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(Note: This blog entry represents a combination of writings and pictures already posted about our Cool Change II, Land Yacht Adventures 2021 through Cindy via Facebook and Rick via email. So for some of you, the following posts may be duplicative, but for others, this is the first time you are seeing them. We are repeating them here to centralize the record and share our experiences more broadly.)
RICK’S POST (with a few pictures and captions in italics by Cindy):
When we arrived in Boston, we were met by my sister Chrys and brother-in-law Barry. Barry was dropping Chrys off to catch a flight to California to spend some time with our mom and he would be bringing us back to their home in Gilford, NH, where we would spend a couple of days recommissioning the Land Yacht and getting underway.
Leaving Gilford, we began our trip south along the eastern seaboard. We stopped in a Connecticut State Park called Salt Point in Sprague, Connecticut. When we arrived, there were only a few other campers there. Still, they were fully booked for the upcoming weekend, which would be their last before closing for the season.
The campground was bordered on one side by the Shetucket River, which ran about 20 miles between Windham and Norwitch. There was a put-in at the campground for a 2.2 mile day run to Sprague Park. We considered putting on in our IK’s but the shuttle would have been a pain so we passed on it.
There was a beautiful trail we hiked that followed the river and then circled back around the campground. In the center of the camp was a large grass field with volleyball nets, basketball hoops and a playground area. It would be a great place to come with youngsters.
Our campsite was under a cluster of walnut trees and there were so many nuts falling out of the trees bouncing off the truck that I had to cover it with a tarp, as I was worried they would damage the truck. Fortunately, we were able to set up our chairs in an area that was outside of the drop zone or we would have needed safety helmets! The fire pits were all built of stones rather than the usual steel rings we are accustomed to seeing. The back side of the ring was built much higher than the front and at least while we were there, the back faced into the oncoming breeze. This prevented that thing that happens, where no matter where you position yourself, the smoke is going to find you!
As empty as the park was, there was one family a couple of spots away from us that was having a great time with people stopping to visit them all hours of the day. This family and their friends were so loud that every time someone spoke, it sounded like they were using a bullhorn. At least the voices we were hearing were happy ones. They had a couple of young children that were clearly having a ball, probably on their first camping experience. The next morning, more of their friends arrived, and as they broke down their camp, they filled several cars with all the stuff they had in their site.
That morning we were looking for the camp host to pay for our site, as we were not able to pay online, and no one was there to check in with when we arrived the previous night. We walked to the office and the door was locked, but we found a truck parked nearby that had a teenager sitting in it. We found out that he was in charge. I think he was in his truck in order to get a cell signal. He came to the office to collect our fees and we found out that as we were from out of state, we would have to pay twice as much as a resident would. Then came the Obi Wan moment as Cindy was talking with him.
Teenager: So how many days are you paying for?
Cindy: We got here last night and we will be staying tonight as well.
Teenager: You’re from California?
Cindy: Yes, but we are moving to Cos Cob. (Well, not exactly, but we were going to be staying there for a while….) And can you add on a bundle of firewood to the charge so I can just pay it with one check?
Teenager: You have to pay cash for the firewood, we only take checks for the campsite.
Cindy: Ok, I will just pay cash then but I only have enough cash for one night and a bundle of firewood.
Teenager: OK, one night. Oh wait, I need to enter your zip code for the camp site charges.
Cindy: Our zip code is 95613.
Teenager: That isn’t in Connecticut, I need one in Connecticut.
Cindy: I don’t know the Zip for Cos Cob. What is your zip code? Let’s use that.
Teenager: Ok, I will just use my zip-code. The program just needs data.
Cindy: Those are not the droids you are looking for.
Teenager: Ok, have a nice stay.
We spent the day checking out a couple of the local trails and in the evening with no-one around us and the campground nearly empty, we had a nice night with a seemingly smokeless campfire and the muffled sounds of the walnuts bouncing off the tarp-covered truck.
In the morning we left with about 3 hours’ drive to get to our next stop of Cos Cob, Connecticut. We were going to be staying at the home of Jeff, a good friend and my former supervisor when I was working with the 911 Technical Support group of ATT.
