MA to AZ and beyond

[rob cote]

Wednesday, we had a super leisurely day. The big task for the day was to drive all the way to the campground entrance to renew our parking permit for the day. See, originally, we had only booked our campsite for one night. We weren't exactly sure what it'd be like and if we'd want to stay another night or move on to our next deadline this day. But Tuesday we saw how nice the spot was, and how friendly our neighbors were, and that made us want to stick around another day. So, we rebooked the site online, but we had to pay for another parking permit at the toll booth. This took all of 10 minutes, including the drive round trip. We probably could have walked it, but we got such a late start that we probably didn't have enough time to get there on foot by checkout time. Anyways, that's not important.



We circled back to the campsite afterwards and continued our day of relaxation. We spent some time in the hammock. Reading. Doing yoga. I have been using two cheap yoga mats stacked on top of one another for the longest time now. They're super thin so the stacking helps somewhat. But they're also slowly falling apart. And they're getting pretty grimy. And they've always smelled bad. Like a chemical smell, not a body odor smell. So, I shopped for a new one that I'm super excited about. It's sustainably harvested cork and natural rubber and I love the design printed on it. They use water-based inks that are non-toxic too. It's made by Scoria. I found it interesting that the internet gave me Canadian results on all my searches, although I guess it makes sense. It's just weird that the WORLDWIDE web is location-dependent. Right? Anyways, I'm excited for that to arrive.



We talked with our neighbors as they were in and out of their campsite throughout the day. We walked Loki along the shoreline of the lake for a while and checked out all the cabins and yurts and whatnot that the campground has to offer. They're pretty neat. We wondered what they cost to rent. I'll look it up right now, hang on. The yurts are called oTENTik, I think it's a brand name or something? - it's essentially just a cabin made of canvas - that's $128/night. I feel like that's kind of steep. But it's probably CAD which makes it a bit more reasonable, but still too much for us. But if it gets people out in the nature that otherwise wouldn't go, then that's a win. Rustic cabins are $106. They were perhaps a bit smaller, and you had to walk a few hundred feet from the parking lot to get to them, so perhaps that's the basis for the lower price. But, again, it's good to have options so more people can experience it, I think. There were also treehouse sort of things, called Oasis with a little /\ above the O (I don't know how to type that character). Those were also $128/night. They looked to be barely larger than a bed, but the whole upper half was glass. That could be a cool spot to sleep, raised up off the ground like that. The campsite we had was only $27 though, that's way more in our budget. Anyways, I just figured I'd throw some actual numbers in here to make this interesting to someone perhaps, because I feel like this day was boring. That's not to say we didn't enjoy it thoroughly, but we just didn't do a lot that's exciting to write about. You know? This beer was outstanding:



After dinner, though, we moved over to our neighbors' campsite to hang out around their fire. They had invited us, and we welcomed the company. We enjoy our own company very much, but periodic other people is really nice, too. If that makes sense. They had invited all their friends that were around too, so there were about 10 of us around the fire. They were all Nova Scotia natives, and it was a lot of fun chatting with them well into the night. Most of them were lobster fishermen and women - lobster fishers? - so that dominated the conversation. But we also had fun with the various accents around the campsite, and we were given a crash course in Nova Scotia history. We learned that the term Cajun was derived from Acadian by accident; someone had said Acadian, but with the thick French Canadian accent it sounded to my ears like they said Cajun. And they also explained why a lot of Nova Scotians had moved to Louisiana when the English kicked them out. I put two and two together and, well, there you go. Cajuns were at one time exiles from the northeast. They also confirmed for us that Quebecers don't really like anyone from outside Quebec; not just English-speakers.

As the fire died down, we made our way to bed, keeping in mind that we had a schedule to keep in the morning.

 

[rob cote]

Thursday, we got up fairly early, but not super early. Not driving-to-and-hiking-Katahdin early. Somewhere around 7:00am. Most days I'm awake by then, but not necessarily moving straight away. But we had a hard deadline to catch, so we didn't waste any time. To be clear, we weren't in a big hurry, either. We cleaned up and hit the road neither rushing nor dilly-dallying. We thought we'd get a chance to say goodbye once more to our neighbors Gary and Charlotte, but we didn't see them on our way out.

We really liked Kejimkujik National Park. If you guys are in the area, check it out. Keep in mind it's a large campground. So I'd only recommend it if that's what you're looking for. Because there are so many sites, though, there's a lot of opportunity to meet people and talk to strangers. We don't always enjoy that, but it was great here on these couple days. The bathroom buildings were all super clean and well-built; each stall, whether toilet or shower, was completely independent of the others, and had a full-length solid door. There was a ton of room inside each, and they were cleaned daily. There were also large outdoor sinks for washing dishes and whatnot, which was a really nice feature though we didn't use it. They also offer several types of trash receptacles, and they're located everywhere so access is super easy. There's garbage, plus recyclable plastics, paper, and cans, I believe, all separated. There were even separate propane canister receptacles. I'd never seen that before, but I thought it was great to keep them out of the trash stream. There were tons of containers there, too, so it seems like if you give the people simple access to the right way to do something, they generally do the right thing. Anyways, in short, go there, it's really a nice place.

Then, we rolled out. We went to Digby. If you're following along on the map, you probably see where this is going. We had a ferry at 11:00am. We headed to the port, but first stopped for diesel. The friends we'd made last night recommended to fuel up before crossing as fuel was much more expensive in New Brunswick than Nova Scotia. Thanks for the tip, guys. With a full tank, we cruised through the tiny town of Digby and pulled into the port parking lot. We'd be on the lower of two parking decks on the ship, because of our high roof. If I remember correctly, the upper deck height limit is 7ft. I don't know what the actual height limit is on the lower deck, but there was a tractor trailer aka semi-truck aka 18-wheeler aka big rig - what do you guys call these where you're from? - so it must have been at least around 14 feet, but it looked probably closer to 20 at a glance. You shouldn't have any issues unless you're super-oversized. We had a ton of free time to kill, so we made breakfast. Then, we made friends.



There was a van parked next to us, a Banff made by Carado, and the occupants struck up a conversation with us while we waited. We were all outside our vans and so we offered a tour of our van to them. They had bought their RV because they weren't sure if they'd enjoy living in one and didn't necessarily have all the skills or time to build their own. But they were still really interested in ours, and perhaps someday building their own. It's important to know your boundaries, but I always encourage pushing them just a tad. If you think you can possibly build one, you can. It's certainly a mountain of work, but each individual step is pretty easy on its own. We shared a lot of travel stories back and forth, and they were super nice, although we never caught their names. Maybe we can meet again further down the river, who knows. Eventually, we were recalled to our respective vehicles, and began loading onto the Fundy Rose.



