Live and Learn as You Go (Four)

So, getting back to our very first RV experiences, we carried on with the weekend warrior Glamping at mostly local State Campgrounds in our 31′ Sunseeker. We called her Tin Lizzy and we both continued to learn the do’s and don’ts with RVing. We both learned not to trust our GPS, as Gypsy (my name for it) didn’t know we were a large RV back in 2011, and got us into a little trouble now and then. Like for instance, the time Gypsy told us to make a right instead of a left, and took us into downtown Mifflin, OH on Maine Street. An extremely small town with a very low clearance bridge that scared the bejesus out of both of us! We were in traffic and Roger didn’t want to slam on the brakes, so he crept under it slowly while I cringed, expecting our air conditioning unit to be ripped from our roof, only to land on the poor guy behind us! Then, in rush hour traffic, we needed to find somewhere to turn Tin Lizzy around and go under the same bridge to go back to where we started from! ALL good times, and we felt we were now ready to tackle a big trip and decided to go North to Maine in September that Fall.

Just to jar your memories a bit, a Hurricane by the name of Irene occurred from August 21st – 28th, 2011, and was Vermont’s worst National Disaster since 1927. It caused $15.8 billion in damages to the state of Vermont alone, not to mention NY, which was the 1st destination on our route, followed by Vermont! But hey, we have Gypsy to help us navigate, Roger is getting more experienced in getting us out of tight jams, and my nerves are getting more experienced in lessons of narrow and winding roads! Right? It’s settled, we’re still heading North into the ravished areas of Irene!

Since we were approaching the “big time” in the world of RV trip planning, I decided we needed 3 lists. One for Roger, one for me, and one for Tin Lizzy preparation. I noticed our fresh water wasn’t smelling oh too fresh lately, so upon investigation, we needed to cleanse the fresh water holding tank with Clorox. Looking back, I’m surprised I ever left the driveway without knowing how to do this, but the germophobe part of my brain finally kicked in once my nose detected an odor. We did tons of research for the best routes to get to our points of destinations (Bar Harbor and on to Bangor just to say we’ve been there), and the nicest campgrounds to stay at along the way. At this point in our travel life, keep in mind that we didn’t have smartphones yet and relied totally on a GPS. Computer/Wi-Fi was spotty at best back then, because we didn’t travel with a jetpack or hot spot device either. All the real work had to be done in advance to be certain of anything, including reservations being made in advance. But September 24, 2011, we rolled out of the driveway, bright and early, like two kids on our first vacation!

First stop: The Finger Lakes Region of NY, then on to Petersburg, NY. It is here at Aqua Vista Campground that we first start hearing about and seeing first hand, the damages of Irene. We needed to re-route ourselves thru Vermont, as the scenic route we had chosen was closed due to flooding and washed out roadways. We made it to Shelburne, NH, with only some minor bridge closings, delays & detours, and stayed at an awesome CG (campground) called Timberland along the Androscoggin River. While walking that evening, we got to see the raging river running nearly over its banks, but the sunset behind it made it all so beautiful! We were learning more and more what it meant to be “Happy Campers”. We continued to Rockland, Rockport, The Villages of Walpole and Christmas Cove. But one of the most exciting stops was Bar Harbor CG, because it is closest to the famous Bar Harbor, ME,  over-looking the ocean area where L.L. Bean does the photo shoots for their catalogs. We had a beautiful ocean view and the temperatures were cooperating at a comfortable 70 degrees! I got to eat fresh Lobster, which for me, was one of the best parts of our trip! Roger doesn’t eat fish or most seafood, so the enjoyment was ALL MINE for the taking!!! We made it all the way to Bangor before heading back South, and so far, so good. But if someone tells you it’s a MUST that you see Christmas Cove on Rutherford Island, South Bristol, ME, you MUST take a car, NOT a 31′ RV! Just trust me on this one (we didn’t have a tow car at this point).

The weather became very wet and dreary on our return thru New Hampshire and prevented us from taking the tour of the famous White Mountain (6288 feet and highest in northeastern U.S.). Once again, we cut our time in Vermont also, due to the rain and washed out roads. So we had a reservation at a CG in NH area, and upon arrival, we find a very narrow wooden bridge that you have to cross to enter the grounds with swift waters running approx. 6 inches below the surface of the bridge. My heart skipped a beat and Roger stopped the RV. He looked at me and said, “Well, what do you think?” Simply put, I said “NO!” His reply, “Yep, I’m good with that”. So I pulled out the CG directory and started looking for a Plan B! I found only one place within 30 minutes or so on back roads from where we were, and we were cutting it close to running out of daylight. So I made a quick call, they said they were not flooded, and off we went to East Otis, MA. It was a narrow windy drive with a lot of rain and one-lane bridge delays, but we made it just before dark to a place I will never forget! CREEPY CAMPGROUND, here we come!

