Day 6 Wednesday May 24th 2011. After our overnight in La Crosse we woke to the worst weather condition we could ever want for our first day with Rosy Lee. The roof of the world had opened up and the Heavens were falling out of the sky. We had a few hours to kill before meeting Cary at La Crescent so we decided to do our first food shop for the journey home. Walmart was our destination as we paced the aisle waiting our time away for Ten Oclock to arrive. At the appointed hour we crossed back over the Mississipi river to La Cresent to see that Cary had already arrived. A very wet un-hitch and re-hitch took place before we said our goodbyes to Cary and started our Journey home.
We had booked a campsite in Zion Illinois for the first couple of days which meant we had a journey of 470km in front of us in this terrible weather. We were also faced with the dillemer that all of our equipment for Rosy Lee was packed in the back of the Tow Vehicle and we faced the prospect of getting soaked transfering everything. A lightbulb went off in my head as I remembered that there was a disussed gas station on the I90 highway at the turn off for route 80 to Necedah that we had seen on the way through. This still had the canopy in place and would provide the perfect dry place for our packing. After a nervous drive towing for the first time as I had only towed utility trailers before we reached the gas station and proceeded to stock up the Galley make the bed move some clothes across and organise ourselves. This probably took a couple of hours and was thirsty work but Annie would not let me fire up the propane to make a nice cup of tea as we were in an old Gas station and she feared I would blow the place up.
Transfer complete we re-started the slow trek to Zion we were having problems with the brake controller that had been fitted which seemed to be casuing some severe juddering no matter what setting we were on. We ended up comming of the highyway and finding some side roads to do some testing away from traffic without the break controller fitted and this seemed to cure the problem. We still seemed to have a lot of what I would call bounce but i think this was a mixture of the road conditions and the distribution of the weight in the trailer and the Tow Vehicle. We arrived in Zion and found our way to Illinois Beach State park which was our home for the next two days. Fortanatly late afternoon early evening had brought a lull in the rain and we managed to set up the trailer and erect the side tent. Dinner consisted of bread and jam with a hot cup of tea and some nachos and dip we were in heaven. Note for the future was to come up with a quick canopy which can be draped over the open hatch in these conditions to allow for basis food prep in the dry. We retired inside and snuggled down for the night curled up on the couch with a movie on the tv. Total Distance 468km. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois.
Day 7 Thursday May 25th 2011. We woke up after a very windy night where i was constantly looking out of the window to see if the side tent was still there. The rain had stopped but was threataning to start again at a moment notice. We made our first breakfast porridge and hot tea and made our plans for the day. I had booked us in for two nights as we had tickets to see the Chicago Cubs against the New York Mets at Wriggly feild. Annie was not overawed with the prospect of a wet baseball game as she only goes to be with me and has experienced a wet game before at Yankee statium. I ageed that we would forget the game and go shopping instead in some of the malls we had seen on our drive in. We stopped just out side Zion at a Walmart as we decideded we wanted a small ceramic heater for the cabin and brought a few other bits we had identified on our want list. When we came out to the parking lot the weather had improved dramatically. Now don't get me wrong it was still miserable but definitely an improvement. I asked Annie if we could go to the game and she said as long as we have waterproofs blankest, hats, gloves, brollys etc. in the car then yes we could go. Well being a boy scout i was as ever prepared for this event as I had made sure that all this stuff was in the car before we left the camp site and put my plan into action.
I had picked this campsite for its proximity to the main rail line that ran into Chicago as I knew that parking around Wriggly feild would be expensive and taking the train would be less strain. We drove to Waukegan down the shore of lake Michigan where I knew the train called. I did not have a timetable as all my research at home had us getting an earlier train and going into Chicago for some morning shopping and getting the red Line back to Wriggly. I went into the station and looked at the timetable and the next train was 50 minutes away and did not get us to the station which was two miles from Wriggly until 10 minutes after the game was due to start. Plan B was needed and some quick button pushing on the GPS showed Evanston to be the closest location with a Red Line train. The race was on as I hate missing the beginning of a sporting event and I wont leave before the end no matter what the score. What seemed like a long journey finaly brought us into Evanston and after some frantic moments were we though parking was going to cost the earth or was limited to two or three hours we found the parking area behind the rail station for a steal at four bucks all day.
