Rocky Tales – Launch Day

We left our home in eastern Massachusetts, about five miles from the beach on Thursday, August 11th, a day after we’d planned. There were last minute things and then extra last minute things and then a final shopping trip for an ugly plastic table for two that we haven’t even used yet. As on our trial run in early July, we headed for the wilds of western MA, specifically Granville. It’s a gorgeous section of the state. We camp on a piece of land owned by Philip’s generous cousin, a man full of interesting stories. It’s also a good halfway stop to our next destination, Darien State Park in NY.

Just under two hours into the trip, we heard and felt an explosion, knowing instantly it was a blown tire. We were on a busy interstate, in the slow lane (because that’s how we roll when towing). So we simply pulled over to the breakdown lane and called Good Sam, which we joined for RV roadside assistance. Two hours later, the nice lady at Good Sam had been unable to get anyone to come change an RV tire on the interstate. I assumed that was the entire point of roadside assistance! She also tried to get a flatbed to remove us from the interstate without success.

By the time she called again to tell us we should call the police station, we had crawled off the highway with hazards on at 10 mph. We needed to make a move because it was getting dark. Philip changed the tire ironically in a closed tire dealership, and I called BJs Wholesale to get permission to stay in their parking lot and because they have tires. On the spare, we made our way to our first boondocking site. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means when you simply park and sleep in your trailer without any electric or water hookup.

The BJs people at the Hudson location were great. I didn’t get a photo of the sweet lady who gave us a case of water, but that was really all we needed to make the night bearable. Ok, that and the meal at Panera. We found ourselves in a very large suburban development of linked strip-malls. Even though it said BJs and Paneras on the sign, they were not close. After locking up the camper, with 17 minutes before Panera closed, we ran and ran and ran across football fields of landscaped concrete, making it to the promised land with seven minutes to spare.

“What can we order?” I asked, thinking everything was cleaned up and put away.

“Anything,” said the nice Panera cashier.

Can you believe that? And after you get your food, you can stay in the closed dining room for half an hour.

Back at the camper, we had a relatively comfy night until a large tractor-trailer decided to join us around 5 am. And then around 7 am, a steady stream of deliveries began to all the large stores. By 8, we were calling BJs to discover they didn’t have RV tires, and the tire department was coming in late anyway. It took a few phone calls to find ourselves back at Town Fair Tire in Littleton where Philip had put on the spare. First, they told us “two hours plus,” but while we took a walk up to a Market Basket, they got us all hooked up in about an hour. They were awesome!

And more awesomeness awaited us at the bakery in Market Basket. The two bakers were so welcoming and helped me choose the most scrumptious old fashioned sugar donut and made the best cup of coffee — it was worth everything we had been through to meet these nice women. And one of them had stunning romance heroine golden eye color, which I’ve tried to describe before but never seen.

After we got the Rocky outfitted with four new tires because they were all used and the same age (2017), and because we are not stupid, we made it successfully to Granville. Everything was smooth sailing until I had a little altercation with our dog Murray, which I’ll talk about next time. Needless to say, Philip is my hero, but I was also truly touched by the kindness and efficiency of all the people we met at BJs, Panera, Town Fair Tires, and Market Basket.