Palmyra, Maine to Hancock, New Hampshire was about my longest single day ride pulling the RV, over 5 hours. I've met lots of RV'ers who regularly drive 5 to 6 hours and think nothing of it. I seem to have fallen in the habit of driving between 2 and three hours at most and then stopping for about a week to explore the new area. When I stay in a single place for over two weeks I get itchy to move on. I wonder how long I'll continue this habit?
Hancock, NH is a little town in the Monadnock Valley of Southern NH. It's a very pretty area with several quaint little towns. Over the next few days nine LoW's arrived. I knew all but two of them from prior get togethers. Marge Smith (full timing a few months longer than me) stays in this camp ground a lot and knows the area. She, I, and Anne (celebrating her 80th birthday) went to Harlows pub and listened to some sort of folk music. It's hard to characterize the town of Peterborough. It's not exactly a college town and not exactly an artsy town. It's sort of a combination of the two with some talented people and a great audience who clapped and hooted for every performer. About six or seven of us went to Sarah's Hat Box in Hancock. They had some incredible boxes in many shapes, sizes, and purposes limited by imagination only. A very colorful place. Four of us went to a play at the Peterborough Players called Laughing Stock. It was a farce on producing a play, kind of funny but way to long. Between morning coffee, happy hour, pot luck dinner, a golf round with Nancy Brown, and a couple of "outings" the days went quick. Marge and I went to a farmers market in Keane, NH, walked around a bit and had a late lunch at a most interesting place called Pickity Place in Mason, NH. They grow their own herbs, vegetables, and eatable flowers. The five course ratatouille meal was delicious including the big yellow flower. I went to another play, "Absurd Person Singular". This was a British comedy which bordered on slapstick. It too was much to long and barely funny. The Peterborough Playhouse is nice and most of the actors were pretty good. Perhaps it was their choice of plays or the direction but I'll probably skip future shows here. I found a lecture on climate change in the nearby town of Jaffrey, NH. Marge expressed interest and joined me for a most interesting evening. The lecture by Dr. James McCarthy a professor of biological oceanography at Harvard was held by the Amos Fortune Forum in the historic Jaffrey Meeting House. We arrived about a half hour early and strolled the cemetery, finding the graves of Amos Fortune and Willa Cather. Amos Fortune was a slave who bought his freedom at age 60, settled in Jaffrey and became a successful tanner. He left much of his estate to support the town and schoolhouse meeting place. Willa Cather was a Pulitzer prize winning author, born in Nebraska, lived and died in New York City, but loved this area and wanted to be buried here. While strolling the cemetery we met a couple doing the same and who were the descendants of the original founder of the church meeting house in the mid-1700's. They showed us the graves of some of their ancestries along with Amos Fortune & Willa Cather. The lecture hall was filled to overflowing with standing room only. It was very interesting and the reception afterward was delightful. My last day at Seven Maples required some choices. There were three events and no way to do all three. There was a string quartet playing in the nearby town of Temple at 3pm, a pulled pork roast at the campground at 5pm, and a music festival celebrating Thoreau just down the road in Peterborough. Marge opted for the quartet and music celebrating Thoreau. The quartet, comprised of two violins, a viola, and a cello was delightful. The program celebrating Thoreau was strange and much to long. Their choice of music was torture! They had a good pianist play a very long, discordant piece by Ives. Looking around the room about half the attendees were twitching in their seats and constantly looking at the time. I think of Thoreau as calm and peaceful, certainly not loud and brash. We should have enjoyed the pulled pork at the camp ground (lol).
My few days in Bernardston, MA were a great diversion before the larger get together in Vermont. With a full hook up I was able to catch up on laundry and rig cleaning. I took a couple of short trips; one around Brattleboro, VT and the other back to Shelbourne Falls, MA. The Bridge of Flowers is still there (lol)! About an hour to Horseshoe Acres in Andover, VT. At first they didn't want to honor the special discount always given to us Loners. The owner said their costs were constantly going up and they don't make anything at $10 per night. I certainly understand but still, the rate was quoted me when I made the reservation. I offered to help out a little and they gave me the rate for my entire three week stay. This is an okay camp ground but it is tough with absolutely no Verizon service in the area. The sat. dish is picking up and the campground has a WiFi but only near the office. I paid all my bills for next month before getting here so I can do without a secure WiFi. Still, I have to drive about 10 miles each way, once or twice a week to make any phone calls.
On Friday of the Labor Day weekend my quiet little site was suddenly surrounded by a group of nine rigs with about 20 kids, all from the same group of friends. About the time I was thinking of either moving or going to a hotel for the long weekend I said "hi" to a few of them. They were the usual friendly RV'ers with well behaved kids. I joined them for several of their "buffet style family" dinners, morning coffee, and afternoon drinks. Chatting around their huge camp fire was most enjoyable. About the time the NASCAR race started the campground power went out. Several of the guys and a couple of the kids came into my rig to watch the race. With the solar inverter on, the a/c blowing, TV on and a few chips and drinks life was good! Went to the Weston Playhouse and saw a great dramatic play, "To Kill a Mockingbird". The 12 year old girl in the lead was fantastic but every time I looked at the lead actor all I saw was Gregory Peck (who had the lead in the movie, lol). Five Loners came on Thursday. It was nice to have some folks I know to chat with. We had our usual coffee in the mornings and happy hour around 4pm. We took our usual trip to the Weston Country Store where we sort of "graze" on the chips & dips (lol). There was an exhibit of life in the 1800's going on at the museums. Very interesting demonstration of the water turbine, tin smithing, basket weaving, and a loom. We went out to dinner one night and before you knew it, they were gone. Marge and Gail stayed one extra day. A pleasant four days. One of my last days at Horseshoe Acres I drove to Bellows Falls for the "Bonnie & Clyde Train". Over the past few years I've taken a few of these themed train rides and they're always fun. As I was boarding I began talking with Cindy & Jim from Long Island, NY. We kidded each other on our New York accents and sat together on the train. Cindy is sort of an ex-biker who rode around the country with her first husband before he passed away. She also loves horses and has a couple back in Long Island. We talked a lot about places we've been on motorcycles. The train took us up to Chester, VT, laid over for about 20 minutes and then returned to Bellows Falls. During the ride a young guy and gal, who claimed to be Bonnie & Clyde, packing plastic guns, yelled at all us passengers to place our valuables in a sack they totted. Most of the passengers laughed and put the beads and play money we had been given into the bag. Cindy, Jim, and I put our beads in but held out on the cash. This caused a lengthy discussion with the robbers and Jim & I telling them they'd never make it as gunmen in NYC. As we chatted with the robbers I recognized Bonnie from a train ride I took last year. Bonnie and her mother did a murder mystery train ride I was on. Jim, Cindy, Bonnie, and Clyde couldn't believe I actually recognized someone from over a year ago who barely strolled past me and in two different costumes. Of course I can't remember what I ate for breakfast this morning (lol). Horseshoe Acres campground is mostly quiet, peaceful, and pretty on the mountain in VT. However, after three weeks with having to drive 15 miles round trip for cell service and only intermittent sat. reception I am very glad to be heading out. I guess I am a bit of a wanderer and get itchy to leave most places after a week or so.
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