Our Wander Years

Disaster recovery, phase 1: the truck

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Sparky

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 appointment. I booked the Thursday appointment, with the intention of making a personal, pathetic appeal to move it up once I got a rental car and could go see them in person.

To that end I arranged with the campground owner for a ride to Enterprise Monday morning (Sunday was spent in the RV, carless, dining on whatever we had on board and watching DVDs). He drove me there in his 2002 pickup with faulty spark plugs which caused engine hesitation for the entire 18-mile ride. I was grateful that I got to Enterprise without suffering through yet another truck failure. I gave him $20 for the ride.

Enterprise, efficient as always, got me behind the wheel of a Kia in about 10 minutes and I immediately drove to Botnick Chevrolet in downtown Binghamton. Or tried to. This particular Monday was Columbus Day and there was a parade in downtown Binghamton. Many streets were closed off. I drove down a small street which seemed to be open but wasn’t. I got stuck in a long line of cars that had made the same mistake. We all had to back up to find an alternate route.

I did finally get there and made my most sincere, whiny appeal for a more timely appointment. The service advisor, while sympathetic, could only say “bring it in and I will see if I can slip it into the schedule.” I promised him that I would have it in his lot no later than Tuesday morning.

Jett opted to use Monday afternoon to do a trip to the laundromat and food store, to make our RV exile a bit more pleasant. Then, Tuesday morning, I filled the coolant reservoir on the truck and a gallon of water, in case I needed to refill it during the 12-mile trip to Botnick. We had originally planned to get a tow from AAA, but the logistics of that were difficult. Specifically we would have to travel about 6 miles just to get to a place where we had cell phone service and there was a wide shoulder where we could wait. We reasoned that if we could drive the truck 6 miles we could probably do another 6 and avoid the hassle of waiting for a tow.

We made it without requiring a refill and without emitting any steam clouds that would have alarmed our fellow motorists. I left the truck at Botnick with a renewed plea for mercy.

The plea went largely unanswered. We basically cooled our heels the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday, with me making occasional forays into the realm of cell phone service to check the status. Finally, at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, Botnick got it into the shop.

I should mention that one other thing I did on Monday was try to clean the contacts on the trailer hitch connector – the socket that the RV umbilical plugs into that both provides electrical power to the RV while traveling and sends the braking signal from the truck’s brake controller to the RV’s electrical brakes. My view of the braking problem was that it was about 80% likely that the problem was just a bad connection and about 20% likely that it was something else. This was based on the observation that the display on the braking controller seemed pretty normal in all respects except for the color. My recollection is that the screen was supposed to be green when the trailer was hitched and resting and should be red only when braking. My controller’s screen was always red.

So I got a screwdriver and tried to scrape the contacts on both the truck socket and the RV plug. But while scraping the truck socket I encountered a small spark, apparently from the head of the screwdriver bridging the gap between two pins. It was a very small spark and I thought nothing of it… until, on the trip into Botnick, I discovered that the cruise control was inoperative. So that was added to the service list:

diagnose and fix the coolant leak
flush the radiator and refill with coolant
diagnose and fix the brake controller problem
oil change (it was due)
fix the cruise control

I thought the cruise control problem was probably a blown fuse due to that tiny little spark, but, like so much else during the week, I was totally wrong. It was a brake pedal sensor switch that needed to be replaced at a cost of about $140.

Botnick completed their work late Thursday afternoon. Total cost: $686.26. But they did nothing about the brake controller, saying that it was an after-market (i.e., non-GM) product that they knew nothing about.

Friday morning I drove the rental car back to Enterprise (total cost: $307.57), got a ride from them to Botnick ($5 tip), retrieved the truck and started thinking about how to fix the brake controller problem.

Total cost of the truck fix: $1018.83. We had our tow vehicle back but needed to figure out the brake controller problem before we could continue our journey.

Categories: Adventures, NY, Places, TS4 | Leave a comment

TS4-1 Hop 2: Schenectady NY to Chenango Forks NY

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Sparky

TS4-1 Hop 2

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 hop we planned due to the disaster we encountered on NY 206 (see my previous post). The trip to that point was uneventful, except for a heavy shower that we encountered on I-88. NY 206 is now on our list of least favorite roads due to its sharp undulations. If we weren’t taxing the engine on a steep uphill section we were wearing out the brakes on a sharp downhill section. Then, about midway between Greene and Whitney Falls, we popped a coolant hose and had to limp to the only open RV park in the area, after arranging a tow for the RV.

