New England Trip 2010 (Days 6/7 – July 22-23)

North Truro - Chambersburg

Today was our last day in New England. We left the campground and went to a coffee shop to get some breakfast. We took it our on a small beach we heard about from the campground people – it was in North Truro by the Top Mast hotel. It was so windy and there were no shells or rocks to collect, so we left after we ate.

It was time to start heading home. Since I hadn’t driven yet, I told Doug I’d like to drive off the Cape, so I did. It’s lots of fun driving Sandy – I’m not big on driving the major interstates, so this was perfect. We drove until we got to Clinton, CT – we ate at a restaurant called Aqua. It was nice – we sat at a table overlooking the Clinton Harbor.

We left and drove some more, looking for a campground to spend the night. After unsuccessfully trying to find a campground while it was still light out, we decided we would drive to Hamburg, PA, to Cabela’s and spend the night in their parking lot, which is allowed! :)



We got there around 11 and set up camp! HA! When we woke up in the morning, we thought we should at least go in and take a look at the store. There is lots of cool stuff in there! We ate at Dunkin Donuts, which is right in front of Cabela’s and then drove home!

1,700 miles and lots of fun later, we pulled into our driveway at 11:30AM on July 23rd and ended our first road trip in Sandy! We had so much fun traveling this way and can’t wait for our next adventure! ~Jess

New England Trip 2010 – (Day 5 – July 21)

North Truro, MA

We slept in today – we are amazed at how well we sleep in Sandy – both by the comfort and the quietness in the campgrounds! It might be the fact that we are surrounded by small homes :) on both sides of us and the people just stay inside in the coolness!

We drove into Provincetown (the end of Cape Cod) and went into some of the shops (they have a ton)! It was very hot today! As we drove back toward the campground, we wanted to stop at a couple beaches to do some beachcombing. Unfortunately, you have to have parking permits for most of the beaches on the cape – we didn’t have one and the problem was we really didn’t have time to just chill on the beach, we just wanted to check for shells, rocks, and beach glass. So, we didn’t end up stopping. :(

We wanted to have lobster for dinner...the campground told us about a place down the street where they would steam it for you, so we went there to get some lobsters. Well, when we got there we found out that you had to order them earlier in the day! We knew we probably wouldn’t be able to have it tomorrow, because we would be on our way home, so Doug decided to buy them live and cook them at the campsite! We did bring along everything we needed to do this, we just didn’t really think we would have to. So we got two 1 ½ lobsters and two ears of corn. Doug’s mom had given us an old Coleman type stove – we hadn’t tried it out yet. What a great way to christen it!! It took Doug a while to get it started – I don’t even know the last time it was used. Finally...success! He got a flame! We put water in the big kettle and cooked the corn first. Then it came time to put in the lobsters – I wasn’t really into putting in live lobsters, so Doug did it. Poor little things – of course, I was all about eating them! The guy at the lobster place told us to let the water boil and then cook them for 12 minutes (if it’s 1 ½ pounds). Well, they turned out perfect!! :) What a delicious meal! It’s just like at home – I love just cooking in – and it especially helps when you have a great cook for a husband!












Doug had heard there was good striper fishing on the cape. So, he packed his fishing poles and tackle box in Sandy. He devised a way to pack the poles so they wouldn’t be in our way! The campground has a path to the beach, so we got our stuff and started walking. It was a path through the woods that seemed never ending! We found out later it was a mile (we weren’t really expecting this, so it seemed much longer!) We didn’t have much daylight time to fish because I certainly wasn’t walking back a wooded path in the dark! He fished for about an hour – no luck, so we headed back.









We got showers and then were going to play Backgammon – I remember playing that a lot with my parents when I was a kid. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember the rules so we’ll save that for another time when I have the energy to read and explain all the rules to Doug! We ended up playing War and then off to sleep!

