Launching Earth Shuttle COLUMBIA and DISCOVERY

             Our new 2013 T@B Teardrop Camper

We eagerly awaited the scheduled departure for New England in our new T@B camper. 

Leaving Georgia on September 3rd, we headed up The Blue Ridge Mountain Pkwy ...... travel with us on a day by day basis and see a glimpse of our new adventure. Keep in mind that all of the places we visit will be shown in full HD on the Travels with Yoly channel after we return and do final editing. To access the video channel, just input ....

www.youtube.com/user/travelswithyoly

DAY 1  -  Traveling north on the Blue Ridge Pkwy, we settled in for our first night at Raccoon Holler Campground.

Filming the sunset

Downloading video and sending emails

DAY 2 - Continuing up the Blue Ridge Mountain Pkwy, we reached the end and stayed at Stoney Creek Campground in Greenville, VA.  Here we ran across another older T@B in the campground but the owner was not there that evening. You can see Columbia's older brother in the video when it's posted on the TwY channel.

Another nice campsite

DAY 3 - We traveled up Skyline Drive in Virginia heading for a fellow T@B owner in Sterling VA. who offered us Boondocking privileges at his house beside T@Bpole  ..... Nathan's wife Becky loves frogs much the same as Yoly and her collection was impressive.

Nathan & Becky and Yoly & Neil

Oh Dear

COLUMBIA & T@Bpole

DAY 4 - Lackawanna State Park
Drove across the panhandle of Maryland into Pennsylvania and just north of Scranton, found beautiful Lackawanna (where the lakes come together) State Park. Here we had a nice campsite and shot lots of video of Lake Lackawanna.

Watching Independence Day on the PS3

Our extended couch where we watched the movie

Another nice campsite

Yoly having her morning oatmeal

Getting better at backing COLUMBIA into the spaces

DAY 5 - Royal Mountain Campground - Johnstown, NY.
Putting Pennsylvania behind us, we crossed into New York through Binghamton and then headed east to the gateway to Adirondack State Park.

View from our window

Black bean soup on the stove & Shrimp Scampi in the microwave

                                         Dinner time

DAY 6 - Adirondack State Park

This is one of the most diverse and beautiful State Parks you will ever see. Dense thick forests scattered with dozens of the most beautiful crystal clear lakes we've ever seen. Classic beauty of the most awesome kind. The best part of the day was meeting Bob and Colleen who stopped to ask if they could take a picture of Columbia. The conversation led us to mutual interests and they invited us back to their beautiful lakeside home on Lake Piseco. We met Bob's dad and chatted for hours. We had a wonderful time and made some new friends .... the best part of traveling. Being behind schedule now, we headed north to the Canadian border where we were within eyesight of the border crossing as we crossed over Lake Champlain into Vermont. We took Hwy 2 south down through a chain of islands running through the middle of the giant lake. Water on both sides, beautiful homes and a gorgeous sunset that we couldn't capture because we had to get to our next campground before dark. Stay tuned as we feature the Apple Island Resort in the next issue.

Bob & Colleen and Yoly & Neil

US Border crossing from Montreal

North Hero, Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain, Vermont

DAY 7 - Apple Island Resort

We followed Route 2 down through a chain of islands in the middle of Lake Champlain to South Hero, VT. Here we found Apple Island Resort, a beautiful, spacious, friendly RV park at the tip of the southern most island, where we were given a site with an unobstructed view of Lake Champlain. I can't say enough about this place ..... rolling green grassy hills, spacious sites with a variety of hook-ups, a beautiful recreation facility and pool, clean restrooms and showers and best of all, reliable WiFi. We decided to stay here for 2 nights to get caught up and relax. The view from Columbia is so beautiful and peaceful.

  

Apple Island Resort Marina

View from Columbia

Yoly celebrates a nice hot shower

And her morning oatmeal

The old man is enjoying some also

Yoly makes a new friend

Look how much space Columbia has to himself

Library and available PC inside recreation building

One of two laundries

Really nice, clean hot showers

It looks like we'll be dodging thunderstorms for the next 3 days ..... stay tuned for some adventures from New Hampshire tomorrow :-)

Day 8 - We had intended to visit Franconia Notch State Park in NH from Apple Island Resort but as we awoke to rain and I had to break camp in the rain, I was quite soaked by the time I got back in the truck. As we headed through Burlington the rain started to pelt down with ferocity and we were swamped in spray and mist. The forecast was more of the same, so we decided to head north east until it either stopped raining or we got to the coast and then make camp. As it turned out we got as far as Madison, Maine where it stopped raining and we turned into Jellystone Park to spend the night with Yogi & Boo Boo.

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resort

If this is the Shuttle .....

Then this must surely be "The Mother Ship"

Quite a contrast ...
 the owner told me that he could fit Columbia inside his living room

Tomorrow, the coast of Maine ......

