Sharp's Travels

This morning we headed into Newburgh to Orange County Choppers (OCC). For you people that don’t know about them, they build motorcycle choppers and have a TV show on the different chopper builds. We did get to see Paul senior who is the owner of OCC. It was neat to see all the different choppers. Of course I am very happy with my Road King. The choppers are nice to look at, but I wouldn’t want one. From there we stopped at an Applebee’s for lunch, then to the gas station for 100 gallons of diesel. Our last stop was at Wal-Mart for groceries. On the way into town we stopped at the KOA campground and got tickets for a tour into New York City for the day. We leave at 7:30 am and get back at 7:00 PM.
For pictures of the day see album: OCC

It was a beautiful morning with sunshine and a temp of 58 degrees. Today was move day and not in any hurry as we only have 158 miles to go. On the way out of the campground we stopped by another Excel 5thwheel and talked to Peter Richards. We wanted to know how they liked their 5th wheel. They are very happy with it and have just sold their house and are starting to be full timers. I wish we would have had more time to exchange rving tips. The trip to this campground was pretty uneventful except when we stopped for lunch at a rest area, when we opened the 5th wheel door we found the refrigerator door open and much of the contents on the floor. I found that I had to lift the door to make it latch. We just got set up in our campground here in Gardiner NY at the Lazy River campground and it started to rain. I adjusted the refrigerator door hinge higher and now it latches correctly. I don’t think it was ever right because now you can hear it latch. My work for the day is done.

It rained all night and we thought it might stop by noon, but it continued to rain all day.
After we had a bite of lunch, we decided to try and forget about the nasty weather and head for East Haddam and check out Gillette Castle State Park.
We had quite a time getting there. We ran into a big traffic jam on I-95 for about 8 miles.
Gillette Castle is a site to see. William Gillette, noted actor, director and playwright, built a 24 room mansion reminiscent of a medieval castle on his 124 acre estate. It is built of local fieldstone supported by a steel framework. It took 5 years to build. It was completed in 1919 at a cost of $1,000,000.
The woodwork within the castle is hand-hewn southern oak. Of the 47 doors within the structure, there are no 2 exactly alike.
We could tour all 3 floors of the castle. The tiffany lights were beautiful. The stone fireplaces were beautiful. The furnishings were original to the house. Even light switches were made of wood. He had mirrors strategically placed so he could be upstairs and see who entered the house or who may be abusing the liquor at the bar.
He also had a narrow gage railroad around the 123 acres. He had two locomotives, one electric and one steam powered.
After his death the property went to his family, but they could not afford to keep it so in 1943 the State of Connecticut bought the property for $30,000 and opened it for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
We took the ferry on the way home, one way trip for $3.00.
We enjoyed checking it all out.
We stopped for pizza on our way home.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Gillette Castle

Today we drove over to the Aquarium here in Mystic. As soon as we entered we watched the white Beluga Whales swimming in their big tank and were there for feeding time. They can make lots of different sounds, some of them sounded just like birds. Their trainers got them to do a number of tricks and if you signed up ahead of time, for an additional fee, you put on waders and could get into the tank with the whales. It was neat to watch.
The penguins were next. They are so cute. They keep giving them different toys to peak their interests. We watched the trainers pick them up so they could see over the trees in their area. Gay was able to get some neat pictures.
We walked around in the Marsh area and made our way to the Marine Theater. We were first in line to see the Sea Lion’s Show. They had 3 animals that preformed. They even had them come out of the water and go right along in front of the viewing bleachers. They are quick to pick up on what tricks to do for food.
The XD Ride Theater was also on our list. We were given 3-D glasses and each person sat in a chair that swayed back and forth and jumped up and down. You had to hang tight to the side handles of your chair or you could be knocked right out. It was as if you were inside of a submarine and headed for the bottom of the ocean. You would bump into things and even had a giant octopus grab the tiny sub and shake us all around. It was a neat ride.
We check out the Challenge of the Deep, a look at Dr. Robert Ballard’s deep-sea expeditions.
Our last stop was the indoor exhibit area. The tanks were filled with beautifully colored fish, coral reefs, sea horses, turtles, sting rays, a giant octopus, sharks, etc. It was a great afternoon.
Back at the 5th wheel, Gay got out the grill and I pulled hamburgers and steak out of the freezer. We had steak for supper and I put the burgers in the freezer for another time.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Mystic Aquarium