~Jess

New England Trip 2010 – (Day 4 – July 20)

Old Orchard Beach, ME - North Truro, MA Today we headed to Cape Cod for the second reason we came to the northeast – to see Donovan Frankenreiter! So we packed up – we are already getting quick after the second time putting everything away! Doug has figured out a way to put down the top without my help, so I put the other stuff away while he did that. We stopped along the way in Scituate, MA – that was a cute little harbor town with a few shops. We stopped at a bakery and got some goodies then we headed to a little town down the road called Humarock - we got some chowder and sat on the beach to eat it. I picked up some rocks for Katelyn and for our collection. After we left there we also stopped at Plymouth to see “the rock.”









We finally made it to the cape and stopped at a Buddha store (for Doug!) then found a campground called Adventure Bound Camping Resort in North Truro. It was pretty nice – we decided to stay here for two nights – maybe we can relax a bit – we have been doing a lot of driving! We got our bedding ready for the night and then headed for the Beachcomber for dinner and the concert!

Well when we got there we tried to get in but they were closing it until 9:00 to clean up and prepare for the concert. So, we went back to Rt 6 and got a lobster roll at PJ’s Dairy (Duff from Ace of Cakes said this was the best lobster roll he ever ate – you know that show on Food Network?). We took it back to the Beachcomber and tailgated in the parking lot! We got in line when people started coming…it was an awesome concert! Donovan was great and so was the rest of the band – it was a fun time (except for the other people there being rude and spilling drinks on us). We didn’t get home until 1:40 – thank goodness we had our bedding ready! ~Jess

New England Trip 2010 (Day 3 – July 19)

Salisbury, MA to Old Orchard Beach, ME

We both slept very soundly tonight – the “bed” is very comfortable! We are trying to figure out a good way to store everything while we sleep. I’m sure it will come with a little practice and trial and error.

We started today driving north to Maine – it was finally lobster day!! (our first of two reasons for coming to the northeast!) We stopped in Portsmouth, NH, to look at a shop we had liked last time we were in the area. Then we stopped in Dover, NH. I had read about it being a cool small town, but we weren’t impressed. We did find a bakery so got a little something to eat. This is where Sandy comes in handy! It’s fun just eating in her at the little table. We didn’t stay long. Our next stop was in Kittery, ME. We stopped at the Kittery Trading Post for just a little. (It’s a big store kind of like Cabela's).

Next we are off to our favorite place in the world to eat lobsters! It’s called The Lobster Shack at Two Lights. We get there at a perfect time – it’s not very busy! We ordered our lobsters and then immensely enjoyed eating them in a very picturesque location! After that we hung out and took some pics.









So, now we are ready to find a campground for the evening. We find one in Old Orchard Beach, ME, called Hid’N Pines Campground. We get oriented and get our camp set up – pop the top and set up the bed – it doesn’t really take long! :) Then we decide to walk into the town – again not really our kind of beach town. It again reminded us of Ocean City, MD, boardwalk. Huge lightning started appearing so we decide to walk back. It was the biggest lightning I have ever seen – there were streaks across the whole sky! We got back to the campground and climbed into Sandy – we put the pop top down because it started raining. We sat (I must admit, a little freaked out) until the storm was over. I always remember hearing a car is the safest place in a storm – but a car in the middle of the woods with lots of lighting?? Probably not!! Thank goodness it stopped after a while, it was starting to get a little warm inside. We opened the windows back up and popped the top. We wrote out some postcards and went to sleep! ~Jess

New England Trip 2010 (Day 2 – July 18)

Somewhere near White Plains, NY – Salisbury, MA
Well, we woke up around 7:30 – a whole three hours of sleep! We didn’t want to stay at the park-n-ride too long. We went to the nearest Starbucks… not for breakfast, but to wash up and use their wifi (still trying to figure out why a light would just stay on!). Then we went out to the parking lot and had breakfast in Sandy! :)

Our first stop was in Concord and Lexington, MA. I usually like to include some historical adventures on our trips. I love the history and I use the pictures and what I learn to make my teaching more interesting! It was pretty cool. We saw the Old North Bridge where the “shot heard ‘round the world” was fired to begin the Revolutionary War. We also looked at the battlefield and saw a presentation on how the war started (Paul Revere and the minutemen information). Before we toured the battlefield, I was expecting something like Gettysburg, but it’s much more low key. Still interesting. We got a pineapple chicken curry wrap for lunch at the Main Streets Market and Café – they also had some amazing looking pastries and desserts, but we were good and just had the wrap.

