The Good, The Great, and The Really Ugly

The CIBs have been on the road 22 days now and we're entering the home stretch.  We left the bright lights of NYC behind early this morning and navigated the scary drivers and all that crazy traffic behind us.  Then, just as we crossed over that Mason Dixon Line we hit a wall of traffic.  I carefully navigated Seeker to the nearest exit and what do ya know, a Walmart.  I went inside and talked to customer service to explain that we would be visiting for a few hours till the traffic cleared.  They informed me that a semi had turned over and crushed a mini van filled with a family on vacation.  Not something I want to see any part of, thank you.  So we were cordially invited to spend the night right here in Rising Sun, MD.  I think we'll just stay a few hours to let the traffic die down.  In the meantime, here's a brief look back at highlights of the trip.

We have traveled through/camped in 12 states with only one more, Virginia, between us and home.  That's good.
We were sprayed/soaked by Niagra Falls and that was great.
We had a flat on the Mass. Turnpike after dark (I know I promised not to drive that late) in a construction zone and that was really ugly.

We crossed through the Alleghenies, the Berkshires, the Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Boy, was that good.
We stood on top of Mount Washington in 45 mph winds and an icy rain.  That was fabulously great!
We lost the connection for the lights to RV somewhere between Mount Washington and Portland, ME (actually one end was still connected but we didn't know the other end was dragging along the road for 30 miles) and had to wait for a camping store to open so we could buy a new one.  That was ugly.

We drycamped a mile from the feet of the Statue of Liberty and that was good, great, and ugly all at once.  It was good to be so close and just look out the window at night to see her standing there.  Even better, dare I say great, was seeing her in person, up close, and personal.  A life long goal met there.  But the place we camped was not all it promised to be.  The shuttle from the train station to the ferry for the statue only runs on Sat/Sun but our campground folks told us it ran everyday.  The campground advertised a ferry right from their dock to Wall Street.  Well, the ferry was there but only sold one month tickets at the cost of $65 each.  So, for their misrepresentation of amenitities, I have to say that they were the ugly part of our Jersey City experience.

Overall, the good and the great far outweighed the uglies.  A fun, eventful trip so far, but we are both ready to be home for a little while.