Muddy Chenango Shores

We knew that we would be stuck in Chenango Forks, a tiny “hamlet” on the shores of the Chenango River, until the truck was fixed. As it turns out, we were there a few days longer than that, for a total of 8 nights. Our planned visits to Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes region, plus the stop at the Flight 93 memorial, were scrapped. Instead we subsisted at a place with no television (cable or over-the-air), no sewer hookup, no cell phone service and almost no internet service. The site was muddy and became muddier as it rained nearly every day. The public restroom – which I tried to use whenever I could to stretch the capacity of the RV’s black and gray water tanks – was filthy and the shower had only cold water. Our few neighbors clearly qualified as “trailer park trash.” In short, it was a miserable place to spend 8 nights.

Was there anything good about the park? Yes, the owner bent over backward to help us in any way he could, starting with meeting us and the tow truck at the gate to guide us to the spot, helping get the rig situated and, on Monday, driving me to Enterprise to rent a car. He also dropped his rate, from $35 to $25 per night with the seventh day free. So we paid for just 7 nights out of the 8, for a total of $175. Which would have been economical had it not been for the fact that we lost our deposits entirely for our Watkins Glen and Pohick Bay reservations and received only a partial refund for our planned Pennsylvania stay. So the actual total campground expense for the 8 nights was $470.90.

The other saving grace was that the park, despite having absolutely no cell phone service, did have some internet connectivity via our old JetPack router. That surprised the hell out of me as I thought that cell phone service was a requirement for data connectivity. Apparently that is not the case. I discovered this new truth when, early Sunday morning, I tried to connect to the internet and just about fell out of my chair when I succeeded. The connection that morning was not great, but wasn’t bad. I was able to do searches for GMC dealers, book a service appointment online and book a rental car. I was also able to read email and send out an update to family assuring them that we were safe and warm despite being “off the grid” for telephone contact. Having this connectivity – which, I learned, was not always as good as it was that morning, was a real boon.

Chenango Forks is about 15 miles from downtown Binghamton NY and most of our miles during those 8 days were spent on the roads to and from Binghamton, with two trips back to the scene of the breakdown: one to take photos of the ditch that we fell into when we damaged the gray water tank and bent the flange holding the spare and another to deliver a small token of appreciation to Butch and Jackie, the lovely couple who showed some true kindness and compassion when we really needed it.

Nestled between trashy neighbors

The view from our front door

Categories: Adventures, NY, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS4 | Leave a comment

Disaster!

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Sparky

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 miles west of Greene as we were heading to Watkins Glen. NY 206 is a nasty road with steep ups and downs. The truck labored to make the hills, though no more so than on similar roads that it has experienced before. But as we crested a hill I noticed, in my rear view mirror, what I first thought was smoke spewing from under the truck. I pulled over on the shoulder to investigate and, as I brought the RV to a halt, clouds of smoke or steam rose from the hood and the “low coolant level” warning appeared on the dash. I shut off the engine, opened the hood and saw a hose that was spitting hot water all over the engine. I assumed that a coolant hose had sprung a leak.

The disastrous ditch. Notice the tire track

I decided to let the engine cool and refill the coolant reservoir in the hope that I could get the RV to a campground. Jett got on the phone and found just one open campground (most closed Oct 1). Yes, they could accommodate us. So the question was: could the truck haul the RV the 10 miles to the campground? Had to try.

The GPS directed us to proceed down the hill – a temporary relief soon to be dashed – but as we neared the bottom it told us to take a left. I was surprised – and not in a good way – to discover that my braking was very limited. I couldn’t stop in time to take the left, so pulled over to let the GPS reroute.

Problem #2: either the RV brakes or the braking controller electronics seemed to not be working. Another concern, but nothing that would prevent me from getting to the campground.

The GPS told us to take the next left, a VERY narrow road. Still, the GPS would not route us down a road that we couldn’t traverse, so I waited for a break in the light traffic and made the left turn. And didn’t watch carefully enough where the RV tires would track. I looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see the left tires of the RV drop into a deep ditch. The RV heaved violently to the left and for a moment I feared that it would capsize. It didn’t. It also didn’t get stuck in the ditch. But it did bottom out, hitting, most obviously, the sewer drain pipes. I got to the next stop sign and got out to inspect for damage. Much to my relief, I saw none on initial inspection, which was a huge surprise given the violence of the impact.