Our next stop was Salisbury, MA. We found a campground called Black Bear Campground. This would be our first night at a campsite sleeping in Sandy! We found the site they assigned us to which was between two RVs.
Because we wanted to use electric, they put us in the RV area of the campground. We checked out our site, but then needed some food, so we headed to Salisbury Beach. Let’s just say we weren’t impressed! Imagine Ocean City, Maryland, boardwalk all condensed into about two blocks. Yea, massive amounts of interesting people and glowing neon. Not our kind of beach town! :( We decided to hightail it out of there except got caught in a line of traffic leaving the beach (Sunday night). Oh no, flashbacks to the night before…. We can’t do this to Sandy again! We find a little shortcut road that some people are taking. It does dump us back out into the traffic, but the end is in sight, so we tough it out and so does Sandy. (Did I mention that we haven’t used the A/C all day today? Sandy definitely likes fresh air better!)

We drive south to an area called Newburyport, MA. This was a very cool harbor town, but it was Sunday night so all the shops were closed. There were restaurants open, but we weren’t really in any condition to eat in a nice restaurant! We decided to definitely put this town on our itinerary for another time and headed back to the campground.

We had bought hot dogs and marshmallows with intentions of having a campfire some night. Looks like this was it! We were pretty exhausted but Doug managed to start the fire while I got all the stuff ready. It was dark by now, but we finally got a bite to eat. Then it was off to take a shower – first one of our trip – I know, pretty gross!

We got Sandy ready for a much needed full night of sleep. Doug put the top up for some extra breezes. We have screens for both of the side windows, so it’s pretty comfortable. We got a screen for the back, but we have to put the snaps on ourselves, so we’ll have to save that for the next trip. We sleep on the lower bed, which is very comfortable. After reading the Samba, we bought memory foam to put on top of the seat before putting down the sheets. As soon as our heads hit the pillows, we are out! Good night!

New England Trip 2010 – Day 1 (July 17)

Chambersburg, PA – White Plains, NY

Sorry this is a little later than expected, but we’ve been trying to pack in a lot and get caught up on our sleep (that will be explained in a minute!) We decided to be a bit ambitious…we wanted to leave for the Northeast the day we returned home from the Outer Banks so that we could have as much time as possible for our NE trip. When we got home from OBX, we had to go pick up Sandy who was having some work done including the new wheels and tires. We did that, repacked our suitcases, got some food and we were ready!

So we left Chambersburg at 5:40 and were on our way to a campground. I had found one just outside of Allentown – I thought that would be good because it would still be light out for our first overnight in Sandy. We stopped to eat at a Wendy’s close to Allentown and Doug had a different thought – he said let’s just keep driving for a while longer. We also noticed a Cabela’s where there were some RVs parked that we thought were staying the night. We contemplated that but weren’t sure if you were allowed and plus Doug wanted to get a little further. Ok with me – in fact we even thought that maybe we should just drive as far as possible and just get a hotel for the first night.

Now here is where my next tip comes in….

Tip #2 – When using a Tomtom always look at the directions as text first and make sure it’s the way you want to go.

I’ll explain – I’m rather new to using a Tomtom – in fact, Chelsea let us borrow hers for the trip. When I plugged in Concord, MA (our first stop) it gave me a way shorter time than what I’m used to when going to this area. So I thought, “what the heck, let’s follow the Tomtom’s directions.” Well that was a HUGE mistake! We ended up seeing signs for the Holland Tunnel (yes, the tunnel that goes into NYC)! We never get too close to NYC when going to the northeast. So anyway, Doug is flipping out and I’m trying to find another way to go. Well, we don’t have to enter the Holland tunnel and we end up on the New Jersey turnpike, but it’s the part of the turnpike that is just across the river from NYC.

