6546 miles, 32 Days, 31 Nights…..the Best Part..

We just finished unpacking the RV.  About four weeks on the road exploring fall color in New England and up into Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It was a lovely trip - but we covered a lot of territory and are now ready to stay at home for a bit.

The best part? The beautiful scenes? The rugged coast? The fall colors? No. Those were all terrific, but the best parts were found at my sister's near Chicago -

                                    And with my best friend from third grade in Indiana -

                        With our good friends and fun traveling buddies in New Hampshire -

                                   
                                          With Dave's brother and family in New Hampshire -

                             With my freshman college roomie and her husband in Cape Cod -

              And time spent on the Chesapeake Bay with our good sailing friends in Maryland -

          And then full circle back to stay with our same friends in Indiana and family in Chicago.

The travel was a lovely life-experience. But the friends and family who warmly greeted us along the way. That was the best part!

If Shoe Leather Could Talk…..

I bought the pair on the right in 2006 in preparation for our first trip to Europe. Friends invited us to go with them to London and Paris. What a wonderful first trip across the "Pond"! We walked, and walked and walked.

My shoes went in the suitcase for trips to Ireland and back to France. They covered my feet on countless walks with Fenway. They were on five on RV trips covering western states and southern states and southwest states. They just finished tromping across sections of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada. Then they covered my feet for strolls as we stopped to visit family and friends in New England and down to Maryland.

At the start of this most recent excellent adventure I realized the shoes were pretty warn. The inside lining was worn and tearing in spots and the heels were wearing thin on the outside edges. Time for a new pair.

But here's to my shoes - thanks to them for supporting me on wooded trails, providing comfort on pavement and cobblestone! A good pair of walking shoes - if only shoe leather could talk.

Looking Back….

There are all kinds of reminders in today's world about living in the moment, trying not to spend time worrying about tomorrow and never harboring regrets about what happened yesterday.

I try to remember some of these "rules" as I go from day-to-day....but sometimes looking backwards is worth it.

Next time you go for a drive if you have even a moment when you can safely"look backward"....check out the side rear view mirror. The view behind can be SO worth it!

Back in the USA....

We crossed back into the States two days ago. If we had any question about actually BEING back they were answered our first night at the campsite in Maine. We turned on our little television at 8:00 p.m. and turned it off at 10:00.

Three personal injury attorneys offering their services. Ads for Eliquis, Cialis, Linzess, Xeljanz, Latuda and Jublia. Imagine the long list of possible side effects and warnings! And November elections are coming.....apparently. Here we are about a month out and candidates and support groups are slinging mud all over the place.

Lawyers, six drugs and political ads.....in just two hours.

We are baaaaaaaaack!

What Would YOU Call It?

When we take a road trip we like to DO something to help pass the miles. Sometimes we fall back on the reliable alphabet game using road signs and license plates. But now that we travel without the kids we've branched out a bit.

Our first RV trip out west we were gone for almost seven weeks.....and kept a list of road kill. Raccoons won. Our then ten-year-old grandson thought it was so funny because we would text him with updates. Then the next time we kept track of wildlife.....alive. That was fun too....especially when we realized we were well over 200 pronghorn!

Last time we thought we'd keep track of slogans for the small towns we passed. "The Friendliest Town in Iowa!" or "Buckle of the Cornbelt" etc. but we sort of lost interest.

But I already have a theme for the next trip. We are going to write down all of the different labels for rest rooms along the way. All because of lunch today at a restaurant in Bar Harbor.

We've all seen the typical labels that sometimes reflect different areas of the country: Men's and Ladies, Gents and Ladies, His and Hers, Cowboys and Cowgals, and the simple drawing that shows the outline of a person wearing a skirt or pants. But today we found the BEST!

We were having lunch in Bar Harbor and there it was....two doors. Inboards and Outboards.

We both made the right choice!.

GPS vs Paper Road Map.....

We use our GPS. It's an amazing tool, helping us get from point A to point B without getting too lost. But then again, I never do a road trip without a paper state map open on my lap. I like to get the big picture of where we were and where we are headed. And I like to see places off our planned route that might be of interest.

Plus it's just fun to pass the miles noticing some of the cities and towns nearby....and trying to pronounce them. Or trying to figure out just where the name originated in the first place. In Maine we found some good examples! Who founded Meddybemps? Passadumkeag is an Indian word I assume....wonder what it means? You'll find North Vasselboro, Vasselboro and East Vasselboro right next to China! Big Lake seems pretty obvious, but Seboomook? And I assume Mr. And Mrs. Clark owned Clark's Island. Bald Porcupine Island.....what happened to the quills?

Names we found in Nova Scotia were even more challenging since many came from the original French or Gaelic settlers. Mira Gut, Fourchu, Arisaig and Digdrguash to name a few. I wish we'd driven up to Pugwash.....just sounds interesting. Culloden, Doucetteville, Shubenacadie. How would you like to have to write Middle Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, Canada every time you had to write down your address? The list goes on!

Names like Glengarry, Cornwall and New Glasgow were probably named in remembrance of places left behind. Cape George, Hazel Hill, Margaretsville....named for a loved one?

Anyway....the GPS guides us along saying "when possible make a legal u-turn" because somehow we've wandered off the track. The GPS Lady doesn't know what she's missing!

Universal Problems......

As we've traveled through Canada's maritime provinces we sometimes found one or two TV channels   or listened to local radio. Turns out we entered Canada about four days before the elections for a new prime minister to serve New Bruswick.

It was interesting to listen to the Canadian talking heads discuss the candidates. The Conservatives vs the Liberals. The answers the candidates themselves presented to address the problems in this area. Not enough jobs, concerns about industries coming into the area, needs for change in the healthcare system.

Last night we had a nice long chat with the owner of our last Canadian campground. His complaints had to do with high taxes. We also touched on the high cost of gas....about $5.00 per gallon up here!

Sound familiar?

I guess there are no magic answers for any of us......some 2014 problems are universal. And it seems no one has any real solutions. Guess we will all just have to keep trying.....