Waiting for the tow truck

But my relief as short-lived. The GPS directed us to go back up the steep hill that we had just descended. We made it to the top and down the other side, to CR 2, where we were directed to take a right. At that point the engine was, once again, steaming. Fortunately there was an empty pull-out area at that intersection. We stopped and I once again let the engine cool.

I used the engine cooling period to conduct a more thorough inspection for damage and was disappointed to find some. First, it was clear that not only had the RV bottomed in front of the tires, in the vicinity of the sewer pipes, but had also bottomed out behind the tires. The foot of the hydraulic jack was tilted (probably not a huge problem) and the flange holding the spare tire was bent. The severity of the flange damage was unclear. The tire was in place, but I couldn’t be certain that it would remain there. This was damage that would need to be repaired before we got to Florida.

Worst of all, water was dripping from the area of the gray water tank for the kitchen and half bath. Again, the severity was uncertain but was something that would have to be repaired before Florida if we were to use the kitchen sink.

If there was any good news in all of this it was that there appeared to be no damage to the half bath black water tank or either the gray or black water tanks for the full bath. We still had working plumbing.

So, to enumerate the problems:

Truck engine problems of undetermined severity.
A severe braking problem.
Serious sewer problems (on top of the problems we already had).
A serious problem with the flange holding the spare tire.

I can’t be certain that no additional problems will yet surface. The bottom line is that both the truck and the RV require repairs that must be done before we go much further.

Safe at Chenango Shores after a VERY tough day

Back to our situation. We were at the side of some relatively minor roads, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone service. As a matter of desperation, we decided that we needed to unhitch the RV and limp the truck to a location where we could phone for aid. We unhitched but as we were waiting for the engine to cool, a gentleman pulled up alongside and offered to help in any way he could. He invited us to his house, just a few hundred yards away, to use his land line. We gratefully accepted his offer, used his phone to call a tow truck (thanks, Good Sam!) and had a lovely chat with this lovely couple while we waited. We were eventually informed that the truck would be an hour to arrive, so we took our leave, went back to the RV. Jett and Rusty napped on the bed while I napped in the truck. The tow truck did appear, as promised, about an hour later.

I was able to drive the truck, with only minor steaming, the 9 miles to the campground, the tow truck following my lead. The owner of the campground met us at the entrance. I took one look – a narrow road over railroad tracks with a sharp drop, then a sharp right over a rutted and very narrow lane – and knew that the tow truck, which was a huge semi-trailer cab, would never make it. I told the truck driver to drop the RV at the side of the road (NY 12) and I would take it from there. He was more than happy to do that.

I hitched up and was able to navigate the entrance without doing additional damage to the RV. But the RV site required pulling up onto very soft grass and backing in. I was unable to do it on three attempt and was chewing up the grass badly each time. I finally told the owner that I should just pull in and run the electric and water lines under the RV. He agreed and we got the RV settled for the night. I will have to back up to exit, but that is a problem for another day.

The campground is a mess and I initially thought that we were totally “off the grid” – no TV, no internet and no phone service. That turned out to be untrue as I found that my main router was able to provide an internet connection, which I am using to post this.

So we were able to have a relatively normal evening in the RV, watching DVDs and playing cards. We agreed that we would not talk about the disastrous day.

But I was up early Sunday morning, thinking about how to proceed and estimating how much this is all going to cost me. It won’t be cheap, that much is certain.

It also means that our TS4 plans are out the window. One of the first things to do is to cancel all of our reservations. When – and if – we get a working rig again we will plan a new route to Fort Myers.

Categories: Adventures, NY, Places, RV Living, TS4 | Leave a comment

TS4-1 Hop 1: Phillipston MA to Schenectady NY

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Sparky

TS4-1 Hop 1

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 a good workout. No check engine lights. Whew!

The only deviation from the planned route was taking I-890 at exit 25 off of I-90 instead of exit 26. We were following the GPS at this point and its infinite wisdom declared that I-890 was the better option. Who are we to argue with the Great God GPS?

The road was fairly smooth until we hit a rough patch in I-890. That jumbled things in the RV a bit. Most alarming, though, was the discovery that I had failed to secure the living room television and it was hanging out on its mount. How quickly we forget basic steps in the teardown. No damage done, though.

