Pillsbury State Park with Tedda
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Mid-November. For me, mid-November is one of New England’s “shoulder season” months. Long after the gorgeous foliage has peaked and before the beauty (and novelty) of the season’s first snowfalls is November. Cold weather. Gray skies. Short Days. Less sunlight. Nevertheless, committed to making every weekend count and to get as much use out of the Travato as possible, G and I opted for a return visit to Pillsbury State Park in Washington, NH, to take advantage of its last open weekend of the season.
Pillsbury State Park is a real gem in our state. Close to home (only about 90 minutes away) but isolated, Pillsbury is a paddler’s delight; when we visited this summer, we took our packrafts out for a quick paddle—that was after I had slammed G’s finger in the van door BY ACCIDENT!!! (update: the nail, black for months, finally fell off a few weeks ago).
As I wrote in my previous post about our summer visit to Pillsbury, the park has just 41 sites; 11 of those are remote and accessible either by foot or canoe. The park’s own map/info sheet calls the campground “primitive.” I’d say rustic, but perhaps that’s the same. In other words, you won’t find any modern washrooms or dishwashing stations at this park—just pit toilets. That weekend, we had site 35; while it had a view of Mill Pond, we could not access the water from our site. In our humble opinion, site #2 is the very best site at this park; it’s set apart and right on Butterfield Pond—and we’ve already booked it for a weekend next summer. This past weekend, we were able to check out site #1, which might just rival #2. While it’s waterfront (on Vickery Pond), the site is still wooded and doesn’t have the open/right on the water feel as site #2 does; instead, there’s a short wooden walkway leading from the site to the water’s edge. Site #1 is completely secluded, near the office/main entrance but at the end of a long driveway (with a “Do Not Enter” sign to discourage wanderers). While the park has spotty cell service, we didn’t have any service at our site; on our last visit, we were able to get a decent signal at our campsite.
Friday’s weather was gray and drizzly, with temps hovering in the mid30s. Had we kept our Eurovan, that baby would have stayed in storage. And tent camping? No way! But with the Travato and its promise of heat, power, and self-containment, we knew we’d be in for a cozy, quiet, and relaxing weekend regardless of the weather. We didn’t mind the cold or the rain—after all, we were inside!—and the forecast called for a Saturday filled with sunshine (that turned out to be a lie, but oh well).
Unlike last weekend’s camping trip to Dry River Campground in Crawford Notch State Park, with blue skies and temps in the 70s, we knew this weekend would allow us to really test out our heating system—we definitely wouldn’t be sitting outside or setting up the hammocks! Without hookups, we relied on our propane tank to keep the coach toasty warm—and it did. Part of the reason for spending the extra money on the lithium model of the Winnebago Travato was for weekends and parks just like this one; most of the parks and sites we like don’t have hookups, and with the lithium system, we don’t miss a beat. The Volta system keeps us powered without a significant drain on the system and turning on the inverter allows for use of regular household appliances. While the generator-equipped model would have met our needs as well, we figured if home dialysis is in G’s future (which looks likely, if he’s unable to find a donor), we wanted to have access to full power wherever we were—without the need for hookups or a generator. But I digress…
For dinner that first evening, we used the microwave to heat up chili that I had made that morning before we left. Topped with cheese and a little bit of sour cream, the chili certainly warmed us up. Then, it was time for our after-dinner routine of Ticket to Ride (I didn’t take any photos this time! Ugh). Saturday morning, I experimented with coffee—I’m still trying to figure out the best/easiest coffee maker—and used my Jetboil and French press attachment. I also tried out our new blender to make my morning protein smoothie—awesome! But again, no pics (I was really lazy this weekend!!). And that evening, we opted for simple sandwiches on pretzel buns (mmmm). I’ll eventually learn how to really cook in the RV, as we have a two-burner propane stovetop and the microwave is also a convection oven. However, not having access to running water to clean dishes (we already winterized the van) makes thinking about cooking/cleaning a little more challenging. Right now, I’m opting for heating up pre-made meals and/or easy solutions without the need for a whole lot of prep or clean up. Even making the smoothie involved some creative cleaning of the blades (a spray bottle filled with water is a lifesaver!); I ended up just packing the used smoothie cup home to scrub clean.
The rest of the weekend was just, well, quiet. Unfortunately, the sun never did make an appearance (until Sunday, of course, as we were leaving), but we used the weekend to reset a bit and relax. G has a harder time relaxing than I and tends to get antsy, so we ended up taking Tedda out for a ride (and for a quick blast of cell service and to recharge the Volta system). Other than that short trip, I spent most of the weekend reading. Perhaps Stephen King’s The Stand (the expanded version!!!)—about a superflu pandemic that wipes out most of the population and the post-apocalyptic days that follow—isn’t the best reading for these current days (and to be reading it in the middle of the woods without cell service), but oh well; I ended up finishing a little more than a third of the book over the weekend.
Sunday morning, with the sun and blue sky making up for the 28-degree chill, I took a few shots of the campsite and the pond before we headed back home. Another weekend with Tedda in the books; we’re more hooked than ever.
These weekend jaunts are among the few activities keeping G and me sane. As we head into the cold, dark winter months, we’re trying to make sure to find ways to break up our work-from-home routines while still remaining safe, healthy, and pretty isolated. Nine months in to this pandemic, our routine looks so different from that of days and months past. We’re no longer spending days visiting towns and shops, walking or visiting populated places, spending hours upon hours with my family, or going out to dinner. Tedda, just like the Eurovan before it, is allowing us an escape from the confines of our condo and our day-to-day routines while enabling us to get out a bit and pretty much avoid interacting with others and with public spaces. For all of that, we’re so, so grateful.