the easts head west

Visits

2012-03-04T10:10:00.001-05:00

Houston, TX

We drove over to Houston on Friday to spend time with Len's daughter and her family. WHEW! The weather. It was 85 and very humid. Yesterday was much cooler, thankfully.

We've parked our rig about an hours drive from here on the opposite side of town nearer to Katy, TX at our friends Olga and Lola Halbert. They are fellow NOMADS whom we've worked with twice. They invited us to park there whenever we are in the area which we did last June also. They set us up with 50 amp and water. They are away at a Good Sams rally so we probably will not see them this them this trip. A disappointment. I took a picture of where we are parked but OOPS forget to bring the camera connection with me.

On Saturday we drove the 160+ miles each way back to Sulphur LA to attend the funeral of one of Len's cousins. When we got back to Houston, Len helped D'Juana and Joe, who have gutted one of their bathrooms and are in the process of completely redoing it. I contributed by ordering delivery of Chinese food for dinner. And staying out of their way.

Today Len will assist some more. I will do as little as possible.

Tomorrow we will drive back to our rig to check on Lucky and spend the night to return here on Tuesday night.

The computer in the truck tells us it is time for an oil change so looks like we will have to find a place to have that done tomorrow. Also, yesterday we heard a cracking sound and we now have a foot long crack on the windshield. Nothing hit it that we noticed. It just cracked as we were driving down I10. Should have expected it. Last month for the first in a long time we were under budget.

We need to be in Austin TX on Saturday to start a NOMADS project next Monday. So our plan is to continue our visit here in Houston until Friday night when we will once again return to the rig and get ready to pull out Saturday morning.

Family, friends and other critters

2012-02-29T20:27:00.000-05:00

Sulphur, LA

Our time here in SW Louisiana is quickly come to an end. We leave on Friday to visit with Len's daughter D'Juana and her family in the Clear Lake section of Houston.

On Saturday some of Len's siblings got together for dinner at the home of his brother Royce and SIL Sue.

SIL Sue, sister Sissy and a great-niece

Len and three of his brothers. Notice they all wear hats. It's just that Len's is a little bigger.

We really appreciate that each time we are in town, one of his siblings plans a little reunion.

Yesterday we drove over to Iowa (a town in Louisiana, not the state) to visit Len's Godfather Claude and his gracious wife Vern.

Today we drove the Creole Trail. This trail starts almost in front of the RV park and continues through the Sabine Wildlife refuge ending over 100 miles later in Lake Charles.

We've driven it a few times and walked some of the trails.

I really wanted to walk this trail again today. After going only about 50 feet I headed back to the truck fast. I was covered with mosquitoes. These pests are really bad this year. Even the locals say this is unusual.

On the way we drove through the town of Holly Beach that sits right on the Gulf. It was completely destroyed with not one building remaining a few years ago when Hurricane Rita hit just days after the other side of the state was hit with Katrina.

We are amazed at the rebuilding. There is an RV park there that I've always wanted to try out. But not if the mosquitoes are like they are further inland.

Notice the new buildings on stilts. Would they even remain with another blast like Rita.

Continuing on we cross the shipping channel via a free ferry.

Further up the trail is the

This is a 3 mile loop out in the marsh. There is one boardwalk trail. Again, the mosquitoes look daunting. I'll pass this time. People are cautioned to only get out of the car if walking the one raised trail. This is why:

Lots and lots of this:

There were some milder creatures - ducks, geese, herons, various small birds and even pink flamingos.

And lots of these follows sunning themselves.

It's become quite humid here tonight. Enough so that the A/C is on.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Can't think of a title!

2012-02-25T10:09:00.001-05:00

Sulphur, LA

We are now starting our 2nd week here in SW Louisiana visiting family and friends. We've decided to stay here until March 9 then head over to Austin TX where we start a NOMADS project on the 12th.

Last weekend we spent a bit of time with our daughter Cassie and her four:

During the week I found some work for Leonard to do. One project was thanks to Lauren and George from Owensontheroad. George and Lauren also have a Montana Fifthwheel. Upon examination George found the panel under the fridge hid an empty space. He removed it, installed hinges and now they store pots and pans in that area. I had Leonard do the same. In it I store my cookie sheets and cake and muffin pans. Ideal for those items as I sure don't use them much!

Our model fifthwheel has a computer station as you walk in the door. That is one reason we chose it. In the cabinet next to it I kept two plastic file boxes with the handle on the lids. They were bulky and the lids kept falling off when lifted causing the contents to fall out. I hated this set up. So, we decided to get a file cabinet. We shopped several stores - Lowes, WalMart, Home Depot, office supply stores. All they had were metal cabinets. We wanted wood.

Finally an office supply store directed us to a store about 30 miles away in Beaumont TX, called The Sawmill that sells unpainted furniture. We took a drive and found the perfect cabinet. It was more than we (I) wanted to pay but we are quite happy with it. Len spent the next few days staining and then applying two coats of polyurethane. It fits perfectly next to the sofa.

We will use the end table it replaced as a coffee table. It looks nice there.

Last night we went to dinner with our friends Diana and Don (Teaux Teaux or ToTo) Johnson. Diana is a childhood friend of Len's whom he had not seen for many years. They reconnected a few years back when we attended the church where they are members. Whenever in the area, we spend some good times with them.

Diana told us about a new restaurant they wanted to try in Lake Arthur, LA about 40 miles from their home. We are camped only two miles from their house.

The Regatta sits on piers right on the Lake.

Diana and ToTo split a combination seafood. They selected asparagus and some type of regional corn dish as their sides. In addition to what is on the plate, there was a bowl of crawfish gumbo.

Len had catfish topped with crawfish etouffee. His sides were a mixed green salad and cornbread dressing.

I had crawfish etouffe with a green salad and sweet potato fries.

Although we were filled to the brim, we could not resist their bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Each couple split an order. An order consisted of two large squares of the one of the most delicious bread pudding's I've ever had.

Today we will be going to Len's brother and sister-in-law Royce and Susie's for a "sibling" get together. Royce is smoking ribs as I write. Too bad the weather is so cool today. Only in 50's and windy. Time to head out to the grocery store.

We picked a winner

2012-02-17T20:33:00.001-05:00

Sulphur, LA

Our last day of work in Moss Point, MS included work on this challenge:

This is Len helping Earl and Lynn McClelland installing a new electrical system. Can you imagine all else that needs to be done! The home owner greatly appreciates any help the volunteers provide.

We left Moss Point this morning at 8 after hugs from the entire team and a "see you in September" at the annual NOMADS meeting in New York. Lucky said Good Bye to his new friend Dogee.

After stops to take on fuel, empty the black tank and for lunch, we arrived at A+ Motel and RV Park in Sulphur, LA at 2:45 pm. The total drive was 313 miles.

WHAT AN RV PARK! I had checked it out on RV Park Reviews and saw all good comments. The people at the desk were great, giving us lots of information. The registration area is beautiful with coffee always available.

We have a great site.

The pond is stocked with several species of fish including catfish. The guests are invited to fish and keep their catch, up to a daily limit. Len just might try his luck. It's been a while since he's fished but is now really tempted.

Too bad it's not swimming weather as there is also a pool and picnic area.

This park has it all. Picnic table and grill at each site with a grassy area. Also showers, laundry, free Wifi, cable, 50 amp, fishing pond, free coffee, meeting rooms. Yup, we picked a winner. We've reserved for two weeks at a weekly rate of $155.00.

Now looking forward to seeing friends and family in the area.

Almost time to move on down the road

2012-02-16T16:38:00.001-05:00

Moss Point, MS

First welcome to Page our newest follower. I tried to access her blog but like many it is by invitation only.

Yup, today is our last day of work here. DONE! We just got done. Tomorrow we head to Louisiana for three weeks of rest and visiting family before starting another 3 week project in Austin, TX on March 12.

Lots of stuff happened in the last week:

That fabulous restaurant, The Shed, where we ate on Friday, burned down on Saturday. What a loss. They vow to rebuild. In fact I saw on the news they will be serving BBQ from another building on the premises tomorrow. I gotta wonder how well done that meat will be.

We visited with an old friend of Lens (now my friend too, ) Gay who spent 13 days hospitalized. She was released on Tuesday.

This is Len's friend (Gay's hubby) Mack whom we were told had died and were surprised to find very much ALIVE!

Mack and Len worked together at Ingalls Shipyard back in the 70's.

Yesterday when we arrived back to the Fiver after working, we noticed a car with two people sitting in it watching us. As we were headed to the fiver, the couple got out and the man called me by name. I had to admit, I had no clue as to who it was. Imagine our delight to find out it was Allen and Jeanne Webster, also fulltimers. We met this lovely couple three Thanksgiving's ago when we were visiting our son in Alabama and they were visiting their daughter. We had seen each others blogs and agree to meet at the local Cracker House.

It seems that yesterday they had taken a look at our blog and were surprised to find that we were close by. They are volunteering at a church in a neighboring town. They've been there since January 3 and will remain until around March 24. They came over to surprise us and surprise us they did. One more instance when we are so glad that we keep this blog! Check out the Webster at:

http://aljewebster.blogspot.com

This has been one of our hardest projects. The work has been difficult. But we are glad to have done it!

Phyllis painting trim up on the porch roof:

Leonard completing a set of steps he built:

Hanging sheetrock in a bedroom ceiling:

A member of Caswell Springs United Methodist Church is in the Guinness Book of World Records. She is the longest continuous church organist having played here for more than 69 years. In all those years she has missed less than 5 Sunday's. And she is still going strong.

On Tuesday night a group of us had dinner at Mexican Restaurant about 15 miles away. It was wonderful. Tonight, we are returning.

In the meantime, I will be hitting the shower, packing up and just maybe taking a moment to catch my breath.

Once we get settled at our next destination, I will be catching up on some blogs. The last three weeks have been hectic with little downtime. We pray everyone is well and had a loving Valentines Day.

Birds, beaches and BBQ

2012-02-11T11:51:00.002-05:00

Moss Point, MS

BIRDS

On Friday our group of 8 NOMADS got up bright and early on a non-work day!!!

We had the real treat of meeting Judy from Travels with Emma one of the RVing Worlds favorite bloggers. This is me on the left, Judy on the right.

Judy is volunteering for three months at

When I found out we would be working on a project only about 15 miles from the refuge where she is volunteering, I suggested we meet. She graciously invited us all for a tour. We arrived right at eight am to meet Judy waiting with a van that seats about 10.

Judy told us that back in the 70's there were only about 35 of the Mississippi Sand Hill cranes left in the world. Due to their protection as an endangered species there are now about 120. For a while it looked like we would not be privileged to see any cranes on this day. Then - there they were - two cranes off in a field and one of them doing their mating dance! The cranes mate for life and follow a ritual of the male doing a dance to impress his mate. (I know this trick works - Leonard and I met while out Country dancing almost 24 years ago).

Unfortunately my camera is such that when I took pictures, all I got was a field.

But I did get this picture of others in the group taking pictures.

I really need to get a camera with better capabilities. To check out the cranes, go to Judy's blog. www.travels-with-emma.blogspot.com

I found very interesting their methods of catching a crane for the purpose of banding. One method is by use of the "coffin".

The biologist goes out at night, quietly lays in this box and while closing the lid, places corn on top. When he hears the walking of the crane on top, he puts his arm through a small hole in the side and grabs the bird!

After the excitement of seeing the crane doing his dance, we hoped to see more. And see more we did. A total of 33! Judy tells us this is a record for one of her tours. We were privileged indeed. We were not so lucky when it came to seeing the two young Bald Eagles nesting in this nest. Guess it was nap time.

BEACHES

After hugs and thanks, we headed back to our campsites. Leonard and I decided to make a day of it. We first drove over to Pascagoula and checked out Ingalls Shipyard where Leonard worked for 8 years in the 70's.

He keeps remarking how things have changed in the area in 40 years! Well, yea. He wondered if the Longfellow House was still sitting there along the gulf. It was.

This house was built in 1850 for slave trader Daniel Smith Graham. It has since been a girls school, a club for Ingalls Shipyard and a private residence. Legend is that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem The Building of the Ship while visiting this house but there is no real evidence that this is true.

We then took a drive to Biloxi. Biloxi was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. These once were casinos that sat along the beach.

And here are what appear to be new or rebuilt casinos - sitting along the beach.

And the beaches? The sand was white as snow.

BBQ

That evening our group took Judy's advice. While on the tour she drove by The Shed BBQ and recommended it.

It sure was a shed.

But what great BBQ. I choose the brisket with potato salad and beans.

Len selected their mixed dinner. It had brisket, BBQ chicken, ribs, pulled pork, pulled chicken and sausage. He also had sweet potatoes, cole slaw and collards. We have enough meat left from his dinner for today's lunch.

Yesterday was one of those perfect days that we are so blessed to enjoy with each other and our new friends.

Last weekend

2012-02-09T10:40:00.001-05:00

Moss Point, MS

We've been really busy the last few days here in Moss Point working on a house rehab. I've not had much time to check blogs or even check emails. Today I am taking the morning off because of either a head/chest cold or inhaling cement dust. Either way I am feeling lousy. One morning of rest should help.

So this morning I am posting about our weekend up in Cullman, AL to see son Lennie, DIL Tammy and granddaughters Morgan and Maddie and great-grandson Jordan.

