Days 4 & 5 (or the Six State Swing)

Day 4 had us waking up in New York with Teri and John. We had a delicious bacon and eggs breakfast before hitting the road at about 9:00. Our big goal for the day was to see the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. We arrived in Cooperstown at about 11:00 after a bit of confusion as to where we would park. We found a two-hour spot and headed out in the rain to walk up to the Hall of Fame. We spent about an hour and a half there before heading back to the car to eat some lunch, take a scenic drive, park again, and head back to the Hall of Fame. It was so much fun walking around there and taking in all the baseball history and memorabilia. One of my favorite parts was right at the end, when we ran into a young lady from Minnesota who was interning there. We talked Minnesota, baseball, and such. She was kind enough to take our picture by Kirby Puckett’s plaque in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery. It was a good day.

We left the Hall of Fame at about 3:00 and went on some interesting back roads through New York before finally getting back to an Interstate and entering Massachusetts. So many ups and downs!!Because of the time we took on the back roads, we were bumping into suppertime. We stopped at a grocery store (Price Chopper in Lee, MA) to pick up a few things to eat and then headed back on the road to get to a hotel on the east side of Springfield, Massachusetts. We went back and forth about whether we should just stay in Lee or go on to Springfield, but in the end we decided to keep going. It had been raining most of the day, pretty hard by spells. We got back in the car, determined to go a bit further but ready to be done for the day. Then, the sun came through the clouds while it still misted. I started looking for rainbows and I found one! The hard part was finding a parting of the trees so I could see all the way to the horizon to get a picture. Then we passed over a bridge and I got my chance. It was just so beautiful – too beautiful for words, a benediction for our day. By the time we decided to stop, we were more than ready to be resting for the night. The room we got at the Holiday Inn Express was a king suite. If we saved any money at the Day’s Inn two nights ago, we spent it at the Holiday Inn Express. No complaints, though, because it was so VERY nice to have a little luxury at the end of the day.

The morning of Day 5 arrived without rain. That was a pleasant change of pace. We ate our breakfast and took our time getting on the road. We left at about 9:00 and then went to look for a place to get our oil changed. Fun times on the road! We went to a Jiffy Lube. Now THAT was an interesting experience!! First of all, it wasn’t very “jiffy” – took about 40 minutes from start to finish, and we were the second of two cars in the shop. Of course, I am sure the work was slowed down by the fact that one of the employees was very emphatically “let go” while we sat there. I guess there’s downsizing everywhere, people! We stopped for gas ($3.45/gallon) and headed out of Ludlow at about 10:00. Today’s goal was to make a few more checks on our “states we have been to” list. We decided since we were going to be so close to Connecticut and Rhode Island that we should definitely go through those states, even though they were not directly on our route. Our divergence from the Interstate was a delightful adventure. Those little roads couldn’t manage to go straight for more than 100 yards at a time. I commented that it was as though someone had a bowl of cooked spaghetti that they tossed up in the air, and then they made a map from where the noodles landed. We saw many rivers running high, a little water running over the road in one place (toward the lake, not away from it) and generally got an up close and personal look at small-town Connecticut and Rhode Island. We got an even better look right around the borders where (both times) I missed the “Welcome” signs and my dear husband turned around and went back so I could get a picture of each one. Well, we do need proof that we have been there, after all! (In my defense, one sign was blocked by tree branches and the other had a road construction sign in front of it.) When we finally made it back to an

Interstate, it was time for a rest area and lunch. The rest area was HUGE, and it was also a state park with trails, so we took about a ten minute walk before eating. We were ready to hit the road again, getting ourselves around Providence, RI and Boston, MA. We crossed into New Hampshire and then Maine (with successful “Welcome” sign experiences) and then headed to spend the night with our friend Christina Enger and family in Scarborough, Maine.

We arrived at Christina and Ben’s at about 3:00 in the afternoon. What fun it was catching up with Christina! It was also great to see my buddy Quinny again. He gave me a hug as soon as he saw me and warmed my heart. Christina took us to see Fort William and the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.  She also took us to another beach they enjoy. The wind was blowing hard, it rained a bit, the sky was gray – all of which made for fun pictures! Then we went out for fish for supper. What a great day it was, and we safely navigated four more states.