We are On The Road Again. Left Lake Annis on Wednesday, and Randy immediately started arguing with Samantha, our new GPS. Samantha has been really helpful in the last few days, but she has some strange ideas about obscure back roads. 

We managed to get to Digby and celebrate Randy's mum's 89th birthday over a lovely lunch with champagne. Then onto the ferry and dinner in New Brunswick with friends Bill and Janet. Good wine, fabulous roast beef dinner, and lots of talk with people who understand about boats, living on boats, and what selling your boat can do to your brain. It was a most restful and encouraging stop. 

(Samantha the GPS had trouble in New Brunswick too. The highway has been twinned, and moved a bit east. Sam kept suggesting that we MOVE TO THE HIGHLIGHT...MOVE TO THE HIGHLIGHT. As far as she was concerned, we were ploughing through the woods. It's a relationship that is only slowly gaining in trust.) 

Lovely drive through Maine. I could do that for a few weeks. A bit of Perry's Nut House, a bit of yummy shopping in Camden, and then on to NH for stocking up on wine and rum. Five bottles of really nice wine, and a handle jug of Goslings, all for $65 bucks. Very cheering.  

Last night, after another bit of a tussle with Sam, we meandered from NH to Mass and back again before we landed at a Red Roof Inn (cheap!clean!) in Salem. The fellas in the room next door had their bbq set up, and were heating a can of beans and charring some sort of meat next to their truck, which looked like a rolling toolbox/laundry hamper/garbage dump. Through the open door to their room, I had the impression that the floor was awash with dirty white socks. We shared polite greetings, went inside and shut the door, and found we could still hear their belches. That's entertainment! We had a lovely sleep under the blinking green light of the smoke detector, and I couldn't help but think that it signified that the security camera was on, and watching. 

This morning, we happily bypassed Boston to the sounds of the William Tell overture on NPR. Made reference to Bugs Bunny. 

Tonight, we're in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. The saddest Ramada Inn in the universe (cheap! nasty! the room smells like smoke and the cleaning stuff used to get rid of smoke smell! landscaped with dead plants all round!), and a nearby mall that should be called the Double Dismal Discount Dump. But we got a roasted chicken, some bread, and with the lovely wine we got yesterday in NH, made a rather nice picnic while we watched TV. Lots of news about Hurricane Sandy, otherwise, nothing on. Best option? M*A*S*H*. It was ever thus. We'll get south before Sandy comes ashore, and it looks like she's passed Florida without much damage. 

Next update, Florida, and a reunion with Nancy Dawson.