The Dogs Run Free. The Lobster Get Murdered. Where’s The Justice?

The Space Shuttle, docked in Gary & Jane’s yard.

Day 55    August 3

Maine hospitality is really something, at least, Gary & Jane’s hospitality was! They made us and the dogs feel completely at home, and did their best to make sure we had a fun time! And we did have a fun time. We seemed to all share the same twisted sense of humor, and that made for lots and lots of laughs!

After breakfast, all six of us headed over to nearby Fort Foster. Gary and Mark rode their bikes over there, while Jane and I, and Trixie and Dax, drove over. The tide was low, and we all rode, walked, and ran all over the beach. It was a fabulous morning! Trixie and Dax were ecstatic to have total freedom to be dogs (lots of running and digging).

Entrance to Fort Foster

Low tide. Fort Foster

Gary & Mark on their bikes, escorted by Jane

Dax, on the loose on the beach at Fort Foster

Beautiful beach @ Fort Foster

Mark, Jane, and the pups.

Our afternoon was filled with lobster shopping, lobster killing, and lobster feasting. In all fairness, our new friends didn’t partake of the lobster….Mark and I were the only lobster murderers, and we were very happy lobster murderers. Delicious!

Shopping for lunch.

Gumby & Pokey….risk-takers. Checking out our soon-to-be lunch.

Jane, the brave lobster wrangler.

 

 

 

 

 

Yummy little critter!

Lunch is served!

I was exhausted, and looking forward to a nap, however, Jane had other plans for us. We were going kayaking, which ended up being magnificent! The coastline was beautiful. And when it started to sprinkle rain on us, it just made it that much more sublime and peaceful. It was quite magical.

And then I finally got my nap.

After my nap, we would once again feast on another wonderful Jane-made meal of pasta and mussels. Jane was an awesome cook!

We were having such a great time with Gary and Jane, that it would be hard to leave our new friends in the morning.

Welcome To The Great State of Maine!

Our first visit to Maine!

Day 54   August 2      part 2

We were supposed to be in Kittery Point, Maine at about 6:00 pm today. We were going to stay with (in the driveway of) some friends that we’d never met before.

I frequently participate in the on line discussions at airforums.com. This is a discussion board for Airstream owners, and others obsessed with Airstream trailers and motorhomes. I had posted something about us going cross country to go to the Newport Folk Festival, and that we’d then be heading up to Maine.

Gary and Jane, Airstream owners in Kittery Point, Maine, saw my post and, for some reason, decided it’d be safe to invite Mark and me to stay at their place if/when we drove through their neck of the woods. And Mark and I decided it’d be safe to take them up on their invite.

And that is how it came to be that we had to be in Kittery Point, Maine at 6:00 pm today, to have dinner with a couple of people we’d never met!

From the minute we drove up to Gary and Jane’s house, we knew this was gonna be a great time! We were greeted by the most awesome handmade welcome sign, and by two of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet!

Well, what do we have here?! A custom made welcome sign, made especially to welcome us to Kittery, Maine!!

Mark, with our new friends, Gary and Jane. A warm welcome, and a toast!

Cute Towns & Our First Freakin’ Parking Ticket!

Church & scaffolding. Newburyport, MA

Day 54   August 2      part 1

Newburyport (I still keep calling it Newportbury) was a great little town. Quintessential New England.

We rolled into town in the late morning, to find a fabulous street festival taking place. The local fire department was out in the street, collecting money for some charity, there were a couple of bands playing on two stages, there were food booths, and all kinds of vendors selling their wares on the sidewalks.

We sampled everything from the local art, to the local seafood chowder, the local lobster & scallop cakes, and the local gelato. This was a fun place, and beautiful too!

Saw some nice artwork at the local art association.

