Monday, July 25 -Head to White Mountains

This morning we woke up early to pack up the camper to head to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Things went smoothly as everyone pitched in to get packed up.  There's always a bit of sadness as your leave a place you've been staying for a while.  We looked out at the window one last time as we passed by the harbor around the campground and said goodbye to the Atlantic ocean.  It was a five hour drive through many very scenic areas of both Maine and New Hampshire.  We stopped once for gas in Mexico, NH and once for lunch.  On the walkie talkie while driving, Greg commented on how motorcycle riders frequently give a low wave as kind of a sign of biker solidarity. 

He suggested that we minivan drivers should do something similar.  I thought a peace sign like "v"  for van would do the trick.

We arrived at the campground around 4 o'clock and drove up to our site.  I had a difficult time backing our camper in the site as the entrance was on a corner space.  I gave up after a few attempts and pulled it in forward.  I still haven't mastered the fine art of maneuvering the camper but at least I haven't jack knifed it (yet).  The setup for the camper went terribly.  First we had to roll the camper into a better position because of my inability to back it into a good spot.  Then, nowhere on the site was level so we had to jack it up on two sides.  Jen and I both yanked and pulled on the jacks until we were both exhausted and it still wasn't,t quite level.  Then when we tried to open the door it wouldn't move.  As it turned out, we had jacked the tire side up so high that it caused the camper to sag in the middle.  So, I had to jack up the middle of the camper and finally it opened easily.  Then the door handle that I had replaced before the trip began to stick badly, so I had to tinker with it for about 30 minutes and replace a spring to get it working.  I see why Greg always pulls out a beer while he sets up camp.

After we finally got things set-up properly.

The rest of the night we spent eating soup, planning some hikes, and biking around the campground.  The temperature is much cooler here and the mosquitos are much less active.  We tried having a camp fire but as we got it started, it began raining.  Everyone scampered around getting chairs and wood out of the rain and we went back to the campers to read and do some puzzles before bed. We are looking forward to a memorable time here in New Hampshire.