DAYS 55-57: “Kids! Mommy and Daddy are Scared!”
We left Liberty Harbor RV Park on a sunny, beautiful afternoon, intent on arriving in Connecticut before dark. When we’d arrived at Liberty Harbor RV Park, we’d simply gotten off the freeway, gone under the overpass, turned left, and driven a mile or two. When we departed, the GPS led us a completely different way, seemingly into a nearby neighborhood. Before we turned right, onto a residential street, Richard noticed there were two fire trucks blocking traffic. If we’d turned, we’d have been stuck there for hours.
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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