We left Moss Point on Friday for the 355 mile drive. Last year when tornadoes were hitting the south, Cullman got hit in a few areas. It was amazing to see the destruction for about 1/4 mile stretches then no damage at all. At that time we drove through 3 or 4 areas of destruction. These are pictures of how one area looks now, almost a year later.

We took Maddie shopping on Saturday morning so she could pick out a gift for Valentines day.

She wanted a stuffed animal. After a lot of deliberation she choose a dog that looks to be a cross between a Lab and a "wienie dog".

Later we took the family out for dinner. Maddie wanted to go to Ryans. What an excellent choice as we arrived about five minutes to 4 so paid the lunch price and got the dinner buffet. YIPPEE!

We left about 11 on Sunday for the long drive back and another week of work.

We are about through the house where we are mostly working on the outside. Yesterday we worked on finishing up the trim and removing a rotted out deck.

On Monday it's back to the house with roof leaks and mold. But first - a three day weekend.

Much needed weekend

2012-02-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

Moss Point, MS

We are currently near Cullman Al visiting son and family. It was a long drive up here yesterday - 355 miles. We will return to Moss Point tomorrow. Tonight we will take the family out for dinner.

NOMADS know what they are doing by having us work only 4 days a week. Not sure about the rest of the crew but our bodies just could not handle one more day.

From left Lynn McClleland from Tn, Leonard and me, Wayne and Edie Mahan who are fulltimers like us, Paul Hope who is overseeing various projects through Community of Hope here in Moss Point and Earl McClelland from Tn.

What a church! The church was founded in 1875. There is something going on all the time.

We are working on two homes in the community. In one house we are installing and painting both trim inside and out.

Completing and re-installing the washer and dryer in the laundry room.

Enclosing the hot water heater that sits outside on a small platform.

Hanging and painting new T1-11 siding on the back wall of the house.

Eventually we will remove a decayed deck and replace with new steps leading into the house.

At the other house we are removing ceilings due to massive roof leaks and lots of black mold. What an ugly job this is.

Yup, good to have three days off!

Quick update

2012-02-01T08:50:00.000-05:00

Moss Point, MS

We arrived at Caswell Springs United Methodist Church on Saturday. Weather has been perfect although expecting rain all day today.

We are working on rehabbing a house in the neighborhood. Lots of painting of interior and exterior, installing washer and dryer, hanging trim inside and out, enclosing outside hot water heater, ripping off old deck, etc etc. We are SORE, SORE, SORE.

I do not get an Internet connection so must use the church's WIFI. Also no phone service unless we make collect call. Too bad, we don't know anyone who likes us enough to accept a collect call. We drove into Pascagoula and called Sprint. We were told a Sprint tower is out and we would have service by 4 pm yesterday. Hasn't happened yet.

This weekend we are driving about 350 miles each way to visit Len's son and family in northern Alabama. Leave here Friday morning and coming back Sunday. NOMADS do not work Fridays. HOORAY! Need three days to rest these old bones.

I do hope all is well and when I can I will be checking blogs. Until then, take care.....

Dauphin Island

2012-01-24T19:39:00.001-05:00

Dauphin Island, AL

This morning Len, Judy and I headed out to Dauphin Island near Mobile. Dauphin is a narrow strip of land accessed over the causeway by one bridge or by ferry.

One end of the island appears to have year round residents, the other end weekend or summer homes high up on stilts. I found these "condos" interesting. Each one had a canal behind it with a small boat. The homes were a heck of a lot taller than wide.

It was a decent day for a walk along the beach so we took advantage of it, gathering seashells that we will send to our Maryland granddaughters.

At the opposite end of the island is Fort Gaines, started in 1819 and used during the Civil War. In 1864 Mobile was one of the last ports open to Blockade runners bringing supplies to the Confederacy.

The latrine room set near the bay. At high tide, waves would wash in and clean it out. EWWW!

Quartermaster store:

Not far down the road is:

Len and I took a walk along this boardwalk.

To this small lake which signs say hold alligators, cottonmouths, snapping turtles and lots of fish. We did see many bluegills swimming around.

We saw no gators, no snakes, not even a single bird. The only wildlife we saw, aside from the fish, was this one lone turtle sunning itself on a log.

Next stop was Olive Garden back at Spanish Fort. We got back to the campground not long before social hour/coffee time at the club house. Too full to eat dinner tonight, too tired to stay awake much longer. Good night!

Cat ...... Food

2012-01-21T18:05:00.001-05:00

Summerdale, AL

Cat...

Our cat Lucky started acting "strange" last week. Whining, restless, not eating much and seldom using the litter box. On Thursday we took him nearby by to:

The Vet, Elizabeth Taylor (!!!) suspected either a blockage or urinary tract infection. She suggested keeping him for the night so as to keep an eye on him. She ended up keeping him there two nights. He did not eat the first day but last night started eating a little and used the litter box. We picked him up this afternoon along with antibiotics. We will have to change his diet to one which is suitable for cats with this type condition.

Lucky was very disagreeable when we picked him up. He was just plain MAD. He's happier now and spending time outside on his leash as he likes to.

Food .......

Whew! Had enough! For now anyway.

Yearerday we drove over to the nearby town of Elberta and had lunch at

When we walked at right after 12 noon, the owner yelled at us "grab a plate and help yourself". On a buffet was fried catfish, fried mullet, fried chicken, green beans, corn, black eye peas, baked beans, cole slaw, green salad, ambrosia, potato salad, corn bread, biscuits, cottage cheese, mashed yams, the very best cheesy grits I have had and German chocolate cake for desert.

Got there here at the right time. Opens around 10:30 and is closed by 12:30. As we finished eating, they were clearing away the salad bar and the place was emptying out. By the time we got to the truck, the sign said CLOSED.

When you pay, the owner has each customer pull a poker chip out of a bag of white and red chips. A red one means your meal is free. He said he gave away 5 free meals that day. We had a coupon for a half price meal with one full price. Our cost was just $12.75! Cheap! Our friend Judy refused to go because of the name of the place. Sure didn't bother us any.

Today we had breakfast at the club house - French toast, bacon, OJ and Coffee.

Then but a few hours later we went to Marlow United Methodist Church. Once a month during "the season" they have a fish fry. We got there around 11:30 and it was packed. One of the workers said they had already fried all the fish they had, late comers would be out of luck.

For $9.00 you get fried catfish, hushpuppies, cole slaw, baked beans, a drink and choice of homemade dessert.

Len and I had Pumpkin crunch pie, Judy had pineapple upside down cake. Judy is okay with the name of Marlow United Methodist Church so this time she came along.

This is the original church building. The dinner was in the newer building where they hold services.

We are settled in for the night. Expecting rain from the feel of it.

National Naval Aviation Museum

2012-01-19T19:26:00.000-05:00

Pensacola, FL

Today we, with Judy, toured the National Naval Aviation Museum which is only about 40 miles from the campground. We could have spent a lot more time but we had a vet appointment for our cat, Lucky. More on that another day!

We especially liked the older plane section. There was a lot we did not get a chance to see due to the vet appointment. Len said we really need to go back again. We will within the next few days.

We did have time to ride the "trolley" which takes visitors to the outside viewing areas.

It was a plane like this that was shot down in Vietnam carrying Senator John McCain.

Everyone should recognize these planes. What we did not know is the planes the Blue Angels fly are previously used military planes and are then retired after two or three seasons of use by the Angels.

This is one of the few planes flying immediately after 9-11. It was used to bring supplies to Ground Zero.

Did not catch the name of this plane but the tour guide told us that they would get calls from civilians stating they saw a flying saucer that must have captured a plane and was taking it away.

This is one of the actual planes that took pictures of the missiles Russia had placed in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This plane was designed by Howard Hughes and used for weather recon.

There is no admission cost to this museum, including the trolley tour. There are costs for the IMAX theater or flight simulators. Well worth stopping by!

All Aboard!

2012-01-17T19:25:00.000-05:00

Mobile, Al

Today Leonard and I, with our friend Judy, drove over to Mobile to tour the USS Alabama and USS Drum.

BATTLESHIP USS ALABAMA

Alabama was commissioned in August 1942 and earned 9 Battle Stars and shot down 22 enemy airplanes during WWII. She is 680 ft long and a little over 108 ft wide. In other words, it is HUGE.

Leonard dwarfed as he's walking the deck:

Dining area:

Sleeping quarters. Comfy looking, right?

An early "computer station"

16" 800 pound shells:

SUBMARINE USS DRUM

After touring the Alabama, we toured the Drum. It was commissioned in November 1941. The sub is over 311 long and over 27 feet wide. She earned 12 Battle stars during WWII.

These small doorways are a challenge to these stiff bones. And there are lots of them. Lots and lots of them.

Even dining area is tight quarters.

Hallways even tighter.

Sleeping quarters with the torpedoes.

Good eats and good times!

2012-01-15T17:43:00.001-05:00

Summerdale, AL

Friday night we gathered with a group from the park and had dinner nearby at

It was a tough decision on what to order. After careful consideration both Len and I elected to try the shrimp gumbo with 1/2 a poboy sandwich. His poboy was crawfish, mine oyster. We both had onion rings and sweet potato fries as our sides. The gumbo was actually pretty good.

Then we headed over to Fish River Baptist Church for a concert by Gospel singer Ivan Parker. I had never heard of this gentleman but was happy to hear him after learning he had toured with The Gaither Homecoming group. This is a poor picture even though we were in the second row.

On Saturday we took a 70 mile ride over to Moss Point, MS to check out where we will be working a NOMADS project starting January 30. We got to meet the director/coordinator of the various relief projects NOMADS have worked on since right after Katrina hit this area.

About 40 years ago Leonard lived in the Moss Point area while working at Ingles Shipyard. Several years ago he stopped in this area on the way to Louisiana and looked up two old friends. He often would talk about Toby and Mac. A few years later we heard they both had died.

Knowing this, Leonard wanted to stop in the see Gay, Mac's widow. He found the house and went to the door. A gentleman in a wheelchair answered the door and Len asked if Gay was there. She was so he called me in to meet her. Leonard was assuming the man in the wheelchair was one of their sons. When I came in Gay hugged me and I offered my hand to the gentleman and introduced myself. It was Len's old friend Mac! It seems the report of his demise was greatly exaggerated. Needless to say, Len is thrilled to find this friend is still among the living and doing quite well.

We spent about an hour visiting with the plan to get back in touch once we return to the area in two weeks. We are so looking forward to this special reunion.

This morning we attended the local Methodsit church, only about a mile up the road.

We had an early dinner so as to enjoy the ice cream social at the clubhouse a little later.

BTW, family and friends in NJ, MD, PA and VA it was 65 here today. Not that I am being mean or anything, just wanted you to know.

Settling in for two+ weeks.

2012-01-12T20:46:00.000-05:00

Summerdale, AL

We left Cullman, AL on Monday morning and drove the 318 miles south to Rainbow Plantation (an Escapees) Park in Summerdale, AL

We are impressed with the size of the sites. LOTS of room. It rained most of Tuesday. We needed some groceries so headed to the nearby WalMart in the town of Foley. Then we had dinner at the clubhouse.

On Wednesday we invited our friend Judy, who we met last year Raccoon Valley Escapees Park in TN, to come over for dinner. I needed a few things so we drove over to

Don't you just love that name?

Today we decided to drive over to Gulf Shores and do a little sight seeing. Route 180 is on a narrow strip of land surrounded by the gulf. At the end is Fort Morgan.

Fort Morgan was built after the war of 1812 to control the main ship channel into Mobile Bay. It was used during the Civil War, and again during the Spanish-American War and World Was 1. It was recommissioned during WW II.

It was really windy as can be seen by this picture of our friend Judy.

After we left the Fort, we stopped at the nearby Wildlife Refuge and walked a path down to the beach. Again, very windy with blowing sand biting hard against the skin.

Len was surprised at how many oil rigs there were so close to the shore.

After a lunch at Pizza Hut, we headed on back to the campground.

For several years I have sporadically followed the blog of Ellie and Jim. I "met" Ellie when we were both posting on a Weight Watchers RVers thread. I found out from a mutual friend, Peggy, that Ellie was here at Rainbow Plantation. I am glad we made a connection because this lovely couple leaves tomorrow. When we got back to the campground, I called Ellie and she and Jim came over for a nice visit.

What a treat!

Tonight we again had dinner at the clubhouse and got to meet another delightful couple, Sue and Charlie, originally from Indianapolis. Like us, they are starting their 3rd years as fulltimers.

Yup, gotta love this life style.

Meeting new friends

2012-01-08T16:52:00.000-05:00

Cullman, AL

Our second great-grandson was born last April. We met him for the first time on Friday. This is Jordan with Len's son Lenny (the grandpop).

Granddaughter Madison stayed with us in the fiver on Saturday night.

Last year while visiting this area, we drove about 60 miles to the town of Natural Bridge. The town was named for a natural stone/rock bridge that is open for tourism. When in the gift shop, we saw a brochure with the United Methodist logo on it. The brochure was about the Christian Place Mission in nearby Nauvoo. The mission provides meals and other necessities to local residents. The gentlemen running the gift shop told us a little about the mission and church and their plan to build a community building.

We told him a little about the NOMADS and how they might be of help. We were thrilled to see the pastor, Roger Westin, and the director of the mission, Carole Newman, followed up with our suggestion and the plan is for some NOMADS to head their way this Spring to assist in whatever way they can.

This morning we drove the 50 some miles from the campground to attend their small church and meet Roger and Carole in person.

Maddie was asked to light the candles.