Mandy drove us unto the boat, and we were the very first vehicle on! Front row, center, right in front of the off-ramp. We thought that was pretty neat, since we would absolutely be the first to unload. We gathered our essentials and nothing else and were forced to leave Loki in the van alone. We felt a bit sad about this part, but that's the rules. The other option is to put him in a kennel that they have on board, but he would have hated that. We pulled down the big bed for him and gave him a peanut butter filled Kong ball that had been frozen for the occasion. It keeps him occupied longer if it's frozen. We hoped that he'd be fine, but there's no way to know. We headed upstairs and watched the rest of the cars drive on. There was no change made to the on ramp to the boat, so the transition to the upper garage floor must happen somewhere inside the first-floor garage. I didn't notice any ramps, but I'm sure I just missed them. There was so much to pay attention to as we drove in. Then we basically paced the decks for the whole ride. It took about two and a half hours to get to St. John, New Brunswick. It was actually cheaper as well as faster to ride the ferry rather than drive around, when we factored in the fuel savings. We hung out outside, but the breeze got chilly after a time. We went inside, but it was kind of boring after a while. So, we went back outside and repeated the process.

Eventually, we were told to return to our vehicles as we approached the destination. Loki seemed to be fine. He was chilling in his bed. Nothing had been damaged in the van that we noticed, and he seemed his normal self. What happened in the middle part, who is to say? We just hope for the best. We watched the off-ramp fold down in front of us and we waited for the signal to go. Exiting was uneventful, and we immediately got onto the highway. We cruised the hour-ish ride to the border. Once there, the agent said she had to enter the van. We held onto Loki per her request, although he didn't really seem interested in the agent. He watched but didn't try to pull towards them. She found a carton of eggs we'd purchased and had to confiscate them due to a rise in salmonella. Oh well. Other than that, the checkpoint was a breeze. The whole thing only took a few minutes, just like last time. Once we were back stateside, we switched the dash back to miles and gallons, and cruised to China.



China, Maine. Not China as in Made-in. Mandy's aunt lives there on China Lake. What an awesome spot! She gave us a tour of her place, and then we hopped in her car to go to dinner. We'd planned to cook, but she insisted on taking us out. We went to Cushnoc Brewing in Augusta. They have wood-fired pizzas there that are wicked good. Mandy and I shared one with sausage, caramelized onion and honey. It was delicious. Their beers were quite good, too. We each tried one. Something about pizza just goes so well with beer. Probably carbs. I like carbs with my carbs, I guess.

She gave us an outside, drive-by tour of the state hospital on the way home. She used to work there, so she had a lot of inside information that was really interesting to hear. I wondered aloud why "state hospital" has come to mean mental health facility. I understand that it's state-run, but are there state-run hospitals that are not mental health facilities, but just regular medical hospitals? Are there private mental health institutions that compete with the "state hospitals"? So many questions. Not as many answers, but that's okay. A lot of the time they're just rhetorical. If I come across an answer, cool, if not, that's okay.

We visited with Mandy's aunt a while when we got back to her house, and we lounged on the couches. Then, we went to sleep. It had been a long driving day.

 

[rob cote]

Friday, we woke up and walked Loki around the neighborhood a bit. Afterwards, we went inside, and Cheryl made us breakfast sandwiches. We chatted with her a bit before she had to begin working (from home). She was adamant that we leave Loki inside the house with her while we went to play in the lake. It didn't matter that he was going to bark at her, which he did. We heard. She said only twice, though, before laying down. We took out a pair of stand-up paddleboards and cruised around the lake for a while. Neither of us had tried it before, but it was a good time. It's the closest I've ever been to just standing on water. It's a neat experience. Once out in the middle of the lake, I dove into the water. This launched the paddleboard at Mandy, but she was fine thankfully. Sorry!! We cruised back to her aunt's afterwards. I won. She "wasn't racing". Sure.

We washed off in the shower inside, and said our goodbyes then piled into the van to take a ride. We cruised over to Conway, NH via a route I've never taken. Along the way, I saw diesel for $4.85/gal so I filled up, even though we had about half a tank. That's the cheapest we had seen in weeks. Perhaps months. In Conway, we stopped at REI. When we were hiking Katahdin, the toe box of my Salomon sneakers delaminated. Salomon said the first year of warranty claims is handled through REI. They were purchased only in March, so we popped in there to return them. Full refund! So, I shopped for something different. If you haven't been to REI, you should go. I don't know what the fundamental difference is, but for whatever reason, their staff are more knowledgeable about the products they sell than any other retail store I've ever been to. Something about it being a co-op, probably, but I don't really get it. Anyways, I let a staff member guide me to a few different shoes, and I picked out the best ones. We had similar hiking footwear preferences and were working on the same list of mountains - the NH 48 (48 peaks in NH are taller than 4000ft) - and she was really interested in our recent experience on Katahdin. It was how I wish shopping normally was. But anyways, you guys don't care about that.

We continued on our journey after that. We drove to Rumney, NH to a little private campground where my family was already set up. We were the last to arrive, per usual. They had two sites, and we picked the flattest parking spot between the two and hopped out. The campground is creatively called Baker River Campground, as it's situated adjacent to the Baker River. It was pretty shallow for the weekend, although there were a couple deep spots within easy walking distance up and downstream. We spent most of the weekend relaxing between the campsite and the river. We didn't do a whole lot to write about, but it was nice and easy. My dad brought his flat-top grill and my sister brought a turkey fryer, so Saturday night we had a feast of a dinner. It was basically like Thanksgiving; we had 2 small turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing, grilled carrots and sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce. The whole thing. It was all delicious, and we all agreed it was one of the best camp meals any of us had ever had. The cleanup took a while, but it was worth it.



Sunday morning, we all packed up to leave by 11am checkout. Mandy and I had the easiest packing up, I think. The most we had to do was fold our chairs and pick up our bathing suits which were hung outside to dry. We took the time to fill our water tanks while we were otherwise just standing around watching. We had an appointment in Salem, NH at 1:00pm to make, but we had to pick up a car along the way. My dad had dropped off his car for service, it was on our route, so Mandy offered to pick it up on the way. We took both cars to Salem for cell phone repair.

My phone stopped working just before we hiked Katahdin, and I believe it just needs a new screen. It's kind of a weird case; if the screen is plugged in, it doesn't work, but it gets dangerously hot. When I noticed it, I took the phone apart to unplug the screen because I was legitimately worried the battery might catch fire. It was honestly too hot to hold the phone for more than a second or two. Surely hot enough to cause burns. In the process of removing the screen, I cracked it. It was so hot; all it took was to grab it with my fingernails and pull. The glue separated with ease. But I pulled slightly too hard when it was halfway off, and it cracked the screen. I felt like this was an important distinction, because the warranty covers screen malfunctions, but doesn't cover screen cracks. I wanted to ensure it was understood that the screen malfunctioned first, and I was just trying to get it to a safe state and that's what caused the crack. Once the screen was unplugged from the motherboard, everything cooled off.



So, I explained all that to the repair facility. They typed it into the case notes and sent it off to Google. It was immediately rejected. A Pixel 6 Pro replacement screen was nearly $300. I saw them online for around $180, and I'm confident I can do it myself now that I've already got the screen off. The repair tech suggested calling Google to verify anyone had actually read the notes and it wasn't just automatically rejected because he had clicked the screen cracked box. We went to Nashua to drop off my dad's car, and I called Google. I explained the situation, again, and was put on hold. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll explain what you just told me, so you don't have to retell the story." So, after about 45 minutes on hold, I found myself retelling the story, again, to another service person. Classic. Anyways, the whole phone call was nearly two hours long, but they are sending a full replacement phone. I think. That's what they said although I haven't gotten any sort of confirmation in writing. No tracking numbers. We'll see.

