The Adventures of Myron and Dorcas: Headed into New England

Tue May 18 was a moderately long driving day. We made 340 miles and spent the night at the Walmart Supercenter in Milford PA. We called ahead and when we asked the associate if overnight parking was allowed she hesitated then said "yes and no" ???? There is a remote parking lot at the far front edge of store next to the highway that is posted "No Overnight Parking", but she said the rule was not enforced, and that no one would bother us OK. So that's what we did. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The Other Side of the Rest Stop featuring Flo, Jamie, Mara and Alan

Are we there already???

We were running well ahead of schedule and had made a plan to camp at Chamberlain Lake Campground in Woodstock CT. That would mean a very short driving day of 176 miles. But the campground was cheap, had 50A service and, based on the description, was fairly scenic. The only downside was that it was about 8 miles off the interstate. When we called ahead the owner said check-in was at 3:00 and an early check-in would incur a $20 penalty. CRAP! We were on track to arrive at 11:00 AM. That meant we could proceed to the campground and pay the $20, negating the cheap rate, or plan to keep going and make it a longer driving day and stay somewhere else, or stop somewhere before there and kill some time. Ultimately, we decided to visit the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford CT, only about 30 minutes down the road. We called to inquire about tickets and parking. The guy there said there was no dedicated RV parking in their parking lot, but we were welcome to park in the general parking area if we wished. We looked at Google maps and discovered the lot was not very big and finding seven adjacent spaces of right-angle parking to occupy might be a challenge. But it was right on our way, easy access from I-84, and we could bail if we couldn't find parking there or on the street nearby. We were feeling lucky, and when we arrived there was a gap just big enough for us.

"Indeed, none but the Deity can tell what is good luck and what is bad before the returns are all in." Letter SLC to Samuel Moffett, August 6 1904

Life is Good! At least for today.

This little guy wanted to help me plan my route as he wandered over my MacBook

From Wikipedia:

"The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. The Clemens family had it designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and built in the American High Gothic style. Clemens biographer Justin Kaplan has called it "part steamboat, part medieval fortress and part cuckoo clock."

Clemens wrote many of his best-known works while living there, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Tramp Abroad, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Poor financial investments prompted the Clemens family to move to Europe in 1891. The Panic of 1893 further threatened their financial stability, and Clemens, his wife Olivia, and their middle daughter, Clara, spent the year 1895–96 traveling so that he could lecture and earn the money to pay off their debts. He recounted the trip in Following the Equator (1897). Their other two daughters, Susy and Jean, had stayed behind during this time, and Susy died at home on August 18, 1896, of spinal meningitis before the family could be reunited. They could not bring themselves to reside in the house after this tragedy and spent most of their remaining years living abroad. They sold the house in 1903."

"Architects cannot teach nature anything" Memorable Midnight Experience, 1874

We took a guided tour of the house. Our guide was dressed in costume and spoke in the manner of the time, 1903. The premise of the tour was that the Twains were not going to return to the house and intended to sell it. The guide posed as real life good friend and neighbor of Twain, the Minister Joseph Twichell, who is showing the furnishings to potential buyers for an upcoming auction.

Unfortunately photography is strictly forbidden inside the house. I was tempted to cheat and take some clandestine shots, but Twichell was keeping a close eye open for scofflaws. I did however lift a few photos from the Mark Twain House and Museum website:

The Mahogany Room, the best guest suite

The library

The Billiards Room where Twain did his writing

The Drawing Room was the scene of formal entertaining

Entrance Hall and main staircase

The Clemens Bedroom, the private quarters of Clemens and his wife

The schoolroom‚ originally designed as Twain’s study‚ later became a play area and classroom for his daughters

Clara and Jean shared the nursery. Susy‚ as the oldest child‚ had her own room

We departed the parking lot, thankful that no one had blocked us in while we were parked, and headed back to the interstate. We didn't expect the road from I-84 to Chamberlain Lake Campground to be great, but it was worse than expected. It was 8 miles of twisty turns and steep grades. A number of yellow caution signs warned us of S-shaped roads and 9% grades. The road was narrow with no place to pull over to let others pass. I'm sure we pissed off a lot of locals. We arrived safely at our camp at Chamberlain Lake Campground in Woodstock CT in time for happy hour and well past the dreaded 3:00 check-in time.