Jeff had graciously offered us a place to park our rig so we could have a visit with them and also give us an opportunity to visit New York City. There is a train station in Cos Cob that is just a few minutes’ walk from Jeff’s home, which took us into Grand Central Station.
Cindy had never met Jeff and similarly I had never met Jeff’s family when I worked for him, as we lived on opposite sides of the country. We were all looking forward to getting to know each other. Jeff retired in 2019, and his wife DeeDee still has a few more years of work before she can follow Jeff in retirement. Jeff and DeeDee have two daughters. Their youngest, Sara, lives with them and works locally while their eldest daughter, who we would not have a chance to meet, lives and works in Boston.
As it happened, their daughter in Boston was to be running in her first half marathon the weekend we would be arriving, so Jeff and Dede were going to be gone from Saturday morning to Monday afternoon. That left us Friday evening to all spend together along with Monday eve when they returned.
The house they live in is beautiful and they have lived there long enough that they have done everything they wanted to do to it to make it their own. They live on a quiet cul de sac. The streets were pretty narrow for the last few blocks to their home, but we just carefully made our way until we arrived at their house. Jeff and DeeDee were outside when we arrived and helped us to get parked. The truck and trailer just barely fit in their drive but it was going work out fine and we were able to connect to their water and electricity easily. It was great not only seeing Jeff again after so long but also to get to know DeeDee and Sara. We spent some time visiting outside on their deck and getting reacquainted. The weather was perfect for it. Sara would be staying at home while Jeff and DeeDee left for the race in the morning. Sara made sure we had everything we needed and treated us like family.
On Saturday morning, Cindy and I walked to the train station and caught the train into NYC, arriving at Grand Central. Grand Central Station is beautiful and has been restored and maintained to keep the splendor of the age when it was built.
We left the train station and took a walk up Fifth Avenue all the way to Central Park. We were going to to do some exploring in the park on foot but a young man with a pedal-powered buggy approached us, wanting to strike up a deal to drive us for a 45 minute trip into the park. As far as we had already walked, it seemed like a good idea so we took him up on his offer. He was an Iranian immigrant who has been in the country for five years, lured to NYC by some cousins who had come before him. His English was good and he was very familiar with the park and had lots of stories and trivia to share.
One of the highlights of the tour was seeing the Dakota Hotel at one edge of the park, where John Lennon lived and died.
Another was the bridge over the lake that is a famous spot in the park for marriage proposals to be made. We saw lots of other bicycle buggies and horse drawn carriages among the throngs of people out enjoying the day in the park.
Our guide dropped us off about a half mile from Times Square, near where we spent the evening on Broadway taking in a performance of “Chicago.” Broadway plays were just getting started back and we were going to see one of the first post-pandemic performances of this iconic Broadway play. The performance was awesome, and seeing a Broadway play was another first for me. One of the really interesting things about the performance was that the orchestra, instead of being in an orchestra pit, was center and back of the stage. At several parts of the performance, the conductor and a couple of the musicians interacted with the cast.
At the Broadway show, “Chicago” 
Times Square
At the theatre as well as at all the restaurants in the city, some strict Covid protocols were in place and enforced. The theatre had several people walking around holding signs requesting people to stay masked up, and to go inside the theatre or any restaurant, you had to show proof of vaccination along with a picture ID.
At one restaurant we visited, I thanked the host for the tough job he had of screening everyone coming into the restaurant and he was very appreciative, saying that he was more likely to be harassed than thanked for enforcing the protocols. Had it not have been for the Covid protocols in NYC, we would not have been comfortable going to any public indoor spaces.
On the streets of NYC, it was much different. Though a good percentage of people wore masks, it was not mandatory, nor as I understood, not really necessary to mask up. We walked on Broadway where they had closed the street to vehicle traffic, as they had food booths and flea market stalls all set up. It was nice because having the entire width of the street to walk on it could accommodate the large numbers of people there without being packed together. Of course, Times Square had its share of local color. There was the naked cowboy who is a regular feature there. (He was not actually naked) and a group of semi naked women I think posing for photos with people in the crowd.
Broadway 
The Naked Cowboy
We walked past the studios for the Late Show with Cobert, and saw a few other iconic sites of New York City as we walked.
The New York Times 
Such a deal! 
