The Long Road Home: The Final Days of Our New England Adventure
Day 38: The Long Road South
It was finally time to leave New England, and we could hardly believe it. After weeks of exploring the beautiful Northeast, walking through places where so much of American history unfolded, and filling our days with more adventures than we could count, it was time to point the camper south and begin the long journey home.
The kids helped us pack up camp at an incredible rate that morning, and we pulled out surprisingly early. We weren't quite hitting the road yet, though. Some friends we had known back in Alabama had moved to the area to pastor a church, and as it turned out, their church was only about a mile from our campground!
We arrived in time for the morning service and were pleasantly surprised to discover what a beautiful and historic place it was. The congregation itself dated back hundreds of years, and the current church building was more than 200 years old. After spending so much of this trip immersed in the history of New England, it felt especially fitting to spend our final morning worshiping together in such a simple and beautiful old church.
Afterward, we enjoyed lunch on the lawn with the pastor's family, and then there was no putting it off any longer. It was officially time to head south.
We had ambitious plans to combine two days of driving into one and make it all the way to our cousins' house in Virginia a day early. Before we left, though, our friend warned us that Connecticut was basically New York City's parking lot. We soon discovered he wasn't exaggerating! After weeks of experiencing the beauty of the Northeast, apparently we needed the full experience of sitting motionless on the highway with hundreds of our fellow travelers before we were allowed to leave.
Once we finally made it out of Connecticut, the drive improved considerably, but our dreams of reaching Virginia that night were long gone. Instead, we made our way to our Harvest Hosts location for the night—a Christmas tree farm.
It was very late by the time we arrived, but even in the darkness we could tell we had landed somewhere special. The farm sat in a serene little valley, with rows of Christmas trees stretching out before us and a picturesque white-steepled church nearby. After a very long day on the road, it was a peaceful place to park the camper and end our first day headed home.
Day 39: Friends, Family & Free Bagels
The next morning, we had cereal for breakfast and set out for the fairly short drive to visit the Olmsteads. Our kids and their girls had been looking forward to seeing each other again ever since we had camped together earlier in New York.
Of course, even a short driving day can't always be simple when you're hauling a camper. On the way, our tire alarm started going off, warning us that one of the trailer tires had dropped into the 30-something PSI range. Strangely, it wasn't even one of the tires on the axle that had already given us trouble.
We eventually found a Weis grocery store with enough room to pull in with the camper. Henry and I changed the questionable tire for the spare while Brigette and the rest of the kids went inside to shop and figure out lunch.
While we were waiting on a pizza, Henry, Jimmy, and I remembered seeing another business in the parking lot with a tent and a sign advertising FREE BAGELS. Naturally, that required investigation.
Sure enough, they really were giving away free bagels, cream cheese, and a few other foods because their business was temporarily closed for plumbing repairs. We managed to snag three of the last bagels and a large tub of scallion cream cheese. Not exactly the lunch stop we had planned, but we'll take free bagels wherever we find them!
Eventually, with the tire changed and everyone fed, we made it to the Olmsteads' house. They had bought all five of their daughters Piper & Leaf shirts, so naturally all the kids had to match. They spent the afternoon playing while we caught up with Nathan and Mary Ellen, toured their house, and checked out the Airstream they are remodeling.
Not long after we arrived, Nathan and I drove into Round Hill to visit my cousin Aaron. He and his business partner had recently purchased a large commercial building and were renovating it, including preparing the downstairs for a restaurant. Aaron and his family were leaving town that evening, so I was glad we had a chance to catch up before they left.
Later that afternoon, various Olmstead families, cousins, our aunt and uncle, and even my parents gathered for dinner and a bonfire. Mom and Dad had apparently come into town and were staying with my aunt and uncle without telling us, so that was a fun surprise!
We filled the table with hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, snickerdoodles, brownies, and plenty of food to go around. Mostly, though, we spent the evening catching up while the kids played. After everyone else headed home, we stayed up talking with Nathan and Mary Ellen and, naturally, dreaming about future trips we should take together.
We slept in the camper that night, but with only 15-amp power we couldn't run the air conditioner. It was hot, humid, and sticky, making for a less-than-perfect night's sleep, but at least the morning brought slightly cooler temperatures and one more adventure together.
Day 40: Raven Rocks & the Long Road South
We knew we couldn't stay another day, but the kids wanted as much time as possible with the Olmsteads, so there was no reason to rush out that morning. Nathan and Mary Ellen made sourdough whole-wheat pancakes with bacon and fried eggs for breakfast, accompanied, of course, by plenty of coffee and tea.
After breakfast, we decided to squeeze in one last hike before beginning the long drive south. One of the craziest things about the Olmsteads' house is that you can walk a short distance into the woods behind their backyard and connect directly to the Appalachian Trail. From there, we could hike about 3.4 miles round trip to Raven Rocks.
Their trail connection lands near the Roller Coaster section of the Appalachian Trail, which meant plenty of ups and downs along the way. The hike toward the cliffs included quite a bit of downhill, which we all knew meant we would be earning those views again on the return trip.
Raven Rocks gave us beautiful views of the surrounding valley and mountains, but after 40 days on the road, some of our smallest hikers were understandably reaching their lifetime hiking limit. Benny was pretty much done, which meant he ended up on shoulders while Lorna got a ride on a back for much of the hike.
After returning to the house, we had a late lunch of leftovers. Then, because apparently we hadn't eaten quite enough ice cream on this trip, we piled into the Olmsteads' vehicles and drove to the old-fashioned Bluemont General Store for one more round.
