It’s already night four of this trip.  4am wake up call local time.  I feel jet lagged but this is a common interruption hour for my sleep pattern.

The first three nights have seen us stay in two Hilton hotels.  Large rooms.  Tasty, status attracted, free breakfasts.  Room service facilities.  Practical comfort in identikit boxes with little character.  And £700 spent in total.  Ouch!

Last night we left Massachusetts, drove through New Hampshire and fifteen minutes later ended up in Maine.  Three states in no time at all! The roads were quieter.  The highways tree lined.  While I can imagine the fall being more impressive than the greens of June I’m still yearning for the West Coast.  But the Avios would never have got me that far!

Most of the hotels around the picturesque Kennebunkport and Porpoise Cove were also pricey.  I reverted to my usual “seek out a bargain” methods and we’ve ended up in a perfectly acceptable and comfortable £55 motel.  Well, £56 after the pound weakened against the dollar the night before.

There’s no kettle, coffee machine, food or anything.  But there are two beds and a shower.  And a handful of eateries nearby.  I’d be going stir crazy after a week, after all, the accommodation blocks resemble a Nazi prison camp.  But one night allows me to call this place a rustic stopover.

We ate out in a sports bar / fish restaurant last night.  Valet parking.  I forgot to tip at drop off but recovered things on collection.  An hour of enjoyable baseball banter with the offspring.  Boston v Detroit.  Predictable comparisons to cricket.  Laughing at the nonsensical exaggerated motions of the umpires.  Gradually getting to understand that the game has its own version of no balls and wides.  And despite my love of five day test cricket wishing the baseball guys would stop arising about chewing their gum  and get on with the game.

Food was good too!

Gloucester and Rockport