Across from the 911 Memorial
And what trip to NYC would be complete without a visit to Trump Tower, owned by the former president who nearly succeeded in toppling the 250 year democracy of the United States solely for the sake of his own ego and unwillingness to accept his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. We saw the gilded escalator that Trump descended on the day he announced his candidacy for the 2016 election. There was also a roped off area that had signage indicating it was where Trump took care of presidential business (pussy grabbing?) when he was in New York.
We found a fun tapas place to have dinner in Hell’s Kitchen, this time sitting outside on a heated patio. After dinner we walked back to Grand Central and caught an evening train back to Jeff and DeeDee’s home in Cos Cob.
The next morning we were back in NYC early as we had plans for several more visits on our last day in the city. We started out by catching the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. It is a short ride with a lot of people and it was good to see so many people taking the time to visit there. Though we could not go up the stairway that leads to the crown, we bought passes to allow us to go to the top of the pedestal at the base of the statue. There we were able to take a walk around the base of the statue. Inside, directly under the statue, there was a viewing area where we could look up into the inside of the statue and see the superstructure that the statue was built on.
Taking a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty 
The south end of Manhattan from the Liberty Cruise ferry
The statue was sent to the USA in crates and then assembled on the finished pedestal on its arrival. Because of the massive size of the statue and where it would be located, it would be subjected to enormous stresses from the environment and winds. There were several designs under consideration for the superstructure but the one that was selected was by Gustave Eiffel, the same man who designed the Eiffel tower in France. The money to build the monument and assemble the statue came largely through private donations raised to make it all happen. Amazingly during its construction, which took nine years and was done mainly using Irish laborers, no one died by accident. When you consider the techniques they had to use at the time to construct her, this is most amazing.
At the bottom of the pedestal is a museum that details the story of the Statue of Liberty gift from the French people and its construction. You could really spend an entire day just seeing and reading about the many exhibits and artifacts that were there. We had lunch and got back on the ferry to go back to the ferry landing at the south of Manhattan. On its way back, the ferry stops at Ellis Island and you have an opportunity to get off the boat there and tour it as well, but we were pretty exhausted from several hours already spent at the statue and we still wanted to go and visit the 911 Memorial before we called it a day.
I had been to the 911 Memorial once before many years ago when it was still under construction. I was in New York with a co-worker, my mentor and very good friend John Quattrocchi, affectionately known as “Q”. We were on a business trip to attend a training on vendor’s recording equipment ATT purchased, which we would be supporting for use in 911 call centers. The training was actually across the water in New Jersey but John and I would take the Ferry after class into NYC. At that time the walls were being constructed around two large square holes in the ground that were each centers of the base of the World Trade Center towers.
It was wonderful to see the completed memorial when Cindy and I visited. The granite walls surround two giant water features that empty into the chasms at the center of each footprint. The names of all who died on 9/11 are inscribed into the top surface of the wall. There is a map that you could use to find where the name of a loved one is inscribed. There are also sections of the wall dedicated to the first responders, grouped by their battalion or precinct. There are also sections dedicated to the victims that perished on the planes that were hijacked that day.
There is a large museum building filled with artifacts of the trade center and that fateful day in history. Unfortunately we arrived a little too late to get tickets to go into the museum but seeing the completed memorial was moving and inspirational.
We left the memorial and made our way back to Broadway to have a last walk down it, and also to get a gyro sandwich from one of the many vendors we had seen there. We made our way to back to Grand Central and caught a late train back home. By the time we got home, we were completely wiped out from our long day in NYC.
In the morning, we visited with Sara and waited for Jeff and DeDe to arrive back home. Their daughter had finished the half marathon, which was her goal, and got to see her parents cheering her on at the finish. DeDe had painted a banner that they held up as she ran by to the finish. What a proud moment for them all!
During the afternoon and evening, we continued our visit. Jeff BBQ’d for all of us and we shared some wine, stories and laughs out in their backyard on the deck. I am so happy that our visit with Jeff and family worked out. They were such gracious hosts and it was especially nice to get together with Jeff after we both have retired from ATT. We talked about them coming out to California in the future once we are home again and going on a raft trip on the river where we live.
Tuesday morning we were up early getting the rig ready to take off for our next destination of Reston, Virginia, our home base for visiting Washington, D.C. and Annapolis.