3 Ponds (Sept. 3)
The remnants of Hurricane Harvey arrived in the early morning, bringing the sound of rain to the RV roof. Despite this, the morning started off well – Rumple slept in (so we all slept in) and Ed and Karen arrived with fresh chocolate croissants.
With all the sand brought into the RV from the campground and beaches, I decided to do a thorough inside cleaning during our take-down. Between that and our sleep-in, we left the campground a bit later than the rest of the family, planning, like them, to hook the car up about a half mile down the road at the Salt Pond Interpretative Center.
When we got to the Center, we found that Chuck’s parents were still there, with a flat tire on the RV. Apparently the RV wheels have special lugs, and the place that responded to their call did not have the appropriate tools. The person who did have the tools was on vacation. The final result – they were stuck at the Center until after 5:00 waiting for assistance, and ended up returning to the campground for another night. They made it home safely the next day.
Expecting that it would be only a short wait until the tire was changed, we stayed at the Center for about an hour and carried on. It was a very slow drive out of the Cape, with construction and bridge traffic creating a lot of congestion. (There is only one bridge off the Cape – if there is ever a need to evacuate the 200,000 people who live there it will be a nightmare. ) When we got to the mainland, Google maps misdirected us, which meant we ended up doing a U-turn – not easy with the RV towing a car. However, once we were finally on the right road, things went well despite the persistent rain and high humidity sometimes fogging the windows.
We planned to stay near Durham, NH just outside of Portsmouth, where our niece Jill (Karen’s daughter) is studying engineering. However, we ended up staying a bit farther out, a 3 Ponds Campground – named after the 3 spring-fed ponds on the property.
It is a pretty spot, with both forested and open sites. The largest pond is big enough for a bit of sailing and has a small beach. There is a short dog walk through the woods.
Unfortunately for the many seasonal campers, the 87-year-old owner has decided that she will retire after next summer. Since the land is quite valuable, it is unlikely that a new owner will continue the business.
Many of the seasonals have put in quite elaborate gardens and other additions, and undoubtedly will be very sad to need to relocate. (However, we agree that someone who is 88 deserves the chance to retire.)
The owners had an interesting idea for a sandbox. A bit expensive though, unless the canoe was unrepairable. (We also saw a kayak used as a planter – same comment.)
At the end of the dog walk there is a sign warning that you are entering private property with “active wildlife control”. I have no idea what this means. However, at several times during our stay I heard what sounded like multiple gunshots. The wildlife will need to take their chances without me and Rumple.
When we arrived it was raining hard and we got soaked doing basic set-up. (Chuck also got soaked in the morning during take-down, and again when we hooked up the car.) We both needed a complete change to dry clothes.
We planned to take Jill to dinner, and were quite surprised when she did not respond to our texts. She finally got hold of us at 7:30 — leaving her apartment to take out the garbage, around 4, she did not take her phone or her key. Unfortunately, the door locked behind her and she was not able to get back in until a roommate showed up.
We had dinner at Libby’s in downtown Durham. They have great nachos, and are now tied with the place at Tybee Island for 2nd place in my nacho taste-off. I will need to visit both places closer in time to make a decision to break the tie. (Sorry to the Pearl – you are now at best in 4th place.) No revisiting until I lose about 20 pounds, though.
Jill seems to have had a great summer internship and is bubbling with ideas for what to do with her next two years of engineering. It is great to see someone with this much enthusiasm for her studies. She is also an incredible time manager – playing softball club sport, which is 2 practices during the week and all day Saturday.
It has become quite chilly at night, but we have not yet needed to use our heater. However, taking Rumple for night-time walks, which has become necessary more often, now requires dressing warmly. Although the rain stopped before he needed to be taken out, the humidity was so high that I could see my breath, even though the temperatures were in the 50s.
We awoke to a beautiful morning, with blue skies and very little breeze. We are staying around the campground today to deal with our mail, work and other practicalities. We will be back in the area when Jill graduates, and do our sightseeing then.
We did very little. Chuck read and had a short sail. I walked and worked on the blog.
In the morning we did quite a few chores before leaving. In particular, I needed to visit the pharmacy to pick up a prescription refill before we headed to Canada (as the prescription goes only to a particular US chain that does not have a branch near our remaining US stops). I thought that while I was there, I would get a flu shot, as this is promising to be a bad flu season. It turns out, however, that my insurance will cover the shot only if it is given at a “clinic”. Some pharmacies have clinics (e.g. several in State College) but not this one. We’ll see if there is a place to get the shots at our last US stop.