Day 9 - Sunset Point Campground ....
Today we made it to the coast of Maine and chose a site north of the Bar Harbor area up in Harrington. It was recommended by Dan, who stayed here on one of his trips "cove hopping" as he put it. It certainly didn't disappoint. It is far enough off the beaten path that it is quiet and less costly than the heavily visited Bar Harbor campgrounds. In fact, as a Passport America member, we paid $15 for the night and another $18 for 2 lobsters to be cooked and delivered to Columbia. It is however, much more populated than expected. All the waterfront sites were taken but we have a nice site near the restroom / shower house and have met many friendly neighbors. Walking around the small facility shooting video, there are beautiful views of the water and a floating dock where you can tie up your kayak. You do have to watch the tides though as the dock goes aground at low tide. Hope you enjoy Sunset Point Campground :-)

One of our friendly neighbors

Steamed and delivered to our T@B for $9.00 each

Yoly likes what she sees :-)

Day 10 - We awoke the next morning to low tide and what a tide it was ..........

We stopped at a road side eaterie for lunch

Our first ever "Lobster Roll"

More sights from the coast of Maine tomorrow :-)

Day 11 - Bar Harbor Campground
The WiFi here has a strong signal with instant connection. However, the package they purchase from their ISP is so minimal that the measured download speed is 0.65 Mbs. Nothing of any size such as a picture goes anywhere so there won't be any updates until Sunday when we change campgrounds.

Free isn't free if it doesn't work worth a darn !!!

While we were camped here, Yoly and I were guest hosts on Brooke Folk's radio show TearDropTrailer Radio. It was a fun and novel experience for us sharing our travel and lifestyle adventures with listeners from around the world. If anyone wants to listen to the 1 hour program, just copy and paste the link below into your browser:

http://talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=780967&cmd=apop

Day 11 - Bar Harbor, Maine

Day 12 - Bar Harbor and Lamoine State Park, Maine

T@B Cooking 
with Arnold Schwarzenegger

A couple evenings ago Arnold dropped by Columbia and gave us a demonstration of how to cook T@B Tuna (I hope you find him as amusing as Yoly did)

Day 13 - Mount Desert Narrows Campground .....
As you can see, we had our choice of several nice water view sites but we chose the one closest to the WiFi Hotspot for obvious reasons (3.6 Mbs)

Some friendly neighbors from Quebec

Acadia National Park

As luck would have it, there were 3 major cruise ships in port this weekend and both Bar Harbor and Acadia NP were packed to capacity. We've never seen a National Park so crowded. Every parking lot at every stop of note was over-filled and people were parking along the road next to the signs saying "No Parking on Road". It was a beautiful sunny day and we got tons of great video in spite of the crowds.

                  More from Bar Harbor  (Day 13)

View from our table @ low tide

Through the glass from our table

Another shot through the "looking-glass".

Double shot of Maine's primary export

Day 14 - Schoodic Point (Acadia National Park)
Rainy day, low tide and dropping temps didn't keep us from exploring the surrounding areas.

Day 14 - Cadillac Mountain Sunset
Gusts to 30 mph and 45 degree temps didn't keep us off the mountain. The video of the sunset is awesome.

       

 Cadillac Mountain Sunset - Time Lapse 

The last 35 minutes of the sunset, compressed into 2 minutes. For those that don't know .... Cadillac Mountain is found in Acadia National Park and it is the highest point in the state of Maine.

Video taken September 17, 2013

Day 15 - Fort Knox State Park ..... Bucksport, Maine

Another typical Government project ... nearly one million dollars was spent to build Fort Knox. Congressional appropriations were sporadic and construction continued for 25 years. When work finally stopped in 1869, the fort was still not completely finished. All the granite was quarried from Mt. Waldo, about 5 miles upriver from the fort.

View from the fort looking across the Penobscot River at Bucksport

Bucksport, Maine

Front entrance

One of the smaller 10 inch cannons (bore diameter)

10 inch cannon balls

View of the Officer's Quarters

Beautiful suspension bridge leading to Fort Knox State Park

Tour allows you to look out from one of the bridge towers

Day 15 - Moose Point State Park
We stopped for lunch at a nice little day use only State Park along Hwy 1

Day 15 - Camden Hills State Park .... Camden, Maine
One of only two state parks in Maine with electric and water hook-ups. A really nice friendly park with an "auto-road" to the top of Mt. Battie with spectacular views of Camden Harbor and Penobscot Harbor.

View of Camden Harbor from Mt. Battie

Our next door camping neighbors Ron & Sylvie were the best neighbors you would want. Not only were they open to giving us unlimited access to their luxurious space age Alto Teardrop, we shared many stories sitting around their campfire at night while we watched Travels with Yoly videos on our 32 inch "big screen" :-)  We've seen the Alto before but I got to really get a feel for it. It is spacious and has an open feeling to it and the ability to walk around inside and customize the entire seating arrangement is awesome. Ron told me that there is a 1 year wait list to get one of these beauties.

