Leaving The Lakes For The Spa

Tuesday, 9/14

Our AquaHot (a combination water heater and furnace) has returned to being intermittent ... and a nuisance that we've committed to repairing.  Lucky for us that our saviour/repairman is on the route to Vermont.  Not knowing how long it'll take for him to return us to AquaHot bliss, we leave early, driving through more rolling, green hills, using the interstate and back roads.  Nothing like the quiet of rural New York driving to bring peace to us ... until we roll down a hill and see a warning sign ahead, stating that the bridge we are about to pass under has a clearance of 12'10".  Uh oh.  A long time ago, I measured this buggy and concluded its height was 12'6".  Having made a mistake or two in my life, I couldn't remember if measuring our coach was one of them.  As we slowly roll toward potential disaster, we see a big tractor-trailer on the other side of the overpass, slowly rolling toward his appointment with the potentially roof-shearing overpass.  From our vantage point, we could light between the top of his trailer and the bottom of the overpass and signalled the driver that he was OK.  Wheww!!

Then it was our turn.  With trepidation, we eased down the center of the highway toward the overpass.  Still unsure if the preceding trailer was the regulation maximum height of 13'6", thus proving that we could make the journey with sufficient inches to spare, we eased up to the overpass.  If our TV satellite dome could make it, then we knew the solar panels, air conditioners and fan shrouds would survive.  For a moment, there was near silence ... and then we knew we were safe from our home-on-wheels looking like an open can of sardines.

The RV shop in Amsterdam, NY would have us wait for a day, and then who knows how long it would take to remove the gremlins attacking our heating system.  A reference to an independent repairman closer to our Vermont destination caused us to move on to Saratoga Springs, NY for an overnight at the Elks Lodge.  Good choice!  Friendly people in a pretty town known for its horse racing, spa and natural beauty.  Taking a city bus to downtown, Doris found a sushi restaurant that satisfied us, the first restaurant asian food of the trip.  Yum!  Difficult to equal Doris's cooking, but this meal was a fair substitute.