Tickets purchased we were off to wriggly. Our seats again were on the upper level and if you have every been to Wriggly you will know how open it is with the back side of the stadium clad in open wire mesh. I now know why its called the windy city. We spent the game huddled in jackets waterproofs gloves hats and a stadium blanket and Annie was a trooper as she staid the course although I did have to get a few hot drinks in her. The Cubs had a good win always nice to see the Mets lose and it was time to warm up on the journey home. We retraced our steps back to Zion and as we had something to eat at the stadium we stuck to our bread and jamb again as the weather was very window on the shores of lake Michigan. A full galley kitchen and we make bread and jam. We settled down again for another stormy night with a movie on the tv. Total distance 151km. Illionoise.
Day 8 Friday May 26th 2011. The real journey back was just about to start as we had a long Haul to our next booked camp site in Rhode Island two nights in the future. Our plan was to get as many miles under our belt as possible before finding a parking lot for the night. The night was very eventful with a fantastic thunder storm that we watched through the skylight and we woke to relatively good weather with a nice dry pack up for the side tent. Hot showers and breakfast we hit the road at about 8am.
We took the I294 from Zion and skirted Chicago. we were amazed at how often we had to produce money for tolls and one very nice lady at the toll booth politely informed me that I was not being ripped off with the additional cost for a third axle even though it was double the cost of the car toll. Heading out of Illinois and into Indiana we had decided to take in some sightseeing and departed the I90 to travel on Route 20 to visit some Amish sites. We stopped off for a rest break at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus and had a walk around the shop. I have to admit I found it all to commercial for people who want to live the simple life far to much of the products on sale were commercially imported from other areas. I expected that everything would be hand made locally so this was a big disappointment Our journey onward on Route 20 was interesting with the Amish buggy's along the side of the roads but it was a bit scary with some of the big rigs flying past in the other direction on a single lane highway. We stopped of again in Shipshewana but again we felt disappointed.
We found a lovely little rest stop at a park called Otter lake and cooked our first proper meal in Rosy Lee a traditional English Fry up Bacon and Eggs, my did that taste good. We knew that we wanted to get as far as possible today even though coming of the highway had slowed our pace down and I had set Eire as our target for the night. I was finding it tough going by about 10pm and we decided to pull into a rest stop just over the border in Pennsylvania on the I90. It was funny pulling up next to the big rigs and I was sure there would be a time limit although a walk round the facilities did not give any information on overnight parking. We settled in only to be rudely and I do mean rudely awaken twenty minutes later by somebody banging on the roof for our attention and shouting at us that we were only allowed to stay for two hours. I politely did not get out of the camper and thank him much to Annie's relief why he had to take that attitude I don't know what's wrong with a gentle knock and why could he have not come over after two hours. I think he was running a free coffee service from a trailer.After our two hours we hit the road again and made it to Eire where we parked up in a large shopping mall car park for some final peace an quite for the night. Total Distance 763km. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
Day 9 Saturday May 27th 2011. Another early morning start and another long day in the saddle. I did not think it was fair to try and get Annie to share the driving as we had on the journey out as she has never towed before and she was still feeling that something was not quite right with our set up as we had a lot of bounce still going on. Our original trip was meant to be 17 days but had been cut down to 12 as Annie had to arrange to fly back to the UK to visit her sick father as soon as our trip was over. I'm sure the additional five days would have meant a lot more sightseeing time on this trip as I would have loved to have done Niagara falls as we were so close. We had decided to stick with the I90 on the way back so apart from a few mountains instead of farmland our trip today was pretty mundane and boring It was always a highlight to stop at a rest station and fire up the kettle as we always got people coming over for a look. I was like a proud new father showing off our baby.
I was hopping that we were going to be able to take in an MLS game at Gillette Stadium this evening but by the time we arrived at our camp-site we knew we would not move again. We stayed at the George Washington State Park in Rhode Island which is a basic site with vault toilets in a lovely wooded environment. We managed to erect the Northern Breeze for the first time and decided as the terrain was flat we would leave Rosy Lee hitched up for a quick getaway in the morning. We had another show and tell session with the group camping next door to us and after a BBQ supper and a few beverages it was time for the sleep sack again. Total Distance 916km. Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Day 10 Sunday May 28th 2011. Shopping day had arrived. Annie had long been promised a return trip to Freeport Maine so after a nice breakfast and a quick site breakdown we were on our way for a short trip to Freeport. If you have never been to Freeport I must say the best shop there is the North Face Outlet shop and as it was Memorial day weekend they had significant additional discounts on top of the already discounted price. We made a leisurely tour of some of the other shops but had what we came for in the bag so decided to stock up on some food essentials. We managed to join the Shaw supermarket discount club which gives some great deals on multi buys and does not cost to register. We also saw another Teardrop but I don't think they spotted us.
