Today was a day of learning and challenges. We spent the day
in transit, from New Jersey to Clinton, Connecticut. We were going to do Boston
for a couple of days, but decided that we needed a day to rest up and get some
reparations, cleaning, and laundry done. So, we decided on Connecticut and a
quiet camp ground in the New England countryside (Riverdale Farm Campsite).
On our way, we drove over a bridge, that had a cashless toll
collection. That means that they mail the bill to the registered owner of the car.
In our case, that is difficult, because our car registration is still temporary
(we don’t want the old owner of the car to have to pay our $5 toll bill), and
if the bill does get sent to the address we put on the car registration (my
brother Phil’s address), then we have to figure out how we can get it paid from
there.
We went on line, and found out that we could pay the toll
with our credit card. Great! But, as we often have trouble with, the website
wanted our zip code (postnummer). American zip codes are 5 numbers long, and
they won’t except a zip code that is only 4 numbers, like our Danish one.
Finally, JJ got ahold of someone, who could help us pay without our zip code.
We just have to wait 2 days, until the toll charge is registered!
The next challenge/learning experience came, when we got on
the Merrit Parkway. We were following the directions that the navigator
gave us, and we got on this wonderful, scenic drive, with very little traffic
and no trucks. There were many height restrictions on the low bridges, but we
were under the heights they showed, so we thought all was good. There were a
few cars honking at us, but we thought it was because we were not far enough
over in our lane.
We decided to look up on line, if we were doing something
wrong. We were driving on a restricted road, that didn’t allow vehicles over 8’
(ca. 2,5 m)(we are 11’2” - ca. 3,4m ), vehicles over 8 tons (we are about 11 tons), vehicles with more
than 2 axels (we have 4), and no trailers (we had the camper). WHOOPS!!!! We
decided that we had better get off FAST!!!!! Luckily the next exit was to the
highway we should have been on – not as pretty, but at least legal for us to
drive on!
To achieve this, we drove the camper’s wheels up onto a
couple of cement blocks we had. It seemed to solve the problem, and we decided
to unhook the car. When we did that, the trailer rolled slightly backwards, off
the blocks, and 2 of the jacks dug into the ground. WE DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO
NOW!!!!! Luckily our neighbors, who were also setting up, came over to help us
out. They had tried similar situations, so they had some good advice. We got
the trailer raised up again, and there doesn’t appear to be more damage than a
slightly bent back jack.
By the way, the neighbors were from Texas. Her grandfather
was from Denmark, so she was interested in hearing about the country. I had a
long talk with them later on. We also shared camping/travel experiences. Nice
to “connect” with some of the people on the camp ground. I also met a couple from
California. I had just gone to throw the garbage out, so JJ couldn’t understand
why I hadn’t come back after an hour - especially since it had gotten dark in
the meantime!
The next challenge/learning experience had to do with our
toilet. It wasn’t flushing properly, so JJ was going to try to fix it. Luckily,
I am blessed with a husband that can fix almost anything, so I wasn’t too
worried. After studying some advice on YouTube (what would we do without YouTube?), JJ found some possible causes
to the problem. He did locate the bad part. Now the toilet is working again…actually
better than it did before😊
One last problem – because the toilet wasn’t working, JJ
went to use the camp ground restroom. He got lost on the way back😊😊😊
I think we DO need a day of rest and relaxation😊
As my sister Michelle said a few weeks ago… “You didn’t
think it would all go smoothly, did you?”
Written by Mary
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