Warner M.D.: Day 6 NewEngland

Day 6 Salem
We slept in the next morning because with all the snow they advised people to stay off the streets so they could clear them. I think by morning they had 14-16 inches on the ground, probably more. They are totally equipped for snow, just not this early and it was really wet. The weight had broken many trees which broke many power lines. Not much for breakfast in the hotel with no power, just bagels. We packed up and sent Derrick out to clear all the snow off the van. Derrick went outside with the hotels broom and removed the snow. We headed to Walmart for warm things. Derrick brought a hat, I brought ear warmers..... Not enough for this weather. The parking lot was ridiculously full. Once inside we found the whole city wrapped in a single file line circling the store. I didn't think we would ever be able to check out! Lucky for me, everybody needed their morning coffee. With no power and Walmart somehow did, they were standing in line at Dunken Donuts for their morning coffee.... Only one person working on a Sunday morning. Lol We needed gas and soon realized only one place in town had pumps working for whatever reason. I sent Derrick to get a windshield scraper, Jenn to get hot coco in 7/11 and I in the van sat in a line around the block for gas. If you ever need hot coco in New England, look for a 7/11, Reasonably priced and milk chocolate. Never a coffee shop, it is yucky bitter stuff. Once fueled we headed to Salem, Ma. Yes, Halloween Capitol of the world! This is where the Salem Witch Trials were located. Once on the wet freeway we encountered a car that flipped slush on my windshield. I was surprised to find out my wipers did not work, I said a few choice words when I no longer could see anything on a busy snowy road. Derrick reached out the window and manually moved them for me, but due to his arm length, he could only clear the bottom six inches. That would be fine if I were an old grandma and could see no higher then that. I hunched over the rest of the drive to Salem and was determined to get to the bottom of it once there. I dropped Jenn and Derrick in town to walk around while I called for help. Non of our phones got charged with the nonexistant power and none of us thought to bring a car charger. I called on one til it died, drove around with no visibility to find someone to fix the problem. It was a Sunday and no one had a technician working. Finally enterprise suggested a tow exchange, they would have a tow truck bring me a new van and take the broken one. They said do what we want in town and when you are somewhere for a while call us and we will send it on the way. We had a fun time in Salem! A little creepy and not a place I would take kids near Halloween. The history I would want them to know but definitely a different time of year. The history was fasinating, I somewhere bypassed that these 4 girls had lied about people being witches and 18 people were hung, many people never got their lives back once it was all over. So sad. We took a tour that I would not suggest, info pretty good, just not my favorite. We walked back to the car and called the car rental and went to dinner and waited and waited.bI called several times asking the eta and if the tow truck had even left. All in all, from the time we called and walked into dinner, it was 5 hours before a new van. It was midnight and we still had 90miles to drive north to Portland, Maine. Gosh that was a long tiring drive, but it was a brand new van, only 3 miles on it when we got it!