When we walked into the casino, Max and Mason were in awe of the lights and the slot machines (which they were only permitted to ogle from a distance). Max was looking in wonder at the actual casino and said, “I wish I was 18!” Richard and I don’t gamble so we dragged the boys upstairs for some food.

Our first choice was Rodizio, a Brazilian steakhouse. We love those. They bring around huge skewers of meat to your table, over and over again. We don’t eat much meat but we do indulge when we go to a Brazilian steakhouse! Unfortunately, the hostess said they couldn’t seat us for another 45 minutes. She said she could call any of their other restaurants to try to get us in more quickly. I chose Wildflowers, their fine dining restaurant, which is “AAA Four-Diamond-rated” (that means expensive).

Sure enough, the hostess looked up, and said, “It’s, um, very expensive.”

Okay, maybe we looked like weary travelers because WE WERE. But I also looked around me and saw lots of retired folks dressed in shorts and the like. Maybe she suspected we couldn’t afford a fine dining restaurant because we have small children? (A waiter I once knew – not a friend – said he hated serving families with kids because the tips were always smaller. We ALWAYS tip very well.) I replied, “I don’t care about the cost. Can we eat there with children?”

She replied, “Oh, sure! Kids eat there all the time.” She then called them and they said they had an immediate table for us.

We took quite a stroll to get there (that casino is HUGE!!!) and were given a nice table with two chairs and a booth. Max and Mason took the booth. I reminded Mason (age 4) to be on his best behavior. Max (age 9) is always on his best behavior but Mason is still in SST (Social Situation Training).

Here are some examples of the entertainment Mason provided to our fellow diners that evening (ahem):

Yes, he’s pretending to smoke a wine cork…

Mason’s Menu Telescope

Mason didn’t like the appetizer…and he obviously forgot to wash his hands!

I took Mason to the bathroom to wash his hands and he got fingerprints all over the mirror trying to make a stationary stool spin.

He wanted to know if he was supposed to eat the warm washcloth the waiter brought him.

He convinced the kind waiter to bring him a whole bowl of cherries.

Mason convinced Max to give up his own cherry but then Max then go into trouble for almost getting his hand stuck in the glass. He blamed Mason, of course.

There was a lively table of three men sitting behind Max and Mason. One of them had on a light blue leisure suit (no kidding) and reminded me Steve McQueen (a loooooong time ago). While we were doing our best to constantly remind Mason to sit still and be quiet, we were shocked when a wine cork flew over the booth between Max and Mason, soaring under our table. We burst into laughter, breaking the hushed atmosphere of the restaurant. The rowdy boys at that table also started laughing, and apologizing profusely. Seems one of them tried to flick it toward his buddy…but missed by about 12 feet. I assured them it was just fine and told them how happy we were that missiles were incoming instead of being launched by our youngest boy.

After dinner, the waiter told us the rowdy boys had picked up the tab for our dessert. As they were leaving, Blue Leisure Suit passed by and thanked us for being good sports. We thanked them for livening up our evening! You can kind of see them in the background here:

(And, don’t miss Mason forgetting his table manners above…)

Dinner was absolutely amazing – truly the best food we’ve had in all our travels over the years – and we highly, HIGHLY recommend Wildflowers at Turning Stone Casino.

The following day, we head further southeast as a hurricane is barrelling northwest! Will we have a collision? But of course!

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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He called around and found a place that could replace the tire the next day. If they could get it done early enough, we could still get some driving in the next day. We were in a rush to get to Connecticut and a hurricane was bearing down on the East Coast so timing was crucial.

We had dinner that night at The Pufferbelly, which is located in an old fire house. The food was excellent and we had a great time! The next morning, we got up and drove the RV to the truck repair place. The manager and employees were super nice. We were going to buy a new set of tires before our big trip in January anyway so we decided to go ahead and have it done then, since another tire had problems as well. We had two blowouts a few years ago and I never, ever want to experience that terror again!

