I failed to mention that getting out of Minnesota was a bit of an issue. My flight from MSP to ORD on the day I was supposed to leave was delayed and then delayed and then delayed again. I ended up spending another night in Minnesota and leaving the next day. The next flight took me through DC where I grabbed a picture of the Washington Monument.
The park and ride where I had left my car was gracious enough to give me the extra night for free, so there was a plus side. The pet sitter I booked through Rover.com was also accommodating and adjusted her schedule, so she could stop in to see Arthur. And, well, another night in MN is never a bad thing.
On a sunny weekend in late August, I went on a boat cruise off the Erie Canal. I guess I never realized how long the canal is, but I saw part of it, heard the Erie Canal song, and saw some wildlife. I didn’t spend as much time in Rochester itself as I thought I would, but this was a nice overview. I sat my a nice couple for part of the trip, and they were very positive about the Rochester area and the sites we saw while on the cruise.
Arthur did ok in Irondequoit. He spent a lot of time under the covers and playing with his toys. He took very good care of me, especially after I wounded myself.
So, I burned myself on the stove when I was taking a pizza out of the oven and somehow bruised myself at some point. The burn is healing nicely, and the bruise disappeared quickly. 🍫🍫 YAY for another scar?
I was glad we were able to make this stop in the Rochester area. It was a nice-sized area, and the people I met were all very kind and approachable, but it didn’t feel like home.
Our next stop, for seven whole months, is Orchard Park, NY. Yes, the home of the Buffalo Bills. Yes, one of the snowiest places in the NE. I’m looking forward to calling a place home for that length of time and having a stable location for Arthur.
I’m in New York – not that part of New York though. NYC is great, and it’s beautiful in its own way, but ol’ Ms Haps isn’t really city gal anymore, so I’m spending a lot of my time in northern NY. To start, I had some time to kill before I moved to the Buffalo area, so I decided to spend some time in Rochester – more specifically Irondequoit. I found this great AirBnB garage apartment for late July through early September. It was really nice to be in a residential neighborhood again and not in an apartment complex.
I decided not to unpack everything from the car. I had purposefully packed the fall/winter clothes in separate bins from the summer/spring and left those in the back of the car. I tried not to unpack too much either since we were there for about five weeks.
Arthur settled in pretty quickly, but he didn’t have a lot of windows to look out.
He had a good time playing with the fishing pole / feather and looking out the window when he wasn’t hiding under the covers for his daily naps.
One of my first adventures in Rochester was visiting the Susan B Anthony historical home. When I stayed in Syracuse last August, I had visited Seneca Falls and the Women’s Rights National Park, and I guess I missed that Susan B Anthony lived for many decades in Rochester.
The tour was good, and it was interesting to learn more about the Women’s movement, about her arrest, and her questionable stances on some issues, particularly on race and abortion. You can Google it, but in a nutshell, her efforts for white women overshadowed other important debates at the time.
In August, I attended a book club at Laughing Gull Chocolates. They choose books with a food-based theme, and in August, the book was Be Ready When Luck Happens by Ina Garten. I was able to get through about half of the book before the meeting, and it was a lively discussion with a lot of women from different walks of life in the Rochester area. It was good to get out and meet the people and have a chat about a book written by one of my favorite Food Network chefs – the Barefoot Contessa. While she did have some luck in her life, she also had a lot of opportunities. In the end, it was one of those situations where she saw it as “luck”, and the rest of us saw it as privilege with some struggles.
I also was able to plan a last minute trip to Minnesota in August as well. It’s such a great time to visit, and I was able to see my parents, spend time with friends, and go to the Great MN Get Together – the MN State Fair.
(L to R) Traffic in rural MN. One of the five beautiful lakes in my hometown. Hot tomatoes. Not pictured: the blackberry ice cream from the Dairy Freeze.
When I’m home, I always visit my grandparents at their cemeteries. I was so fortunate to have three grandparents for a lot of my life in my hometown. My dad’s mom passed away only 4 years ago at 99, and my mom’s parents were with us until 2010. Visiting them reminds me of their love and our time together and how much they poured into me, my brother, and my cousins. One of the many reasons I love returning to MN.
It’s been over a decade since I’ve been back in MN for the state fair. These are the most iconic parts of the fair for me – the map of all there is to see, the 4-H building that I was fortunate enough to compete in, and the water tower on Snelling that announces the fair all year long.
