Sunday 14th October 2018 (updated)

Time to leave Boston.

All good things come to an end, and so it is with this trip, as we now have to go to our third and final stop on the trip, a four hour drive away in upstate New York. I say third and final, as I was writing this as we went, as it turned out there was to be a forth stop, in the Adirondacks. But, anyway.

My boss gave me the tip of a boutique hotel in the Catskills, and being a place I had not been to before, why not?

I slept poorly thanks to a cough but must have had enough sleep. We pack, shower and dress, all ready to leave at nine in the morning, getting our car from the underground car park on the other side of the road.

The main problem was how to get out of the city. This was made all the more difficult by the sat nav deciding, on its own, to go offline. And not come back on. It would not show us the way we had to dive, but would simulate it. It took some time to realise that the map that was scrolling was not what we were seeing, but a video of the route it thought we could take.

I kid you not.

Jools had writing some directions down, and we did find our way out on to the interstate. Or “An” interstate. Not the right one, one that took us to Quincy, but would lead us south again to Rhode Island. The city looked the same, but not the same as the day before as I had not seen Fenway Park, but I knew once we reached I95 we could go north. Then west.

Only when you don’t have a map, but you’re 99% certain you’re going the right way, you do begin to have doubts. Turns out that most bits of Massachusetts looks the same as any other; who knew?

We did come to I95, turned north for New Hampshire, hoping that we could turn west along the turnpike. Even when we did we still had doubts, all indications were that we were on the right track, but the sat nav still would not work and was still labouring under the illusions that we were still in Boston.

We find a place for breakfast. I say breakfast, it was a place that seemed only to do grilled cheese sandwiches. I kid you not. Comfort food it said. Well, the one girl serving did the best she could, but the other one in a Patriots bobble had just stared at her mobile phone the whole time we were there. I mean, grilled cheese sandwich, how that ever be described as gourmet comfort food? I mean it was OK, but you know, roasted bread and melted cheese.

Whilst Jools went to buy a map. Two maps, I learned how to reset the sat nav, and when it came back online it was fine. Knew where we were, where we wanted to go. Obviously had its own ideas of the route and all, but better than before when we were only guessing.

We drove on towards Albany in New York, over the border, but failed to pick up a turnpike ticket, which would prove to be a problem later. In Mass, all turnpikes are electronic, we had a transponder in the car, they’d all be the same, no? Seems to have to to actually pull the transponder out of the holder it was in, otherwise it could not be read; who knew?

No?

Once we tried to turn off, the lady asked where our ticket was: what ticket?

I should charge you fifteen bucks if you don’t have a ticket, but thanks to our seductive English accents, she let us off with a two and a half bucks. When we said we had come from Boston it wasn't really an issue, and there we were, silly hicks from the sticks in the old country.

We drove on.

We were off the interstates and turnpikes now, driving through rich green farmland, small villages with clapboard churches, while in the distance the hills rose in a dark blue haze; that was where we were heading. I suppose I could have stopped to take shots, but the joining instructions for the hotel made it sound like we were staying in some American Brigadoon, as the sat navs always take you wrong. Adnd with what had happened earlier, we had a very low regard for the sat nav as it was.

After an hour, the road began to climb and climb. There is a viewing point, overlooking the countryside and woodlands below. We stop to take shots of the golden and read leaved trees. It was very nice, and as it turned out, the best view of foliage we would see until we left New York for Vermont at the end of the week, but we did not know that, we still thought fiery foliage was everywhere.

And we drove on.

Up and over the mountain, and a long slow descent into the wonderfully named Prattsville. We needed a drink, and in truth we needed to find a laundromat. And it had one, so we took the suitcase of stinking clothes, pumped the machine with quarters and then we had an hour wait in which we did some shopping, as the hotel, motel, we were staying at, was remote and to be honest, we did not want to go out for dinner. So we got frozen pizza. And beers. And cider. And wine. And Boston beans.

I talked long to the guy who ran the wine shop. He sold no beer as he could not compete with the market opposite, but did some good Italian wines at a reasonable price.

It was a half hour run into Roxbury, where at the far side of the town is our base for the rest of the week.

We check in and were shown to our 70s themed room. Suite.

I suddenly realise that we have been on the go since we left home, and all I want to do is relax. Plan nothing.

Which is the plan.

We have a beer sitting on the sundeck outside watching the wildlife; blue jays, birds of prey circling, and another monarch came fluttering by. It was so wonderfully warm, and I thought it was going to be like that all week. Had we known snow and chilly weather was coming, we would have made better use of the warm weather, but as it was, we drained our beers and went inside to listen to some radio/

For dinner we have frozen pizza, which after 20 minutes is no longer frozen, but hot and tasty. Saves going out to find somewhere to eat. I suppose I should say that Roxbury is a small town, and the only nearby restaurant is currently closed. We had done enough driving, so had a quit night in, writing, editing photos and watching more baseball. Though I only make it to the bottom of the 7th, with Red Sox on top, 6-4.