The Peregoy Travco goes to New England...

Having grown up in a military family, I was able to see most of this country while we traveled in a camper.  I saw all the famous sites, major National Parks, and breathtaking views.  Along the way, I collected a treasure of family memories.  I wanted my children to have that same experience.  Hence, our Travco adventure began.  This is another installment of our Travco Trails... 

        We started out early Sunday, July 1.  Our first day of driving took us to Orange, Virginia, where we stopped for the night at my parents house.  They had their motor home ready to go.  Our travel team now consisted of myself, my wife, four of our boys, my mom and dad, my brother, my sister, and her infant son.  The boys spent the afternoon fishing with granddad.  We set out at 6 AM the next morning heading for Massachusetts.  I'm usually one to leave very early since waking up at that time doesn't bother me.  So 6 AM was later than normal for me.  On this day, we would knock off the "big city" travel.

        We headed north-east through Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Trenton, and New York City.  In Philadelphia, we took time to tour Independence Hall.  The sites and weather were wonderful.  The Independence Hall tour was somewhat boring.  Back on the road, and headed for New York City.  Now, you have to understand that we didn't time our arrivals before we left.  As our fine luck would have it, we hit NYC at the 5 PM rush hour (although I've heard that any time between 6 AM and 10 PM is rush hour).  Yes, we were stuck in the traffic going across the Washington Bridge with a few million other happy motorists.  Some honked and some waved with one finger at our Travco hulk.  But I learned a long time ago to just sit back, relax, and you'll get through it.  Sure enough, we did fine, and without any bumps or being bumped into.  Now if you are new to RV driving and don't have that "feel at the wheel" of your Travco dimensions, this would not be a good first trip.

        The time setbacks of these traffic delays in these cities had us traveling for 14 hours (way too long) and we stopped for the night in Connecticut.    

Our next day's plan was to travel to Gloucester, Mass, so we didn't have too far to go.  We left and headed towards Plymouth.  That was pretty cool, even though everything you see is not original.  Well, maybe the rock.  We saw the Mayflower II.  There was plenty to do and tours to take.  The "rock" was actually a stepping stone the size of a bed, used to jump off the boat and onto dry land.  I never knew that.  Onward and upward through Boston to Gloucester.  We had plans of stopping at the Salem Witch Museum but we had to be at the camp site by 4 PM to keep our reservation.

        Our camp site for the night was very nice.  My water hose kept popping off - I guess they had great water pressure.  We went out to eat at "Lobsta Land."  Let me tell you, we had some good eats!  We headed down to the docks that evening to watch the fireworks display.  The kids loved it, although we sent my brother back to the RV to get some coats.  It was rather chilly down on the water.

        The next morning, we toured Gloucester, which was where my mother spend her summers during her childhood years.  It is a very picturesque town.  The Fisherman's Memorial, and son-to-be-unveiled Fishermen's Wives Memorial was meaningful and moving.

        We left Gloucester, traveled back to Salem, which was only a few miles out of the way, and toured the Museum.  That was very interested and dispelled some folklore and myths.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch in Washington Park across the street from the Museum.  We headed north to Maine.

        We arrived at dinner time.  Acadia National Park was beautiful.  My wife took many pictures from the co-pilots chair, which she did during this entire trip.  Sure we stopped a good bit, but she enjoyed her photo fun.  I used the digital camera.  She got her nine rolls of film developed the day we got back.  Anyway, I'm jumping ahead.  We set up the RV, camp lights, and grilled out.  It was very relaxing, and again, a little cool.  

        We toured the island in the morning.  The fog had set in so we didn't get the panoramic view, but it was still pretty.  We even drove down to the  lighthouse on the south tip, although RV's aren't supposed to go down that road.  We, uh, didn't see the sign.  Yeah, that's it.  Finished touring, and mailing some postcards, we headed for a long days drive.

        This day would take us all the way to Ticonderoga, New York.  The roads were reasonable, although some areas had major work and one lane traffic.  The mountains in Vermont were great to see and photograph.  The climbs weren't too bad, although one hill left up pushing the pedal to the floor.  I noticed afterward that she felt and little funny and the gas pedal didn't respond the same way.  We arrived in some town, where I slowed to stop at a traffic light.  My Travco stalled.  Knowing my baby well, I knew the float or float needle was stuck.  Either old gas or sitting up without a hard drive had gummed up the carburetor.  In traffic  on a two lane street, I needed a quick solution.  I opened the dog house, removed the air filter, and using the wooden handle of a hammer, tapped on the carburetor housing.   I just needed to knock the stuck needle loose.  She fired right up and never did it again.  Away we went having only spent 2 to 3 minutes halting traffic.  At right, our youngest son, Jonah, is calling "Bluebird."  Our Travco is named "Bullet."  Having watched daddy call Bluebird so many times, Jonah jumps into the driver's seat during one of our stops and wants to use the CB radio.