Pastor Roger

We stayed for Sunday School. The children:

After services we went out for Barbecue with Carole and Dorothy (Granny). That is Granny on the left with Carole on the right.

Once more it was a real treat to meet such nice folks while on our travels. Especially ones who are so dedicated and filled with God's love.

Did we leave the cold behind?

2012-01-06T09:45:00.001-05:00

Cullman, AL

Welcome to Michael and Dee who recently joined as followers. Glad to see you here and I will be stopping by your blog also.

We left NJ on Wednesday with the temperature reading 15. BRRR...

The most difficult part of leaving the northeast was knowing we would not see these beautiful granddaughters for the next several months. There were lots of tears on both sides.

Charlotte with a very sad face.

Abby, looking good after her haircut.

Before taking off, checking the tire pressure:

The trip took us two 8+ hour days of travel. It was uneventful except for:

This truck was escorted over the bridge between MD and Va as it carried explosives. Really, what help would the police officer in the car really be should there be an issue.

We got into a small traffic jam. We saw a small truck with the drive shaft on the ground. The resulting sparks must have caused this fire in the medium.

We spent Tuesday night warm and cozy in a rest area near Winston-Salem, NC. Gotta love a generator. Back on the road Thursday morning before 5:30.

In the mountains of North Carolina there were patches of snow:

and ice on the rocks:

We arrived at Cullman Campground around 1 (CST) yesterday. We partially got set up then went to the local Cracker Barrel for lunch. After lunch we finished setting up and drove to Len's sons home about 10 miles from the campground. Daughter in law, Tammy, made corn bread and chili with rice. How nice seeing granddaughter Maddie. Today we will return to finally meet our great-grandson Jordan, son of Morgan who is Tammy's daughter. Jordan was born in April.

We will just be staying in this area until Monday when we head to the Escapees Park in Summerdale, AL.

BTW, yesterday the temp got to 61 but we woke this morning to 27. Did we leave the cold behind???

Bigger is better

2012-01-02T15:25:00.000-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

While in NJ, Leonard decided we (he) really needed a different tool box. So out with the old. (Sold it on Craigslist for $100.00.)

And let's make something BIGGER!!

First was a trip to a local steel, hardware, MAN store. The original building.

They recently went BIGGER too with this addition.

Len bought the aluminum and had them bend it to his specifications.

He is an excellent welder but no longer has the equipment to weld aluminum. He paid a welder to do it for him.

Len added hinges:

And locks

Then a divider for strength and convenience.

Is this thing HUGE???

It is now in place in the truck bed and loaded.

A good note - we emptied two Rubbermade containers from the basement of the fifth wheel. Yup, this man always is thinking of his next "project". Scary!

Please Touch

2011-12-29T08:52:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia, PA

On Tuesday we drove into Philadelphia taking Charlotte to the

Apparently lots of parents and grandparents decided to take the little ones there due to having the week between Christmas and New Years off or the kids not having school. When we arrived we knew there would be crowds as all free surrounding parking spaces were filled and only a few spots available in the $8.00 fee parking lot. We managed to find one close to the entrance. (Great! as it was raining when we came out).

The lobby was impressive as we waited in line for tickets. $15.00 each with a 10% AAA discount.

This place was not at all what I expected. As the name includes the word MUSEUM, that is what I expected to find. Lots of scientific and natural objects like rocks, turtle shells, antlers, old things, etc. Not at all. I was a bit disappointed. Please Touch Museum is a series of small play areas involving all sorts of activities.

We found that most of the children were smaller than Charlotte, who is 5. Abby, at two, is more age appropriate. But Charlotte did have a good time.

Tea with the Mad Hatter.

A pose in front of a wavy Looking Glass.

Walking on the Moon

And out in space.

Attempting to pop a nerf rocket through a ring:

Checking out a child size room:

Her favorite area was the super market. She played in it for a spell and then asked to return for another visit before we left.

First trip with no available baskets or shopping carts.

Checking out:

On her second shopping trip, still all carts were in use but she did find a basket.

Note she only buys bread, fruit and veggies. She bypasses the cereal, cookies, ice cream, etc. This was with no prompting from us. As she has lots of allergies, most of her diet is fruit and vegetables. Even prior to diagnosing the allergies, this is the type of food she was given. One note - she is gluten intolerant so the bread would be a no-no unless it is rice bread. Also the milk she "bought" would have to be almond or rice milk. Dairy is off limits too.

Charlotte was very well behaved at the "museum". As her parents take her to various nature centers quite often, I suppose it was okay that Please Touch Museum was not what we expected. We still enjoyed our time with her.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp. NJ and White Hall, MD

As our usual custom, we attended Christmas Eve services at our church. Terri and Steve came with us.

As we came out the door, there was Santa riding by on a firetruck.

In the morning it was breakfast at Terri and Steve's.

Grandson Justin with his usual hamming it up:

Terri and Steve with a favorite gift:

For dinner Len and I went to daughter Amy's in MD. Her dining room is finally coming together after all the work she and hubby Scott did with some help from Len.

Dinner:

Charlotte and Abby's creation before it was dismantled for their dessert

Abby modeling Grandpa's Christmas hat:

Charlotte came home with us for a couple of days. We completed a fun picture which she wrapped and gave to her mother when she went home.

The day before, the day before Christmas

2011-12-24T10:42:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

On my, wondering how many pounds will be added this season on to my already too-many-pounds body.

On the 15th we went to dinner with friends at a great Italian restaurant (forgot the camera). We all know that Italian is NOT a low calorie choice.

The very next night we went to dinner with other friends (forgot the camera). At a different Italian restaurant. More damage done.

On Monday our women's group had their Christmas dinner/party. (had the camera, forgot to take it out of my pocket.)

I did manage to remember the camera AND to take a picture when we visited with my cousin Mae and her friend Ray on Thursday.

A favorite of our family is old fashioned Chicken Pot Pie. Not the kind with a crust but the kind that is rolled dough cooked in chicken broth. My grandmother made it, my mother made it, my daughter Terri makes it. I've never made it. Somehow the pot-pie gene skipped my generation.

Last night Terri made this family favorite. Served with homemade cranberry relish, cole slaw and mashed potatoes.

Steve and Len working on getting the food on the table. Note the top of the line table wear!

Grandson Justin who requested this meal.

Terri, Justin and his friend Ariel

Steve's daughter Brianna and her boyfriend Jason were also there. (in keeping with my tradition, I forgot to take their picture)

But I did remember this:

Terri's fresh made cookies and candy (oh just forget it! so the pounds will be added but I will enjoy every bite.)

A very Merry Christmas and a prosperous, safe and

Happy New Year

to all my blogging friends.

Not much goin' on.

2011-12-13T10:35:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

It's been a week since I've posted for as this title says - Not much goin' on.

On Wednesday we were invited to dinner at our friends Bill and Joan. They also invited our friend Patty. These are friends from the church we used to attend. It is always fun getting together.

During my work world I was a Human Resource Manager/Director/Professional (title depending on the company). As such I belonged to the largest organization for HR - Society for Human Resource Management based in VA. SHRM is composed of individual chapters throughout the world. Our local chapter is HRA of Southern New Jersey. Since I was in the area, on Thursday Len and I attended their annual Christmas party and auction to raise money for the SHRM Foundation.

We wanted to have the granddaughters over for the weekend. Daughter Amy asked that instead of meeting us 1/2 way Friday evening if we would come to her house for the day. She and Scott have been working on their dining room. She was anxious to get her house in order so asked if Leonard would spend the day installing a door and do the trim and quarter-round around the floor. Not a problem - he loves doing this stuff.

After the girls got home from school or daycare we took off for NJ stopping at a local diner for dinner.

As always Charlotte is awake before 5. Abby sleeps until around 6. We did almost nothing all day Saturday as it was very cold. In the evening we took a ride looking at Christmas lights.

On Sunday we attended our church and gave a presentation on NOMADS. Then it was lunch and Abby took a nap. Charlotte and I played games on the computer. Len started teaching Charlotte how to play checkers. We took them home meeting, Amy 1/2 way in the early afternoon.

That evening Len and I went to dinner. A nice, quiet dinner.

Yesterday Len took the truck to get an oil change, etc.

So, not much goin' on around here. What about you??? Everyone really busy with Christmas preparations?

Just what do people do!

2011-12-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

We have been at Camp Driveway at my daughters for weeks now. We have 4 more weeks to go before we take off. I truly love seeing family and catching up with friends, but being here all this time begs the question. WHAT DO RETIRED PEOPLE DO????

Both Leonard and I can not imagine, at this time, being retired and puttering around a house. Today I HAD to get out and about a bit. We took off for a drive even though we faced showers most of the day.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then headed to a part of NJ I've always loved. The Pine Barrens. Through the woods we rode. We passed the ruins of Speedwell, a long deserted town in the middle of the woods.

A few more miles into the woods and we came upon this.

From experience I know these "puddles" are often deeper in to the sand than they look. Probably could have crossed through but why take the chance even with our 4-wheel drive truck. There was a way around it:

However, this tree is low and into the road. Truck is taller and only 8 months old. Not scratched yet, don't need to get around that bad.

So we turn around and decided to go to the historic village of Batsto. We pass lots of cranberry bogs

This area of the state is known for the growing of cranberries and blueberries. The cranberry farms are part of the Ocean Spray co-op.

As we get about 4 miles from Batsto we hit a detour due a bridge being out. We find this a lot around here from damage during Hurricane Irene back in September. We head off in another direction crossing over the Wading river.

About this time the rain is full upon us. We decide to scrap a visit to Batsto today. But one important task was complete. Every Christmas we head to the nearest Hess station to add to Leonard's collection.

Those trucks must be a huge money maker for Hess. In the few minutes Len went into the station to get his truck no less than 6 other cars pulled up with the people going into the station. I saw not one car getting gas.

Our little ride took us out of the fiver for about 4.5 hours. As I look at my calendar we have 4 dinner dates with friends, etc in the next three weeks. We will have the granddaughters over this coming weekend. As I said earlier, we enjoy catching up with friends and family but if not traveling or volunteering, WHAT DO RETIRED PEOPLE DO???????

He's gotta keep busy.

2011-11-30T13:20:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

With the playhouse finished and delivered, Leonard is searching for more jobs. He loves to work. Not working is not an issue when we are traveling and sight seeing. It especially is not an issue when we are on NOMADS projects. However, sitting here in NJ for almost two months is more than he can bear if he is not busy.

The last few days he was happily better securing the rack on the back on the rig where we keep our portable generator and small charcoal grill.

We bought the rack at Cabelas in SD last year. It came with only one arm going into the rigs receiver. It was by no means secure enough. The weight of the load would cause it to bounce and eventually bend downward. The fix was two additional arms, which he added last fall. This week he changed out to bigger receivers and arms to make it even more secure.

With that done he was searching for today's project. AHA! We've talked about adding shelves to some of our cabinets.

This one holds our DirecTV receiver. When it sat on the bottom we had to keep the door open to allow it to receive the signal from the remote. Now it sits on the shelf and the signal goes through the glass so the door can be kept closed.

Once that was done - let's see about this cabinet.

Much neater:

Okay, let's do another one!

From this,

To this,

The larger cabinet that previously held the paper cups, towels and plates is now almost empty. We will think about what we want to do with that one.

I had a Dr's. appointment this morning (not sick, just to get prescription renewed). While gone, Leonard straighted all food cabinets and tossed outdated stuff. They look great too.

He's now thinking about what he can do next. He is making good use of the shop he built when we lived here and now belongs to daughter and SIL. As I said, he is the happiest when kept busy. The man loves to built, fabricate, weld, etc. He calls it fun.

The last few days

2011-11-27T15:42:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

Wednesday 11/23. We spent the afternoon at our church prepping for the next days feast.

It has been the practice of our church for the last several years to serve Thanksgiving dinner to folks who had no where else to go or funds to buy their own feast. As our church is rural, our attendance was not what we hoped it would be and felt we could serve more by taking the meals to town.

Thursday 11/24. Thanksgiving. We finished cooking in the morning and then transported the food to the local Salvation Army. We fed approximately 75 people.

In the afternoon daughter Amy and SIL Scott dropped off Charlotte and Abby to us. My daughters always have their Thanksgiving dinner at their fathers, freeing me from cooking at home and able to assist at the church.

Friday, 11/25. We spent the day around the camper except for taking the girls to our local small Zoo.

Saturday 11/26. We met Amy 1/2 way between our homes to deliver the girls back to her. They were anxious to get back home to play outside while the weather was still fair.

That night Terri's husband Steve played at a local restaurant with his band 4-Wheel Drive. This band disbanded over a year ago and Steve played (and still does) with several other bands. They decided to reunite and pulled in a crowd.

However, all was not as planned. The band was supposed to play in the catering hall of the restaurant starting at 9. But the restaurant overbooked and had a wedding that was not over until 10. The crowd was CROWDED. After 10 they opened an alcove allowing people to move off what had been a very small dance floor.

The country band 4-Wheel drive. That is SIL Steve up front as lead singer. Country is not his favorite music, but he is quite good at singing and playing it.

From the right - our long time friends John, Bobbie and their daughter Deanne. Only partially seen, their friend Gerry and her hubby Bob.

Lens former co-worker Ron with wife Barb.

As Len and I were dancing we saw this couple (Jody and Bobby) waving at us. WHAT! They belong to our Good Sam Chapter and we have camped with them several times. What we didn't know it they are friends of Terri and Steve through the Red Knights motorcycle Club. This club supports volunteer fire departments with semi annual motorcycle runs.