Notice the spare tire location

External access storage

Large windows all around provide very open & airy feeling inside

Mounting location for the awning poles. This whole panel tilts forward when you collapse the roof

Proud owner and super-nice guy, Ronald

Now that's a view

Hanging out with our new friends Ronald & Sylvie

Watching Travels with Yoly

The aluminum frame and composite structure keep weight down to a minimum, weighing only 330 lbs more than Columbia. This aerospace technology also comes at a price (twice that of Columbia).


Yoly and I decided to splurge a little so we went down to the Waterfront Restaurant in Camden Harbor and had a nice meal watching the boats go by .......

Day 16 - Ne're Beach Family Campground 
                Port Orchard, Maine

As we were approaching our time restraint for the trip, we decided to head to another destination that we had wanted to visit, Cape Cod. I planned to go through the Boston area at mid-day if possible to avoid the rush hour type congestion, so we spent the night in a "staging" campground just north of Boston. It was a "Passport America" member so we thought we'd save some money (Full hook-up with Cable for $25). It was a strange place .... the owner spoke with a French accent and called it "Little Quebec". Most of the signage was in both French & English while quite a bit of it was in French only. It was the most run down campground we stayed in the whole trip, yet it had the best Wi-Fi of any campground also (6.80 Mbs). Old Orchard Beach is home to a large amusement park on the beach with lots of eateries and souvenir shops but most of it was closed because the season had ended.

No soap in restrooms

We passed on the showers

Toilets were clean

Day 17 - Campers Haven Carefree RV Resort
               Dennisport, MA.

We took the loop by-pass around Boston thinking that once we got out on the Cape, the traffic would thin out and we'd be in a natural environment .... WRONG 
There was tons of traffic (and construction) everywhere. Cape Cod is just another suburb of Boston apparently with all the associated congestion. When I commented about this to the lady at the tourism office, she laughed and said that "this was nothing ... you ought to see it in season ... nothing moves". In any case, we stayed at a huge RV park with a private beach (again, Passport America - $22) and spent 2 days shooting video along the coast including several lighthouses and the original Marconi Site (which technically, isn't there anymore).

There is no cod fish in Cape Cod, only haddock. And fish & chips automatically comes with onion rings as well.

Harwich Port

Chatham Lighthouse - Active Coast Guard Station

Chatham Beach - The large sandbar offshore wasn't there 4 months ago ... that's how quickly the coastline there changes.

Shooting video of the sunset from the campground's private beach

I set the camera up to shoot the sunset at the end of a rock jetty which was covered in beautiful algae. Beautiful, but awfully slippery !

At the exact moment that the sun set, the full moon rose 180 degrees opposite to the sunset. The sunset picture and these moon pictures were taken minutes apart.

Day 18 - Cape Cod National Seashore

We spent the next day shooting video of the lighthouses and beaches along the National Seashore.

Nauset Lighthouse

Plaque at the Marconi Site

Seashore at the Marconi Site

When they say that they moved the site, they basically disposed of it.

These fragments are all that is left from the original structure

Highland Lighthouse

I shot a lot of video from the top - courtesy of the $4.00 self-guided tour.

Lighthouse lens

END OF JOURNEY

We left Camper's Haven at 6:30 pm planning to take Interstate 95 back down the coast and pass through the congestion of New York, Baltimore and DC during the night time hours. Everything was going to plan until we were approaching the tunnels under Baltimore Harbor and realized that the "No Haz-Mats Allowed" signs included Propane tanks so we made a hasty exit just before the tunnel check points. This put us in a very shady part of town and we had to find our way through the inner city and ghetto to pick up Interstate 95 on the other side of the harbor. I was grateful that it was 4 am in the morning. Not something that we enjoyed certainly ! Then we faced torrential rains coming across South Carolina where Interstate traffic slowed to 40 mph and you couldn't see 2 cars ahead of you.

We arrived home at 10 pm the next night (27.5 hours - Cape Cod to Dawsonville, GA.), covering exactly 3,981 miles for the excursion.

Always good to be home. Columbia never faltered nor left us wanting in any manner. He was completely reliable with all systems functioning perfectly. The propane furnace got us toasty in 38 degree weather in a matter of minutes. Rambo pulled him like he wasn't even there averaging between 12.5 and 14 mpg. We learned a lot about how to create the ritual of setting up and tearing down. We drove off without our nice door mat and I forgot to put the cover back on the grey-water drain outlet which meant the tether wore through and now it's MIA !  Such are the lessons in life. We gave an average of 3 tours a day for the T@B and heard the word "cute" so many times, I was greatly relieved to finally hear one lady describe Columbia as "cool" !  We made friends with strong connections that we will keep in touch with, all as a result of having such a "cute" and "cool" little tear drop.

Can't wait to plan the next trip to the Florida Keys in January, the coldest month in Georgia.

Don't forget to check 

www.youtube.com/user/travelswithyoly

in a few weeks for all the HD videos chronicling this fun adventure.

Till next time,

Neil & Yoly