I've gone and done it again....

for what? The third year in a row? Poor ole' Mummy got scroodled out of her summer holiday! ;-( I's sorry dear. But on the brighter side we did get in a helluva road trip! 2300 kms (1430 miles) and 11 States in 4 1/2 days.

The idea popped into my noodle a few days before we were to start our holidays. Originally we were going to just hang out on the ole' boat, cruise up and down the river etc. and then I spotted a very nice, brand new propane stove on e-Bay. It was listed by the same fella we got our Yanmar diesel engine off of three years ago in Rhode Island. So the groundwork was laid for a road trip! Borrowing Grandpa's trailer off we went on yet another grand adventure.

First stop was Portsmouth RI to pick up the stove. Using a different GPS this time we ended up taking a totally different route. Oh boy were our internal compass's messed up! Normally we orient ourselves here with the St. Lawrence River which is south. Around Portsmouth your surrounded by water so when we thought we were driving north we were actually going south! Doh! Anyhow mission objective #1 was accomplished.

The next day we stopped off at Mystic Seaport in Mystic Connecticut. This place is a wonderland for ole' wooden boat types of all ages.

This was our second time here but the last time we were here in the fall and a lot of the exhibits were closed. Not this time. Wow! We wandered for hours.

The restoration of the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship.

I wish my boat shed was this well organized! ;-)

There's more pics from our trip here....

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff166/KnottyBuoyz/2011/

From Mystic it was onto Newark Delaware to pick up the fuel and water tanks. This took us across Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. I have to say the New Jersey Turnpike was one of the most pleasant and well behaved drives we've had on the trip so far.

We loaded up the tanks in Grandpa's trailer and stopped for a bit to eat before heading to Washington DC where we'll camp out for the night.

After stopping for lunch at a KFC (the beans and mac & cheese sides were nice) we spotted this ole' timer all alone in a parking lot across the street. Just had to do a lil' Jeep Spottin' for my friends on the Jeep Facebook page.

The next day was to be spent (partially) at the National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly VA. Wow again. What a place of wonder.

Autobot or Decepticon? ;-)

They call her "Enterprise"

I was actually moved when I saw this one......

The rest of the pics from the NASM are here....

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff166/KnottyBuoyz/2011/NASM/?start=all

The NASM is definitely a must see if you're in the area. Put aside at least 3-4 hours to go through it all.

After the NASM we skeedaddled up the highway to Hershey PA home of the famous Hershey Chocolate World. Oh my, what a zoo. We had visions of a small factory outlet like Hershey had in the old Smith's Falls plant but noooooooooo it was a full fledged theme park. We felt like the Griswolds on their trip to Wally World! We got in, got some treats and got the hell out!

The next day it was a 600 km (350 mi) trip home. Stopping only for rest breaks and to pick up a few items at the UPS Store in Oggyburg we were home by 1:30 PM.

It was a whirlwind trip but fun all the same. Mystic and NASM definitely made it worth while and what we saved on shipping the stove and tanks pretty much paid for the trip (fuel & food). Now the fun is over and it's time to get back working on the boat..... Standby.