Days Thirteen and Fourteen

Well, I certainly have some catching up to do.  Things have been really busy for the past week or so.  We left Niagara Falls on our way to Boston. During the drive, we discussed the possibility of flying Debbie to Boston to join us so that I wouldn’t have the primary responsibility of overseeing Josh on our touring when John didn’t go with us. My foot is still bothering me and has limited the amount of walking that I can do comfortably. Josh has been very good about sticking close in case I need assistance, but it is certainly impacting what all he gets to see. So, we called her and she agreed to join us.

I got on the Web on my phone and checked out flights to Boston from Houston. The most reasonable fare was with Southwest – imagine that! So, I booked her flight and she started packing.  We made another trip to Wal Mart for a blow-up mattress and some sheets. We already had an extra pillow, so we were ready for her. She and Josh can work out who gets the mattress and who gets the couch.

The next morning, we got up bright and early. Now you have to understand that early for Josh and John has been around 10:00 a.m.  I’ve usually been up for about two hours, reading or puttering or blogging.  But, this morning I rousted them out early. We had planned to go to Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower replica. Breakfast was a quick affair, and then we were off.

Plymouth was only about 25 miles due east from our campground, so it was a nice ride through the area.  It was amazing to see the signs posted for each little township we drove through that listed the name and date they were organized – usually in the 1600s! The roads are narrow and very wooded. Every effort has been made to preserve our heritage in these areas.  We got to Plymouth and started our search for “the rock.” We’ve relied heavily on our GPS, but I couldn’t find a link to it this time.  We did find the “National Monument to The Forefathers” monument at Pilgrim Memorial State Park.  It is located on a hill, tucked away off the beaten path.  It is quite a tall monument, and on two of the sides, it lists the names of all of the passengers and crew of the Mayflower who traveled to this new land.

Then we were off to find the waterfront. We knew we’d find the Mayflower somewhere there along with Plymouth Rock somewhere.  Plymouth Rock has quite a history. It has been moved, broken, repaired, moved, broken, and repaired again. Additionally, people who wanted a souvenir to take home have chipped off pieces of it. It has been given into the keeping of the U.S. Park Service, and a new, permanent home, back on the beach has been created for it.  A cover has been erected around it and a member of the park service is on duty around the clock to be sure no part of it disappears again. They are also there to tell about its history and answer questions. I knew from research that it wasn’t a large rock, but John and Josh were expecting something along the lines of Enchanted Rock in the Hill Country – large and imposing. After all, it has been such a big part of our history - it should be big!  And then, we looked at the replica of the Mayflower. It is amazing that people traveled across the ocean on something so small and with no amenities. I wonder how willing we would be to leave everything behind except for a few personal belongings and endure the hardships of that voyage to start a new life in the unknown and with virtually nothing. 

We took some time to drive around Plymouth to look at some of the old houses. Some had plates on them giving information on when they were built, some from the late 1600s. Imagine living in a house built back then!

Then it was time to start our trek northward to Boston to pick Debbie up at the airport. We’re still converting time from CDT to EDT, as we don’t want to change all of our clocks. I finally decided it was time to change my watch – it was too complicated trying to keep track of when things opened by adding an hour.  John didn’t want to change the truck clock, and I didn’t want to change the time on the GPS, so we’ve learned to add an hour when using them.  Anyway, we were to pick Debbie up at 4:00 p.m. at the airport, and we needed to have lunch along the way.  This isn’t going to leave much time for sightseeing on the way, but we decided to drive along the coast to see the sights along the way.

We stopped in a little town at a pub (name here) for lunch.  It was in an incredibly old building. John had to stoop down to walk through the room or he’d have bumped his head on the rafters. It was a very small room, with little tables.  The other patrons had obviously been coming there for years as they were all on a first-name basis. The food was good, but nothing unusual, so I won’t list it here.  It was fun, though, to listen to the “Boston” accents of the other diners. 

The Boston airport is northeast of Boston, located across the bay from downtown. We had to go through a tunnel underwater to reach it.  In Houston, both airports are set up so that you can make the circuit around them without a problem – if you don’t mind a lot of traffic, of course. In Boston, once you have made a circuit past the correct terminal, you have to exit the airport, pay a toll to go back through the tunnel back into Boston, and then figure out how to make a U-turn and start over. Of course, we made a wrong turn past the wrong terminal, had to go back to Boston, turn around and go back.  Just before we got to Boston, Debbie had called from Baltimore to say that her plane was running about 20 minutes late.  So, after we made the first trip through the airport, we stopped at a C-store for gas and a Dunkin Donut. John had been talking about them since we left Houston, so he finally got to have one or two.  We waited there for a bit, then John struck up a conversation with an airport employee who had stopped off for a donut on her way to work and found out where we needed to park at the Southwest terminal.  So, off we went again through the tunnel and to the airport.  We found the parking lot and got a spot right on the front row across from where arriving passengers come out of the terminal.  Of course, a 20-minute delay translates into an additional 45-minute delay!  One thing you can count on, though, with Southwest is that your baggage just about beats you to baggage claim, so Debbie didn’t have to wait long for hers when she finally got there.

Then back through the toll both, the tunnel, and into Boston.  Everyone was tired, so we went back to the TT to get Debbie settled in and discuss what we were going to do going forward. I had really wanted to visit a number of the historical sites in Boston, but it would have meant changing reservations at every campground going forward on the trip. Since part of those reservations were for the July 4th weekend, it would be impossible to make some changes.  So, we decided to forego further explorations of Boston as we were scheduled to leave the next morning to go to New York.  I’ll just have to come back someday and do the tourist thing again. I’d really like to do the northeast when the seasons change in the fall, so that might be a possibility later on.

On to New York City!  Our trip south means some modifications in the back seat distribution. Where Skooter used to have his own seat by the window, now he has to share that with Debbie when she is kind enough to let him sit on her lap. Now his bed has been modified to just the padded section and is in the center instead of by the window. Obviously Debbie has given up checking out the beautiful scenery and has opted for a nap. Skooter has resumed giving John driving directions as a back-seat driver only can!