Roadschooling America: Ice Cream Day

Well the Walmart experience usually does not mean waking up bright eyed and bushy tailed. We had some late night arrivals next to us that seemed to sit outside our window and chit chat at 1:30AM. Needless to say the alarm at 6AM felt a little premature.

I was able to finish work while the Stacey and the kids got themselves and breakfast ready. Stacey even whipped up a batch of breakfast burritos for us which were good. Today we decided we could sneak in a tour of Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory before I had to be back to work for my first call. Sometimes this time zone difference is a great thing!

We hit the road just before 9AM which is pretty good for us. Tom is now a generic voice lady and she reported that there was a gas station with RV access at the next exit after we got on the highway. I blindly followed her and found there was no way we could get out of the station if we were to pull in. Turning our behemoth around is not done lightly so we ended up going 14 miles on a side road with bumps and potholes. It paralleled the main highway so all we could do was look longingly at all of those other people enjoying the smooth road and fast speeds.

We got to the city where Ben and Jerry's was and found a gas station there we could just fit into and get out of. After getting some fuel, we headed to the factory. Luckily they had RV parking (we peeked via Google Maps satellite view before going there). As we headed in we got behind a tour group of 30 or 40 people so we thought we would be waiting a long time. Luckily they were already prescheduled so we were able to get into the next tour. We even talked down the price by agreeing to check in on facebook so they gave us a free adult ticket.

The tour was interesting and full of puns and jokes. I did not realize Ben and Jerry sold to Unilever so now they are part of a large global corporation. It was still fun to hear how two guys started the business splitting the cost of a $5 correspondance course on ice cream making. At the end of the tour we got to sample a new flavor for 2012. Don't remember the name but it was good and I for one was happy it was not Chunky Monkey or some other fruit filled horror.

When we got back to the RV the lot was full so we timed it right. Another few miles and we got off the highway to go through Montpelier which is the capital of Vermont. We decided the trees along our drive today were not even close to the trees we saw yesterday so we felt really blessed to see the fall splendor in New York.

Female voice Tom misled us on where the RV park was so we blew right by it and again turning around is not readily available in the Vermont country side. We made an 8 mile loop and finally found the RV park. We were very happy for hookups and the campground host is a very friendly guy with some good advice on what to see.

The rest of the day was work and school. A nice warm shower before bed and we are ready to turn in!