Shopping over we made our way up the coast to our final camp site at Acadia National Park Bar Harbour. The route into the camp site on Route 3 was extremely bumpy but on arrival it was a lovely wooded site although depending on which site you got as to whether you could do a full set up. I wanted to get both the Northern Breeze and the side tent up but the layout of the site and the proximity of the fire pit meant that we only erected the Northern Breeze. Just outside the site were some hot showers so we relished in the luxury of these and settled down for a good meal and some chill out time. The original plan was to only stay the one night but I convinced Annie that I was so tired I needed a day off the long Haul. Total Distance 575km. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine.
Day 11 Monday May 29th 2011. Day off, our day consisted of relaxation, we drove into Bar Harbour and had a wander around the shops before taking a leisurely drive around Acadia National park. The park roads themselves are in far better condition than the local roads and the trip around the coast has some fantastic scenery. I would love to come back here and spend some time hiking but we settled for a drive and an accent of Cadillac mountain. The weather was fantastic and the scenery was breathtaking.
We got back to the camp site to a ghost town as most people had left. I had not needed to buy any firewood as there was stacks of wood at all the camp-sites around us. After supper we decided that we would have a wash down clear up then pack the rear tent away as it was dry and hitch up ready for a morning departure. Before we took the Northern Breeze down we played around with some location set-ups relative to the Teardrop so that the next time we arrived on site we would have better knowledge when choosing our site set-up. After watching the sun disappear through the trees and the fire embers die away it was time for our final night of this trip. Total Distance 96km. Maine
Day 12 Tuesday May 30th 2011. The final leg. Again another early morning start its a good job we are both early risers although I could have done with a few lie in's on this trip. Our plan was to cross the border at Saint Stephen and we followed route 9 up the coast after leaving Bar Harbour. We had all of our import paperwork ready and the night before Annie had collated all of our receipts for our duty free allowances. We made the mistake of going to the old border crossing in the town and had to retrace our steps to find the new commercial border crossing. After a small detour around the American side we were told we did not need to inform them that we were exporting a trailer and could proceed to the Canadian Border.
The whole process probably took an hour as we had all of our paperwork in order paid our fees and hit the road home after giving one more tour to the border guard who did our paperwork. I have to admit I was really feeling the stress of all of this driving and so wanted to pull over and put my feet up but we persevered and were soon on the final leg in Nova Scotia I knew when we got home that there were going to be some chores to do as both Rosy Lee and our car were covered in pollen from our last camp-site. We arrived home late afternoon and spent the next couple of hours unpacking washing and locating Rosy Lee in her new home in our garage. Total Distance 758km. Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia.
Overall Statistics (there and back)
Total Distance 7,054 km
2 Provinces
12 States
Nights in Teardrop 6
We took the I294 from Zion and skirted Chicago. we were amazed at how often we had to produce money for tolls and one very nice lady at the toll booth politely informed me that I was not being ripped off with the additional cost for a third axle even though it was double the cost of the car toll. Heading out of Illinois and into Indiana we had decided to take in some sightseeing and departed the I90 to travel on Route 20 to visit some Amish sites. We stopped off for a rest break at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus and had a walk around the shop. I have to admit I found it all to commercial for people who want to live the simple life far to much of the products on sale were commercially imported from other areas. I expected that everything would be hand made locally so this was a big disappointment Our journey onward on Route 20 was interesting with the Amish buggy's along the side of the roads but it was a bit scary with some of the big rigs flying past in the other direction on a single lane highway. We stopped of again in Shipshewana but again we felt disappointed.
We found a lovely little rest stop at a park called Otter lake and cooked our first proper meal in Rosy Lee a traditional English Fry up Bacon and Eggs, my did that taste good. We knew that we wanted to get as far as possible today even though coming of the highway had slowed our pace down and I had set Eire as our target for the night. I was finding it tough going by about 10pm and we decided to pull into a rest stop just over the border in Pennsylvania on the I90. It was funny pulling up next to the big rigs and I was sure there would be a time limit although a walk round the facilities did not give any information on overnight parking. We settled in only to be rudely and I do mean rudely awaken twenty minutes later by somebody banging on the roof for our attention and shouting at us that we were only allowed to stay for two hours. I politely did not get out of the camper and thank him much to Annie's relief why he had to take that attitude I don't know what's wrong with a gentle knock and why could he have not come over after two hours. I think he was running a free coffee service from a trailer.After our two hours we hit the road again and made it to Eire where we parked up in a large shopping mall car park for some final peace an quite for the night. Total Distance 763km. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
Day 9 Saturday May 27th 2011. Another early morning start and another long day in the saddle. I did not think it was fair to try and get Annie to share the driving as we had on the journey out as she has never towed before and she was still feeling that something was not quite right with our set up as we had a lot of bounce still going on. Our original trip was meant to be 17 days but had been cut down to 12 as Annie had to arrange to fly back to the UK to visit her sick father as soon as our trip was over. I'm sure the additional five days would have meant a lot more sightseeing time on this trip as I would have loved to have done Niagara falls as we were so close. We had decided to stick with the I90 on the way back so apart from a few mountains instead of farmland our trip today was pretty mundane and boring It was always a highlight to stop at a rest station and fire up the kettle as we always got people coming over for a look. I was like a proud new father showing off our baby.
