here because there is electricity and gasoline around here, so he is expecting more campers will show up.  Right now this RV park is rather empty.

Gillette Castle

Not far from us is Gillette Castle.  This is a mansion that was built in 1914 by William Gillette, an eccentric actor known for playing Sherlock Holmes on stage.  It now belongs to the State of Connecticut and is a State Park.  This was closed for the season so we could not go inside, but we could walk around the grounds.


Side View of Gillette Castle

They say the inside is just as eccentric as the outside.  It was built with rock from the area and is high upon a hill overlooking the Connecticut River. The ground and the house are currently undergoing some maintenance and restoration.

View from Gillette Castle

The view from the Gillette Castle was quite spectacular, too bad I can't get it all in the camera.  In this picture, on the river below, you can see a small ferry boat that carries your car across the river to see the Castle.

After seeing the house we went for a drive around the country.  It was a lovely drive, but the roads were narrow and windey, good thing to have the car as the RV would never make it.

Oh look!  Gillette Castle State Park Recycles!













Full Tummy

Propane Fill

It was another freezing night, but we kept warm with lots of blankets and an occasional run of our generator to power the electric heaters.  We spent the night in a Walmart Parking lot and were joined by another RV similar to ours as well as an auto transport truck who needed sleep.  Our first stop as we headed out was at a nearby propane dealer to fill our tank, so now we're good to go.

Winter is Here

As we were leaving Massachusetts we saw many tree trimming trucks again, as well as pickup trucks with generators in the back, and all sizes of snow blowers.  The pickup in this picture has at least three generators in the back.  The power is still out in much of this part of the country.  We're hearing reports of school closings until Monday. 

Hammonasset Beach

We managed to find a campground that was still open, although they said they will be turning off the water and officially shutting down for the season later this week.  I hope they let us stay thru the weekend as we want to visit with Teresa.  She's busy with classes and work during the week.  A weekend visit would be nice.  We filled up our water tank just in case we have to leave, at least we will be prepared.  There's always Walmart.  The couple in the RV next to us said they live in the Boston area, which is only a few hours away from here, and they were here because they don't have any power in their neighborhood yet.

Remains of Boardwalk

Located on the south coast of Connecticut on Long Island Sound, is Hammonasset State Park.  It was not open for camping but we stopped and had lunch and went for a walk there before we found the other campground.  We had walked this beach back in July.  At that time there was a nice boardwalk a long distance along the beach and several nice bathhouses.  Hurricane Irene came thru here the end of August this year and took out the boardwalk and damaged the bathhouses and left a mess in the sand. 




Sad to say no pictures today.

We were up early and drove the car to Concord, New Hampshire, to visit our son, Eric, and his girlfriend, Danielle.  The drive up there was pretty, and the roads were clean and dry.  There was still quite a lot of snow in the road ditches and in the trees, and we could see lots of broken trees along the sides of the road.  I bet we saw 50 tree service vehicles out and about.  It was a nice visit, out for lunch, did some shopping, then out for dinner before heading back to the RV.

We are hearing reports of school closures and now they have actually cancelled Halloween!  Not so much because of the snow but because so many are still without electric service.

We stopped at a gas station in town to buy gas for the car and they didn't have any!!  One half of Concord was without electricity so everyone went over to the other side to buy their gas.  Oh well, we made it back home with a little to spare. I'm sure they are not all out everywhere.  Will have to find some tomorrow, as well as the propane we still need.  It's been freezing at night, so we have used up the propane that runs the furnace.  We have a generator that runs off gas from our gas tank, so we can get by with that for now.  At least the RV has an almost full tank of gas.

Snow Storm

The Beginning

 Lucky us.  There was a major snow storm in the northeast United States.  We were right in the middle of it.  We were ready for 4-7 inches of heavy wet stuff.  It was a bit disappointing in the morning to find not so much.  We scraped the snow off the car and head out on the road again.

Line for Gas

We kept hearing news reports of how much snow was around.  Some areas really got it bad.  There were loads of trees down and many towns without power.  We are seeing reports of school closings for Monday, not because of slippery roads or visibility, but because of no electricity.



Gas for Generators



Some of the Travel Plaza's along the I-90 Tollway had electricity, while the surrounding towns had none so the locals were lining up out here to buy their gas for their cars and for their generators.

Because the RV parks and campgrounds are closed for the season around here it is getting difficult to find a place to get water to fill our supply tank and we are running low on propane.   The propane we should be able to find tomorrow if there is any left!!  We stopped at a few propane suppliers and they had lines of people exchanging or filling their little tanks.  

Sarasota Spa State Park

It's a cold and windy day.  30 degrees this morning, and 3 to 7 inches of heavy wet snow in the forecast for this evening.  Cindy took us out to Sarasota Spa State Park to show us the sights.  That is a National Historic Landmark, a fancy schmancy spa built in the 1930's and currently being revitalized.  There happened to be an old car show there this day, as well as a huge College Cross Country Finals.  Here are some pictures from the day.

Albany, NY

New York

There is still some color left in the landscape in this part of the country.  We are too late for the best part, maybe next year we can catch it.

It was 27 degrees when we got up this morning and frost on the ground, but the roads were not icy at all.  We drove to near Albany, where my friend, Cindy, lives.  We had a nice supper with her and her husband at TGIFriday's and a nice visit.

Word is there is 2 to 4 inches of wet heavy snow on the way tomorrow.

Oh, and about the recycling..I saw no sign of any recycling efforts at any of the rest areas we stopped at in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New York.  tsk tsk tsk

New York

The first thing we saw on the road early this morning was the remains of a car transport and it's load of (I think) 8 cars all burned up on the side of the road.  Crews were cleaning up the mess and directing traffic.  It must have just happened during the night as one lane was closed and traffic was backed up for miles.   Unfortunately no picture as it was in the oncoming lane and went by too quickly for me to get the shot.

It rained all the rest of the day until we stopped for the night, then it quit.  The forecast for tonight is for a hard freeze that will put an end to the growing season.  Maybe even some snow.  We'll see in the morning.

Marble Looking Out Window

Marble has been a very good passenger, staying on the bed all day long and sometimes looking out the window.  She's really not too interested in what's going on outside.

We are now just east of Buffalo, NY.  Tomorrow we will find my friend, Cindy, and have a visit with her for a while.

Indiana



On The Road Again, blah blah blah
More driving today, no sight seeing.  We made it as far as
South Bend, Indiana.  Spending the night in a
Walmart parking lot, but that's ok.  I have TV, and internet, and
there is shopping....what more do I need?

In all fairness to Wisconsin, I will report that Illinois also recycles.
However, only aluminum.

We're Off!!!



And We're Off!!

Packing took longer than we expected.  Just when we think we have it all, we remember more things.  We spent the night in the RV last night as a trial run to see what we might have missed.  Everything looked good, and by the time we got really ready to go it was about 10:00 a.m.
The drive was rather uneventful, just freeway driving, nothing much to look at.

It's been a nice cool day, good day for a drive.  But we were tired from the packing and a restless sleep, so we didn't get as far as we planned.  We are just north of Madison, Wisconsin, and it's getting dark so we are parked for the night.  My Internet connection is very slow here and I'm running on battery power so I have to make this a quick post.


Wisconsin Recycles!

Wisconsin Recycles!  I had to mention it and give them credit for doing so.  I remember on our travels last year there are many states that do not recycle at their rest areas.  Yay for Wisconsin!  We'll see how the other states are doing this year.