Summer Trip Boston

We arrived at Hanscom AFB Family Campground at Bedford (just outside Boston) Wednesday just before noon. We almost got set up before the rains came but we were far enough along to live in the camper for a while until there was a lull in the rain. After a couple of hours it let up enough for me to finish while wearing a raincoat. It rained continuously until about 4:00 PM and then it stopped so we went out for a walk around the campground. It rained so hard during the night that it seemed that we were parked under a waterfall. Up to this time we have only had four days without rain since we left home June 17^th.

Thursday we did nothing as it was raining.

Friday started out nice so we went shopping on the base for groceries, etc., but it rained later.

Saturday Paula came out, picked us up and took us to her place indowntown Boston. I walked the eight blocks to the Public Gardens and back but other than that we did nothing but wait around for the Boston Pops and fireworks. We watched the Boston Pops on TV and the fireworks through the window of her apartment. Paula and I took lots of pictures.

Sunday Paula took us back to the campground and Linda’s cousin Ron and his wife Judy from Keene, NH joined us for a hamburger cookout. We had a nice visit.

Monday we left camp about 9:30 AM on the trike and went to the base clinic so Linda could get a blood thinner check. After that we left on our ride, going all backroads (versus interstates), first to Ipswich then on up the coastal routes (US 1, 1A, 1B) as far as Kittery, Maine before returning. At Ipswich we stopped at the Clam Box, a small restaurant specializing in clams, where Linda remembered going as a little girl. She had a clam roll and I had a lobster roll. Surprised? As lobster rolls go it was pretty good but it was mixed with mayonnaise and wasn’t available with melted butter. It wasn’t a lobster salad, though, as you get a lot of places but just lobster meat on lettuce on a bun.

From Ipswich we proceeded up route1A until we got to Newburyport where we had to merge with route 1. From that point for two and one-half miles to where we turned off toward the beaches on route 1A it took us about an hour. We found out after hearing the evening news that I-95 was closed in the area because of an overturned tanker truck so the heavy traffic on route 1 was all the I-95 traffic detouring up route 1. Going by the beaches, Salisbury, Seabrook, Hampton, North, and Rye beach, as crowded as they were it didn’t seem like there would have been anyone left to cause a traffic jam on route 1.

We rode a lot of nice roads, some of which we wouldn’t have been on if I hadn’t missed a turn or two. Linda was getting a little peeved at me, which I don’t understand. I only got on one road with no outlet and only had to turn around about four times, after turning the wrong way or too soon, to get back on the correct route. The Garmin showed me where I was supposed to be but it didn’t always tell me which way to turn. We got back to camp about 5:30 PM and after supper I was sitting under our awning trying to find information about the tall ships coming to Boston when the campground manager came around and asked if she could take a picture of our camp setup. She thought it was beautiful, the way we had it fixed up and wanted to put the picture in a camp newsletter.