Everyone has their favorite foods at the fair, and these are mine. (L to R) A root beer float from the 1919 Root Beer stand – a MN favorite. Sweet Martha’s Cookies from the OG stand near the 4-H building (yes, I bought a bucket). The roast corn on the cob, dipped in butter and salted and peppered. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do something dumb; I left my wallet at that stand this year. But it also wouldn’t be MN, if someone didn’t turn it in. The gal who grabbed it for me also gave me a hug – so Minnesota. 🍫🍫
(L to R) MN apples! Arts & Crafts! Tractors! When I was growing up, we had a 60, so it was great to see that model on display.
There was an evergreen competition in the Horticulture building, and this is my other favorite landmark on the fairgrounds. I got there around 7AM when the gates opened, and I was done by 11:30. It was the perfect morning.
More from NY next time – Corning, injuries, and back to a familiar routine.
In the RV, Arthur lost all concept of personal space. To be fair, there wasn’t a lot of space, but he started to sleep on my pillow while I was still sleeping on it. Most mornings, I woke up with a cat foot in my face. 😺
Leaving Pirate KS was absolutely beautiful. I can certainly see how Bella Vista got its name. Once we left what seemed like a river valley, we got hit with wind – a lot of wind. We fought the wind all the way to Iowa. Estella gave up on letting me use the cruise control, and I received the message that it was too slippery – something we hadn’t seen since the winds in Kansas almost a year ago.
We made a quick stop at a Love’s on the way for fuel and snacks, and I saw this kitty sitting outside the gas station. It looked pretty healthy overall, but it was sheltering next to the building because of the wind. Yes, I was tempted to see if it wanted to come with us, but I didn’t think Arthur would appreciate another camper in his space.
We arrived at our Boondocker’s Welcome site after driving by it and having to do a U-turn. It was easy to park and plug in, and I decided not to open the slide out because of the wind.
It was a cozy night, and Arthur found a new place to perch since we were in such tight quarters. We also saw a beautiful sunset as we ended our evening.
The next morning, we were up early and headed to get Estella checked out at Lichtsinn RV. This is our second visit since I bought her, so I had a list. The first thing on it was the fitting to the water heater. The second thing was the window that I had over-cranked months ago. The third thing was the crossbar (?) under the tanks that I was dragging around Colorado before I noticed, crawled under the RV and remove it. I also had some water damage in the bathroom for them to look at and just a basic “health check” on Estella.
Our appointment was at 7:30, and when we got there, they took her in right away. Typically, it’s a whole day visit. Last time, Arthur wasn’t with me, so this time, he got to make some new friends with the service techs and stayed in the RV while I made friends with a very cute dog in the waiting area.
I even had my favorite Kwik Star lunch from the gas station across the road.
Unfortunately, we ended up having to stay the night. On the plus side, Lichtsinn has places to park with electric service, so we had a nice evening even if it was planned. My plan had been to leave that day and get to the farm for my Dad’s 77th birthday, which was the next day. We did get to leave on his birthday, with Estella all fixed up, and were home to wish him a happy birthday in person, but it would’ve been nice to be there the whole day.
A farm morning sunrise, Estella in her outdoor spot, and a sunset on the farm.
Next up, one more post about time in MN, including two work trips and our plans for the next stage of our adventure. Stay tuned!
And, just like that, four months had flown by, and it was time for us to head back to Minnesota. I knew that this was probably not gonna go well for Arthur, so I planned a stop between Austin and Arkansas near Dallas.
So, in Austin, I had a minor disaster with the water heater. 🍫🍫🍫🍫
I first noticed the leak when I was leaving to go on a work trip, so I grabbed a bucket and put it under the van. When I got back the bucket had some water, but it wasn’t full. Of course, I looked at it when I got back to find the source of the leak. And of course, I found it and tried to fix it, which – of course – turned into me breaking it. I ordered a part and thought I could replace the broken part. I could not, so back to a life without running water. Luckily, I was able to make an appointment at Lichtsinn RV on our way back to MN.
We left Austonia on Saturday around 10AM and headed toward Dallas. Since we didn’t have far to drive, I planned for an extended stop at the George W Bush Presidential Museum.
