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.
The Adventures of Ms Haps & Arthur 