Toads Go East - Day 7

The start of a very wet day

Friday.

What can I say about Friday? The day was a bit gloomy when I fell out of bed and it was starting to rain as I came out and sat under the awning to update my blog. It was still coming down in a half-hearted manner as I did a tank dump using the (alarmingly leaky!) "Sewer Solution" system and then the rain started to get heavier. And heavier. Being an optimist, I looked up the weather forecast and it said a mix of rain showers and cloud but gave no indication that the two would occur together. All day. 

Mrs Toad and I sat out together and watched the rain fall for a while, but a combination of splashes bouncing up off the patio and some nasty biting insects that had appeared, we scuttled back inside. I had already adjusted the awning to stop the water pooling on it, now I had to drop it to it's lowest point to stop the wind tugging at it and we simply retired inside and watched the deluge continue. We had planned a walk around Plymouth but sadly we hadn't brought our wet suits, so that was out. Mrs T prepared supper at midday and afterwards we just whiled away the afternoon reading and whatnot whilst the skies grew darker, the thunder rumbled and the rain became heavier. Being Friday, there were a few new arrivals at the campground and it was quite sad to watch them having to set up in the downpour; similarly the poor blighters using tents were spending long periods setting up and maintaining big blue tarpaulins over their tents and camping areas. What a wash out!

It must have been about four in the afternoon when the rain eased off sufficiently to hop to the car and we motored off to Dartmouth Mall, about half an hour's drive south of us. We didn't have a burning desire to shop but it was an indoor mall and we needed some clothes for the tadpole's return to school in September. The kids in this part of the US go back a bit earlier than they do north of the border so most of the school stuff was selling at knock down prices as they're clearing the shelves, and that was a good result on such a crappy day.

I must make mention of Rose and Vicki's Pizza emporium in Dartmouth, a place that Mrs T had spotted and proved to be an excellent stop for a light bite on the way home. Nice Pizza, ladies.

Back at Towed Haul, we had new neighbours in the shape of a monster motorhome. It's the size of a fifty-seater coach and dwarfs Towed Haul. It's truly a palace on wheels and must have cost easily over a quarter of a million dollars. Would I like one? No, not really; I just can't imagine driving something that big for pleasure and the prospect of five mile miles to the gallon frightens me a little.

Neighbours!

Anyway,we settled in for a DVD evening (Stranger Than Fiction - an interesting film) and an early(ish) night. As usual, I fell asleep through portions of the film but it didn't seem to matter that much; maybe the film was rubbish and I missed the worst bits.

The weather hadn't finished with us, though, as the temperatures had shot up and with the damp air all around, the humidity inside Towed Haul was stifling. We'd started with all the windows open but gave up and fell back on the air conditioning, noisy as it is, because we'd none of us have slept otherwise.

Tomorrow is Boston, and a free-form visit as we've nothing special planned other than to see what's what. It would be easy to have a lot of things mapped out but this is a holiday, so we're going to take it easy; I don't want to be more tired when we we get home than when we left!

Catch us tomorrow, Toad fans.