I had lunch at the museum’s restaurant – Cafe 43. There was a really profound quote from the former president that struck a cord with me in the freedom exhibit. “I believe that freedom is a gift from God and in the hope of every human heart. Freedom inspired our founders and preserved our union through civil war and secured the promise of civil rights. Freedom sustains dissidents bound by chains, believers huddled in underground churches, and voters risk their lives to cast their ballots. Freedom unleashes creativity, rewards innovation, and replaces poverty with prosperity, and ultimately freedom lights the path to peace.” I was also impressed with how they presented the events from 9-11 – very moving.
One of the skills I’ve mastered was backing up Estella into a variety of spaces, including the one above at the GW Bush Museum. Arthur seemed to enjoy the break and hopped up onto his cat stand while we drove through the city, which was much better than his puking fit during the first 5 minutes after we left Austonia.
We ended up on 635 to reach our Boondockers Welcome site in Garland. By this time, I was exhausted, and I just wanted to rest. The hosts were very kind and suggested a walk in the neighborhood to a nearby park. It was just what I needed. It was a windy evening, and a neighbor was having a party, but it was still very quiet and restful.
The next morning, we were up early and on our way to Pirate Kansas – my nickname for ARRRRR-Kansas. 😉 The drive was really good, and Arthur did awesome. We were reminded of how great the roads are in Oklahoma and drove past a beautiful and Oklahoma’s largest lake (Eufaula Lake) as well. When you drive on roads you’ve never been on, it’s such a beautiful surprise to see lakes and mountains that you had no idea were just around the corner.
When we got to Bentonville, I stopped for supplies at Walmart because when in Rome…. Then we were off to our campsite at Blowing Springs RV Park in Bella Vista. We had a good spot near the bathrooms and trash, but not too close. There were a lot of other campers there for the biking trails. The spots were long and relatively close together but very long. The showers were fine but not memorable. I think that it was during this week that it really hit me how tired I was. We spent most of the week just working and lounging.
Arthur was able to relax and enjoyed the days when we could have the screen door open. Next stop – back to Iowa!
We woke up on Saturday outside of Columbus, GA, at a Boondockers Welcome location in Fortson. They had a great set-up with parking spot on their extended driveway by a utility shed. The host walked down to see me and brought an extension cord that I could use since the shed was a bit further than my cords would reach. We even had a nice chat. I woke up to Arthur sharing my pillow because I was late with breakfast.
Saturday was our longest drive from Fortson to Livingston Lakeside RV Resort in Louisiana – just to the east of Baton Rogue. I’d never driven across southern LA before, and it was a lot different drive than what I expected. It was amazing to drive over the waterways and see the people driving their boats and living as they normally do. Those little slices of life really make the 400+ mile journey meaningful. The RV resort was very sunny and a bit warm, but it was peaceful and safe, so well worth the side-eye looks I got. I’m guessing they don’t see a lot of Asian ladies camping with their cat in these parts. 🍫
On Sunday, we left for the last leg of our 1000 mile journey into Houston, TX. We stopped at a not-so-busy Buc-ee’s outside of Houston to fill up and head to the Laurel Springs RV Resort in the Kingwood area of Houston. As of 2023, Houston is the fourth largest metropolitan area, trailing New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but I was still surprised at the sheer size when we first arrived. It has all the things other large cities have – major highway systems, every store imaginable, many, many neighborhoods and areas. Our spot was in the northeast corner of the region and in a quiet alcove near Spring Creek.
When we arrived on Sunday, the office wasn’t open, so I had a bit of a scramble to find the email with our spot location. We easily parked and got set-up for the next two months. I wanted to winter in TX to try to escape some of the more extreme temperatures, but when we arrived in November, it was warm and humid.
Arthur was really happy in Houston. With all the driving we’d done, he deserved the rest – we all did. We did quite a bit while we were in Houston. More on that next time!
The end of my time in NC was another trip for work. Because I’ve been living out of the RV since November 2023, I had backed off the amount of work travel I was doing, but it’s picked up again, and I enjoy it. Arthur spends quality time with Estella, I get a babysitter for him, and he is really grateful when I return. For this trip, I parked in my friend’s driveway outside of Greensboro, and her kiddos helped with Arthur while I was away.
