Vacation 2012

10 July - 9 August
a tour of places in eastern USA

the R-pod travel trailer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a map of our travels

Page 11

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

~ New Bedford Massachusetts - Newport, Rhode Island - Mystic, Connecticut ~

As this was a driving from one camp to another day and the distance was not great,
we were not in a great hurry to de-camp. We got on the road out of Middleboro KOA just before 11 AM.
My intention was to visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum, so we headed off the road into the town of New Bedford.
It was congested, and there was a lot of road construction. The GPS and other information on the location of
the museum was both insufficient and some was wrong. One building where our information said the museum was located
had - for sale - signs on it.

frustraton in New Bedford

Fighting the downtown traffic we became disgusted and we went back to the highway and out of town.

~ ~ ~

The next adventure was driving to and through Newport, Rhode Island.
Before entering Newport proper we stopped in a large strip-mall and stocked up at an excellent grocery.
There was also a hardware store which had some good maps of the area which greatly helped navigation through
the more congested areas in the old part of the town. While parked we had a nice sandwich lunch before heading on.
Newport has had a long association with the US Navy. We passed large Naval installations on the way into town.

Newport is fameous for its cottages which were the summer homes (huge mansions) of some of the most wealthy families in America... such as the Vanderbilts, Astors and Widener family. Many of these are showcases of Gilded Age architecture. There are modern mansions in town, especially along the waterfront. It is also a major yachting center. Newport bosts a mysterious stone tower which some think may have been constructed by visiting Vikings... others think it was constructed by Benedict Arnold. In any case nobody knows who built it.
The Redwood Library is considered by some to be the oldest public library in USA.
Today it is semi-private and the town also has a more conventional public library.

Driving a Suburban towing even a small trailer through Newport was a great challenge. Some days I enjoy a challenge.

The mysterious tower in Newport, RI

the brass plaque says 646 Miramar private

-
The house at 339 Ocean is private. - Another one on Ocean Dr.

Looking South past a rocky and indented coast into the tongue of the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Marthas Vinyard.

How many chimneys?

Brenton State Park is at the Southern edge of Newport among some mansions. We did not stop.

Castle Hill - or that is what the sign says. Huge, but not as pretty as some.

Some means of transport in Newport

In the older less affluent part of town streets are narrow, and very challenging towing a trailer.
Honestly, there were places that were much narrower, but we were too busy navigating to take a photo.

The modern Newport Public Library - happened to be on our way out of town.

-

The Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, spans the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay
It is by far the easiest way to head West into Connecticut. The toll is reasonable.

View from the top of the bridge - a fleet of Optimist prams

~ ~ ~

We proceeded on to Stonington, Connecticut

and the Mystic/Stonington KOA, a more formal park with a RHID card to wave at the gate to get in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Old Mystic Seaport

We turned left and the first vessel we saw was this trawler.
Then turned left and walked through a long shed containing an exhibit on wooden ship building.

Ship building from a half-model.

Trunnels (tree nails) often made of locust wood, fastened planks to ribs.

The ribs are often put together from many finely shaped pieces.

We heard a lot of noise and continued on to find the whaling ship Charles W Morgan up on land
having a major re-fitting.

The Charles W Morgan - whaling ship - underwater part - bow
Hauled up on land for a complete re-fit including replacing most or all of the planking.

A worker saws a trunnel (large wooden pin) off flush on a new plank.
Note the wedge behind him holding the plank in place. There are also several C clamps.

There were stairs up to the deck, some 20 feet up, where we could see the work in progress up close.

On the way up there is a good view of the part of the starboard side which would be above the waterline.
The fresh looking 2x at the top of the picture support plastic sheeting which protects the work from weather.

View of he deck, aft of midships, looking forward on the Port side.

The brick stove which fired the try pots where the whale blubber was cooked to separate the oil.
The fire was fed by cooked-out bits of blubber. A Very smokey and oily fire.

First Mates cabin below deck.

As much of the galley (foor preperation area) as one could see with a camera.

A minor officers cabin... perhaps a 2nd or 3rd mate or a cooper.

Looking forward from the aft cabins where the officers lived, toward the tween decks area.

There were no windows below, there were thick wedges of glass mounted in round holes - about 5 inches ( 13 cm )
in diameter which would bring light below and prism bounce it to provede some light.
Since they were massive chunks of glass they were relatively unbreakable.
The Captains cabin and First Mates may have a proper skylight.
The knee was cut from a natural crook of lumber, such as where a major root grew out from a tree trunk.
It, along with many other such knees, kept the structure square and properly in position.

The general tween decks area, storage above the hold which is below.
Joseph is 5 ft 9 in. (1.75 Meters) tall and note, he has to duck so as not to hit his head.
Tween decks are narrow areas - needfully so, because to make them taller would weaken the structure of the ship.

-

Next - page 12 through New York City to New Jersey - Princeton Univ.

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update 7 November 2012

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