We're moving 36 miles--all the way to the other side of Rhode Island!

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

July 29, 2022

We checked out of our camp site at Burlingame State Park around 11:00 this morning. We are near the coast on the southern edge of Rhode Island, and our drive in the motor home took us towards the northern edge of the state. Denisa always highlights our route on the paper map so that we can see where we've been. That green highlighted route on the left side of that big paper map looks pretty long! But our drive today is actually only 36 miles long. This is a tiny state! It is 48 miles from north to south, and 37 miles from east to west. Even though our drive was only 36 miles today, it took over an hour to make the trip. The winding roads of Rhode Island have speed limits that range from 30 to 45 miles per hour. We are also amazed that there are houses tucked into every nook and cranny of these roads. It is a very crowded tiny state.  

We are now camped at Ginny B Campground. We have different resources to find camping spots, but this one was recommended to us by a couple from Boston that we met last winter in a state park in Texas. We took their advice that this was one of the best values for a campground in this expensive state, and here we are 6 months later.

While checking in at the campground office, we saw a flyer advertising "Foster Old Home Days." They've been celebrating Old Home Days for 104 years, and it starts tonight. We didn't even know that this festival--or the town of Foster, for that matter--existed this morning. But suddenly we are at their festival this afternoon. It included a nice line-up of animal events, so the sheep are getting groomed for their show that starts tomorrow.

We watched the swine show this afternoon, . . .

as well as the beef. Some of the animal handlers were very small and very cute.

The rabbit hutches were under the shade, but it was a wonderfully cool afternoon here in Rhode Island.

We always like to try the local food, and it doesn't get any more local than this. We ordered up dinner from the local fundraiser in the barn.

The entree was clam chowder and clam cakes. We could have done the all-you-can-eat option, but we weren't sure how much we would want to eat. Even though it was tasty, we would say that the chunks of clam were few and far between. We had to supplement our clam meal with a barbecue sandwich at another tent.

The most interesting events for today were the Woodsman contests that were going on in the arena. FFA students from all over Rhode Island (some from the other side of the state more than 30 miles away!) were competing in wood sawing and wood transporting events,

But the most exciting event was making fire. Teams of two had to gather their supplies from the corners of the arena, and then start a fire big enough to boil the water over the top of a one-gallon can set on a pedestal.

We watched as the foundations of sticks were made, and the fires grew. 

Foster Old Home Days also included live entertainment, and we enjoyed two different groups during our stay. Yes, we were the only ones dancing  to the music--again. We are thinking that New Englanders don't know how to dance.

We decided we better leave when it started getting dark. These are winding roads through the woods with lots of deer, and we have a long drive to get back to our camp site--a little over three miles away. This morning we were on the other side of the state, and tonight we feel very local after our 36 mile drive.