While in FL, we drove out to Bucee’s where I got a picture with Buck himself and a sticker, and the team had a night out at A Petrified Forest – a series of three haunted houses. We went on a night where the actors could touch the people walking through the trails. They had a “chicken” lanyard that you could buy if you didn’t want to be touched or frightened. This lanyard had a small rubber chicken attached. I don’t like to be scared, so I got one. Once we were in line, an employee told me to tuck it in my shirt and that the workers would just “know”. 🍫🍫 Uh, that wasn’t entirely true, but I did discover that if I employed empathy with the actors, I felt less scared. In one house, there was an actor wailing that “they” took her eyeballs, and I said, “I’m so sorry. That must be terrible.” In other another house, a guy flew down from the ceiling in a really impressive show of acrobatics, and I complimented him, “You’re doing a great job.” He must’ve seen my chicken lanyard, so he replied, “So are you.” See? Nothing to be afraid of. (I won’t mention that I had a death grip on my co-workers’ hands as we walked through.)
The flight back to Greensboro was an early one through Charlotte. Once we got on the road, we drove right past everything I just flew over. We did see some lovely fall colors, a little traffic, and some construction on our way to Gainesville, Georgia. We stayed at River Forks Park and had a gorgeous site with a lake view and one neighbor but only occasionally.
The park is on a peninsula in Lake Lanier. Little did I know that Lake Lanier has quite the past. 🍫Google it if you want to know more. There’s a lot of history and some scary stuff. It was October, so I guess I was in the right place at the right time.
I rented a car and drove into Atlanta the first weekend. As luck would have it, my cousins who I visited in Iowa, were also in Atlanta for the weekend. We met for breakfast at Hansel & Gretel Bakery Cafe and then took a walk around the Centennial Olympic Park and stopped into the small museum. We even found a hidden path to the left of the CocaCola store with sweet twinkle lights and landscaping.
My next stop was Emory University for family weekend. My MN friends’ daughter is in her first year at Emory, and they invited me to join them for some family fun. We had a great lunch, wandered around campus, and ate snacks in one of the dining halls all while the freshman told us about some of her adventures. One of the joys of this journey is seeing friends and family all over the country – even in places where I don’t normally see them.
Arthur was a big fan of our campsite, too. Between the leaves blowing and the squirrels going about their business, he was thoroughly entertained. My little pumpkin on Halloween.
One of the things I learned is that I don’t just seem fine – I am fine. I am braver than I thought, and I’m learned and growing through all the mishaps in the journey. What a blessing these months have been to remind me of what I am capable of. So, I definitely am being rather than seeming. There is no question.
Esse Quam Videri – North Carolina’s motto – all these months later is meaningful.
Before we made it to NC, we stopped in Virginia at another great Boondockers Welcome location. We were outside of Ashland and in the country. The hosts encouraged me to take a walk, and once the sun started to set, I took a nice walk down the lane.
If you’ve traveled down the east coast, you probably guessed that I was on I-95 – not my favorite stretch of road. Back in 2012, I went to Virginia to visit the Edgar Allen Poe sites in Richmond, and I got into a car accident – drunk driver ran a stop sign. I was fine, but my car was not. It ended up getting fixed in VA, so I spent a good amount of time up and down 95. This is the type of road where traffic slows for no reason and for plenty of reasons. One time, I was driving to Richmond, and traffic slowed, and then there was someone’s entire wardrobe strewn across the highway. Just another day on I-95.
We also needed to refill our propane. I don’t use it very much, but I like to have the tank full just in case. We tried two different RV dealerships – The General and Camping World, but none of them would fill our tank without a service appointment. 🍫 I ended it up at Tractor Supply, and they were great. The manager who helped me was chatty and interested in our journey. He had lived briefly in PA, so we talked about some locations, and then we were on our way.
Our camping spot was a quiet location in the Oak Hollow Campground outside of High Point. October is a great time for acorns to fall off oak trees, so the two weeks were there was filled with a symphony of pings on Estella’s roof. The name of the campground should’ve been my first clue.
When we were in MD, I also had an RV tech (Fixed It! Mobile RV Services) come out to see if he could source the water leak I was starting to see evidence of. We ran the water and ended up overflowing the grey tank without any clue where the water leak was coming from. We couldn’t find anything even after taking off the back panel and scooting under the RV. Matt, the owner of Fixed It, was a great help and felt pretty bad that we couldn’t find the source. He gave me his number and told me to call if I found the leak and was still in Maryland.