After that, I went in the pool because it was freaking hot outside and my ear was on fire from having the phone pressed to it for so long. I hate talking on the phone, honestly. It was basically torture. That's exaggeration, but still, it wasn't pleasant. We made some nachos for dinner using mostly leftovers from camping, and shared them with my brother, James. We hung out for a while, but their house is right on a small brook, so the mosquitoes have a literal army that comes out around dusk. So, we went inside the van rather than get absolutely annihilated. Then, we went to sleep.

 

[rob cote]

Monday morning, we woke up in my dad's yard next to the brook. We stole a couple showers inside their house then walked Loki around the neighborhood. We circled back and hung out in the yard and worked on editing video for a while. My brother Braden hung out with us for a bit, and we all decided to go for a longer walk with Loki. We set off to walk to Pressed Cafe to grab a coffee. It was about 40 minutes each way, and it was insanely humid outside. So, we were all sweating by the time we got there. It had been threatening to rain pretty much all day, but never actually did, so the moisture just hung in the air, never falling out. I was the only one who got a coffee of the 3 of us, and then we began walking back. The walk back was much easier because the steep side of the hill was the downhill section this time.

When we got back to the van, we said bye to my brothers and hopped in the van. We went to my mom's house from there, to utilize her air conditioning. It wasn't terribly hot outside, but the humidity was killer. We also started preparing dinner, which we'd arranged to cook for her. Mandy did most of the work while I just hung out with Loki. She made us baked ziti with sausage, inside the house rather than in the van's kitchen. Once my mom got home from work, we shared a delicious meal together. After we cleaned up, we played a few rounds of Scrabble together and regaled her with stories of our recent excursion to Nova Scotia.

As the night wore on, we moved the van onto a flat piece of the yard and moved ourselves inside to wind down before bed. I typed a bit for you guys and then we went to sleep.

Tuesday, we got up and had a slow morning. I typed a bit again. Then, we tackled some chores. While we had access to free laundry, Mandy washed all our laundry including the bedding. I pulled the composting toilet out of the van to empty it and give it a thorough cleaning and disinfecting inside and out. It obviously gets dirty inside, but on the outside, it's less noticeable. Until I cleaned it. Now I'm like wow that was filthy before. I also cleaned the shower underneath and behind the toilet before putting it back in. Mandy vacuumed the whole floor. Then, she went shoe shopping. She has some old Chaco flops that she loves, they're worn pretty much every day. And it's starting to show. Honestly, it started showing a year ago. But they're discontinued. So, she's trying to find a replacement, but it's hard. She struck out at two stores while Loki and I waited patiently outside.





Then, it was time to head to Massachusetts. We went to Ipswich, our old stomping grounds. Actually, we never did much stomping there. But that's the phrase people use for whatever reason. We went to True North Ales to visit with some former coworkers of hers. Current friends of ours. We had a beer outside in the sun and chatted a while before everyone had to go back to their lives. We tried to figure out what to do from there, and so reached out to some other friends in the area. No one was available, so we went to Rusty Can in Byfield, MA for some delicious BBQ. We highly recommend these two locations if you enjoy good beer and/or good BBQ and are in the area. Rusty Can always delivers. They don't actually deliver, though. You have to go there to pick up your food. But you know what I mean. From there, we couldn't decide where to park for the night, so we drove back to Nashua, NH to park at my sisters for the night, since we wanted to receive a package there in the morning. We hung out in their backyard for a little bit, but not very long, before going to bed in the driveway.

 

[rob cote]

So, Tuesday night we made the unnecessary push back to Nashua to sleep, mainly because I wanted to pick up a package that had been delivered late. We woke up Wednesday and made our morning coffees and took Loki for a stroll. We left my sister's yard and walked around the neighborhood taking a roundabout-ish way to my mom's house. That's where my new yoga mat was delivered. I got it from Scoria, which is a Canadian company. It's made of sustainably harvested cork and natural rubber. I LOVE it. I found it when we were in Nova Scotia because I'd finally had enough of the really cheap, really old ones I'd been using. They were so thin and worn that I stacked two together. Which made them impossible to roll up. Anyways, it was interesting that when I searched for a replacement in Canada, I got primarily Canadian results. I guess it makes sense, but it's still strange. But anyways, if you guys don't do yoga, start. If you need a new mat, I'd recommend it for sure. Their designs are awesome, too. We walked back to the van and unceremoniously threw away the old mats and stowed the new one. It's so much easier to fit in the same space!

A small issue we've had since the invention of this van build is closing the rear doors from inside. Because the pull handle is obscured by the bench. The one with the tire carrier is pretty simple; we just grab the door edge and start it swinging inward and its own weight pretty much closes it every time. If not, it's simple enough to grab the door edge and pull. The passenger's side door is kind of tricky, though. We usually pull on the edge of the door fast enough for it to close on its own, but not so fast that we can't get our hand out of the gap at the last instant without being crushed. It's mildly terrifying each time. So, I cut a strap handle off a tool bag I have had forever and don't really use. It's mostly just for storage, but it doesn't ever move. I used a couple hefty rivets and installed it near the window. It works amazingly well. Closing the doors from inside is so much easier now! I should have done this forever ago.



We had plans to see friends in Salem, MA Wednesday night, so we headed that way a bit early. Along the way, Mandy went to an appointment to make her hair purple. It looks sick. We grabbed some groceries, then headed to the beach in Beverly, MA. I used to live in Beverly, so we know all the neat spots. Mandy tried on a bunch of dresses she had ordered to see how they looked with new hair. We picked a winner and walked around with Loki for a while, killing time until our friends were off work. We met up with Chris in Beverly and carpooled with him across the bridge to Salem, to Nick and Melissa's house. We spent the night on their gorgeous patio eating a variety of foods expertly grilled by Nick and catching up with each other. As the night wound down, Chris brought us back to our van and we drove to Dane Street Beach to park for the night.



We love this spot because when we wake up in the morning, we can watch the sun rising over the ocean. Plus, it's free! And before 8:00am, Loki can go on the beach with us. When we got up Thursday, we took full advantage. Mandy reached out to some former coworkers while we were just hanging out, and they stopped by on their morning walk. We joined them and continued the walk along with them. Loki was super cooperative; we're guessing that's because there were other people than just us. Apparently, we're too boring for him or something. Maybe it's like not wanting to go in public with your parents or whatever. Kids these days.

After the walk, we lounged in the grassy park area for a while just relaxing and enjoying the weather. The signs indicate that the park is off-limits to dogs as well as the beach after 8:00am, but there were other dogs around and no one said anything to us other than the typical "Your dog is so handsome!" or whatnot. So, we waited there for another of Mandy's old coworkers to join us. We chatted a while with Donna just sitting in the grass. It was really nice to just have some 1-on-1 time after so much of trying to cram in all of our friends together.

