Done Deal! We Are Home Again.

The Last day of this long journey started at 5:30am with our usual breakfast. An hour later I was accelerating onto the I-95. 

Last mile in New Hampshire

The state line to Maine at Portsmouth and then we had to pass three Maine toll stations, before we took on the northern stretch of the I-95 until Bangor, ME.

Roads for Cash

It's all yours - in Maine

From there on it's US Coastal Rte 1 and 1A all the way to the Canadian border. 

Weather was gorgeous, blue sky and even deeper blue waters of the many ocean bays one can enjoy from the road. No, the trees are not showing green leaves yet, yet spring was in the air.

In Ellsworth we stopped at the Walmart for some last-minute supplies and had a brief lunch before heading on farther north towards the home island.

Salty air gets into the vehicle

The small town of Machias, ME

Once we crossed through the streets of small town Lubec, there was no more doubt - we were home. 

The FDR Memorial Bridge to Campobello

The International bridge, named after Franklin D. Roosevelt, spanning across "The Narrows", was still looking the same. I wondered whether the guard rails would be painted again this summer. The salty air had made them rusty again.

Mulhollan Lighthouse, Campobello Island

The very last 3 miles to our driveway always feel like a relief, or victory over the challenge a long journey like this really is.

Canada Customs building on the Canadian side

Naturally, once we backed the rig onto our property, a lot of work started. 1.priority is flipping on the power. 2. is getting the water going. This time we had a little hickup with the water, but it got solved. Even though power and water is on, we still spend the first night at home in the RV.

Got it backed up again

 It gives a softer transition and we have more time to warm up the house tomorrow morning. It's all based on years of routine and experience.

Our wonderful neighbour Deanna (85) had invited us for seafood chowder and I swear to all ghosts of lucullus that her cooking skills are the best I have ever tasted.

After a sumptious meal we went home, cozying up in our warm rig.

That Long Day

When ever a travel day is coming up we get into that "let's go" - mood, and it affects our waking time. So today, I was wide awake at 5am and turned on the heater. 15 minutes later I was ready dressed and muggins had the coffee water on the range.

So no wonder we got out of Dodge at 6:30am. And with such an early start you can get to places you never thought would be possible.

Rolling out of the Walmart lot, it just started sprinkling enough to make it difficult to see anything through the windshield. And the low sun wasn't making it any easier.

Eventually some clouds got in front of the sun and things got better.

We were getting around Albany,NY at 11:30am. Massachusetts was next, and it has some looong hills. Usually we go along I-295 via Worcester, but at the exit was a line-up - long as the distance to the moon, so we continued on the I-90 until we got to I-495. That's when traffic got a tad worse. Boston is always chaos.

The I-495 eventually ends and we went down the ramp to I-95. Some more bad traffic but it was getting better soon.

Our goal for the day was the New Hampshire Wine and Liquor Outlet right along the I-95. It is only a few more miles north to the State Line with Maine. And from there we have roughly 5 more hours to home.

So yes, this was a long day - 9hrs and 461 miles long.

The Destination For The Day

Over the recent couple of days I woke up knowing that I could turn around and sleep some more. 

Not so today! A faint light was visible through the roof hatch and I kinda knew, it was time to get up and get ready. Ready for another day of traveling and making another 400 miles towards home.

Breakfast was ready in a record-breaking speed and then the usual procedure continued to the point that I tried to hitch on the trailer. But this morning the hitch ball wouldn't cooperate. Even though, I got it right in place, the locking wouldn't work. After more than 30 minutes trying I just pulled the trailer out of the campsite with an unlocked hitch. As soon as I parked it along the camp road the locking went into place. Never had that happen before!

Next stop was the dump station and then we got driving. We avoided to get into the Columbus rush hour by bypassing the city via Hwy 4 through a number of small towns and villages, all which made an incredible proper and clean impression on us. I mean some places you might see run-down houses with garbage strewn around, but not in Ohio! People take pride in their properties and it shows.

So today we made to between Buffalo, NY and Rochester, NY

Yes, there are wineries in upstate New York

We Will Be Rolling Again

We got our van back! Continuing our line of communication with the GM dealer this morning, we were informed that the transmission had already been mounted in before 10am and that the mechanic was about to do the finishing underneath. At around 2pm they did a test drive and Kathy showed up at 3pm for giving me a ride to town for the pickup.

After paying our bill, I was still sitting in the van, when the service manager showed up at my window. Great, so I could thank him in person for quick and professional service.

The drive back to camp took just about 1hr. and both Dixie and Bea looked like Happy Campers.

Even though we have booked another night until wednesday in the park, we will be heading out first thing tomorrow morning. Our goal will be reaching Buffalo, NY.