Eventually, though, there really was no delaying it any longer. We packed everything up, said goodbye to our friends, and around 3:45 that afternoon began the long trek toward Alabama.
We had originally planned to stay at a Harvest Hosts location about five hours away, but after looking more closely at the directions, we realized it was farther off our route than we wanted. Brigette found a church Harvest Hosts location in Lenoir City instead. It meant driving about six and a half hours that day, but it would leave us only about three hours from home the next morning.
The kids requested music for much of the drive, and eventually we started The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery. We had listened to books throughout our journey, so it seemed appropriate to have one more story carrying us through the final miles.
Our gas-station stops also gave us opportunities for one of our favorite road-trip tricks: finding hot water for tea. I experimented with a couple of combinations, first mixing Classic Green with Herbal Garden Mint and then trying Golden Hour with Classic Green. The second combination was surprisingly delicious—citrusy with just a little ginger-spice added to the green tea.
Our big Adventure mugs hold about three cups, so they're perfect for mixing two tea bags and experimenting with combinations on the road. After six weeks of traveling, we had become pretty good at making Piper & Leaf tea just about anywhere.
Brigette had also prepared rice before we left, and at one of our stops she finished assembling burritos for dinner. Between road-trip burritos, gas-station tea, music, and an audiobook, we kept rolling south until we finally pulled into our Harvest Hosts location sometime around 1:00 in the morning. We parked the camper, climbed into bed, and everybody crashed.
Day 41: Home
After such a late arrival, our final morning was thankfully simple. We woke up beside the church to find a pavilion with picnic tables nearby and several deer wandering through the neighboring field.
We made coffee and cereal, and because we hadn't unhooked the camper the night before, packing up was incredibly easy. We were only a few hours from home now, and for the first time in 41 days, our destination wasn't another campground, national park, historic site, or roadside adventure. It was our own driveway.
We made one final practical camper stop at a Love's on the other side of Chattanooga for gas, lunch, and a dump station. Connor unexpectedly showed up there too, having spent the night in Chattanooga, and Cordelia ended up riding the rest of the way home with him.
The rest of us continued toward Alabama with peanut-butter-and-honey sandwiches for lunch, Scripture songs, and plenty of music filling the truck. Finally, right around noon, we pulled into our own driveway.
After 41 days, we were home, and as much as we had loved this adventure, by those final days everyone had started thinking about the little things waiting for us there. There were coffee makers and full-sized bathrooms, our own kitchen, the gym, sewing machines, ballet and co-op, grandparents, Piper & Leaf tea from the shop, homemade sourdough bread, and plenty of work and projects waiting for us. Jimmy was particularly ready to get home and make biscuits.
Mark, meanwhile, was excited to get home so that we could . . . go to the Smokies in the next few weeks. Apparently 41 days of traveling had not quite satisfied everyone's appetite for adventure!
Somewhere along that final stretch, we started asking the kids what they remembered most from the past six weeks. After 41 days, countless miles, and more stops than we could possibly list, their answers were all over the place—which somehow made them even better.
Lorna remembered, simply, "all the pink stuff," while Benny loved being with the "Homesteads," as he calls the Olmsteads, and camping with them. Mark chose Mike's Pastry, Modern Pastry, visiting the Olmsteads, and Paul Revere's house.
Jimmy remembered the huge fields, gardens, and tree at North Bridge; time with the Olmsteads; swimming and hiking at Acadia; cliff jumping at Long Pond; visiting the Farmer Boy farm; and Pretty Marsh. Henry's list included sunset on Cadillac Mountain, the Gorham Mountain hike, Beech Cliffs, the Bubbles, swimming holes and jumping rocks throughout Vermont and New Hampshire, Pretty Marsh, rock climbing at Smugglers' Notch, hiking to Sterling Pond, and, unsurprisingly, lots of ice cream and pastries.
Charlene remembered Stowe, running at the Trapp Family Lodge, the Bubbles, Acadia and Bar Harbor, Vermont, Cabot, and the Lamplighter tour. Cordelia chose the 30-foot cliff jump into golden water in New Hampshire, the Bubbles hike, Udder Heaven ice cream in Bar Harbor, the Lamplighter tour, and Bar Harbor itself.
Listening to everyone's favorite memories on that final drive home was a good reminder that the best parts of a trip aren't always the things you planned months in advance. Sometimes they're a beautiful sunset, a favorite swimming hole, a pastry you still can't stop talking about, cousins and friends you didn't want to leave, or, apparently, "all the pink stuff."
Forty-one days earlier, we had pulled away from home with a camper full of kids, books, maps, tea, and plans for a summer adventure. We wanted to see New England, experience some of the places where America's story began, spend time outdoors, and make the most of having our whole family together for the journey.
And we certainly did all of that. We walked through historic towns and stood in places we had only read about in books. We climbed mountains, jumped into freezing swimming holes, kayaked along rocky coastlines, ate an impressive amount of ice cream and pastries, listened to stories as the miles passed outside our windows, and spent a whole lot of time together in a very small camper.
There were plenty of long driving days, wrong turns, camper problems, crowded roads, tired kids, and moments when we were all ready for our own beds again. But those things somehow become part of the story too.
By the time we finally pulled into our driveway, we were tired and very ready to be home. We were also incredibly grateful—for the places we'd seen, the people we'd spent time with, the history we'd experienced firsthand, and especially for 41 days of getting to discover it all together.
The camper was finally parked, the adventure was officially over, and there was a mountain of unloading waiting for us. But knowing our family, it probably won't be too long before somebody pulls out a map and asks, "Where should we go next?"
