Our plan this year was to head out to the east coast the first part of September .  We have always wanted to visit Bar Harbor Maine and see all the fall colors on the way.  We thought we would leave right after Labor Day weekend.  Plans are always made to be broken.

Some of you know that we have had a problem with our travel trailer this past year.  The cover (called the skin in trailer talk) started to buckle on the front of the trailer. We noticed it in March.  It was a small little dent on the very top of the front curve of the trailer.  We didn’t think too much about it at first.   Then in July on a nice sunny day we looked up and noticed this little dent was now a much larger dent and was spreading across the front of the trailer.  We contacted General RV as that is where we bought it new back in February 2015. We were told to contact Coachman in Indiana as we were 6 months over the warrenty.  I called and explained our problem with their customer service manager.  That started the process of sending pictures and waiting to see if and when they would take responsibility for repairing it.  We wanted to get it fixed before we left for the south for the winter.  Because it would take time to get this all processed and order parts, we decided to leave for the east coast a little bit later than  originally planned.

We started our fall adventure on September 18th.  We both have a “bucket list” of places and things we would like to do while on this adventure.  I am happy to say we were able to check off a number of them on this trip.

Highlights of our East Coast adventure

•  Niagara Falls.  It  took us almost 50 years of marriage to make it to this  honeymoon destination.  Of course no trip is complete without the boat ride on The Maid of the Mist
• Toured Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario
• Cooperstown, NY and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  We spent many hours reading stats and watching video of baseballs greatest.
• An unexpected treat of having dinner with our friend Carol in Massachusetts
• A visit to L.L.Bean in Freeport, Maine.
• Time exploring and sightseeing in Acadia National Park
• Bar Harbor Maine eating Lobster
• Mount Desert Oceanarium in Bar Harbor.  It features a lobster hatchery and salt marsh
• Visited Larrie’s cousin Nancy and Steve Bird in Brandon, Vermont  Had a great time catching up on life
• Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour in Waterbury, Vermont.
• Stops at cider mills, winerys, cheese factories, and a distillery.
• Mount Independence State Historic Site, Orwell, Vermont.  Fort built in 1776
• Many Fall leaf color drives in New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and  Vermont
•  Almost annual trip to Shipshewana and Lolly’s fabric store (Jackie’s highlight )
• Musical “Josiah for President” at the Blue Gate Theater (wish we had someone like him to vote for).

As you can see, we had a full  trip to the East coast and back to Michigan. We will now have our trailer repaired courtesy of Coachman and General RV.  Then we will head south as the weather is getting colder and the campgrounds are closing.

JA