Small world, indeed.

It's there!

2011-11-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

White Hall, MD

We had hoped to have another couple go with us to Maryland yesterday to assist in the delivery and unloading of the playhouse as we knew it would be quite a task taking it from the trailer. But being a Sunday and right before Thanksgiving, everyone we asked had prior commitments. So we hooked up the trailer and pulled it along with us when we attended church. When questioned what is was, we just replied that we downsized again.

The ride down I95 was interesting. We had lots of looks and even saw one lady taking pictures as the car passed us. When going through the nearest town to our destination, a truck full of 20 something guys rolled down windows and gave us thumbs up. I rather think we looked like Gypsy's pulling our home behind us.

When we got to the house both girls were up taking their naps. Amy and Scott were raking leaves.

The girls have a play area that is fenced it. Part of the fence had to be temporarily removed, which Amy and Scott did before we arrived. Len, being a pro at backing up, easily maneuvered between the remaining fences.

Luckily Amy noticed that a tree limb had gotten wedged between the house and porch post. Had we moved the house more while still on the trailer, it could have caused disaster.

Scott sawed off the limb.

It took almost an hour to get the house off the trailer. Len, Amy and Scott pushed and wedged. I steered the jack. Then when the house was near to end of the trailer, I would back the truck away while they wedged boards under the house the pried and pushed.

Eventually, off it came. We have one small dent in Len's new truck bumper when I stopped the truck (as directed) but the trailer continued downhill. There are very few level areas in the 4 acres of hilly property.

Abby had woken up as we were doing all this maneuvering. Charlotte slept through the whole thing. Her first look:

Butterflies, dragonflies and flowers decorate the interior.

Ah yes, look at the smile on Abby.

The girls have already chosen their side of the table.

We have another 6 weeks before we hit the road again. Len is never happier than when he is working or traveling. No traveling for these 6 weeks, so we need to find something else to keep him busy!

Ready to move it!

2011-11-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

FINALLY - this playhouse is loaded and ready to go. We borrowed my brothers car carrier and loaded it this morning by backing the trailer under the house.

We then used two jacks to lift and move it forward.

Then it was strapped down. Notice the colors. Charlotte loves yellow, Abby loves pink.

Their Aunt T (my daughter Terri) and I did a little decorating today.

We hope to deliver it tomorrow. However, we are having difficulties with the trailer lights. Len has made three trips to Harbor Freight so far today. I sure hope he gets the problem resolved soon.

Sharing meals with Friends

2011-11-18T09:03:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

We are still driveway camping at daughter's house. Len is still working on the playhouse. The house and trim are painted. We still have to stain the porch. He is out there now prepping and taping.

Last Saturday night we were invited to share dinner with dear friends from the church we attended some years ago and were married in.

From the left - dear friend Dot, her friend Luther, Marie and Jeff and our hostess Patty. (Jeff is Patty's son)

On Wednesday I had lunch with two old friends. Lois was my very first friend. I've known her since I was about 3 or 4. I met Carolyn when our children went to school together. At one point years ago the three of us worked together and always enjoy our times getting caught up with each others lives.

Lois and Carolyn

While in my professional life I attended monthly meetings of the Human Resource Association of Southern NJ. Many years ago I was it's president. I have not attended a meeting for almost 3 years. As a dear friend, Jonathan Segal from the law firm of Duane Morris in Philadelphia was the speaker, I decided to attend last night (no pictures). My daughter Terri is now a member. It was so rewarding seeing many old friends. And I must say - I sure don't miss the daily frustrations and aggravation that comes with working in HR! Although at one time I loved it! I now question my sanity.

That brings us up to today. Later today we might pick up my brothers car carrier and get this building loaded and ready to move.

Playhouse Part Four

2011-11-11T13:22:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

We finally see the end of this project. Still Leonard is out in the shop by 7 am and does not stop (except if I insist he eat lunch) until around 5 pm.

The last few days have seen the inside go from this:

To this:

And finally this:

It has not been without incident. The doorway is but 5 feet and we keep forgetting as we exit. Leonard has three gouges on top of his head. I have one knot. We got wise and made a temporary fix. This was only good until the inside walls went up making it too wide to hold the foam.

Yesterday he trimmed out both the inside and outside of the windows.

He is out there now installing quarter round on the ceiling and down each corner.

The girls each have a favorite color. We will paint the outside one color with the trim the other. Oh my, luckily Amy and Scott and the girls live out in the country with a neighbor on only one side! I am withholding the info on the colors until it is painted and posted.

Playhouse Part Three

2011-11-07T09:05:00.001-05:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

The playhouse is project coming along nicely. Len worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday from early morning until dinner time without even a break for lunch each day.

Charlotte's school was closed Thursday and Friday for parent conferences. As Amy was working a project (she is an archaeologist) we kept Charlotte from Wednesday night until last night. Little sister Abby was in daycare.

Leonard could not wait to take her out to the shop to show her what he is building.

Over the last few days he got the roof partially on.

The porch floor is complete with the railings started.

Looking inside it is starting to really come together.

The big trick will be transporting it the 95 miles to Maryland.

THE Bumper!

2011-11-05T10:11:00.000-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ.

Welcome to our three newest followers - CAT, Bud Russman (Arizona RV Guy) and Joan. Glad to meet you here online.

Since we bought our 20l1 F350 in March, Leonard has wanted a front bumper like the one we put on the 2006 F250. That bumper saved us on more than one occasion. One night we were coming back from Atlantic City and a deer ran out in front of us. We were going 55 mph. SMASH - into the bumper. Len got out of the truck, pulled the deer out of the road and wiped the hair off the bumper. It was AFTER we got home we thought - HEY WE LOVE VENISON. The damage would have been extensive if not for the bumper.

The bumper he likes are from the Ranch Hand company out of Texas. Because we are settled here in NJ until January this was a good time to get it installed. He called Ranch Hand and they referred him to a distributor down near Annapolis MD only about 120 miles away.

So two weeks ago down to MD we drove. Once more over the Bay Bridge.

We easily found the distributor.

They know we were coming and had the monster ready to load on to the back of a trailer we borrowed from a friend.

When we got back to NJ we took it to Dennis, a friend who has a body shop just two miles from our daughter's house (used to be ours) where we are "camped" in her driveway. Dennis was away but knew we would be dropping it off.

When Dennis got back from visiting his grandchildren in Canada whe called Leonard to make an appointment. He said he wanted to get it done ASAP as the dang thing was taking up two bays!

We were in Delaware getting the rig work done so it would have to wait until Thursday. Len was at the shop first thing Thursday morning. We picked up the turck Thursday afternoon.

Len is quite the happy man.

Yea, just what I need. The truck to be even longer than it already was.

Rig repairs and Delaware sights

2011-11-03T10:38:00.000-04:00

Smryna, DE

We took our fiver to Parkside RV in Delaware Tuesday night for repairs from the damage we had when we blew two tires on the same day.

The damage:

The fix:

They did a great job and were a joy to work with. BUT they gave us bad news. The tires we bought only weeks ago already are showing wear on the outside. They have less than 1,000 miles on them. We have blown three tires and had one fail due to tread wear since we had the fifthwheel repaired at Scott Motorcoach in Lakewood NJ last August. All these tires were on the same side.

Those who have been reading this blog for a while remember the issues we've had with Scott. We took our home to them to repair the back cap. When we got it back the steps had been replaced. We've received no logical reason for this. It took us months and a letter to Good Sam to get them to send us suitable steps.

We believe the steps were out when they moved the rig and got destroyed. At that time we believe either the axles or the frame was bent. We plan on having the rig checked. However, it there is the damage to the frame or axles, how do we prove the damage was done by Scott. Repairs must be done, we can not continue to buy new tires every few thousand miles or take the chance of more blowouts and additional damage to our home

Yesterday while Parkside was working on our rig, we visited two nearby places. First we went to:

This National Wildlife Refuge is in Smyrna. Cost is $4.00 per vehicle. No charge for us who have a Federal Park Annual Pass or lifetime Federal Access or Senior Pass. Again, what a bargain the Senior $10.00 lifetime Senior Pass has been.

The drive through the refuge is about 12 miles long through marsh and upland.

There is a one mile trail that we would have loved to walk but it was still wet from the morning dew and I was not wearing suitable shoes. There were three shorter paths leading to observation towers. We walked the three of them.

This is a popular place for birders. I have no idea what these first two fellows are:

Loads of Canada Geese this time of year.

In the refuge there is the Allee House built in 1753 that is under renovation and not currently open for visitors.

After a stop in Dover at Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet we visited:

The complex includes a building housing conference areas and classrooms that hold various displays of indigenous live and stuffed critters.

We were interested in the boardwalk that winded out to the estuary.

What a disappointment to come upon this:

The boardwalk was as far as we could see but our walk was cut short. Perhaps another time

Playhouse Part Two

2011-10-31T13:32:00.001-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp. NJ

Leonard was out to the shop before 7 am Saturday morning where he remained until well after 5 pm. Sunday was church and later an oyster/ham dinner at a local Firehall that we attended with our friends Scott, Carol and John.

This morning again before 7 it is back to the project.

Standing another wall in place.

Installing a window:

One board short for the porch. This meant another trip to Home Deport this morning.

Tomorrow we take our Montana down to Delaware and will "camp" at the dealers as we have an appointment at 8 on Wednesday when they will repair the damage to the side of our rig from our tire blowouts.

Building a playhouse

2011-10-27T18:25:00.000-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

Here we are back in Camp Driveway at my daughter Terri's house. Since we will be in the area until after the 1st of the year, Leonard needed a project. What better project than to build a playhouse for the granddaughters.

On Tuesday we went to Home Depot and got an estimate of the cost to build vs. buying a ready-made building and customizing it. WHEW! Not cheap either way but we decided to go from scratch.

On Wednesday morning he returned to Home Deport and came back with enough material to keep him busy (hopefully) through the weekend.

Framing the floor with help from son-in-law Steve.

The inside playhouse will be 6'x8' with a 4' porch. The inside of the playhouse floor is down, not the porch floor yet. Here he is working on a wall frame.

Two walls in place with the framing ready for sliding Plexiglas windows.

The walls will be 7' with an 8' center. This thing is HUGE. He wanted it to be 8'x12' but I convinced him to tone it down a bit to 6"x12".

We will use my brothers car carrier to transport it the 90 miles to my daughter, Amy's, house in Maryland.

On a side note: A few years before we went fulltime and sold our house to Terri, Len built his dream of a shop. That (and the horses we sold) are the only things he really misses from our stix n brix life. Glad he can always come back here and enjoy the shop whenever he wants.

Sad news on our last day in the Laurel Highlands

2011-10-23T16:04:00.000-04:00

Rockwood, Pa

One of the reason we came to this area of Pennsylvania for a week was to catch up with RVing/Blogging buddies Peggy and David from www.koehlerskaravan.blogspot.com. I have been "talking" to Peggy online for a few years. We met up with this fine couple last year when they were working at the Escapees Park in Hondo, TX and we were visiting friends near San Antonio.

Peggy's mother died earlier this year leaving her Dad alone. He asked Peggy to return home for a while. Knowing he had several health issues, she and David came back to NJ and moved into his home.

On Tuesday we were treated to meeting her Dad, enjoying a meal she cooked and getting to know Peggy and David better. We had planned to get together again yesterday. However, Peggy contacted me Friday that her Dad had fallen and while being treated they found his cancer had spread.

Peggy's father died this morning at 11:30 am. I am so glad we got to meet him. He appeared in good health on Tuesday. We enjoyed talking to him about his years working in the area. He also relayed stories of nearby sites we should visit. You could tell he was proud of where he came from.

Peggy and David, dear friends, our hearts go out to you.

This being our last full day in the area, we decided to check out a few more sites. First we attended Christ United Methodist Church in Rockwood.

After lunch back at the campground, we took off for a ride. First stop

This is quite a large state park. We were curious about the campground but it is closed for the season. We then wanted to check out Kooser State Park not far away.

Our GPS took us up a dirt road high in the mountain. We loved the location of this house and the view.

Down the other side of the mountain and we found

Again, campground was closed but it appears the cabins are still open for rent.

The weather today is the best it has been since we arrived. After our ride there was one thing I really wanted and it could be found here:

A waffle sundae with caramel sauce and pecans. As an extra treat, this was occurring in the DQ parking lot and neighboring businesses.

And back in the day, didn't everybody have one of these?

Welcome to William McKibbon our newest follower. Thanks for stopping by.

Floods and trains

2011-10-21T16:51:00.001-04:00

Rockwood, PA

First - welcome to our new reader from wheresweaver blog. Thanks for stopping by.

Johnstown Flood Memorial

I do enjoy getting the feel of local areas we visit. No visit to this area would be complete without checking out the "Johnstown Flood"

So we took a ride over to

In 1889 Johnsotwn was a steel company town of 30,000 of mostly German and Welsh families. Fourteen miles up the Little Conemaugh the two-mile Lake Conemaugh was held on the side of a mountain by the old South Fork Dam. The dam was poorly maintained and there was talk the dam might not hold. Few paid attention to the warnings.

Two worn abutments are all that remain of what was one of the largest earthen dams in the world in 1889. The old lake bed behind the dam gives little indication of the awesome power released on the day the dam broke causing the deadliest inland flood in the nation's history.

