The first 1/2 of this year was willingly dedicated to family events (Have you seen the pictures of our new, now 4-month old grandson, Wesley?) --,
-- property maintenance, medical care. We are happy to do these things, but it is not van life. But now we're back at it -- road cruising, nomad-ing, van life-ing, just wandering -- not sure what to call it anymore. We are on the road again! Here's Baby Beluga in Maine:
We left Virginia and didn't seriously stop until we passed the gorgeous University of Vermont (UVM) right in the middle of Burlington, VT. Baby parked along the shore of the rapid Winooski River (means 'onion' in the local native language), where we found one of the best little vegan restaurants ever: Pingala -- We've evidently lost some pictures, but this little restaurant used to be a food truck and now just looks like one. It was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives a gazillion years ago. We didn't know that going in, but it earned whatever good reputation that brought it. If you go there, have the crunch wrap -- it is fabulous.
A second lunch crunch at Pingala was tempting, but we opted for a lunch cruise on Lake Champlain. That would be educational and pleasant, right?. And educational it was: Aboard "The Spirit of Ethan Allen" for a couple of hours, we learned about Champlain, the beautiful lake, and what 6th graders in Burlington do on their last day of school. Field Trip! 140 6th graders (that's the actual count, not my usual hyperbole) spread out all the boat decks and 3 couples huddled in the corner of the bottom deck looking for a nice quiet lunch. The wait staff and our food were fantastic The kids had pizza but we were served a delicious full veggie luncheon! The atmosphere was not as bad as a middle school cafeteria. We were just looking more for a fine dining vibe with breezes from the lake atmosphere. We'd recommend this boat ride, but perhaps in a different month.
Then on to the Fryeburg, Maine, Fairgrounds. Yep, we went to a tiny town with a large, clean, fabulously maintained, and completely confusing fairgrounds. We went there for an Escapees (a camping organization we belong to) rally. A fleet of golf carts driven by volunteers was available to keep us from getting too lost or too tired for the next four days. This fellow was directing the parking of 512 different RV rigs. Got us to the right place, first time.
We were just 2 of 1100+ attendees there for a week of free donuts, coffee, events, and seminars about all aspects of road life, tour vendors, fund raisers and so on. You could even weigh your rig and learn to change its tires and find help on the road, and other things we didn't attend but probably should have. We favored seminars about how to drive to nifty locations -- 90 days to Alaska, 62 days through Baja, and so on. There were food trucks, a plant-based pot luck, a chili cookoff, and nightly entertainment with a ton of door prizes. Bill raked in a $100 fuel card and I won a luggage tag. A talent show wrapped it all up: There's evidently some amazing talent on the road -- this fellow could belt out Mack the Knife like he'd written it.
We reunited with some folks we met in Michigan last summer and made new friends here. Here we all are sitting around on a rainy day after the remnants of the chili cook off were cleared away. We don't know the men behind us by name, but we had met them earlier in the week when they were dressed as whales. They are part of an Escapees group sponsoring a trip to kiss whales in Baja this March that we hope to join (but not if we have to dress as whales.)
Around the table, from the left -- Sue & Tony from Ohio, Dick & Melissa from Oregon, and us.
We left Fryeburg on a Friday morning, stopping at a great food coop and a country store with the produce fields next door, and we landed in Sabego Lake State Park in central-ish Maine. We highly recommend it.
It was here that we had lunch with folks we originally met in Florida. We try to meet them whenever our travel paths get close to each other. We love how this lifestyle has given us new friends. We had a great meal with them. -- John made the best three bean salad ever.
We have said many times that the 'con' side of full time travel is losing community. We are beginning to feel that's not true: we not only are welcomed back into communities that we left behind, but we are gaining a road community we never thought we'd have.
Glad to be back out here again....
WOYAYA
140 6th graders 😳!!
ReplyDeleteLove the Escapees experience!
Sheila Galanie