We took our tow vehicle for breakfast and, while we were eating, I thought I heard a guy yelling “TAXI!” outside. I looked up and he was standing outside the restaurant, looking up, apparently to a window above the restaurant. And, he was actually yelling, “LEXI!” He kept yelling for her and I guess she kept ignoring him. Perhaps young men who are trying to attract young ladies should wear shirts?

After breakfast, Richard called the repair place and learned the RV was all fixed! With had six new truck tires and we were $2,000 poorer…

We hit the road to see how far East we could get by dusk. I love driving through upstate New York and it was a beautiful afternoon. We don’t gamble but Richard was curious about what’s reported to be a really nice campground at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. I called and they were available so we stopped there.

We unpacked and called the shuttle to pick us up to take us to the casino for dinner. They told us to wait at the end of our road for the shuttle that it would be there in 5 minutes. What they didn’t tell us is that we’d get eaten alive by mosquitoes. As they started buzzing, we started walking (quickly!) to the campground office in an attempt to stay ahead of the buzzing, hoping we’d meet up with the shuttle (we didn’t). I kept Mason busy by telling him to “call the bats.” I figured there must be plenty of them with all those mosquitoes buzzing at dusk. Mason started making kissing sounds with his mouth and saying, “Bat! Here bat!” Within a few minutes, sure enough, a bat swooped by, having his dinner. What a treat! We also saw several Canada Geese in V formations, flying low. So, despite the bug bites, it was a very unique stroll!

We arrived at the campground office and they once again called the shuttle. That time, they showed up very quickly. We walked into the casino and it was very impressive. Max could see all the slot machines in the distance and said, ‘I wish I was 18!”

Dinner was quite interesting! I’ll tell you all about that next time.

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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The traffic around Chicago on Friday was MUCH worse than it has been the previous Friday, when we arrived.

At one point, we almost had a very bad accident. Richard was changing lanes at the same time a woman in a car was also changing lanes (into the same lane), and was moving into his blind spot. Good thing I was looking out the window to my side at that moment because I saw her just before she’d have hit us and I screamed, “NO!” Richard quickly moved to the left again. The lady never even saw us. It took about 15 minutes for my heart to stop pounding after that. We’ve decided we’re going to allot extra time from now on to trips in this area, and do whatever we can to go completely around Chicago to avoid the traffic (and their horrible, bumpy roads!).

Oh, and one other thing we saw today was a grass fire between the north/southbound lanes of the freeway in Michigan.

