New Life Chapter: First night city parking - Portsmouth, NH to MA to RI to CT

10/9 - I'm in Portsmouth, NH and parked on a street that I understand is fine for overnight parking. I was anxious at first, but then I relaxed and slept well. Since the nights are cool, I did set the heater to 58, which is really quite toasty for me. I mostly have it on for Zoe as I have enough blankets to keep me warm. I need to get a fleece sweater for Zoe to endure the colder nights. I've not wanted to use the heater much as I am pretty anxious about filling the little diesel tank in the van as I really don't want to spill any diesel inside my van under my bed! It is in a box, but still. Maybe I can use Kerosene? And many Kerosene doesn't smell so bad?

I had not planned to spend two nights here, but after walking around this morning on Peirce (yep, that's the spelling!) Island and around the old south district and lovely old homes, I just didn't want to leave. Yesterday I had walked around the Market St area and thought I had explored the town and was a bit disappointed, so I was happy to see that this town really does have the charm that so many speak of. I lived not far from here for 3 years or so and never visited. After the morning walk, Zoe was tired, so I decided that I would go to the Strawberry Banke Museum to be able to get inside some of these old buildings. I'm glad I did. I'm not always super interested in museums, but I love this kind. It's kinda like Shelburne Museum in VT and the ADK Experience in Blue Mountain Lake.

Portsmouth photo dump:

View from my parking spot

10/11 - Tuesday morning we went to Peirce Island again (drove this time so I could empty my pee tank in a porta potty. 😅 ) I had been stressing about it since the night before, so it was a relief. We had a nice walk and then headed out towards Rockport/Gloucester area. We stayed at a campground so that I could get a shower and checked in before heading to Rockport. They put us in a spot next to a couple of tents not far from the entrance.

Zoe and I explored Rockport, which is a cute town and enjoyed some Lobster!

Wingaersheek Beach near campground

Rockport

Excellent fresh lobsta in Rockport. YUM!

10/12 - When we got back to the campground, Zoe and I walked around and found another spot that I liked better and we were able to move. The previous spot was a challenge to get level and I wasn't comfortable there for other reasons. The campground seemed to have several permanent residents (not sure what they do in the winter) and their spots weren't all that tidy, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. After moving to the new site, Zoe and I settled in with a fire. We were both quite tired - we are both finding that living in a van and exploring is a tiring business!

Trying some NA beer. Flavor is ok, but so thin...

Getting a fire going with damp wood

Success!

10/13 - Next day we were slow moving as usual. Zoe enjoyed all the doggie smells around the campground, then I actually cooked some breakfast, then got the shower that I was looking forward to.

We then moved on to explore Salem, MA. Even though it was a weekday, it was pretty busy. I guess that all of October is busy here. Lots of people dressed up to make a buck as well as the visitors dressed mostly as witches.

Hanged

I didn't know that "pressing" was a thing. Apparently, they tried to get confessions by pressing, but if they didn't confess, the victim died under the pressure. Sounds horrible!

Apparently a vampire drink...

Parking at Cabela's in Berlin, MA. They have a whole area dedicated to RVers traveling through. I'm on the right, but another blue gray sprinter appeared in the night as well. This isn't romantic parking, but it felt safe and was quiet and is free. I'll take it for a night!

10/12 - I have to say that Cabela's is pretty amazing. I've never been in one before, but they seem to have everything I might want/need. And then some... I had to try very hard to not buy a bunch of stuff that I think I will need. I really want to wait until I've wished I had something before buying. I already have a few items that I KNEW I needed, but I'm now not so sure.

I messed up. I picked this spot since it wasn't too far from Providence, RI. In the AM, I realized that it was Newport, RI that I wanted to visit. Though it was a bigger drive, we went to Newport, did the Cliff Walk (with the lovely views of the ocean and some of the mansions), hung out on the beach, and then drove around to explore some more before moving along.

Apparently Zoe was a bit tired after the Cliff Walk!

10/13 - We moved along to a spot in CT for the night. I use an app called iOverlander, which is crowd sourced and has spots listed on the map showing where you can stay for the night. Much of these are free, like the Cabela's from earlier and this spot. Basically, I needed somewhere to stay on my way to Sue's in NY since I'm trying not to drive more than 3 hours max each day. This was a beautiful spot with tons of check-ins saying that they didn't have any issues. I also felt comforted when another RV showed up - even though it completely blocked my morning view.