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173 miles via Old US 22, I-78, I-81, I-83, I-695 (west of Baltimore), I-95 and MD 212. 178 truck miles. 518 cumulative tow miles. 567 cumulative truck miles.
This hop was almost entirely on interstate highways. That was a last-minute change as I had originally opted for a shorter route using US 202. But I was unsure, so I let the GPS decide.
There was a lot of construction but, fortunately, no real delays. It was an uneventful trip where the truck once again ran with high oil pressure (though not quite so high as on the first two hops – mostly running around 90 psi).
The roads were also *very* busy which I found a bit surprising for a Wednesday early afternoon in a pandemic.
Our one night in PA was at the Pine Hill RV Park in Kutztown. This is a good transient park with mostly pull-through sites. It is close by I-78, so there is a bit of road noise but we barely noticed it with the windows closed (it was a cool night). It is in a rural setting and the only time I left was to refuel, so I don’t have any opinion about the surrounding area.
187 miles via NY 212, I-87, I-287 (west of New York), I-78 and old US 22. 192 truck miles. 345 cumulative tow miles. 385 cumulative truck miles.
This was an easy hop to navigate as it was almost entirely on interstate highways. But it was a challenge for the truck as NY and PA both have a lot of up-and-down. And traffic was heavy, which surprised me.
The truck performed well, though the oil pressure remained high. I also had some worries about the fuel lines when, early on, it appeared that the gas gauge was dropping too fast. But it was just my paranoia as there was no fuel leak.
Because the I-87 portion was a toll road (and a toll bridge on I-78), I decided to do the right thing and ask the attendant how to deal with me towing a trailer. The attendant (where I entered I-87) told me to use the Cash lane when I got off, but when I did that the attendant just waved me through. Thank you!
The bridge attendant was not so generous. I got charged the full $16 rate there.
All-in-all, not a bad hop.
Plattekill Creek
Our home in Saugerties was the Rip Van Winkle Campground, about 5 miles west of the village. I would rate the campground as “pretty nice.” We had a wooded pull-through near the Plattekill Creek, a little stream that looked close to dry. As the walls of the creek were about 10 feet high, I can imagine that there are times when this becomes a torrent. But not in the dry summer/fall of 2020.
The biggest problem I had with the campground is the roads. Most are very narrow with some tight bends that are tough to navigate with a 42-foot trailer. There are some roads that I am sure would trap me if I tried them. Not a great place for big rigs.
The campground has very good, free WiFi. And a good thing, too, because T-Mobile regards the entire area as “roaming” territory. On the evening of the first day I received a message from T-Mobile saying I had used my entire roaming data allotment. The message said that they would continue to provide minimal 2G service at no extra charge. 2G is useless for internet browsing, so thanks for nothing, T-Mobile. Another ding in my opinion of T-Mobile.
Our wooded site
The park has quite a few long-term sites, but few were occupied. Some looked like they were prepared for winter even though the park is not open year-round. I wonder if this is the kind of place that lets long-term renters access their sites via snowmobile when they are “closed.” Doesn’t matter – I sure wouldn’t want to be here in the winter. Brrrrr.
Saugerties itself was a disappointment. I was hoping to get some photos of the Hudson River, but I completely struck out. First I tried going to the Coast Guard lighthouse, which I knew was closed but I didn’t expect the entire area to be fenced and locked. Strike one. Then there was a municipal park on the banks of the river. I couldn’t even find the entrance. Strike two. Finally I headed for a public beach north of the village. Again, I couldn’t even find the entrance. Strike three. Three tries and I didn’t get so much as a glimpse of the river.
I also tried to get some headstone photos at the Blue Mountain Cemetery, just a few miles from the campground. It was too large and too windy. I didn’t get a single grave photo. But the dead have a lovely view.
Blue Mountain Cemetery
So I have to say that I am not very enamoured of the Hudson River valley. Between my failed attempt in the spring to get photos near West Point and my Saugerties failures, the whole stretch of the river between Newburgh and Albany has been a bust.
158 miles via US 202, MA 21, I-90, I-87 and NY 212. Truck miles: 169. Cumulative tow miles: 158. Cumulative truck miles: 169.