Fast forward to NC where I found that I had standing water in the basin of the shower. The litter mat under Arthur’s litter box had blocked the drain after we overflowed the grey tank. It was pretty gross, and I spent a couple of days cleaning up the mess that was left over. I ended up warping the tabletop. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 Needless to say, I spent some time chewing through the chocolate and thinking about my life decisions.
My friend and co-worker lives in NC, so we planned to take a day off and meet up for lunch and an adventure. The timing of my stop in NC was just a couple of weeks after Hurricane Helene had devastated a large portion of the state. We had talked about walking the grounds of the Biltmore, but we had scratched that idea to get tattoos even before the storm and its aftermath. I wasn’t near the area where the storms had the greatest impact by sheer luck and the desire to be close to my friend and her family.
Before tattoos, we had brunch at a Print Works Bistro in Greensboro. The mini cinnamon rolls were pretty good, but the bacon was even better.
My tattoo guy’s name was Ryan. We’d never met before, and he spent two hours creating a very elegant weeping willow branch and small blossoms on my right forearm at the Dogwood Ink Tattoo shop. His work is really impressive, and he was very patient and observant when the pain was starting to get to me. It healed really nicely. The picture on the right was about 48 hours after. I’m not sure what the overall design will be, but for now, I’m just enjoying it.
I also had a chance to tour the Blandwood Museum in Greensboro and made a stop at a great store called Cattywampus General Store outside of the city. I also discovered Chicken Salad Chick. Do you know it? If you don’t, you should. With most of their locations in the southeast, it wasn’t a restaurant that I was familiar with, but once I had some of their Cranberry Kelli chicken salad, I was hooked. When I can find it, I buy a tub, and eat chicken salad for lunch and – sometimes – dinner. If you like chicken salad, I highly recommend.
The size of the pocket doors in the Blandwood mansion were incredible. I am grateful for the preservation of these historic homes – even if the history of the families that lived in them can be questionable. It’s the glimpse into the untold stories of the past that pique my interest.
From 2012 to 2014, I lived in Maryland – Mount Washington (north of Baltimore), Columbia, and Laurel. I moved there after living in Minnesota for over 30 years, and it really became like a second home to me – new friends, new experiences, and a lot of new places to explore. Whenever I get back there, I’m flooded with great memories and time with friends.
After our stay in Bangor, we left a little earlier than we had planned and camped outside of Gardenir, ME, at another really great Boondockers Welcome location. It was a short drive, and we left after work, dumped our tanks, and headed south. There was a beautiful sunset over the banks of the Kennebec River, which I wish I could photographed – reds, oranges, pinks, and yellows mixed in with the blue sky and sparse clouds.
On Saturday, we were up early, Arthur was drugged (the only way to travel it seems), and we were driving to our stay in Connecticut – our 24th state. It’s a miracle that this doesn’t happen more often, but we got lost on the backroads of CT. 🍫 I think I misread the address, and after a long day of driving through rain and Boston traffic, I was all turned around. Luckily, our hosts were great and delayed the start of their camping trip to help us get settled in. Located outside of Ashford, I felt comforted by all the beautiful trees and our peaceful surroundings. It was a reminder that, even though we’ve been all over the country, there are probably locations that I would love to live that we didn’t visit or spend a lot of time in.
Arthur enjoyed the views, too. This is his “please stop driving” face. 🍫🍫
The next day, we were on the road early again – our final leg of the drive to MD. We really only encountered traffic around New York City. And I cannot explain the relief I felt as we drove down a familiar stretch of I-95, approaching Baltimore, and as we headed into to suburban Columbia. Driving around the country and not really knowing where you’re going wears on a person, so when the roads are familiar, the relief is real.
My friend and her foster pup, Shaq Attack, were my hosts while we were in MD. She had a great driveway where we parked. In CT, we discovered that Estella is not a fan of GCFI outlets. This didn’t seem like a big deal until it was. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 More on this later.
Action shot of Shaq Attack, playing with one of the toys I got him while I was visiting.
Part of the reason we stopped in MD was because I had a work trip, and I needed a place to park that was Arthur-friendly. During that trip, the cat sitter from Rover messaged me and said that there was a loud beeping noise, and she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. There wasn’t really anything I could do from TX, and my friend said she couldn’t hear it, so it had to wait until I got back.
