Day 43 & 44: Pittsburgh (12—13 Sep 14)

Left Jen's parents house early Friday morning to drive the 2 1/2 hours back to the RV in Lancaster PA.  Did a quick turnaround when we got there and loaded everything back up to continue the drive west.  Arrived in Madison, Pennsylvania (40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh) at the end of the day and settled in for the night.

Although we tentatively had our eyes on a few mountain biking trails here, we awoke to pouring rain Saturday morning.  Jen found a local gym, while Doug stayed at the RV and used the time to plan out the next few travel days. We used the rest of the day to catch up on housekeeping type stuff like grocery shopping, laundry, and dog baths.  Nothing very exciting (or even worth photographing)

Days 41 & 42: Jersey Shore (10-11 Sep 14)

Left the RV in the campground in PA, and drove the truck 2 hours back east to the Jersey Shore to visit Jen's parents. There was no way in hell Doug was going to drive the Beast in Jersey traffic, so the best option was to just find a place to park it and have Jen drive the truck through the crap. And there was a lot of crap. The entire state of PA is one big construction zone, and Jersey is filled with displaced New Yorkers and senior citizens.  Fun stuff. But it was worth it - we haven't seen Jens parents since last November and they've never met the pups. We spent the day Wednesday visiting and eating Jersey pizza. :)

Thursday morning, we got up early and drove up to the Dog Beach in Asbury Park.  The pups had never seen the ocean before and they loved it!  Even Finn went in, at least when he had to in order to properly herd Sunday.  Sunday was fearless - that little dog jumped over the waves and rode the surf like she grew up doing it. Once, a giant wave crashed over her head and she disappeared under water for a long time - we thought that would be the end of her loving the ocean, but that tough little girl shook off and drove back in!  Spent the rest of the day visiting with Jens parents, and enjoying Dad's homemade Italian sauce and lasagna. I think we both gained 5 pounds on this trip!

Pups at the Jersey Shore:

Days 39 & 40: Driving, driving and more driving. (8-9 Sep 14)

Sadly, it was time to leave NH again early Monday morning. The pups went for one more swim in the Ammonousic River, Jen gazed longingly at the White Mountains, and we loaded up and drove through Vermont, Massachusetts, and to Newburgh, New York for the night. We were so exhausted by then time we got there that we didn't even go brewery hunting.

Tuesday morning, we packed up and headed to Pennsylvania Dutch County, staying just east of Lancaster.  The campground was nice, but our site was a narrow little tree-lined back-in, so parking the Beast was a bitch.  There were some ATV trails behind the campground, so Jen took the pups for a long walk. They must have run 20 miles, chasing the billions of chipmunks and squirrels in those woods.