Salem Bound Day 6, The Final Haunting, Lake Elmore, VT

Twas a lovely, rain free but cool overnight in Salem. We ran the furnace a little bit to take the edge off. Happy to have a dual fuel furnace as we can use electricity when plugged in (or running the generator – comfort is not always cost effective).

Obviously there was a mandatory objective for this morning’s walk. Back to the good bakeries. I did not overshoot the target today so the walk was 5.75km in total. First stop was A&J King where I picked up some sticky buns, almond croissant and a baguette. On the return trip I stopped at LuLu’s Bakery so we could do some compares. I purchased 2 cupcakes and an almond croissant. I found a little dog chewy toy on the sidewalk so I picked that up to bring home for Amy. While I was having second and third breakfast, we discussed the agenda for the day. Since we were only going 330 km, we had some time to do other things. We decided to park in Salem and do some more walking about with perhaps a hint of souvenir shopping.

Stop right there! I ordered 2 cupcakes. Why is there only 1 cupcake in my pastry box? Oh, LuLu, you are not my friend!

Before we departed we filled up the water tank as it was easier here at our site that it would be at the next campground. First stop, an important one, was at the dump station up the road at the municipal wastewater treatment facility. Entering there was like entering a military base. Call on the intercom, give the secret code (which is the numerological representation of “I have to dump my poo tank”) and you get in the gate. After the gate you travel along the superterranean catacombs to the official drop off location. There, you enter the secret code on the likely poo covered lock and you open the magic trap door. Fortunately it was uneventful. We finished the job quickly, re-secured the facility and departed.

We parked near the wharf around 1000 and discovered one more time that Salem is not an early rising town. We found a few shops and purchased a few things and did more walking around historic Salem. I contemplated getting a shirt from Bunghole Liquors. Twenty-five year old me would have loved the shirt, current me chuckles at the name, appreciates the history, but probably would not wear the shirt. Going back into Salem for another walk around was Mrs Milddogs suggestion. Glad we did it. It was a sunny (chilly) morning and was great to see the buildings again.

We really enjoyed Salem and our side trip to Marblehead. Would not mind going back some day. In speaking with another set of neighbours from the campground, their take was that Salem did not know what it wanted to be. “It needs to choose whether it is witches, the revolutionary war, a sea port, birthplace of the National Guard..” . I thought that perspective was a bit daft. If you have an interesting and long history, why should you have to choose your identity. It is all of those things. But hey, they drove a Volvo so they can’t be bad people.

We hit the road for Lake Elmore, VT. Along the way we made a pit stop in Manchester, NH to grab a few supplies and made a futile attempt to obtain some clam strips for lunch. A few stops and no one had them. Sad face. We stopped in Livingston Park and parked with a view of the water. We had some leftovers for lunch and then continued on our way. We opted to get off the Highway at Montpelier, VT and take the more back road to the campground. It was a little rough in spots and there were a few times where I had a queue of cars behind me. Good thing New Englanders are friendly!

We arrived at Lake Elmore State Park around 1615. It was 8 degrees C. Yuck. At least it was not raining! Mrs Milddogs set about making a fine collection of soft chicken tacos with home made guacamole whilst I stayed out of the way. We did not have any cell coverage so I went out for a walk to try and find a bar or two and get some messages out. Success! Just up around the corner, if I held my finger on my belly and my right leg on the neighbours picnic table (just missing the dinner fixings) I could get enough signal strength to get a few messages out. Back at the van, feeling a little out of breath from outrunning the neighbour, I hooked up my ten year old Wilson cell booster but it did not help. I think I got it before LTE was a thing. Perhaps we need a more modern booster.

Dinner was very good, desert was a dilemma. Fortunately, Mrs Milddogs had some left over cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory that could serve as her desert. I inverted the cupcake (alway pull off half the cake and use it as a hat on the icing) and set about sampling. It better be good given the one for the price of two deal I got. Ah, it was OK. Homemade (even out of a box) are just as good. LuLu, you done me wrong!

We fired up the generator to get the furnace and hot water going on electricity. This may not be efficient but we have more gasoline than propane. I headed out to the showers at 1735 to be back in the van while we were still running the furnace. The shower rates a solid 5. They were clean enough and private. The score would be higher if they were not coin operated ($0.50 for 4 minutes) and if the shower head projected the water a bit further out in the shower. I kind of had to get a little too close to the shower wall, like I was about to be searched (reminds me of the Roswell, NM experience).

Since we didn’t have any cell signal, we did some reading and then watched a show we had downloaded to our devices. We set the furnace to keep the van at 16 degrees C. Don’t tell Mrs Milddogs, when I got up in the night to take an Advil (TM) (dealing with injuries from the fall the night before) I lowered the temperature to 14 C. It got down to 5C overnight.

Tomorrow a new adventure. Oh, It’s cool to get the word “van” into words. Tomorrow a new advanture. You’re so van, I bet you think this blog is about you, you’re so van…

I completely forgot to take a picture of our campsite!

Crap, here comes the neighbour! Run!