I was hopping that we were going to be able to take in an MLS game at Gillette Stadium this evening but by the time we arrived at our camp-site we knew we would not move again. We stayed at the George Washington State Park in Rhode Island which is a basic site with vault toilets in a lovely wooded environment. We managed to erect the Northern Breeze for the first time and decided as the terrain was flat we would leave Rosy Lee hitched up for a quick getaway in the morning. We had another show and tell session with the group camping next door to us and after a BBQ supper and a few beverages it was time for the sleep sack again. Total Distance 916km. Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Day 10 Sunday May 28th 2011. Shopping day had arrived. Annie had long been promised a return trip to Freeport Maine so after a nice breakfast and a quick site breakdown we were on our way for a short trip to Freeport. If you have never been to Freeport I must say the best shop there is the North Face Outlet shop and as it was Memorial day weekend they had significant additional discounts on top of the already discounted price. We made a leisurely tour of some of the other shops but had what we came for in the bag so decided to stock up on some food essentials. We managed to join the Shaw supermarket discount club which gives some great deals on multi buys and does not cost to register. We also saw another Teardrop but I don't think they spotted us.
Shopping over we made our way up the coast to our final camp site at Acadia National Park Bar Harbour. The route into the camp site on Route 3 was extremely bumpy but on arrival it was a lovely wooded site although depending on which site you got as to whether you could do a full set up. I wanted to get both the Northern Breeze and the side tent up but the layout of the site and the proximity of the fire pit meant that we only erected the Northern Breeze. Just outside the site were some hot showers so we relished in the luxury of these and settled down for a good meal and some chill out time. The original plan was to only stay the one night but I convinced Annie that I was so tired I needed a day off the long Haul. Total Distance 575km. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine.
Day 11 Monday May 29th 2011. Day off, our day consisted of relaxation, we drove into Bar Harbour and had a wander around the shops before taking a leisurely drive around Acadia National park. The park roads themselves are in far better condition than the local roads and the trip around the coast has some fantastic scenery. I would love to come back here and spend some time hiking but we settled for a drive and an accent of Cadillac mountain. The weather was fantastic and the scenery was breathtaking.
We got back to the camp site to a ghost town as most people had left. I had not needed to buy any firewood as there was stacks of wood at all the camp-sites around us. After supper we decided that we would have a wash down clear up then pack the rear tent away as it was dry and hitch up ready for a morning departure. Before we took the Northern Breeze down we played around with some location set-ups relative to the Teardrop so that the next time we arrived on site we would have better knowledge when choosing our site set-up. After watching the sun disappear through the trees and the fire embers die away it was time for our final night of this trip. Total Distance 96km. Maine
Day 12 Tuesday May 30th 2011. The final leg. Again another early morning start its a good job we are both early risers although I could have done with a few lie in's on this trip. Our plan was to cross the border at Saint Stephen and we followed route 9 up the coast after leaving Bar Harbour. We had all of our import paperwork ready and the night before Annie had collated all of our receipts for our duty free allowances. We made the mistake of going to the old border crossing in the town and had to retrace our steps to find the new commercial border crossing. After a small detour around the American side we were told we did not need to inform them that we were exporting a trailer and could proceed to the Canadian Border.
The whole process probably took an hour as we had all of our paperwork in order paid our fees and hit the road home after giving one more tour to the border guard who did our paperwork. I have to admit I was really feeling the stress of all of this driving and so wanted to pull over and put my feet up but we persevered and were soon on the final leg in Nova Scotia I knew when we got home that there were going to be some chores to do as both Rosy Lee and our car were covered in pollen from our last camp-site. We arrived home late afternoon and spent the next couple of hours unpacking washing and locating Rosy Lee in her new home in our garage. Total Distance 758km. Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia.
Overall Statistics (there and back)
Total Distance 7,054 km
2 Provinces
12 States
Nights in Teardrop 6
