Day 62, Punxsutawney, PA

A great night’s sleep at Penn’s cave.  No roosters, cows or traffic.  We head to State College and park the coach at Office Depot.  I buy a printer cartridge and we take off in the car to explore Penn State U.  We go to the creamery at the food science building but alas, we find the crew cleaning the equipment not making ice cream or other items.  Virtual tour does show process from “Cow to Cone”.  Next we visit the arboretum which makes for a nice walk.  After lunch we head to Punxsutawney and check into Hotel Walmart.  Visit Gobbler’s Knob just outside of town.  Then visit Phil in downtown.  Absolutely nothing else in Punxsutawney except for 32 statutes of Phil.  Looked for the spot where the movie was filmed to find out it was shot in Illinois - shucks.  Town seems somewhat poor.  Not even a decent restaurant so we eat in after grocery shopping in Walmart.  After dinner, we spent more time in Walmart and I got my bug zapper among other things.  Glad I got to see Phil but no need to come back here.

Day 61, Centre Hall, PA

In spite of the no overnight parking signs, we had no problems at the Milford Walmart except the delivery trucks made a bit of a racket.  Hit the road on a cool morning with temps around 60.  Six miles later on the interstate the hot coolant light comes on.  I pull over onto the shoulder and turn the engine off.  Pull out the manual which says to let it idle to cool.  I turn the engine back on and the hot indicator comes on but a few seconds later the gauge steadily decreases and a few more seconds registers cool.  We start back driving and no more problem.  Still at a loss as to what caused that spike in temperature.  Possibly a false indicator.  On to Scranton, PA, and a visit to the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour.  A caged rail type car attached to a cable goes down by gravity to a depth of 300'.  Then an hour hard hat walking tour through the mine which includes how the mine worked.  The mine operated from about 1800 until about 1950's.  Veins of coal everywhere.  Some areas required miners to work in an 18 inch vertical space.  Fascinating.  Another highlight in our trip of highlights.  Next we head to Penn’s Cave outside Centre Hall, PA, in farm country about 160 miles away.  The trip runs into many construction delays and takes almost 4 hours and we arrive just before 5 pm.  Penn’s Cave is open until 7 pm so we go on the 5:10 tour.  The cave/caverns tour is done completely by boat with a small, gas outboard and connects to a lake outside the cave on which we take a spin.  Back to the coach about 6:30 and it begins to pour.  We call Penn’s Cave just before 7 pm and ask permission to stay overnight to avoid the winding mountain roads in the rain or at night.  Permission granted.  I trust this will be a very quiet night.

Day 60, Milford, PA

Newburgh Walmart is next to a construction site so we got an early start.  Left the coach and headed to Hyde Park to visit the FDR Presidential Library and Museum and the FDR Home, named Springwood.  The home, built around 1800 was purchased in 1867 by FDR’s father and expanded in 1915 by FDR.  It was fairly simple and not at all like the opulent Gilded Age Vanderbilt Mansion.  The museum was interesting and indicated that the Manhattan project was under way very early in the war.  However, it also indicated that not until the concentration camps were liberated did the US know of the extermination of the Jews.  It did mention that this “fact” was subject to debate.  Not surprising that the museum left FDR’s antisemitism for other venues.  We also visited Top Cottage which was the house FDR built in 1938 for his retirement with handicapped accessability.  The cottage was about 4 miles away from Springwood but still on contiguous Roosevelt land.  The cottage is fairly stark and only one room is furnished.  The tour was primarily an hour discussion with the ranger on the porch overlooking the Hudson River.  Rosemary sat in FDR’s rocker, I in Churchill’s.  Very neat, only thing missing were the drinks and cigars.  Next was the tour of Val-Kill, the home of Eleanor, also on Roosevelt property not far from Top Cottage.  Built in the 1920's, Eleanor used this as a business first and then as her getaway when FDR was not in Hyde Park.  After his death, she lived here exclusively and handled her many UN duties and other projects of hers from here.  She also met dignitaries there including Churchill and JFK.  Val-Kill is the only Roosevelt home that had a swimming pool which is where many films of FDR in a pool were taken.  Back to the coach at 6 pm for dinner.  Since this Walmart was noisy, we decide to hit the road to the Milford Walmart about 45 miles toward our next destination.