The Mohawk in the morning

Our home for 3 nights was the Arrowhead Marina and RV Park. This is the same park we stayed at last year. We even got the same site as last year, with an unobstructed river view. The campground is convenient to Schenectady, Albany and Watervliet and is right on the banks of the Mohawk River. Last year the weather and the river were both serene. This year, not so much. Schenectady, like most of New England, has had a very wet summer. The Mohawk River this year was about 6 feet higher than last year and was muddy, with a swift flow. Last year it seemed like a nice river to canoe on if you stayed near shore. This year it looked angry and uninviting when we arrived, though its looks improved with the morning sun.

The great view makes up for the railroad noise and the poor TV reception.

River Road House bar

Last year we were tempted to visit the new Rivers Casino in downtown Schenectady but never made it. We got there this year. I did okay at the slots, losing only $10. But Jett took a beating, to the tune of $80. Not a bad casino, but the slots seemed a tad stingy.

Turkey club

Blackened haddock

After losing money at the casino we spent some of what was left on dinner at the River Road House Bar & Grill. This is a very small place in an historic building (first operating as a tavern in 1830) on the south bank of the Mohawk. It got good reviews and we weren’t disappointed. The fried pickles, though not the best ever, were very good and my blackened haddock was superb. Jett raved about her turkey club. Recommended.

NY cemetery tour

Stone Church

Stone Church cemetery

Last year we spent a lot of time visiting Jett’s childhood homes in Watervliet. This year I visited cemeteries. The main destination was the Stone Church in Rhinebeck NY where 2 of my ancestors were reportedly buried. I also swung by Pittstown NY to search the Old Cooksborough Cemetery for two more of my Dutch ancestors. I didn’t find any of them – no surprise as they were all 18th century graves which tend to not survive to the 21st century. But I was able satisfy 4 photo requests in findagrave.com, so it wasn’t a wasted trip. I was actually quite pleased that I found the Old Cooksborough cemetery at all as it was tucked behind some houses and was not visible from the road. Both cemeteries were overgrown and in poor shape and over half of the headstones were unreadable, which is sad. But I am glad I found them. It puts me a little closer to my Dutch ancestors.

Old Cooksborough Cemetery

Categories: Food, Genealogy, MA, NY, Places, Routes, TS4 | Leave a comment

Tully Lake disc golf

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Sparky

The basket on #1 on the shores of Tully Lake

One of the positives in this summer of mild disappointments was the Tully Lake disc golf course, located at the Lake Tully Recreation area in Royalston MA. I lost track of the number of times that I played this course. It is a very difficult course, but also a very beautiful one. And completely, totally free to play. My best score was 70, I think, which is way more than par, but anyone who gets par on this course must be a disc golf pro. Some of the holes are unbelievably difficult. But about four are relatively easy. I even got a birdie on one of them.

If you are into disc golf and are anywhere near Royalston (not likely, I know), give Tully Lake a try.

A difficult shot

Typical tee shot

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Fourth Trip South (TS4) preview

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Sparky

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 to enjoy the travel and visit some new places and re-visit some places that we like. And, of course, we will visit Jett’s family in Virginia.

TS4 Segment 1 plan

The first segment of the trip, from Phillipston MA to Walland TN, will take 17 nights over 8 hops and 1292 miles. The stops:

Schenectady NY. We will spend 3 nights at the Arrowhead Marina and RV Park where we stayed last year and enjoyed very much. Our two days will be spent touring Jett’s old haunts in and near Albany and a day seeking some of my ancestors’ graves near West Camp NY.
Watkins Glen NY. We have never been to the Finger Lakes region of NY and will have a weekend to see what is there.
Bedford PA. We will have one free day here and will probably spend it visiting the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville PA.
Lorton VA. This will be a week visiting family but will be unique in that we will need to move the RV twice during the 5 days in Lorton due to booking difficulties. That should be… fun.
Dumfries VA. This is just a few miles from Lorton and we are doing the 2 nights in Dumfries to see if this location has anything to offer. We have had so many problems scheduling visits to Pohick Bay Regional Park that we need to investigate alternatives. Between Lorton and Dumfries we will spend an entire week in the Alexandria area.
Keeling VA. This will be just an overnight stop.
Swannanoa NC. We will spend 2 nights here but have no particular activities planned. Maybe see if the area survived Hurricane Florence.
Walland TN. This location was chosen for being midway between Pigeon Forge (and Dollywood) and Tellico Village (where our Gulf Waters TN friends live). We will visit friends one day and Dollywood the other day.

