On the Road and Taking the Circle Route

Our 2014 odyssey has begun. First stop: Westhampton, MA, at a campground called Springfield/Northampton KOA. You’ll notice the word “Westhampton” doesn’t appear in the name. I guess the owners figured Springfield and Northampton (home of Smith College) have better name recognition, and they’re not THAT far away.

We had a great visit with Penny’s son Al and his lovely wife Christina.

We also drove to the top of Mt. Holyoke, the actual mountain, not the college. The mountain isn’t quite 1000 feet high, which doesn’t make it much of a mountain. But the one lane winding road to the top holds it’s own with any mountain road we’ve been on. No pictures: hands on the wheel. The building at the top has served several functions including as a bar during the 1800s for hunters and other outdoorsmen (and a few outdoorswomen). Hope they didn’t attempt to drive down after downing a few.

Great views from up here. That’s the Connecticut River meandering through the farmland below. In case you don’t have a map of New England memorized, The area we visited is central Mass, just east of the Berkshires.

Our next stop was Association Island New York, which is in Lake Ontario (no ferry, just a causeway to drive over) near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. Getting here is where the “Circle Route” came into play. I don’t know if our GPS has developed a sense of humor or she (her name is Maggie) was being spiteful, but twice she directed us to exit I-81 and loop back one exit, then get back on the Interstate in the same direction, and past the ramp she had told us to exit. She tried to do it a third time, but I caught on and made a U-turn and got right back on the highway.

We’re heading west tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be too surprise if Maggie directs us back to New Jersey.