And then it happens… we get caught in bumper to bumper traffic! Poor Sandy – she’s not used to this – she likes back roads and highways are ok as long as you’re moving. So we are inching along and all of a sudden the motor starts revving – Doug holds the brake and tries to give it some gas, then he tried putting it in neutral and tried the same thing – Sandy was not happy. So then she starts smoking a little. Now at this point we realize too that we are low on gas – great! We can’t see an exit and we are on what are called the upper lanes, so there are no exits on that set of lanes for a while anyway. And to make matters even worse, we see a sign that says “shoulder ends in 100 yards.” At this point we are both pretty much flipping out – Doug keeps trying to fix the problem and I keep saying, “You have to pull over now because soon there will be no shoulder to pull over into!” While we are deciding what to do, I look in the rearview mirror and see Sandy really start smoking. Doug says, “I hope the engine doesn’t catch on fire!” To which I scream, “You have to pull over NOW!” (It is now about 12AM.)

Tip #3 – AAA Plus is a must for older vehicles!

So, Doug does pull over and puts on our hazard lights which don’t actually blink, they just stay on. We had enough shoulder left that the two lanes could still get by, thank goodness! So, I took out my AAA card, which I have never in my life been so happy to have! After a series of phone calls to get the right AAA office, we were told a tow truck was being sent. It actually came a lot quicker than we thought. This guy was amazing – he had Sandy up on the rollback in a matter of 5 minutes and we were off. He was driving on the shoulder, cutting across to the lower lanes, and basically just plowing through the traffic to get us to a repair shop. His comment about driving in the city was, “You have to hate your car.” We thought that was pretty funny! When we got to the repair shop, the guy (who is also a mechanic) told us he would check our transmission fluid (while on our way to the repair shop, he was thinking the transmission might be shot, which made me just want to cry – guess we wouldn’t be eating fresh Maine lobster this summer!). When he checked it he said it actually looked fine and that we should try starting her up and see what happens. So we did and she started up just fine! My take on this whole thing was that Sandy wanted out of the NYC traffic and saw how stressed we both were in that traffic that she decided to get us out of there and the only way to do it was to break down! Doug thinks I’m nuts!

By this time it’s after 1AM. We still haven’t gotten gas so the tow truck guy tells us about a rest stop that’s close. So we go there and realize that our right blinker light will not turn off, even when the key is out of the ignition. So we get gas, and then Doug pulls the fuse that controls the signals, but it stays lit. He tries all the fuses that have anything to do with the lights, but the darn light won’t go off. So we decide to go into the rest stop (they have wifi) and look it up. Well, no luck. So then we get back on the road and drive a little more – what the heck!

At this point we are not sure where to stay. We can’t go into a campground now, and we aren’t experienced enough to know just where we can pull Sandy off and sleep! I do call a Hampton Inn but they say they are full. This happened to us before and they let us sleep in the parking lot (in Doug’s truck – ask Katelyn about that one!). So, I go in to find out if we can sleep in the parking lot, but now she tells me she does have a room for $124.95 + tax. I am not spending that much to sleep for a couple hours – that’s ridiculous that you can’t get a discount when checking in that late! So, we drive on – I find a Wal-mart (some of them let you sleep in their parking lots) on the Tomtom (it is handy for that!), but of course we are in the city of White Plains and I can’t even find the parking lot (it must have been a parking garage). So we drive a little farther and I see a sign on the interstate for a park-n-ride. I have Doug check it out – it looks ok – a couple cars parked there – it will work!

Of course, we still have the issue of the right turn signal light stuck on – Doug is afraid if we let it on that it will drain the battery and it will draw attention to us! So, he figures out how to get these amazingly burning hot bulbs out and finally at 4:30AM we get to sleep.