Our tour actually began yesterday of the Mystic Seaport, an old Whaling Village.
When we arrived, they were having an activity at the town chapel on Songs of the Whale men. We made our way there and listened to a gentleman explain and sing a number of songs that were sung on board ship by the crew. He played a few different kinds of flutes and also played a tune using rib bones held between his fingers. It was very different.
We stopped at the Nautical Instrument Shop and they told about and demonstrated using early navigation instruments.
We watched the process of making rope and listened to the Whaleboat demonstration. We were shown how they spear and kill the whale and how long a process it is.
We checked out the cooper shop. They showed us how the barrels were broken down and stored aboard ship until they were needed.
We went aboard the L. A. Dunton, a classic late century fishing schooner. Gay was on the crew that helped raise the sail. That was a hard job!
The Joseph Conrad, an 1882 vessel, was also moored there. We were able to go onboard and check it out.
We checked out a few homes in the settlement, the salmon shack, boathouse, the rope walk, ship smith shop, print shop, drug store, bank, tavern, the galleries and the figureheads shop.
We got a call from friends we were meeting for dinner that evening so we headed back to the campground.
Today we extended our stay here through Sunday and found we had to move to a different site. With that done and a bite to eat we headed back to Mystic Seaport.
We finished out our tour at the Shipyard Exhibits. They are in the process of restoring the 1841 wooden whale ship Charles W. Morgan. We were able to go aboard and look around as long as we wanted.
We watched the men at work in the shipyard cutting and lumber to be used in the restoration.
With our tour completed there, we then visited the oldest Steam Powered Cider Mill in the United States located close to our campground back in Old Mystic. It was established in 1881. We checked out how the apples get pressed to obtain the juice and then I purchased some Honey Crisp apples and Gay bought some kettle corn.
We settled back in at the 5th wheel by 3:30pm.
Gay has uploaded pictures from the last two days. See album: Mystic Seaport

We got around early this morning and headed for Mystic Seaport. It is an old whaling museum village. We spent most of the day there and didn’t see everything so we are extending out stay here at the Seaport Campground in Old Mystic for a few more days so we can go back and finish our tour of the Mystic seaport. Cheri will give you a complete up date tomorrow This evening we met and went out to eat with friends we met on our Alaskan trip last year. It was fun spending the evening with them. The last time we saw them was at the Alaskan Rally in Florida last February.

We left Sturbridge, MA this morning headed for Graton, CT. This is the home port for the historic ship USS Nautilus submarine, the first nuclear powered boat.
Gay had checked on the internet and found out there was a parking area for a big rig like ours. We arrived around noon and had a quick lunch before checking things out.
The Nautilus was built and put into service in January 1954.
In early 1958, under top secret orders, the Nautilus accomplished the “impossible”---reaching the geographic North Pole by traveling under the ice.
We went aboard this submarine and were supplied with an information wand that would give you a description of the different sections of the sub as you passed through.
We went through the museum that held working periscopes, an authentic submarine control room and intensive models depicting the development of the US Submarine Force.
It was all so interesting, well worth the stop.
We arrived at our campground in Old Mystic, CT around 3pm. We got set up, had a bite to eat and started making plans for tomorrow.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: USS Nautilus
The pictures on board the Nautilus are not that good as they were taken through glass panels.

