Labor Day weekend and the Maiden Voyage of the new truck and trailer camper.

All in all it went really well with very few items coming up to be fixed, fiddled, changed, etc. WHEW! That’s really nice and probably a great relief for Jim Royer of Littleton Massachusetts too.

We started out early on Thursday for the Southern Berkshires. Neither one of us had been to this area previously. We certainly hadn’t taken a RV out there before either. It was interesting trying to find a small campground that didn’t look like a big open field and big on kids running around. Don’t get me wrong, I adore children. Mostly as long as they are someone else’s and I can give them back and certainly not playing ball at 7am outside my campsite. That’s just me. Call me crazy. Anyway, after searching around on line for someplace that had all of the abovementioned requirements and full service hook ups we opted for Walker Island in Chester, Mass. Only about 70-80 sites with a mix of a few tents thrown in and all is centered on Walker Brook which basically makes an “island” of the place.

The ride in was interesting passing through old mill towns and my great fascination with old mills buildings was quieted since none of them had any faded ads. Sigh. Still interesting old places though to look at during the ride. Coming up around the curve for the campground is a little like expecting the worst and finding it’s not so bad thankfully. Our site was just along the river and in between the seasonal campsites. We set up really quickly and enjoyed the actual couch, table, kitchen, and especially the bathroom all our own for a little while. We took a walk through the place and it was very cute. Some sites across the river are parallel to it and there was another tiered section of camping up in the hill. Very cool sites up there away from everything. I really liked #55A that was in between some cliffs and Jim really liked I think it was #73 which was a few open spots up there by the back entrance and butted up against the mountain. The set up had covered bridges across the river and in the middle was mini golf, horseshoes, shuffleboard. The pool looked really nice and clean and was heated. They had these quaint little lanterns all around the place that were converted to electric and had a nice yellow bulb in them that they turned on at night. There is a shot in the gallery I tried to take at night of them as well as the reflection of the lights along the canopies and reflecting in the brook. I didn’t have my tripod so, you’ll have to excuse the bit of a shake. There really were quite a few spots along the brook and although we both thought that listening to the water all night would make us up and in the restroom all night, it actually drowned out a lot of the sounds and was peaceful. A couple times not thinking about it though we thought “What’s that water running”? With a new set up you have to try to listen for everything so, it was interesting.

Other than walking into the awning for the camper I was pretty much unscathed during this trip and even managed to not fall down!! WooHoo. The camper itself was wonderful and the only issue we had other than a spring on one of the awning bars was a leak in the shower. Not bad for a maiden voyage and certainly pretty great for just a long weekend. Jim was upset that the firepits we just stone without the cooking grate and I certainly miss his cooking on the fire but, we managed just find with a real kitchen and hot water and heat and air conditioning. All in all Mr. James Royer of Littleton Mass treated me to a very nice 40^th Birthday vacation in style and I thank him for all of his efforts. :*.

Pics are up in the Gallery:

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/a@60612/

We found some really nice places in the area to explore and I would recommend them to anyone who goes out that way.

Chester-Blandford State Forest

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/western/chbl.htm

Boulder Park. Part of the trips we take include Geocaching and this one we found on www.Geocaching.com. It was rated an easy hike in with minimal bushwhacking to find the cache and also offered some interesting things to see. The area had some old restrooms and fire pits and was supposedly the area used by CCC while building some of the area parks.

Sanderson Brook Falls. 1 mile hike to 60 ft cascade. It’s not a bad hike, even I struggled through it and only had limited amounts of pain in the feet thing (sign its getting better I hope). During the spring the cascade must be pretty impressive and it was nice to see even this time of year. One warning to those sticking their feet in the water is that the wee little fish that live there are hungry and it freaked me out. Yep, it most certainly made me move like the wind. Mostly because I had put my feet down onto flat rocks and all of a sudden I got nibbled on…freaky stuff. Also, if you take a dog, make sure you can carry it. They have two bridges that are the open grate type. Make sure you’re freakishly scared of heights and bridges girlfriends also get a helping hand over. BoyScoutJim is just the best guy in the world, Abby and I both have to agree on that point.

http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/305_glendale_falls.cfm

A Trustees of Reservations property that is just stunning and must be spectacular in the spring with the cascade and in the fall with the leaves turning. It is a popular spot for the young and old to hang out and imbibe in a variety of items so, don’t be surprised. Worth the trip and about 20 feet from the parking area to the top of the falls. The hike down I didn’t do but, I heard it was pretty interesting. I became obsessed with the trees and rocks there and have quite a few pictures of them.

Not big on the wildlife this trip. Certainly no bears we were aware of.

Abby was still on the lookout for them though.

There is a blurry picture of a Ruffed Grouse that came right out of the underbrush when we pulled over on the side of the road. Very pretty bird with a freakish flying sound much like a helicopter. Abby thought she was in heaven.

We also kicked up a Moose out in a logging area and think we found its bed – about an 8x8 square of compressed greens. He was quick and we didn’t get a picture of him.

Also saw two fawns running through someone’s backyard. It was cute to see them almost grown but still wearing their spots.

I caught a tree frog for Abby that she just stared at until it jumped and then she went into high hunting mode which was pretty funny.

There were Turkeys along the side of the road we caught a glimpse of as well.

Another fun adventure in the great outdoors.

"argghh" and "Shiver me timbers" even