Newburyport, MA

Newburyport, MA

Newburyport, MA

Not sure if this was a gym for women or for men. Newburyport, MA

Newburyport, MA

Newburyport, MA

Made a stop here for gelato. Newburyport, MA

Newburyport, MA

Mark thought it’d be fun to open up a B&B in Newburyport. In order to deal with customer complaints that we’d inevitably have, we’d install a complaint box in the lobby. But instead of the complaints landing inside the box, they’d land inside a shredder that would be hidden inside the box! Brilliant! That would ensure a hassle-free business experience for us, for sure!

When we left Newburyport, we took a quick spin through nearby Plum Island, and then headed north.

Plum Island

We crossed into New Hampshire at Seabrook, but, once again, I missed the “Welcome” sign, so, no picture.

The next stop was Portsmouth, New Hampshire, another beautiful New England town. Much bigger than Newburyport, but equally as fun and beautiful, we spent a couple hours walking around, taking photos, and getting a parking ticket.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Parking was hard to come by in Portsmouth, so when we found a large parking space, we snagged it. The space was metered, and was only for 15 minute parking. We thought we were so clever when we fed the meter, and walked around for 1/2 hour, and returned to the RV, and did NOT have a ticket. We felt so clever, that we fed the meter again, and walked around for another 45 minutes. Only this time,when we returned, we had a ticket. With the damage done, we just kept walking around town.

Eventually, it was time to leave. We had a very important place to be, and we were supposed to be there around 6:00pm. So much more to do and see in Portsmouth, but that would all have to wait for another visit in time.

Yellow Dog, Boston, Traffic, and the Downpour!

Yellow Dog, prior to being completely mutilated. He used to  hang out with Trixie and Dax in the back of the Space Shuttle

Day 53       August 1

The next stop on our great adventure, would be Boston, where we’d meet up with my niece, Hannah. On the way, we lucked into finding WUMB on the radio. This was the most awesome radio station, playing awesome folky music. It was like we’d never left the Newport Folk Festival.

Boston was….interesting. Before we even got to the city, we were stuck in the most awful of city traffic jams. And when we got into the city, bazaaammm…..it was made worse by closed off streets, closed off bridges, and bicyclists going every which way on the streets. A total wonder we didn’t hit anyone or anything!

Traffic, traffic, and more traffic, greets us in Boston!

We were supposed to meet Hannah at noon. She had 1.5 hours between classes to hang out with us. But, we were late, and lost. We showed up at 1:00, and parked in a spot on the street marked “No Parking/Tow Zone.” Hannah hopped in the space shuttle, pulled up a seat, and we just stayed put in our spot until she had to leave to go to class at 1:30. And then we drove off, without a parking ticket!

It would have been nice to stay in Boston a bit longer, but driving around in the RV was terrifying, and we knew we’d never find an actual parking spot anyway. So, we got the heck out of the city right away.

We continued north, and as evening approached, the weather was looking ominous. We made it as far as The Pines Campground, just outside of Newburyport, Massachusetts. We arrived in the dark, in a torrential downpour. Got soaked just running into the campground office to check in.

On our way to the campground, just a minute or so before the torrential downpour began.

As we pulled into our site, and settled in, and dried off, we felt fortunate to have our space shuttle. The folks a couple spots down from us were not so fortunate, as they were tent camping. And it looked like they were having a wee bit of a problem keeping their tent erected properly!

The neighbors. Having a wee bit of a problem with their tent.

We were dry, and happy, and played music inside the RV until it was finally time to go to sleep.

Where Are We Now? A Quick Update…

We’re currently in Little Rock, Arkansas, enjoying the people, the sites, the food and the weather. We’ll be leaving in the morning for either Dallas, or Oklahoma City. Will see which way the wind blows us!!

Plymouth Rock….All A Lie!

Morning walk around the campground. Just south of Plymouth, MA

Morning walk around the campground. Just south of Plymouth, MA

Day 52        July 31

We were very excited to go to Plymouth today to see Plymouth Rock….the first place that the Pilgrims landed in America. And so, it was with great disappointment that we found Plymouth Rock to be, #1, quite small, #2, locked up in prison-like confinement, and #3, apparently part of the Great American Hoax.

