Friday, July 26
From Partridge Hollow to Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania. We tried to get an early start but needed to wait until 9 to have someone open the gate to the dump station. It turned out the office staff wasn't available and we could have asked the maintenance guy, who was out and about at 8:30. But we weren't delayed by much.
The short drive through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and then Pennsylvania turned out much longer than expected. Partly because I'd planned to get gas on the previous day but forgot, so we had to get it this day. It turns out that we can comfortably go 450 miles on a tank with the generator running and with idling the motor during setup, dumping, and tear-down. That leaves a quarter of a tank for emergencies and stupid road construction slowdowns.
When we arrived at the park, we tried to use the water fill station at the visitor center/checking place, but it had no water pressure. We later found out that it was only for filling water bottles, not RV tanks. Panic ensued, but we went on the the campground where the official water fill stations were scattered about, and there we found decent pressure. The only problem is that while we were filling, we had to sit in the middle of the road idling the engine and blasting diesel exhaust at a dozen other campers, plus blocking the road if someone needed to drive by. That is the most idiotic setup I've ever seen.
Then when we finally got to our site, we discovered a water fill station within reach of our long hose. it was not on the map!
Need to write a review and note this, plus that we're in site 2, Deerfield loop (?) Very, very crowded. Last week in July on a Friday evening and we're close to Hartford and other big cities. So what did I expect?
Not all that noisy. Lots kids on bikes but so far, not a lot of noisy drunk adults. Ranger cruised through once that I know of. But still, it's like camping in a city apartment complex without walls. No birds AT ALL.
And the rest of the camping turned into a disaster. The site is down at the end of the area and should be perfect for taking Molly for a walk....except I couldn't. The area is divided into halves, pet and no pet, and the only walk we could possibly take went right past dozens of other sites with dogs, mostly tied up but not all. We tried a different route and encountered a small girl with a dog on a leash, alone. Probably okay but not worth the risk.
So we meandered around in the woods and walked the 30 foot stretch of road up and down right beside our motorhome. Poor Molly. And poor me--after all the stress and aggravation of the last few days, I couldn't even take a long walk with my dog.
I wrote:
If the Jeep had been unhooked I'd have driven her to the lake and went for a walk there. But it's not worth the trouble for just one night. Can't wait until tomorrow, when we can leave. I hate this place. Pennsylvania sucks. After three days of long confinements, Molly must be in agony. The KOA tomorrow has a dog park. A tiny one but relatively unused. Plus we can walk down the road.
Things to be happy about:
1. People camping here seem to be friendly and nice, and almost all have their dogs tied up.
2. It's pleasantly cool--I'm sitting outside in a hoodie and light sweatpants, and only a little cold.
3. It's not raining.
4. We were able to fill our tank from the water fill, although we stopped at 1/3 full because it was taking too long. But that's really all we needed.
5. We get to leave tomorrow.
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