Keene, New Hampshire

This afternoon we made the short drive over to Keene to have a look around. Keene is a pretty good size town compared to what we have seen recently and I think all 25,000 people were driving around the square as I was trying to back out into traffic. Maybe I should start this story at the beginning of our day.

The Bandshell on the Village Green

Gene is still feeling a little down in his back plus he had to spend a little time with work this morning so we developed a plan to get stuff done at home in the morning and go to Keene after lunch. I busied myself in the kitchen early making apple cinnamon bread to share with a couple we had met on Monday. They pulled into the campground with a Big Sky by Montana so we went down to meet them. We learned that Frank and Sandy were in the Montana Owners Club (MOC) and we enjoyed talking with them several times over Monday and Tuesday. After our exercise walk we went down with bread in hand to wish them a safe journey.

Row houses which are now apartments

Then we walked over to the next campsite where another Montana was parked that had come in late Tuesday evening. It was almost identical to ours except a later model. It even had Tennessee tags from Davidson County no less. What a small world. They were out hitching up to leave so we visited with them for a few minutes. To stay with the Tennessee theme, our next door neighbors are also from Tennessee. We are starting to get confused about what state we are in.

St James Episcopal Church

Finally settling down to the work that needed to be done, Gene turned over a very big, very full, very hot cup of coffee on his desk. It does my heart good to know that we both can move as fast as we did. He grabbed his computer and blackberry and I grabbed the towels. The desk was a disaster, especially the application for health insurance. Let me just say a few words about the desk. When traveling for 2 summers in the pop-up camper, Gene did all the trip planning at the dining table. There were days when I didn’t think I would ever find the table underneath the guide books, maps, and travel brochures. When we started looking for 5th wheels, the one thing I insisted on having was a desk. Now, the only time I see the desk is on the days we move. Otherwise, it is covered with “Gene’s stuff”, some of which I don’t even want to know about. And he doesn’t confine himself to his desk either. Papers creep over onto the kitchen counter and the dining table and the dining table chairs. There are 2 drawers of important papers, but there are so many important papers that there is a box of important papers in the kneehole under the desk. In an age of doing everything on the computer, how can one person have so many papers? Well, a good number of those papers look like ancient documents now from coffee stain.

United Church of Christ on the square.

To escape it all, we went to Keene. We only had a couple hours to spend so we parked on what us Southerners would call the square. Instead of the courthouse in the center it had the Village Green. We walked the few blocks north and south of the square, stopping in a couple shops along the way. I found one more Christmas gift (I might actually get my Christmas shopping done early this year) and a Halloween decoration for myself. There are several coffee houses close to the square. By the time we were ready for a coffee break there were 2 to choose from on our side of the street. One was much like a Starbucks—a large seating area with overstuffed sofas and chairs and several little round tables scattered about. We selected the other one where the college students were hanging out with 3 little tables shoved up against the wall, a few pieces of very used furniture, and a bookcase of board games. Keene is a college town and students were out in full force today catching up with old friends.

It was a short visit, but one that refreshed our spirits.