On the Road Again - At Last (but what a day)!

We left Norfolk and the grandkids behind yesterday as, at long last, we resumed our travels.  BJ and I were glad to be back on the road after a relatively sedentary first half of 2013!  Marla and her two four legged travelling companions were in trail with us and we were headed for Boston, a two day trip at approximately 600 mi.

We did the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, a beautiful 20 mile over water route at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and continued north.  We planned on making it about half way today, finish up tomorrow.  We were not going to follow I-95 through New York City as BJ and I did several years ago.  Once was enough!  We were taking a I-287 around NY City this time. Figured we would find a convenient campground or truck stop to RON at along the way.

Our caravan stopped for lunch!

At 1530 we crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge into NJ and stopped at the rest area for a break. Looked at the map and decided 2 more hours would do it. We would be west of NY City on I-287 and should be able to find a place to stay.

At 1700, we were near there but in extensive construction on the Interstate.  Traffic jams were frequent, but always in the other opposite lanes and we were thankful as we kept making progress. BJ was continuing to search for places to stay and not finding much.  The road sides were so heavily overgrown with mature trees you could not see much and had to depend on the limited info signs at the exit.  We finally found a truckers rest area and pulled in there so we could focus on a search for campgrounds or some suitable place. Well, we could find none using several different algorithms. 

The truckers rest area was crowded and loud and we did not think we would be welcome there for very long. BJ did find a Pilot truck stop in Mawhaw NJ at the NY line on I-287 and it was about 40 miles further so we decided to make for it!  However about halfway there we took a wrong exit and ended up winding through small town USA with tight roads and low trees until we found a parking lot big enough for us to turn around in!  The whole city seemed to turn out for the parade!

Then I determined, in our best interest, I really needed to fuel up now rather then when/if we ever stopped for the night which had been my plan.  My low fuel light came on and I did not know how long that was for so we took the first next exit that showed diesel fuel.  It had 3 stations listed.  Marla needed fuel also so we were hoping for stations large enough to accommodate both rigs! The first one absolutely not! 

The second one was not much better but I came in to the island from our travel direction and BJ got out and directed Marla in from the other direction.  There was only one pump island and fortunately from the direction Marla entered and I exited there was some little bit of room; which filled up quickly with cars wanting to gas up!  

After fueling up we had to continue on in the "wrong" direction while Marla could depart the pumps headed in the correct direction.  We managed to find a Burger King with a lot big enough (barely) for us to turn around in and we headed back to I-287 to catch up with Marla!  

She in the meantime had found the exit to the Pilot station, but no station and was waiting for us in large nearby parking lot!  We missed the exit, crossed into NY and finally found an exit ramp in the dark and came back to her location.  

We found the Pilot which was a small one overloaded with trucks. I turned in and threaded thru the trucks to a point I could hold temporarily before exiting back on the road which had a 3 ft concrete barrier between opposite lanes. 

BJ was searching for alternatives and dealing with her i-pad and i-phone which were complaining because they had been worked too hard for the last 3 hours!  BUT, she and Marla both found nearly simultaneously a Home Depot about 2-3 miles down the road!

Camping at Home Depot

Marla is ready to go this AM!

But, remember that concrete barrier in the middle of the road, we had to go 5-6 miles before we could find a crossover. It was dark, it was heavy traffic, it was a strange road with poor lighting and we were tired.

But we made it! An, were we glad to see the big, nearly empty Home Depot lot!  We all three plus Kloe and TD our four legged travelling companions, enjoyed a really good G&T and quick snack/dinner before ending the day!  

So are Chloe and TD

On the pleasant side - we will have a short day today as it is only 200 miles to Boston. Yesterday we did 400 miles in 11 hours (9 hrs 40 min actually driving time. 

It all looks a lot better today then it did yesterday evening!  But, what's life without some adventure! 


Always at home, no matter where we are!!