A Little Sun Sure Helps

Praise the Lord! We got a terrific sunny day for travel!

Starting from Mansfield OH, we made our way through Columbus where traffic was heavy, but we didn't experience any drama. 

The really interesting part today was weaving through Cincinnati on the I-71. One thing is to traverse a big city (like Cincinnati), a totally different story is getting through it with MASSIVE construction going on. 

There was basically only one lane of the I-71, leading us through unspeakable chaos, and there was about a million cars and trucks trying to go the same way as us. 

Knowing that at least 30% of drivers are full-blown idiots, who might have found their drivers license at a Walmart sale, is just putting an edge on the whole thing.

And then we got to Kentucky. The name stands for horse races and whiskey. And sure enough we saw horses and signs pointing to distilleries. But Kentucky is also a State which has felt the fury of Canadians when boycotting Kentucky-made Bourbon products, after the orange guy started babbling about a 51st State.

Nevertheless, we found another Walmart in Tennessee, (it's very quiet here) and tomorrow we'll be moving on via Memphis.

A Single Sunny Day Doesn't Make A Summer

This rather simple truth we had to experience again today. As we started out towards Buffalo,NY, the grey sky didn't look very inviting, and we before we knew it, it started raining. And then we were hit by strong crosswinds. 

The crosswinds turned into headwinds as the I-90 turned south at Buffalo. Now, headwind is generally better than a crosswind, even though I still had to battle with it.

Rain became intermittent but the wind stayed on all the way into Ohio. At the same time the temperature dropped to a chilly 44F.

Driving in a class A in cold weather has never been my favorite pastime. There are cold drafts from the side window, from the door and from underneath the dash. You can run the heater all you want, but your legs are freezing to icicles. Bea had put a woolen cover around herself, while my legs and my hands turned to frozen pins.

But I must also ad that we would not have been able to travel today, had we been pulling our trusty travel trailer. At least a class A Diesel is heavy enough to withstand a lot more wind casts than a 7500lb lightweight trailer.

Because of all the strong wind, but also because I am old and can't drive 8 straight hours anymore, we had to cancel our meeting with our Ohio friends in Springfield. We then (barely) made it to Mansfield,OH where we have spent a night last spring when going north.

We are sick and tired of this cold weather and will be heading farther south tomorrow. Hopefully into warmer weather.

The Rain Is Gone

One can sleep very well, even in an otherwise busy rest area, if one is tired enough.

At 9PM it was time to catch a dream or two, and I am happy to say that the bed in this motorhome is probably the best I have ever slept in. 

After almost 10hrs of exploring dreamland it was still dark when I found my way to the front and turn on some lights.

When slipping outside I noticed the clear sky above and no more rain in the making.

Dixie was happy as well and when we returned to the rig it was time to get going with breakfast.

The sun was already up when we hit the highway. Finding our way in this area is old routine. From I-95 it's I-495 (around Boston) then the I-290 (through Worcester, MA) and finally the I-90 bound for Buffalo,NY.

We didn't make it to Buffalo, but instead went to a Walmart we had used in March located in Wampsville,NY.

Today, I did have a slight concern re. the inner tire on the passenger side. Wondering whether it had enough air pressure, Bea located a tire service in a small town where a real nice guy, obviously from Central or South America helped us by checking pressure on that tire. My hand was holding out dollar bills as a tip for him, but he refused and ran back into his shop. This guy was a treasure and we could continue with peace of mind.

Tomorrow we'll end up in Ohio where we hopefully meet some very special friends.

Check out this guy - what in the world?

A highway as I like it - open road and little traffic

Beautiful Fall Foliage all the way

The First Day Of Many More

 Whenever we start our annual migration south, the first day is always filled with apprehension. Only when a certain routine settles in we get back to a peace-of-mind kind of state.

A last glance from the FDR bridge towards Mulholland Lighthouse and we meet US-Customs

One of the questions in our mind this morning was what the US-Customs officer would say when hearing about our destination. Well, his reply was "Happy travel!" So all is good.

Getting to Machias,ME this time of the year we were in awe about the fiery red fields. The color appears to be from the red leaves of blueberry plants. Indeed blueberry farming is a major industry in Maine, as also in New Brunswick.

Our goal today was to reach an overnight stop just south of the Maine border in New Hampshire.

Wipers just getting busy

Even though the sky turned grey we had a good ride until south of Bangor,ME. After that, a slight rain made my wipers come to life. Soon enough the light rain was succeeded by more powerful showers. Our wipers were going full speed. 

More dark clouds south of us made me feel uneasy. And then my thoughts turned into reality. A full-blown rainstorm was now hitting our windshield. The water density on the highway turned to 100%, making for bad vision ahead.

And eventually I got enough. 10 miles north of Portland we pulled off the highway into a crampy turnpike rest area. A narrow strip of parking was available and a truck which had been sitting there just left. I maneuvered our rig into place and shut it down. I think it was only around 2pm, but driving in this weather was not an option for me.