Being on the coast got us thinking again about boatlife. After Donna left us, we talked about that for a while. What kind of boat would we want, what sort of training is required, what does equipment cost, approximately. Things like that. It's not anything that we can achieve any time soon. Nor do we want to, yet. I mean, we DO want to, but we're still really enjoying being in a van. Being in a boat will be a very different lifestyle. But we're interested in trying it out. I'd love to sail to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Greenland?, to Iceland, to UK, and explore around Europe by boat. I don't know if that's a possibility, but it could be awesome. Someday. There's definitely a lot of research still to do.

Anyway, we had to be on Cape Cod by Saturday afternoon, and it was Thursday afternoon. We decided that our best course of action was to make the drive late Thursday. If any of you are in the area, you know the struggle. It can take up to twice as long to make the drive to the cape if you attempt it at the wrong time of day. Pretty much all of Friday is out of the question. Early Saturday could be a good time to do it, but we wanted to get there earlier than that. But first, we went to Haverhill, MA, which I know is the wrong direction. My old coworker lives there, so when he got out of work, we met up with him to attempt an alignment on the van. I forget if I wrote it here or not, but I suspect the passenger's front camber is very positive, because of the wear on the tire we've been getting.

Andrew has alignment plates which work in conjunction with a digital angle gauge and tape measures to get a reasonably accurate measure of camber and toe. I don't know what you're supposed to do about caster, but I don't think it's adjustable on this van anyways, and I don't really care about it as much as the other two. We struggled to get an accurate zero reading because his ground was not perfectly flat. So, I'm not sure about the rest of the work we did, but it seemed like the camber was about 1 degree positive according to our most-trustworthy measurement of several attempts. We loosened the camber bolts and drove the top of the wheel in with a dead blow until it had moved 1 degree. We tightened everything down and called it good.

From there, we drove to the cape. It was around 8:00pm and the roads were wide open. It was perfect. We cruised through Boston which is actually lovely if there's no traffic. Which is to say it generally sucks. But if you go at night when there's no sports things happening, it's pretty cool. Along the way, I noticed that the steering wheel was slightly to the left, although the van tracks straight. I began to think about the suspension dynamics, and I realized we probably changed the toe by changing the camber. I didn't think about it while we were doing the work, so we didn't check toe after the fact. Oh well, that's why I'm not a professional. We'll get it done by an expert instead. It was pretty challenging, and I don't feel like doing it again. But we made it to our destination around 10:30pm and crashed. We stayed in the parking lot of the wedding reception venue, which the bride and groom (my cousin and his now-wife) told us would be fine. It was.

 

[rob cote]

Friday, we left as soon as we got up, pretty much. We found a dog park nearby and took Loki for a swim. There were some trails there, but they're poorly maintained, so we had walked all of them that were passable in about 10 or 15 minutes. It was a little disappointing, but Loki really seemed to enjoy the swim, so it wasn't a waste. When we got back to the van, we went to Cape Pups dog daycare. We were planning to leave him Saturday so we could enjoy the wedding together and not have to do it in shifts. But first, they wanted to meet him for a couple hours to see how he interacted with other dogs. So, we dropped him off and then went to get lunch.





We don't often get to go out without dog anymore, so we went to a restaurant we could sit inside and eat. We went to Barry Byrnes and got a sandwich each. They were pretty decent, but nothing crazy. Then, we went back to Cape Pups. Well, not exactly. We hadn't been gone two hours yet. So, we popped into Cape Cod Brewing, which is in the same parking lot. To kill some time. We each got a beer and were thoroughly impressed. We'd been here years ago, I'm not even sure how many. At that time, it was okay. There was not much going on besides brewing. And the beers we had were not remarkable. But this time, there was a bunch of outdoor seating, there was a food truck, they have wines and mixed drinks I believe, and a whole store of all kinds of merchandise. They've definitely been improving on all fronts since our last visit. So that was pretty cool.



After a beer each, we went to pick up Loki. He was super excited to leave. We were told he had no issues, he just kept to himself mainly and sniffed the whole area. Great, we'll see you tomorrow. We had some time to kill before any other wedding guests would arrive to the area, so we watched an episode of Breaking Bad in the parking lot. Outside the van. It was pretty hot outside, and even hotter inside. So, we sat in the front of the van out of the way and setup the tablet in the driver's footwell step thing.

When some family arrived and checked into their accommodations ahead of the wedding, we met up with them there. We spent the night hanging out in the backyard of the house they'd rented. We skipped dinner since we were both still full from lunch, and eventually we went to sleep in the van in the driveway.

 

[rob cote]

Saturday morning, we took showers using the outdoor shower attached to the rented house. So nice! When we ever have a house again, we'll definitely have an outdoor shower as well. We all decided to go check out downtown Hyannis, so we walked around Main Street a while. We didn't really go into any shops because of the dog, but Mandy popped into one briefly to get a card for the wedding. Talk about last minute!

On our way back to the Airbnb house we dropped off Loki at Cape Pups, then hung out doing very little most of the day. I practiced some yoga on my new mat. Eventually, we started putting on our fancy clothes. Not really. It was a wedding on a beach, so it was fairly casual dress code. After that, we went to the Dennis Inn to catch a trolley to the beach for the ceremony. It was scalding hot this day, so we roasted on the beach while we waited for the wedding party to arrive. Once everyone was in position, the whole thing was over in under ten minutes. We all scurried back to the trolley to get back to the inn to party.



I rinsed off quickly in our shower since it was right there in the parking lot. The water wasn't super cold, but it was cooler than the air and so it refreshed me anyways. Well worth the minimum of effort to hop in there. We each had a drink to celebrate, but that's all I had. I'm trying to avoid alcohol lately and feeling much better overall for it. It's difficult to grasp, or accurately explain. But I think it's good for me. It's just extremely difficult to not love a tasty beer. But anyway, we had dinner on the front lawn of the inn, and it was lovely once the sun got below the treetops. The weather was much more tolerable at that point. Eventually during the course of the reception, word got out, somehow, that the van belonged to us. Someone was very curious to see the inside of it, so we offered a tour. We happily answered a long list of great questions and in so doing attracted another handful or so more people. So, we ended up giving tours for quite a while and talking all about the build. It was a lot of fun. We spent a while longer enjoying the reception, and when we were getting tired, we stepped into the parking lot to sleep.

We got up Sunday morning, poured our coffees and hit the road. It was time to pick up Loki! They opened at 7:00am and we were there waiting. He was SO EXCITED when they let him out. Every other dog in the place was barking so we couldn't really converse with the staff member to find out if there were any issues or concerns. We thanked them, paid, and left. We got on the road and headed back to Nashua, to my sister's house.



My BIL has a 50cc scooter that he uses to get to and from work when the weather's good. Well, it doesn't quite have enough power, so he had ordered a whole mountain of parts to fix that. While we were at the wedding, we schemed to install everything Sunday. So, we got there early and waited for them. We made breakfast and I got my tools out. Once they got home and settled into the house, Nate and I tore into the scooter. We thrashed on it for the day, and by midafternoon, we fired up a brand new 100cc scooter with a new exhaust, CVT, and cooling fan. The only thing we didn't replace was the carb and intake, because the one that was ordered wouldn't work without heavy modifications. We deemed it not worth it, so he's going to order something different that should bolt on. But anyways, it fired up and instantly sounded ten times better. He took it for the maiden voyage and was stunned at the improvement. I never rode it before the modifications, but riding it afterwards was enjoyable. It wasn't crazy fast by any means, but it was certainly fast enough to scoot around town. He said the top speed is about 10mph faster now, and that he can make it up hills at the speed limit rather than crawling up at about 10mph which is just unsafe.