TS4 Segment 2 plan

We will spend 3 nights in Walland, then start the second segment of the TS4. It will also take 17 nights over 7 hops with a total of 1076 miles. The stops in this segment:

Smyna TN. This will be a 3-night stop near Nashville. We visited Nashville before, on the GTW, but felt that we didn’t get the real Nashville experience because the place was overrun with Steelers fans in town for a Thursday night football game. Hopefully we will get a more authentic Nashville experience this time.
Chattanooga TN. This will be an opportunity to visit Lookout Mountain and other nearby Civil War sites.
Stone Mountain GA. We will visit Stone Mountain, a popular tourist destination. We hope to spend a day visiting Atlanta as well.
Tifton GA. This is planned as a 2-night stop but we really have no plans for the area so it could be cut to 1.
Homosassa FL. We were here before and really liked the area. We hope to re-visit the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and view the manatees again.
Bushnell FL. This is our de facto home, though we have never lived here. We hope to attend the Escapees Chapter 57 Rally and, possibly, vote as we will be here for the 2018 election.
Fort Myers FL. Home at last.

By this plan – which, as always, is subject to change – we will arrive in Fort Myers on Friday November 9. The totals for the TS4 as planned are 15 hops, 37 nights and 2368 miles. I have booked the stops for the first segment but have not yet booked the second segment, so those stops are more likely to change.

Categories: MA, NC, NY, PA, Places, TN, TS4, VA | Leave a comment

“Just Take My Heart” by Mary Higgins Clark

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Sparky

Simon & Schuster, 2009

I am not a huge fan of Mary Higgins Clark. I find her plots to be contrived and the characters thin. But I have to admit that she is easy to read. Short chapters and no long dialogs. I read this book in less than a week, which is fast for me given all of my other interests and activities.

The protagonist in this mystery is Emily Wallace, an assistant DA who is both a war widow (her husband was killed in Iraq) and a heart transplant survivor (hence the title). She is given a plum assignment: prosecuting the husband of a prominent stage actress who was accused of murdering her in a fit of rage because she was leaving him. The key witness was a scumbag jailhouse snitch who had a meeting in a bar – witnessed by the defendant’s friends – and, he claimed, a subsequent meeting in the defendant’s home where he remembered many details of the living room, including, most significantly, a side table drawer that squeaked when pulled open. The defendant had a plausible explanation for the first meeting but could not explain how the snitch knew about the squeaky drawer. He was convicted, over the protests of the victim’s mother, who believed him to be innocent. And Emily, rather than being jubilant over her big victory, found herself wondering whether she had sent an innocent man to jail for life.

But there were no other suspects… or were there? The victim had a roommate many years earlier who was dating a married man. The victim never met this man but did, just once, see a photo that the roommate had secreted in her purse. When the roommate was brutally murdered she had the police draw a composite sketch based on her memory of the photo, but the culprit was never identified. When Emily’s doubts about the guilt of the husband grew, she decided to reopen the investigation into the earlier murder and found that the sketch in the original homicide file did not match the one they had obtained when investigating the later murder of the actress. Why were the sketches different? The answer to that question, of course, led to catching the guy who murdered both women.

Meanwhile… and this is where the implausible Mary Higgins Clark plot emerges – Emily’s neighbor, who is a serial killer, is stalking her for no good reason, it appears, other than the book needed another villain. He almost gets her, but doesn’t, due to another killer showing up at the same time. Uh… yeah. Well, it is implausible but an easy read.

The heart transplant is another plot device that has no real use other than to give the book its title. It comes into play in a twist at the very end, also in a most implausible way.

Silly plot twists, but very readable.

7 out of 10.

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Sparky’s immigrant ancestors, 2018 update

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Sparky

Since I have summarized my research into Jett’s immigrant ancestors, I will also summarize mine, for comparison purposes.

I have identified 193 immigrant ancestors – many fewer than Jett’s count due to many of the immigrants being more recent than hers. The VA/MD branch is a little shaky, but solid enough to be included. I summarize a couple of relevant demographics here.

By country of birth:
  England          129
  Netherlands       26
  Scotland           9
  Germany            9
  Norway             5
  France             5
  Prussia            4
  Wales              3
  Ireland            1
  Poland             1
  unknown            1

By place of death:
  MA                58
  VA                39
  NY                30
  CT                20
  WI                14
  NJ                 9
  NH                 5
  MD                 5
  IL                 2
  ND                 2
  PA                 1
  At sea             3
  England            2
  Barbados           1
  unknown            2

Most of my immigrant ancestors were born in northern Europe and what is now the United Kingdom. Most died on the east coast of the US, but a few made it to WI and IL. The geographical dispersion is greater for my ancestors than for Jett’s. As with Jett’s Irish ancestors, relatively few of my ancestors come from Norway but they are recent, giving them an outsized influence in my genetic composition.