On the afternoon of May 31, 1889 and after a night of heavy rain the South Fork Dam broke sending 20 millions tons of water crashing down the narrow valley. It was over in 10 minutes. More than 2,200 were dead with thousands more injured. This was more than a natural disaster, much of it was due to greed and self-interest.

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting club was an exclusive retreat for the Pittsburgh rich such as Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon. The members enjoyed hunting, sailing and two excursion steamers that plied the lake. However, the lack of adequate maintenance on the dam weakened it.

Property damage was $17 million. the cleanup operation took years with bodies still being found months and years after the flood. The city regained its population and rebuilt its manufacturing centers but it was years before Johnstown fully recovered.

Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum

Our next little trip took us to the town of Ligonier to visit the Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum. The RR served the people and coal industry of Western Pennsylvania from the late 1800's until it's last trip in 1952.

The museum is housed in the old Ligonier depot.

Our guide who was gracious in answering questions and telling the history of the railroad.

The orginial ticket holder box:

A bit of their collection:

1905 Bobber Caboose

As we travel the back roads of southwestern Pennsylvania we are so often on roads such as this.

Narrow, winding and oh so beautiful.

Flight 93

2011-10-19T19:45:00.000-04:00

In a field near Shanksville, PA

September 11, 2001. Four commercial airliners are hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists in a planned attack against the United States. Two are flown into the World Trade Center's twin towers. A third is flown into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. A fourth plane, United Flight 93 bound from Newark, NJ for San Francisco, CA is delayed for 25 minutes before its scheduled takeoff.

After 46 minutes flying, when over eastern Ohio, hijackers in first class attack at 9:28 am, incapacitating the captain and first officer. Hijackers turn Flight 93 southeast headed for Washington DC.

Just before 10 am the plane is seen flying low and erratically over southwestern Pa. At 10:03 it crashes, upside down at 563 miles per hour into this Somerset County field. There are no survivors. All 33 passengers, seven crew and four hijackers are killed.

Why it crashed in this field and did not reach its target revealed itself as a story of heroic action. When the terrorists-hijackers took over the plane, passengers and crew began phoning families and authorities to report the hijacking. Their calls, 13 people placed 37 calls, told them of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Their plane, they now realized, was part of a planned attack. Passengers and crew then made a collective decision by vote to rush the terrorists and try to retake the plane.

The Wall of Names

Names of the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 are engraved in the white marble Wall of Names which follows the flight path at the Memorial Plaza.

Recovered from the crash site, the cockpit voice recorder captured the shouts, thumps, crashes and breaking of glass and plates. The 9/11 Commission reported that the hijackers, although remaining in control of the plane, must have judged that the passengers and crew were mere seconds from overcoming them. To continued sounds of the counterattack, Flight 93 crashed in this field.

The plaza includes a walkway from the parking area to the Memorial the same shape and size of the wing span of the plane.

There are benches along the walkway in groups of three, to represent the seating arrangements of the plane.

Colors of the Memorial: Black - representing the coal deposits of the area. Gray - the color of the plane. White - representing passengers and crew

Looking from the Wall of Names through a fence made of native Hemlock to the crash site.

The crash site is viewed along the walkway between the Visitor Shelter and the Memorial Plaza. Visitors can only see a large boulder and some small American flags. It is the final resting place of the 40 passengers and crew as their remains are still present. The crash site, open only to family members, is bordered by the Memorial Plaza and Hemlock Grove beyond.

Flight 93 Memorial is off Rt 30 (Lincoln Highway) via a 3.5 mile access road. Yet to be completed is the visitors center and walkway which will both be in the flight path.

Had the flight lasted but 3 seconds more, it would have crashed into a school filled with 100's of children from 3rd to 12th grade.

(Note: some of the above narratives were taken from the Flight 93 National Park Service brochure)

A pleasant drive

2011-10-17T21:12:00.000-04:00

Rockwood, PA

Welcome to our newest readers Teri and Mark. Glad to see you here.

Our weekend with the granddaughters saw time at the camp playground.

Abby with a playground friend

Charlotte being daring:

Leonard with his playground friend.

We took the girls back to their parents Sunday night and prepared to move on down the road.

We left Codorus State Park this morning going through Hanover ,PA to Route 116 to Gettysburg where we picked up RT 30. This route took us over mountains:

Through mountains:

And construction sites,

We connected with the PA Turnpike in Breezewood, getting off the turnpike at Exit 110.

Our drive today was a short 145 miles. We arrived at Hickory Hollow Campground in Rockwood, PA, not far from Somerset. Our site is up on a hill overlooking a lower level of RVs.

Seems to be a nice park. At Passport America rates we have no complaints. Full hook up with cable for only $13.00 a night weekdays, $26.00 on Friday and Saturday nights. The park closes for the season on October 31.

Tomorrow we will decide what we want to see. The most important site will be a visit to Flight 93 Memorial in nearby Shanksville.

Where to next?

2011-10-14T14:33:00.000-04:00

Codorus State Park
Hanover, PA

The last few days have been rain, rain, rain. Therefore we have not really done much.

We watch the leaves rapidly changing from our back window.

We have a great site.

Lots of space. This week the campground has been almost empty. Today, being Friday, we expect to see it swell. The last weekend of the month is their Halloween in the Park. They are getting prepared, starting with this fellow in the lake.

Abby stayed with us in the early part of the week. Having shopping to do, she went along. After buying some HEALTHY food, Pop Pop and Abby made one more stop.

That night we cooked outside and had a campfire. She helped unload the wood from the truck. Child labor!

We took her home on Wednesday, stayed for dinner and then took sister Charlotte to her ballet lessons. We pick up both girls in about two hours for the weekend.

We leave on Monday but don't yet know where we are headed. Friends Peggy and David are about 130 miles west of here in Berlin, PA. We are thinking about heading that direction for a week. That's if we hear from them.

We've received the insurance check for the damage from our recent tire blow outs. Parkview RV has ordered the parts. When received we head back to Delaware.

Hey - the rain has stopped!!!! Hope the better weather continues over the weekend.

Back to Codorus State Park

2011-10-10T09:47:00.002-04:00

Hanover, PA.

We enjoyed our week near Wytheville, VA at Ft. Chiswell RV Park.

This was a fine park but if we ever come back we would request to be parked in a different section. Where we were the sites were extremely close together. Others parts of the park had lots more space. Each morning the park would empty, each night filled almost to capacity.

Some days we went for drives. Others days Pop Pop and Abby rested after a session at the camp's playground.

Our last night there we took some of our Virginia family to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Nephew Jason had to work and his wife Kelly was down with some type of stomach bug. But we picked up their kids Emilie and Jason. Meeting us there were nephew Jimmy, wife Wanda and their younger son Hunter. Older son Tyler had to be at football practice.

Abby, behind Abby is Hunter; next to Abby is Emilie and Jason on the right.

We left Virginia Saturday morning and drove a total of 373 miles. Our route was north on I81 to Rt 340 through Harpers Ferry, WV over to I70 near Frederick, MD. Then east to I675 around Baltimore to I83 north. We got off I83 near where daughter Amy lives. We met her at a local restaurant where Abby was reunited after more than a week with her mom and sister Charlotte, and a little later her Daddy.

Charlotte needed some Grandparent time. Amy took Abby home, we took Charlotte with us to Codorus for the night. As she is now in school, we took her the 30 miles back to her house yesterday where Amy had a delicious dinner prepared.

All the paperwork (doctors certificate) has not been received at Abby's new daycare. We brought Abby back to the campground with us and will take her home probably tomorrow where she is expected to start at her new "school" on Wednesday.

Instead of a treed site as we had a few months ago at this campground, we are near the woods but in a sunny area. We like this one more. No one other campers real near us and an open field behind us. So much better than the cramped site we had in VA.

We have a need to head out for some groceries now. Thanks for reading!

Crossing over bridges with Abby.

2011-10-02T18:37:00.000-04:00

Max Meadows, VA

On Friday morning we met daughter Amy to get granddaughter Abby who we will be traveling with us for a week or so. Amy has a temporary archaeological assignment set to last for a few weeks. Charlotte is in school during the day. Amy will be looking for a daycare for Abby but in the meantime we are glad to take her along as we had planned to anyhow!

Our first stop on the way back to see the progress on the rig was in Glasgow, DE. We have always noticed a large city park on Rt 40 at the 896 intersection. There are jogging paths and now they have added a playground.

Abby especially liked this slide.

And some more fun with this little boy on the See Saw.

There are a lot of construction projects going on throughout the park. Wonder what is next.

On the way back to the RV repair shop we took Rt 1 in Delaware. I have always loved the look of this bridge that crosses the canal.

What a delight to find when we arrived at Parkside RV they had our rig ready having completed all repairs until replacement parts arrive. What service!

We were on the road headed to Virginia by 1:30. Another bridge - this one the Bay Bridge near Annapolis MD. One span had all traffic headed north. The other span had two lanes going south and one north. I don't remember encountering this pattern before.

A bridge we really don't like is the one going from Maryland into Virginia. Very narrow with one lane in each direction.

Once in Virginia we decided to find a place to rest for the night. We were not far into Virginia in the town of Owens on Route 301 when we found what looks to be a new WalMart. Leonard went inside and got permission to stay the night. We have NO problem spending a night to catch some sleep at WalMart, Flying J, etc. or Rest Areas with Security on site.

Up early on Saturday to hit the road. Abby ready to travel.

Lucky ready to travel.

We arrived in Max Meadows, VA at Ft. Chiswell RV Park around 2. This is a nice park with nice people in attendance. Weekly rate $187.00. We are staying a week. The only negative is some areas (the one we are in) have sites really close together. The other side of the park seem to have much larger sites. Had we known we would have asked for one of them. The park was 1/2 full when we got here. By 6 it was packed. This park is only 1/2 mile off I81. By mid morning today, less than 1/2 full. Now at 6:30 in Sunday night it is full again.

I have two nephews and their wives and children who live in this area. That is the reason we decided to spend a little time here. Our one great-niece Emilie has been wanting us to visit.

This is Abby with her 2nd (?) cousins Jason and Emilie.

After a few hour visit we left and had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel. We hope the weather improves so we can do some sight seeing over the next several days. It's been in the 40s and drizzling.

We are so impressed!

2011-09-29T19:44:00.001-04:00

Smyrna, DE

Welcome to two new followers Joan and Kitty. Love to see you here!

One of our joys of being in NJ is seeing our east coast grandchildren. Our 24 year old grandson, Justin was at out his mothers in NJ on Monday. On Saturday we met 1/2 way between our daughters homes to bring the girls to NJ from their home in MD. Our usual place to meet is along the Susquehanna River in Port Deposit, MD. The river showed the ravages from Hurricane Irene with it's muddy waters and higher than normal levels. We saw that a lot of Port Deposit had been flooded when they had to open the gates up river at Conawingo Dam.

It was an eerie sight.

The girls got to meet the new addition to their Aunt T and Uncle Steve's family. This is "Cane" (actual name Hurricane Irene as they traveled in the Hurricane to pick her up.) Cane is a rescue dog, part Collie and part who knows what!

We left NJ this morning and drove the 58 miles over to Smyrna, DE for warranty and repair work on our rig. We are so pleased with this dealership.

Even though we arrived later than expected, they were professional, polite and got right to working on the paperwork. They had to order some parts which they expect to arrive around noon tomorrow. However, they got started immediately working on the items they could.

We went to WalMart and bought a portable DVD player with two screens to attach to the back of our seats to be viewed by our granddaughters when we take them on long trips. We then drove into the nearest town to Smyrna which is Dover, DE.

WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE WARN US! This is NASCAR weekend at DOVER DOWNS!!!

There were RV's everywhere. Camped in every parking lot and piece of vacant and not so vacant real estate. My sister tells me they reserve a spot at stores a year in advance.

We ate at Applebees. In the parking lot were four RVs complete with grills, tables, chairs, etc. One had tables set out and about 15 people sitting around. One motor home was taking up 6 parking spots. It must be worth it to the businesses.

Everywhere you looked:

Dover Downs in the background. My sister (a NASCAR fan) says to expect bumper to bumper traffic tomorrow, the first race day. Oh my!!! She should know as she usually attends the races here.

When we got back to the dealership around 2 they had the rig set in place for the night. They provide water and 50 amp electric. How cool is that! Where we bought the rig ( Scott RV) and had previous (frustrating) work done, NO SUCH THING! Go find a motel!

So tomorrow we will pick up granddaughter Abby who will be spending at least a week with us. Hopefully the motor for the back stabilizers would have arrived by the time we get back.

We know we will have to return once they receive the parts they ordered due to the damage from the tire blow outs. That's okay. We plan on being back in this area in a few weeks anyway. And we are positive it will not take them 6 weeks to order the parts (like it did Scott RV) or 3 months to get around to making the repairs (like it did Scott RV). We also bet they won't "pirate" our steps (like Scott RV). SCOTT RV TAKE A LESSON!

We are settled in for the night feeling very secure. And why wouldn't we? Every time we open our door and step out we are greeted by this fellow.

Glad he's on the OTHER side of the fence.

Coincidence or power of Internet

2011-09-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

On Friday we got a call from Camping World Customer Service asking about our recent experience with Camping World in Bridgeport, NJ. Was this a usual follow-up that is normally performed or do they monitor the Internet? We don't know.