After all that work was done, I was feeling pretty spent. We brought my brother Braden home - who had come by during the scooter work to help us out - to our dad's house, and we parked there for the night. We hung out outside for a bit, but since he's on a brook, as soon as the sun goes down the mosquitoes come out and it's just not enjoyable to stay outside at that point. They'll eat you whole, I'm pretty sure. It's fine, because I was so ready to lay down anyways, I welcomed it.

 

[rob cote]

Monday, my dad took off work to...work. That's just how he rolls. We got up and took Loki for a spin down the street and when we came back, he was already outside. We went over the plan and soon got to work on his house. First, we cut and screwed down a couple deck boards to replace some old ones that were getting pretty splintery. Once we were fully awake and the blood was flowing, we hopped up on the roof to install a vent fan in his attic. I think he's only got a couple window-mount air conditioner units in the whole place. It's generally not awful, but on the hottest days, it gets pretty uncomfortable on the top floor. With Braden's help, it only took us a couple hours to strip the siding, cut the hole, frame it, install the fan, and reinstall the siding. There were a couple pieces of siding that were rotted, so it's not completely resided, but there wasn't enough material on hand to finish it off. It just needs a couple two-foot-long pieces thrown up.

After that, we got lunch at the Garden. Officially, it's Nashua Garden, I think. Or The Nashua Garden? I dunno, everyone just calls it "the garden". They just make sandwiches, but they're wicked good sandwiches. If you're ever in the area and you have a hankering for a sandwich, check 'em out. Also, they're super sports centric. All the TVs are always on a game, the ENTIRE walls are ALL sports memorabilia. The building is like a thousand years old (not really), so the floors are all creaky and everything. It's a whole vibe. Anyways, we like it there. It's cheap and quick, but really good. What Subway wishes it was, but could never be.

We went back to my dad's place and checked a few more things off his to-do list. Mainly cleaning up the deck and rearranging things and crossing stuff off that he'd already done but hadn't yet been crossed off. That's always a bonus. He's hosting his wife's birthday party in a couple weeks, which we'll be at. So, it's mainly preparations for that, you know? Anyway. Braden and I tinkered with his car a bit. It's a Jetta, and I kind of cut my teeth in cars playing with VWs, so I investigated some of the issues and explained to him what he needs to fix things. We tried to get the radio working, but didn't have any luck, unfortunately. While the wiring harness looks well-spliced, it had some weirdness in it that I wasn't familiar with, so I was confused and gave up. We hung out on the picnic table in the yard until the sun went down and the mosquitoes came out again, and then we moved into the van to stay in the yard again.

Tuesday Mandy had an appointment to donate blood in the morning. We dropped off Loki at my mom's house for a bit, so I could drop her off for the donation and run some errands. As soon as I got onto the road again, she called me because their computers were not working, and they could accept no donations. So, I circled back, and we ran errands together.



Once we got back to Loki, we went for a walk together. I saw the poster above for a really cool program, so I snagged a picture. People can donate their own home-grown vegetables to people that need food. I think that's great. We walked a whole bunch of streets that we used to cruise last year, and I think Loki really enjoyed the familiarity. He was totally down to walk for quite a while, so we did. When we got back again, we did some projects. Mandy did some housekeeping ones, and I did some modification-type ones. We had picked up a utensil organizer that's close to the drawer dimensions, but not quite. I cut that down to fit snugly in the drawer and cleaned up the cuts, so it looks halfway decent. Then, I figured out an arrangement for all the utensils. I think this will be much better in the long run. There was something else, too, but we're both drawing a total blank on what it was. Anyways, it wasn't anything major, that's for dang sure. But it was some minor improvement. Not important.



When my mom got home from work, we spent the night installing a security system around her house. She helped, of course. Actually, the bulk of what I did was to unbox the equipment, and then stick items in places where she dictated. She had to handle all the app setup which seems to be the bulk of the work. It took a few hours, all in. Although, we stopped for a delicious dinner of steak bomb wraps that Mandy made on the grill. Except the steak was chicken thighs. They were so freakin' good! Once we had the whole security system up and running and she was satisfied with all that work, we moved into the van to lay down. We'd had some pretty full days of activity and we were spent. It was nice to just chill inside together for the little remainder of the night.

 

[rob cote]

Wednesday I was actually pretty stoked for. I had arranged with my buddy Andrew who helped us a bunch throughout the build with his welding services to head over to his place while he was at work to bang out a little project. I donated my drill press and my press brake to his shop for safekeeping while we're houseless. He'll probably just end up keeping them indefinitely, who knows? It's fine because I can use them when I need to, so that's what I did. Once we were all up and ready, we headed to Haverhill, MA and got to work.

Remember in Arizona we received a portable air compressor? Well, it was finally time to make it unportable. Or at least, start. I haven't done any fabrication work in months, and I frankly miss it. Perhaps that's a sign that I should do it professionally. So, while it was a bunch of work, it was really enjoyable. Mandy and Loki posted up in a shady patch of the driveway and she worked on job hunting. He worked on sleeping. I laid out all my tools and dug some cardboard out of the recycling bin and got to work making a template.



Hang on, let me back up a second. If you guys are interested in onboard air, there's a bracket for ARB compressors that makes this whole thing a bolt-in type deal. Unfortunately for us, it installs the compressor exactly where our furnace is. So that's a no-go here.

However, there's a ton of space above the ECU, on the driver's side inner fender. So that's where I decided to put our air compressor. Once I got the cardboard template pretty close, I marked it for where I needed to add material I mistakenly cut off. I transferred this to a second template, just to be sure. I test fit that, and everything looked groovy, so I transferred it to 1/8" steel. Cut it, bent it, drilled it, then test fit it.



I plopped the compressor on there to mark the holes for mounting that. Mandy was instrumental here for holding the hood each time I installed and removed the bracket after this point. I'm using the hood hinge bolts to hang the bracket since that whole area is super beefy and the bolts have plenty of excess length. But that's not all. After I got the upper portion of the compressor mount made up, I was able to measure down to a shock mounting bolt that is part of the Van Compass auxiliary front shock hardware. This bolt comes up from the bottom with a nut on top. I designed a leg that will sit down on top of that nut and utilize the bolt's excess length to get sandwiched between another nut over top of it. Hopefully that makes sense.

Initially, I thought I'd just weld the upper bracket and the support leg together, but then I realized I wouldn't physically be able to install the dang thing. So, I had to weld in a triangular flange at the top of the leg which will allow me to bolt the two pieces together. I'll install the support leg, then the compressor mount bracket, bolt them together, then install the compressor onto it. Once I got to that point though, I was ready to call it a day. I needed hardware that I didn't have on hand to go any further anyways, so it seemed a natural stopping point.