Day 59, Newburgh, NY

Woke up to find the campground electric and water restored.  Departed MA and drove through Connecticut on way to NY.  Checked into the Newburgh Walmart and then headed to Huguenot Street in New Paltz.  Original houses dating to the 1600's.  We walked around the outside but the inside tour guides were disappointingly nowhere to be found so we crossed the Hudson Mid-river Bridge and headed to the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park which is a national park.  Great ranger lead tour of the mansion which was donated shortly after Frederick Vanderbilt’s death in 1938 so the original furnishings are intact.  Franklin Vanderbilt was the third generation of Vanderbilt wealth but grew his wealth to be the richest man at one point in his life.  The mansion reflects that as it was a symbol of showing off his wealth with portions modeled after Versailles.

Day 56-58, East Otis, MA (Sandisfield, MA)

Very nice visit with Ro’s sister Beth, husband Joachim and our niece Avery.  Beth and Joachim made a homecooked meal Friday night that was delicious.  Attended a book fair in Monterey and climbed Monument Mountain (1642').  Path was very steep and rocky but mostly forested until reaching the summit which has a rock outcropping which offers a wonderful view of the Berkshires and even the Catskills in NY.  We all met Ro’s other sister, Kathy, and husband Bob (who drove from Millis Saturday and stayed until Sunday) at Jae’s Korean restaurant for lunch in Lenox.  Walked around Stockbridge and then Great Barrington.  Ate dinner a Baba Louie’s Italian restaurant.  Then back to the house for ice cream cake to honor Avery’s 15th birthday.  Sunday morning was Joachim’s famous blueberry and chocolate chip buckwheat pancakes, yum!  Rest of Sunday was just chilling out.  Beth and Joachim’s house is quite isolated and our campground was about a 25 minute drive away which we made mostly late at night during which we saw 2 foxes, a coyote, a raccoon and a groundhog.  The last trip back to the campground on Sunday was before sunset and half way there a driving hail storm hit us.  I tried pulling under a tree but it was no relief from the pounding.  The noise was deafening.  When we made it back to the coach, the electric and water were out.  So we were dry camping in the campground the rest of the night.  I will also mention that I will never complain about Florida mosquitoes again since they are much smaller and vastly outnumbered by their northern bretheren.  Joachim has an electric bug zapper shaped like a tennis racquet with which I had much fun trying to reduce the mosquito and bug populations.  I got to get me one of those.

Day 55, East Otis, MA  (Sandisfield, MA)

The Hadley Walmart is relatively new and in a big shopping area with a Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Bed, Bath and Beyond.  We shopped at all of them and fully stocked our coach.  Headed south to visit the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden in downtown Springfield.  Made two turns with the coach and the streets got narrower with each turn.  One more turn needed but we decide not to go forward as the road was too narrow and the turn was blind.  Pulled into a church parking lot that was mostly empty and just big enough for us with room to turn around.  We called the sculpture garden to verify it had RV parking but got only a recorded message.  We called the church and were granted permission to park there.  Five minute walk to the garden verified our decision not to make that last turn as nowhere to put the coach or turn around.  Visited the sculptures, took photos and back to the coach - total time away from coach was 15 minutes.  Grandkids better like the photos of the Seuss characters!  Onward to Overflow Campground in East Otis where we will stay 4 nights while visiting family.  Approach road was winding mountain road of about 30 miles.  Some uphill grades so steep coach could do no more than 15 mph.  Check in, then drive around Great Barrington before meeting Beth, Joachim and Avery at their Berkshire house for a visit.