After all the truck problems this spring and summer, there is no such thing as an angst-free hop anymore. That said, about the only problem encountered on this hop was a strange oil pressure reading: very high. For 8 years and over 100,000 miles I have never seen the oil pressure venture out of the 40 to 80 psi range. For this hop the range was 60 to 110 psi. I don’t know what to make of that. The truck seemed to not care and performed well. All I can think is that the oil used in the last oil change – which is different than what I have used in the past, at the recommendation of the “expert” at Greg’s Garage – might account for the difference. But it is a big difference. And any gauge running at close to the limit (120 psi for oil pressure) alarms me.
In all of the previous trips to/from Massachusetts I have avoided using US 202 because it has some steep hills. This time I decided to take it, to challenge the truck in the first 20 miles of the hop. No problem.
Anyway, we made it to Saugerties. I have a non-travel today and may try to get some photos of the Hudson River valley.
1 hop down and 8 to go (I changed the refueling stop in NC into an overnight, which added one hop to the itinerary).
I should say a few words about Lamb City Campground, our home for the summer of 2020. But I described it pretty thoroughly after our 2018 stay. And with the pandemic, most of the activities were either canceled or subdued. It continues to be a family weekend campground which is virtually empty during the week – maybe 10% of the sites are occupied then. Largely due to this it is not a great campground for us. On the other hand, it meant that neither of our immediate neighbors were there much, which gave us a lot of privacy and solitude.
The biggest negative of the campground – and not something they can control – is the very poor cell phone reception. We typically had “one bar” for Verizon, which was one of the major reasons why I decided to switch to T-Mobile this year. Well, the T-Mobile service there is just as bad. Arguably a bit worse. But it is a very localized problem: about 50 feet to our south, where the road reaches the pond, the service is three bars. Halfway up the hill the service is twice as good. In the bulk of the campground the service is more than acceptable. It is just our one street, along the pond.
If we return we will ask for a site up the hill. We have no need to be close to the pond. But we do need to be able to make phone calls.
We were supposed to be in Saugerties NY today, on our way to Florida. Instead we are still in Phillipston MA, our planned trip delayed. Yup. Again.
Why? More truck problems. Yup. Again.
What kind of problem? A broken fuel line. Yup. Again.
This time the problem appeared Monday as we were on our way to UMASS Memorial Hospital in Worcester to get an MRI of Jett’s head. We were stopped at a light just two blocks from the hospital when we were hit with a very strong diesel fuel odor. There were a couple of trucks nearby and I couldn’t see anything leaking or smoking from my driver’s seat so we continued on, into the parking garage, hoping against hope that it was those trucks. When I shut the engine off and got out… fuel spewing from the engine. I dropped to my knees, cursing a blue streak. Any observer probably thought I was Job. I certainly felt like Job.
But no time to wail – had to get Jett to the MRI. So I got her to her appointment and then called a GMC dealer some 23 miles away to see if (1) they could undertake repairs quickly and (2) had a rental or loaner that I could have while they had my truck. They said “yes” to both. Then I called AAA. They told me that they could not transport the truck until the fire department said it was safe to do so. So, realizing the both the fire department and the tow truck would have great difficulty dealing with a truck parked on the top level of a parking garage, I decided I had to move it. I walked along the backside of the hospital, near the exit from the garage, and spotted a legal parking spot that would be perfect. Back to the hospital to pay the parking charge, then to the truck. Started it up and, as fast as possible, got out of the garage to the on-street parking space. The fuel continued to spew.
Then back into the hospital to collect Jett. Moved her to the sidewalk outside the hospital, to sit in the sun (a sunny day in the mid-70s). Then I called the fire department. A fire truck with 5 firemen arrived, lights flashing (but no siren, thankfully), about 10 minutes later. They opined that it was a minor leak and the truck could safely be transported. I called AAA and put the fireman in charge on the phone, to assure AAA that they could send a truck.
Back to Jett to check on her. She was doing fine. A call to the GMC dealer to tell them the truck was en route, than a call to sister-in-law Kim to see if she could give us a ride to the GMC dealer (the AAA driver was not allowed to take us due to the pandemic). She agreed to do so and was even pleased that the dealer was right on the way to the cabin in New Salem which is where she was headed after work.
Back to the truck, getting there just as the tow truck arrived. My truck was expeditiously winched onto the flatbed and was off to the GMC dealer after I paid $80 for the portion of the tow not covered by my AAA membership.