Today we went to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. It’s a journey back to the world of rural New England during America’s early years (1790-1840).
Back in 1930 two brothers got a crazy idea to buy old buildings, take them apart, and put them back together again in Sturbridge. In 1946 the village opened its doors to the public.
We arrived at the Village about 9:45am. And it took us until 3:45 to see the whole thing.
We received an event schedule when we checked in and immediately headed for the back of the settlement to catch the demonstration at the saw mill. It is power driven by water. As they opened the water gates the saw began working. The water wheels are all made of wood. We asked lots of questions and enjoyed the demonstration.
We walked on out to the Freeman Farm and talked with the costumed family on the farm. They were chopping wood and gathering things to make dinner. We checked out the barn and farm animals.
We headed back to the gristmill to watch the demonstration on grinding corn and oats. The grinder was also powered by water.
At the blacksmith shop they demonstrated how they made long handled fork and ladle.
The carding mill demonstrated preparing wool for the spinning wheel and making quilt batting. Again water driven machinery.
We watched pottery being made and saw the printing press in action.
We enjoyed a boat ride on the Quinebaug River and a stagecoach ride through town.
The houses all had costumed interpreters. We visited the bank, tavern, meetinghouse, school, church and Knight’s Store.
We played a little too. We tried walking on stilts and rolling the wooden hoops down the street with sticks. It was a great time. We would recommend this attraction to everyone.
I got Gay to stop at the Yankee Peddler Shop on the way back to the 5th wheel. It was so crammed with things that you didn’t know what to look at. It’s not my way to shop, so we headed home.
Gay has up loaded pictures of the day. See album: Old Sturbridge Village

It was pack up and move day. We only had 140 miles to go today so we were in no hurry to get going. We took a long walk in the campground this morning and stopped at the campground owner’s house to turn in our gate card. The owners have a 1931 Ford hot rod and a 1962 Chevy Two. I had wanted to take a look at them and the owner’s wife let us in the garage to look at them. They were very nice, I would have been happy with either one. We liked the hot rods license plate (KICKEN A). It was 11:00 am by the time we got on the road. We arrived in Brimfield at the Quinebaug Cove Campground around 2:30 pm. It is pretty rustic and has a nice shore line on the lake. When we signed in I asked if we would be able to get satellite TV and she said no. So we paid the $15.00 for cable. After we got set up I hooked up the cable TV and it was so snowy you could hardly see the picture. So I tried the satellite and by chance we got a shot through a small opening in the trees. We had TV but no HDTV. Cheri was very happy because Dancing with the Stars was on tonight and that is one of her favorite shows. Cheri made homemade chocolate chip cookies; it has been a long time since she has done them.

It was only 40 degrees when we woke up this morning. After breakfast we headed back up to Kennebunkport. As we turned onto Ocean Ave there were more neat looking little shops everywhere you looked. I was good and didn’t ask Gay to stop. We neared the coast line, the views were gorgeous. Walker’s Point came into view and we stopped to get a picture of former President Bush’s summer residence. It stuck right out on the point. Their view must be marvelous of the ocean and shorelines. What a place!
We headed back towards Ogunquit. I spotted a General Store/Antique Shop. We pulled in to check it out. It had a number of old time gas pumps and antique cars outside. The old barn was over 200 years old and the beams were made of full logs with the bark still on them. It was filled with beautiful antiques. It was fun to look at them all.
We checked out Perkins Cove by Ogunquit. It was another neat little seaport, lots of shops and rental places.
We continued on down Shore Rd to Cape Neddick Light Station. It was built in 1879. It is not accessible to the public. There is the keeper’s house with a covered walkway that connects the keeper’s house to the tower. The tower if 41feet high and built of brick about 18 inches thick and reinforced by an outer shell of iron sheeting. There is a cable trolley which stretches from Sohier Park to the island. This was used to transport supplies from the mainland to the lighthouse station.
The ocean view from here was beautiful. We walked around on the big rocks along the shoreline.
We made our way back to Wells and stopped for lunch at Wells House of Pizza. It was real good. Sunday is pizza day and since we have been traveling pizza days have been few and far between.
We rode up to Sanford to check out Marden’s. They have a little bit of everything along with lots of quilting material. I picked up a few supplies to go with one of the projects I’m working on.
Back at the 5th wheel it was NASCAR racing on TV. I got Gay away from the racing for a little bit, so he could get a haircut.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Wells

It was another cool windy day with a high temp of 61 degrees. We did some Geocaching today, we found two of them. We have been having trouble with our GPS unit. For no reason it would just stop working and I would have to take out the batteries in order to get it to shut off. When I put the batteries back in it would work again for a little while and then quit again. So I have declared it dead. I think I will wait until we get to Florida before we check on a new one. We took a ride along the coast north of Wells this afternoon. We didn’t see anything that I thought we need to take pictures of. We stopped at the Maine Diner for lunch. Every time we have driven by there has been a line of people waiting to get in. So we also stood in line to get in. We each had a cup of clam chowder, the best we have ever had. We each also had a pulled pork sandwich which was excellent. Now we know why there is always a line of people waiting to get in. On the way back to the 5th wheel we stopped at a homemade ice cream place called Scoop Deck. It was good but not as good as the ice cream in Sabattus. We also stopped to pick up some groceries.

