From PEI to NYC to SC....

We blew out of PEI, had enough wind and rain, and drove straight till we hit Saint John, NB. The thing about Atlantic Canada, it’s a pain in the butt to find gas stations, more so stations with diesel, and even better to find one OPEN after midnight. So driving at night doesn’t work so well. Yeah, we stayed the night in an Irving parking lot, had to wait till 6am when it opened. Just as well, it was much better driving the next day, sunny and clear through Maine. We thought it would be a hassle getting through the border but it was just driving through the scan, not even 20 questions, the guy was friendly. We drove through St. Stephen, that’s the way to go, at a border town.
We took a scenic drive down through Maine before meeting up with the I-95. I drove about 10 hours, we bypassed Boston, and found a campground somewhere in Connecticut. I’ll have to look it up. Ok, the name was Highland Orchards Resort Park in North Stonington. Wouldn’t want to be there back in the ol’ witch hunt days I reckon;) Nice spot on a perfect fall day. There was another Escalade camping there, Cat thought that was neat.

Then we hauled onwards to New York. Stopped in Long Island, had some business to attend to. We stayed at Battle Row campground in Bethpage, it takes just under an hour to get to Manhattan on the LI Rail Road from there.  We had a heck of a time getting to the campground…  had to pass through a residential area, along with its 4-way stops, that’s where the signs lead us. Then the signs conveniently disappeared in time for an intersection with a no truck sign pointing straight. As a rule I follow those signs to avoid tricky situations. So we happen upon a sign pointing Battle Row. Well, we see trailers but they are on the opposite side of this fence. And the street is a dead end, no sign or warning, again! Do they believe in signs here? We back it up and circle around to discover the entrance. Guess what… no hookup sites available. Grabbed a dry site then switched to a full hookup the following night.

It was exciting visiting NYC, so much to take in.  We decided to stay around Times Square and stare at the lights, had some food & drink and checked out some shops. We’ll definitely leave more time to check out the sites next time we pass through. When we were leaving New York, we drove the Escalade right through Brooklyn.  Cat really enjoyed that!  As we were exiting the city, a young guy in a van pulled up beside us on the bridge and gave the thumb’s up.
Man, there’s a lot of tolls on the drive south, at least till New Jersey. They really nail you with those extra axles. We stopped at a Flying J in Virginia Tuesday night, and we just had to eat at a Waffle House. Cat loves her grits! We made it to South Carolina yesterday, just to spend a nice turbulent night in Myrtle Beach. Severe thunder storms and tornado warnings.  We were lucky it was only a poor night’s sleep. A tornado touched down in North Carolina, where we had driven through earlier.  Eight people were killed. That’s scary stuff, not accustomed to the extreme storms.
Cat will add her 2 cents shortly on what we’ve seen and done so far on the trek south.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Bryans Journal

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