Tomorrow, we’re goin’ shoppin’ in Frankenmuth, MI!

~~~~~

I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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Late in the afternoon, we drove to Jim’s house. Jim is one of Richard’s old school friends and the one with the huge Star Wars collection. How huge? See for yourself…

Jim gave all the kids (our two youngest boys and our niece and nephew) souvenirs. They were all beyond thrilled, and happily played Star Wars using their imaginations for the rest of the evening.

On Wednesday, we worked in the morning (that’s the day we send out our weekly issue of WritersWeekly), and then met up with the family to head to the Dinosaur Museum in Kenosha, WI. It was very small but quite impressive for its size.

Scott’s wife, Kelly, who’s a friend of mine, met us there. We split from the group after the museum so we could get groceries. Kelly and Scott had invited ALL of us (13 people total) to their place for dinner. Kelly wanted me to see Woodman’s, a huge grocery store with three whole aisles of candy. Yes, I bought the “big kids” at home some goodies!

Kelly made a fantastic dinner for everyone (and she even let me help some!) of stuffed burgers (stuffed with cheese and bacon – aaaahhh!!!) and baked red potato chunks swimming in oil, butter, salt and pepper. She also made a beautiful fruit pizza for dessert that was gluten free. We ate the whole thing!

Thursday was our last full day in Racine and everybody was kinda bummed about that. We woke up early and drove to Richard’s mom’s house. We were excited about eating at Frank’s Diner in Kenosha, WI, which was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Channel. I wanted to take some pictures for Ali (our daughter, who’s majoring in Culinary Arts) and, of course, do some taste-testing (ahem…). Richard and I both had the garbage plate and, yes, it was as amazing as everybody says it is. I got the half-portion and still couldn’t eat it all. Highly recommended!

After that, Grandma Cindy wanted to take the children to Toys R Us for a spoilin’ session. Max got to pick out his birthday present (he turns 9 soon) and the other children got to choose something for $10 or less. They were quite happy about that!

I worked in the afternoon while Richard and his sister took all the kids swimming. Cindy/Grandma was shopping and cooking up a storm for us as she’d invited everyone to dinner at her place. We had amazing pork loin sandwiches, delicious cheesy potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, and homemade cherry pie for dessert. (One more week until I start my post-trip diet!!)

We all had to say sad goodbyes after that as we’d only see Chris (Richard’s friend) the next day.

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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On Friday night, we had a beautiful storm and fell asleep to the sound of huge raindrops plop-plopping on the roof of the RV. That’s one of my favorite sounds.

On Saturday morning, I emptied my (rather large) purse and then re-packed it with sunscreen, bottled water, and an extra pair of clothes for both the boys. We drove to Richard’s mom’s house, where we met up with her, Mike, Becky (Richard’s sister) and the cousins, Ben and Emma. We all had breakfast before heading to the Renaissance Fair. During breakfast, Mason wiped his sticky-bun-laden fingers all over his nice, clean shirt. I was nervous about using his one extra outfit that early in the day, knowing if I did he’d need to change all over again. I was right. On the way to the fair, he took a drink from a bottle of water and sloshed that all over himself. I changed his outfit just before we got out of the car to go into the fair.

Oh my gosh, it was SO HOT THERE! After living in Maine for a decade, we aren’t accustomed to that heat and humidity. I was thrilled to be able to find turkey legs, however, and I “gobbled” one down, despite the heat.

Kelly and I cooled off with some Mediaval Margaritas. Heh…

The children rode some rides and I went into some of the shops.

Grandma and Mike bought the boys swords and they had a great time with those!

Emma adorned her  hair with flowers and leaves, with some help from a beautiful fairy.

It was a fun time but we were sure ready to leave when 4:00 rolled around. We drove back to Racine and we all had a big dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Despite the spicy food, it was MUCH cooler in there.

On Sunday, we all took the long drive to Grandma and Grandpa Blum’s house. Mason calls them Gramma and Grampa Balloon. Very cute. Grandma had made us Thanksgiving dinner. What a treat that was! It was delicious! Later in the day, we made sandwiches with the leftover turkey. Yum!!! It was a great day and the cousins enjoyed playing together, inside and out. Grandma had Becky go through her magazines and get rid of the old ones. I gladly volunteered to take them because the pile contains lots of cooking magazines (for Ali) and others (for Max’s schoolwork – cut, paste, cut, paste).

