Geezer Guides Campground » Geezer Guides

Moving Day

By Vicky Wells, on August 27th, 2010

Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far
Aug 27 ~ Day #109	Budget to date	Spent today	Total to date	Daily average
Total	$10900	$93.19	$9376.57	$86.02
Miles by Road	Miles by Sea	Miles by Air	Miles by Train	Total Miles
13580+273=13853	4451	000	69	18373

Current Location: Davie, Florida

Transportation: $30.00
Accommodation: $27.20
Food: $35.99

Today’s Total Expenses: $93.19

Condo to Camping

Today we made the transition from a one-bedroom condo back to our tent. It actually isn’t as difficult as you might think.

With all the tenting we’ve done on this trip the tent and inflatable mattress have become quite familiar and comfortable.

Geoff is now an expert at setting the tent up quickly and getting the mattress in place in the back of the Jeep.

We are here now until we leave for Europe in just a little over a week’s time.

We’re staying in another naturist resort. Yes, we’re very comfortable with that and, hey, it means a lot less laundry!

However, this resort was established in the late 60s and at that time it was out in the middle of nowhere. Now it’s actually surrounded by subdivisions with lots of houses.

Trying to Find the Cheapest Gas

We always try to make sure we get the best deal on gas whenever we need to fill up but this time we left it a little late and spent a little too much time trying to find the best price.

We pushed it so far this time that we almost ran out of gas! And, the gas station we did stop at had pretty high prices compared to what we had seen in the Orlando area and on the drive down to Fort Lauderdale. So, we just put $30 worth and headed back to the campground.

We aren’t planning to do much in the way of driving during this stay anyway. I expect we’ll head out for groceries in a few days and then the car will go into storage while we’re in Europe.

New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, Oh, My!

By Vicky Wells, on July 28th, 2010

Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far
July 28 ~ Day #79	Budget to date	Spent today	Total to date	Daily average
Total	$7900	$93.41	$7513.60	$95.10
Miles by Road	Nautical Miles	Miles by Air	Miles by Train	Total Statute Miles
9786+285=10071	3856 [4437]	000	69	14577

Current Location: Hanover, Maine

Today’s Total Expenses: $ 93.41

Transportation: $43.50
Accommodation: $23.54
Food: $26.37

Rural America

After drying out the tent and leaving the St. Regis Campground, we continued on through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and into Maine. You’d think that passing through so many states would mean we put on a lot of miles but we actually only traveled 285 miles.

We got to see a lot or rural America and the Northeastern States are an eclectic mix of both old and new. It’s also easy to see the effects of both current and earlier economic downturns.

We passed several large factories that have been boarded up. You can’t help but wonder what was manufactured there, where the jobs went and what impact such closures had on the local economies.

What Makes Things Popular

Another thing we noticed were old and obviously abandoned roadside stands – probably fruit and/or vegetable stands – reminiscent of the 60s and 70s.

However, just slightly down the road, in some cases, would be a more modern version that was obviously popular.

Why did the old ones fall our of favour and into disrepair? What was the impetus to build new ones? And, if it was actually the same people just modernizing, why not tear down the old stand rather than let them look so shabby?

Stony Brook Campground, Hanover, Maine

We found a campground along our route that was reasonable and clean and so stopped for the night before heading into Canada’s Maritime provinces.

Where Does the Time Go?

Even though we felt we were giving ourselves lots of time, at times it feels like we’re rushing from place to place and not really “exploring” a lot along the way.

We thought we had built in lots of “family time” as well but that often seems over too quickly. However, we need to balance such visits with not overstaying our welcome.

We all know that having visitors is wonderful but it’s also nice to get back to a regular, comfortable routine.

St. Regis Campground, New York

By Vicky Wells, on July 27th, 2010

Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far
July 27 ~ Day #78	Budget to date	Spent today	Total to date	Daily average
Total	$7800	$82.67	$7420.19	$95.13
Miles by Road	Nautical Miles	Miles by Air	Miles by Train	Total Statute Miles
9449+337=9786	3856 [4437]	000	69	14292

Current Location: St. Regis Campground

Today’s Total Expenses: $82.67

Transportation: $45.00
Accommodation: $20.00
Food: $17.04

Tim Horton’s Doughnut Shops in the US!

