Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts

 8 July     Grantville, PA - Watertown, CT      277 miles     7 hours

We finally made it to the start of the New England states and we're excited to explore. 

We're staying at Black Rock State Park for 3 nights. It's dry camping and cost $30 per night.

We took a drive to Falls Village and wanted to check out a dam and waterfall. As we approached this little town, the roads were blocked. Turns out there was a huge car show that day. So we parked and walked to town. We had a lot of fun looking at all the cars. There were a lot....classics, hot rods, trucks, motorcycles, all kinds. Was good until it started raining. In a couple of minutes it just started dumping! When we finally made it back to the truck we were drenched.

Then we went to look for a covered bridge in the rain. It was pouring and could hardly see the road but we managed to find West Cornwell Covered Bridge, pretty cool. Was raining so much, I couldn't get a decent picture. There were more bridges I wanted to see but the weather was not cooperating. 

The next day we went for an awesome bike ride on The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. We went about 5 1/2 miles then turned around. Such a beautiful scenic ride, we really enjoyed it. 

Then off to Arethusa Dairy for some ice cream. The tip came from a friend that used to live in this area. So glad we listened to her. Very good ice cream....so good we bought ice cream to take home along with some chocolate milk and cheese. 

11 July     Watertown, CT - Hope Valley, RI      110 miles     2 hours 10 min

Whispering Pines Campground is located in Hope Valley, Rhode Island. We'll be staying here 4 nights to explore this area. Pretty expensive, $76 per night for full hookups. I don't like this park. A lot of full timers, camp sites just squeezed in between trees at all kinds of angles. We are in the meadow area which I think is the nicest area but still a lot of trees and pretty ghetto looking. We couldn't get our starlink to work, so no internet for a few days. They have a swimming pool but its constantly filled with families with a lot of kids and most of the adults are smoking in the area. It's amazing that it's so expensive to stay here. 

But the location was pretty good. We went to Mystic, Connecticut a couple of days. We're in Rhode Island but Mystic is just over the state line, about 20 miles away. 

Mystic, Connecticut is an old seaport town.  We visited Mystic Seaport Museum, a seafaring village. Admission was $29 per person. They have historic ships that we could walk on. We could walk through town and see what life was like for people in the 19th century. We learned about historic crafts and trades such as carving, printing, and blacksmithing. They also have a preservation shipyard. This is where traditional techniques are passed on to the next generation. We spent a few hours here, we enjoyed ourselves but it was pretty hot.

We went to Mystic another day just to watch the draw bridge in Historic Mystic. The Mystic River Bascule Bridge spans the Mystic River. It carries vehicles and foot traffic directly into the tourist district of town. The bridge is raised every hour to allow boats to pass. Pretty cool to watch. 

Mystic Bridge

 I had my first lobster roll at Abotts in Noank. It was a hot lobster roll with butter on a hamburger bun for $23. Not as good as I thought it would be. Joe had a tuna sandwich which was only $5. 

We drove into Newport, Rhode Island and walked the Cliff Walk. Newports Cliff Walk is a 3 1/2 mile scenic path along the coast with beautiful views of ocean, beaches, rocky shores, and century old Rhode Island mansions. Pretty hot and some rocky spots on the trail but we enjoyed it. Afterwards we did the Ocean Drive. Ten miles of coastline with heart stopping views, very beautiful. 

15 July     Hope Valley, RI - Plymouth, MA     75 miles      2 hours

We're at Pinewood Lodge Campground in Plymouth for one week. Water and electric site, weekly rate $350. The site is okay but its surrounded by trees so our starlink doesn't work...again. That's okay because there's a lot of exploring in this area. 

Plymouth Rock is located right on the waterfront and protected under a large enclosure. It's not as big as you would think. The rock was moved several times and cracked before returning to its original location. It may only be a rock but it represents so much more. 

Mayflower II

 

Mayflower II is a reproduction of the 17th century ship Mayflower, celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. 

Brewster Gardens was a beautiful area to walk through. There's a brook that flows through, the water induced the Pilgrims to settle here, and powered Plymouth industries in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Burial Hill was the site of the Pilgrims first fort and meetinghouse, with gravestones from the 17th -19th centuries. Magnificent views of Plymouth harbor, beaches, and surrounding countryside. 

Town Square is the heart of the old town of Plymouth. Located at the head of Leyden Street, Plymouth's first street, it was the focal point for the community's civic, religious, and commercial affairs from 1620 until after World War II.

Site of the original settlement is on Leyden Street. The first houses erected by the Pilgrims stood on this Street. 

We had a great meal at Woods Seafood. Located right on the water with awesome views. We had the fish and chips and lobster bisque. Excellent meal. Best fish and chips I've had so far. 

We walked all over Plymouth. So impressed on how the city maintains the area. 

We spent a couple of days exploring Cape Cod. We drove all the way to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod but it was so congested we weren't able to stop. We drove and explored the area and found that all the beaches cost money. We're from Hawaii, we don't pay to go to the beach! 

We had fun checking out Highland Lighthouse. In 1798, Highland was the first Cape Cod lighthouse. The current tower was built in 1857.  

The charming New England village of Woods Hole lies at the far southwestern tip of Cape Cod. It's a port town with a broad deep water harbor that holds the ferry terminal to Martha's Vineyard and many docks for research vessels for the science community clustered here. 

We parked in Falmouth and rode our bikes on the Shining Sea bikeway to Woods Hole. Such a beautiful ride along the coast. We parked the bikes and walked around town and had lunch. 