Companies do searches on the Internet to see if their name pops up. A few years ago I mentioned the name of the daycare center my granddaughter attended at the time. The school is a national chain with a good reputation. The comment was only about an activity my granddaugther had attended and included a picture of her. The next day the director of her school told my daughter he recognized the picture of Charlotte on my blog and realized it was his school that was being mentioned. He had done a "Google" search of the schools name.

So, did Camping World do a search? We don't know or care. We only know that Customer Service said the situation would be looked into. (Yea, like we really expect to hear anything further). We don't want anyone to lose their job or be disciplined. We do want the mechanic to realize we expected he would have done the research to assure the corrent filter was available and the correct oil would be used. Having the wrong oil would have caused us costly problems with our engine.

We can understand his "assumption" on the oil to use but when informed his assumption was incorrect, we expected the situation to have been handled in a different manner.

Hopefully this experience will be a lesson learned. Both for the mechanic as well as for us. I am thinking we have learned something - when in need of an oil change, do not use Camping World again.

Just one more aggravation - but we can handle it!

2011-09-21T19:33:00.000-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

We welcome as new followers: Mike Mills, Donald, Rick and Elaine, Nan and John and Michael Ultra. So glad to see you here.

The last time we had our 2011 Ford F350's oil changed was at the Ford Dealership at a cost of over $120.00. I saw that Camping World does oil changes on diesel trucks for $69.99. Hey, I say to Leonard, let's go there next time.

Today was the day. He called the local Camping World last week and made an appointment for today. They asked him the year, make and model of the truck. We get there this morning at 10:45 for our 11:00 appointment.

We made ourselves comfortable in the waiting area talking to a nice couple. A short time later the mechanic comes out and says they don't have the oil filter that fits our truck. It will take about two hours to have one delivered. Okay, we can deal with that.

Since it was close to 11:30 and we were hungry, the nice couple offered to drive us to a nearby McDonalds. We gladly accepted their kind offer. They took us there and brought us back to Camping World.

We wait and wait and wait. About three hours later (not two) the filter arrives. They finally get the oil changed around 4 pm. We go to pay and fortunately Leonard notices on the work order they used the WRONG OIL! We had been told by our dealer that the newer Ford diesels use 10W30, not 15W40 the older trucks required. The mechanic used 15W40.

Leonard called our dealer. He said GET THAT OIL OUT OF YOUR TRUCK!. The woman at the counter said she would check on it. She called a Ford dealer who told her the same thing we said - the new Ford engine uses 10W30. So, they had to call a Ford dealer and get the right oil.

The mechanic was upset earlier in the day about the filter. He told Leonard he should have made an appointment with them and not expect them to have the filter in stock that we needed. Len's response was that he did have an appointment and they asked at the time about the truck. This time the mechanic came out and told Leonard to take his truck to Ford next time! Len replied in the same tone, I WILL! Leonard also told him there is a sticker on the window stating last oil change and what type oil to use.

So, finally at 5:40 the truck was done and we left, none too happy. AND because of the different oil filter the cost was a little over $100, not $69.99.

Is someone playing with our heads???

And we will be taking it to a Ford dealer next time.

New tires and new attitude

2011-09-19T17:41:00.001-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

We spent some time yesterday trying to buy two new tires. No luck. All area RV dealers and tire dealers were closed where we were staying at the job site of Dave and Betty Barnes.

But on the upside, we got to spend some time with these dear people. For dinner Betty fired up the grill. Chicken, corn on the cob and bison burgers with potato salad and not-so-good purchased coconut custard pie.

Betty and Dave have made a lovely home at their job site.

Even planting a variety of tomatoes.

On Saturday we had been given a name of a local tire dealer when we stopped at a truck stop close to where Betty and Dave are staying. We also had gathered other numbers in case this one did not pan out. Len called the dealer a few minutes after 8 this morning.. The owner said he thought he had two tires like we needed in stock and would check and call us back. He called a few minues later and did have them. We immediately drove the 7 miles to get those tires. They are Coopers and hopefully much better than what we were sold in New Mexico.

Many commentors have inquired what kind of tires we had that blew. They are Hi-Run and made in Beijing China. I did a Google search and we are far from the only people who have had problems with these pieces of junk. As I said on my last blog, we were having problems with the original tires that Montana installed. All four were replaced early this year. Two in January and these two gems in March. We were in Tucumcari, NM and Jacks Truck Repair was the only source of trailer tires we could find.

Some comments also reminded us to check the dates on the tires. We were aware of that and these tires were manufactured in late 2010. They are unsafe even if brand new. I keep a record of miles traveled when towing. We had 5,570 miles on them when the first one exploded. The second one was about 80 miles later. I've read reports where they blew with only 4,000 miles.

We left Betty and Dave this morning feeling safer with our new tires. We arrived back here safely at my daughters in South Jersey about 2:00. I've contacted the insurance company. We had already made arrangements to take the rig to the shop on Thursday for warranty work. Len contacted the shop, which is over in Delaware, notifying them of this additional curve.

We have settled down somewhat. We are taking it easy. Will spend our time here visiting friends and family and then once we get all work done, decide where we head next.

Thank you again for your hospitality and generosity, Betty and Dave!

Our worse day on the road - time to park it?

2011-09-18T06:39:00.001-04:00

Bloomsbury, NJ

We said our goodbyes to the Camp Directors Jenn and Lee and NOMADS Susan and Mike, and got on the road shortly before 9 am yesterday headed to Bloomsbury, NJ where we planned to boondock for the night while visiting fellow bloggers Betty and Dave.

After driving maybe 60 miles and while in heavy traffic on I95 in Connecticut we heard a loud BOOM! At first we thought it was the tractor-trailer next to us backfiring. But immediately realized we had a tire blow out. The tractor-trailer slowed allowing us to pull over. There was no shoulder on the road but for about two feet then a guard rail. The tire had blown so fast the Pressure Pro System gave us no warning. The blow out caused the side of our trailer over the tires to rip apart.

We needed to get out of the road. There was a spot about 200 yards up the road where we could safely pull over. Len slowly drove the truck while I walked on the inside of the guard rail holding the metal that came loose from the rig.

To remove the torn metal, Len started the generator and got out a grinder and cut the large piece off allowing him access to the tire. After changing the tire, we got back on the road. About an hour later we pulled into a rest area and grabbed some way overpriced McDonalds burgers.

We figured we could get to our destination by 3 pm so I called Betty to let her know. At about two ANOTHER TIRE BLEW. Again so fast the Pressure Pro did not give a warning. This time we were on I287 with a wide shoulder. This was the tire directly in front of the previously blown tire. A little more damage was done to the side of the rig. Fortunately both tires were on the same side so all damage was contained.

There are massive holes in both tires.

We were now in a situation with no spare. We unhooked the truck and set off to buy two tires. I put in a search for a Sears in our GPS. She directed us to a location about 8 miles away. NO SEARS to be seen. A little up the road we found a Pep Boys. They do not carry trailer tires. A little more up the road a Firestone Tire Store. They keep no trailer tires in stock - can order one and will get it by Wednesday. They search on the computer to see if other Firestone stores in the area have what we need. NO. They tell us about a tire store about 4 miles away. We go there. It is closed.

Another search on the GPS for a different Sears. She directs us into a residential area on a dead end street. No Sears there of course. Back to the main highway - there is a Discount Tire Store. No trailer tires. They call the nearest Sears for us. NOPE! No trailer tires there either. They call a tire store they know about. No answer.

In the meantime I have been talking to Betty keeping her up-to-date on our situation. Then I get an idea! They have a 2010 Montana. They have a spare! Can we come get it and get our rig off the Interstate? Sure.

It is a 52 mile drive each way. We get to their location at about 5:45. They have their spare ready for us. Back we go. However first we get on I78 near where they are but we head the wrong way. Almost into Pennsylvania we get turned around. We then drive the miles back to our rig, Len gets the spare on and we head back to Betty and Dave's. We get there close to 8 pm. We have now been on the road about 11 hours for what was to be a 3 to 4 hour drive.

We park the truck and rig and open the slides. Betty was outside and said she heard loud noises when the larger slide opened. Later we realized that Len had wrapped bungee cords around the frame and connected them to the remainder of the piece of metal he had left from his cutting. He did this so wind would not get under it and cause further damage. The sound was the bungee cords snapping and breaking. No damage we hope.

Betty and Dave then took our poor souls to dinner.

The day was trying. We are seriously considering if we should continue on the road. We had the accident last year which separated the back end from our rig. Our four original tires on the rig were replaced this year due to either blow outs or they were obviously wearing. The two tires that blew yesterday were replacements we bought in New Mexico in the middle of nowhere when we had a blowout of one of the originals and it was the only tire store in the area.

We've had two very close calls in recent weeks when the drivers decided at the last minute to head to an exit and cut in front of us to the point to avoid a collision Len had to pull into another lane both times hitting the brakes and almost hitting another car. Only because of his driving skill did we avoid a bad accident. Had I been driving, the story would have ended differently. And we have both had to deal with the death of our mothers in the last year.

As much as we love this life style, we don't know if we can continue with our almost constant stress of breakdowns and near misses. It this worth it?

Today we will look for tires but it is Sunday. We don't hold out much hope. We might need to stay put a day or two. Tomorrow we contact the Insurance Company AGAIN.

Project completed (at least all we had time for)

2011-09-16T11:46:00.004-04:00

N. Scituate, RI

This morning we finished up all we had time for at Camp Aldersgate. We had wanted to accomplish lots more but a late start due to Hurricane Irene and the subsequent one week without electric gave us a challenge.

George and Lynn D worked on insulating the concrete wall of the dining hall:

Leonard getting assistance from George B and Linda installing a new window.

George B and Linda M did a beautiful job in the kitchen/sitting area of the Retreat Center with new laminate and ceramic tile flooring.

Leonard and Mike installing new bathroom partitions in a bathroom which we had painted and laid ceramic tile.

Susan washing the partitions before they were hung:

From left: George and Linda (Va), George and Lynn (TN), Leonard and me, Susan and Mike (FL)

Both Georges and Linda and Lynn pulled out this morning. Len, Mike and I completed the partition in one restroom. Susan, who grew up in nearby Connecticut, is off helping a friend can applesauce.

We leave tomorrow morning headed to visit Betty (of Phoenix Once Again blog) and Dave Barnes who are workkamping in northern NJ.

Our next NOMADS project isn't until late January 2012 in Moss Point, MS where we again take on the challenge of Project Leaders.

Lighthouses

2011-09-10T18:59:00.000-04:00

Narragansett Bay, RI

Today we took a ferry tour around the Narragansett Bay near Newport, RI. We rode the 400 passenger Millennium Ferry.

Five of our group took advantage of this opportunity. George Bauserman and Linda Mitchell from VA, George Dimock from Tennessee and Leonard and me.

We departed from Quonset Point for the advertised 93 minute cruise. It was actually a little over two hours. Total tour length was 30 miles.

The tour included viewing of 10 Lighthouses, 10 small islands, under two bridges, pass the Fort Adams Fortification, into Newport Harbor and past the Aircraft Carrier "USS Saratoga"

Plum Beach Lighthouse:

Dutch Island Lighthouse:

Beavertail Lighthouse:

Castle Hill Lighthouse:

The Inn at Castle Hill:

Yachts lined up at the Newport Yacht Club:

In the distance, St. Marys Church where Jacqueline Bouvier and Jack Kennedy were married in 1953:

The Estate of Jacqueline Kennedy's Step-father where the wedding reception was held.

Rose Island Lighthouse:

Barely seen, Conanicut Island Lighthouse, now a private residence.

One of several America's Cup Winners which were sailing the Bay today. This one was built in 1938.

The tour was narrated by Arthur Strauss a well-known local historian. The cost of the tour is $30 per person / $28 for seniors. In addition there is another $5 discount if you purchase your ticket in advance off the Internet as we did.

A perfect day on the Bay.

AHHH. The weekend!

2011-09-09T09:20:00.000-04:00

N. Scituate, RI

Our second workweek at Camp Aldersgate is over. Monday was beautiful. The rest of the workweek was constant rain or drizzle. The ground is saturated. But now it is Friday and our three days off. It is breezy and cool out but no rain. Perhaps some drying will occur.

We did get some things accomplished.

Social room floor laminated.

Two bathrooms painted.

The two bathroom floors partially tiled. One is almost complete, the other one about 1/5 done.

Lots more to do and only four days to do it. Hopefully no more delays such as hurricane damage, no electric or heavy rains which make changing out of windows and that outside wall insulation difficult or impossible.

Have a great weekend everyone!

POWER!

2011-09-03T19:41:00.000-04:00

North Scituate, RI

WE HAVE ELECTRIC! Came on about four hours ago. Oh, what a10 days we've had.

It all started when we left this area and headed to the Poconos of Pa due to the approaching menace of Hurricane Irene.

Behind our fiver in PA was this small stream.

After a few hours of rain it looked like this:

Then came the hurricane. Sunday morning this is what we found.

All around us was this but we were sitting high and dry, even with the stream only 5 feet behind the rig.

As I've reported earlier, we left the Poconos on Monday and came here to Camp Aldersgate to start our NOMADS project.

Our workweek was delayed one day and the tasks changed. Lots of trees down and branches to pick up. AND NO ELECTRIC. We were thrilled about this as back in the Pocono's we were without electric. So work had to be done without electrical power or water.

Len loved cutting up trees and removing the logs from camp roads.

This was just one of many paths to be cleared by dragging down branches out to an area where the chipper would then be able to turn it into mulch.