The actual rock. Plymouth Rock.

The actual rock. Plymouth Rock.

Most people know about the supposed first steps on the moon…Neil Armstrong, and all that…”One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” (or something like that). I say “supposed” because, according to some conspiracy theorists,  there’s still some question as to whether or not we really landed on the moon.

Well, it ends up that there’s no mention of Plymouth Rock in any of the historical documents, and that the statement that the Pilgrims had landed there, was uttered 100 years after the fact, in some speech.

The big deception…

200 years later, the myth is born.

So it seems that the whole Plymouth Rock story is totally fabricated. Which doesn’t explain why the folks of Plymouth, Massachusetts have gone to such great lengths over the years to move, repair, and protect behind walls and bars, Plymouth Rock.

All this, and, we still enjoyed ourselves, and took lots of pics of the rock!

We took a stroll around the waterfront, and around the town of Plymouth…all very quaint and beautiful. We found Leyden Street too….the oldest street in the US.

Plymouth, MA

Plymouth, MA

Cool music shop in Plymouth, MA

Plymouth, MA

Plymouth, MA

Plymouth, MA

Plymouth, MA

Our little snippet of American history complete, we then took off on a mission to find a new guitar for me, to replace the guitar that was broken in two by the fine workmen at Airstream.

I was so lucky to find a gem of a music store, about 20 minutes from Plymouth. Tucked away in a little strip mall, was Music Unlimited. Turned out to be a fabulous shop, with all kinds of beautiful Taylors and Martins.

But, I was focused on finding a really cheap guitar. And I did. I bought a 3/4 size Ibanez, for $100. Sounds ok, weird to play since it’s 3/4 size, doesn’t completely hold it’s tuning. It’s upside…it was only $100, and because it’s small, I can play it while standing in the aisle of the Space Shuttle!! The hoedown is on!!!

The day’s finale….another fine feast at our campground.

Will I, Or Will I Not, Eat A Sandwich In Sandwich?

Old church that’s now a private residence. Sandwich, MA

Day 51   July 30

The day before, we’d explored the northern part of Cape Cod, so today, we ventured more southerly, toward South Dennis. Maybe because my “The Most Scenic Drives in America” book was set aside due to it’s state of self-destruction, or maybe because there didn’t seem to be too much to see in this area, we just did a drive-through, stopping only for a picnic lunch in a little park-like area.

South Dennis. Picnic lunch and a dog walk.

The view at lunch time in South Dennis

As we drove around, I once again noticed the same metric ton of little graveyards everywhere, followed closely behind in numbers by pizza joints, ice cream stands, and Dunkin Donuts shops.

On our way out of Cape Cod, we spent some time in Sandwich. I really wanted to eat a sandwich in Sandwich, but it was late in the afternoon and almost every place was closed already. So we just walked around and took pics in this beautiful small town.

Sandwich, MA

Sandwich, MA

Sandwich, MA

Really? Well, who hasn’t?! Sandwich, MA

Sandwich, MA

The next stop on our road trip would be Indian Head Resort Campground, just south of Plymouth, Massachusetts. We wouldn’t go into Plymouth until the morning, but, in honor of the Pilgrims, we had a traditional Pilgrim dinner of chips, salsa, sausage, and beer, and we played music around the campfire.

Docked for the night, outside of Plymouth, MA

P-Town, Lobster, & Sunbathing Action Figures

Cape Cod

Day 50   July 29

The plan for today was to drive around and explore Cape Cod, and, explore we did!

I was still hanging onto my book, “The Most Scenic Drives in America,” for a little direction on what to do and see. Problem was that my book was falling apart. Cheap binding glue, I think. New pages were falling out each day. It was starting to look more like a pamphlet than a book, and it was getting annoying, so I finally just tossed it aside.

Cape Cod is stock full of cute little shingled cottages. Everywhere you look, shingled cottages. Mark decided maybe we should try putting wooden shingles on Fiona, ‘cause that would be so darn East Coast cute!