I took a shower in the van, and we decided to head to the White Mountains. It's good I stopped when I did, because heading north much later than that would have been a recipe for traffic. As it was early afternoon when we got onto the highway, it was smooth sailing all the way up. We had to drive past the exit for Tripoli Rd. because it was being paved. We hit a detour from Lincoln back south, but I missed a couple turns so it took some extra time. No big deal. We finally got to Russell Pond Campground and took one of the last two sites available. We both assumed since it was the middle of the week, with no nearby holidays or anything, it would have been half-full or better. It was nearly at capacity!



We were thankful to have a beautiful site though. This is a special campground to us. Not for any particular reason, really. We just went here a few times early in our relationship and it's always been really great times. This was no different. We had a really relaxing evening; I stretched out my back on the yoga mat, Mandy made us a delicious veggie pasta and pork chop dinner, and then we walked down to the pond with Loki to watch the sun set. Afterwards, we walked back home in the dark and cleaned up then laid down in bed.

 

[rob cote]

Thursday. We got up and decided to check out Rodgers in Lincoln after a morning coffee walk around the campground with Loki. They usually mark winter gear down pretty heavily during the summer to get rid of it before the current year's inventory arrives. That's how I got my ski setup for about half price a few years back. I didn't really need any winter gear, but it's free to look. As we were getting out of the van and heading towards the tent sale, someone T-boned another car right on the main road, not 100 feet away from us. It seemed everyone was okay, but that added a little spice to the morning. I ducked into the tent as there was nothing I could do to help. I ended up finding a sweet pair of mittens. Or glittens? I'm not really sure if they qualify or not.



From there, we decided to head to Vermont for a while. It was admittedly somewhat driven by our plans for a future video, although we do really enjoy a lot of the state. We thought we could shoot a sort of visitor's guide kind of video; here's some things we really like to do, and here's us trying some things we've never done. Anyway, we'll see how that turns out, but that's why we headed to Allis State Park. We stopped at a park in a random town along the way so we could all get out for a few. Loki scratched his back.



One cool feature in Allis State Park is a decommissioned fire tower that remains open. After we checked in, we learned about that, so we parked on our site and walked across the park to check it out. It's in the day use area, so you don't have to stay overnight to see the views from the top. It's 360-degree mountain views, which is awesome. Some of them are in NH. I checked out all the ones I've hiked and skied that are visible from there. A lot of the presidentials in New Hampshire are visible if you've got a clear day. It wasn't quite clear enough while I was up there to see very far. The whole region was intermittently cloudy. But the clouds add some drama to it, so it wasn't a terrible view.





There was rain coming, so we climbed down - we had to climb up and down separately so Loki wouldn't be left alone on the ground floor, because he refused to climb the grate stair treads - and went back to the van for dinner. I tried to make some more progress on the air compressor mount while Mandy cooked, but as soon as I got all my tools out, it started to drizzle. I packed everything back away just so the rain could stop. Isn't that always the way? We decided to play it safe, though, and just ate dinner at the picnic table instead of taking out our chairs or any other equipment that we'd need to quickly stow in case of rain. Of course, that meant it didn't rain at all, but you know the opposite would have been true had we tried to do anything productive. Once we moved inside to lay down in bed, thunder rolled in from afar. Then we saw lightning, and the storm got closer and closer. Eventually, rain did come, though we were well tired by the time the first real rains started to hit the roof. The soft patter serenaded us to sleep.

 

[rob cote]

Friday morning the weather was pretty clear, so I was determined to make a little more progress on installing the air compressor bracket pieces. I wanted to at least get them both in and bolted together. I hadn't had them both installed together yet, so I hadn't made the bolt holes that would secure the two pieces to each other. So, with Mandy's help holding the hood, I did that. I wasn't able to get the hood hinge bracket exactly where it was originally, so I think I need to make some minor tweaks to those bolt holes in my bracket. Just opening them up a tad should resolve that. I laid out where the bracket and the support leg met which was a little tricky because I had to do it blindly, but I got it done. I bolted the two pieces together, and we still had some time before checkout, so I went ahead and installed the compressor to the bracket as well. That freed up the space in the storage drawer out back, finally, which is awesome. I'll need to make some minor adjustments to the bracket, like removing some material where it's not needed and painting it, obviously, so it'll all be coming back out again anyways. But at least we can put some miles on it to make sure there are no other issues with it that would need fixing. Overall, it seems it will be a perfect solution. I'll get around to putting it on the build thread also, in case anyone needs more technical info about it.

We took a spin around the campground with Loki before hitting the road just after checkout. No one told us we'd overstayed our welcome, yet. But we were only about 10 minutes late evacuating the site. From there, we drove to Hill Farmstead Brewery. We went there once before, a few years ago, on a recommendation from a friend who we were attending Vermont Overland Rally with. Also known as Vermont Overland Birdwatching Safari, I'm not sure the event still exists. It was put together for a handful of years by a fantastic dude, Pete, who has since moved cross-country. It might have got passed on to another individual to manage, but we haven't attended since. Anyways, that's beside the point I set out to make. Brendan recommended we spend one of our days at the event a few years ago driving off-roads to Hill Farm, so we did. We figured since we'd be driving somewhat by it, why not go again? So, we popped in for a beer. It's very dog-friendly, which we already knew from last time, and which is a big bonus. The beers here, while good, are incredibly expensive. I can't necessarily say they're worth it, at four times the cost of comparable beverages elsewhere, in our opinions. Maybe my palate is just not refined enough, who knows. We savored every sip and enjoyed the beautiful views. But Loki wasn't content, at all, so we did all of our enjoying quickly. Then we hit the road.



We drove to a Harvest Host called Happy Hill Maple Farm. It's in Lyndon, VT. We'd entered the Northeast Kingdom. This is an unofficial space, coined in 1949 by the former governor. It's catchy, so the term stuck. There's no actual king. I don't even think there's a clear boundary. It's generally accepted as the northeast region of Vermont. But anyways. You'll find "NEK" all over on signs and businesses. We met with our Harvest Host, Mike, and he showed us where to park. It was late Friday afternoon, so he offered us a tour of their place in the morning, which we said we'd love. I think he probably wanted to be done working for the week. I remember how Fridays used to feel just before finishing a shift. We parked in front of the sugar shack and opened up our doors to let the cooling evening air move the heat out of the van.



We built a fire with wood from Allis State Park that we didn't get to use because of the rain. Then, we used the fire to cook dinner. This helps keep the heat out of the van. We had hot Italian sausages with pepper and onion, as well as some leftover mac 'n' cheese. It was hot, but it was so good. We watched a show on the tablet over dinner then read around the fire as night settled in. It actually got so cool outside that the chairs began to collect condensation. So, we moved them inside so they wouldn't be soaked, and went to bed.

 

[rob cote]

Saturday morning, Mike and his mom, Lisa, gave us a tour of their facility. I've worked briefly at a sugarbush before. It was springtime, so we were just hiking through the woods removing taps and capping lines. But I got the rough idea of how the whole process works during that time. Mandy was entirely new to it. We were the only ones present, so we had their full attention to ask whatever kind of questions we wanted. Their equipment was a bit more advanced than what I was aware of, so it was neat to learn about how technology is making their work easier. They're tapping, I think, 21,000 trees a season. And when the sap is flowing, they're trucking it to the sugar shack around the clock. It's just a small family-run shop; I think at most they said they have 4 or 5 people working. They were wicked nice, we sampled all sorts of different grades of syrup, flavors of cream, and we ended up buying a few things to use ourselves, and to give as gifts. We ended up talking with them for quite a while about their ideas for expansion and upgrades. I hope things work out for them; they have a really cool spot. It would be awesome if others get to experience it.

