Helluva Honeymoon

Our original plan was to head toward Maine from Groton, NY; however, we were so enchanted by Seneca Valley (where the vineyard was located), we decided to stay another night.  What was supposed to be an overnight stay to visit Ithaca, NY turned into a four night adventure. Seneca Valley is a hidden gem that I highly recommend visiting. If I brought my wedding dress, I would have happily had the ceremony there! After two nights of dry camping, we needed to dump our wastewater and fill on fresh water.  Generally, RV parks will let you do this for $5-$25 even if you're not staying there.  We have so many apps and forums for resources, and one of them showed a free dump station at a wastewater treatment plant near Seneca Valley.  We asked a gas station if we could fill up our fresh water tank, and they gladly obliged.  These are huge cost saving tricks that we have used multiple times. Since we had empty wastewater tanks, a full fresh water tank and plenty of ...

The next day, we went to Watkins Glen State Park to see the gorges the area is known for.  Dogs were allowed on most trails, and we did the South Rim.  We were unable to do the Gorge Trail as dogs are not allowed; however, I snuck down for a couple photos. We needed to head east to make our way to Maine, and we chose another Harvest Host site on an organic dairy farm in Groton, NY.  We were warmly greeted by Ed and Eileen Scheffler, a very sweet couple that we enjoyed spending time with.  Eileen invited us to observe milking at 5pm which we eagerly took her up on.  It was so rewarding to see the process, and I have a deeper respect for farmers now. Scheffler Farm sells their milk to Organic Valley; coincidentally, this is one of Kristopher and my favorite dairy brands.  An added bonus was that the site had a store that sold very affordable grass-fed beef and dairy products. Usually, grass-fed ground beef sells $9 per pound, and they were se...

We departed Camp-A-While on Friday morning to head to Ithaca, NY.  Our drive was surprisingly fast, and we arrived around 2pm.  We took a two hour trek around Cornell University and the botanical gardens. Since we dumped our waste and refilled our fresh water tank in Pennsylvania, we tried our hand at dry camping and hit the freaking jackpot! Before we left Utah, we joined a network called Harvest Host which is a collection of free camping sites on farms, vineyards and breweries.  Our first night dry camping (no electric/water/sewer hookups) was spent at Chateau Lafayette Reneau on Seneca Lake in Hector, NY.  What started as a last minute effort on Saturday afternoon turned into an unbelievably romantic destination.  We arrived around 5:20, and the winery closed at 6pm.  We enjoyed  a quick wine tasting (6 wines for five dollars) and soon found ourselves alone on a huge vineyard. The place was so dead, we let Lambeau off leash.  When we woke...

After spending two weeks in the South (90 degrees with 100% humidity), we were ready to make our way to Maine.  Even though Lambeau has been a trooper, but we did not want to subject him to more than four hours in the car in one day.  As luck would have it, four hours from Atlanta put us in Mosheim, TN...just in time for laundry!  Due to some GPS issues, what should have been a four hour trip turned into a six hour ride.  I goofed and had Kristopher drive I-40 from Asheville, NC toward Knoxville, TN.  It was steep grade combined with a very curvy road which is not fun with 14,000 lbs in tow.  We arrived just in time for dinner and had time to watch American Pickers with my parents after laundry and a hot shower.  We had a short and sweet visit with my parents, and the next day we headed toward Maine via I-81. The next day's travel through Virginia was uneventful.  We camped at a full hook-up site on Lake Robertson near Lexington, Virginia. ...

After one week of free-styling sans family, we are hooked!  I will summarize our last week in a few posts. After an awesome visit with Kristopher's family in Florence, Alabama, we headed to a campsite outside of Atlanta, Georgia to visit friends. The drive from Florence on a Sunday was uneventful, until we got near Atlanta. Even on a Sunday, traffic was stop and go.  It was nerve-racking considering our stopping distance is far greater than a car. Our girlfriend, Misty, found a gorgeous campsite on Lake Lanier called Shady Grove.  What started as a two day stay, quickly got extended to a three night adventure when we found out we had a private beach and hardly any neighbors.  We took an evening swim until the rain came in.  Kristopher also got bit by a curious fish, so timing of the storm worked out. I forgot how wonderful and powerful Southern rainstorms are. Our good friend, CJ, stopped by for a visit and we hosted our first dinner party in the camper...

As I mentioned in the last post, we have spent the last two weeks packing our belongings to move them from Salt Lake City, UT to Mosheim, Tennessee. We departed SLC on June 30th and stayed in Limon, Colorado that night. To our luck, they gave us the shittiest truck on the lot- no cd or auxillary, the loud-ass motor was under the passenger's side and it had two bucket seats.  None of this made for a good ride with a 22 pound dog in your lap in July.  Wyoming is the worst state to drive in, especially when you're new to driving a moving truck with a car dolly attached. With wind gusts of 25+ mph, we had to keep it at a steady 60 mph.  Traffic in Denver was even more nerve-wracking, and we were relieved to get to the hotel at 1am.  Lambeau wasn't thrilled with the seating arrangement or the cabin noise, but he adjusted and slept about 20 hours that day. Day two consisted of driving through Kansas and Missouri.  I had a long nap while Kristopher drove, we decided ...