NY
Disaster recovery, phase 2: the brake controller
For those of you who never tow anything, I will enlighten you on what a brake controller is: it is a device that controls the brakes on whatever you are towing. When you press the brakes on the truck it sends a signal to the trailer to activate its brakes too. The truck and the … Continue reading
Disaster recovery, phase 1: the truck
Of the four known problems with our rig, two were truck-related and two were RV-related. Clearly, nothing could be done with the RV problems until the truck problems were solved. Unfortunately, one of the two GMC dealers in Binghamton NY would not book an appointment until Thursday and the other would only offer a Friday … Continue reading
TS4-1 Hop 2: Schenectady NY to Chenango Forks NY
130 miles via I-90, I-88, NY 206 and NY 12, Cumulative tow miles: 282. Truck miles: 302. Cumulative truck miles: 472. The extra 172 truck miles were incurred in Schenectady and along the Hudson River on the several excursions we took while there, as documented in the TS4-1 Hop 1 post. This was not the … Continue reading
Disaster!
Yesterday, October 6, 2018, was, without question, the worst day we have had in over 6 years of travel. It was a cascading series of events that has left us with both a truck and an RV in need of repair before we can continue to Florida. It all began on NY 206, about 4 … Continue reading
TS4-1 Hop 1: Phillipston MA to Schenectady NY
152 miles via US 202, MA 21, I-90, I-87, I-890 (near Schenectady) and NY 5. Cumulative tow miles: 152. Truck miles: 170. Cumulative truck miles: 170. This hop was over roads that we have traveled before, so no surprises. There is a lot of up-and-down both on US 202 and I-90, so the engine got … Continue reading
Fourth Trip South (TS4) preview
We start our fourth trek south on Wednesday. We will be heading to our new home at Cypress Trail RV Resort in Fort Myers. We are excited about this new location and our new status as “permanent residents” but that doesn’t mean that we are going to rush down there. We are, as always, going … Continue reading
TN4 wrapup
I am belatedly doing the post-mortem on the Fourth Trip North (TN4). By the numbers: 17 nights in 8 hops, 1664 tow miles, 1930 truck miles, $757.93 in campground fees ($44.58 per night). The campground total does not include the 2 nights we spent in the Quality Inn in Lexington MA and if I were … Continue reading
TN4 Hop 8: Newburgh NY to Phillipston MA
190 miles via NY 32, I-87, I-90, MA 21 and US 202. Truck miles: 267. Cumulative tow miles: 1694. Cumulative truck miles: 1930. This was a hop that, like the stay in Newburgh, was not in our plan. The original, ill-fated Hop 7 would have taken I-84 to I-91 up into MA. But from Newburgh … Continue reading
TN4 Hop 7: Milford PA to Newburgh NY (barely)
38 miles via I-84. Truck miles: 52. Cumulative tow miles: 1504. Cumulative truck miles: 1673. This was supposed to be the last hop of the TN4. Not so. 37 miles into the trip the “check engine” light once again reappeared. And was persistent. We waited, on the side of the very busy I-84, for about … Continue reading
Niagara Falls
I first saw Niagara Falls in 1957 when I was 8 years old. It was a rare family vacation outside of Wisconsin and I really appreciated seeing them in real life rather than in a book. My father was not the most adventurous guy, so our activities at the falls consisted of walking along the … Continue reading