Each Journey Begins with a Single Step

Days on the Road: 1
Miles Driven: 385.2
States visited: VA, MD, PA, NJ, NY

From John: So the RV is full of gas and loaded with all our things. The house is empty and the keys are turned in. The dinghy is attached and the bikes are all on the rack. I guess we can't put it off any longer. It is finally time to leave.

We pulled out of our old digs at 5:56 AM (officially four minutes early) and hit the road. I was in a great mood, thinking we were going to beat the traffic. Everything went fine until we got into Maryland. A tractor trailer accident overnight had shut down I-270 in BOTH directions and we had to find our way around that. After getting lost and having to un-hook the dingy, turn around, and then re-hook the dinghy we successfully found a detour and made it up to the lovely Catskill mountains area of the Hudson River Valley in New York. Just off I-87 is our home for the evening, Rip Van Winkle Campground.

Oh by the way, the New York State Thruway has not caught up to the 21st century quite yet, so if you are planning on taking I-87 anytime soon make sure you have cash for the tolls; but I digress.

We pulled in to a nice little spot with full elec/water/sewer hookups and the girls immediately changed and headed over to the pool. I of course had to make a quick trip into town for some cash so we could pay the remaining tolls in NY.

Here's a quick slideshow of some of our activities on Day 1.

From Cate:
Joke of the day: Why are football stadiums always cold? Because its full of fans!

Today was fun. I was pretty bored while we were driving, although I did get to wave to some people in another RV. The campground was fun. We got to go swimming and we had spaghetti for dinner. After dinner we went fishing and I caught a baby bass. I counted 42 crayfish in the pond too.

Lily's Thoughts: The best part of today was when we got to go fishing after dinner. The campground had a pond with bass in it and I CAUGHT A FISH! It was sooooo much fun!

Today's Meg-ism: "Mommy, could you please help me do this by doing it for me please?" Gotta love Meg's view of the world!

From Janelle: It really does take a village to send off the Field Family! Thanks to all of you who helped us get going - you know who you are!! Dave for the bed and coffee, Barb for the farewell coffee cake, Heidi for letting me dump all the stuff at your house, Mom's group for taking all the stuff that the movers wouldn't pack, Brent for taking all the condiments, Kristen for the plastic wine glasses (yes I used them already!), Anne for the People magazines and scrapbooking kit for the girls, Dallas for leaving a farewell message on our rigs, Pascal Jam for playing at our road trip party, Rhonda for the travel games, and so many many more. And of course all of you who made the effort to come and send us off last Saturday. Times like these make you realize how many amazing people you meet.