Hello, MA!
We meet again...
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Well, we’ve come full circle now.
We left July 14th to start this crazy, fun adventure… and did a massive loop to Texas, Colorado, and now we are back in Massachusetts!
We spent a week in Shelburne Falls at the Country Aire Campground…
which was quite nice as these things go. It’s past “summer season” so during the week it’s very quiet at these various campgrounds, we’ve noticed. That’s nice, as it makes it easier to get work done or just hang out with Penny and do some short walks.
Funny story… one day we went to walk this old maintenance road for an old hydro-electric plant just off of the main drag for Shelburne Falls. It looked to me like we we could walk down a forest path one way, then cut around the back of the power plant and walk back along the access road. Seems reasonable, right?
Turns out that’s not possible. The trail was pretty gnarly and overgrown, and then there was no way around the power plant. I almost tried to do a “jump the fence” move, but in the end we just went back along the forest trail. I had to carry Honey some of the way each way because it was too overgrown.
Kind of a bummer, but still an adventure.
The town of Shelburne Falls has a tourist attraction called the “Bridge of Flowers”. It’s a walking path across the Deerfield River, which separates Shelburne Falls from Buckland, MA, the next town over. BUT: No dogs allowed (-frowny-face-) so we left Penny and Honey in the truck briefly, so we could check it out.
It was pretty cool. The town is tiny and eclectic, like many small towns. We went back for the Farmer’s Market day and bought some locally made products. We walked around enjoying the various town-centric artwork, especially the extremely large trout mural. Very very cool!
We explored some hiking trails in the area and had a wonderful time. At one point we drove up this old, narrow mountain road to see what we could see… only to discover that at the very end of it, it was closed! They were redoing the bridge over a creek and there was no way around…. so we had to turn around and drive all the way back. Ug!
Shelburne Falls is named as such, because of some waterfalls that create these odd rock formations:
We dined at a nice, French restaurant in downtown Shelburne Falls, which was wonderful… intimate atmosphere and great food!
Before we knew it, it was time to move on… to phase two of the MA return… hanging at the Hessions (Melissa’s sister’s family)…
It was a little tricky to get it backed into their driveway and next to their house, but we made it! So we had a place to sit for our second week in MA.
We enjoyed visiting time with some church friends, the Hessions, with Melissa’s parents, and with the Funchions up in Groveland, MA.
We celebrated Pa’s birthday in fine style… thanks Carole for hosting the birthday extravaganza (and making yummy birthday cupcakes!)
Happy Birthday, Pa! So good to spend time with you and Nana and the whole family!
We enjoyed some sunny days with charcuterie (of course!)
and some lovely wine tasting, one of our favorite things to do!]
If you look closely, you’ll see the scab on my (Dan’s) forehead. That was from the bonehead move where I was doing some cleanup in the “garage” and left the cabinet door open up high, then promptly forgot that I had left it open, and when I stood up to walk out of the garage, BAM! smacked my noggin’.
Sheesh!
Also… one more fun story, which I’ll expand upon in upcoming posts…
I decided that the battery in Brinkley, a 200Ah LiFePO3 battery, is just not big enough for our boondocking needs. When we are boondocking (also called “dry camping”… no hookups at all), we are reliant upon the battery to provide power for all the things. However, our fridge is a residential style fridge and a bit of a power hog. We can do 1… maybe 2 days before we have to recharge, usually by running the generator.
I don’t really like having to do that, because I can’t predict when I’ll be in a place where they don’t allow them, or where I’d be annoying camping neighbors by running it (which bugs me). I want to be able to subsist on battery alone for a longer time… 3-5 days if possible.
So… I did a bunch of research, including some long convos with various AI systems, and decided to buy a single 460Ah LiFePO3 battery to put in front of the existing battery. I can’t wire them together because you really shouldn’t have two different batteries (with different amp-hour ratings) in parallel, so I’d just use the new battery and leave the old battery where it is, since it’s pretty securely installed/mounted in the front compartment.
I bought this massive battery and some cables and what-not to hook it up. It’s a beast, but I opted to wait to install it until later. There’s a fun story around this battery, and the install, but you’ll have to wait for a future post!
After two weeks of MA-fun, we said goodbye to our MA family, goodbye to Honey (good doggo/nugget!) and hit the road heading south. We’d managed to time the colors perfectly in MA… gorgeous fall colors all around. Hopefully that’ll hold as we work our way south.
Next stop: Merry merry Maryland!
“Moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:13
Dan & Melissa & Penny & Honey & Clifford & Brinkley
I love seeing all your updates and shenanigans! Love you guys! XO