2010 - Oct. 2 Mt. Washington Cog Train - A Fun Day!

We left the campground and caravaned to the train station. We had enough people to fill a rail car, so we had our own private coach. The train travels about six miles per hour and it's about three miles to the top of the mountain. The steepest part of the climb is called Jacob's Ladder, a grade of about 37%. It was fun standing up in the car when on such a steep grade. I don't think you get the same optical illusion from the pictures that you do when you're on the train.

It was 26 degrees with 38mph winds and a 7 degree wind-chill. Cold, cold, cold after leaving mid 50's at the campground. We were on top for about an hour, part of which was spent drinking hot chocolate and eating some hot food in the restaurant. The return trip was more of the same with periods of dense fog offset by beautiful vistas.

An interesting note: The engine is in NO WAY CONNECTED to the passenger car! See the picture of the roller against a pad. The engine is always os the downhill side of the passenger car. It pushes the car up the mountain and simply regulates the speed going down the mountain. If the brakeman in the car should apply the brakes while going down the mountain, the engine would pull away from the car!

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

2010 - Oct. 1 A Rainy Day at Glen Ellis RV Park in Glen, NH

Very little rain last night, but some pretty heavy wind gusts. Got up about 7:00 this morning and had a shower and some breakfast. Got in a bit of visiting before the clouds opened up at about 10:30. The forecast is for 2 - 4 inches of rain today, tapering off tonight. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be clear. That will make tomorrow's cog train trip to the summit of Mt. Washington more enjoyable. Seems like it was foggy and rainy for every guided tour we took in Alaska. It would be nice to have clear weather tomorrow.

Someone drove a stick into the river bed at the water's edge last night. By this morning, the water level had dropped about a foot. We'll see where it is after today's rain. There were bear tracks along the river yesterday, but they're gone now. There are definitely bears in the area. Moose too!

As I mentioned yesterday, the group camping area where we are camped is in a grassy area along the edge of the woods. There are five utility huts spaced out along the woods (see picture). Stored inside the hut are eight long 50 amp cables and a couple of extensions. Each cable plugs into the electrical outlets on the outside of the hut. The other end of the cable is connected to the camper to supply its electrical power. There are water spigots there for a hose connection to each camper. Each hut can supply eight campers. Pretty slick!

So, here it is, 10:55am. Marsha is reading her book and I'm typing this blog entry. If it gets more exciting, I'll let you know.

It's now 7:33pm. We just finished our catered dinner. It rained all day. Did a little visiting; drank a little beer; took a few pictures. The road to the Mt. Washington Cog Railway Station washed out during the rain today, so we have to use some kind of "access road" to get there tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow's pictures will be more interesting.

2010 - Sept. 30 North Kingstown, RI to Glen Ellis RV Park in Glen, NH

Rained all day. Drove 230 miles today. No pictures. Got to the campground about 2:30 and set up between showers. We're camped up against the woods in a grassy area. I'll post some pictures tomorrow with an explanation of how the hook-ups work. Pretty neat for group camping.

The Saco and Ellis rivers converge in the woods about 100 yards from where we're camped. They've had a lot of rain here in the last few days and both rivers are running fast & high. Hope they stay in their banks with more rain forecast for tomorrow.

More later.

2010 - Sept. 28 Ole Bull to Promised Land State Park, PA

When we got up this morning, we learned that Joe & Loretta had gotten lost on the way to Ole Bull State Park. They blamed it on the GPS, but after reviewing maps and discussing their trip, the only thing we could figure out was that the last thirty miles of what should have been a four hour trip took them over three hours!

Not only did they get lost, but they went down a dead end road and jack-knifed the trailer into the rear fender of the car while turning around. That definitely left a mark!

So, we just decided to forget about the recent past and head east. By 4:00pm, we were setting up camp in Promised Land State Park, about 25 miles east of Scranton, PA. We only drove 187 miles today, but that's not bad when the speed limit on most of the roads was 45mph!

For supper, we had turkey burgers and all the trimmings while discussing the day's travels. The weather improved in the afternoon and we were treated to some beautiful Pennsylvania fall colors. Time for bed now, but there's no pitter-patter of rain drops on the roof to lull me to sleep. No matter. It won't take long.

2010 - Sept. 29 Promised Land to North Kingstown, RI WalMart

Pretty uneventful day. Drove thru Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and into Rhode Island. We stopped at a visitor center to find out about camping. We called a few and they were closed for the season, so we asked the GPS where the nearest WalMart was. Twenty minutes later, we pulled into our free campsite. We're about 220 miles from Glen, NH where we'll be for four nights with a group of about 45 Aframes. We should have no trouble making it tomorrow.