Not a good start to our trip – but quite a long story to tell!!

~Jess

Sandy gets new shoes

So one thing that we have read and talked to people about is changing out the stock 14” wheels. One of the tires was in poor condition when we purchased her. I know some people go to 16” wheels/tires but I believe there are some trade offs with doing that. I think considering how we are using her a 15” improvement will be great. Then was the question of what kind. I’m the kind of person that loves to have a cool look on my vehicle but I don’t feel like playing around with a bunch of stuff to get there. Basically, I wanted something that had a great look but I could bolt on without spacers or modifications.

I called the guys at van-café.com to get their opinion. They are good guys to work with and know their stuff. After talking with them and much research I decided to go with 4 South African Rhein Alloy wheels and 205/65/15 Nokian WRC tires. The WRC tread is a good all-weather pattern. The nice thing about van-café is that they will send them directly to Denny’s Garage (Our VW mechanic) and they are mounted, balanced and ready to bolt on. All you have to do is remove two small set bolts that hold the drum to the rear hub so that the rim will sit flush. I’m keeping the best original 14” wheel and tire for a spare. As long as you are running a 2wd you can have the difference in size. That way my spare will fit without a problem underneath the vehicle. If you go to a larger size you my have to deal with some slight modifications and a 16” would have to be mounted elsewhere. I don’t want to fool with that.
~Doug

First "Trip" - HA

Well our first adventure was a place not too far from home! We (Chelsea, Doug and me) took Sandy over to Falling Spring Elementary to watch the fireworks!! We got there around 7:30 and parked in what we thought would be an ideal place to watch the show (it was)! We took along Yahtzee – one of Chelsea’s favorite games, so we opened up the table and played! How fun – we didn’t have to sit outside in the heat and have bugs crawling on the blanket and be all hunched over playing! Doug brought in one of our chairs – I sat sprawled out on the bench seat and Chels sat in the far back – we were all very comfy! We had fun playing our game and people watching -always fun :)! There was almost controversy at one point when a lady just decided to lean against Sandy and talk on her cell phone. She obviously didn’t see us in the van, so I got up and sat in the driver’s seat in a way that shook the van a bit. She did move then. Some people just don’t appreciate a classic! When the fireworks started, Chels and I went outside – Doug stayed in his comfy seat inside for a while, then came out with us. The school really is a great place to watch the fireworks and chillin’ in the Westy while we waited made it even more fun! ~Jess

My Westy gets a Name!

So, when we went to pick up the Westy, we asked Colin and Carrie if they named her. We knew she was a she because in one of Colin’s emails, he referred to her that way! :) They said they hadn’t come up with a name for her yet. See, she was destined to be ours! So we discussed a couple names as we drove home from the beach one day. We thought of “Stella,” because it would be fun to say when you were upset with her...Stellllll…llllaaaa. But then we remembered that this was a name Chelsea (our daughter) had picked out to name one of her future children. Her answer when we told her we were thinking of this? “I KNOW you’re kidding.” And if you know Chelsea, you can hear her saying this! :) So we tossed around a couple more, but then came up with Sandy. Now this seems like a rather normal name, but to us, it represents one of our favorite things...sand and the beach. We always have sand in our vehicle – it doesn’t matter what time of year it is, there’s never a time you won’t find at least a speck of sand in each of our cars. If you know us, you know that we would rather be at the beach (pretty much almost any beach) all the time. The second reason Sandy was so perfect is that she is the name of one of my all time favorite movie characters. Give up?? Sandy from Grease!! There’s even a song about her! So, it seemed fitting to name my new Vanagon, Sandy. ~Jess

We got a Westy!

