November
18: the weather has been really cold and rainy the past few days. We have
not managed to get a lot of climbing in recently. The forecast calls for well
below freezing temperatures at night. Time to move on! We're planning
to leave for NH this morning (ice climbing, anyone?). Lucie goes to Yoga in
New Paltz one last time before we leave. In her absence, Eric gets the bus
ready.
When she
returns at 10:30am, everything is ready to go. We start up, get going, and…
not! We're stuck in the mud! There was a lot of resistance to forward motion
from the start, then the wheels start spinning… and we grind to a halt. The
wheels are sinking pretty significantly in the grass and dirt, softened nicely
by several days of rain. S$%#!, S$%#!, and S$%#!!
We try slipping floor mats under the wheels… to no avail. Eric tries getting
the snow chains on the ground as a help for traction… no difference! We get
our old Mammut half ropes out to use as towing cables, hook those up to the
Jeep, and pull as hard as we can… nah! Lucie goes to find Rada - our Polish
farmer friend - from the field for help. We pull with his full size truck
and the jeep at the same time… not even budging.
We are
stuck for good. By now, the rear wheels have dug several inches down into
the mud. Rada suggests asking for help from the farmer whose land we are staying
on. We're not too keen on that. First, we've just dug big holes in his lawn,
and second, his tractor does not look heavy enough to have much of a chance.
We resolve ourselves to calling a tow truck. It ain't cheap ($400+tax), but
at least they bring the right equipment, and - I must say - do an excellent
job pulling us out very smoothly with electric winches. It's better than risking
damaging the bus… So we are finally on our way, but way behind schedule. Clearly,
we won't make it to NH today...
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Still
in the Gunks, getting towed out in (click here
for movie).
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What
a relief. We're out of here!
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Driving
through New Paltz...
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...and
part of Massachussets.
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Downtown
Northhampton.
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We follow
the interstate highways this time, trying to make it easier for the bus. We
stop in Northampton, MA for the night. After a long cold night, we go
to town for a quick visit and leave again mid-morning for New Hampshire.
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Nice
building in Northhampton.
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Driving
North to New Hampshire.
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Yeah,
we made it back!
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Driving
through Lisbon.
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Arriving
at the Living Water Campground near Crawford Notch.
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We arrive
at the Living Water campground - where we're hoping to spend 6 weeks - around
2:30PM. It's quite a shock. The ground is covered with a good 3 inches of
snow. Really looks like winter already! We put the chains on, just in case…
and settle into a site. It doesn't take long after we plug in to realize that
the advertised 30A electric is more like 5A!! We barely have 85V left when
running a single electric heater (15A). It becomes pretty clear that night
that we won't be able to stay here. Without enough power to run two heaters
and our electrical tapes, our pipes will freeze (and so will we!).
