On Friday morning I was up early. I had no helpers coming and nearly everything to do to get ready for the road trip. I started a list about 4AM and got busy. The kitchen was cleaned up, I packed almost all of what I planned to bring, including a suitcase and lots of food.
I had planned to make tuna melt sandwiches and have a greens salad. I got the table set, and all the stuff to make the lunch laid out. I finished around 11AM and my brother had said they’d be there around noon. He called at 11:10 and said they’d just left and were caught in construction, so he thought 12:30.
I made the salad and I sat down to watch Gilmore Girls until they got here. I called them at 1PM and he said they would be here in about 10 minutes.
I got started with the sandwiches and sure enough they finally backed in. I got the sandwiches in the pan and we went out to check out the RV for sleeping accommodations.
I often have bad pain in my left leg and must get up and sit in my recliner with the leg raised for the rest of the night. I hoped I could cob something to replicate that in the RV. If I took the bed that was also the table, I could set up leg support off from it and it might work. So I put together a suitcase stand and the top from a cushioned top box and hoped for the best.
While we were out there, we’d completely forgotten the sandwiches. My son had found them and turned them off. They were only burnt on one side…. Sigh…
It turns out, that while my brother had started a list weeks ago, he’d forgotten some crucial things like pillow and blankets and my mom’s shower chair. So I started pulling stuff from my house to fill the gaps.
The RV was 25’ long and had 3 beds, one over the cab, one over the storage compartment in back, and the table area. I ended up supplying a lot of bedding, a broom, and a few other things.
My mom wasn’t told destinations, etc. so she thought they were just stopping for lunch at my house. It wasn’t until I was taking more and more stuff out of the house that she figured out I was going too. That made her really happy, because I don’t drive and hadn’t been able to leave the old cat for extended periods. So we’d have 3 days together.
We had lunch and were finally on the round around 3PM. We head north down my road, I was in back at the table. We headed up into the hilltowns to visit a friend of my brother’s.
He lives on top of the mountain and has a gorgeous view over his farm.
We left there about 4:30 and my brother stopped for coffee and a smoothie for my mom.
Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s my family co-owned a KOA campground with my uncle. It was sold several years after my family moved to Connecticut. My brother thought my mom would like staying there. It’s basically exactly as it was back then, very few improvements including the old Home Comfort wood stove still being used to heat the main level.
This was the second surprise for my mom.
This little church used to be in the town park and when it was renovated, it came to stay at the campground. It has been well maintained all these years. It’s a replica of the Unitarian Church in town.
The campground had been bought by a corporation composed of Masons, for their rallys. But that hadn’t proved feasible and it ended up in a private family corporation.
The campground now was set up to hold twice the campsites more than my family had built. And most of the campers were fifth wheelers, some staying all season. We were along this stretch in our little RV.
Behind the camper, the Fall River flowed. It was very low due to the drought. There were times when it washed out the little foot bridge 2 sites east of us from flooding. The infield where the Masons’ building stood would be flooded sometimes too, requiring relocating campers. But the last flood to wash the bridge away meant it was never replaced. Just the abutment remains.
Once we were in place, I set about making up the beds and putting away everything. My brother made a supper of hamburgers and hot dogs and salad. It was still warmish outside so we ate out at the picnic table. He’d bought firewood to have a campfire, but they never delivered it, so no fire.
We got cleaned up from supper, and went to bed around 9 – 9:30 I think. I woke around midnight with leg pain. My brother had made sure the camper was level front to back, but alas it was not left to right. When I tried to sit up and used the leg support, I kept sliding off the bed. So there was not much sleep for me that night.
Saturday morning it was raining/drizzly and I discovered my bag with all my shower stuff/toiletries was not to be found. We tore the camper apart looking then gave up. There was a new Dollar General in the town (where I grew up) so we stopped in there and got what I needed and a few other missing things. Then we hit the road heading north.
Our destination was the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont and a visit to one of my mom’s oldest friends whom she had not seen in 40 years. It was to be a surprise for her.
Because there were so many photos, I’m making this a 2 part series.