The land of burys

Yesterday Moose and Mosquito Tours walked to Penn Station, rode the Long Island Rail Road to Manhasset, picked-up the RV and officially began the second chapter of our adventure. A New England Fall leaf tour is on the itinerary.

A few words about our transportation and accommodation for this leg. A 25 ft. Cruise America RV is our traveling home for the next two weeks.  While quite spacious is was not quite fully equipped -no cork screw! Chalk it up to an October surprise but truly it is some kind cruel joke. More missing items: cheese grater,cutting board, sponge, broom, no cleaning supplies, and no coffee pot nor anything to make it with! Who goes camping without coffee or the pot to brew it!  Needless-to-say we ended up purchasing everything but a broom. Geesh! Rant over.

The kind folks at the RV Rental printed directions to our first stop on the leaf peeping adventure. It was a near seamless navigation out of NYC to our destination of Thomaston,Connecticut although toll roads made about a $20 dent in the wallet. Reading the map is always interesting but also a distracting experience for me. I noticed many towns that end in "bury," and wondered why. Waterbury, Middlebury, Woodbury, Danbury, Southbury, and Roxbury are a few of the "burys"in Western Connecticut. I probably missed a few- I was supposed to be navigating. After settling into our campground, we enjoyed the first Miller Time of the trip.  Gin and tonic for me and a Bourbon something or other for the Big Fella was a nice way to inaugurate this adventure followed by dinner and a good night's rest.

Old Trains

This is such contrast to NYC. Birds, babbling brooks, crunchy leaves, and frogs take the place of the racket of the City. It is quiet here in Western Connecticut - very quiet(except for the snores emanating from behind me.)  Up and running by 9:30 or so, we headed for the New England Railroad Museum. The Connecticut Antique Machinery Museum was closed so the railroad museum was a replacement of sorts. As you know, the Big Fella is able to sniff these things out and it was the first stop of the day. Leaf peeping would need to wait. The museum itself was not much but a ride on a vintage train could be had and we were all aboard. It was sort of scenic but mostly views of old dilapidated factories. Years ago manufacturing had a large presence in this area. A running commentary by one of the volunteers described what we were seeing and some of the local history. Danger factoid ahead!! Thomaston was named for Seth Thomas -the clock maker. The clocks were manufactured in the town for many years and in 1875 the town was named for Mr. Thomas. With the train museum  completed, finally a drive on scenic routes to see the leaves. Traveling in an RV might not be the best mode of travel for the maximum fall leaf experience, but as the saying goes, "It is what it is."  These country roads and lanes were meant for horses and buggies, so we took it slow.  No I should qualify that -Big Fella slow which is not really slow in that I needed to tell him to slow down due to a turn we needed to make or I need to read the signage. The leaves here are in various stages. Some have peaked and fallen while others remain on the trees still green.

So tomorrow is the Antique Machinery Museum -sigh-and our first covered bridge -yay! Also, internet may not be available for a few days but I'll keep good notes a do a catch up post when I can.

The land of nod is beckoning.