Back on the Road

After completing the Appalachian Trail at the end of August, we worked our way back to Rochester and eventually, south of Cleveland to retrieve our RV from storage. The return to our home took place on Labor Day and was mostly uneventful with the minor scare of not being able to get the storage unit’s overhead door open. A new 9V battery was needed for the remote keypad and then we were finally in. Once the batteries were reconnected, everything in the RV came back online without issue and we were soon on the road headed for a KOA just an hour away before heading back to Rochester.

While in the Rochester area, we got new tires for the RV. We opted to upgrade our tires to one size bigger than what it originally came with. The original tires were 215/75 R17.5 Goodyear tires. We replaced them with 235/75 R17.5 Continental HTL2 tires. These tires are highly recommended by the members of the DRV owners group on Facebook. As the tire dealership manager said, Continental is pretty proud of these tires, selling them for almost $600 apiece. We needed 5 in order to get a new spare so this was not an inexpensive undertaking. We did manage to schedule the install on the day we moved from one RV park (Red Rock Ponds in Holley) to another park (Southwoods in Byron).

We spent 10 days in Southwoods before returning to Maine for a family wedding. While in the Rochester area, we spent the weekends with our grandkids and their parents, including an annual visit to the apple farm for some apple picking.

We needed to break up our drive back to Trenton, ME up into manageable chunks. Dan wanted to get some beer from Tree House Brewery in Massachusetts and we had yet to spend a night in that state so we found a way to make both happen. We spent one night at a KOA in Northhampton, just north of Springfield. Tree House has a satellite location in Deerfield with curbside pickup so Dan was able to get a couple four packs of award-winning double IPAs. Our arrival in western Massachusetts wasn’t all joy, however. After setting up the RV, we noticed that the window over the dresser in our bedroom was shattered. We quickly covered the opening with plastic before the afternoon rains came. We called parts and service for our RV manufacturer and got a window on order. It would be several weeks before we would see the replacement.

During the days leading up to the wedding we had the opportunity to see Rob and Laura once again as their cruise ship was docked in Bar Harbor. We spent the rainy day in our RV playing games and catching up even though it had been less than a month since we’d seen each other. Other pre-wedding activities included a lobster dinner in the pavilion of the RV park. Amy’s sister, Karen, and her husband spent a couple nights with us in the RV. They have been overnight guests of ours on several occasions and its always a pleasure having them spend time with us.

The wedding was short and sweet and we had a great time with the Amy’s family and the bride and groom. Another couple days visiting with family and it was time to head back to Rochester for a two more weeks with the grandkids. But before we get back, we needed to stop in New Hampshire to visit some new friends that were invaluable to us when Amy got hurt on the trail.

We stopped at the Strafford KOA in Strafford, NH where Mike and Nancy (Momma Bear) live. We had them over for smoked ribs and an afternoon of catching up. Their daughter, Nicole (aka Pale Moon), joined us as well. We met Mike and Nikki early in our hike and called on Momma Bear for a couple rides before that fateful day when Mike and Nikki came back on the trail to help Amy make it to the parking lot and get medical attention.

We had a wonderful two weeks back in Rochester, seeing family and getting the opportunity to catch up with some friends as well. Soon it was time to really hit the road again and start heading south. Our first stop was in Ives Run COE in Pennsylvania where we spent a couple nights and took our first real hike since getting off the trail in late August. We then made a short stop in Harpers Ferry where we visited the ATC headquarters to look through the hiker book and find the pictures of several hikers we met during our time on the trail.

After a four day stop in Luray, VA where we took a hike in Shenandoah NP, we made our way to Dixie Caverns campground in Salem, VA just south of Roanoke. We met up with the folks that helped Dan get back on the trail after Amy’s injury. We had a great dinner and Amy got to meet these wonderful folks.

We took a hike to Tinker Cliffs, one of Virginia’s triple crown attractions on the Appalachian Trail. It was a gorgeous day and the fall foliage was near peak. Amy didn’t get to see this section of the trail in the spring, but it was much more spectacular in the fall colors. Speaking of our AT hike, we had the pleasure of hosting a couple that we met during our first week of hiking. Nick and Kylie joined us for an evening for dinner and catching up with trail stories and what we’ve been up to since finishing our respective hikes.

After leaving Salem, we spent a night at our first Harvest Host distillery and sampled a variety of flavored moonshine. We then made our way to Waynesville, NC, where we are currently setup. We spent some time checking out properties in the mountains and spending time in the area to see if we want to eventually settle in this area.

With a planned 2 week stay at Pride RV park in Waynesville, we were able to get our replacement window sent here. It arrived in the middle of our stay and after waiting out a couple of rainy days, we were able to make the installation. The task was not as bad as we feared and we now have the window replaced and we are pretty pleased that we were able to do it ourselves with little issue.