2019 - TEXAS TO CONNECTICUT AND BACK

Preamble

My previous summer routines seem to have been followed once again.

I arrived back in Westbrook, Connecticut, in mid-July after a long spell stationary in Texas (mostly due to the need to make multiple trips back to the UK to buy/sell/move house) but took a more recreational trip back to the UK for 4 weeks over July/August.

The rest of the summer was spent in Westbrook, the Airstream parked in its usual spot in the North Yard of Pilots Point Marina while I was there but moved into storage at the local RV business while I was away.

My RV spot is at the southern end of the marina, where the Menunketesuck River opens out into Duck Island Roads and Long Island Sound.

This spot offers wonderful views out over the Sound and across the 12 miles to Long Island itself (on clear, low-humidity days) and presented a rather wonderful double rainbow at the end of one particular day in late August, after a heavy rainstorm had swept through.

Following the Newport Boat Show in mid-September, preparations were made to get back on the road, though this year taking a slow meander through Pennsylvania to Annapolis, pausing there for the Sailboat Show and then heading on south, largely covering old ground, down to Texas.

CONNECTICUT TO MARYLAND

Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - Westbrook, CT, to East Stroudsburg, PA

A final 4-mile run out and back on my familiar Westbrook loop, getting back to the marina and showering just in time to hook the Airstream up to the truck before the rain started.

Not a promising start to my departure day, the truck and Airstream both having been recently washed... but the rain was forecast to ease a little after 10:00am.

And after a final morning coffee with Ted in the office (my old office now looking rather bare, emptied of most of my personal effects gathered over 13 years of being there) I headed out, taking a slightly longer northern loop out to eastern Pennsylvania, attempting to avoid the likely heavy traffic on I-95 in southern Connecticut and the poor road surface of I-287.

Pulled over for an early lunch once onto I-84, detouring to avoid an accident back-up and being rewarded with a cruise through the scenic New England town of Newton, leaves on the trees just beginning to turn.

I-84 for most of the day's drive, with a brief detour mid-afternoon at Middletown, NY, for coffee, before turning off and heading southwest along a 20-mile stretch through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and shortly thereafter into the KOA campground booked for the night.

A rather perfunctory reception, when KOA staff are usually more enthusiastic, and I had to find my own way to the campsite - through the somewhat overly-Halloween-decorated campground - rather than being shown the way by a campground golf cart, as is more usually done at KOA campgrounds.

Quiet pull-through site, reasonable WiFi and cable TV, and shorepower allowing me to run the A/C to cool down the Airstream, the day having turned sunny and warm (low 80's) once the morning clouds had blown through.

So I'm back on the road after 3½ months stationary in Westbrook... but only for a fairly short week's meander down to Annapolis.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019 - East Stroudsburg, PA, to Bellefonte, PA

A quiet night in the campground... but up early and moving into the day's plan to get in some mountain bike riding (MTB) on the way to our next overnight stop.

Pulled out of the campground just before 8:00am, along a few local roads before getting onto I-80 westbound, sun shining, day warming rapidly, some fall foliage seeming to be more yellow and brown than vibrant red.

Stopped for an early coffee at a Starbucks store in Lewisburg (that coincidentally I had been to on my early summer trip back to Connecticut), then took to smaller back roads - driving along canyons lined with corn and past red farm barns - to get to RB Winter State Park for MTB.

Very warm by the time I started riding, and a physically demanding but rather unenjoyable ride.

Lots of climbing up fire roads and little joy from the downhill trails - my disappointment vented by rather caustic comments posted on an MTB website I use...

Had lunch in the Airstream while waiting for water to heat for my shower, then headed on to the next campground, where I'll be staying for two nights to wait out wet weather tomorrow, rain duly starting as forecast early evening.

Thursday, October 3, 2019 - Bellefonte, PA

Slept soundly after my exertions of yesterday and despite the damp conditions I felt obliged to head out for a run, knowing the rest of the day would be spent sitting down.

Attempted to dodge the showers but not entirely successful, stepping out into drizzle that became light rain by the time I had finished my rather hilly 4-mile run.

Showered, brewed coffee, and settled in for a day in the campground at my traveling desk, punctuated by a Lagoon "Webinar" early afternoon.