Cape Cod

I also couldn’t help but to notice that, for such a small place, there were a metric ton of small graveyards everywhere. Made sense, I suppose, that since the east coast of America was settled early on, that dead people have been happening ever since then.

The northern end of Cape Cod was where all the action was happening for us. First, there’s Provincetown, or, P-Town, as the locals call it. It’s a very cute little town, loaded with eateries, and little touristy shops. Very pretty. But, you haven’t really experienced P-Town until you try to drive your RV through the middle of the extremely narrow and crowded main street. Dumb and crazy thing to do, but we didn’t know. Ignorance is bliss.

P-Town

Since we couldn’t find anywhere to park Fiona in P-town, we bagged it and just drove to the beach with the big parking lot. Found ourselves, all four of us, on a beautiful beach where it was perfectly legal to let dogs run off-leash. All of us had a great time there!

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

The “action figures” @ Cape Cod

The “action figures” sunbathing @ Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Cape Cod

Trixie is exhausted after walking so far on the beach!

The only thing we could really do to top off this awesome day, was to stop for a proper lobster dinner at the Lobster Shanty. Lobster, clams, clam chowder, corn on the cob, and ice-cream.

Dinner time!

Dig in!

Another perfect day came to a close!

The Space Shuttle…Picking Up Passengers & Movin’ On

Beautiful Rhode Island

Day 49   July 28

First and most important item on the day’s “to do” list, was to scramble back to Naragannsett to pick up the pups from their vacation from their vacation. I was so happy to see them! And they seemed happy to see me too, so they must have had an ok time at Gnarly Dog.

Little post office. Everything in Rhode Island has to be small, so that it all fits.

Now that the four of us were reunited, we headed out of town. But we didn’t get too far, ‘cause just out of town, we saw a sign for Newport Vineyards. We made the obligatory stop and purchase of wine, and continued on our way.

Newport Vineyards

Vats of delicious wine. Where all the magic happens!

Voila! Ready to drink!

We were headed to Cape Cod via Route 6. Specifically, we took Route 6, Exit #3, which was also marked as “Former Exit #2.” So, just like “the artist formerly known as Prince,” we took the “exit formerly known as exit #2.”

Hello Massachusetts!

Cape Cod was beautiful! We meandered on Rt. 6A until we got to Shady Knoll Campground for the night. Had a dinner of sandwiches and beer, and listened to music from the Folk Festival. A fine and relaxing evening!

Relaxing evening in the Space Shuttle. Just us, the dogs, and our beer.

Everyone’s Rockin’, Except For Pokey

Pokey danced so much today, that he pulled a muscle in his hind leg.

Day 48         July 27

Even though it rained for a good part of the day, this final day of the festival, was just as wonderful as the first two days.

The rain brought out a comraderie in the musicians and in the festival attendees that added to the excitement of the day. And it also brought out our rain ponchos for the very first time! Now I was glad that I had bought those things two months ago!

A little rain didn’t bother this crowd!

After two full days of music, and now another full day of music, in the rain no less, you’d think I’d be dead tired, and tired of listening to music. But I wasn’t. The quality of musicianship, and the energy from the bands and from the crowds, was just unbelievable, and I never tired of it! And at the end of this day, I was so sad that it was all over.

The end of an amazing three days!

Here are my snapshots, my documentation of the bands I saw, from the final day of the 2014 Newport Folk Festival……

Starting the day with the Berklee Gospel & Roots Choir.

Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples & Friends

Gabriela, of Rodrigo & Gabriela

Rodgrigo, of Rodrigo & Gabriela, on the big screen.

Hurray For The Riff Raff

Trampled By Turtles

Lucero

Gregory Alan Isakov

The Lonesome Trio

Leif Vollebekk

The Deslondes

Nothing Mellow Happened Today. Today We Rocked!

Adult beverages.

Day 47      July 26

The Newport Folk Festival 2014…..Day #2

This morning, when we arrived at the festival, the parking attendant thought we were musicians, and waved us on into the VIP parking area. This is what happens when you drive an Airstream Interstate powered by Mercedes! LOL! We set him straight, and went to the “normal people” parking lot.

