dHere are most of the photos I’ve taken during the last month or so of our Vagabond Journey. Most are photos of our setups at various spots, but I’ve thrown a few others in there as well.
As an aside, we’re in Kentucky right now. Saw the eclipse yesterday. I’ll touch on that in the next couple of days. We’re leaving tomorrow for a short stay in Saulsbury, TN and will update once we get there.
Rochester, MA
Want to see my Princess Leia impersonation? Huh? Do ya??
We didn’t really take any photos of our setup here. You’re not missing much! We were smack dab in the middle of a bunch of bungalows. There wasn’t another RV in sight! It worked out okay, though. The site was pretty nice sizedand we still had a decent amount of trees all around us.
As you can see from the photo, there wasn’t much grass around. Friend didn’t like that very much. So aside from when the kids next door came over to say hello, he had some extra free time. I mean, grass and shrubs always smell more inviting than dirt.
One morning, I happened to glance up at him sitting right in front of me. I thought he was wanting to get up on my lap, but he was evidently just looking for an opinion on a new look he was trying out. I think you have to give him credit for originality … going with a Wookie look would have been the more obvious route. But Frank’s never been one to follow the crowd.
Lisbon, CT
The Ross Hill Campground … a magnificent place!
Frank was happy, because we were finally back on grass again, after being on nothing more than dirt for the previous month! Plus, he was ecstatic with all the attention he received. It wasn’t just a chance to be scratched and rubbed by so many people. He got a chance to visit with quite a few canine buddies, too. Frank is definitely not someone who shies away From attention!
Frank was also pretty happy about having another chance to take a swim. I’ve included a short video below that shows him testing the water.
As I mentioned in the last post, there were all different varieties of teardrops and other small campers attending the tearjerker gathering. Here are a few of them…
A Casita … No back galley hatch on this one. The kitchen is inside.
This is a wonderful example of a home built trailer. Towed by a classic Model T Ford, no less!
Here’s a classic pop up camper. Owned by another Beagle lover, I might add!
You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! (Lighten up Frank. I’m not talking about you. It’s a saying!
Oh yeah, something I don’t think I’ve mentioned before. I figured out a way to protect our camp table during rain. When we were in Maine, I picked up a lightweight drop cloth and cut it so that it covers the gaps between the bottom of the canopy and the top of the insert. It’s worked out pretty well, except for my chosen method of attaching it to the canopy – clothespins! Someone mentioned that I should get some heavy duty binder clips and I will do that the next chance I get. By the way, the white strips on the plastic are Velcro. The velcro helped a little bit but I’ve since replace the canopy and still need to add velcro to it, too.
This is really coming in handy! It’s worked more than “okay” … except for wind. it’s raining as I put this post together in Kentucky, and the canopy is set up into the wind, so the clothes pins aren’t holding that well. Hopefully those binder clips do a better job.
The New England chapter of Tearjerkers, 8/11-8/13
One of the traditions at the Tearjerker Gatherings is to snap a group photo. I have to say, this was a truly wonderful bunch of people. Frank and I were extremely grateful that they included us in as if we were lifelong members.
Frank was at my feet in this photo, by the way. He did not want to be seen. He muttered something about a collie in Hilton Head looking for him and then, “Don’t ask …”
Here’s our award for traveling the longest distance to attend, too. I still say we only drove about 90 miles from Rochester, MA, but we sincerely appreciate the recognition, regardless.
Manheim, PA
We arrived at the PA Dutch Country RV campground late on Sunday. We didn’t even set up camp like we normally do. I just pulled everything out of the Nutshell and set it outside next to the wheels. Frank still had plenty of time to claim another picnic table in the name of beagledom … although he was infatuated by something up in the trees. I never did figure out what it was.
Of course, Mother Nature had other ideas the next afternoon, when it started raining. So we quickly set up the canopy and stayed underneath it for the rest of the afternoon and into evening. The rain actually lasted all night.
One thing I will say, it was definitely quiet! We had that entire section of the campground almost entirely to ourselves. And after that long drive, the peace and solitude were definitely appreciated.
We managed a quick setup of the canopy in the rain.
Now that’s what I call solitude!
Even Frank was exhausted after that long day of driving!
Park City, KY
If Frank thought it was a long day of driving getting to Amish Country, he hadn’t seen anything yet!
We left Manheim about 8:30 in the morning on Wednesday, after spending an extra day there for some additional recuperation. The original plan called for us to stop somewhere in eastern Ohio on Tuesday night and arrive in Kentucky on Wednesday afternoon. Truth be told though, I was totally fried! I think that’s the first time I drive had really gotten to me since we came back from picking up the Nutshell early last year.
I called ahead to the Diamond Caverns RV campground, our next stop, to see if it would be alright if we didn’t make it there until Thursday. they said it wouldn’t be a problem … just call ahead mid-afternoon to let them know that we wouldn’t make it. But I decided to plow on through. We arrived just as the sun was going down and had just enough light to set up the canopy. Once again, I just pulled everything out of the Nutshell and set it next to the back wheel. After a sound sleep, we got everything set up the next morning. Granted, it took another couple of days of additional recuperation time before Frank and I felt okay. Fortunately, this Is a great place to do it in!
This is going to be another of my favorite Thousand Trails campgrounds. We have a great site here – it looks out onto a huge open area, dotted by a few trees and shrubs. The Campground filled up where is Eclipse viewers. Evidently everyone had the same idea I did. But even with that, our you stayed pretty much the same all week. There were just a few tent campers that came in and set up underneath the trees for a couple of days.
We’re also set up at the end of a row, so we only had neighbors On our port side, while we set up on starboard.
Our setup at Diamond Caverns RV campground, Park City, KY
Once again, we have been blessed with some wonderful neighbors, though! Phil and Judy are also full-time RVers out of Texas. Seal came out and introduced himself as I was sitting at the picnic table, getting my bearings after the 12-hour Drive and preparing to set up the canopy. He offered to help, but setting up a canopy it’s just one of those things that I figured out how to do easily. And sometimes it’s more work to get someone else involved in those type of things. Nevertheless, we’ve spent part of each day visiting and I really enjoyed their company.
I’m going to leave things here for now. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we’ll save the eclipse viewing for it’s own blog post. Compared to the last two trips, we’ve got a relatively easy 3.5 hour drive ahead of us tomorrow. That’ll be a snap, right Frank?
I will leave you with one final picture of the two Vagabonds testing out there ISO approved eclipse glasses. Anyone up for a 3D movie?
Vagabond Travels - A Man and His Dogs 