Connecticut - Day 4

Totoket Valley RV Park
Sunday, 4 November 2018

Totoket, by the way, is pronounced tow-TOW-ket.

The weather has been very changeable, but we've mostly seen rain and/or overcast skies.  Sunbreaks have been lucky occurrences and, though I keep hearing sun predicted, I keep on not seeing it. 

I'm not getting morning weather reports anymore because I can't get any kind of TV reception here, though I don't know why.  I'm just a few miles from New Haven, only 40 miles from Hartford, and not all that far from New York City.  It seems like I ought to be able to get a station from somewhere, but the only one I can pick up is so completely pixilated, there's no point in it.  I'm having to rely on the radio or the internet, neither of which seems to be much help for weather.  I'm hoping for better at the KOA - at least it's closer to Providence where there's a good strong TV station.  In fact, I think the KOA, not far from Mystic, is closer to Providence than it is to Hartford.

So with the rain, this RV park is very muddy.  There's not much space where I can walk the dogs: the entire trailer park is off limits, and all I'm allowed to do is take the dogs behind a barn through a little green area by a marsh to a larger green area beyond the trailer park.  It's fine for short walks but not much for distances.  The dogs are just not getting any exercise and are becoming really uncomfortable.  Makes day care even more important, but that's so far away (in distance anyway).  It's not just that I have to get up early to drive the 1½ hours to get there, but that I also have to plan on driving that same distance back again in the afternoon.

The fact is, I'm just not comfortable in this RV park.  It's perfectly safe, all the people I've met have been very nice.  There were 3 vehicles with Texas plates here in one night - amazing when you remember there are only 15 spaces.  I talked with one of the families (they were traveling with 3 school-age kids) who said they're from College Station.  I could see the man was about to explain where that is but I jumped in and said I was from Austin, which changed the conversation direction.

I'm having to change my focus for Connecticut.  In other states, I've been able to choose what I wanted to see, find a place to stay relatively near those things, and go there, until I decided to move somewhere else.  In Rhode Island, everything is so close together it almost didn't matter where I stayed because everything was easily accessible.

Connecticut is the 3rd smallest state in the Union, but it's 4½ times the size of RI, so nothing's as accessible here as there.   And I'm also here in the north - it's southern New England but it's the northern US - with winter coming on, and everybody here is making winter preparations.  That's why no campgrounds.

There are scenic areas I'd like to see in northern and western CT, and historic sights to see in central CT, but just getting there takes a lot of time, let alone seeing it and getting back again. 

Plus I don't think I have much choice but to address Dexter's behavior issues.  He's a very high-energy dog living in a very small RV with a face that proclaims him to be a breed that isn't allowed many places.  Gracie's own issues seem to compound Dexter's, and she isn't really any more comfortable in this living situation than he is.  But I hope I've found a place where Dexter can get help dealing with his energy, and I owe it to him - as an obligation I accepted when I adopted him - to try to get him that help.

With all this swirling around in my head, it's no wonder I've been having trouble deciding where to stay, but I've finally made up my mind.  I'll stay here for the week + 3 nights I'd originally agreed to, which has me leaving here on Sunday the 11th, and then stay at the KOA for the rest of the month.  I'll see what I can of this part of CT while I'm here, and once I'm established in the KOA and get the dogs established in day care, I can figure out how to come back over to see things if I want.

I've found a day care very near the KOA that might be good for Gracie, so after I drop Dexter off tomorrow, I'll go check it out.  And because I want to give Gracie something nice to do while Dexter's playing, I'll take her down to New London where there's a public beach.  I hope it allows dogs, but since RI beaches allowed dogs after Sept. 30, I'm kind of counting on it here.