We have started noticing the presence of a lot of Tim Horton’s Doughnut Shops in the northern US states. Tim Horton’s is a Canadian chain started many, many years ago by the hockey player – you guessed it – Tim Horton!

You just can’t beat the doughnuts and coffee at Tim Horton’s.

Go Timmy’s!!!

It’s Summer and Hotels are EXPENSIVE!

During today’s drive we thought we might want to stay at a hotel if we could find a reasonable one.

We used Madge (our Magellan GPS) to show us the hotels that were along the way.

Not only were the prices high but most of the hotels we called were fully booked.

Yep, it must be summer.

St. Regis Campground

We had Madge (our Magellan GPS) find us a campground along the route as we figured that would be the only reasonably priced option for us for tonight.

We stopped at St. Regis Campground in Northern New York and it was reasonable – $20.00 – and gave us a chance to dry out our tent as we had had to pack it up wet.

Dinner was a bit of a challenge because, even though this campground had water and electricity available, there were no picnic tables.

So, Geoff set up the Coleman stove on the ground and we did the best we could.

Canned Chinese Food

Apparently I still haven’t learned about buying canned Chinese food. It always looks so good on the can and sounds delicious, but I’ve done this often enough to know that the results are not good.

However, we had bought two cans of Chinese food and I decided to cook one of them tonight. The results were predictable – disappointing.

Note to self: NEVER, NEVER buy canned Chinese food again.

Watching Movies on our Mac

Along the way, when there is nothing else to do in the evenings, we have started to watch movies on our Mac and that’s what we did tonight before drifting off to sleep.

People Games

By Geoff Wells, on July 16th, 2010

Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far
July 16 ~ Day #67	Budget to date	Spent today	Total to date	Daily average
Total	$6700	$48.40	$6894.99	$102.91
Miles by Road	Nautical Miles	Miles by Air	Miles by Train	Total Statute Miles
8257	3856 [4437]	000	69	12763

Current Location: Campground, Sandstone, Minnesota

The Games People Play
We have mentioned several times that nudist are generally friendlier than most people we meet at regular campgrounds but even nudist carry a lot of social inhibitions meeting new people. With so many strangers getting together an afternoon of people games helped to get introductions going.

Duck Buddy
This is a simple game that consists of pink and blue ‘rubber duckies’ floating in a kids wading pool. Each set of ducks has a unique number written on the bottom. Everyone takes a random duck from the pool then tries to find their ‘duck buddy’ that has the same number.

You have five minutes to find out as much as possible about your duck buddy and then answer questions about what you discovered.

People Bingo
In People Bingo everyone gets a blank sheet divided with a ten by ten grid. You then madly try to fill each grid space with the names of the other players. The host then goes randomly to each player and you check them off if you have their name on your sheet. Just like regular Bingo but with people.

Evenings Entertainment
The evening kicked off with another dance and even though we are breaking into occasional bouts of violent coughing we are determined to have fun.

Act two of the residents play was presented during a break in the dance and was a surprisingly professional performance.

Typhoid Vicky

By Geoff Wells, on July 15th, 2010

Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far
July 15 ~ Day #66	Budget to date	Spent today	Total to date	Daily average
Total	$6600	$48.40	$6846.59	$103.73
Miles by Road	Nautical Miles	Miles by Air	Miles by Train	Total Statute Miles
8257	3856 [4437]	000	69	12763

Current Location: Campground, Sandstone, Minnesota

Double Up On Germs
There’s no question that I now have Vicky’s cold. My right eye seems a bit itchy but so far I seem to have avoided the Pink Eye but it is probably just a matter of time.

It is amazing how these things spread. When we were staying in Schreiber Vicky went to a neighbor’s house to see a new baby and one of their other kids had pink eye. She must have picked up the germ there and touched her eye before she got home and washed her hands.

Courting Again
There is a dance every night under the stars. Even though the stage and dance floor are outdoors the sound system is the equal of anything you’ll find in a dance club. The music was a little loud but easy to dance to and we reminisced about all the dancing we did when we were younger. I’m not sure what happened but we definitely need to do it more.

We don’t want to pass our germs on to anyone so we’ll be staying pretty much to ourselves and dancing with just each other.

Act 1
Act one of the comedy the residents are presenting was a great success and we are looking forward to the next two evenings.

Geezer Guides

Login Here

Tags

Moving Day

New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, Oh, My!

St. Regis Campground, New York

People Games

Typhoid Vicky