We didn’t go anywhere today. After the big day yesterday we needed to do a little retirement resting. Cheri did do a couple of loads of laundry. We spent part of the day getting our pictures from yesterday uploaded and Cheri getting the blog written. Cheri also spent time on looking over information on where we are going when we leave here. I did the internet searching and checking out campgrounds in the area where we will be heading. Still not 100% sure but we think we will be spending a couple of nights in MA near Sturbridge. Around 5:30 pm Greg stopped around to say good bye as he was headed home for the weekend and we will be leaving here Monday.

Today was the first time we have traveled by Amtrak. The train station was very close to our campground, which made it very handy.
We boarded the train at 8:40am for the 2 hr ride into Boston, MA. The ride was very smooth and quiet with very comfortable seating. We brought along books to read for the journey.
We were dropped off at the North Station close to the Inner Harbor. We had purchased tickets for the trolley tour, but opted to walk to our first attraction, the USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young, anchored at the Charlestown Navy Yard.
The USS Constitution was commissioned October 1797. It is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. The ship gained the title of “Old Ironsides” when being shot at in battle, the cannon balls made almost no impression upon the outside planks of this ship.
We boarded the ship and were given a tour by navy personnel. It was all very interesting. She was going through a restoration, so there was a lot we didn’t get to see.
Next we jumped on the trolley and stopped off at the historic Faneuil Hall. It is the oldest market building, first built in 1742. It sits at the site of the old town dock. Town meetings held here, between 1764 and 1774 it is where Samuel Adams made some of his speeches. This is a part of the freedom trail. Also there was the Old State House, built in 1713.
We continued on up to the Union Oyster House, built around 1713. It’s Boston’s oldest restaurant in continuous operation in the country. We went in to check it out. What a neat atmosphere.
We headed back towards the Boston Common and stopped at the Old Meeting House. It was here that the plans for the Boston Tea Party were launched.
We walked by the Park Street Church. It has stood on this corner since 1809. Nearby was the Granary Burying ground. John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams are buried here.
At the center of town is Boston Common. It is the oldest public park in the U.S., established in 1634. We tried to make our way to the 1795 State House and were prevented because they were filming a movie called Zoo Keeper, with Kevin James. They had the traffic at a standstill. Horns were blowing. We were frustrated because we were on a time schedule and they weren’t letting us move! Finally we got the pictures we wanted and moved on.
Our next stop was “Cheers”. It is a tavern called Bull & Finch Pub, which inspired the TV show Cheers. We took a few pictures inside.
We hopped back on the trolley and took the tour to Copley Square, Christian Science Plaza, Fenway Park, Cambridge & Harvard and Beacon Hill. We hoped off the trolley again at the Historic North End by Paul Revere’s house that he and his family owned from 1770 to 1800. We checked out the Old North Church where Paul Revere made his midnight ride.
This completes our walk on the Freedom Trail. Our time in Boston was coming to a close. What a busy day. We will have to come back again someday and take more time to check it all out. Boston is a great city. We were surprised to find how clean and neat all the streets were. The architecture of all the old buildings in the city was fabulous.
We headed back to the Amtrak Station and grabbed a bite to eat and waited for our departure train. Our ride home on the Amtrak was good. It was much better than driving into the city!
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Boston