Doug was online 24/7 looking for a play toy. Well he finally found a ’66 bug, bought it and was as happy as a clam. Then he continued looking for vehicles…hmm…what now? A car for me – or so he said! Since I gave my car to my daughter, I had no “official” car to drive. Well, when Doug showed me one VW bus after another (on thesamba.com ), I fell in love with them. A hotel on wheels! Doug and I love to travel, but hate to pay outrageous hotel rates, and if you don’t pay the price, you “pay the price!” We’ve been in some pretty interesting rooms. So, the idea of having my own “hotel” and my own stuff really intrigued me! So, Doug would show me different VW buses and they were all so cool! I loved the look of the bay windows, but the convenience and updated features of the Vanagons. I had never driven one, and that worried me about buying one without driving it (by the way, it had to be an automatic). That, of course, drove Doug crazy because he had just bought his bug from California and wasn’t able to test drive it.

Well, he finally found “THE ONE” – it was about three hours away in Richmond, Virginia. He started communicating with the owner and we decided to travel down to see (and drive) it. Oh, what fun it was to drive! And oh how clean it was inside! I was sold basically from the minute I looked at it! We found out the owners, Colin and Carrie, were selling it because they were upgrading to a Syncro because they were going on a year or two long adventure to Argentina! (Wow, to be that adventurous!) They had only bought it 6 months ago from California. We looked at it one week and bought it the next! (We also discovered a neat little area in Richmond called Carytown with unique shops and restaurants – Ellwood’s Coffee was an all organic coffee shop/deli we really enjoyed!)

When we went to pick up my new Westy, we were all (owners and us) shocked to find a small fuel spot under it! Colin told us how he had just topped off the fuel. What had happened was the hose to the expansion tank had broken and because the fuel tank was so full, some of the fuel had leaked out. Colin was sick about it and in fact, made sure we still wanted to buy it. (He and his wife were so genuinely nice and honest. We really appreciated it!) Well I wasn’t about to leave without it! I couldn’t wait to get it home and show it off to everyone! So Colin called his VW guy and Doug called ours and they figured out a way to get us home!! (Colin spent over an hour under the Westy in 90 degree heat fixing it!) Hopefully Doug was paying careful attention! Before we left, Colin gave us a small tool kit he always kept in the van and a quick lesson on how to patch up a tire! (Oh, and he also told us to call when we got safely home!)

Tip #1 – Invest in the Vanagon Bible, so you can fix most mechanical issues on your own! (Well, maybe!)

Doug drove it the first hour home to make sure everything was ok. We stopped at a Tropical Smoothie, got a smoothie, of course, and made the switch! My turn to drive!! In our hour of standing there while Colin fixed the Westy, Carrie was giving me some advice and one thing she talked about was “Westy time.” She said that on their drive back from California they only passed three vehicles, and one had their four ways on! She said the highest they would drive it was around 60. So, that’s exactly what I did, much to Doug’s dismay, as he followed me in the Yukon. He said at times he was ready to give me a bump and push me along! I was just having so much fun driving it! I had the windows down – there is A/C but I didn’t really want to use it. When you put the two armrests down, you can just rest your arms and put your hands on the wheel to drive. I do not really enjoy driving long distances – I get so tired, but with this it was just a ton of fun!

I went out the next morning and looked at my “new ride” parked in the garage. I decided I would clean it up a bit. Remember me saying it was so clean inside? Well I brought out a vacuum cleaner to clean it and let’s just say I didn’t really suck much up! It was so clean! Anyway, I did that and then washed the windows. Doug really got a kick out of all this, because I NEVER am one to clean cars. In our family, he takes care of that! He said, “I can tell you really like this Westy!”

So, this week I am taking it into our VW shop to get new fuel lines. I just started reading the Samba forum and if it’s one thing I already learned, it’s to change the fuel lines when you get a Westy! I’m going to get a brake fluid flush and a state inspection. Hopefully they won’t find too much more wrong with it at this time, because my husband has also been reading the Samba forum (and everything else on there!) and he read how we should get 15 inch wheels and tires (not the cheap ones either). So he is checking on that, so we can get them and then begin on our Westy adventures!!

~Jess