Back to Jett, just as Kim arrived. She drove us to the dealer where the tow driver was just unloading the truck. Signed the papers for the repairs and the loaner (a 2008 Cadillac with 132K miles – my first and last Cadillac ever). With a stop at KFC to pick up some comfort food, we were back at the RV by 5:30.
4.5 hours of pure misery.
You might ask why I didn’t take the truck back to Greg’s Garage as it is a reasonable assumption that their fuel line repair had failed for a second time. Two reasons: (1) they had already had 2 bites of this particularly bitter apple and I was not about to offer a third and (2) I needed alternate transportation and I didn’t think they could provide it. In addition to the MRI on Monday, Jett had an immunotherapy infusion on Tuesday and a CT scan on Wednesday. I needed a car. Going carless was not an option.
I got the truck back Wednesday after the CT scan. The description of the problem – both orally and in writing – was interesting. I asked the mechanic whether the fuel line that had failed was new (trying to see if it could be pinned on either Greg’s Garage or the GMC deal in Ft Myers who did the original extensive fuel line work in April). He said he wasn’t sure but didn’t think so because the line was “brittle.” I wasn’t sure what he meant, but it became clearer on the written summary of the work: “Found fuel leaking from broken fuel injector return hose at L/H injectors. Was able to extract broken pieces from injectors. Replaced fuel return hose.”
Broken pieces? Doesn’t sound like the “clip let loose” problem that Greg’s Garage found. Could there be two separate catastrophic fuel line failures two weeks apart? Seems unlikely, but anything is possible with this truck.
Maybe all fuel line components are programmed to fail at 16 years or 180,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Anyway, I am now $700 poorer but again ready(?) to go. We could have gotten underway with just one day lost, but decided to postpone the trip for 5 days to give us a full weekend with the kids in VA.
FYI, the MRI revealed that Jett’s brain lesions had shrunk even further. Very good news, especially as counterpoint to the truck problems. We don’t have CT scan results yet but the doctor says it would be rare for treatment to be successful in one area of the body and not in another.
I wish I had gotten a photo of the fire truck. But I only got the tow truck.
I am not sure why I bother to announce a trip “plan” because if recent history is a guide the actual trip will bear little resemblance. But I am either a creature of habit or an optimistic fool – or some combination thereof.
This will be our 6th trip from New England to Florida, hence the “Sixth Trip South” designation. I won’t be dawdling much because (1) Jett’s health is rather delicate and I think a longer-than-necessary trip will be considered torture by some, including her, and (2) I want to arrive in Ft Myers a month before the election so that I can participate. I have already signed up to be a poll worker in Lee County, Florida.
That said, this won’t be a straight shot down I-95. For one, we have to avoid New York City and Philadelphia, as always. I also want to get to the Virginia Beach area to do a little genealogical research. So, yeah, a little diversion. But otherwise pretty straight.
TS6 plan
My plan has us traveling 1,685 miles in 8 hops over 17 days. The itinerary:
2 nights in Saugerties NY. I hope to spend a few hours exploring this area of the Hudson River Valley.
1 night in Kutztown PA. This is just an overnight but is close enough to Pennsylvania Dutch country that maybe we can get a good country meal.
4 nights in College Park MD. This is the “visit the kids” stop, but in Maryland rather than Virginia. We have stayed at Cherry Hill Park before and love it, though I doubt we will love it as much in the pandemic.
3 nights near Virginia Beach. I hope to find a few graves of my colonial ancestors and maybe get a glimpse of the Yorktown battlefield too.
3 nights in Myrtle Beach SC. This should be an R&R stop, weather permitting. The hop from Virginia Beach to Myrtle Beach is the longest of the trip and will require a refueling stop.
2 nights near Savannah GA. I don’t have any specific plans for the day here, but there are some interesting cemeteries nearby and maybe I can get some fried green tomatoes for Jett.
1 night at Salt Springs FL. This is just an overnight but is part of my attempt to avoid I-4 on this trip.
The plan has us departing on Wed Sep 16 and arriving Fri Oct 2. This is cutting it close for Jett’s medical appointments. As you know, she did not get the CT scan and MRI that were originally scheduled for last week. Her infusion is scheduled for Sep 15 and the MRI has been rescheduled for Sep 14. The results of the MRI should be available when we meet with the doctor on the 15th. The CT scan, however, has been rescheduled for Sep 16 at noon. So the plan is to button up the RV before we head to the CT scan, then immediately hitch up and depart when we get back. The results of the CT scan will have to be transmitted to Florida to be evaluated there.