On the way back we went off the trail and went to Nobska Lighthouse. The lighthouse is beautiful, set up on a hill surrounded by a white picket fence. Across the street is a small viewing area. On a clear day you can see all the way to Martha's Vineyard. It was very hazy on the day we went but we could see the outline. 

Martha's Vineyard on the horizon

After our bike ride we drove to Trunk River Beach. We passed this beach on our bike ride and saw that it was free to park and swim here. So that's where we got our first dip in the Atlantic ocean. The water was kind of green but temperature was cool. Very rocky to walk on, very little sand. This was a perfect way to cool off after our bike ride. 

We decided to take a drive out to Salem. Not a good decision, supposed to be a 1 1/2 hour drive but ended up 2 1/2 hours to get there. Traffic around Boston was crazy! I wanted to go on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour but a nice old lady at the visitors center talked us out of it. She suggested a couple of sights to see that was better. On her advise, we went to the Salem Witch Museum. Total flop, we paid $16 each and it was just not what we were looking for. What a waste of money and 2 hours of our time. 

We had a very nice lunch and walked around the area. We actually enjoyed the rest of our visit. We followed the Salem Heritage Trail and found the sculpture of Sam of Bewitched, walked through an old graveyard, and visited America's oldest candy store.

 

It took us 3 hours to get home. Boston traffic sucks!

 

Kentucky, Tennessee Friends & Family

 21 June        Carlyle, IL - Taylorsville, KY       267 miles     6 hours

We're here in this area mainly to visit family. I have cousins that have moved to the area along with my Uncle and Auntie. We're staying at Taylorsville RV Park. Electric and water sites for 3 nights total $107. 

We drove to Louisville one day and went to Churchill Downs. The guided track tour lasted about 30 minutes and the cost was $36 for both of us. We're not that knowledgeable about horseracing but we really enjoyed this visit. We learned some interesting things on the Kentucky Derby and loved seeing the track where this famous race is run every year. There was a movie in the Great Hall that was really fun to watch on our stools that let us turn to see the film all around us. 

Next we drove over to Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. The tour and museum was $44 for both of us. We got to walk through the factory where they are actively making baseball bats which was pretty neat. The tour of the actual working factory follows a short video detailing where and how trees are chosen to make bats from. You see the actual crafting of the bats and the difference between those sold in Sporting Goods stores and those the pros purchase. Such a neat process to see. Excellent tour and information of how bats are made. 

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My cousin Darnell and her husband Roger has a beautiful home in Fisherville, Kentucky. We had dinner two nights at Darnell's. On the first night her brother Rudy and his wife Rachel drove over from Buckner to have dinner with us. Was so nice to visit and catch up on everything. 

Uncle Bobby is in a rehab center and we got to visit him. He's doing okay and looks pretty good. Hopefully he will be able to come home soon. Just grateful that we could spend some time with him. 

24 June     Taylorsville, KY - Cave City, KY

Cave Country RV Campground is a pretty nice RV park close to Mammoth Cave National Park. We paid $210 for four nights, that's with a Good Sam Discount. Very well maintained park with a small pool. Lots of kids so we had to time it right when we wanted to jump in.

On our second night here, a big storm blew through the area. Wind gusts up to70mph, pretty scary. We slept with all the  slides in.

Mammoth Cave National Park was pretty awesome. There's other things to do besides the cave. We went for a hike on the Green River Bluffs Trail and a bike ride that went all over the park. 

A ferry crossing the river

At 420 miles, Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system in the world. There are a lot of different cave tours available. We did the self guided cave tour, $8 per person. These tours are very busy. Need to plan in advance. Most of the tours were sold out when we checked. We enjoyed the tour we chose. 

28 June     Cave City, KY - Dandridge, TN     275 miles    6 hours 30 minutes

 Moochdocking for a week at Mark & Julia's in Dandridge, Tennessee. We were here two years ago when they first moved here. Beautiful home on the lake. On the first night, Mark was feeling sick so he didn't join us for dinner. Next day we found out he tested for covid...bummer! 

He planned to have Joe help him build his gazebo by the pool so this really set the project back. 

We went to Douglas Dam and explored the area. Took a short walk around the bottom, was planning to do a nice hike but it was too hot. Beautiful views from the scenic point on top of a hill. We picked up lunch at the Dam Store. We shared a burger and chicken strips, both were excellent. 

A little hazy from the Canada fires

We spent the week at Mark & Julia's  doing little projects and spent a lot of time at their pool. No kids jumping all over the place. We took a ride on their pontoon and watched the boat parade on the 4th of July. We met some of their friends and just had a good time, very relaxing. We did run into a problem with one of our jacks but got that taken care of. 

Mark & Julia plan to meet us in Maine in a couple of months. We're looking forward to that. 

6 July     Dandridge, TN - Roanoke, VA      235 miles     5 hours

 We spent the night boondocking in the Camping World parking lot. We picked up some things in the store and went out to dinner at Bella Pizza Italian Restaurant. Our dinner was excellent and of course, we over did it. 

7 July     Roanoke, VA - Grantville, PA       298 miles      5 hours 45 minutes

Another night boondocking and this was a good one. Hollywood Casino is located in Grantville, Pennsylvania. A huge casino with almost all table games, they also have a racetrack. 

The parking lot was huge, level, and pretty quiet. There were a few other RV's camping overnight. 

We went to the racetrack, this was a first for us. Besides horse racing, there were camels and ostrich races. We missed the ostrich race but saw the camels....so funny! We had a good time at this casino. Played a little blackjack. Joe won some, I lost some....it evens out in the end.