Legal to drink and legal to listen to music.

Today was just as spectacular as the first day of the festival. Great weather, food, people and outstanding music!

Again, here are my quick little snaps of each of the bands……

J. Roddy Walston. Totally awesome. And loud. I lost a little bit of hearing after this one!

The Oh Hellos. Awesome and a great, fun time!

Willie Watson (from Old Crow Medicine Show). Star Quality!

Jack White & friends

Jack White & the big crowd

Jack White

Nickel Creek w/ Sara Watkins. Wonderful!

Nickel Creek & the crowd.

OK. We’ll do what we’re told.

The Milk Carton Kids. Great music, and very funny too.

Houndmouth

Shakey Graves. Yet another great artist!

Newport Folk Festival…Peace Out!

Anticipation….

Day 46           July 25

The Newport Folk Festival 2014…..Day #1

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, drove to Fort Adams (the festival site), parked, strapped our chairs to our backs, and rode our bikes down the hill to the entrance gates. We were early, and waited about an hour before they opened the gates.

Earlybirds at the festival. Mark’s chillin out, hangin’ out until they open the gates. A very mellow crowd, indeed.

 

It’s very important to wait in line to get wristbands for beer.

If you have to wait around, you may as well wait around here! So, no complaints!

 

Super happy to finally be at NFF!!

Once inside the gates, we set up our chairs by the “Quad” stage. We’d use that as our home base for the day, and in fact, we ended up setting up in the same place all three days.

Fun times at NFF. Hangin’ out at the Quad Stage.

What followed was the most magnificent day of great weather, spectacular music, burgers, beer, ice-cream, and blueberry pie. From noon until 8:00 pm, we got to listen to the most awesome musicians, in the most awesome location, with thousands of other awesomely nice people!

I was able to take a snapshot of almost every band that we saw all weekend. What follows are those pics. I know, they all look the same…same place, same vantage point, etc.. I just wanted to document who I saw. It wasn’t about getting great shots, or zooming in close, or whatever. I was just enjoying the music and taking a quick pic of each artist, so that I didn’t forget who I’d seen!

You’ve probably never heard of most of these artists, and believe me, they were all out of this world, crazy good! So, if you’re looking for new music to listen to, I hope you’ll check some of them out!

Mandolin Orange. Great way to start the festival.

Ryan Adams. Friday night headliner on the main stage.

Jimmy Cliff. Fun, fun, fun!!

Indoor intimate venue

Spirit Family Reunion jamming.

Newport locals, Lake Street Dive.

Reignwolf. Kind of heavy metal ockers!! Not sure what they were doing at the FOLK festival, but they were pretty freakin’ awesome!

Noah Gunderson

Noah Gunderson, with his sister, brother, and a friend. One of my festival favorites.

Phox. A great sound!

Real Time Update

Following wonderful visits to Quebec City, Montreal, and Ottawa, we’ve headed south!

We’re docked for the night in Williamsport, Maryland.

Happy to report that it is 20 degrees warmer than where we’ve recently been hanging out.

The Turn-A-Round Point

Day 89 September 6

At approximately 5:30 pm (Newfoundland time), we left St John’s, Newfoundland to begin our journey west. St John’s was fabulous, and we were both sad to have to leave. We had great weather, beautiful land/seascapes, did some amazing hikes, went to wonderful museums, had delicious food, and got screeched-in.

St John’s was one of our very favorite places on our trip, and we are already talking about returning! But for now, we head west!

We are currently docked for the night at the Walmart in Clarenville.

So far, we’ve driven 11,025 miles, and we’ve taken six ferry boats for an unknown amount of miles.

Mission Accomplished! The Space Shuttle Arrives In Newport!

Downtown Newport, Rhode Island

Day 45          July 24

This was a monumental day for us, because we finally, after driving about 7,000 miles, arrived in Newport, Rhode Island. This was the whole reason we were traveling cross-country….to get to the Newport Folk Festival. Yipppeeee!!!

