April 6: Since most of Naomi’s family will be there, we are heading for Boston for Passover. Chuck’s family live in Deep River Connecticut, only 2 hours drive from Boston, so we decided to go there for the weekend, leave the RV and the dog and then head for Boston by car. In Boston we will stay in a hotel.
Deep River is about a 6 hour drive from State College – too much to do in one day in the RV. Appointments in State College kept us busy from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, but we decided we could pack up and put in a couple of hours of driving before it got dark.
This is a route we know well, as we have been driving to CT from home at least twice annually since 2001. There are several RV parks about 1.5 hours from State College, and that seemed like a good stopping point.
What we did not count on is that in the northeast, the camping season has not yet begun. We were not able to contact the manager of an “open” campground – with no-one on the site she closed up the office to attend to some personal business and did not get back to us until very late – and the other campground was not yet open. Chuck’s “Overnight” app saved the day by finding a service center that has overnight parking.
There are several businesses with large parking lots that will allow RVs to spend the night usually for free. This includes some Walmarts, Cracker Barrel restaurants, and truck stop service plazas like Flying J. Lots of experienced RV people do the north-south route with few stops between, and use these parking lots as quick and cheap overnights.
We pulled into a huge Flying J (gas, diesel, truck repair shop, store, driver services, church, Subway, restaurant …) and after some meandering around, found their free RV parking. This did not include water, hook-up or sewer, but we can be quite self-sufficient for several days. And all truck stops include restrooms and showers.
We made up for the free overnight by having supper and breakfast at the restaurant. The latter was a very good value – $25 covered dinner and tip for both of us including entree, soup and salad bar and dessert bar. (So much for my weight control plan.) As only a ditch separated us from the highway, and trucks were constantly arriving at and leaving the Flying J, it was a bit noisy. However, I slept well until in an early morning bathroom run I stepped on the dog (who then demanded his morning walk).
In the truck stop, there was no room to use the slide-out. This is not a problem for basic living – everything but the dresser drawers is still accessible. However, Rumple likes to sleep as close as he can get (and he is not allowed on the bed). With no floor space in the bedroom, I put a rug down in the bathroom for him. Stretched out, he pretty much fills the entire bathroom floor, so I guess a conflict between my feet and Rumple was inevitable.
The next day we had a doable 4.5 hour drive to Deep River – in theory. In practice, the highway goes through Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford, any of which can create congestion. This time it was Waterbury. However, despite that, we got to Chuck’s parents home by about 6 (so we were on the road for about 7.5 hours).
All of Chuck’s 4 siblings live close to the parental home, and it was only a few minutes before his youngest sister Karen showed up – having seen the RV in the driveway while coming home from coaching high school softball.
We decided to cook, shower, etc in the house, but sleep in the RV. This avoids any problems with Rumple wandering loose around the house. (Our previous dog chewed up a window sill and since then our dogs have been canus-non-gratus in the house.)
30 years ago, Chuck’s parents purchased an old factory mill on a stream that goes to the Connecticut River, and converted it into a unique house. The stream actually has 3 waterfalls that were built to control the flow for the original water-powered equipment. (It was some type of iron foundry, as evidenced by the large quantity of iron scraps found by Chuck’s parents around the property and particularly by the chimney where the forge stood.) The house, which was built around the factory building, takes advantage of the stream. The kitchen windows overlook the 2nd waterfall, and the upper walk-out deck is over the lower and most turbulent falls. The bottom deck is less accessible and less used. At one time, the lower falls was used to generate hydro-electricity. The equipment was still there when the property was purchased (from the son of George Spratt who worked with the Wright brothers and developed much of the wind tunnel technology for which they took credit). Chuck’s father, who has great engineering skills and loves to tinker with old equipment considered reconstructing the generating plant but the cost/benefit ratio proved poor – especially with other interesting projects that could be done.
In any case, for us being at the property is like being at a lovely resort. If it is chilly, we can sit in the kitchen and watch the water from there. If it is warm, we can sit on the deck. And all the sibs are in and out of the house.
Chuck’s sister and brother-in-law kindly offered to look after Rumple while we are in Boston. Their dog seems to have decided that Rumple is no threat to his territory, so Rumple has a home for a few days.
By the time we had had a cup of tea and supervised the doggy introductions, Chuck’s youngest brother Scott and wife Michelle were already at the house wanting to see the RV. Chuck then went to their house for lunch before heading out to the local high school to cheer on the softball team Karen coaches.
No-one would ever call me a clean-freak, but after several RV pack-ups in the rain, I was eager to wash carpets and floors, with lots of time for things to dry. So, I hung out at the RV and vegged out, until dinner at a BBQ restaurant with Karen and boyfriend Ed.
Sunday was more family visits, including Chuck’s brother Craig and also cooking day. I made 3 kugels (potato, zucchini and apple) for the seder. Unfortunately, a leak in the kitchen sink complicated things, but it was nice to be working in a full-sized kitchen again.
A kugel is a generic name for a savory loaf. It usually has a starch as the base (e.g. potato, matzah crackers, rice, noodles) some other ingredients mixed in and everything held together with eggs. They can be sweet or savory or both. The classic kugel (which I have never made) is a sweet kugel made from egg noodles, cottage cheese and sugar. Kugels are usually eaten as a vegetable or starch with the main part of the meal, not as dessert.
In the morning, we packed up the car with food, cooking utensils and our overnight gear, locked up the RV in the driveway, dropped Rumple at Deb’s house and hit the road for Boston.