Into New Hampshire (8/28/2015)

As we worked on de-camping this morning, Joe ran into a problem.  Apparently, one of those bumps we hit lately was hard enough to dislodge the water tank from the slot it resides in, and it bounced out and  was now resting on top of the bracket, instead of inside of it.  Fortunately, while Joe was filling up the water tank, he checked to see how close it was to full, and he noticed it wasn't sitting level.  So, handyman Joe went to work.

He had to do a little bending, but he got it back together and it seems to be fine.  Just delayed us a little, so it was 9:45 before we headed out.  We were off and on the freeway and turnpike, and Highway 1, all day.  We don't like turnpikes so set Lucille to "avoid" them, which added in a few more turns.  That, along with missed roads, kept us busy.  But we only paid $7 in tolls so that wasn't too bad. 

We drove past a real "blueberry hill" this morning.  There was a tractor out there "picking" and we could see buckets set around. 

Also, there was one guy out picking, and he had some kind of "scoop" so he didn't have to pick each berry separately.  Joe, of course, was intrigued by this and now we need to stop at a hardware store so he can check it out.

We cross lots of bridges along this coastline, some rather interesting. 

We kicked around the idea of driving into Boston or stopping off before we got there.  We drove through some famous areas today, including Kennebunkport, Maine, famous for the George W. Bush summer compound.  We didn't drive around looking for anything here, but I did recognize the name.

When we saw that today's travels would put us in Boston on Friday night around rushhour, we opted for a state park right on the beach in New Hampshire.  We crossed the state line into New Hampshire at 3:35.  As we drove through town, we came upon this new kind of "bicycle" that we had never seen before.  It looked like six seats in a circle, all pedaling, but going in one direction.  I hope we get a better look at one here in town.  I tried to research it but couldn't come up with a name for it that would bring up any information.

Our Lucille directions took us to the State Beach, but not the State Park, so that required another phone call.  But we ended up right on the beach, maybe 600 feet from the water with just a parking area and sand dune separating us.  Very pretty, and the weather is perfect.  We got set up (no hook-ups because we are in over-flow, so that didn't take long), and Joe decided this was the night for his lobster, so we drove on down through this beach town and into the next.  Our campground "host" had given us two recommendations right across the street from each other - Browns and Markey's.  Both parking lots were full, with people lined up out the door.  We parked at Browns and ended up walking across the street to Markey's (Markey's Lobster Pool, Seabrook, NH).  There was quite a system involved.  You gave your order for lobster at one counter  (lobsters, corn on cob), at another counter, steamers (muscles, clams, oysters) and fried food at another counter (crabs, fries, hamburgers, fried fish, etc.)  You got a number for each order, and when they called your number, you got your food and found a table.  The place was packed, and everyone except us seemed to know what they were doing.  Joe told them what size lobster (medium) and that he wanted a cute one.  He added that if he couldn't get the meat out of it, he would be back to get help.  I ordered a cheesburger.  I wasn't sure they didn't cook the corn in the same water as the lobsters, so I wasn't even brave enough to try that.  It was a bit smelly in here, but Joe got his lobster disseminated and enjoyed the meat.  He said it was good, not great.  Personally, I was glad to get out of here and find some fresh air!

As I said, we don't have any hook-ups at our campground.  We can only run the generator between 7-9 a.m., 11-1, and 5-7 p.m., so we didn't get all of our electronic gadgets charged up.  We will have to manage that better in the morning.  And decide whether we are staying another day or moving on to Boston.

We drove 224 miles today, finished up with Maine, and get to color in another state on the map (if we had one to color).  We have never been in any of these eastern states before so we are really enjoying getting to explore this part of the U.S.


  Markey's Lobster Pool, Seabrook, NH.