10/10/2011
We’ve learned that taking the scenic route is just another way to say we’re lost. It hasn’t happened often on this trip, mostly because we usually don’t know where we’re going so how can we get lost, but yesterday was wild. We woke up in Mystic heading for Cape Cod and Lily announced that she was craving Thai food. Our immediate response was great, but it’s not going to happen for a while. After all, we’re heading into the heart of coastal seafood country and the last thing we’re going to do is have Thai food. Well, off we went to discover amazing coastal shacks serving fresh seafood. NOT. After two hours of driving beautiful roads (but a bit treacherous in the RV) and only finding a couple of places, both closed for the season, we gave up and decided to head in to the first town we found. As we head into a little place called Wakefield, there in front of us is, yes, wait for it, a Thai restaurant. Amazing what you can get if you just ask for it.
10/13/2011
This is totally messed up. We get to our hotel room and Lily and Cork can both get on to the internet and I can’t. What the hell???? I’m tired of having to “go with it” when I’m the only one who can’t get immediate gratification out of an internet connection… we all look forward to the few and far between moments when we rent a hotel room to have a little space and a bathtub instead of a shower and, supposedly, free internet access, and here we are and I can’t g—d—it connect!!! SHIT!!!
Breathe…breathe…breathe…
Okay. I’m better.
So after booking out of our wonderful campsite we headed west towards Plymouth. It rained and stormed and finally, as we approached, it eased off to a misting. Which was good ‘cuz it SUCKS to drive an RV through small towns with narrow streets in the frigging rain. Anyway, we stopped in Plymouth to see the house of the mother of a good friend of Cork’s, and mine, Reid. Jan died a year or so ago, and it was Cork’s homage to her to make the trip. It was worth it. The house felt like Jan. I didn’t know her well, but what I did know was a woman who was strong and solid and deserved the description of “matriarch”. I know how much Reid loved her, and it felt like a natural thing to do to stop and pay our respects.
After leaving Plymouth we decided to weave our way west so that when we drop south we’ll avoid the entire NJ/NYC mess. The road conditions and signage of those two states are absolutely the WORST. It’s not uncommon to be looking and looking for a sign and then there it is right in front of you with an arrow for the direction but absolutely NO forewarning, so if you’re in the wrong lane, you’ve missed it. Good way to keep outsiders, well, outside. Anyway, we chose to tool down 44, and wow, was it the right decision. We didn’t get far yesterday, but 44 was the road of our dreams. We went through town after town, some thriving, some a bit desolate, but even better we drove long stretches of amazing autumnal scenes. Miles and miles of trees in full color, then around the bend and a lake with trees surrounding it and people out on boats fishing. The colors were so vibrant it was like watching a fashion show. It was perfect that it was raining because there was no guilt over just watching and looking, no feeling of urgency to go faster or to stop and get out and walk…
We ended up just outside of Hartford, Connecticut at a Hampton Inn. I LOVE this chain. (Okay, except for the internet….)It’s clean and the rooms are large and they always have a great breakfast. We get a chance to take baths and do our laundry and spread out. It’s well worth blowing our daily budget. We love our RV, but it can feel just a teensy bit small when we can’t access the outdoors.
10/15/2011
Wow, in reading through this part of my blog I realize I was in a pretty snitty mood yesterday! I think we’re all experiencing a mid-trip energy low. Not only are we beginning to grow webbed feet and quack because of all the rain, but we just found out that our cat, Zoe, who has been the studio cat for the last 10 years is not doing so well. Mind you, she’s close to 25 years old, so we know her death is imminent, but something about hearing it made us realize that there’s life going on back there in California, and we’re missing some of it. Of course there’s life going on here too, and we’d just been commenting on how we really weren’t missing much in the Bay area… death does have a way of bringing the important stuff into perspective, doesn’t it? Speaking of death, because we rarely watch the news or read a newspaper it was a few days before I found out that Steve Jobs had died. It actually made me really sad. I worked for Jobs back in the late ‘80s when he had a company called NeXT. He was as he’s been described. He’d come into a meeting of people who’d been killing themselves for weeks on a project, look at the work and say “Your work is shit.” And walk out of the room. He’d hire great people and put them in a position with no support and then fire them when they couldn’t succeed. I only lasted a year or two because I didn’t like the politics, but it was still sad to see him go.
We’re heading south to Virginia Beach. I feel like we’ve been chasing the weather or it’s been chasing us for most of this trip. I know there’s a universal message in there somewhere, but I think we’re too busy chasing to really hear it. We decided to go to Cape Cod because it was supposed to get hecka hot (like record breaking) where we were. Cape Cod was BEAUTIFUL and I could have stayed there for days, but then the rain came in and was expected for a week, so we left for dryer grounds. Now we’re heading south with the hope of finding a dry, warm spot on the beach where we can stay put for at least four or five days before heading to Orlando. I know, I know, it’s about letting go and not trying to control and all that…
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| Claudia's childhood home in Provincetown (I think!) |
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| Drawbridge in action in Mystic, CN |
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| Street scene in Stonington, CN |
