Travel Update 7

One the things we wanted to see while driving through Connecticut was UConn. Located in Stores, it's a small college town with virtually nothing but the university.  Our plan was to put on our Duck stuff and walk around campus, but like most college campuses parking is not easy to find. It was also super rainy and gross. So we settled for driving through campus and taking pictures of the basketball arena. We're super ready for basketball season.

That night is Hartford, we mixed it up and instead of staying at a Walmart we stayed at our first Cabela's. We had been a Cabela's before but this one was something else entirely. We probably spent about two hours exploring the store. They have an aquarium! 

We also swung back through Pennsylvania to try to find the stickers that we lost in Travel Update 6. Unfortunately, even though we found our spot we couldn't find the stickers. Either they stayed on the bike rack longer than we thought or someone picked them up thinking they were trash. We're still bummed about their disappearance but we put the new ones up. 

For those of you keeping track of our RV maintenance we also had to replace the car battery. For some reason it kept popping open and leaked a bit of acid. It wasn't fixable, so it needed to be replaced.

In case you missed it, this time period also includes our trips to Salem, Plymouth, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and Gettysburg but we decided that those all warranted their own posts. 

Travel Update 6

After leaving DC we knew we wanted to head out to Assateague Island, as well as visit one of Kathleen's friends in Baltimore, then we had major decisions to make.

We were planning to go to Acadia first but we started to second guess ourselves. It is already getting cold in the Northeast and we were worried that we might have missed a lot of the fall foliage. Also, we want to see Quebec and Nova Scotia as well as the Canadian side of Niagara and Kathleen had to renew her passport. We also considered doing a loop back to parks in Michigan or heading straight south.

We eventually settled on our original plan of heading north first and we are glad we did. Even though we were a little late for the leaves in a few places:

Some were still perfect:

Our main misfortune on this section came when we crossed a bridge into New Jersey and went to put the sticker on our map. We realized that we had left the stickers on the bike rack after putting Pennsylvania on at our campsite. 

We thought about turning around but the bridge was tolled in the other direction and it would take us about an hour and a half to go around and back to the campsite. We decided to simply re-purchase the map from Amazon when we got internet, only to find that the map has been discontinued. We ended up buying a new map that we might place over the original. The idea of getting rid of the first one makes us sad so for the moment we have the new one in the window. We'll stop by our campsite on the way back down to see if we can find the stickers, but the odds aren't good. :/ 

 

Other adventures include a bridge with a "9 foot" clearance that we thought we wouldn't make it under. Only to find out that New York has a different way of measuring than we do... 

We also knew that we had to stop by Williamstown, MA where Aleah, Kathleen's best friend growing up, lived before moving to Eugene. Kathleen had heard many stories of Lickity Split Ice Cream, but unfortunately it was closed for the season. We did however get to walk around the campus of William's College and see Aleah's old house. 

Free campsites have been a little hard to find in the Northeast but the ones we have found have been lovely. 

Fuel pump and M.A.G. towing

After visiting Assateague Island, our plan was to go to Salisbury for the night. We'd sent our first Amazon purchase while on the road to a locker there for pickup. That plan changed when the gas pedal all of the sudden stopped working. So, we did what we always do: call Goodsam. They wanted to send out a mobile mechanic. A state trooper stopped by while they were looking to make sure everything was okay. Goodsam failed to find a mobile mechanic and eventually failed to find a place that would tow us. Since we indicated that we were safe, they asked if we could spend the night where we were. I probably should have said no, because at 10 PM another trooper came by and told us we needed to call a tow company. Apparently after checking with dispatch, he changed his mind and we spent the night on the side of the road. Not the best sleep ever. 

The RV, at night, on the side of the road on MD 367.

In the morning we finally got our mechanic. He was pretty sure we needed a new fuel pump which would involve a tow to the shop. After calling GoodSam again to get towing covered, we were prepared to be spending a few days at their shop in Roxana, DE. 

 

Roxana is a tiny, tiny place. We’re not even sure that there is really a town there. We looked to see if we could find motels in the area and couldn’t find anything. Although our biggest worry was how would we catch the Oregon Ducks game. Given that there wasn’t a sports bar in the area either… 

 

Joe, the tow truck driver and mechanic worked his butt off for us to make sure we wouldn’t have to worry. He worked hard and made sure we were comfortable. He got a new fuel pump rush delivered, installed it, and epoxied a tiny crack in our fuel tank by 7 PM that same night. 

While he worked, we spent the day in the backyard of the house on the same property as the shop. They had a “bar” room that had a bathroom with its own shower they said we could use. When he was done, Joe offered that we spend the night in the lot since it was dark. We took him up on the offer as we felt comfortable there. Now we're sitting in the Wicomico County library in Salisbury thinking about how lucky we've been with the friendly people who have helped us.

Assateague

Many of our friends in the Northeast suggested that we go to visit Assateague Island National Seashore. Given that Kathleen remembered reading and loving the book Misty of Chincoteague as a kid we didn't need to be told twice. The drive out to park from Baltimore was pretty with lots of small towns and farms along the way.

Assateague island is 37 miles long and never more than a mile wide. The northern two thirds are in Maryland, while the southern third is in Virginia. There is no road down the whole island but you can access the island at either the very northern tip or the very southern tip. We went to the northern side because Virginia doesn't allow animals in the park, even in the car. Which is a problem for us.

The island is largely known for the wild horses. These horses are believed to have descended from horses that were put out to pasture on the island about 300 years ago in order to avoid paying grazing fees. Now there are two distinct herds, one in each state. The Virginia herd is rounded up every year by the Chincoteague fire department and foals are auctioned off. The Maryland herd is managed as wildlife by the National Park Service as part of the National Seashore.

In order to keep the population from getting out of hand, the Maryland horses are administered birth control through a dart riffle and only allowed to have one foal per mare. This ultimately leads to the mares having longer, healthier lives as well.

Although the horses are wild animals, they are about as tame as most city squirrels. They show little to no fear of approaching people, and often hang out on or around the roads. Not that there are many other places for them to be. We saw two horses as soon as we arrived on the island hanging out to the side of the road. While the original two were gone later, there was whole band hanging out in the road.

 

 

In addition to looking at the horses, there are nice beaches that are probably quite crowded in peak season. They were a little cold and windy this time of year.

  

We did one short "dune" hike. This hike included large sections of the road that was built down the island in 1950 during a period in which people were planning on developing the island. The great nor'easter of 1962 quickly convinced people that this wasn't a good idea. All that remains of that plan is a very dilapidated road.

 

It also seemed like a great place to kayak and take bikes out in a different season. Even though we weren't there during the peak of possibilities, we were very glad that we stopped in.