On Monday, I worked in the morning and then we ran some errands (lunch and grocery store). Chris, Scott and Kelly were coming to the RV for dinner (Richard’s mom and step-dad had to work that day). I wanted to make a gluten-free dinner and it wasn’t really too challenging at all. After I researched which chili is truly gluten-free (some claim to be but are not), and after standing in front of the hotdogs in the store with my phone and Googling the different name brands, and after finding a small gluten-free section in that store, it was a breeze! I was more concerned about cross-contamination because we’re such bread-heads. I started off by scrubbing the kitchen counter and table in the RV. I then rewashed ALL the dishes I planned to use while cooking. I also went through several clean rags while washing and drying my hands all afternoon, just in case.

Finally, I wouldn’t let the boys open the bread drawer all evening, nor would I allow them to bring the hotdog buns inside. I also made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing from a gluten-free mix and it was perfect – nice and moist. I garnished it with strawberries. You really never know how baked items will turn out when cooking in the RV oven so I was pleased.  It all worked out great and Kelly didn’t get sick. Yea!!!

After dinner, another old friend of Richard’s came over, bringing his wife. At one point during the evening, Chris, Kelly and I went to the park with Max and Mason. It was after dark but we didn’t care. We had a blast until we got busted (by someone half our age!) for being in the park after closing hours. Heh…

Tomorrow morning, Richard is taking the boys swimming while I work and we’ll be having dinner at the home of someone who I’ve heard has a HUGE collection of Star Wars memorabilia. The boys are so excited! Yes, of course I’ll take pictures!

I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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I heard a funny noise at one point and discovered a loose panel on the RV, flapping wildly in the wind. We had to pull over so Richard could fix it with duct tape and some of my craft wire.

Max entertained himself with a plastic skeleton, some tape and a tissue box.

We entered Elkhart, Indiana around dinnertime and passed by some Amish farms. I love restaurants featuring Amish recipes and we were easily able to find one. I ordered Creamed Chicken and the plate they brought me a huge, steaming pile of it! In case you’ve never had it, it’s shredded chicken, swimming in gobs of gravy, lying on top of biscuits, which are lying on top of mashed potatoes. I’ve heard it’s a negative calorie dish!

Richard wanted to know if they expected me to go out and work all that off in the fields after the meal. I didn’t even come close to eating it all. I asked the waitress if anyone does indeed eat that entire plate and she said only two of her customers have….and they were men.

I also ordered one of my favorites, pickled beets.

And, there were 30 PIES ON THE MENU! I had a huge piece of Banana Cream Pie and it was heaven.

After dinner, we walked to some shops. I bought some crafting supplies (you can never have too many of those!) while the boys each got a small toy. We then drove to a local grocery store, which had hitching posts for the horses belonging to the Amish. The store seemed quite old (it had those old sacker carts) but it was very clean and all the sackers had on ties!

We are heading through Chicago traffic tomorrow, on our way to Wisconsin. Richard is going to try to time our departure just right so that we won’t encounter any traffic in Chicago. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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I took the boys inside while Richard finished pumping the gas. I ordered Mason’s “sammie” (that’s what he calls a flatbread, cheese sandwich) and Max’s usual, a “ham, salad and pickles sandwich” (salad means lettuce). I then ordered a toasted veggie for myself and the guy helping me got all bent out of shape when I told him which veggies I wanted before I told him which cheese I wanted. He made some crack about me getting ahead of myself. I was confused and said, “What?” At that moment, Richard walked up behind us.

With even more attitude, the Subway employee sighed and replied with something like, “You’re talking about something that’s down the line.

I realized he was giving me, the customer, lip so I raised my voice and said, “Look, I’m just trying to order lunch for my children. I don’t need attitude while I’m doing that.”

He didn’t say another word (and it’s a good thing he didn’t!). I looked back at Richard, who is the polar opposite of me when it comes to confrontation, and I’m pretty sure he was pretending he didn’t know me at that moment…until Mason turned around in my arms and said, “Hi, Daddy!” Heh…

We spent a few hours driving through Pennsylvania, which I love. The rolling hills and quaint farms are beautiful. If you venture onto the back roads, you’re likely to see one of these:

Whenever I see a sign like this I just wanna buy a quilt and eat some pickled beets!

Several miles down the highway, we hit some construction. Richard was driving very slowly and I was sitting in the passenger seat, formatting an author’s book, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A nice old lady was motioning to me. I opened the window and she said, “Your steps are down.” I thanked her profusely, got up, and turned them “off”, causing them to retract. They have previously done that automatically when we turn the engine on so that’s something we’ll need to add to the maintenance list. It was very nice of that woman to take the time to alert us because those steps are brand spanking new and it would be a shame to have to replace them yet again.