Today was a beautiful sunny day. We took the motorcycle and headed down US1 from Wells into Ogunquit. We picked up 1A and rode along the coast through York and Kittery. We were right along the Ocean. We stopped at an overlook to watch the ocean wave’s crash onto the shore. We drove by a few beaches, they weren’t crowded this time of the year, but there were those die-hards trying to get those last rays of sun for the season
We crossed over into New Hampshire at Portsmouth.
We visited Strawbery Banke. It traces 375 years of history in one of America’s oldest continuously occupied neighborhoods. It is a 10-acre site, with more than 40 buildings. The buildings depict an authentic seacoast neighborhood, from pre-Colonial to WWII.
There are 10 furnished houses, 3 of which we were given personal guided tours, and 40 plus historic buildings that gave us a glimpse of New England life from 1695 through the 1950’s. 32 of the buildings are on their original sites.
There were Colonial-era gardens to formal Victorian gardens and a 1940’s Victory garden. The flowers were beautiful.
Across the street we wandered through another beautiful garden. We also checked out the small cemetery that had gravestones dating back in the 1600’s.
We returned to the 5th wheel by late afternoon.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Strawbery Banke

It took us quite awhile to get closed up. After being here for a month all the hoses and cords were covered with sand and dirt took a lot of cleaning to get them ready to put into the 5th wheel. I also had to clean all the acorns off the side outs. We had to do a lot of maneuvering around to get out of our site. Cheri did a good job of giving me directions with the hand held radio. It was 11:00 am before we got on the road. We only had about 75 miles to go. We are staying at Gregoire’s Campground in Wells. This is the same campground that Greg stays in during the week. We once again have satellite TV, it was hard to down grade to three local channels and slow air card internet service. We also have high speed service with our air card here. After we got set up we made a trip to the local Wal-Mart to get groceries. Greg came over around 5:30 pm and we headed to the Bull and Claw for supper. The food was very good but a little pricey. After supper Greg took us down to the beach and showed us the place where we can get homemade ice cream. It was a beautiful day with a high of 76 degrees.

We went over to Sandy and Greg’s this morning. Greg and I went down to the Litchfield fair to see the car show. We had to be back by 12:30 pm as Greg and Sandy had a birthday party they had to go to. Cheri and I headed home and had some lunch and started packing things away to get ready for our move tomorrow to Wells Maine. At 2:30 pm we went over to Pat and Roger’s. I went through the computer software on how to upload pictures to Sanpfish to have them printed. After that it was time to play a game of dominos Cheri and Roger were partners and Pat and I were partners. Pat and I won the game. Then it was off to get some homemade ice cream. We sure are going to miss the ice cream when we leave. It is the best ice cream we have ever had. It was 7:30 pm by the time we got back to the 5th wheel. It was another great day with family and friends.

At 9:00 am we headed over to Greg and Sandy’s. I helped Greg put a new differential in his semi truck. He needed to have it done so he could take it back to work on Monday. Sharon came down for a visit so Sharon, Cheri and Sandy did whatever it is when sisters get together. After lunch Greg and I finished the truck work and then we put the air horns on our truck. That took the rest of the afternoon. We once again did our Saturday night supper over to Sabattus at Uncle Moe’s. Of course we had to stop for ice cream on the way back to Sandy and Greg’s. About 7:30 pm the four of us went to the Litchfield fair. We met Sharon there. I am not sure what the girls did but Greg and I went to see the horse pulls. They were pulling the big horses when we got there. They had 12,000 lbs on the sled that they were pulling. It was very impressive. At 9:15 pm they had a very nice display of fireworks. After the fireworks we said good bye to Sharon and headed back to Sandy and Greg’s to pick up our truck and head home. It was another great day.

At 8:30 am I headed for the Litchfield fair to see the steer pulling. Cheri stayed home; it was something that didn’t interest her. I had a good time watching them. It is just like horse pulling except they use steers. They have different classes according to the weight of the steers. They started with the 1300 lbs and worked their way up to the 4100 lbs class. I stayed until the 2900 lbs class was about done. I got home around 3:30 pm. Cheri did laundry and cleaned while I was gone. Roger and Pat came over at 5:30 pm. Pat wanted to see Cheri’s sewing machine and is thinking about getting a new one, she is going to start taking quilting classes. At 6:00 pm the four of us headed to the Litchfield fair. The girls wanted to see all the crafts and exhibits. Roger and I headed over to see the Red Neck Truck pull. It was local guys pulling their trucks. They had four different classes. It was a fun time and didn’t get home until 10:30 pm.

