We swung back through Virginia to load up a sofa and a few boxes into the “garage” portion of our RV, then off to visit our daughter and son-in-law in Manchester, NH.  We had heard that Cracker Barrel welcomes RVrs to spend the night in their parking lot, and this turned out to be the case.  We stopped in at a CB, had dinner, bedded down for the night, and had breakfast there the next morning, then we were on our way.  There are no facilities hook-ups, of course, but our RV is quite “self sustaining” for a few days, as long as you aren’t counting on the AC.

Our time in New Hampshire was delightful.  We were towing a kayak trailer behind the car, which Linda drove, while Tom piloted the RV.  The kayak was one that Tom made, to be kept with the two that Tom made for Amber and Dave.  Of course, we had to get all three on the water, and had a lovely paddle. 

Tom and Amber also went for a Stand-Up Paddle board paddle on a lovely lake, while Linda took pictures of us and spun fleece into wool with one of her drop spindles. 

The weather was perfect.  Amber collected a few samples of algae blooms to send off to the Department of Health.  She has previously identified toxic blooms and her reporting led to the closing of a lake by the state.  Warmer temperatures have resulted in an increased number of toxic blooms in locations where this has not been a problem historically.

Tom and Amber also went for a lovely bike ride.  Manchester has an impressive network of bike lanes (and Amber aggressively advocates with the city council for more) and also lovely rail-to-trail bikeways.  We put in a few miles long a river with a lovely tree canopy.

Another highlight of the visit was the seafood boil.  Amber prepared a seafood boil of shrimp, scallops, clams, corn, potatoes and, of course Lobster (this is New England, after all).  It was fabulous.  We also had raw oysters as an appetizer.  It was the quintessential New Hampshire experience. 

Our first event was watching the piglet chase.  Youngsters are recruited from the attendees to enter the arena a chase after young piglets.  It is a time limited event.  If they catch a piglet, they get to keep it.  Needless to say, the piglets are very enthusiastic about not being caught, so it is an entertaining show.  There is also and adult version.  Frankly, the kids were more entertaining, and they were better at it than the adults.

Next, we saw the horse pulls.  A team of horses is hitched to a pile of concrete blocks sitting on a flat bottomed sled.  The weight is increased, and the teams are eliminated when the weight exceeds their capacity.  It was amazing to watch, as the horses are really energized to pull, so they need to be quickly lined up, and their harness ring is dropped on the sled’s hook.  Once they hear the hook hit the ring, they are off like a bolt.  We were joined at the fair by two German exchange students whom Amber and Dave are hosting.  This was quite an experience for them.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a New England county fair without the competition of the massive produce.  There are a number of categories, including sunflowers and various gourds.  However, the real draw is the massive pumpkins.  These are of a size that Cinderella could have actually ridden in, weighing close to 2000 lbs.  Ok, it would be a bit cramped for old Cindy, kind of like riding in a Cooper Mini.  Still, it could be done.

Amber and Dave have a home which dates to 1890, or thereabouts.  They have been updating and modernizing over time.  The progress they have made so far is amazing.  They have restored much of the original woodwork, and Dave has done some beautiful parquetry on the floors.  Of course, they both have full-time jobs, so it takes time, but what an amazing accomplishment so far!

We returned to Virginia for a few days, staying at Pohick State Park on the Potomac.  The purpose of this stay was to sort through our three storage units and reduce it to two.  This was completed over the course of several days, but it was so time consuming that Tom never got a chance to Kayak, despite the location.  Of course, another time time-suck was the campsite itself.  The site we were assigned to was impossible to access with the RV we own.  Because it was a holiday weekend, they didn’t have a lot of options for us, other than moving between 3 sites over the 5 day stay.  Sooo, we once again got a lot of practice with the packing, hitching, set-up, un-hitching, etc.  We are starting to feel like old pros!