We drove the 247 miles to Bernardston, Massachusetts in about five hours. The day was beautiful with crystal clear skies when we left and a temperature of 43 degrees. The temperature eventually rose to 65 degrees. The roads were pretty good with some construction and roughness in places. Overall, it was a pleasant drive. Part of this drive was on toll roads in New York and Massachusetts. You pay for tolls based upon the number of axles on your vehicle. We pay more since we have five axles. To drive about 60 miles on the New York Turnpike costs about $11. On the Indiana Turnpike we paid $42 for a distance of about 80 miles. It can add a lot of cost to the trip, but, overall, it has not been too bad.

Sunday, September 20, 2020 - Today, we drove to historic Deerfield, Massachusetts to see the visitor center there and explore the buildings of the town that date back to the 1600s. This is truly a town of history that is located just about 100 miles west of Boston. The town originated on the flat glacial alluvial plane between two mountain ranges. The glaciers formed a dam that allowed soil to accumulate in the valley and created a area excellent for farming. The native American tribes in the area had been farming the land for thousands of years and then the English arrived and began to compete to farm the land. There were several conflicts that arose between the Indians and the English, some of which resulted in the killing of many English residents. Along with the agriculture in the area, there were many trees that allowed for the construction of homes in Deerfield. Later the number of trees began to dwindle, so some of the houses were built from bricks in the 1800s. We were able to look at the differing types of houses built in the town from the 1600s until the late 1800s. Seeing the differing forms of construction was very interesting. The Deerfield Historical Museum was also filled with artifacts from the region dating back to the mid-1600s. The town of Deerfield is working to refurbish these homes so that people visiting the town in the future would benefit from historical significance of the buildings.

The historic district is also the home of the Deerfield Academy boarding school. This is a very prestigious school for grades nine through twelve that first opened its doors in 1797. It is very expensive to attend with yearly tuitions of $60,000; similar to a highly rated college. The students all live in the dorms and the teachers are required to live in one of the house on the main historical street of the town. The teachers are tasked to eat at least one meal a day with the students. Everything is up-close-and-personal between the teachers and the students. Sounds like a pretty good idea.

We have been planning to go to Natick, Massachusetts (

We visited the Bridge of Flowers located in Shelbourne, Massachusetts.