We had to replace them two weeks ago because, um, I was backing the RV out of the driveway and, er, the steps didn’t retract then either and, uh, I kinda hit the railroad ties and the steps bent badly and broke, getting wedged firmly into the wood. I should have taken a picture that day of Matt and Richard using a crowbar on those steps to try to straighten the metal. Richard was not terribly pleased with me on that day. That was even worse than the day I ran the entire side of the canopy along a huge tree. Heh… (See last picture HERE.)

When we finally arrived at the campground that night, the boys were getting restless. Right next to the campground office was a lake with a dock, a sand beach, and a slide in the water. Oh boy, were the boys thrilled! We quickly put on our shorts and sandals and headed for the water.

Max contemplating whether to keep going up…or to go back down.

Mason was admiring the sand castle built by a previous lake visitor.

They played there for about an hour before they decided they wanted to go to the park. We went back to the RV to put on dry clothes and then we walked to the park.

There was a sweet little girl there, probably around 6 or 7 years old, who approached Mason and said, “Would you like to play with me? I’m playing time portals and I need help getting back home. Right now, I’m stuck with the dinosaurs!”

Mason had NO idea what she was talking about but he was very pleased to play along. About 15 minutes later, she ran up to me and said, “There was a bee in his hair. I told him not to touch it but he did and he got stung.”

I looked at Mason who was just standing there holding his thumb. He sure didn’t look stung to me! I asked him if he got stung. He said yes and I inspected his thumb. Sure enough, there was a tiny hole there. He’d never been stung by a bee before so we walked back to the RV so we could treat it and keep an eye on him. I had a bad reaction to a bee sting when I was a little girl so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to have any trouble.

On the way back to the RV, he was still holding his thumb, but not crying at all. I thought that was really odd. I know those hurt like crazy! I also noticed he was cocking his head back, as if to rub the back of his head with the top of his shoulder. I said, “It’s okay, honey. The bee isn’t in your hair anymore.”

He replied matter-of-factly, “It stung me there, too.”

I looked and, sure enough, he had an area of swelling on the back of his head, just above his haircut line. I could see a tiny puncture hole there, too. So, Mason had two bee stings and didn’t shed one tear. Wow! He was more upset about not being able to stay and play with his incredibly creative time-traveling friend than he was about the stings!

Mason’s Bee Boo Boo

I’d called Richard to tell him what happened and he was ready when we arrived with the first aid kit. We washed the stings, looked for stingers (none there) and applied medicine. I bandaged his thumb but not his head. He then chilled on the couch, watching movies for the rest of the evening. And, again, no tears at all though he continued to rub his thumb for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow, we’re be driving through more of Ohio and into Indiana. I was born in Indiana but only lived there for three months before moving to Texas. We won’t be near any family as we’ll be passing through the wrong part of the state. We are looking forward to driving through miles and miles and miles of cornfields, which can put even the most caffeinated driver to sleep. Come on along!

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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At one point during our drive, we almost veered off the road. I told Richard to let ME shoo the bugs out the window from now on (sigh again…).

The bike rack was a bust. It not only didn’t hold the bikes steady, but it left a big, ugly, red mark on the trunk of the tow vehicle.

I plan to send a picture to the manufacturer and we will return it and get our money back. The bikes are now lying on the bed in the back of the RV. We’ll just chain them to the outside of the RV each time we stop at a campground.

We spent the night in Danbury, CT and we had dinner at Two Step, a southwestern restaurant. The food was really good and the service was outstanding but the restaurant was bare. We arrived at 6:00 p.m. and only one other table was full. Just before we left, one more family arrived. It was a huge place and it was sad to see it so empty. Not sure if the economy is affecting that town that badly or if everyone in town was busy on a Monday night.

Max and Mason at Two Step in Danbury, CT

Just as dinner was wrapping up, we heard thunder. As we stepped outside, the sky opened up. Richard is still recovering from his badly broke leg so I took off my sandals and made a run for it. I then drove the car to the door and picked up Richard and the boys. The deluge filled up the streets pretty quickly but it didn’t last very long. We were then treated to a beautiful sunset in the Connecticut hills.

Before bedtime, Mason called Grandma Cindy to tell her he can’t wait to come to her house to play. He watched himself in the mirror while they talked.

Tomorrow, we’re heading farther west, through New York State and into Pennsylvania. See ya there!