Hello, Rhode Island!

This way to Newport!

This was also a monumental day for Dax and Trixie, because this would be the first time on the whole trip, that they’d be separated from us. Since we’d be spending about 10 hours a day, for three straight days at the music festival, we had to board them.

After checking in at our RV park, we drove to Fort Adams, the festival site, to get our bearings for where we’d have to drive to in the morning. Fort Adams is a cool place, with lots of musical history. Other history too, as it is a real fort.

Here we are!

The iconic big banjo @ Newport Folk Festival

Our first batch of New England oysters

Lunch stop by the water

After a lunch stop, we drove the dogs to Narragannset, to Gnarly Dog…the cage-free facility I’d found on line months ago. I breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the place and met the owner. Nice place. Nice owner. I felt confident that the doggies would be in good hands.

The pups’ home away from home near Newport

I was sad to say goodbye to the pups for what would be 3 1/2 days, but I was also happy to have 3 1/2 days of freedom. If you have dogs, or kids, you know what I mean.

With complete freedom to do whatever we wanted to, without concern for the dogs, Mark and I headed straight for the beach! We made sure to touch the Atlantic Ocean to officially complete the coast to coast part of our journey.

We’re in….the Atlantic Ocean!

Mark, & the Atlantic Ocean

Cool sculpture by the beach front

Of course, our second stop on the freedom trail, was the grocery store. Not too exciting, but, necessary. Oh yea, we also stopped at the post office to mail my friend Bob’s present off to him. I’d bought it two or three weeks ago, can’t even remember now. But I kept forgetting to mail it. Finally shipped it off.

Near Newport, RI

Near Newport, RI

It was early evening when we got back to our RV park. A couple women staying nearby us in the park, asked where our dogs were. They’d seen us drive in earlier in the day, before we’d dropped the pups off at “camp.”

“We took them to Gnarly Dog for boarding while we attend the Newport Folk Festival,” I replied.

They weren’t critical of my decision, but told me that they would have taken care of the dogs for the three days that we’d be gone.

Can you say, Guilt Trip?!!! Plus, I already missed my doggies. On the other hand, the space shuttle seemed so, uh, spacious, without having to trip over Dax and Trixie. So yea, boarding them was a good thing!

Timmy Hortons and Toll Roads = Adventure!

Tim Hortons

Day 44   July 23

First stop this morning…Tim Horton’s. It’s a Canadian thing, so I was told. Like Dunkin’ Donuts is to Americans, I guess. When in Canada, yada, yada, yada. And so, we went to Timmy’s. Coffee, donut, breakfast sandwich. Not bad.

Tim Hortons

We crossed back over the Rainbow Bridge, into the USA, and started on the home stretch for Newport, Rhode Island.

Last views of Niagara Fall

Last views of Niagara Fall

Last views of Niagara Fall

Last views of Niagara Fall

After a good while driving on the toll road, we were shocked when we were told we owed $25 at the exit toll booth. What was the state of New York doing with all this toll money?!!

Then, we were shocked to find that we didn’t have $25. We sat there while the toll booth operator filled out a bunch of paperwork so that she could give us a mail-in envelope to pay by mail. See, she couldn’t take a check from us, but she could spend 5 minutes doing paperwork, and then give us an envelope so that we could mail in….a check. WTF? All this, while a big line of cars formed behind us. We had become, “those a-holes.”

We had exited the toll road, in order to find a campground for the night. When we couldn’t find the one that was listed in the area, we got back on the toll road and kept driving.

When the rain, thunder and lightening, and darkness of night had finally done us in, we spent the night in the parking lot at one of the beautiful toll road rest stop/service centers….just us, 4 or 5 other RV’s, and a plethora of cars and trucks coming and going throughout the night. Surprisingly, we slept really well.

Pretty sure this was the sign welcoming us to Massachusettes

A driving adventure!