Hudson River Caravan

On the evening of August 17 we gathered with new and old friends to celebrate the beginning of our Hudson River Valley Caravan. The leaders Andie and Steve Sponenberg and Maxine and George Schremp started us off with a champagne toast to good travels. Then they served a tri-tip and chicken bbq. Humorous self-introductions were followed by the business of reviewing our plans for the next three weeks. We all look forward to a great time.

The Adirondacks

Monday morning we drove to the spectacular Adirondack Mountains. As a mountain snob, thinking anything under 5000 feet is a hill, we were surprised at how beautiful the heavily wooded ranges are. The birch, fir and few maples, though cut down many times, provide dense cover along the road. Every so often we saw an Adirondack chair built for Paul Bunyan or his kin. Other buildings had old ski gondolas as decorations.













Our destination was the Adirondack Museum, a complex of furnished 19th century vacation camps (cabins), a buckboard and carriage museum, boat museum and other small buildings. We watched a boatwright building a beautiful wooden guide boat. The complex hovered above Blue Lake affording a spectacular view. We learned of this outstanding museum from John and Louise, friends we bumped into at the Essex rally and owe them a big thanks for a great recommendation.

Happy Birthday Jerry

Jerry celebrated his birthday with a corned beef and cheese omelette at Sadie Katz’ Diner in Burlington. The diner goes back to the 50s and serves really good latkes with everything.

Our drive from Vermont to New York was through more charming towns and was lovely except for a half-hour-long wait for a signal light after entering NY.

Lake George Escape Campground is huge with over 700 campsites but the individual sites are wooded and quite lovely. The heat and humidity have hit. A walk around the town of Lake George showed us a tourist town lined with restaurants, pubs and shops and people from all over the world enjoying the beach. The parasail rider had a great view of the lake.

Jerry was treated to a great tiramisu for his birthday dessert. Leaving town, we drove around the area viewing some very nice “summer” homes on the lake. Heat and humidity caused fog to settle on the road, quite a puzzlement for those of us who consider fog a winter phenomenon.

Playing Hookey

Saturday we played hookey (no not hockey). We took another volksmarch around Burlington. Another Rver joined us. Lots of people were out enjoying the first really warm day of the summer. The walk took us along Lake Champlain which was dotted with sailboats, across the Univ. of Vermont campus, past more of those charming old houses (one of which was John Dewey’s), and through a great farmer’s market. We rewarded our walking efforts with a luscious lunch at Leung’s Bistro.


One of the special treats we enjoyed was a demonstration by the Colchester Canine Unit. A sweet looking dog found catching bad guys a lot of fun. The demo was quite impressive.


At the evening entertainment we won the award for traveling the greatest distance to the rally. We escaped the entertainment when we found John and Louise Bolton, friends from our caravan in the Maritimes. It was fun to catch up with each other.

We enjoyed our time in Essex Junction, primarily the new friends we made and look forward to seeing them along the road.

Essex Junction, VT

On Friday, while Jerry went off to learn more things about motorhomes, I hung about doing little and enjoying it. We shopped at a Trader Joe’s type market called Mac’s. In the evening we joined a couple dozen members of CHAI for a brief Kabbalah Shabbat, a short service honoring the beginning of the Sabbath. Then we shared an abundant pot luck. The food was good but the conversation better as we met members from Florida, Georgia, all the Northeast. We traveled the farthest and still felt right at home.

What is a Rally

We have been telling you we are at a rally but never said what it really is. For those curious, read on. For those who enjoy the travel sights and commentary, skip this posting.

A rally is basically a convention of Rvers. There are international rallies, area rallies and club rallies. We are at the Northeast Area Rally (NEAR) with about 650 other coaches, mostly people from the northeast or snowbirds who spend part of there time here. We are two of a few from west of the Mississippi.

Our location is the Champlain Valley Exposition where they have electrical power and water hook ups but no dump station, just “honey pot” service.

The daily schedule starts with coffee and donuts (they start this without us). From 9 am until
4 pm there are about three dozen seminars, almost all about various mechanical systems in motorhomes. Obviously, Jerry is having a great time. There are women specific sessions about crafts and womanly duties (actually these can be very informative). We both attended one on fire safety that was outstanding and gave us tips for traveling as well as at home.

The expo hall is filled with vendors hawking RV supplies, clothing, campgrounds, and other appropriate goods.

Because we are with a subchapter (CHAI), we are doing some things together, such as evening wine. We will also have a Chabalah Shabbat (a brief welcoming of the Sabbath) and pot luck.
There is entertainment every evening by singers of local fame.

Like any other convention of like minded people, this is a great opportunity for reunions as well as meeting new people. And like any other convention, there are great things to do and some down time for relaxation.

Mmm, Mmm, Mmm

Twelve of us snuck out of the Rally for a tour of Ben and Jerry’s. Jerry and I had been there before but this time it was teeming with throngs of ice cream lovers. The tour was a kick, corny puns and all; but the best part was watching ten teens dig into a two-gallon tub overflowing with various flavors of ice cream. Oh, to be young enough to join them.