FIRE AND RAIN

This area of the US of A is full of historic places. We left Maine and traveled to Massachusetts. The population of the state of Massachusetts is just shy of seven million, but it’s relatively small, as it ranks as the 44th state in size. That means that there’s a lot of human beings living in a relatively small area. So, when we are on any road that is not an interstate, we usually traveled only a few miles and then we would pass through a community of a few hundred humans. It was not unusual to see houses fairly close together even in the country. We stayed in a town called Bellingham, which is a small town southwest of Boston. The campground had a little Halloween going on. We had a community campfire and a local band played some hits.

Speaking of hits, we love the songwriting of James Taylor. He has made a home in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts for many years. Of course, Fire and Rain was an early song that really put him on the map. According to the Wiki, Taylor explained that he wrote the song in three parts: the first part was about Taylor's friend Suzanne, who died by suicide; second, Taylor's struggle to overcome drug addiction and depression; and third, coming to grips with fame and fortune and looking back at the road that got him there. The song is haunting and mesmerizing.

As for our fire and rain, we probably haven’t brought this up yet, but the beast that pulls our trailer has been having some issues. Seems that if a particular part goes on the fritz, the on-board computer puts the truck in “limp mode.” If you’ve never experienced this with your vehicle, limp mode means that when we accelerate or have to go up an incline, the engine will produce only partial power. If you’re trying to pull a trailer that weighs in at about seven or eight tons, this is a huge problem. So, there we are in Bellingham and Buster is calling different dealerships for someone to fix the problem part. One would think that it would be a fairly simple process to call a RAM dealership and get an appointment to get a repair. Well, about twenty calls later, Buster found a dealership in eastern New York State that could get us in within the week. Otherwise, we were looking at a wait of over three weeks all the way to over one month. So, we packed up a day early in Bellingham and started limping across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. When I say limping, that means that as we climbed one of the many hills in MA or CT, top speed was about 35 MPH on the interstate and about 20 mph on side roads.

So, we made a quick stop in East Hartford, Connecticut. We stayed in the shadow of Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, which is the home of the football team for the University of Connecticut. When we left the next morning, the traffic police were out directing vehicles. We learned that an exhibition soccer game was on - the 13th-ranked U.S. team was playing the 14th-ranked team from Germany. Wow. We wished we could have stayed to take that one in. Speaking in the third person, Betty and Buster like some soccer, or, football as the whole world other than the U.S. calls it.

Next, we got to our destination outside of Newburgh, New York. We had stayed here before. Before the appointment at the dealership, Buster visited the Tuthilltown Distillery, which is located in the old Tuthilltown Gristmill. In 1788, the water-powered gristmill began grinding grain in Tuthilltown, New York. Then, after the Prohibition experiment failed, Ralph Erenzo started making whiskey in the state for the first time since Prohibition. Now, the distillery produces Hudson Whiskey. Buster had to take it on a test drive. The distillery had a great little tasting room that holds the spirit of the gristmill - the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Buster took the truck into the dealership. In fairly short order, we got the good news and the bad news. The good news is that the tech diagnosed the problem as a faulty Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve. Good news - the EGR valve is covered under warranty. Bad news - it will take about 10 days minimum for the part to arrive. It could take longer considering Murphy’s Law, the autoworkers strike, and the uncertainties of shipping. Who wants to stay in Newburgh for 10 days minimum? Not us.

The other part of the good news was that we would not damage our beast by driving in limp mode. So, we decided to limp on. Our goal was to get to Cape Cod while the weather is still not New England in winter. Our stop to get there was at a Home Depot parking lot in Providence, Rhode Island. Woo woo.

We’re in need of a nap,

Betty and Buster

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