~~~~~

I’ve posted many,  many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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We kept going straight and ended up in a grocery store parking lot. That was easy enough to get out of and we waited a moment for the GPS to give us an alternative route. We ended up in that neighbor again, albeit on a different street, a very narrow passage with endless cars lining both sides. I remember passing the freeway at one point, going right under it, and wondering why the GPS was sending us a different way. It was a Saturday and there were lots of people outside enjoying the weather. There were also lots of junk cars, tattoo parlors, liquor stores, and other unsavory things that made us start to feel a bit nervous. At one point, men got out of two cars right in front of us, blocking traffic. They each went to houses on different sides of the street. We had no choice but to stop and wait. I heard a woman yell outside, “Leon, move your (BLEEP!) car!”

Leon was nice and went back to his car, whistling for his friend, who also went back to his own car. They moved out of our way.

We kept driving and the GPS wasn’t leading us toward any highway or freeway that we could see on the screen. At one point, I think I remember Richard calling the GPS the same name the shouting lady had used with Leon.

People were standing outside and staring at us, obviously wondering what this huge RV was doing in their very crowded neighborhood. We breathed a sigh of relief when the GPS not only led us to a two-lane road, but a police car also pulled in front of us. A few seconds later, he turned and we were once again feeling quite a bit alone and vulnerable. The neighborhood got even more imposing and, I’ll admit it, I was scared.

A few blocks later, I saw a man dressed like the Statue of Liberty. I whipped out my camera and took his picture. When he saw my camera, he made a rather rude gesture to me with his fingers. I was more discreet with my camera after that and I triple checked that the RV door was locked.

I’ve pixelated the fingers…

All our worry was for naught, though. We somehow ended up on the expressway and on our way toward the George Washington Bridge.

George Washington Bridge

I worked for a few hours while Richard drove. We were going to see the boys’ Godfathers, Doug and Raul, and Max and Mason were so excited we had a hard time keeping them still and entertained. We arrived at the campground and the boys were happy to see grass and a playground.

Doug and Raul came to pick us up about an hour later and, much to our delight, had chosen Mystic Pizza II for dinner. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Mason’s Dessert at Mystic Pizza II

The next day, a Sunday, Raul and Richard took Max to the YMCA to go swimming and Doug and I stayed in the RV with Mason, talking shop. I LOVE to talk shop with Doug, who’s a New York Times bestselling author. He has amazing creative ideas for book marketing and he is SUCH a talented writer. I just finished his book, Neverland. I couldn’t put it down! Doug has an incredibly entertaining blog. You can subscribe HERE.

That night, we went to HUGE diner, Equinox, and had a really fun meal. After dinner, we returned to the RV and the boys enjoying spending more time with Doug and Raul. We’d planned to stay an extra day but Doug caught a cold/flu bug so we started for home the next morning, knowing we’d be back in May anyway. Mason was noticeably upset and Max cried.

On Monday morning, we packed up the RV for the last time on our “No More Snow!” trip and started the long drive back to Bangor. I’m sure God was laughing when Ali called to let us know it was 36 degrees in Bangor…and snowing. Forty-eight hours after we got home, it snowed again. Honestly, after the snow we had the first three days of the trip, and the 15 inches we had when we got to Virginia, and the additional four inches we got on the beach in South Carolina, we weren’t surprised.

On the way home, we did what we always do, reminisced about the best parts of the trip while also making a list of all the stuff we broke in the RV…so we’d have that when we took it to the shop. We made it home in plenty of time for Easter, which was our goal, and on Easter Sunday in Bangor, Maine it was almost 80 degrees! It was the warmest Easter, by far, we’d ever experienced in Maine and it was absolutely perfect!

One funny thing happened on this trip that I forgot to mention in earlier posts. After we left home, I realized we hadn’t brought along the bathroom scale. It’s very important to weigh yourself daily when you are eating out so much because you might get home and realize you’ve gained far more weight than you knew. So, early on in the trip, we bought a new, very cheap bathroom scale for the RV.

We’d only been gone for a few days when we bought it so I was stunned when I stepped on it the first time in our little RV potty room and discovered I’d gained seven pounds. SEVEN POUNDS!!!! Why did my jeans still fit?! Richard said he’d gained weight, too (more than me), and so had Max (though less than we had). Hmm… Not good! A few days later, Max was in the potty room in the morning and I asked him to hand me the scale. I put it on the floor near the bathroom sink and was thrilled to discover I’d lost those seven pounds….in one day! Of course, I instantly knew what had happened. The RV was not quite level at that campground. In the potty room, the scale had been facing uphill. When I put it on the floor by the sink, it was facing downhill. I had a good laugh with Richard about it and, let me tell you, we was facing downhill for the rest of that trip!

