Back to CONNECTICUT! We drove south and stayed again at the “WM” in Wallingford just north of New Haven. For those English folks who now may be joining us, WM is actually WALMART a big department/grocery store in virtually every city. Believe it or not they actually allow motorhomes to stay overnight in their parking lots for free. We shut it down for the night got a good night sleep (thanks to our powerful generator that heats the interior no problem). In the morning we put "recess" before homeschool--we went bowling in the morning. I've been promising the kids we'd go ever since we started this trip months ago. Actually Pop and DeeDee, my parents, took them bowling when they flew home just prior to the start of the school year. Bowling was good fun and we all enjoyed ourselves.
We then headed into New Haven and did a drive by of the Yale campus in honor of my buddy John Hodgson (see our July 1 post) who went to Yale to get his MBA. In New Haven is a small eating establishment called, Louis' Lunch, home of America's FIRST hamburger. The Louis Lore is this: one day in the year 1900 a man dashed into a small New Haven luncheonette and asked for a quick meal that he could eat on the run. Louis Lassen, the establishment's owner, hurriedly sandwiched a broiled beef patty between two slices of bread and sent the customer on his way, so the story goes, with America's first hamburger. The place is the smallest restaurant we have ever been in but a great experience nonetheless. We were served by Louis' grandson, who carries on the family tradition: hamburgers that have changed little from their historic prototype are still the specialty of the house. Each one is made from beef ground fresh each day, broiled vertically in the original cast iron grill and served between two slices of toast. Cheese, tomato and onion are the only acceptable garnish. The kids subtracted some of the garnishments on their burgers. I had read that they DO NOT allow ketchup (Sterling's favorite) so I had to sneak some in. Sterling was afraid to use it in fear of getting caught so I squeezed a generous portion on his burger. Of course right then one of only two workers there walked by, saw the dreaded bottled red sauce and verbally repremanded me ;-0 Busted! The burgers were awesome. So far from McDonald's but all the kids devoured them.
We journeyed on to a much needed spa treatment for our motorhome. Actually it was a truck wash but she cleaned up nicely for a reasonable $40. We continued on toward New York City but the closer we got the less overnight options were presenting themselves, so I decided to stay in one of those wayside rest stops with a McDonald's (no... didn't eat there especially after our Louis' Lunch burger) and lots of 18 wheelers. We stayed the night there--first time in one of these rest stops.
