Into The Great Wide Open

 We were absolutely exhausted when we arrived in Canada.  Bryan drove most of the way and I felt bad because I kept dozing off.  We decided it would be best to pull over and take a much needed nap.  We slept for a little over an hour and I woke up and made us lunch.  I took over the wheel and drove us into Halifax.  We researched a spot on a lake nearby and grabbed it.  It was a small park with locals pulled over to fish and or swim.. Bryan ended up taking a dip in the lake, it was too cold for me.  We had to stay up and grab a few photos of the sunset.  It was so crazy that at 4am we watched the sunrise in Maine and around 7:45 we watched the sunset in Halifax Nova Scotia.  I retreated in the van  and Bryan made a friend with a local and chatted with him for quite sometime.  The next day we found a Costco. I was like a kid in a candy store.  It was fun to see how many different items they have up here. Lots of homemade sa...

 We may have missed Acadia National Park if not for the vets at Vetco recommending it.  I remember seeing it on a map a week or so earlier, but had since forgotten about it.  Thankful for their recommendation.  The drive was slow, but scenic, along the coastline at times through small towns.  We had been driving a long time when the Acadia National Park destination our map guided us to was nothing.  We were close to the park, but it’s kind of spread out and not obvious on where it was.  We were in need of a shower after 3 days, which is a good time for us to start looking to pay for a night somewhere.   We found a private campground outside the park that had showers and you didn’t have to pay for hook ups.  I did charge my UPS lithium battery across the street from us before we left. This thing has been awesome! It helps us charge our phones, tablet, blue tooth speaker as well as cook food in our air fryer.  MVP of the trip - Most Valuab...

 We arrived in Portland, Maine in the late morning.  Parked the van on a side street and grabbed lunch.  We were both craving Mexican food, so we ventured into downtown Portland.  Bryan was taken back several times seeing the name Portland and thought we were home.  We split a huge burrito and chips and salsa.  Walked from there down to the waterfront.  It was hustling and bustling with tourists. The typical shops at a waterfront - restaurants, candy stores and cute boutiques.  We both were quite impressed with Portland.   We were getting close to hitting  the Canada border and kind of forgot if we needed anything to bring the pets in.  Sure enough they both had to be current on their rabies vaccine.  I called our Vet clinic and Gus was current, Cheech wasn't. Bryan made an appt for the next day for Cheech to get his vaccine.  I had to call back to the clinic and asked for all their records.  We woke up in the morning...

 We arrived in Boston to some rainy weather.  I noticed that the bar “Cheers” was filmed here for a few episodes and we tried to grab a beer, but it was way too busy.  We did get inside and looked around and took a few photos. That was good enough for the both of us and we headed back to the van where I researched on FB for events happening in the Boston area. The Broadway Musical “Jagged Little Pill” by Alanis Morrisette was playing that night. Of course Bryan got on the computer and tried to find the cheapest tickets, which he did :).  We put our jackets on and walked about a mile to the musical.  We proceeded through the check in and one ticket made it in fine, but the lady was having difficulty with the other one.  She asked us to step aside and got her manager.  The manager asked for Bryan’s ID and left for a short bit.  She came back and told us that we had purchased tickets for the next weekend.  We told her we were from out of town an...

 Departing the Big Apple wasn’t too bad, we didn’t get stuck in much of any traffic while there so felt fortunate.  We’ve tried to save a little money on tolls so choose the no tolls route when it makes sense.  This was another instance where it made sense since it didn’t add a bunch of time to drive.  The time estimates are often wrong anyways when you look at fastest route because the van doesn’t like to go the 70 mph speed limit and therefore we cannot match the estimated times. So we go the slower route, skip the tolls, and get better gas mileage going slower on smaller highways.  The drive was nice over rolling hills with dense trees.  The speed limit was being enforced by many Police officers, but rarely do we have to worry about that.  Our destination was to brother Don’s in Cummington, MA.  I had never been to see his house in all the years he and Elise have lived there.  It’s a large 40 acre property that is beautiful and secluded. ...

 We bypassed Philadelphia due to the I-95 overpass burning down, which apparently just got repaired last Friday and reopened.  We weren’t sure if we wanted to tackle the Big Apple in the van due to traffic, hassle, and uncertainty about where we might stay the night.  We targeted a spot in Brooklyn heights we found on Overlander where you can park for free if you happen to find the right spot.  There are lots of times and days that have no parking due to street sweeping.  It took about 30 minutes of driving around the neighborhood to find a spot.  I parked the van and there was a construction dumpster box on other side of street which made it very tight to squeeze through.  Just as I was saying this is too tight and we should move or someone is going to hit our side mirror because they aren’t able to fold in.  SMACK!  A van drove by and hit our mirror, knocking it forward, but luckily didn’t break the mirror.  We quickly moved from that ...

 We really weren’t quite sure where to go from DC, but decided to head to Atlantic City.  We arrived around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and researched a place to stay for the night . We were both in need of a shower and a good nights rest. l found a hotel on the Hopper app and Red Roof Inn was  about a 15 min drive.  We arrived at the hotel  with a quick and friendly check in. I should’ve known this was going to be the most disgusting  hotel that I have ever stayed at. The stairwell was dirty and dried white paint was on every step to our floor.  Opened up the door and literally thought to myself, is it worth a shower for the night? We decided it was best  to pull all our bedding from he van and bring it up the room.  We both took a shower, made a noddle dish from Costco and felt 100% better, Our sleep was decent that night.  I woke up and for some unknown reason I decided to google the reviews of this hotel.  One guest said there as a ...

 We located an Elks lodge about 15 miles out of DC we were targeting for the night’s stay but when we arrived it wasn’t all that nice and neither was the neighborhood.  We were tired from a long drive, but decided to just go into the city and see what we could find.  On the way, we came across Arlington, VA which looked like a really cute town, but decided to continue on.  We arrived in DC and found a spot on the Capitol Mall where it was free to park after 8pm.  We were shocked we could park and sleep right in the middle of the city.  That night, we walked up to the Capitol Building and were two of 5 people that were up there.  The area kind of clears out after the Smithsonian museums close up each evening around 5pm, while being very vibrant during the day.  The next day we went to The National Museum of Natural history right across the street from where we spent the night and where the movie Night at the Museum was filmed.  Unbelievably th...

 We checked out of Airbnb and headed East without knowing where we might stay.  On our way we stopped in Winston Salem in the old historic area of town.  Enjoyed seeing the old homes, an all women’s school operating still today, and an interesting Church that is also active.  Our next stop another couple hours east was Cary.  Another walk around town where we enjoyed the drugstore that had been there forever with a soda fountain serving bologna sandwiches and pimento cheese sandwiches.  We wished we hadn’t just eaten, otherwise would have certainly sat down to enjoy.   We decided to target Petersburg for our overnight stay.  We found a nice spot near a Lowe’s at a dead end street.  We did search around a little bit while trying to find an ice cream for Paula, but in the end felt like our first spot was the best.  It was perfect with the exception of a dumpster box being dropped off right next to us early in the morning with a startling b...