Greetings from East Greenwich, Rhode Island

My second Panera Bread of the day--with the "sighting" of a third in Newport, RI. Too much traffic, and no available parking so I couldn't stop. Believe me, it has been "quite a ride" today!! These messages are "upside down" (due to time stamp) so read the following message first. (Does that make sense??)

Very quickly, I traveled from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to Newport, Rhode Island. It started to rain within seconds of my departure from Panera and has continued to rain all afternoon. (I am so glad I had the foresight to close the roof vent just before I left.) The narrow streets of Newport were crowded with bumper-to-bumper traffic. No parking for a car, let alone a car and trailer!! One lot advertised $10. parking but had a large "full" sign at the entrance--and a Security Guard.

I drove down the street with the mansions but could see very little due to the trees, shrubbery and/or ten foot high brick fences. I've been told they are a "must see" but the suggestion came from someone who wasn't pulling a trailer. In fact I went down the street numerous times because I got caught in a loop and couldn't find my way back to a main thoroughfare. Many mansions had large "open" flags flying (for tours) but I had no way to appraise the available parking so continued my slow cruise.

Eventually I was on a shoreline drive. "No parking" signs lined both sides of the road. I finally found a place to park (at 1:45) near the ocean. I took several very unimpressive pictures. They merely document that I was there.

When all else fails... ask "Carmen" (my Garmin) for the location of a Wal-Mart. She directed me to one in Middletown--and I arrived at 3:15. The Panera in Dartmouth was only 27 miles away (according to Carmen) but I had driven 50 miles. The traffic was terrible; the rain was mild but constant. It was only 3:15; I did not want to spend the evening browsing Wal-Mart or sitting in the T@B listening to the rain. I asked Carmen for "Panera" and had a number of choices. It took an hour to drive 20 miles; we crept along at five miles an hour when we weren't at an actual standstill. Never saw any evidence of an accident. Bumper-to-bumper traffic in both directions. (Is 3:15, 3:25, etc., on a Friday afternoon, "rush hour" for going-home traffic??)

IMHO, my T@B gets more valuable every day!! This afternoon--at Middletown--I saw $89.99 on the neon sign for Motel 6. I thought to myself: "Motel Six, ninety dollars!?!? Impossible!!" I looked closely; that was really an eight.

FYI: This Panera Bread is very large. They have an enormous crowd of people coming and going. Witnessing the number of customers, it won't be long until Panera finds a way to drastically limit our time using free WiFi. Currently, we are limited to one-half hour between 11:00 and 2:00. They don't want us to "hog" a table during "peek hours." (Now you know why I often shift from Panera to a nearby Barnes & Noble.)

I crossed a very impressive toll bridge en route to this Panera. It cost $4. for the car and $2. for the T@B to cross the Claiborne Pell Bridge.

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Below: One picture shows seals (?) on the peninsula of land. Another picture has raindrops on the window. Next to last picture has Panera in the background. Last picture shows T@B in the parking lot (just above the top of the laptop computer).