Before our tour, we weren't sure what to do with our day. So, we opened ourselves up to suggestion. At the previous weekend's wedding, my uncle had suggested checking out Lake Willoughby, so we mentioned we'd like to try to get there in the next couple days. Mike recommended hiking Mt. Pisgah, which is right on the shore of the lake. So, that's what we did. We set out around 11:00am and it took about 2 hours to get up the 1.9 miles to the summit. The views at the top are outstanding, though it's tough going to get up there. Most of the way up is pretty steep. So worth it, though. We enjoyed the lookouts for a bit and caught our breaths before turning around to hurry down to the lake for a swim.





It was a short drive from the trailhead to the lake's south beach. It was so crowded that we had to park a quarter mile up the road and walk down to the water. It's not a huge deal, but it felt like it after a 3-hour intermediate hike. My legs wanted to yell "No, thank you". The water was perfectly refreshing and crystal clear, though. What a fantastic way to end the hike! There's a beach right near the roadway, which was pretty full. There's also a trail through the woods to a second beach a bit further from the road. We thought we'd go check that out to see if it was any less crowded. It wasn't, really. But as we made our way out onto the sand from the trail, we noticed a couple people wearing less than standard beachwear. Then we noted more and more people were fully nude. Not everyone, but perhaps 1/3 or so. So, that was interesting. We had no idea beforehand. Of course, we followed suit because why not? We found a spot for our flops and clothes, and we cooled off in the water for a while. Loki spent more time in the water than he usually does; I think he liked it.



Eventually, though, he started getting bored, and so we waded back out to don our clothes and head to the van. That's when we caught sight of the "clothing optional" sign. From there, we headed to Mike's Tiki Bar, about 15 minutes south. This is a wicked popular spot for mountain bikers. We felt left out because we didn't have bikes. Not actually. But it was notable. We had read online that this spot typically allows people to spend the night in a self-contained RV for free. We left Loki in the van for a few with the windows open and a bone to chew on and we went over to the bar. They have Frost beers on tap, which I've only ever seen in a can and has always been delicious, so I ordered one. We also ordered a bite to eat from the food trucks on site. Mandy ordered a small pizza, and I ordered a burrito. I could have eaten the entire food truck, I felt like; I was that hungry. The burrito was outstanding, but it was so massive by the time I was through it, I felt stuffed to my maximum. At some point while we were enjoying our dinner, we got surrounded by the Rad Dads. They're just a group of friends who ride bikes together out of Burlington, VT. They happened to be on a weekend trip with about a dozen of them all in matching t-shirts. They took all the open seats which we happened to be in the middle of. They were hilarious and didn't care at all that we interrupted their lineup. They were nothing if not completely disorganized. I don't know how they coordinated matching shirts. Surely the moms were involved in that aspect or something.



When we finished up, we confirmed there was no issue with us staying the night in the parking lot, thanked the dads for the entertainment, and headed back to Loki. We walked down the street a bit to an ice cream stand to get a maple creamy. It's a wicked VT thing. It's just maple flavored soft serve, but it's soo good, you gotta try it. We went home and moved the van to the far end of the parking lot, away from the bar area, and opened up the doors to cool it off. We took turns showering at the coin-operated showers on site. We opted to use them, even though we have our own for free, to help keep moisture out of the van. This week has been insanely humid, and everything is just wet all the time. It's kind of gross. Remember the gap that opened up in our ceiling panels in Arizona? Probably not, that's fine, but there was about a 2" gap if all the panels were pushed to one side, because they dried so much due to the lack of moisture in the air. Well, now the gap is all but closed up completely. That's how humid it is. We stayed outside as long as we could stand the flies, which got super annoying at dusk, so we moved inside to hang out a while before sleeping.

 

[rob cote]

Sunday, we hit the road once we were up and moving. We went back to the beach at Lake Willoughby again with the intent of having a whole beach day. We got there pretty early, and there was only one other person out on the beach. The water was smooth as glass. The weather wasn't quite as nice as yesterday, but it was forecast to improve somewhat before getting worse in the afternoon. We hung out for a while in and out of the water, until we started getting hungry. Since we'd arrived early, we got convenient parking right near the trail to the beach, so we popped over to the van to make breakfast. While we were there, the sun came out in full, so we decided to go back to the water to cool off before we left. So, we ended up hanging out on the beach for a while longer still after that. It's so lovely having no deadlines sometimes, especially when you find something you really want to be doing.

Eventually, we felt like moving on, though so we headed towards Stowe, but we stopped at Moss Glen Falls along the way. This is just a short hike into the woods, but it reveals a quite stunning waterfall. I was learning that I actually knew nothing of Vermont's landscape before this visit. I've even been in the state numerous times before. But I never knew it to be so dramatic. I always likened their mountains to rolling hills as compared to the Whites of NH. Vermont will surprise you if you look in the right places.



From there, we cruised to downtown Stowe. We parked at a park, and I crammed in all the rest of the video editing, and we posted a video while we were in a spot with cell service. By then, it was getting somewhat late, so we headed to a public overnight parking lot in the middle of the woods just outside of town. When we parked, the van smelled funny, but only in the cabin space. The closest smell I could relate was when you drive a Jeep through a really deep mud hole, and it burns on the hot exhaust pipe. Kind of sweet, kind of earthy; a little bit like burnt coolant, but not quite. I stepped outside, but there was no smell outside. And it never smelled in the rear of the van. No idea what that was about, and it was gone by morning.

In the morning, we walked down the dirt road a bit, until Loki would go no further. Which is to say, it wasn't very far at all. We went back into Stowe to actually spend some time wandering around the town. It was before breakfast, so as we were walking past a few restaurants that serve breakfast outside, we were strongly tempted to stop in. But we decided it would be cheaper to make our own back at the van, so that's what we did. After we'd seen the whole area - Stowe is not a great walking town, it's very spread out and sporadic - we went back to the van in the parking lot and made some breakfast.

After breakfast, we set out in search of a ski/snowboard helmet for me. We had looked at Rodgers, but I wasn't sure, and they seemed comparable to online prices, so I wasn't motivated to grab one there because of a good deal. So, we headed towards the mountain. Along the way, we saw a tent sale at Pinnacle Ski & Sports. We pulled in there to see what was good. Compared to the Smith helmets I'd seen at Rodgers, what was available felt like much lower quality. I wasn't impressed with any of the few remaining, so I gave up. But I had a few minutes without dog as Mandy'd taken him for a walk around outside, so I went in to check out skis with no intention of buying any. I just like to look. There was a set of brand-new Ripsticks with bindings mounted for $450. That hurt to see and know I couldn't buy. But they were a touch too short for me anyways, so whatever. I asked about bike racks, just out of curiosity. We've been debating getting one, but one of the major struggles is not knowing what will physically fit with our Owl Vans ladder/tire carrier combo, extended rear bumper step thing, but also without being wicked long.



