Three states in one day!

Thursday, September 13th, 2007
Littleton, Maine to Lisbon, Connecticut

159.5 miles
Sunny, Cool, Breezy


What a lovely day for a drive! Sunshine, puff clouds, cool breeze – heavenly after all the rain! It’s about 97 miles as the crow flies from here to Windsor Locks in Connecticut where I’m headed for the Gulf Stream authorized repairs, but I’m taking the scenic route to get there. I’m following as many of my favored dotted roads as I can, while the weather is so nice!

I really wasn’t up for driving thru a big city (Boston!), so I by-passed the city, and passed down thru the Blackstone River Valley Heritage Corridor – called the Birthplace of America’s Industrial Revolution. I was headed for the town of Woonsocket, in the northeast corner of Rhode Island – simply because I liked the name! Turns out that’s where the history of this area is headquartered.

I’m surprised to see how much open area there is in this part of the country – I’ve only flown in and out of the big cities in the past. Somehow, I expected to see that it was wall-to-wall people “back east”. Not the case! Lots of open land – mostly forested, many farms, lots of sweet corn, lots of lakes and marshes and ponds. Lots more of the church steeples and neat bridges that I like so much! And lots of boats! Truly lovely!

There are lots of road-side stands of fresh picked fruits and veggies. Many on good faith system, with signs of how much such and such a basket is, and a box for money. Passed one where someone was not quite honest. There was a large board by the ‘fresh veggies’ sign saying “Bring back my cart!!”

Drove thru the center of Providence, RI – another pretty, old city, in which you can just feel the history flowing in the veins of the homes and old buildings. Passed back into Massachusetts for a few miles and then back into Rhode Island down to Newport and along the coastline into Connecticut. I was on narrow two lane roads wandering by some spectacular homes on beautifully landscaped estates, farm lands and small towns and huge exquisite very modern condos.

I was disappointed that on the road which was closest to the ocean, the view was pretty much blocked by trees. Nice for the homes, but not for the tourists! And the roads leading down to the water were definitely not inviting to a vehicle like mine!

I drove by Pawtucket and Pawcatuck and at that point quit trying to pronounce all the names. I enjoyed seeing that they don’t have speed bumps here – they have “safety bumps”!!


Ross Hill Park
On the banks of the Quinebaug River
170 Ross Hill Road
Lisbon, CT 06351
800-308-1089