It seemed a poor campground cable connection would prevent me catching my first NFL game of the season but I found the game on a regular channel so treated myself to the first half before deciding the game was done and turning in.

Friday, October 4, 2019 - Bellefonte, PA, to Hesston, PA

On checking scores this morning, I seem to have left the football coverage a little early and missed a very tight game that came down to the very last play. Oh well, hopefully I'll get to see more NFL action on Sunday.

A couple of hours of admin first thing, coffee mid-morning, on the road at 11:15am - having changed to "Plan C" 10 minutes before leaving, as seems to be my pattern, despite many hours over previous days (weeks almost) working out a base plan from which I've already deviated a couple of times!

30-minute drive into State College for both gas and grocery fill up, which should see me through to arrival in Annapolis next Wednesday.

Then an hour's drive to a US Army Core of Engineers (COE) campground at Raystown Lake where a rather unhelpful guy at the Ranger Station thrust a self-registration packet into my hand. So off I drove to find the nearest campground loop to the MTB trails, got set up and changed into my MTB gear.

To save unhitching the Airstream, I rode the mile back to the Ranger Station to deposit my $15 (50% discount with my lifetime "America The Beautiful" pass) and then back down to hook up with the Allegrippis Trails on this side of the park - having ridden the trails at the sister campground on my visit here in June.

My MTB joy restored on 10 miles of flowing, winding, up and down trails. Downhills a blast and uphill climbing not too severe - fortunately, as my lowest gear seems to not want to stay selected, something I'll have to try to adjust out before my next ride.

Usual cleaning and lubing of the bike chain after the ride, followed by personal clean-up in good time to settle in for a quiet evening - no TV reception here.

Saturday, October 5, 2019 - Hesston, PA, to Harrisburg, PA

Cold overnight, as forecast. 37 degrees at dawn... but as I'm plugged in to shorepower I've got my ceramic heater as well as the Airstream propane heater to give me a 30-minute blast before venturing out from my warm bed.

Plenty of plan dithering, as usual, trying to take account of variables such as MTB trails, weather and campgrounds. With a "final" plan maturing, I stepped out into the still chilly mid-morning to try to tune out the gear shifting issue on my bike - probably only the second or third time I have used the bike stand I bought a year ago, but a tough thing to do without it.

Back inside the Airstream by 11:00am to warm up, get coffee, consolidate the plan, and prepare for a second ride here on the Allegrippis Trails.

Another really fun ride... lots of fast, swooping trails, mostly easy and short climbs broken up with downhills, a couple of tough rock gardens. 14 miles ridden in 1 hour 45 minutes, 1400ft of climbing (and descending!).

Gear shifting now spot on after my morning adjustments of the derailleur.

Had lunch, got showered up, dumped tanks and refilled the fresh water tank on the way out of the campground and drove 2 hours to Harrisburg where I was unable to persuade Sam's Club to provide overnight parking, and so ended up in the adjacent - and rather noisier and busier - Walmart.

Sunday, October 5, 2019 - Harrisburg, PA, to Gettysburg, PA

Up shortly after 7:00am, expecting to grab a quick breakfast before heading out for MTB at nearby Hershey Medical Center... but a glance out into the Walmart parking lot showed puddles on the ground and drizzle coming down, even though wet weather had not been forecast until mid-morning.

So decided to switch gears and head into Harrisburg for the 9:00am tour of the State Capitol Building.

Got parked on the street right beside the Capitol Building on this quiet and damp Sunday morning, got my security scan and waited in the Rotunda for the tour guide and a handful of other people joining the tour.

The Pennsylvania State Capitol Building wasn't particularly different to other Capitol buildings when viewed from the outside...

...but it was quite an extraordinary building in terms of interior style and décor... "completed in 1906 in a Beaux-Arts style with decorative Renaissance themes throughout".

The tour was reasonably informative - though actually not much more so that the commentary in the official brochure - and relatively brief, over by 9:45am.

The State Capitol complex to the east of the building would undoubtedly have been interesting to walk around, but due to the continuing dismal weather I decided to just wander down State Street to the Susquehana River, the street lined with buildings of varied architectural styles and all of a scale that seemed rather small for the center of the state capital.

Bought a coffee at a local independent coffee shop on the stroll back to the truck and decided to head out of town towards the day's destination of Gettysburg and stop at a Barnes & Noble on the way.