All of this depends, of course, on the health of both Jett and the truck.
You all know about “chick flicks.” This is a “chick mystery.” Yes, it is a whodunit but it is also about feelings and relationships. You know – chick stuff. This is a book with very little testosterone.
The is one of Scottoline’s many books about the Rosato & DeNunzio law firm (though in the earlier books it was just Rosato). The main character in this book, however, is neither Rosato nor DeNunzio but rather Judy Carrier, the senior associate in this all-female Philadelphia law firm. It begins with the firm taking on a huge 75-case workload defending an asbestos manufacturer. This is a big deal for the law firm and a ready-made path to partner for Judy, but she hates the work. It seemed, early on, that the book would be all about these cases.
Not so. Personal problems intervened. She got a call informing her that her beloved Aunt Beth had breast cancer and was to undergo a radical mastectomy on Monday, just a weekend away. Judy heads to her aunt’s home, just over an hour away, to comfort her, joining her mother who has flown in from the west coast.
The three women are joined, briefly, by Iris, an illegal Mexican immigrant who is a gardening partner of Beth’s. Beth speaks very highly of Iris and it is clear she has grown very fond of this young 40ish woman.
So it is quite a shock when Iris turns up dead that very afternoon, the victim of a heart attack. Or so the medical examiner rules. But things don’t seem quite right to Beth and Judy agrees. She quietly starts to investigate Iris’ life.
Things quickly spiral out of control. Over the course of the weekend and the following Monday, Judy experiences an amazing variety of traumas, both physical and emotional. She is assaulted, chased by gunmen intent on murdering her, hides in a pile of manure, watches her VW and an informant being blown up, finds a large sum of money secreted in Beth’s home, dumps her boyfriend, loses control in a deposition and is slapped with what amounts to a malpractice complaint and learns that her Aunt Beth is not her aunt. That is what I call a busy few days. And none of it has anything to do with asbestos.
That probably sounds more exciting than it was. And more exciting than it should have been. The assaults and the car bombing really lacked motive. Why was it necessary for the bad guys to take this drastic action? She really knew very little and the whole nefarious scheme probably would have survived and continued to thrive if they had just ignored her. They brought the law down on themselves by attacking her. So I have a problem with the motive.
I also have a problem with the murder/assaults/car bombing being about 40% of the book – the rest is a recitation of Judy’s personal issues. Cancer, boyfriend, an aunt who is not an aunt. All interesting, but not a mystery. Chick stuff.
I switched our cell phone service from Verizon to T-Mobile a couple of weeks ago. This was a big move because we have been loyal Verizon customers from the day we first got our cell phones many years ago. Verizon was the obvious choice for a wireless carrier when we first went “on the road” in 2012 as it offered, without question, the best coast-to-coast coverage. That was a very important factor when we were traveling a lot.
Our coast-to-coast traveling days may be over. Now we are more concerned about cost than coverage. Verizon was expensive: for our 2 cell phones with unlimited minutes and data, a hotspot router for the laptop and a “Hum” device to plug into the truck to monitor for engine problems the monthly bill was over $240.
Coupled with the high cost was poor cellular service in central Massachusetts. Making a call from our site in Phillipston MA was always an adventure, often resulting in a dropped call or an interrupted voice stream. Cell phone service at Jett brother’s cabin in New Salem MA was non-existent. Cell service north and west of Phillipston was very spotty.
High cost and poor signal. Seemed like a good time to investigate options. We also needed new phones, so we either had to jump to another carrier now or commit to Verizon for 2 more years.
Ray and Kim, Jett’s brother and sister-in-law, have very good T-Mobile service in New Salem, so I decided to consider T-Mobile. A little investigation revealed a “Try our Signal” offer from T-Mobile: they would send a hotspot, with a 30-day 20GB limit, to try, free of charge. I took them up on the offer. What I found was that the T-Mobile signal in Phillipston was perhaps slightly better than Verizon’s. There were a handful of times during the 2 weeks that I used the hotspot when the internet connection was dropped. That concerned me a bit, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. It seemed that the T-Mobile signal would likely be no worse than Verizon’s and perhaps a bit better.
The quote I got from T-Mobile was $170 – a savings of about $70 per month. However, this is a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison because the pricing is structured a bit differently. Most of the savings results from Jett and I both being over 55 (well over). The new phones, at $600 each, were amortized over 3 years, not 2.