We got around early this morning and were over to Pat & Roger’s by 7:45am. We left right away for our day trip to Rangeley, Me.
We stopped for breakfast in Farmington and then headed on towards Rangeley. Upon our arrival we stopped to check out the house Pat & Roger and their friends rented last winter. It was in a neat location. No one had rented it this week, so we got permission from the owner to peak in the windows and check things out. This was a beautiful place.
We continued to downtown Rangeley and checked out some of the shops before heading out to Saddleback Mountain. It is 8,000 acres of high alpine peaks and forest. It is one of New England’s biggest 4-season resorts. Skiing is big here with 64 ski trail, a top elevation of 4,120 ft.
As we drove back down the mountain and into town, Pat spotted a sign for a quilt shop. What a place, they even bought the house next door to use for people who wanted to do a quilting weekend retreat. The flower gardens around the shop were gorgeous. As I walked into the shop I was in awe of all the beautiful quilts hanging around. What a wonderful collection of fabrics. I ended up buying some material and pattern books. I had my fix for the day!
We took a different way home. It was a very scenic drive. We made lots of stops for photos. The overlooks over Rangeley and Mooselookmequntic Lakes were beautiful. The trees are starting to turn in some areas. We saw some pretty reds and gold’s along the roadways.
Near Houghton, on HWY 17, we ran into some road work that held us up for about 1 ½ hours. They were putting in a new culvert and ran into some big rocks, which caused them to have to dig across the whole road. The guys walked down to check out the whole process. Pat & I talked quilting.
When we arrived back in Auburn we stopped for supper. Before heading home we needed to make one more stop at Martden’s. Pat is taking a beginners quilting class and needed some fat quarters of fabric for her projects. We were able to get what she needed and then some.
We arrived home about 8:45pm. The weather held for us today, it was a perfect day for our scenic drive.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Rangeley

We spent a quiet day at home resting and reading. I did clean up the inside of the truck. Later I got the grill out and did some brats, hamburger and chicken. We had brats for lunch and chicken for supper. Later this afternoon we played some games. I won two of the three games of Five Crown and Cheri won both games of the 10,000 dice game. After supper we played a game of cribbage witch I won. Nikki called us this evening.

We left the 5-wheel at 8am this morning. We were headed to Fryeburg for an outing with Sharleen & Robyn.
We stopped in Auburn at Denny’s for breakfast. We took the truck this morning because we could cross over into New Hampshire to top the tank off. Gas is cheaper there by about 10 cents per gallon. We arrived at Sharleen & Robyn’s about 11:20am. We loaded up right away and were on our way to the Franconia Notch State Park.
Our first stop was Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway. We bought our tickets and boarded the tram for the 8 minute ride up the mountain. The tram car holds 80 people and ascends 2,202 feet vertically. We watched a number of gliders glide around the mountain tops.
We exited the tram and hiked up the narrow cliff side trail to the tower. We climbed up the stairway and took in the panoramic views of the distant valleys and mountains. We picked a perfect day, you could see for miles and miles in all directions. The top of Cannon Mountain summit was at 4,200 feet.
We could stay up as long as we wanted and then caught another tram back down.
Our ticket also included another attraction, The Flume. We were back in the car headed down the road a few miles to this attraction.
The Flume is a natural gorge extending 800 ft at the base of Mt. Liberty, with spectacular waterfalls, vistas and covered bridges.
We hiked the 3 miles, up and down, into the gorge. There were boardwalks and stairs that clung to the rock walls as we got to the top of the flume. We took the trail back around to take in the pool form the covered bridge. This trail had some big rocks that had tree roots that clung around the rocks. Check out the pictures, it sure was different. For more information see their web site at http://www.visitnh.gov/flume/index.html
We were hungry and all hiked out when we got back to the car. Robyn knew of this restaurant back in Lincoln called Gordie’s so we stopped there for supper.
We arrived back in Fryeburg around 7:15pm. By the time we got back to the 5-wheel it was 10pm.
It was a great day! Thanks Sharleen & Robyn.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day, see album: Cannon Mountain-The Flume.