Day 54, Hadley, MA

After breakfast, we walked the Village shops which included the Vermont Spirits craft distillery.  10:30 am and we are sampling spirits including a maple infused bourbon which was excellent.  Did not buy any but I did get a free souvenir shot glass with logo.  Head south to Artisans Park in Windsor VT.  Located there is the second Harpoon Brewery (the original is in Boston).  Sampled some beers but did not buy any.  Also located there was the Sustainable Farmer (more samples and more purchases) and the Silo American Crafted Spirits (more samples including a gin aged a short time in bourbon barrels but no purchases).  Headed further south to Brattleboro VT and the Saxtons River Distillery.  More samples including a maple liqueur which was so good we bought a fifth.  Headed further south and checked into the Hadley MA Walmart.

Day 53, Quechee, VT

Headed east on the Crossroad of Vermont Byway toward Woodstock.  Did not see any hippies.  Arrived at the Billings Farm & Museum and adjacent Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.  The park is 550 acres of woods and mountains and includes tours of the mansion built by the Marsh family in 1806 and extensive additions in 1869 by the Billings family.  An heir of the Billings family inherited the property and married Laurance Rockefeller (son of John D. and brother of Nelson).  All three, Marsh, Billings and Laurance were instrumental in the conservation laws now in effect and in preserving the environment.  Marsh who wrote “the book”, “Man and Nature”, in 1864, Billings who initiated professional farming to sustain the land and Laurance who lobbied for environmental protections and who bought up many properties and donated them to the National Park Service to preserve them.  Acadia National Park owes its existence to Laurance as well as several other National Parks.  On to the farm which is an actual Jersey cow farm.  We actually visited the cow barn which actually smelled like a cow barn.  Got to watch the milking and even petted a cow.  Farm also has sheep and horses.  Left the coach at the farm and headed to the Sugarbush Farm about 6 miles away.  Good thing we took the car as the road was dirt, narrow and with low tree lined.  Sampled cheeses, maple and other goodies and bought more.  Then headed to Quechee Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of Vermont”.  We walked over the gorge bridge 165 feet above the floor.  The gorge is over a mile in length and we walked both south and north paths to the river below about 1.5 miles.  I swear it was uphill in all directions. After the hiking we visited the Quechee Gorge Village, a collection of shops including more cheese samples.  As it was about 5:30 and no Walmart nearby, we inquired of the ownr of the Village if we could stay the night in the parking lot.  Permission was granted in the adjacent grass overflow parking area.  So back to the farm to collect the coach.  The Village proved a quiet spot.

Day 52, North Clarendon, VT

Departed the rally and finally start to head south.  Drive along the Lake Champlain Byway to Proctor, VT.  First stop the Vermont Marble Museum.  The museum is housed at the Vermont Marble Co. which at one time was the largest company in the US.  The company quarried and fabricated the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.  Lots of different marbles and an in-house artist making sculptures.  I even got to chisel some marble myself.  It sure takes a long time to sculpt anything so I will leave sculpting to the artist.  Next stop Wilson Castle.  Built in 1867, it is a fascinating house with a lot of the original furnishings including a fireplace in each room, stained glass throughout, four turrets and a marvelous view of the Green Mountains.  The house is about 4 miles outside of the fairly small town on Proctor and is privately owned but it is no longer used as a residence. The house is in some disrepair and funding is an issue.  I hope the family can do something to restore the house as it is really a gem as AAA claims.  Checked into Iroquois Land Family Camping, our first campground in a week, for laundry and other necessities.

