Our first day of travel began like so many others: A trip to the Municipal trash facility so we didn’t have garbage sitting in the trash can for 6 weeks: Parking our two cars at the end of the driveway so our lawn service could get their mowers into the back yard; and ensuring the drip irrigation systems were working so our raised-bed garden and outdoor potted plants would be watered.  

Setting up the watering system was more complicated this year because our landscaper had completed planting a shade garden in front of our home just the day before, which needed to be watered three times a week.  It was fortunate that we have a 4-zone irrigation timer so we could accommodate watering different areas for varying times and days.

Our first stop was Timberyard Brewery, a Harvest Host, located in East Brookfield, MA, just 311 miles, or 6 hours away with lunch and refueling stops.  We love visiting breweries, wineries and distilleries and enjoying their wares irresponsibly when our sleeping location is only a few feet away across the parking lot.  It looked like we would have an easy day of travel.

Except it wasn’t destined to be an easy day…

We subscribe to RoadPass, a suite of three software products we use to plan and guide us on our travels.  RoadPass consists of Roadtrippers, which maps our route and provides mileage and drive-times between stops.  It also identifies roadside attractions, restaurants, hotels and other points of interest along our route. RoadPass also includes Campendium, a campsite locater and crowd-sourced rating service (think Yelp for campgrounds), and Togo RV, an Apple Maps equivalent that takes into account the special needs of RV’s which carry propane and are longer, wider and taller than cars.  These were three separate apps but Togo RV and Campendium were integrated into Roadtrippers as of the end of May 2024 just before we started traveling.

So we merrily cruised along using Roadtrippers for driving directions until it instructed us to enter the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut.  There were warnings concerning RV’s and other tall vehicles on the on-ramp to the parkway but we were using RV software that knew our height so we drove on.  We are only 10” 7” inches high.  We had software to guide us.  What could go wrong?  

Minutes later we see a sign indicating the next overpass had clearance of 10.5  feet.  Wait, what?! We pulled to the side of the road and sat in silence as cars whizzed by us and visions of 11 foot 8 inch bridge in our minds. What to do?

We called 911 and waited for the Connecticut State Police to come.  After checking our license and registration and taking a look inside our RV (with our permission) the very nice and kind officer helped us back onto the parkway and escorted us to an offramp located just before the low overpass.  “Happens all the time,” he said. Catastrophe averted! We found a place to pull over and determined that the vehicle height information that Joe had entered into Roadtrippers needed to be re-selected each time after quitting the app.  Joe had closed the app over lunch earlier that day.  Clearly an odd behavior for an app but Joe takes full blame for this blunder and time delay.

We reached Timberyard Brewery two and a half hours later than we had originally planned, tired and stressed but with our motorhome in one piece. 

We enjoyed great beer and food, especially the pulled pork sandwich, salad and tahini smoked carrots. A most welcome respite after a long and stressful day of travel.  

We happily spent the night in the motorhome parking lot with four other travelers.

We’ll discuss our first-ever RV trip to Maine in our next installment.  Thank’s for checking in.