At the time we’re writing this, there’s a lot of attention on companies requiring employees to return to the office, after the great flee from Covid-19. Employers want to see less Zoom backgrounds and more people occupying the space they’ve been paying to keep vacant for the last three years. Meanwhile, employees have discovered that sweatpants are ideal workwear and traffic is every bit as frustrating as they remembered. One of the downsides we didn’t envision when we started full timing was how much we would miss being able to interact with coworkers. Believe it or not, both of us have missed going into an office and were happy to be back in an area where we can work onsite. Plus, it’s never a bad idea for the people who pay you to remember who you are. Brian visited his company’s headquarters three times a week during our stay, while Tracey commuted to her company’s headquarters multiple times. We both enjoyed the time with our co-workers.
Sturbridge was also the site of The Great RV Bed Debacle. While we love most everything about our Tiffin, there are cinder blocks that are fluffier than the bed they included. For those not familiar with motorhome bedding, they are usually a few inches shorter in one direction or the other but those inches matter when it comes to being able to purchase from a regular mattress store. Unfortunately, very few manufacturers make these non-standard sizes, making it challenging to put your hip on one to test prior to purchasing a replacement. We were delighted that this RV had a standard king size bed and set off to the mall to test sleeping on 1,247 different beds before deciding on “The One”. This was where a grave error was made. Whether there was bad measuring or assumptions, we made a horrible discovery mere hours before delivery; we began removal of the existing mattress to discover a tag underneath with the dreaded words “RV King”. After cursing and repeated re-measuring, we confirmed that the only way our new super normal sized, about-to-deliver-any-minute-now king size bed was going to fit was to remove two bedroom walls. After a sheepish last minute cancellation call to the folks at Sleep Number, we started the entire shopping process all over again with our now correct measurements. It took a little longer than we initially anticipated but now have a cushy new RV sized mattress from Brooklyn Bedding with no demolition required.
Since we were already burning Benjamins to fund the local economy, Brian decided it was finally time to switch to a Blackstone griddle. They’re extremely popular with RVers, creating appetite-inducing smells throughout the campground. It’s a lot less messy than the Coleman grill we had, more versatile, and isn’t subject to burger-charring flame ups. We’re both looking forward to lots of future culinary adventures with it.
Where We Stayed:
Pine Lake RV Resort – aka Party Central. We had stayed at this park once before in the off season and it was quiet so we were a bit surprised it was much more of a party scene this time. The park was ~10% occupancy during the week until the locals showed up on the weekends and started unloading their cases of beer. Pull thru sites are very sandy so be prepared to spend a lot of time vacuuming. Their metered electric rates for monthly campers were staggering, but this is more the fault of the local electric provider than the campground.
Where We Ate:
Cedar Street Grille
Frank Pepe – A must have while in the neighborhood!
Kaizen Sushi Bar & Grill
Wen Ming House
BT’s Smokehouse