Settled in Gorham, New Hampshire

We arrived safely about mid-afternoon in Gorham, New Hampshire.  I’d love to say we had a trouble free travel day, but that was not the case today.

We had heavy traffic, especially early this morning as we tried to maneuver through Hartford at the tail end of rush hour.  About the time we saw some relief in the traffic flow we hit Springfield, Massachusetts.  Not a large city as cities go, but everyone seemed to be on the highway.  There was only one lunatic who seemed to think he was driving the Indy 500.  We had a minor heart stopper when he cut in front of us with about 3 inches to spare.

Getting out of the densely populated areas didn’t help much.  Traffic was lighter, but the construction started.  We traveled through one construction zone after another all day long.  In New Hampshire, just when we thought we were home free, we came upon the worst of all the construction zones.  The entire road surface was gone for about a quarter mile.  We thought we were in Alaska again, but without the pilot car.

The real stressor, however, came when the “check engine” light came on again.  Instant panic since we knew it wasn’t the routine reminder for service.  We were only about 4 miles from the next rest area (according to the Next Exit Guide), so the plan was to stop in there and give the dealership in Litchfield a call.  As luck would have it, that rest area was closed.  We drove on to the next rest area and Gene made the call.  He was assured it would be okay to drive it to Gorham since it wasn’t making any horrible noises.  Tomorrow, it’ll be in for service again.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

We had a brief moment of comic relief as we were driving east on US 2 just before entering into New Hampshire.  There was some old codger with a pack on his back and a chain in his hand walking along the side of the road.  On the other end of the chain was a huge ball, at least 6 feet in diameter, painted like a globe.  Talk about having the whole world in your hands.  Actually, the old fellow was having some considerable difficulty keeping the world under control.

We were surely glad to arrive at our campground.  We even got set up before the thunderstorm came through.  Life is good, after all.