I assisted in the dismantling of a lean-to behind the dining hall. What once was there, is now gone. Next week we will be insulating the back wall of this building.

We do not work Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Yesterday we did some grocery shopping and that was about it.

Today Len and I took a ride over to Newport and then stopped at a Chili's for a late lunch.

Did you know there are some fairly nice properties in that town?

If any of you are in the market for a stix and brix, this one is available. If interested, it is listed with Sotheby's. ENOUGH SAID!

One more day off and it's back to work. We are laboring on Labor Day.

Oh, and did I mention? WE HAVE ELECTRIC!

Almost Boondocking

2011-08-31T07:46:00.001-04:00

North Scituate, RI

A trip that should have taken 5 hours took us 7.5 on Monday. We left Saylorsville, PA at 10 am. We drove about 40 miles on Rt 209 to find the remaining 15 miles to connect to I84 was closed due to flooding and downed trees. Really would have appreciated some signage warning of us this.

We got turned around. A few miles up the road the Pressure Pro warned us that a trailer tire was losing pressure. We found a service station to air up only to find they had no electric. Len got out our compressor and generator and aired the tire.

I used our GPS to find the nearest entrance to I84, about 22 miles away. It was up a narrow winding road. About five miles later, off goes the Pressure Pro again. This time we found a closed restaurant and pulled into the parking lot where Len changed the tire.

Eventually this narrow road turned to PA402 which was not bad. We connected with I84 and headed East. In Newburg, NY we pulled off and found a Firestone Store. The problem with the tire was that the valve split. Cost to fix only a little over $15.00.

Off we go again. After stopping at a rest area in CT for a late lunch, we finally made it to our exit from I84 only to find a detour sign. We pulled over so I could look at a map. As we pulled over a car stopped in front of us and a nice gentleman came back to us and asked where we wanted to go. He said to follow him and he would get us back on CT 74 which connected to Rt 44 our destination.

When we got to the light at our turn off, he again got out of his car and came back to us to be sure we were then okay and knew to turn. How nice of him.

We finally got to Camp Aldersgate a little after 5:30! Two of the other couples were already here. One couple was visiting nearby relatives. The other couple came out to greet us and tell us soup and grilled cheeses sandwiches would be waiting for us after we got set up. SUPER!

Another couple is to arrive today. They left VA yesterday morning.

We found most of our route in PA took us through areas with no power. Few people in this area have power, including us. We were told yesterday the earliest would be Monday. Our generator is being put to use for sure. The campground every few days will hook up a generator to their water pump so we all can fill our potable tanks.

Yesterday we spent the entire day picking up and piling fallen branches and cutting down trees about to tumble and clearing paths in the woods. OUCH on the sore muscles.

I am getting a good Internet connection this morning for the first time. Took pictures but no time to post. Phone coverage comes and goes. Almost time to start another work day. Weather is great. The camp director's (husband and wife) are great. Last night they grilled turkey and potatoes and made a salad and corn for a much appreciated meal. I contributed some brownies I quickly made.

Time to head to our morning meeting and start another day of "heavy working". Take care everyone.

I think I made a wrong turn.

2011-08-28T18:33:00.001-04:00

Saylorsville, PA

We decided on Thursday we needed to get out of CT/RI. So, in my infinite wisdom I plotted a route west. We ended up in the Pocono Mountains of PA.

What do we have? Trees down. A swollen river that was a stream when we arrived right behind us. Lots and lots of rain. A steady breeze with occasional gusts. What don't we have? Electric, water, WiFi. We still have sewer, but hey that could change. Let's see tomorrow morning when we attempt to dump.

We now have the generator running for the next two hours. I wanted online, Len wants TV. To clarify, we do have water. I suggested we fill the potable tank before we left CT, just in case. So to my thinking it's a draw. I chose to come here; I chose to fill the water tank.

Tomorrow we will call Camp Aldersgate in RI and see if it is clear to come over to start our project. Hope so and that we have electric there. We are told it will be 5-7 days before power is restored here.

I have lots of pics but fear it would just take too long to upload. Leaving that for another day.

Got outta Dodge

2011-08-25T19:43:00.000-04:00

Saylorsburg, PA

Just when you think you are organized here comes another challenge. (And more expenses too).

We were due at Camp Aldersgate in Rhode Island today to get prepared for a NOMADS project on Monday. So where are we? About 255 miles southwest. We decided last night after watching frightening weather reports regarding Hurricane Irene headed up the east cost, that we needed to pack up, pick up and move on down the road.

First we drove over to the camp this morning and talked to our contact. We also called the other team members and told them to find a safe place and stay there until further notice. Hopefully we can head back that way on Monday.

We got on the road at 11 am. We headed south on I395 to I95 (after missing the route we really wanted to take). From I95 in New Haven we picked up Rt 34 to I84 west to Port Jervis NY. We then took Rt 209 south into Pennsylvania to our present location, arriving at 4:45 exhausted and stressed.

We will keep a check on the weather forecast here to see if we need to move again as I just checked and saw where to center of the storm has moved to the west side of Connecticut instead of closer to Rhode Island which was predicted yesterday.

Did we move only to have this thing move along with us? It is now starting to rain. We drove through several heavy rainfalls on the way here.

I am concerned about my daughters and their families in NJ and MD. I keep hearing frightening predictions about the southern New Jersey, around the Atlantic City area. My NJ daughter and husband live just 40 miles from there.

Keep safe all.

The road ends.

2011-08-24T09:40:00.001-04:00

West Thompson Lake, CT

No, not our road. So there was an earthquake in the northeast yesterday. We hear on the news that people in Providence, RI felt it. We are about 30 miles west of Providence. Never felt a thing. And I do know what earthquakes feel like.

In 1992 I was at a Human Resource Conference in Las Vegas. One hit in the LA area around 3 in the morning. Woke me up. Another one hit in northern Nevada around 8. I sure felt that one too.

After hearing about the one yesterday I called my daughters. The daughter who lives in NJ had been trying to call me but could not get a cell connection. She was in her Eddystone PA office and felt it. My MD daughter felt it in MD. She lives about 50 miles from DC. The granddaughters were taking their naps and it did not wake them. This daughter lived in the San Francisco area in 1989 when the World Series quake hit. So she really knows what they feel like.

The road ending I am referring to is the road that used to be where Lake Thompson is now. We took a walk along that path yesterday.

You can see the old asphalt.

The path juts into the lake about 1/4 of a mile where it stops.

There are signs of where it continued on what used to be dry ground.

And that, friends, was our most exciting part of the day - we never left the campground.

We did take our usual short walk around the camping area. We had noticed a couple camping in a tent ever since we arrived. They were outside and we stopped to talk. They are not just camping here - they are homeless. COE parks only allow a two week stay at a site. So they move their tent and few belongings every two weeks.

The man works part time as a care taker for a man with Lou Gehrig's disease. We invited the woman over to our site while we sat around the campfire last night. She is just 53 years old. She had worked but was laid off a few years back. Once her unemployment ran out, she found herself homeless. She told us she has been in psychiatric hospitals in the past. This park closes in two weeks and they don't know where they will be staying. They said probably will be sleeping in their car. I have to wonder about their road. Where will it end. And I reflect on how fortunate most of us are and what it would be like to be in such a situation.

We leave tomorrow and head to Rhode Island. We will be keeping an eye on the tracking of Hurricane Irene. Should she head up into the New England area, we will pull up stakes and head as far inland as possible.

Until next time.

Drawing up plans

2011-08-22T20:27:00.001-04:00

West Thompson Lake, CT

Yesterday we attended this church in nearby Putnam CT.

How good is was to see an almost full church. The pastor gave a good sermon and the people really sang. After the service we talked to a few members and gave them NOMADS brochures. We briefly spoke to the pastor and gave her one too.

We took a short drive after lunch and stopped for ice cream. On the drive we saw these structures and wondered what they once were part of.

Then we talked about where we would head once we were done with our NOMADS project in Rhode Island. (Hence part of the reason for today's title - drawing up plans). We had thought about moving further up into New England but we are finding so many campgrounds are closing in October and some even early September.

We are now thinking of West Virginia for a spell. I see they have several COE parks down there. Some appear to stay open until late November. However, not all COE parks have water and electric hookups or can accommodate a 38' rig.

Today we felt it was time to finally take a long walk down to the lake from our campsite. The walk took about an hour and a half. Good up and down hill exercise.

The dam.

The lake.

The amphitheater

The other reason for today's title. We really like the picnic tables here. On one end, room for a wheelchair. On the other end, a child's seat.

Len spent the afternoon taking measurements and drawing up plans. These plans will go with others he wants to built at some future time.

While he was daydreaming of building the table, I made our dinner of meatloaf, mac and cheese and collards. YUM!

We spent the early evening around our campfire until the mosquitos got to us. Tomorrow is another day. Life is good!

Chillin and grillin

2011-08-20T20:50:00.001-04:00

West Thompson Lake, CT.

Today was just one on those lazy, lazy days here at

In the morning we went to Walmart for Len's prescriptions. We tried to get a refill while in NY. They said they would fill it but the remaining 4 refills would be cancelled. This is an accordance with NY State Law.

Even though we have our prescriptions through Walmart, in NY the prescription must originate at the Walmart where it is filled. Sheesh! We've filled prescriptions in AZ, TX, LA, GA, NJ and never an issue. Needless to say, we waited until we got to Connecticut to get it filled.

Then we took a ride over to RI and found the camp we will be working at starting on the 29th. It is only about 22 miles from here.

After all that morning excitement this is what one of us did.

In the meantime, Lucky was content just waiting for something to fly by.

While one of us did this:

All was not lost because later in the day he did this:

Our last few days in the Adirondacks.

2011-08-18T19:17:00.000-04:00

Lake Thompson, CT

Welcome to Jeff Simmons our newest follower! Good to see you here.

As usual, Sunday we sought out and attended to local United Methodist Church. This is Whitehall, New York UMC.

Like so many other nice churches we've attended, it is disheartening to see a lovely church with such few attendees. By my count there were around 22 people in attendance. Sad!

In the afternoon we took a short walk up to look at the locks. We were just a bit too late as a boat had just gone through. This is lock 12 of 12 on the canal that connects Lake George with Lake Champlain.

This is the marina that is part of the RV park.

For most of the afternoon I sat outside watching the Kingfishers dive in the water for their meal and this young Blue Heron prancing around. Have to look close - he's in the middle of the picture.

It rained, sometimes quite heavy, all day Monday. All we did was drive over to Lake George to the Walmart for supplies.

On Tuesday we went to

For the time spanning the French and Indian War and the Revolution, this post of Lake Champlain guarded the narrow water highway connecting Canada with the colonies. Whichever nation controlled Ticonderoga controlled America.

Demonstrating the loading and firing of muskets.

The fort fell into ruin after the Revolution. The rebuilding of the fort was started in 1908 by the Pell family.

Outside the actual fort, they planted the Kings Garden. I especially liked this. It is an area of child size Adirondack chairs nestled in Sunflowers.

We spent most of Wednesday visiting again with our friends Ginny and Chris at their lake home in Crown Point, NY.

From left Ginny, her friend from NJ Kathy, Chris and Len. From their deck overlooking Lake Champlain

We left NY this morning at 10 and drove 205 miles to a COE park Lake Thompson in northeast Connecticut. This is a very small campground - just 11 sites with water and 30 amp and 11 primitive sites. I am getting great Internet connection but unfortunately there are too many tall trees and we are unable to receive a satellite signal for our TV.

We will see what the week brings.

Old Stone Fort then reconnecting with old friends.

2011-08-14T17:10:00.000-04:00

Whitehall, NY

Not sure if I will be able to upload pictures. Very slow connection here in the Adirondacks.

We left Central Bridge, about 105 miles from here, on Friday. Before leaving we spent a part of Thursday nearby in the town of Schoharie touring the Museum at the Old Stone Fort. Quite a bargain - $5.00/$4.10 seniors.

Old Stone Fort was originally built as a High Dutch Reformed Church in 1772.

After a 1777 uprising of Indians and Amercians loyal to the King, a wooden stockade was constructed around the building, garrisoned by Continental soldiers in 1778 and 1779. After the war it was reverted back to a church. In 1857 it was sold to the State of NY and used as an armory until after the Civil War.
In 1873 the state gave it to the county of Schoharie and in 1888 it was organized as a museum. There are extensive displays on both floors of the building.

Since that time other historic buildings were brought to the property: A 1863 school house, a 1786 home of one of the counties first settlers, a 1780 Dutch barn, a 1830 law office, a 1830 Greek Revival house and a 1860 carriage house. I took pictures of each of these buildings and wanted to post, but it is taking too long to upload and my Sprint Mobile Hot Spot is on roaming and I have a limit on my roaming time.

On Friday we headed to Whitehall NY where we will stay until Thursday. Whitehall is the

That sign says - Birthplace of the UN Navy. It would appear this town has a lot of history which we will explore this week.

We are camped at a very small RV park with 26 campsites. At this time we are the ONLY people here. The campground is part of Whitehall Marina. About 1/4 mile from us is a series of locks connecting a river with Lake Champlain. The view from behind our rig.

Full hook ups with cable (we use our own satellite) a lovely view, a really nice guy who runs the marina and RV park, laundry facilities which is one washer and dryer with a metal box to deposit the money at just $2.00 to wash and dry. Also a book lending shelf and lots of literature for nearby attractions. This is a Passport America park. We paid $30.00 a night for Friday and Saturday (normal price is $40.00) and $20.00 a night for rest of week. We like this place.

