Tollbooth heading West

August 5, 2011
Not much to say about today except we drove west. It was a beautiful drive through the Appalachian mountains in Pennsylvania. It was a foggy morning and the vistas were moody. We entered the Ohio turnpike and blew through the state. Next is the Indianna turnpike interstate 80/90; childhood home of Ab Lincoln (so the sign says). We are staying at another KOA tonight in northern Indianna. There is suppose to be a farmers market a couple blocks away which I hope we can look at tomorrow before we get on our way.

Going home

Tonight we are at a KOA campground. They are not our first choice. We prefer state parks or county parks. However, after an hour of stop and go traffic on Interstate 80 in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania we were burnt out and took the first thing we saw after 450 miles of driving. This morning we drove LeAnn to the bus terminal near the bottom of Cape Cod. For $20 she could get back to her apartment and save us to drive into Boston one more time. It saved us a lot of time. We drove through Massachusetts, Conneticut, New York, and now we are in the center of Pennsylvania. I took a rather poor photo out of the front of the car window to show you the scenery around here. It is actually a video, I thought it was a photo. There was a pickup truck on our tail so I couldn't compose as well as I wanted to. It reminds me a lot of Missouri sans the mountains. There is piped in music in the KOA bathroom. Early 60s. I can tell I am getting closer to the Midwest because the humidity has increased significantly. There are cicadas, a steady drone of some kind of insect, and a single bird chirping out it's bedtime song.
Tomorrow we plan for a marathon drive of a minimum of 500 miles. That will leave us a final 500 for Saturday. Otherwise we might break it up and get back on Sunday. I'd like to stay on the Mississippi River one night. We shall see.

LeAnn on the beach

Frank and Caryl in Provincetown MA

LeAnn in Provincetown

Cape Cod National Seashore

August 3 , 2011
Great thunderstorm last night.  Rumbled and lightning, steady rain but no wind so it didn't feel threatening.  LeAnn is sleeping in the little tent that frank uses when he goes to the Boundary Waters in Canada.  The ground here is sand and pine needles so there is no mud as would of been in the Midwest.
After a hardy breakfast of eggs and bacon that Frank prepared on his one burner stove we went to the beach. It was beautiful.  We got in on the Golden Pass for National Parks that frank got when he turned 62.  We have used it for discounted camping and free entry to National Parks and Corp of Engineer areas.the three of us watched the waves come in on the Atlantic side of Cape Cod.  Sun was shining, sand as far as you could see either directions.  I applied suntan lotion but both LeAnn and I got spotty burns where we missed application.  
After we had our fill of sand and beach we drove another 20 miles to the end of the peninsula to Provincetown.  It was exceedingly crowded with small narrow streets and many little specialty shops.  We bought sandwiches to eat at a little cafe and proceeded to walk down the street paralleling the coastline. LeAnn talked us into purchasing two slices of cake which the three of us proceeded to consume with gusto.  Unfortunately, we drove back to the campground in a sugar stupor.
It was a great day.  LeAnn's birthday is this Saturday so it was nice we could spend a little quality time together before we head back tomorrow to Iowa.

Boston to Cape Cod

August 2, 2011
Boston to Cape Cod
Frank, myself and Le Ann are at Maurices Campground in the center of Cape Cod National Seashore. There is ocean on both sides of us but we have yet to see any water. You drive right up the middle of the peninsula. Tomorrow we will go to one of the many beaches. We also plan to continue to the end of the peninsula to Provincetown Harbor. That is about 20 miles from here. It has rained since we have arrived. A regular thunderstorm. We had bought some haddock in Boston and Frank fried it for supper.
LeAnn's new apartment is a block away from the most amazing food market. She has no excuse not to cook for herself and try some different foods.
We finished moving one more load of items this morning which included her 6 plants and her cat. We were lucky we could park on the street last night for free.
The only thing we didn't have time to do while in boston was to eat at McCormick and Schmick which is where LeAnn is a hostess for her summer day job. It is a seafood restaurant. Maybe next time.
I have included a picture of the street she has moved from (old apartment) on Hillstreet. I love the buildings and architecture. Again, I cannot say how well frank maneuvered around the streets. The streets in Boston are so messed up, nothing is straight. The are many turn abouts, streets with five different ways to turn, merging traffic, lanes that disappear and numerous other driving obstacles. I must say that the Boston drivers were accommodating and not rude at all to the minivan with Iowa plates.