One Hairy Highway Adventure

Traveling in a RV of any size can be a real adventure when you have to traverse a major metropolitan region. Heavy traffic made up of semi-trucks and automobiles, complex highway interchanges, bridges and tunnels make for a potentially stressful driving day. On Friday, August 25 we needed to leave Battle Row Campground on Long Island around 10 AM to allow enough time to cross the George Washington Bridge from the Bronx to New Jersey. We got our campsite broken down in a light rain and hit the road on our scheduled departure time.

We crossed the "island" via the northern expressway from Nassau County into Queens to the Bronx. The added rain variable to the already heavy traffic made vehicle travel slow which was a blessing in disguise. I had more time to react to the route on our Trip Wizard Navigation System. It took two hours to go 35 miles, but we made it to New Jersey unscathed; thank you Jesus! The highway road surface conditions in both New York and New Jersey are the worst we've experienced since starting our journey. We have made it a habit of opening cabinets in the RV slowly after traveling these types of roads. These types of road conditions can loosen your dental fillings!

The remaining 30 miles to Randolph, NJ were thankfully uneventful and we arrived at our friends, Bob and Jeffri Dumas's home after taking a lunch break enroute. Bob and Jeffri moved from Santa Rosa, CA in 2019 to be closer to their married son Nathan who lives and works in the region. We spent the afternoon reconnecting with these dear friends whom we have shared life with back in California. They live with Jeffri's sister, Lisa in a two-story home in a beautiful suburban neighborhood. We had received permission to park on the street by their property for the night, so we left the rig attached to the truck and we manually leveled the passenger side with some shoring boards we carry with us in the storage compartment of the trailer.

We enjoyed a barbecued Salmon dinner with fresh corn on the cob and kale/quinoa salad. Dessert finished off the meal with a fresh fruit pie and vanilla ice cream. We spent the evening telling stories about our RV adventures and learning about their experiences living in New Jersey. Even though we hadn't seen each other in 4 years, we picked up right where we left off like it was yesterday. We are so blessed to have such good friends!

Saturday morning, after a good night sleeping in our RV, we shared breakfast together before getting back on the road around 11 AM on our way to Codorus State Park in Hanover, Pennsylvania, about 190 miles to the west and 5 hours of driving. It was great spending time with the Dumas's and ned and look forward to a longer visit next time we get together.