Zoo, Mansions, Rain and Pizza

We've now put 6,500 miles on the Truck Camper since we picked it up April 8th. No moss growing under these tires! It is amazing how much rain there has been over these two months and how much of it we have walked through. This past trip was no different but at least it is warming up a bit.

Went to Providence, RI to go to the Roger Williams Zoo http://www.rogerwilliamsparkzoo.org/. We both enjoy zoos and learning about some of the conservation efforts going on. Rainy, windy and quite noisy as it seems the 2nd graders were having a field day. Hundreds of eighth graders were loud enough that some of the animals were staying in the far reaches of their enclosures. We also walked around the Roger Williams Park http://www.nps.gov/rowi/ and read up on one of the men who helped found our country on a basis of religious freedom.

Headed on over to Newport, RI with the idea of walking the trails along the ocean side of the mansions. http://www.cliffwalk.com/, Parked at the visitor center and then walked into old town Newport. Not a lot of "old" left with mostly souvenir shops and the usual franchises. Futile effort to find a place to park the RV up near the cliff walk trail so ended up just driving the Ten Mile loop around the road side of the mansions and up to Fort Adams http://www.oceandrivenewport.com/. Many of the mansions seem to be in the midst of total remodel and those that weren't show an obvious need of repair. Just how many people can afford to own a mansion and keep it in tip top shape? Not many and those that can appear to have their homes open to tours. Bet our Lance is about the size of half a coat closet on some of those mansions. From Fort Adams you can look back at Newport and see many of the mansions from the ocean side.

We were so close to Mystic, CT just decided to go over a day early to camp. Good thing we did as the heavens opened and glad we were already set up or we would have needed a boat to move around the camper. Saturday and Sunday were spent exploring the small town of Mystic, just looking at and passing up yarn in a way overpriced yarn shop, and having a great time with other truck camper folk we met there. Mystic Pizza was as good this trip as the last. Also went over to Stonington Harbor, CT and walked the streets that truly still look like an old whaling town. Perfectly preserved town that made you feel like you should have on 1800 style clothing. That alone made the trip worthwhile.

Learned a lot about our rig and the tips were invaluable and appreciated. We'll meet up with some of these TCer again over the summer and hopefully give help back with GPS set ups. A special thanks goes to Mike T who replaced a suddenly discovered missing bolt on one air bag as we were ready to drive back to Maine. Dropping an air bag would not have been fun on I-95.
The Lance continues to perform perfectly, diesel mileage slowly rising, packing the rig easier each time. No idea where we're going next but hopefully it will be soon.