        We arrived at Ticonderoga too late to tour it.  The park closed at 6 and we arrived at 6:30.  Bummer!   Heading from the park to our camp area, about 5 miles away, we encountered the steepest and longest climb.  I didn't floor it, but got down to about 30 MPH and let her climb.  That camp site was also great.  It had no hook-ups, as did none of the other RV camp sites in the area.  We ran the generator for a while and set the batteries to "house."  It was a relaxing evening and we grilled out again.

        We planned to leave early in the morning for Niagara falls.  We set out at 4 AM, but the other RV, a-hem, got lost in the park.  We went back and fished her out.  We easily drove to Niagara and arrived at lunch time.  Along the way, our engine went from the normal steady purr, to a sudden loud roar.  I knew it was the exhaust so we stopped at the next rest area.  Sure enough, the weld between the exhaust manifold and the tail pipe before the muffler had broken.    I knew my muffler was new and the muffler strap was new so I wasn't worried about the tail pipe hitting the road.  We used tin snips to cut a patch from a piece of metal funnel.  We wrapped it tightly with baling wire that we happened to have on board.  In retrospect, a soup can would have been fine.  This didn't take long and she wasn't very loud afterwards.  

     Niagara Falls was probably the highlight of the trip.  The KOA was a nice park site.  With time to burn, I stopped at a NAPA a few miles back and bought an exhaust pipe repair tool.  It is a metal band about 4 inches wide that wraps around the pipe and bolts tight.  Ah, much quieter and able to get us home.

        We walked to the Falls, which is not to be underestimated since RV parking is a ways away, and toured everything.  The kids enjoyed "walking" into Canada.  Our driver's licenses were all that was required, but some people tell me you better have your children's birth certificates with you.  We took many pictures.  It was great, we timed it perfectly, and we saw it all.  We had reservations, a must, for diner in Skylon Tower.  The restaurant revolves so you see everything.  A great dinner and a few hundred bucks later (ouch), we walked down to the observation area to see the Friday night fireworks.  Awesome!  We walked back to the RV parking and waited for my brother and sister to arrive.  And waited.  And waited.  OK, the search party was dispatched.  An hour later, they called from a hotel about 2 miles away.  They got lost.  We picked them up and were ready to bed down at 1 AM.

        So, 5 AM came early as the trip was coming to an end and we were headed home.  We drove 11 hours that day and camped in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.  I noticed a few hours earlier that she seemed to bounce a little more on the front and I was getting a thud sound under the driver's seat.  I pulled over and, surprise, surprise, the shock absorber bolt had broken off at the top.  The shock was banging into the wiring going to the battery selector knob.  Concerned about that, I removed the shock.  After camp was set up, I used the extra bolts we purchased from our Grand Canyon trip to fix the shocks.  It did fine the rest of the way home.

        Our final day, we left around 5 AM and arrived home about 3 in the afternoon.  It wasn't that far to travel, but we had stopped for a big breakfast and then stopped to have lunch with my wife's parents in Montgomery, Alabama.  We arrived in Lanett, Alabama at just after 3 PM.  

        I know it sounds like we drove constantly, but such was not the case.  We had a lot to see and a long ways to go.  I always wake up very early, drive till just after lunch, and then we have the rest of the day to play, tour, relax, or whatever.

        This had to be our best trip ever.  We saw so much, enjoyed some of our country's history, had perfect weather, and saw it all from the comfort of our Travco.    After relaxing a bit, we emptied her of our travel goods  and then cleaned and vacuumed my Travco.  She only burned 2 quarts of oil and got a surprising average of 7.4 MPG.  She's ready to go again... and so are we!

PROBLEMS

Fuel Needle Sticking - we just tapped on the carburetor to un-stick the needle.  Fuel additive may have helped but I didn't use it.

Exhaust Pipe Breaking - we made a patch from a piece of metal, although a soup can would have been better.  I had some baling wire on hand so she did fine until I purchased a repair part that evening.  The repair part was a metal band that wrapped around the pipe and bolted together.  These come in the exact size of your pipe and aren't easy to install.  Getting the band tight enough so you could line up the holes was a challenge and took a while.

Shock Absorber Bolts Breaking - I had extra bolts on board from previous breaks.  I now wonder if the correct shocks are on.  I'll check that out but am looking for suggestions.