This is the first time I've drunk beer in a WalMart parking lot!

2010 - Sept. 27 Girard to Ole Bull State Park & Fairview Camp

We left Jim & Sandy's around 10:30 this morning and stopped by my cousin, Ron Weislogel's house in Fairview, about 4 miles east of Girard. After a short visit with Ron and his wife, Kathy, we stopped by Ken & Georgia Prather's house to show them our camper. They weren't home, so we left a note on their door and headed for Ole Bull State Park.

The weather was lousy, but we took our time on the hilly, curvy roads and arrived at Ole Bull at 5:15pm. After taking a few minutes to unhitch the camper and pop it up, we headed up the mountain to see if I could still find the old hunting camp where I spent so many great times as a kid with my grandfather.

After leaving the campground and traveling about half a mile, we turned onto a Joerg Run Road, the first of three dirt roads on the way to the camp. Things got a little hairy after we turned onto the Twelve Mile Road to travel the last couple of miles to the Fairview Camp. The road was so muddy that sometimes when I turned the steering wheel, the car would keep going straight. That's a bit disconcerting when running off the road could mean a trip down the mountain the hard way! Luckily, there was a solid base under the mud so we didn't sink very far. Some of the hills were so steep that the wheels spun as if on ice, but we made it to the camp without mishap.

The camp has had a complete overhaul since the last time I was there, in 1999. Vinyl siding, beams on pilings to reinforce the floor, new windows, and I'm sure many more improvements that I couldn't see from the outside. We walked around the camp, took some pictures, and headed back down the mountain.

Instead of going back to the camper, we went to Cross Fork, a town of 60 people about six miles south of Ole Bull. Legend has it that this is where Gabby Hayes first performed on stage. I remember the old hotel where he performed, but the people in the bar where we ate dinner said it burned down many years ago.

After dinner, we headed back to Ole Bull expecting to see Joe & Loretta in their reserved campsite next to ours. When we got there, the campsite was unoccupied. We sat around for a while, but the rain on the roof made us sleepy, so we turned in. Marsha heard Joe & Loretta arrive around midnight, but neither of us got up to greet them.

We'll see them in the morning. 



 

2010 - Sept. 26 Stayed at Jim & Sandy's Last night

Well, yesterday was a nice day for a drive, so we went all the way from Mattoon to Girard, PA in one shot. It was a 620 mile drive from home. We arrived at Jim & Sandy's last night about 8:45 their time. We visited for a while and finally hit the sack, in the camper, sometime after midnight.

Today, we went to North East, PA, about thirty miles from Girard, to the annual wine fest. It was a good time, but would have been better if it hadn't drizzled rain all afternoon. However, the rain didn't keep us from tasting some pretty good wine.

Didn't take any pictures.

2010 - Sept. 25 From Home to Mattoon on our Way East

We left home this morning and headed to Mattoon to watch Adi's soccer game before heading east toward Glen, NH. The plan is to leave from Mattoon and camp somewhere between there and Girard, PA where we will spend Sunday night with our old and dear friends, Jim & Sandy Anderson. Monday, we'll make our way to Ole Bull State Park, about a four hour drive from Girard, and meet up with Joe & Loretta Amen from Decatur, IL.

Joe and Loretta are stopping by the Aliner Factory in Mammoth, PA to get some work done on their camper. After they meet us at Ole Bull State Park, we'll continue on to Glen, NH where there will be about 45 Aframe camping units gathering to see the fall colors and take a cog train ride to the summit of Mt. Washington. After the Gathering of Aframes, we and the Amans will go farther east to spend a couple of days in Acadia National Park on Desert Island off the coast of Maine. After we have our fill of Maine lobster, we'll make our way to Nashua, NH to have dinner with my cousin, Anne Elizabeth Frens, whom I haven't seen in many years, then wander toward home, arriving by October tenth.

We'll see how things go.

2010 - Sept. 11 Grayson's Nose and Adi's Soccer Game

Last Saturday, we went to Mattoon to see Adi's soccer game. Grayson got more attention than the soccer game due to his bout with the sidewalk a few days earlier.

2010 - August 15 - Grayson spent the night with us

Our grandson, Grayson, is just over ten months old now. We hadn't seen him since we left for Alaska, so we noticed quite a few changes, physically and developmentally. He crawls and walks while holding on to the furniture. He wasn't doing either the last time we saw him.

Chad, Faith, and Adi went to the Shinedown concert at the state fair, so we got to play with Grayson for the evening. The kids got home from the concert about 11:30, so they spent the night before heading home in the morning. We really enjoyed our time with Grayson.