Trip Update May-Nov 2018 Part 3 New England and PA

Acadia NP

View from Cadillac Mountain

We crossed the border and headed for Acadia NP. Late September is still a very busy time of year there and we could not get a camp site in the park. Fortunately, we could take the shuttle around the park, because parking was impossible. After several days of hiking we relocated to Bangor, where we found the City Forest, a great park with lots of hiking/biking trails. We stayed at Mt Blue SP, before we reached Grafton Notch SP. Here we met some through hikers who had about three weeks left before completing the Appalachian Trail.  I was surprised to find out that one of the hikers, instead of surviving on trail food, was eating pizza every day.   At least he didn’t have to worry about getting fat.

Grafton Notch SP, ME

Lake Groton VT

Rock Art in Barre, VT

We drove to VT and camped at Groton Forest CG. In addition to hiking here, we went into nearby Barre, VT and took a tour of the Rock of Ages Quarry and Factory and the VT Granite Museum. Interestingly, all of the granite quarries in VT are owned by foreign companies. We walked through Hope Cemetery, which had more than its share of unusual and decorative headstones.

Moss Glen Falls, VT 

We got out of the RV and stayed at Smuggler’s Notch Mountain Resort for a week. We had stayed at this timeshare before in the springtime and wanted to return in the Fall because there was so much hiking you could do right on the resort property. The fall colors were at their peak while we were there (second week of September). One evening we drove to Hyde Park to see the production of “All Shook Up” (an Elvis tribute). We were close to Stowe and did some shopping and dining there. We went to Moss Glen Falls and Sterling Falls Gorge, which was a beautiful hike.

Lincoln Woods, NH

Fall Colors in NH

We left VT and headed SE to the South Mountain Resort, a timeshare in Lincoln, NH in the White Mountains. The leaves were near the end of the peak season here, but beautiful weather brought hordes of visitors to the area. There were traffic jams that extended for miles and parking at trail heads was non-existent. By Monday the weather turned wet, cold and windy and the day-trippers had cleared out. Unfortunately, the weather stayed nasty all week and we even had some snow! We were glad we were not in the RV that week. We tried unsuccessfully to get some work done on the RV at Camping World in Conway, but after diagnosing the problem with our levelers, they didn’t have the parts on hand. 

Rocky Gorge, NH

Flight 93 National Memorial, PA

We left the White Mountains and headed to Elkhart, IN to get RV work done at the Phoenix Cruiser Factory. We detoured down to York, PA to put stuff in storage, so the RV would not be overly cluttered when they gutted it for repairs/upgrades. Our first stop was Hampton Beach SP in NH. It was right on the ocean and we did some beach walks. Few campgrounds are open in late October in the North East, but we found an open KOA in NY so we headed there. We expected a near empty campground and were surprised to find the place packed. A Halloween Party was in full swing and we were lucky to get the last available site. In York, we met Linda and Rick for dinner before hitting the turnpike. We stopped in Somerset, PA and went to the Flight 93 National Memorial. We had visited this site a few years prior and the was a small memorial there. Now the Flight 93 NM covered 2200 acres. The only part not completed was the installation of the bells in the Bell Tower. The next day we took a side trip to Ohiopyle, PA and toured Kentuck Knob, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Ohiopyle Falls, PA

Kentuck Knob, PA 

At Elkhart, we dropped our RV off at the factory and drove 3 hours south to visit Phil and Connie, who live outside Indianapolis. We took a drive on Rt 40 and did some antiquing. We also visited with Steven, Shannon and Jamison and saw their big house. We drove back to Elkhart assuming the work would be done in about two days. However, the parts person had been out with the flu and the parts were delayed a couple days. Finally, the parts were installed and we were back on the road, about two days later than expected. That night we stayed at an Ohio turnpike rest area RV facility. There were no trees or trails, but it had every thing else you would find at a full-service campground - all for $20/night! After a night at Shawnee SP in PA, we reached Ramblin Pines CG in Woodbine, MD where we would stay for 4 weeks before heading to Myrtle Beach, SC for a Habitat for Humanity house build.

Sunset