It was a stay at home and work day. Cheri did laundry and cleaning. I did some outside stuff, cleaned the windows on the truck and put on new windshield wipers. I also did some work on the computer, checking out some software called SnapFish. It is a place you can upload your pictures to have them printed. You have all sorts of choices on cards and sizes of pictures. We spent quite a bit of time checking on campgrounds and things to see around Portsmouth NH and Boston Ma. I made a reservation at a campground in Portsmouth for a week starting Sept 14th. At 3:00 pm we headed over to Greg and Sandy’s to go out for supper. Went to the same place we have gone to the last three Saturday nights, Uncle Moe’s. Of course we had to stop for homemade ice cream on the way home. After checking with Greg and Sandy we think we are going to stay at a campground in Wells Maine instead of Portsmouth NH. Amtrak is near the campground and we can take that into Boston and it stops near the downtown where we want to take a walking tour.

Cheri was up at 4:00 am this morning and I got up at 5:00 am. Cheri said she didn’t sleep well. Being we were late getting home last night and were going to be leaving early this morning. Cheri had the blog written for yesterday by the time I got up. I unloaded the pictures from the camera and got them ready to upload to the web page, took my shower and got dressed. Cheri made lasagna and pie and had it ready to take over to Pat and Roger’s for dinner. While Cheri showered and got dressed I took the computer and headed up to the campground office so I could use their high speed internet to upload the pictures and blog. At 7:30 am we headed over to Pat and Roger’s. At 8:00 am Roger and I headed out for the golf course to play nine holes. It is the first time I have played in 7 or 8 years. It wasn’t pretty, but was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. While we played golf Pat and Cheri worked on going through all of our state quarters to fill their 50 state collection book. They were still working on it when we got back from golfing. Cheri stated the dinner while I showed Pat and Roger how to use the new Picasa 3 software I loaded on their computer. It is free software made by Google’s and is a great tool for managing pictures. After dinner we played a game of Five Crown which Cheri won and then a game of dominos that the girls won. Then Cheri and I headed over to see Ken and Sharon for a visit. On the way home we stopped by Sandy and Greg’s to pick up our mail and check to see if the air horns had arrived, no air horns. It was 8:30 pm when we got home. It was another great day to spend with friends and family.

Today Pat & Roger picked us up at 8:30 am for our trip to the Castle in the Clouds at Moultonborough, N.H. It is perched high in the Ossipee Mountains. It was about a 2 1/2 hr drive. We stopped for lunch about a mile and a half from the castle. We were ready now for our tour of the castle and grounds.
As we entered the gate the tour begins with a 2 mile scenic drive up the mountainside. The road is narrow and wooded on both sides. We stopped and walked to the beautiful 50ft waterfalls nestled in the high rock cliffs.
Further up the road we arrived at the Carriage House. This used to house the family’s many riding horses. Today it has been made into a restaurant. The stalls have been left intact and 3 or 4 dining tables have been placed in each stall, very neat atmosphere. You could also set on the outside terrace overlooking the mountains with its many lakes below. The flowers on the grounds were beautiful.
The Castle tour began at the Carriage House. From here trolleys transported visitors to the Castle, delivering us to the Sun Porch. We were greeted by a Staff Guide for a brief orientation.
The Castle was built in 1913-1914 of wood and stone by Thomas Plant. He quit school at 14 and started working in a shoe factory. Within 14 years he had worked himself from the bottom to the top. He ended up buying the factory, along with about 5 more. He was worth about 20 million dollars.
He ended up divorcing his first wife, sold his factories and retired.
He later remarried and they bought 5500 acres of property in the Ossipee Mountains and began building the Castle. It took them only about 1 1/2yrs to complete it.
We could wander about the Castle long as we wished. There were guides throughout the house to answer all our questions. They had the most modern features for that time period in the house. A semi-circular shower, central vacuum system and a huge ammonia brine-cooled refrigerator unit and an intercom system. There are seven ceiling skylights which so not open directly to the outside, instead they receive daylight from the attic through a second set of skylights in the roof.
They never had any children and with just the two of them they employed 30 servants.
Within a few short years, Mr. Plant had made a number of unsuccessful investments and had lost his entire fortune. The bank foreclosed on his property the day he died and left his wife with nothing. The Castle changed hands and eventually in 2002 was purchased by Lakes Region Conservation Trust and today is managed by the Castle Preservation Society. They are slowly bringing the Castle back to its stately self.
We enjoyed checking out the individual rooms and getting our picture taken having tea in the tea room on the second floor overlooking the beautiful mountains.
We headed back towards home and make a stop at a jewelry, native Indian and western store. Pat ended up buying a ring and a necklace, an early Christmas present!
We stopped in Naples for a quick bite to eat and then it was dessert at the homemade ice cream stand in Sabattus to top the day off.
It was a long but fun day.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album Castle in the Clouds