I do not have any Mayflower ancestors, but I do have some early American ancestors – both in Jamestown VA and in the New York City (New Amsterdam) areas. Some were in America as early as 1613 – 7 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. I also have something in my ancestry that makes Jett envious: I have one ancestor who is not only full-blooded Native American, but an Indian princess, the daughter of the tribal chief. Eat your heart out, Jett.

Categories: Genealogy | Leave a comment

Jett’s immigrant ancestors, 2018 update

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Sparky

I have continued to research Jett’s rich ancestry, with a focus on her immigrant ancestors. I have identified 314 such ancestors. Not all are rock-solid, but I am pretty comfortable with the vast majority of them. I will summarize a couple of relevant demographics here.

By country of birth:
  England          288
  Ireland            8
  Wales              6
  Netherlands        6
  Scotland           5
  unknown            1

By place of death:
  MA               267
  ME                13
  NH                10
  NY                 3
  CT                 3
  NJ                 2
  VA                 2
  Canada             2
  SC                 1
  England            1
  Barbados           1
  unknown            9

Obviously, most of her immigrant ancestors were born in England and died in New England. However, the immigrants from Ireland (on her mother’s side) are much more recent, giving her at least 50% Irish ancestry.

She has quite a few famous ancestors, most notably some Mayflower ancestors. She is directly descended from no fewer than 11 of the 102 Mayflower passengers:

Six of these 11 (all the males except Resolved White, who was a juvenile) were among the 41 men who signed the Mayflower Compact, the first constitutional document written in America.

I doubt if many Americans have a stronger link to the Mayflower than Jett.

Categories: Genealogy | Leave a comment

Red Apple Farm

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Sparky

Beer barn and livestock pen

New England is littered with roadside farmstands. Most are quite good, with fresh vegetables, fruits and, in some cases, homemade jellies, jams and pies. A few offer self-picking of apples, blueberries, strawberries and other fruits. Some are so good with so many products and activities that they become destinations. Red Apple Farm, in Phillipston MA, is just such a place.

Red Apple Farm has some kind of vague familial association with Lamb City Campground, our seasonal home. We were told, by an employee at Red Apple, who really wasn’t too sure, that perhaps the owner of Red Apple was the son of the owner of Lamb City. What is absolutely indisputable, though, is that they are adjacent to each other and Lamb City prominently advertises Red Apple in its literature and runs hayrides through the connecting fields so that campers can shop at Red Apple. It is certainly a cozy relationship.

I visited Red Apple four times this summer. The first visit was a brief lets-see-what-they’ve-got visit with Jett. It was pre-July 4th so it wasn’t very busy and the shelves were only partially stocked. Still, we were impressed by the variety and quality of the merchandise.

The second was a mid-summer visit with Rusty and Ray and Kim’s three neighbor kids, Connor, Riley and Levi. We walked the connecting road with Rusty leading the way. They went into the store and spent some money on fudge, to which they gave high marks. They also enjoyed the animals in the livestock pen – lots of goats plus a few ponies and steers. Finding and eating wild raspberries on the way home was a bonus.

Red Apple General Store

Jellies and jams

The third visit was on Labor Day with Jett and her sister Sybil. Our intent was to get a meal (they have a BBQ shack) and a beer (from the beer barn). However, both closed at 4pm, which was the precise time that we arrived. So we were forced to switch to Plan B – dinner and drinks at the King Phillip Restaurant (to be reviewed soon) which we enjoyed very much. I got a beer at the beer barn before we departed. But I was disappointed to find that no beer is actually brewed there and the offerings, while interesting, were limited. The whole visit was a bit of a downer, but King Phillip saved the day.

The fourth visit was just a couple of weeks ago, with my wonderful granddaughter Lili. She was not impressed by the merchandise in the store but enjoyed picking a bag of apples which were ripe.

Four visits, four pleasant days. If you get to Phillipston, check out the Red Apple Farm. Recommended.

Tree with – what else? – red apples

Picking wild berries

Categories: Businesses, Commentary, MA, Places | Leave a comment