6. A Few Detours On The Way Home

Day 16: Wednesday, September 19

A pleasant night, low of 60F. Woke up at 6:30 AM but went back and slept for another hour. Bathhouse quite primitive, but the shower worked well. Left at 10:30 AM. Beautiful sunshine, just perfect for exploring off the beaten path. Wandered around Rhode Island for a while, mostly on backroads, many very scenic with fairly little traffic. Following the compass and instincts, sort of ran on and along SR 138, SR 165, SR 49, and SR 14A through Rhode Island and Connecticut. Then took I-395 to Worcester, MA, I-190 to SR 140 and then alternated on SR 2 and SR 2A, following the mostly scenic Mohawk Trail to North Adams.

This municipality, an old mill town, offers the Historic Valley CG, right on Windsor Lake. $25 less 10% for a site with water and electricity. Being the only camper, the office assigned me the prime site, a beautiful spot overlooking the lake.

Spent the late afternoon and evening doing housekeeping chores, eating leftovers, watching TV, and planning my route home for tomorrow's drive.

Drove 225 miles today, was on the road for 5 hours. Bought gasoline for $1.419/gal and got 18.4 mpg on the last tank.

Day 17: Thursday, September 20

I guess it's only fitting that on the last day of this trip I would wake up to cloudy skies and occasional showers. Fifteen days of mostly perfect wheather out of seventeen is really more than what one could hope for.

The shower was a disappointment -- good flow, but lukewarm water. Fixed a big breakfast to empty the pantry, cleaned house, dumped water and grey water, cleaned out the porta-potti and got the van ready for a few weeks of non-camping use. Hit the road at 11:30 AM, heading back to North Adams and SR 2.

Just west of North Adams off SR 2 is a poorly marked road, Notch Road, which leads to the Mt. Greylock Reservation and to the top of Massachusetts' highest peak, Mt. Greylock, 3,487'. The road is very narrow and not suitable for RVs. Because of the low clouds, didn't get to enjoy vistas -- indeed most of the time the road was so fogged in that I could barely make out the yellow center line.

Came down the other side to connect with SR 7 and drove to Pittsfield. From there US 20 and backroads to the Taconic State Parkway. The Taconic normally is a rather pretty parkway, but not in the rain. Connected with I-84, crossed the Hudson, and continued west to Port Jervis and New Jersey. SR 23 some backroads through High Point State Park, and SR 15 brought me to I-80 and home.

Was on the road for 5 1/2 hours, covered 220 miles. Bought gas when I got home for $1.359/gal and averaged 18.1 mpg on the last tank.

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Summary

Was away from home for 17 days. Drove 3,475 miles and used up 203 gallons of gasoline. Total fuel cost was 295, or $1.455 on the average. Fuel consumption averaged 17.1 mpg.

Stayed at 16 different campgrounds at a total cost of $285.

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