We decided about 8am this morning to head for Pemaquid on the motorcycle. It was a little cool riding but warmed up fast.
We went down to the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse first. This lighthouse was first commissioned in 1827 during John Quincy Adams administration. The tower is 39 feet tall. We climbed up the 36 step spiral staircase to a ladder. You then climbed up the ladder through an opening that brought you to the top of the tower, where the Fresnel Lens that lights the lighthouse is located. The lens was invented in 1822. It looks like a giant glass beehive, with a light in the center. Pemiquid still has the original Fourth Order lens. The 1000 watt bulb in the lens is visible for 14 miles. The fixed white light flashes once every six seconds. The view from atop the lighthouse was beautiful. We picked a perfect day to visit the coast. You could see for miles.
We strolled along the cliffs of the rocky shoreline. Gay took lots of pictures. We found out that this lighthouse is depicted on the Maine State quarter released in May of 2003.
The lighthouse museum had lots of neat artifacts on boating and a picture of a 28 lb. lobster and another picture with a little girl standing beside two 45 lb. lobsters. WOW!
We stopped at a gift shop where all the items were handmade by Maine residents. They had some beautiful things.
We were told to have lunch at Shaws restaurant on the bay in New Harbor. While we were there we watched the lobster boats come and go unloading their catch for the day.
Our next stop was the Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site where Fort William Henry is located. The partial reconstruction that now stands there was completed in 1908’ we climbed to the very top and got a great view of the coastline. We also went through the Fort House and the museum.
We rode about 130 miles today and returned home by 5pm.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album Pemaquid

Wow! It‘s hard to believe it’s September already. Don’t know where the time has gone. This morning I took the toilet apart again and found the water leak. It was at the nozzle where the water enters the bowl. It had a crack in it and probably was from being tightened too tight when it was built. It has caused us a problem for the last 3 months. It only leaked when you would flush and sometimes you wouldn’t see any water at all. About 10:30 am we headed off to the RV dealer near Sabattus. They didn’t have the part. So we headed to Augusta to get groceries and my medicine. I also bought some PVC cement to see if I could glue the toilet nozzle back together. We didn’t get home until 2:30 pm. We had a late lunch or an early supper (I found out at 6:00 pm that it was supper). I got the nozzle glued together and put the toilet back together, no leaks so far. I took a picture of the cracked nozzle and sent it along with an e-mail to Excel (company that built the 5th wheel) and asked them to send me a new one. It was 5:30 pm before I got everything done. Cheri spent the afternoon reading, oh yes she also fixed our early supper. It was a good day to be retired and in no hurry to get things done.

Pat & Roger picked us up at 12:00 pm and we headed to Augusta and stopped at Olive Garden for a lunch of soup, salad and bread sticks. Then we headed over to Old Fort Western on the Kennebec River. It is the oldest wooden fort in North America. We had a good time touring the fort with a person dressed in costume who narrated our tour. They have an excellent web page which tells all the history of the fort and the house. See web site www.oldfortwestern.org Make sure you click on fort history and then on house history. From the fort we headed to Pine Street State Arboretum. The welcome center was closed, so we walked over to the trail head and checked the map of the different trails. We could see things had run down and was in need of help. Due to state cutbacks there just isn’t enough money to go around. It is sad to see things go downhill. They need more volunteers. From there we stopped at Hannaford’s grocery store. It is a new store that is considered to be a green store. They had a display of the things they have done to help preserve electric and water. Every little bit helps the environment. Pat and Roger took us back to their place for supper and an evening of games and lots of laughs. Pat and Cheri won everything we played. It was a great day to spend with close friends.
I have uploaded pictures of the day. See Album Old Fort Western.