Connecticut - Day 9 - Waterbury, Naugtuck River

Tototek Valley RV Park
Friday, 9 November 2018

today's route

It got really cold last night and I didn't have any water this morning.  I don't know how much it was because my water hose froze and how much because the RV park's lines froze - they've got this jerry-rigged set-up to keep the cold out that I don't have full faith in.  But I've just got a regular, non-insulated water hose, so who knows.  I used my water pump instead.

I left while there was still some commuter traffic because I had a 10:00 appointment at the RV repair place and it took me over an hour to get there last time.  While I was sitting in traffic waiting for a school bus, wanting to turn left, to get a break in oncoming traffic, also at a standstill, some idiot behind me jumped the curb, drove along the sidewalk, hopped back down in the street ahead of the school bus, and zoomed away.  I caught up to him at the next light, demonstrating how futile it is to pull stunts like that.  A school bus, for crying out loud.

Cheshire
My route took me through Cheshire, a town of only 29,000 but which has 2 claims to moderate fame: The Barker Toy Museum and Ireland's Great Hunger Museum.

The toy museum looks like it might be fun  http://www.barkermuseum.com/ but I don't expect to have time to get back for it.  Some other trip.

But the Ireland Museum - wow.  I'm really sorry I don't expect to be able to visit.  I learned so much just from their website about the potato famine and its history, I'm sure a visit would be well worth my time.   https://www.ighm.org/learn.htm

I can't say enough nice things about Unlimited RV in Prospect, a village so small it's not on the AAA map.  It's about 10 miles west of Cheshire.  This RV place mostly rents RVs, but they do repairs for people like me too.  They're all very nice and very helpful and charge me only for what they actually do, not for all the time they spend figuring out what the problem is.  I was there to get my mud flaps fixed and they not only installed them, but they also added a piece that would help keep it from happening again.  They said all the models like mine that they'd gotten had the same problem.  Thor's quality control leaves a little to be desired.

Waterbury
Although Waterbury's not far from Prospect, it still involved driving down 2-lane roads so took me a while to get there.

I went first to the AAA office in quest of a more useful map than I already had.  Fat chance.  They told me the state hasn't printed a new one in 6 years.  They didn't know until I told them that the so-called Welcome Centers on the highway weren't really open.  They gave me the state's tourist website but had nothing else to offer.

The problem with AAA's map is that it's too small to have any real detail.  I've found a number of state routes - numbered routes - that aren't on their map.  This map is on the same page as the one for RI and the one for Mass.  Just not room enough.  It was okay in the other 2 states, because their state governments were still producing current maps.  Just not Connecticut.  I don't know what's wrong with this state government - but won't be here long enough to find out.

Waterbury is obviously an old town, and the brick streets are still visible where the asphalt has worn off.  It wasn't officially incorporated until 1853, but European settlers started encroaching on the Native population as far back as 1674.

I passed this stunning church - this is an internet photo because I couldn't get a good angle.  It's St. Anne's Church.  Building started in 1906 and was completed in 1922 (that pesky WWI slowed things down).

I understand that 100 years ago Waterbury was a major industrial area, thanks to the several rivers in the vicinity providing power.  I guess that's where they came up with the ability to create something gorgeous like this, because today's Waterbury couldn't possibly.

Naugatuck River

Naugatuck River
From Waterbury I followed the Naugatuck River for about half its length: it's 40 miles long and drains a good part of western Connecticut, dumping into the Housatonic when it's the border between CT and NY.

This isn't my photo but this is what it looked like today.  Very full with lots of bare branches all along.

I have this vague memory from my childhood of Momma saying something about something going from Saugatuck to Naugatuck.  We kids thought that sounded hilarious - the names were so odd.  But as you can tell, I never forgot it.  And I can now report that the small town of Naugatuck is almost due south of Waterbury, and the even tinier town of Saugatuck is just southwest of Bridgeport.  As far as I can figure it, they were towns on the railroad line long ago.  The Naugatuck Railroad opened in 1849, operating in southcentral CT.  It eventually joined the New York to New Haven Railroad, thus (I'm guessing) connecting Saugatuck and Naugatuck.  Though why a Rhode Island girl would know or care about that is something I should have asked but didn't.  But it's good to clear up these little childhood mysteries.

New Haven
I headed back to New Haven because there's a Chase Bank branch there - the first one I've run across since May (New York).  I was nearly down to my last cash dollar.

The branch manager saw me parking my RV in their small lot (probably watching to be sure I didn't hit the Cadillac next to me) and met me at the door asking lots of questions about the RV and what it's like.  He told me he really likes motorcycles and wants to go cross-country on one, so I told him about the amazing little contraption I'd seen in Vermont or somewhere that a motorcycle was towing that opened up into a full-sized bed inside a tiny tent.  I think I made his day with that information.

His staff worked hard to accommodate my lack of smart phone (used for ID verification) and my bag of coins that I've been carrying around since our estate sale.  The manager helped me count them.  So now I can get a reduced price at gas stations for paying cash.  Cash is still useful in these modern times.  Actually, I've found several restaurants and campgrounds that will only take cash.  I guess they've gotten stiffed too often.

It rained or was overcast almost all day, but at least it wasn't snow.