Work hard. Play hard. Sweat a lot. At our staff meeting, we ventured out on a scavenger hunt (my hunting team) in the San Antonio afternoon heat (it felt like 100) and then had an 80s dance party. I hand-beaded that shirt and wore jelly shoes (neon is back!) and had a lot of fun dancing and doing karaoke and eating queso and tacos.
Back to reality in Maryland after the meeting, I came back to Estella’s house batteries completely dead. Turns out, when you don’t plug in the RV for over a week, and run the lights, the batteries die. I tried starting the engine to recharge the batteries; that didn’t help. What I didn’t remember until later was that I need the house batteries to pull the slide-out in. You may be thinking- why didn’t you just get a battery charger and trickle-charge the house batteries. I did think of that, but when I crawled under the van, the batteries were tucked up behind the rear tires, and the terminals were not visible…. I made a lot of phone calls, but I ended up solving my own problem by rigging a cord to a non-GCFI outlet in my friend’s house.
Before I go, some other highlights from my stop in Maryland.
I went to see Richard Osman speak at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg about his writing process and his new book, We Solve Murders. I grabbed lunch with a friend at Ever Grain, had lunch with another friend at Gettysburger, went to get some blood work done, went shopping, and spent some lovely evenings out in Columbia with friends, and solved the NYT Letter Boxed in two words. After the beeping while I was gone, Arthur had a great time in MD.
And one last picture of me, eating two pieces of cake, instead of dinner, with my co-worker. The strawberry cake was better.
I don’t really like maple syrup. I see recipes all the time that call for it as a sweetener, but it’s not really my thing. I do like a pancake or a waffle with a bit of butter, then peanut butter, and then I dip it in maple syrup, but that’s it. Maybe I’ve never had really good maple syrup or maybe I have something against maple trees. Just kidding. I love all trees.
After our two-week stint in New York, we headed off to the great state of Vermont for some trees and some mountains and maybe some maple syrup. It was mid-August, so I knew we wouldn’t encounter any leaf peepers (too early), and the forecast looked pretty good.
The drive was memorable – to say the least. My first clue should’ve been when we were in line to dump our tanks. There was only one RV ahead of us, so I thought we’d be on the road fairly quickly. I was wrong. In RVing, you really have to roll with the punches, especially when dealing with other campers. Typically, it’ll take me and Estella about 10 minutes to get out the waste hoses, hook-up, dump, pack up the hoses, and get on the road. Her tanks aren’t that large, so – even when full – ten minutes is generous. The couple in front of me were at the dump station before I pulled up to wait, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say they had just arrived.
They had a Class C RV, which is bigger than Estella and probably had bigger tanks than E has. Fine; it’ll take a bit longer to dump. They were there for over a half hour. The dump station – which was really well thought out – had a semi-circle drive that had a nice hedge and other foliage around it. The waiting area was just across the way and also a half circle. Like I said – a nice set-up. I could see them futzing with the waste hose – AKA the Stinky Slinky – and then came the hooking up of the car they tow behind the RV. The waste station – in all of its semi-circle glory – is not made to hook up a towable car. As you can imagine, the struggle was real – for all of us. 🍫🍫
This seems like a great time to share my Ms Haps (mishaps) rating scale. I’m using a chocolate bar (🍫) scale (🍫 = minor; 🍫🍫 = ordinary; 🍫🍫🍫 = embarrassing; 🍫🍫🍫🍫 = terrible; 🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫 = not enough chocolate in the RV to recover).
Finally on the Road
I’m far too Minnesotan to get out of my RV and tell them that the reason they are struggling to hook up their tow is because they are not in a straight line. This feels very obvious, but we weren’t in a hurry, and – sometimes – when you struggle, it’s kinda nice to see other people learning and growing as painfully as you are. Such is life.
Like I said, this situation should’ve been a sign. Our mapped drive to Shelburne, Vermont, estimated about 5 hours of travel time. This is usually a decent amount of travel for Arthur. He prefers less, but I don’t, so 5 hours is like a compromise. While absolutely lovely, it was a hilly and somewhat bumpy ride. Arthur did not do well. There was puking and peeing and overall discontent – for all involved. 🍫🍫🍫🍫
We arrived at the Shelburne Camping Area after making one pitstop. The RV park was pretty basic. It has a nice restaurant on the road into the park, and it’s off the main road through town. Once you get into the park, there are a handful of cabins. There was no one there to check-in with, so we just found our paperwork and drove to our site. It was a small site but had all the hook-ups that we needed even if most the water and electric were on the wrong side. The bathrooms / showers were not memorable – bad or good – so nothing more to add on that.