Day 49-51, Essex Junction, VT

A little rest & relaxation at the rally which was much needed.  We finally used our bikes which have been folded up in our basement since we bought the coach.  A nice feature of the coach is an air compressor.  Filled each bike tire in about ½ a second.  We did a few things outside the rally such as a cruise on Lake Champlain on the Spirit of Ethan Allen, III.  The water was smooth as glass with temps in the mid 70's and a cool breeze.  We had the best seat on the boat, a nice shady spot on the top deck just in front of the control room.  We also attended the Saturday farmer’s market in downtown Burlington - more free food and spirits too!  Caledonia Spirits of Vermont had samples of their gin.  Now gin is the one spirit that I do not really care for but Caledonia does something different - they age the gin 4 months in American oak.  The result is a nice amber color and a taste similar to bourbon.  It was delicious but running out of room in the coach so no purchase this time.  The rally was a bit disappointing as it was much smaller and not as many vendors or seminars as other rallies we have attended.  The Saturday night all you can eat pig roast dinner was nice and of course, I ate all I can eat and then some.  Although BBQ chicken was available, Rosemary actually preferred the pulled pork.  Wonders never cease.  We did attend one seminar that was attended by one other couple, Josef and Jana, about our age who lived locally and recently purchased their first coach.  We invited them to our coach for a beer and a look at the one item not functioning as it should on our coach - the entrance door shade that would not stay down (we’ve been using a clip to keep it down).  Turns out Josef has a business involving shades among other things. He took our shade home and brought it back the next day, reinstalled it and now it is all fixed.  More beer and new friends in Vermont.

Day 48, Essex Junction, VT

First day of the rally and for the first time ever at a rally we were up early enough to get the free coffee and donuts.  Then we discovered that the donuts were scheduled from 9 to 11 due to people arriving and registering, not the usual 7 to 9.  The rest of the rally, donuts 7 to 9, rats!  Not too much scheduled at the rally so we head off.  Back to the Chocolate factory to redeem our free cookie coupons (we each had 2).  Then drove by the Shelburne Museum (did not stop this time) to the Vermont Wild Flower Farm.  Too many bugs and Rosemary had to take an antihistamine.  Quickly headed south to the Dakin Farm.  We were disappointed that contrary to their ad, there was no tour of the farm and the cheese making process.  There were however, many free samples of goodies from cheeses and jellies to salsa and sausages.  No need for lunch again today.  Next stop the Charlotte Village Winery.  About a dozen wines to sample and all free.  Bought more wine.  

Day 47, Essex Junction, VT

Check into our FMCA Rally a day early and plug in.  Then off to play.  First stop, Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory Tour.  An interesting tour watching the chocolate making and included free tastings of 3 different chocolates and a free dark chocolate chip cookie.   Then back to the Shelburne Museum to see what we missed the day before.  Fortunately, the tickets were 2 day passes.  I guess they know it takes more than a day to see everything.  Then off to the Magic Hat Brewery & Artifactory for a tour and tasting.  Free samples of all eight beers it brews.  I was the first to answer correctly the beer trivia contest and I won a Magic Hat bumper sticker.  Then off to the Cheese Traders and Wine Sellers for more free foods.  Bought more cheeses and other goodies.  Then off to downtown Burlington and Church Street which is a pedestrian mall with lots of restaurants and shops.  Dinner at Ken’s Pizza & Pub.  The lasagna was delicious and Rosemary went back to her chicken, parmigiana at least.

Day 46, Williston, VT (Burlington)

Putz around with the coach results in a late morning departure from Stowe for the half hour drive to our next stop at Walmart near Burlington, VT.  After lunch head to the Shelburne Museum and arrive just after 1:00.  The museum is a AAA “Gem” and mentions impressionist artists (Rosemary’s favorite) such as Monet, Manet and Degas.  We figured a couple hours and head to a winery or two.  Well this museum consists of 45 acres and has numerous buildings with massive collections of some pretty cool stuff.  It has an original Round Barn which houses many carriages including a surrey with a fringe on top.  It has a circus building which is a “U” shape and houses hand carved wooden circus figures including performers, animals, cages, wagons, etc.  It is a 525 foot long procession from one end of the building to the other and is on a scale that represents a two mile circus parade which was the length of the parade when the circus came to towns.  It is the work of one man and took him 25 years to complete.  The museum had an operating antique carousel on which we could not refuse a ride.  The museum also has the Ticonderoga, a steam powered side-wheel paddleboat.  The museum contains many other buildings and collections and we could not see it all by the 5pm closing time.  After 5:00 we finally head to the Shelburne Vineyard for a tasting.  Bought more wine.  Dinner at Chef Leu’s Chinese and back to the coach.