We set out from home about 10AM, heading to Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, near Cape Cod, to visit family, friends and Jose Moniz of Rollin’ On TV. We are driving Zack, a nearly new Advanced RV that we were able to recently purchase back. We wanted to get to know Zack and its systems before we put it up for sale. It is a perfect summer day since last night’s storm drove down the humidity and brought in a comfortable 80 degrees. Just before Buffalo, we drop down from I-90 East to Alt-20 to stop in East Aurora, New York, one of our favorite small towns. We eat lunch out of the camper on a picnic table behind an authentic train caboose converted to an ice cream store. We treat ourselves to root beer floats and walk the small, charming historic downtown. On a sugar high, we continue on Alt-20 through lush, green upstate New York farmlands and back up to I-90 East. We brought a bag of CD’s and enjoy the incredible sound quality of Zack’s Level 3 audio system. It is the best we’ve heard in an Advanced RV. We eat dinner out of our refrigerator at a rest stop.
About 8:30PM we arrive in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a classic New England small town. We park around the corner from the site of Alice’s Restaurant from Arlo Guthrie’s song and hope that if we don’t litter we won’t end up in jail or have any 8 X 10 glossies taken of the camper.
Parked in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Marcia in front of Alice’s Restaurant
At the pub in the basement of The Red Lion Inn we have a couple of beers while enjoying a live, three-piece country rock band playing Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash. We sleep well on Zack’s twin beds, boondocking on the street.
The Red Lion Inn
Sunday, August 2, 2015: Parking on the street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
We get coffee at a café down the street and take it to the rocking chairs on the porch of the Red Lion Inn. At 8AM, after a quick camper breakfast, we are on the road. At 10AM, we arrive at my cousin’s house in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and move in for 24 hours, leaving the RV parked on the street. It is hot and humid, but Mike is checking the systems twice a day, and all stays well, including the refrigerator.
Monday, August 3: Parking on the street in Mattapoisett
At 10:30AM, we leave Pawtucket for the last, short leg to Mattapoisett. At 12:30 we arrive at our friends’ cottage and park the RV in their side yard for three days. Again, even with the outside temperature in the 90’s, all systems stay good.
Thursday, August 6: Lunch with Jose from Rollin’ on TV and camping at Target
Late morning, Mike and I drive the RV down to the Ned Point Lighthouse for pictures.
Mattapoisett
Ned Point Lighthouse
We then meet Jose and his wife Sandy for lunch on the porch of The Inn on Shipyard Park, an historic inn, with a great view of Buzzard’s Bay. We have a good lunch, including delicious clam chowder. Jose sends us off with a box of Natas, Portugese vanilla cream tarts, made that morning at a bakery in New Bedford. On the road about 4PM, we sample these and they are truly one of the best things we ever ate.
We eat packed sandwiches for dinner and stop about 9PM in Batavia, New York to watch the Republican primary debate at the bar of a Clarion hotel. We camp for the night down the street in the Target parking lot.
Friday, August 7, 2015: Beating Buffalo Rush Hour
We are up and rolling at 5:45AM, eating breakfast out of the camper, and beating the Buffalo morning rush hour. We are home at 10AM. We learned a lot about summer boondocking, which Mike has summarized in the Advanced RV newsletter for September, 2015
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