It was also a very, very busy work week, which was fine because it ended up raining most of the week while we were there. On Thursday, we did a software release, which had some unintended consequences and made my Friday a bit of a nightmare. I did pause to take a break and go for a walk into town to the Shelburne Country Store and a local bookshop called The Flying Pig.
^ This was my standard work set-up on a release night, and the only picture I took while I was in Vermont. From left to right: second monitor, work laptop, iPad for testing, reMarkable for notes, MacBook Air for testing. Not pictured: my mobile phone – also for testing.
The country store is exactly how you would picture a quaint store in one of those fall Hallmark movies where the sad, single lady goes back to her hometown to be depressed until she runs into the local fill-in-the-blank guy that she went to high school with and then falls in love. It was crammed with Vermont-based goodies, and I got postcards, stamps, my VT magnet, some maple syrup (for my parents), and some red pepper jelly, which I enjoyed with my Vermont butter and crackers. The Vermont butter I picked up was quite tasty, but I forget what it was – maybe Cabot?
At the bookstore, I browsed and just enjoyed the atmosphere of being in books. I picked up This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune. It’s a great “beach read” and set on Prince Edward Island where I was headed in the next month, so it was perfect for getting a glimpse at what to see on the island. My other selection was a book of poems by Chard deNiord who I had never heard of, but whose poems I instantly enjoyed while I was paging through In My Unknowing. I think I perplexed the person when I checked out with two such varied choices, but – what can I say – I’m complex, which is perplexing.
What I haven’t mentioned yet was the walk to town. There was a sidewalk, but it was next to a very busy road, and it seemed like no one walks it based on the amount of staring I received on the way there and back. Since it was one of the only days where it was sunny, I was surprised by how warm I was by the time I got to the country store and was grateful that the sun started to set on my trek back to Estella and Arthur.
Another AI generated image, but you get the general idea.
14 starts left after a stop for gas and another at Target to get more supplies for the coming week. After our errands, we headed up to Muskegon to tour the historic Hume and Hackley homes.
There were two really nice family stories that went with these two homes. They were both enormous old homes, but very different on the inside. The tour was informative but the decor really stole the show for me.
The transom windows and lovely fireplaces were just some of the highlights.
12 starts left when we left Muskegon for our campground outside of Jenison and after we checked in. The Steamboat Park Campground was a beautiful location on the shores of the Grand River. It had come highly recommended from my co-worker’s parents, and they weren’t kidding. Our site was close to the center of the park but very quiet and private. It’s great when you’re a short walk to the amenities, and when I say amenities – I mean the showers and the garbage. 🙂
Glamour shot of the Grand River. We did get a good amount of rain while we were there, so I was glad that we weren’t at one of the sites on the river. Really beautiful to walk by, but felt safer off the river bank. Our check-in experience was really great, and we were able to get deliveries, so stocking up on the supplies was easy. The showers were great and the laundry facilities were sparse but accessible.
I didn’t rent a car in Michigan, so I took a few Uber/Lyft rides to get into town and meet up with a college friend and her friends who were in town for a concert. We had a very delicious breakfast in downtown Grand Rapids at Social Misfits before we headed to the Ford Presidential Library. My friend is a real history buff, so she spent a good deal more time actually reading all of the displays.
In addition to the pretty dish ware and the Oval Office re-creation, there was a beautiful garden and walking area around the museum, which is on the banks of the Grand River.
I also got some more quality time with my co-worker and her family while I was closer to Grand Rapids. We had a lovely family dinner where I actually ate vegetables and a fun girls night out at a local cider joint – Farmhouse Cider Co. They had a food truck and flights of cider that were delightful – a lot like my first weeks in Michigan.
Also, I did try some things to see if I could clear the limp mode from Estella, but they were all to no avail. We’re down to 3 starts. 🍫🍫 🍫🍫 Time to call in the reinforcements.
The Adventures of Ms Haps & Arthur 