My dad told me he wanted to assist me with my AT Hiking goals (like he did last Fall) and he arrived this afternoon at about 1300 in his RV (Crossman Camper). I was a bit surprised to see that he'd brought Ana (his Black Lab) but they were quite a pair (very cuddly). Before we could leave, I had to finish some work meetings and we didn't get on the road (after I packed up the RV) until about 1445. We then drove into Vermont and continued north on I-91 until we reached VT/NH-25. The RV had trouble with the big hills (max speed was less than 45 mph) and I wondered if we'd get very far... Just when things looked bleak for our progress, I had my dad get off at Bradford (VT-25) and we crossed back into New Hampshire. Using NH-25 and River Road, we made our way to NH-10. In North Haverhill, we stopped for ice cream (1545) at the newly opened Hatchland Farm building (my first time). Once back on the road, we followed NH-10 to US-302 and then drove through Littleton. My Dad really liked this place and said he hadn't realized a place like this was so close to other places he'd visited previously. We used NH-116 to reach US-2 and then drove to Gorham. My dad asked where we could stay and I suggested we check out Moose Brook State Park, which I'd recently recce'd. We arrived to find it mostly empty and were able to pick a nice campsite (1800). After that, we drove over to Gorham to get dinner at Road Hawg BBQ. I had jambalaya and my dad had a burger - we both agreed that the food was really good and we even had some leftovers after we were done (1900). In the RV again, my dad had trouble starting it - he had to bang on the starter with a hammer. Fortunately, we were able to get it running and drive back to the State Park. We set up camp for the night and I took Ana for a walk in the campground. I then spent the rest of the night talking with Dad, reading, sampling my first can of Whaleback Mountain Ale and prepping for the morning. We were both in bed (with complete darkness and silence) at 2230. Bring on the hiking!