I talked to the salesman for a while about what was there, what we'd looked at, what our needs and issues were. He was super helpful, and even offered to lift one off the display rack, carry it out to our van, and test fit it. The Yakima BackSwing is just a hitch adapter piece that incorporates a 90-degree swing arm. We'd need to add a bike rack onto that in order to carry anything, but it appeared to provide the necessary clearance. He mentioned that he also had another rack in their basement that was similar but incorporated the swing arm and bike carrier into one assembly. It looked like it would have less clearance than the two-piece setup we'd investigated already but he offered to dig it out and assemble it if we gave him some time. So, we went to the ski area.

It's called Stowe Mountain Resort, I think, but I'm pretty sure it's on Mt. Mansfield. And there's another peak there, too, but I forget its name. Anyway, I've skied there a few times and LOVE it, but I've never been in the summer. It was pretty cool to check out a lot of the areas that I don't normally get to see while I'm riding. We hunted for a helmet, but they literally sold every last one of them. Which is awesome for them, but not for me. But not a huge deal, either. It's obviously not an urgent need in the middle of summer. We walked around the village a while and then circled back towards Pinnacle Ski & Sports. On the way, I pulled into MountainOps Outdoor Gear, to see what they had for helmets. They had none on display but dug a few out of the attic for me. I ultimately found a Smith helmet for about half what Rodgers was asking, so I confirmed it fit well with my goggles and on my head and took it. I'm kind of indifferent about a helmet, but it's cheaper than buying a new brain, I suppose. It's not uncomfortable, so what the heck. It makes Mandy happy.

We made it the rest of the way back to Pinnacle, and test fit the FullSwing bike rack.It fit! We have the factory rear step bumper thing (I forget the official terminology for it; I call it a swim platform, but that's boat lingo) and a ladder/tire carrier combo from Owl Vans. There's about 2" of clearance between the bike rack and the spare tire. The bike rack swing arm opens 180-degrees, which allows the passenger's side rear door to open almost to the detent. You can feel it start to drop into that notch in the hinges, but it doesn't fully get there. It's really close though. The upright portion of the bike rack pivots 90-degrees on the swing arm, so the bikes can hang parallel to the long side of the van when the carrier is swung open. The bikes shouldn't interfere with the door opening. The only issue we've found is that it beeps at you non-stop when you put it into reverse because one of the backup sensors is obstructed. We've taken to turning off the backup alarm when we shift into reverse by touching the screen. Other than that, we love it, and it's a perfect fit with our van. We're excited to get our bikes on there soon and start riding again. In shifts, of course, because of Loki.



From there, we cruised down to Upper Michigan Rd. in Pittsfield, VT. This is a spot we've been to before. It's one of the few places in all of New England that has primitive campsites, similar to what seems to exist at every turn in the Midwest. It's a dirt road that leads into the woods with small clearings alongside it once you get past the houses. It's free, first come-first served, pack in-pack out. It was drizzly when we arrived, so we just did a quick walk with Loki and then made dinner inside before climbing into bed.

 

[rob cote]

Tuesday, we woke up to rain. It was a light rain, so we waited a bit to see if it would let up before taking out Loki. It steadily got heavier instead, so we put on his raincoat and tried to force him out. It didn't go well, so we hit the road out of there. We cruised a short distance down the road to a hiking trail where it wasn't raining and pulled into the trailhead parking lot. We got about 20 feet up the trail and Loki had done his business and was all set with hiking at that point. There were a bunch of blackberry bushes, so I picked some ripe ones for breakfast while we tried to coax him a little further. No luck.



So, we hopped back in the van and continued our journey south. We stopped in Proctorsville, VT at Singleton's General Store. We've been here before, and we just keep going back. They have a little of everything, honestly, and most of the stuff they have is great. They have their own smokehouse which produces some outstanding smoked meats. I always get a package of bacon, at least. I also got a sandwich at their deli. Highly recommend this stop if you're passing through, or anywhere nearby.



From there, we went to Brattleboro, VT. We found a cluster of short hiking trails near a ski jump, which seemed to make an interesting location, so we parked there. I don't think I've seen a ski jump like that in person before. I mean, I've seen plenty of jumps, I've even skied off many of them. But this is one of those long jump type deals. It's just a massive downhill section and then a ramp that shoots you into orbit, with a landing zone that looks altogether too short. It's terrifyingly intriguing. I asked Mandy if I should go off it since I had a new helmet and all my ski gear. She said no. Instead, we hiked across the street. The trails surround what's labeled on Google Maps as "Retreat Tower" and details it a "1880s landmark built by asylum patients". The most interesting thing about this tower was how close we were able to get to it without seeing it, even though we were looking for it. Other than that, there was nothing. It's literally just a plain stone tower with a locked steel door and a couple arrow slits on it. No signs or anything else. I've no idea what it's for or anything else about it. But the hike was pretty easy, if a little steep.





We debated continuing walking to downtown Brattleboro, but ultimately decided to drive over instead. We parked downtown and I worked on the laptop in the van while Loki and Mandy explored some. I was having difficulty focusing on working because of how disgustingly humid it was outside. It wasn't incredibly hot; I think it was only about 85F or so, but I was wet just sitting there. We had planned to continue exploring Vermont until Thursday, but there's the plan, and then there's what happens. We knew my dad's house and pool were only a couple hours away and the urge to dive in and cool off was just too powerful to ignore. So, we bailed from Brattleboro and drove back to Nashua for a swim.

We spent the night there just hanging out outside in the yard, in and around the pool. We had to be there for a birthday party Saturday, so we just worked on a plan for the few intervening days. I guess this is a good spot to put in this info, too: Mandy seems to have secured another 3-month contract job. We haven't received an official offer letter, yet, but it seems as if we should be expecting it any day now. So, that will pin us to northern NH for the fall period, and perhaps a bit into the beginning of winter. It depends on what the actual start date ends up being. I dunno how quickly they can get her onboarded. So, there's that. It's going to be probably a lot like our time in Arizona again, where we explore different places on weekends, but during the week not a ton of excitement. I'll try to keep it interesting for you guys, though, as best I can.

 

[rob cote]

Wednesday, I spent most of the day helping out my brother fix up some issues with his Jetta. We took a trip to the junkyard to get a few parts and then spent the afternoon installing them. The airbag was the most important piece, but we also found a steering wheel in much better condition than his. The OEM head unit appears to be the correct piece to fill the hole in the dash, but it requires the correct 4-digit code to be entered to reenable it. The code in the junkyard manual wasn't correct. There were a few other miscellaneous small bits of trim and whatnot that we installed as well. Nothing very van-lifey, but that was our day. We also picked up my bicycle and figured out how to install it on our new bike rack. We've still got to get Mandy's back from her friend who is borrowing it in her absence.



Thursday was mostly a chill, relaxing type day. We ran a few errands and hung out on my sister's patio the rest of the day. Loki seems to really enjoy these times because their backyard is fenced and he gets along great with their dog, Scooter. So, he can be off leash, no tether, and just do his own thing unrestrained. We try to do things he likes as much as we plan activities that Mandy and I like. He can't quite make specific requests, but we try our best to see him content.