Still, a savings of $70 per month, coupled with the promise of a better signal, sold me. I jumped.
So after a couple of weeks in the T-Mobile world, what do I think?
The signal improvement is less than I hoped. The voice signal in Phillipston is worse than Verizon’s. I find that, most times, I can’t make a phone call unless I link to the hotspot. This means that I am chewing up data just to talk.
The internet connection continues to drop at random times. This is going to be very annoying for the few weeks we have left in Massachusetts.
The voicemail system is a dinosaur. I now have to do a “speed dial 1” to access voicemail, then use 7 to delete and 9 to keep. This is the same system I had over 10 years ago when I had my first flip phone. I am very disappointed in this. I had gotten very used to Verizon’s very simple and intuitive management of voicemail.
Uploading photos to the laptop is also more difficult now. I had gotten used to simply attaching the phone to the laptop via USB and transferring photo files. With the new phone I had to install drivers and use a pretty clunky photo viewer app to upload photos to a month file (e.g., “2020-09”), then cut-and-paste the photos to where I want them to be. Very painful. And I haven’t yet figured out how to bulk delete photos from the phone.
That all sounds pretty negative and I guess it is, except for the $70 per month savings.But there are some things about the new OnePlus phones that I like very much:
The camera is outstanding. It is actually 3 cameras designed for various distances from the target. I am able to take very clear close-up photos and am able to zoom in on very distant targets. I took a photo of a hovering hummingbird and the camera captured the beating wings very nicely. I have barely scratched the surface on all of the features. I think I will love this camera. I am already wondering why I bothered to buy the Canon.
The battery life is a big improvement over our old phones. We were used to waking up and finding that our phones were dead in the morning. With these new phones they can go all night and still be over 90% when we wake. I haven’t tested the full battery life yet, but I am guessing it will be over 4 hours.
So… a mixed bag. I definitely like the phone but am somewhat disappointed in the T-Mobile service. Hopefully I will be happier with the service when we get to Florida.
Jett was due this week for her regular MRI and CT scan tests, needed to monitor her cancer. But on Monday she was feeling poorly and cancelled the CT scan. On Tuesday we made the 50-minute trek to Worcester to get the MRI, only to be turned away because two of her current symptoms – extreme fatigue and shortness of breath (which are pretty much expected in someone who has stage 4 lung cancer) – were also on the COVID-19 symptom list. So, to get the tests needed to monitor her cancer she first had to get a COVID-19 test.
Today was devoted to finding a place to get that test. I found one, but it took Jett so long to get ready that I was stressing that we wouldn’t get it done. Like you, I have seen those nightmare videos of long lines of cars at drive-thru testing sites. So it was with some trepidation that I went into the local testing facility, Tully Walk-In Care in Athol, to seek a test. Much to my surprise, the waiting room was empty. Registration was a breeze, after which I drove around to the back of the building where there was a drive-thru testing tent. A quick nasal swab and we were on our way. Less than 30 minutes total time. A very pleasant surprise.
I had considered getting myself tested, too, but passed. My reasoning: whatever the result of her test will be the result of my test, too.
Now we wait 2 or 3 days.
Then, if negative, we can reschedule the CT scan and MRI.
I got the truck back on Monday. Lots of apologies from the garage and no charge. But we had to spend the entire weekend sans transportation. This is not a huge problem for us as we typically have enough food on hand to feed the entire campground and we had no major commitments.
Hummingbird feeders
Well, we did have one invitation: to spend time with Jett’s siblings at brother-in-law Ray’s cabin in New Salem. Rather than cancel we simply asked for a ride from sister-in-law Christine. She had to go through Phillipston anyway, so it was a minor detour for her. And she found a yard sale, too, so there was even some upside for her.
As always, it was a lovely couple of hours with family. And I was able to try out the outstanding camera on my new cell phone. I have attached a couple of samples. These are reduced quality – the full-size originals are just stunning – but the eye really can’t see much difference.
I am posting this now because I just figured out how to transfer photos from the phone to the laptop. It turned out to be simple, as I expected, but had to find the right switch to flip.
Anyway, I am very pleased with the camera. I have to wonder now why I even bothered to buy the Canon. The phone camera is every bit as good – probably better – than the Canon. And I haven’t even learned how to use all the options yet.
