new hampshire and vermont

i stayed the night at a walmart in new hampshire and continued west to vermont in the morning. 

vermont and new hampshire have beautiful rolling highways through miles of evergreen forests and cute little towns settled down by the rivers.  the whole day of driving was pretty gray with overcast and drizzle, but the landscape was still worth traversing.   

after getting a few hours of the vermont backroads, i veered back through new hampshire toward maine,  the only new england state left to visit.

with the night darkness closing in i found a walmart to park at in new hampshire and let the beads of rain build up on my windows.   

by that time in the trip i had spent maybe 60 nights in my van with half of them being at walmarts and never had a problem with anyone approaching my vehicle.   that streak ended.  at about 2am i woke up to a loud stern knocking.  as my brain quickly processed what was happening, i leaned up and looked directly into a bright beam of light aiming at me through the drivers side window.  it was a police officer's flashlight.  in the initial seconds of reaction i wondered if i should try to get dressed, open the side window to talk, or....   well, i didn't want to keep him waiting so i reached forward bare chested out of my sleeping bag between the front seats just far enough to unlock and open the door for him.   he basically said i wasn't allowed to be there.  even though walmarts don't mind, that particular town, gilford had its own ordinance against parking/sleeping which trumped walmarts acceptance.   he was a very nice cop.  he told me i didn't have to leave that night, but he just took down my license information.  

it took me at least 30 minutes to get back to sleep, as i probably had lots of adrenaline pumping through my veins!    after that experience i couldn't help but balk at the state's phrase "live free or die".  oh well.