I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along for the ride on our “2010 No More Snow!” trip.

Join us again in just two weeks when we head to Wisconsin!

I’ve posted many,  many more pictures of our trip HERE.

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Richard pulled out his laptop and Mapquested the distance between our location in New Jersey and Bangor, Maine. It was about 11 hours. I thought I could drive another four hours that night, arriving at our sleeping destination just before dark. Richard decided a hotel would be best because he wasn’t up to unpacking/packing the RV and doing the sewer/water/electric hook-ups. I don’t mind driving after dark, but I have a very difficult time seeing the road after dark when it’s raining. And, yes, it WAS raining AGAIN!

We hit some New Jersey traffic just outside of Newark, which slowed us down. We stopped at a diner where Mason and I had breakfast for dinner while Richard and Max had…dinner for dinner.

We got back on the road and saw a highway sign that said “New England” and directed us to two major

interstates. Richard said the GPS was telling us to go a different way that would cut an hour off our trip. So, we did what the GPS lady said. Big mistake…

It was quickly getting dark and it was pouring. We ended up on a parkway somewhere. It was pitch black and I could barely see the white stripes on the road because of sheets of rain coming down. Somebody honked at me at one point. I didn’t know why…at the time. Richard got up to go to the bathroom at one point. After he got up, I noticed an underpass looming within just a few feet. It was REALLY low. Oh my God. I didn’t think we’d clear it. It sloped down in the right-hand side. It all happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to scream. I instinctively ducked in my seat, expecting the instant impact. We cleared it!!!

I started freaking out. A dozen thoughts went through my head at the same time. If we’d hit that bridge, we’d have all been severely injured or killed, especially Richard because he was in the bathroom and not buckled in. I started looking for trucks. None. How many times are you on a busy highway and can’t see a truck? Never! I was looking on our lanes and the oncoming lanes. NO TRUCKS!!! WE WERE ON A CARS-ONLY HIGHWAY!! OH MY GOD!!!!! Another underpass could come at any second. I slowed down dramatically. Richard came back from the bathroom and had to listen to my dozen thoughts in a stream of frantic,  high-pitched babbling. We found an exit pretty quickly, got off, breathed two huge sighs of relief. Sure enough, there on the entrance ramp (by the exit ramp) was a sign that showed trucks weren’t permitted on the road. Of course, in the pouring-down rain and in the dark, we hadn’t seen the sign when we’d gotten on earlier. And, the GPS didn’t warn us, either. Richard says we need a new one.

We found ourselves in a dark, pretty darned swank neighborhood somewhere in New Jersey / New
York. I’m really not quite sure where we were. It was dark, still pouring, and there were no street lights. The road was a VERY winding road. I was crawling in the RV at about 10 mph, around and around the trees that hugged each curve. The branches were high enough. I thanked heaven for companies like UPS that drive high vehicles on obscure neighborhood streets, keeping the clearance high for the rest of us. We drove for about half an hour without ever passing another car. I felt like we were going in circles, passing one huge mansion after another, each set far back from the road, with almost no light to lead our way.  Richard was using the GPS to guide us through those back roads to an Interstate. It took about an hour to find our way out of that maze.

We finally got back on an Interstate and were relieved to once again be cruising with our trucker friends (truckers are very kind to RVers). I told Richard I didn’t want to drive another hour in the dark and rain to get to that hotel he’d called. I told him to find the nearest hotel with the GPS and we’d just pray they had a room. I had to drive another 15 miles or so but we found a Marriot that had plenty of rooms and lots of space in their parking lot for the RV.

I can’t even describe the relief of turning off the engine that night. What an, um, adventure our day and night had been! After bathing Mason, who had Cheetohs in his hair, the boys crawled into bed and I
was finally able to check my email. There were no emergencies so I posted an emergency note to our
website for our authors, stating I’d be offline all day Friday, and I tried to get some sleep. It wasn’t easy because I was still worrying about Richard.