Coming back to the van after a day on the mountain, we noticed drips from the holding tank again. We cleaned it out in Vermont yesterday at a municipal waste facility and thought the problem was solved. From Mt Washington we drove to three places hoping to find a new valve. The third place had one and we bought it and headed to a campsite in Vermont to dump our tank and replace the valve. After dumping, the valve seemed to seal fine. We added clean water and nothing leaked out. Decided to take it to the repair shop tomorrow as the tech said he could see us at 8:30. I suspect something was damaged on that less-than-graceful ferry dismount in Michigan last month.
Enjoyed a quiet night at Pleasant Valley Campground in South Ryegate, Vermont.
The campground sits on a hill overlooking a little farm pond. The park is primarily permanent campers, nicely maintained, and reasonable at $27 for the night.
Steve Dana of Dana’s RV in Monroe, NH replaced our black tank valve this morning in under an hour and for less than $50. For our tire deflation problem, he recommended Aarons in Whitefield, New Hampshire, so we headed over there next.
Aarons, like three other tire shops before them, didn’t find anything wrong with the tire. The owner agreed that it would make sense to switch rims, so they put the spare rim on the current tire and switched the valve stems. We are hopeful that will fix this intermittent deflation syndrome. All the testing and switching around of wheels and tires was only $51.49!
update: Our tire leaks no more. We love honest New England small businesses.
After looking at forecasted overnight lows in the 30’s, and knowing campgrounds are booked for the holiday weekend, we headed West to New York to join Brenda & Lisa at Fern Lake.
Parked in St Johnsbury to sample some Maple Candy. I remember stopping here in the station wagon on family trips between New York and Maine. It hasn’t changed, and is still too sweet for my tastebuds. We did pick up a list of “best” places to see moose for future adventures.
The old Sugar Shack remains, though it is no longer used. A looping video shows how maple syrup is produced.
Montpelier was another short stop where we walked around the nicely kept town,
visited the Vermont capital,
and peeked into a local craft gallery. A culinary institute next door was tempting, but it was between mealtimes.
A walking trail around the town will, eventually, repurpose this old railroad bridge.
Crossed Lake Champlain on the Essex Ferry. The boarding layout was much better than the Canada-Michigan crossing. This one had long ramps with an easy slope.
The lake was a little blustery as north winds kicked up a chop.
A video does a better job of demonstrating the experience:
Despite the clouds and intermittent sprinkles, the views of the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondacks of New York were awesome.
Looks like we need to spend some time cleaning svIntuition’s roof. There might be room for a solar panel up there too…
Revolutionary era stone houses came into view as we approached the Essex ferry landing.
By nightfall we were safely parked on familiar ground at the family camp in the Adirondacks.