Fast Track Travel

Just to think we were in Maine only 4 days ago. We moved to Massachusetts to the very nice Ludlow Elks.

This is the picture on Google maps. We were parked on the grass between the red roofed building and the white roofed building. 

One of the things we enjoy about staying at the Elks are the great people we have the opportunity to meet.  The first night we stayed there (and were told there were no activities planned) the grassy area started filling up with people, beer, food, and there was lots of loud music.  The Jack and Jill event attendees were very curious about this big whale of a RV sitting in the middle of their party.  They did not have a problem with it, they just wanted a tour. So we did a couple of tours.

While in Massachusetts we wanted to get some caches and since we were only only a couple of miles from Connecticut wanted to get some caches there too.  There was a town called Windsor Locks down in Connecticut and Tom wanted to see the Locks.  The TomTom took us to the town, not the Locks and we got lost.  We turned around in a driveway at the end of a dead end road.  Two girls, twins, about 16 came to the car as we turned around and we asked them about the Locks.  Well the conversation continued… California, school, their future, etc.  We had so much fun visiting these friendly girls.  Before we left a crowd of about 10 other teens joined the twins.  I wonder what the neighbors thought.  The twins eventually told us how to get to the Locks.  We first took a slightly wrong turn and this is what we saw: a deserted, graffitied, and recently flooded area.  I thought we were in a CSI story.

		The scary side of town VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Well, we did get turned around and found the right road right by the canal that bypassed the mighty Connecticut River.  We found a cache then drove 4 miles down the canal and saw the actual Locks, built in 1829.  They are not used any more, in fact haven’t been used in many years.

Just on the other side of the canal was the Connecticut River. There has been so much rain in this area, the river is closed to boating and swimming. 

		Raging Connecticut River VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We left the Ludlow Elks and drove 273 difficult miles to the Waterloo Moose. The non-toll roads were so hilly that when we left Waterloo we decided it would be toll roads on the rest of the way to Elkhart, IN. 

The next day we drove 249 miles to Ashtabula to the Elks lodge which sits right on Lake Erie.  We sat on the patio and watched the white caps on the Lake.  We left Ashtabula this morning and drove 304 toll roads to Elkhart.  These two days cost $65 just to drive on bumpy roads and through construction zones, but the road was pretty flat and we probably saved the toll fees in fuel. 

We arrived this afternoon at Elkhart Campground and soon were greeted by the greatest welcoming committee, Nick and Terry Russell and Greg and Jan White.  There were lots of hugs, but not much conversation as Michele, the lady who will be fixing our damaged slide topper, arrived and we spent the next 2 hours disassembling the cover.  We went to a quick dinner at Perkins, a real come down from the fabulous lobster we had been enjoying.  More about our Elkhart visit later.