We left the North Pole Campground and went back to Syracuse for a couple of weeks before setting out for Acadia National Park in Maine. Adam, Jacqui and Kaden were supposed to be going as well, but unfortunately something arose at Jacqui’s job and they were unable to leave town. It was a fairly grueling drive with heavy traffic, extremely short on ramps on the highways and tons of tolls which added up to about $26! We spent one overnight in a Walmart parking lot, and arrived at the Blackwoods Campground just before check-in time the following day. They did not allow us to check in early, and we had to go back outside the entrance and wait for about an hour. Even though we went back in exactly at check-in time, there was a long line and wait. The campground was quite large and very nice. The sites were close together with some foliage in between, but not enough for privacy. There were clean restrooms with flush toilets and sinks, but no soap or paper towels. The setting was very pretty, and we enjoyed nightly walks around the campground after dinner.
Much of our time was spent in the Jeep exploring the area and there was plenty to see, from beautiful quaint homes in woodsy settings to the rocky shoreline. We drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain a couple of times and thought about trying to get there for a sunrise, but preferred to sleep in a little instead. There are some days of the year when the summit of Cadillac Mountain is the first land in the U.S. to see the sunrise, but this was not at the time we were there.
Following the installation of the solar panels we took a couple of test runs up to Hopkins Prairie, during late winter and early spring. The trailer was situated in partial shade both times and the batteries charged up properly each morning. We also did part of a Jeep trail for a couple of hours on our first visit, and got to see a Sherman’s Fox Squirrel, which is a special treat!
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| Turkey vulture |
With a few shorter trips under our belt, we were ready to take the camper on a longer journey to Syracuse. We made a gas stop in South Carolina, and, still getting used to towing a camper, Ken made the turn around the gas island a little too tight. The camper ever so lightly bumped into the metal guard, and the camper axle snapped!
Let me start by saying that I’m long overdue for a post, so once again I have to fill in some gaps before things are current here. Having said that, I am excited to be back at it, so let’s get going!
For starters, we’ve decided that we’re tired of being wet. Anyone who has done much camping in the rain knows exactly what I’m talking about! So, we decided to get a camper!
Our final morning at Hayden Creek, we packed up and got moving. Okay, so I took a few pictures before leaving, and on the road until the landscape went flat. The ants were happy to see us go, as we had apparently been smothering their nest with our tent. I imagine that, for them, it might have been similar to the movie Independence Day – when the alien spaceships hovered over major cities, causing mass panic and evacuation!
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It looks like a muffin!
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Departing from Dillon, a few hours of driving brought us through beautiful landscapes in the countryside of Colorado, up and down mountain passes and winding alongside rivers.
Well, here I am way beyond the point of ridiculousness… far behind on my blog posts! I hate to even think about it, so I try not to. I thought it was difficult keeping this blog up to date while we were on the road, but it has proven even more challenging at home. Home is where life starts happening all around you again, generating a multitude of demands for your time and attention. There has certainly been no shortage of such things ever since we got back. Add to that my propensity for getting distracted, and this is the result. Sometimes it makes me want to carve out a shelter under a fallen tree on a mountainside somewhere. I could subsist on nuts and berries… take my chances with the bears, you know? Of course, that would be the end of my blog, and I’d have to take up whittling or basket weaving – which wouldn’t be entirely bad. Since I’m not quite to that point, I’ll pick up where I left off on my last post. I have lots of other exciting things to share, too, so let’s do this!
Moving on, we left the Badlands and made a beeline to Colorado, the last remaining “must see” place on our list for this trip. We stayed over one night in a hotel, which had a prairie dog town right next to the parking lot! It was a short drive the next day to Dillon.
We got out of Yellowstone ahead of the storm, passing familiar scenery for a little while before entering new territory.
On the first half of our big adventure, we skipped a few planned stops due to weather and vehicle repairs, and other stops were shortened due to weather as well. Yellowstone was one of those, and a place we wanted to return to. This put us far ahead of our original schedule, and the resulting “surplus” of time prompted our decision to see Yellowstone again on our way south. We went back to the campground near Gardiner which was quite full, but we found a site and set up. The campground host recognized the Jeep and came over to chat for a bit, and let us know where he’d seen a couple of bears, as well as where to get free drinking water – very nice and helpful of him. We finished situating things and headed off for the park. After negotiating the elk-induced traffic jam at Mammoth Hot Springs, we took the road east.
The time had come for us to leave Mt. Rainier and set out for Mt. St. Helens. While finishing packing the Jeep, we were graced with a brief visit from this Clark’s Nutcracker.
