Friday The 13TH

Friday, June 13, 2008. Typically this is a date that doesn't concern me one way or the other, but that is not the way it was today! It was a nasty day. The first day of our greatly anticipated run to New England was a bit of a bummer. The next time someone tells me that they don't wish to take their rig to Alaska because the roads are so terrible, I think I should laugh in their face, slap them around a bit for good measure and spit on their shoes. OK. That does sound extreme, but this day we traveled supposedly good lower 48 roads like PA 78 and NJ and NY 287, then CT 95. They were terrible. They were horrible. IT was like an 8 hr drive over roads tossed and convoluted by a recent (if not an ongoing) earthquake. We agreed that this was the worst run we have had in well over a year and a half of driving full time this way and that way back and forth across the country. It was so bad at times I found myself praying for the relative calm of an Alaskan frost heave repair section of a road that is passable only some of the year. It was so rough the dog could not lay down comfortably on a dog bed that has 6 inches of padding and sits on top of an inch of shock absorbent rubber for good measure. Drawers flew open. The plastic covers of the fluorescent ceiling lights crashed to the floor. Bladders were stressed beyond the point of fair and anything that happened to Robin Williams in "RV" happened to us on this day. OK- not everything! But way more than it should have. And then came the Tappan Zee. Cost of a car going across the bridge is 4.50. Cost of a motor coach towing a car across the bridge hit the scales at a whopping $29.75. How is that reasonable? The car should cost 4.50 - it has two axles. The coach has three axles, so naturally extended it should cost 4.50 plus 2.25 for a sum of 6.75. Add the 6.75 for the coach to the 4.50 for the car we tow and we should have reasonably paid 11.25. That would be OK. Even round it up to 15.00 if you feel like milking me for crossing your constantly-under-repair bridge if you must. Slap me with a 20.00 if you need to punish me for coming to New England with a Florida plate on the back of the rig. But 29.75? Where the Harry do you get that?

But never mind, we arrived safe and semi sound in Connecticut after the ordeal through Pa, NJ, NY. Add those states to the map; we deserve at least that! Set up the coach. What do you mean the jacks didn't go down all the way and the coach is rockin'? One too many shake, rattle and roll! And what's this I hear that the fridge isn't working right, not cold enough, and you are throwing out milk and chicken parts??? Maybe the great state of New York will reimburse me for shaking the daylights out of house and home on wheels. Should I send my request to Hillary or Chucky Boy Schumer? Ah, feels good to vent....

Thank heaven for a nice stay in Hershey at Thousand Trails NACO (TTN) where we did manage to accomplish just about everything we needed to get done there before heading north. Last night before heading out of there I took my gold pan down to the stream and tried to see if I could turn up a flake or two of the yellow gold- but nothing doing. Mostly what I turned up for the effort was a pack of neat kids who were interested in knowing just what the heck was going on with that funny looking little metal pan. I showed them. They tried their hand at the process and did surprisingly well- and brought a level of sophistication to the question and answer period that, frankly, I would not have expected. So when it got too late to maintain the panning effort I walked back over to where they were camped to show them some of the rewards of some more productive efforts in the past. The kids, and the parents that joined in, seemed to enjoy the session. Usually I am the guy taking all the photos- for the blog. But on this occasion I think I was the subject of a lot more photos than I took. Maybe my face will show up on one of their blogs some day....

It was a day for the young. Thousand Trails Hershey- always a favorite hang out for Canada Geese was in full regalia as it is time for the adults to be giving the goslings the first tour of the preserve.