Had a good browse of the fiction shelves, picked up the first in the series of Jack Reacher novels and a second coffee from a nearby Starbucks (the line in Barnes & Noble being rather too long), and got back on the wet roads - rain now heavy - for the hour's drive down to Gettysburg.

Checked in to the campground just after 2:00am, finished setting up after a heavy rain shower had blown through, had a late lunch and then tuned into NFL games and, unexpectedly, the All Blacks vs Namibia World Cup rugby game... all courtesy of a $2 extra cable hook-up charge.

The rest of the damp day spent on a very small amount of admin, snoozing, rugby and a lot of American football.

Monday, October 7, 2019 - Gettysburg, PA

Thoughts of a possible morning run put aside upon waking up to light rain, so settled in to a couple of hours on various admin tasks and phone calls before heading off to do the "Auto Tour" around the Gettysburg battlefield.

A dull and overcast day, with intermittent showers, making photography a little challenging, so I'll borrow a few pictures from my visit to Gettysburg in 2016 when it was rather warmer and sunnier, and when I stopped at the Visitor Center to view their very informative exhibition on the Civil War and the impressive restored Cyclorama painting painting depicting the final serious - and failed - Confederate attack, "Pickett's Charge"...

Followed the Auto Tour route, stopping for an odd picture or two of things other than the many monuments to the various armies and skirmishes - which I had photographed fairly comprehensively last time - with a late morning detour through downtown Gettysburg for a coffee.

Much of Gettysburg remains as it was at the Civil War period 150 years ago, both downtown streets and buildings and the surrounding countryside, seeming to add to the rather somber atmosphere when contemplating the carnage that occurred.

The critical location of Little Round Top (defended and held by Union troops) offers a panoramic view over much of the battlefield, little changed since Brigadier General Warren would have seen it, though looking rather gray today.

Rather too late to stop at the Visitor Center and Museum, so I headed back in increasingly heavy rain to the campground for another couple of hours of "admin" and planning for the next couple of days.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019 - Gettysburg, PA, to Patapsco Valley State Park, Ellicott City, MD

Heavy rain yesterday evening, the large drops falling from the overhead branches giving quite a percussion on the Airstream roof.

Rain eased overnight, but still a gray and damp start to the day. So a little desk work was in order - sorting and editing photos - with coffee brewed at 11:00am - getting on the road after coffee for a 2-hour drive to Ellicott City, just west of Baltimore, and some MTB.

12 miles of riding over an hour and 45 minutes, 1750ft climbing. Nothing super special in the ride, not much energy in me, reasonable flow to the trails but not many features, some rock gardens, some stream crossings, a couple of tough climbs I had to do over before nailing them, and one that I didn't have the oomph for. But at least I was out pushing on the pedals.

With the afternoon drawing on, I drove the 30 minutes straight to the state park campground, checked in, backed into my site, had a late bite of lunch and settled in to a quiet evening... a few e-mails, some news on TV, followed by a little light TV entertainment.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019 - Patapsco Valley State Park to KOA campground, Millersville, MD

No rush to get the day going, with only a short drive to my next overnight spot - a degree of weariness in my legs from yesterday afternoon's ride, too, holding me back from an enthusiastic morning run, though I did eventually get out and moving just before 9:00am.

9 loops of the campground made up my 4 miles, and a little extra for good measure. Plenty of opportunity to try to puzzle out why there seemed to be more uphill work than downhill slope on the loop, though I never did...

Late morning coffee after getting cleaned up, out of the campground just before noon for the relatively short drive to Millersville - suffering heavy urban traffic and aggressive drivers on the southwestern loop around Baltimore - diverting to a grocery store before getting into the KOA campground mid-afternoon.

Welcome campground WiFi allowed me to add final touches to the Annapolis Boat Show support material.

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This KOA campground at Millersville, just outside Annapolis, was my base for the Annapolis Boat Show, running Thursday through Monday (Columbus Day).

Daily routine involved taking the F-150 to pick Ted up at his hotel on the drive into Annapolis, parking in Eastport and walking over the bridge to the show, a bite of dinner somewhere after the show... sleep and repeat.

Back on the road, from Maryland to Texas, in the next chapter (link below).

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