Livin' Outside the Box!: On to New Hampshire

Our time in OBX came to an end so the next few days were spent making making our way to New Hampshire for the Memorial Day Weekend. Along the way, we stumbled on the BEST farm market we've ever experienced. It is the Morris Farm Market located in Barco North Carolina - Here is a link. They have an amazing amount of fruits, veggies, jams, sauces, snacks, drinks, etc., etc! The thing that sets this place apart beyond the wide selection of fresh products, is that most of them are available to taste before you buy! We bought fresh strawberries, salsa, and some veggies. If you are anywhere near this place in eastern North Carolina, do yourself a favor and stop.

Some of our haul!

Our route then took us further north and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. This was certainly an experience driving Alley across the bridge and through the tunnel. Let's just say, the tunnel is somewhat NARROW and the pucker factor was pretty much maxed out. But we made it through non the worse for the wear.

Crossing a section of bridge just before dropping into the first tunnel.

A little further north we were maxing out on our preferred driving distance so we planned a dry camping night at the Dover Downs Casino. Entry was easy and having used Google Maps to scope out the area, I saw a gravel lot off to the west side of the paved parking area that looked like a good spot.

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We actually parked in the first gravel lot on the west side of the facility when we entered since there was a small camper already parked there but shortly after, I saw the security guard parked nearby and walked over to verify we were in the correct parking area. Turns out we were not so we moved to the area with the pin in the photo above. The next morning the small camper was still parked in the other area so go figure. At any rate, it was a safe quiet place to spend the night and if it hadn't been for the casino, would have been a free nights stay. That's all I say about that!

Our parking spot in relation to the Casino.

The next morning, we wanted to give the New York City area traffic a wide berth so we traveled to the edge of the Pocono Mountains and stayed at Mountain Vista Campground in East Stroudsburg PA. Link Here. This is a great place with the owner living on site. As with a lot of campgrounds in the northeast, there are several seasonal campers but everything is well maintained and clean. We had a wonderful level pull thru site with full hookups under a beautiful canopy of large hardwood trees. They have an outside fitness area, pool, playground, store, and probably other amenities we never saw or used. I would stay here again if back in this area Not sure why but I only took one picture at this campground. Having been to the Pocono's before we didn't do a lot. Just hit some shops and kinda relaxed.

Our Campsite

After 4 nights, we hit the road again and since we were still over 300 miles and 2 days away from our reservations in Derry New Hampshire, we drove to Wilderness Lake Campground near Willington, CT. This is fairly easy access close to our route on I84. Again, a lot of seasonal and the roads are a bit narrow but slow and easy a big rig can make it. No sewer but they offer complimentary pump out service. We didn't need since we we only stayed 2 days. There is a nice lake with complimentary canoes and kayaks. Friendly owners and a Passport America Park. Kind of rustic setting. We used our satellite and has good Verizon 4G signal.

Lake with canoes and kayaks

Rustic Store

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Our Site on the corner.

Final leg of this journey was to Hidden Valley Campground in Derry, NH. We arrived here a few days before Memorial Day weekend and had made reservations last fall since this is typically a busy camping weekend. Boy did we screw up! We were told we had nice full hook up site for our big rig. After we negotiated the low narrow limbs scrubbing the coach, and a couple great 90 degree turns on the single lane road, we arrived at our "nice" site. What we found was a place pushed out between some trees with a dirt pad - no grass - no gravel - just raw dirt. Our water supply was a green hose running form the neighboring seasonal site. A lot of seasonal units in this area were old, molded, mildewed, and falling apart. I realize they had a rough winter but you could tell, these weren't in much better shape last year. The table at our site was so rotten, you could not sit on it. While surveying the area, we were constantly swatting mosquitoes because of the heavy vegetation. We made a quick call to the office and told them this was not acceptable. She told us of two more 50 amp sites out in the open at "Safari Field" but it had no sewer. Knowing we can go a week on our tanks, we took a look and decided to move. More narrow roads with scrubbing limbs and tight 90 degree turns and we arrived. Backed in and hit "auto level" on the coach and was soon advised that there was excess slope! The right front wheel was about 6 inches off the ground and we still weren't level. took another look and decided to try pulling up to the max range of our power cable and maybe the site was a little more level. Hit the "auto store" button for our fully extended jacks and got nothing! Uh Oh. Tried everything I knew and could not get the jacks to move. Got out the books and called the manufacturer, HWH for technical help. After about 10 minutes on hold the polite lady told me they would take my name an number and have someone return my call in about 5 DAYS! " Lady, I'm stuck here! Is there anything you can do for me?" Nope. Techs are 5 days behind. So back to the book and saw some thing about manually releasing the pressure on the jacks. Identified the valves and turned one and that jack retracted! Alright! We are no longer stuck. But we aren't done yet. Released the other three jacks, fired up and moved forward about 10 feet to a more level looking area and hit "auto level" again. You guessed it! It was still excess slope and he jacks were stuck again! No problem though 'cause now I know how to raise those suckers. Only problem is, this time, they wouldn't release! After several tries, decided to take a break and tackle it again in the morning. Next morning they released no problem but I wasn't about to try to get level in this spot again. So across the field there was a couple 30 amp hook ups on fairly level grass so we moved again. All said and done, I paid $275 for 7 days with 30 amp service and water. No cable. No Sewer. No Wifi. And another rotten picnic table. In fact, walking around, they were all like that. If you are reading this and thinking about staying at this campground and golf course, check it out before you pay. Safe to say we will never go back and I guess we learned some things on this stop.