And So It Begins!!

On Sunday, August 29th, I checked out of Dave's house in Milford and hit the road for NY state. Hanging out with Dave and Colin was really fun and relaxing after the business of compressing my life into miniature, which was a strength-sapping experience. Special thanks to Dave, Karen and Colin for all you did! When I talked with Dave last night, he exclaimed, "Dougie, I'm afraid you HAVE to come back!" I thought to myself, "Wow! What did I forget?" In the time he lived in Connecticut and especially the last couple weeks we spent together, we got real used to hanging out together, smoking cigars, sailing, eating out and doing what we do. I miss you, too, my brother!

Yesterday I rolled down the windows and set out for Wolcott, NY, as the first leg of the trip, and drove the whole way without stopping or rolling up the windows. Aside from making it almost impossible to talk on the phone (I had four phone calls), it was kind of liberating. No AC, just a 70 mph wind blasting into the truck. What a beautiful ride it was! I took route 8 from Bridgeport all the way to the Mass Pike, then to the NY State Throughway - a stunningly scenic ride. The majesty and enormity of the panorama was breathtaking from beginning to end. Aside from a bit of a glitch with the camper at the outset, it was a perfect ride. Dave saved my bacon when my camper jumped the hitch in Bridgeport to see if my safety chains worked, and he got me hooked up properly after I strained my back try to pick up the camper by the hitch. Thankfully, I feel better today and will be fine in a few days. Despite being sore, I got the camper set up in about five minutes after landing in Wolcott.

Vicki has been a wonderful hostess, and her little doggie is SO cute! He's a very sweet bichon friese named Monkey, and he IS a monkey! I'm guessing that Vicki has 15 acres, or so, and my camper is parked out back. We had drinks, dinner, talked about TB2K topics and people, and watched Journey and Ted Nugent concert videos on her six foot screen TV until 1:30 before I crawled out to the camper.

This morning Vicki brought breakfast to the porch on a tray that looked so good I wanted to take a picture of it, but I couldn't put my hands on the camera! Delmonico steak, bacon, eggs over, toast and a bowl of sliced plums she grew, and, of course, coffee!. Awesome! We ate on the back porch with Duppy and Monkey, which is kinda like Dave's screened in room without the screen, and talked about the pressures of her being a business owner and single parent.We decided that today will likely find us fishing later. Niagara Falls tomorrow? We'll see!

                                             So long for now from Doug and Duppy!!