When I say creepy, I am talking a scene right out of your worst nightmare kind of CREEPY! We had to knock on a door that was locked as we made our way to the front entrance (keep in mind, they knew we were on our way, so why the locked door?), and after knocking a couple of times, finally, we heard someone coming down a flight of stairs to open the door. An older Lady with wiry, un-kept, medium length grey hair, with hard-cold staring eyes, opens the door and stared deep into my eyes, and murmured a hello. I couldn’t hardly speak, but both of us mumbled out a hello in return. She finally opened the door after we told her we had called, and we stepped into a reception area. She walked behind a counter and grabbed a form and a pen to take our information. It was then that Roger asked her where the restrooms were, and she directed him to it (out the back door and to the left). He exits a door out of necessity, and I am left alone with this witchy-looking old lady! She asked me for our address and the words could hardly escape my lips, but I managed to say “Cleveland. Cleveland, OH”. No street name, no street #. Just Cleveland! She stared me down as if she could see the fear now in my eyes. I said nothing more, but I remember that was like the longest pee Roger ever took by my internal clock! Next thing I see, I can never un-see! A truck pulled up near the front entrance and a very large man gets out. He is wearing a bright yellow work vest with a glow-in-the-dark iridescent white stripe, with large stains in the front (appearing to be reddish in color, like blood stains!). He walks in and approaches the Lady from behind me and walks behind the counter to join her, and looks straight at me. His right eye was very noticeably scarred as he peered at me with the left eye sort of squinting. He stood at least 6′ tall with grey, bushy-like hair and spoke a “hello” at me. It was at this moment that the hair on my arms stood up, and I felt as though my legs were noticeably shaking, and I also really had to pee! Roger finally walked back in, saw what he also remembers to be a scary scene from a movie, and put his arm around my shoulder and asked, “how ya doing baby?” I barely muted out “okay“. So Roger takes the registration part from here as I quietly stand there shaking. The “Ogre” as I now call him, asked Roger if we wanted a spot in the back where it’s nice and dry, to which Roger replied, “What about that spot right there” as he points out the window to the very first row of parking with an unoccupied spot. This is where we parked Tin Lizzy for a freaky evening of unidentifiable noises and with questionable safety for the night. We set up by putting out our one slide out, awning out, 2 folding chairs, and I made us two cocktails. It was during this usually joyous occasion that Roger asked me if I was okay. I said “NO” and tears started to well up in my eyes. We talked about calling his daughter to tell her where she could find our bodies if we don’t make it out of this CREEPY place alive. When Roger actually called her, this is the moment that you know if your husband feels unsafe, you have something to be scared about!! WE agreed to eat, sleep and get the hell out of this place first thing in the morning, if we live till then! (Keep in mind, we are in East Otis! There is nowhere else to go or we would have gone!) Even though we were surrounded by other campers, there were no lights on, not a single person outside (because I’m assuming they are ALL dead), yet we hear unexplainable noises throughout the night. Some sounded like fingernails on a chalk board, and I am NOT kidding! BUT, we did survive the night of hell and left as we said first thing at dawn. As we are getting ready to pull away, I made Roger stop so I could take a picture of the place I will never forget. In that moment, Roger looked in his mirror with a strange look in his eye that I caught out of the corner of my eyes. So I too looked in my mirror also to see what he is looking at. And there’s the money shot of the scary movie we are in! An older decrepit-looking, hunched over lady, was dragging two half-full garbage bags, one in each hand, walking towards a dumpster! Holy Crap, get me the hell outta here!!!!

And so I call these our Live and Learn times because we lived to tell this Creepy Campground story to many of our traveling friends. We have learned never to go off the beaten path that far ever again for an over-night stay into unknown territory, or there might not be a next time! I left out the actual name of this CG purposely because I wouldn’t want it to get a bad reputation because of our first impression. Hind-site, my guess would be; they are a very nice old couple and she fell asleep while watching the news about the Hurricane ravaged areas. We woke her up when we came to the door and her husband was out checking for a dry spot for us. The empty campers were probably seasonal campers that left everything to get out of harms way just a week before, during torrential rains. The decrepit old lady that was dragging the garbage bags? Well, I am trying to imagine she was just taking out her garbage and too frail to fill up the bags completely! NOPE! I am sticking to my story and I will give you the name if you want it so I can warn you NEVER ever to go there!!! THE END.

The best part of this learning experience was the words BAR & RESTAURANT on a big roof advertising on West I90, at the exit we got off of, for the last night of our trip! We drove a short distance thru farm areas to “Riverforest Park Campground” (about 64 miles East of Rochester). To my amazement, there was a fabulous bar and restaurant on the premises within walking distance, called Corrado’s! Awesome place with home-made foods and bread, with the friendliest locals to eat with! This one, I do share the info because it was an awesome spot to visit after a near-death experience camping!