With our van in much better shape, we pulled out of the campground fairly early to start heading for home.  The plan was for the Rabideaus to follow us for a while so that if we had any problems they would be there to help.  We didn’t get ½ mile down the road when a bungee cord flew off the kayaks, so we pulled over.  They seemed to be OK without that particular bungee, so we kept going.  Charlie and Tom had worked on the kayak rack so the kayaks were riding on top of the van instead of inside the camper.  For a little more background on our difficulties with the van, we had been having problems with a fuse blowing fairly often.  This fuse controlled the right turn blinker and was also apparently linked to the electric brakes on the camper.  Therefore, every time this fuse blew, we didn’t have any brakes working on the camper.  Charlie and Tom had worked on this multiple times, but it was still a problem here and there.  So, we finally made it to the interstate when Kathy calls me to say that we don’t have any brake lights working on our camper.  We still had brakes, so that was a relief, but we pulled over anyway to discover that the electric hookup had just come loose.  We continued back down the road when Charlie looked in his rearview mirror and discovered that the Rabideau’s awning kept coming out a foot or two, so we all pulled over to re-attach their awning.   Is this becoming comical yet?

Kathy and I settled on a route that would take a little longer so that we could see the more northern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont.  We were having a nice ride through Maine and New Hampshire.  We stopped for gas, and I finally bought the kids whoopee pies (a Maine treat).  We drove to a town park for lunch and play.  We even stopped at a small roadside overlook to get out and stretch for a little while.  The views at the overlook of the Androscoggin River were gorgeous.

The Androscoggin River

Enjoying a road-side park overlooking the Androscoggin River (just try to ignore Dominic in this picture 🙂

Ben climbing a tree at one of our stops.

I spent most of the drive staring out the window looking at the views and hoping I would see a moose.

The only “moose” I was ever fortunate enough to see on this trip. Well, I’ll always have my moose in the Grand Tetons!

I felt so blessed to be seeing a large bit of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont since we had been forced to stay in the campground for 4 days without doing the sightseeing I was used to.

We were having to pull over here and there to replace the fuse to keep the camper brakes working, but it wasn’t too often.  After we entered Vermont, we stopped at a Welcome Center and then separated from the Rabideaus.  We were hoping to drive to Burlington, VT for the night.

While we were at the Welcome Center, I came across a brochure that I thought would be a treat for the kids.  A certain Vermont ice cream company had tours still running into the evening.  It was on our way, so we decided to stop and have a little fun time out of the van.  We pulled into the Ben and Jerry’s factory and parked.   There was a playground that the littles immediately ran for.  We brought out dinner to the picnic tables so that we would eat dinner before dessert 🙂  We had fun on the quick tour and of course appreciated the sample we received at the end.  At almost $4.50 for a small scoop, we decided not to purchase ice cream there.  The sample was enough.

When Isaac and Damien stuck their heads through, Ryon began gently “slapping” them. I lauged as this looked like a game of “Whack-a-Mole”!

In the end we decided that we didn’t really need to go further that night.  If we kept driving to our destination, it would be really late by the time we got there and there weren’t any WalMarts to stay at in between.

Damien was really excited about this sunset we saw while driving.

We pulled into a WalMart in Berlin, VT and settled in for the night.  Since we were there a little early, we let the kids watch a movie on my computer, and Charlie and I sat outside in the cool air just quietly talking.  It’s nice to find that we can still catch a little time here and there for just the two of us when we are travelling with everyone.  Tomorrow would be a hard day of driving toward home.

Blessings,

Rebecca