We noticed some areas are sort of boggy. Our friends who live in the area told us this place was underwater back in the spring. We since noticed a few buildings have water marks about 2 feet up.

Once we got settled I called those friends, Ginny and Chris Crowfoot, who have a summer home about 32 miles from here in Crown Point, NY. They moved from NJ many years ago to Sundown, a small town in the Catskills. In 2000 they found an ideal summer home on Lake Champlain. I saw pictures of what it looked like then - overgrown, in disrepair. A project I would have looked the other way on. They took on the challenge and have a delightful little haven sitting on 4.5 acres of beautiful lakeside property with a huge deck overlooking the lake and even a small fishing pier.

From their deck:

The house:

Our friends Ginny and Chris:

On Friday they came to the campground and we went OUT FOR DINNER. On Saturday we went to their house and we went OUT FOR DINNER. This is just too much fun!

I would love to post more pictures but it is taking too much time. Until next time.....

A special blog for Tom and Sam

2011-08-10T19:17:00.000-04:00

Milford, NY

This blog is for our friends Tom Ayers and Sam Weibel. They are both railroad buffs.

Today we rode the

The Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad began operations on July 14, 1869. It was purchased by the Leatherstocking RR Historical Society in 1997 after laying dormant for two decades.

Milford Depot built in 1869.

The engine is former Canadian National, Alco Montreal Locomotive Works S4-#3051 built in 1956.

The passenger cars were built in 1920's by the Pullman Car Manufacturing Co and used as commuter cars for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western RR out of Hoboken, NJ

The dining and souvenir car is a former Delaware and Hudson Passenger Coach built in 1916.

The Leatherstocking RR Historical Society owns 16 miles of RR but at the current time only 8 miles are in operation. The train runs from Milford to Cooperstown with one stop at the Cooperstown Dreams Park Baseball Camp.

The park opened in 1996 for Little League Teams to compete in week long tournaments. There are 26 playing fields. Each week of the 12 week season, 1,800 players and coaches travel to this camp.

The railroad line runs parallel to, and twice crosses over, the Susquehanna River.

It surprised us to learn what we thought was a small stream running next to the RR, is actually the Susquehanna. We are used to seeing this river in PA and MD where it is wide and actually looks like a river. Susquehanna means winding river. It starts at Lake Otsego in Cooperstown and continues, growing larger all the time, until it finally empties into the Chesapeake Bay 445 miles away.

The entire trip with stops once at the Cooperstown Dreams Park to pick up passengers and then to a Trolley parking lot near Cooperstown where the engine disengages and then reconnects at the opposite end, took a little over 2 1/2 hours. It was well worth the fee of $14.00/$13.00 Seniors.

Another one for your list of places to see, Tom and Sam!!

Farmers Museum

2011-08-09T15:55:00.000-04:00

Central Bridge, NY

Pleased to see Mike and Pat McFall as newest followers. Mike and Pat are distributors for the Pressure Pro Tire Monitoring System. We would not be without it. It is a sad fact but most RV manufacturers put inferior, cheap tires on their rigs. In our first year traveling with our Montana we had to replace all four tires. Twice we were close to blowouts but the Pressure Pro System saved our butts! We tell everyone we know that does not have a tire monitoring system, get one ASAP. And if you are looking for a professional distributor, give the McFall's a try.

Yesterday we drove over to Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. We are not huge fans of baseball and tend to only follow it when the Phillies are in the playoffs or World Series. Wasn't too sure if touring the Hall of Fame would be of interest, so instead we went to The Farmers Museum. Cost - $12.00/ $10.50 Seniors.

The museum sits of 120 aches that overlook Otsego Lake. The museum has a world-renown collection of artifacts related to farm life and communities, particularly those that document 19th century agricultural technology.

In the lobby of the Museum Entry building is this display. A hoax that traveled with P.T. Barnum show. On a side note: When my second cousin did extensive research on our families genealogy, P. T. Barnum appears.

There are 29 structures in the complex including a working farm and farmhouse. The building were originally built from the late 1700's to the mid 1800's and moved here for educational purposes.

Federal Style More House built in 1818 outside Roxbury, Delaware County, NY.

Bump tavern built around 1795 in Windham, NY. The Greek Revival porch was added in 1843.

The one newer structure is The Empire State Carousel. It was started in 1980 and took over 20 years to complete. More than a 1,000 volunteer artisans from across NY worked on it.

No farmyard is complete without Momma hen and her chicks.

We found these ducks very beautiful with the sleek black coloring with green and blue tones in the neck. Does anyone what they are called?

Jessica and Harry

2011-08-07T18:32:00.001-04:00

Central Bridge, NY

First a welcome to heyduke50, the 71st follower of our blog. Thanks for dropping by and we enjoy reading your blog too.

We are still at

About all we did on Saturday was visit Wally World and Micky D's. WW for groceries and Micky's because the sign in front said Ice Cream Cones $.69! Who can pass that up. We can't obviously.

This morning we attended the local, very small United Methodist Church (UMC) just a few miles from the campground. There were 14 in attendance, including us.

Groversnors (the spelling might or might not be right) Corners UMC.

Shortly after returning to the rig, there to visit was Jessica and Harry of Planning for RV Days. We follow their blog, they follow ours. Since we were in the area, we just had to meet. Once more it is great meeting blogging buddies.

Their plan is to be on the road early 2013. They recently bought a Landmark Fiver and have been working on getting the house ready to sell.

Harry works in downtown Albany so agreed to be our tour guide. And a fine job he did indeed.

The Capital:

Albany City hall with the NY Supreme Court building next to it.

Jessica and Harry dwarfed by the building in which Harry works.

We had a fabulous lunch at a brew pub - Albany Pump Station.

Jessica appears happy with her Chicken breast stuffed with sausage and mozzarella cheese with sides of mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Harry enjoyed the Mixed grill. Ribs, BBQ chicken and kielbasa with baked beans and red skin potato salad. I ordered the same.

Len had the spicy Cajun catfish and shrimp with rice and a mixture of black beans and corn. Yummy.

The meal included appetizers. Each couple had the most luscious calamari and baked potato skins stuffed with cheese and bacon. For dessert it was strawberry shortcake.

This is a shot of the inside.

We enjoyed the meal but even more we enjoyed our time with Jessica and Harry. We sure hope to meet up with them again. In the meantime, we have our blogs!

Movin on to New York

2011-08-05T19:46:00.000-04:00

Central Bridge, NY

While still at Ives Run Campground in Tioga, PA we drove over to Corning, NY and toured the

Cost of this museum is $14.00 for anyone over age 19. Discounts for AAA members or over age 55. We are both. I told the cashier we were 19. She wasn't buying it. So, we paid the $11.90 each.

Now, I worked at a glass decorating plant as Personal Manager years ago. I understand glass can be interesting in it's various forms, but two hours later my eyes were glazing over. No pun intended.

A sculpture of a dress and shawl made of glass.

Egyptian glass made any where from 1,000 to 1,500 B.C. Now this was interesting.

I kinda liked this child's tea set. If I remember right, it was made in France in the 1800's. Our granddaughters would love it.

We left Ives Run this morning at 10:25. One last look across the lake from Rt 287 to the campground area.

The drive today was 195 miles. We made one stop for lunch at Mickey D's and arrived at Hide-A-Way Campsites in Central Bridge, NY at 2:15. This campground has just electric and water. So we will use the camps showers.

We are parked right next to the pool and close to the showers and laundry. It is a small campground of just 60 sites and most of them appear to be seasonals.

Back last month while in Gettysburg we lost power two times when our surge protector shut us down. At that time we thought it was a problem with the campground. Len fiddled with the cord and each time we got power back on. Last week when we arrived at Ives Run and got plugged in, again no power. Nothing seemed to work. The gentlemen who runs the store also does RV repairs. He came over and suggested the issue was with our cord. He and Len messed with it and again we had power.

The other day we stopped at a RV store and bought a new plug. Len said he would have to eventually replace the plug. Well, today once more no power. So - today was the day to replace the plug that connects to the electrical box. What? Wasn't that supposed to be the problem. He replaced the plug and NO POWER.

So, Len looked at the thingy (a technical term) that connects the cord to the rig. Looked like lots of loose wires. Simple repair - take the thingy apart and better secure the wires.

Sometimes it takes trial and error. If one end of the cord is not the problem, try the other end. In this case, appears the problem is solved. We have electric. Now, if only the campground would do something about this no sewer thing.

We love this park!

2011-08-02T21:45:00.000-04:00

Tioga, PA

As Sunday would be our last day camping near our grand daughters until November, Amy brought them over to the campground in Hanover, PA. Charlotte once more took a few pics.

Her sister Abby:

Her mother, Amy:

And herself:

What a treat to have lunch with them and share a few more hours before we got back on the road.

We left Codorus State park around 11:15 Monday morning. For a while it was a little hairy driving Rt 116 through Spring Grove, PA. Lots of road construction and wide loads! Leonard takes it all in stride. Me not so much.

We picked up I83 in York then 322 in Harrisburg. After stopping at a truck stop for lunch in Duncannon, we picked up Route 15 North all the way to Tioga.

We knew we were getting close when we saw this:

Our destination was a Corps of Engineer Park at Hammond Lake. Hammond Lake has 32 miles of shoreline. We arrived about 4:15, a 201 mile drive.

The campground, Ives Run, is the best we've seen. The sites are large and provided with a table and firepit. Two of the four loops have full hook ups.

From the front of our rig, through the trees and about 500 feet away we can see the lake with the swimming beach.

Directly behind us about 200 feet is a comfort station with the camp laundry. The only negative to this site (19) is the picnic table is in direct sunlight until at least 6:30 pm. Much too hot to sit out and eat. We also get no shade under the awning until early evening. But we sure are not complaining. Due to having our Federal Golden Age pass, the fee is only $16.00 a day. Well worth it.

We would have like to stayed here about two weeks. However, every weekend is booked until mid September. We were told if we want a weekend reservation, better make the call by April!

We took a drive today (Tuesday) to look at another campsite about 1 1/2 hours away. The last 10 miles to get to this campground is winding, bumpy and narrow. The last mile is a dirt road. Even at that we would have booked a reservation but due to a natural gas find it the area, there are no sites large enough for us. Most sites are taken by construction workers. That's okay - we then decided to head to New York State when we have to vacate our current site on Friday.

I found this town interesting. Montrose, PA.

We had lunch at Miss Penny's Diner then headed on back to our home of wheels.

We will see what tomorrow will bring. Safe travels all!

Laurie and George!!!!

2011-07-30T19:41:00.000-04:00

Hanover, PA

We are still camped at Codorus State Park near Hanover, PA. A view of the lake:

The time here has been a treat for us. Today was no exception. We were visited by Laurie King and George Owens of www.owensontheroad.blogspot.com. I (Phyllis) have been following their blog for some time as they prepare to retire, buy a fifth wheel and start their fulltiming adventure. Likewise, they follows ours.

Laurie and George hope to be on the road in about a year. If you are one of their blog followers, you know that George recently was offered an early retirement and jumped on it. Who wouldn't!

Laurie is still working. It is such a small world. She is the President for a water bottling company and mentioned one of their clients was a company in the town where Leonard and I lived in NJ. The company has since sold the vendor part of the business and now only has water and coffee service. When they were in full operation, the coffee/water rep. was our son-in-law Steve. She remembers him.

Laurie and George live up in Wilkes Barre, Pa, a three hour drive from Hanover. How great is that, that they were up on driving this distance to meet. They have decided their rig will be a Montana and they were anxious to see ours and seek out our opinion and experiences with the manufacturer Keystone and the quality of a Montana. We certainly do recommend this brand.

They were so nice as to take us to lunch at a nearby Pub that Laurie had researched online. All too soon it was time for them to get on the road back to Wilkes Barre. We do hope to keep in touch via our blogs and other RV sites we both frequent. And maybe, just maybe we will meet again down the road.

Since we left NJ.

2011-07-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

Hanover, PA

We left NJ on Tuesday to spend 6 days at Codorus State Park, near Hanover, Pa.. I had been working on a jigsaw puzzle for days and managed to complete it prior to pulling out.

Right before leaving the house that once was ours, I took a picture of my favorite flowers. These are what we know as Secret Lilies. Long leaves pop through the ground early Spring only to die away completely. Then this time of year these lovely flowers come into bloom.

The drive to Hanover is mostly the same route we take when going to daughter Amy's in White Hall, MD. Over the Delaware Memorial Bridge, down I95 to Exit 93 and through Port Deposit, MD. Port Deposit sits next to the Susquehanna River. The main street through town is narrow. Behind the homes on the south lies the river, behind to homes on the north side of the road are steep hills with granite terraces.

At the end of Susquehanna River road we pick up Route 1 and turn left over the Conawingo Dam. One part of the road over the dam is really narrow. We always hope we don't meet a tractor-trailer or another RV coming our direction.

A stop for a coffee at our favorite convenience store. In our travels NO convenience store makes coffee like this one!

Our next stop was at the parking lot of the elementary school in Jarrettsville, MD. Amy often takes the girls to the playground there. We have done the same. We got there a short time before Amy and the girls arrived with the Sno-cones in hand. We transferred the girls "stuff" into our truck and headed to the campground.

We spent most of the rest of Tuesday just getting settled.

On Wednesday we went to the to grocery store, then had our hot dog roast on the campfire.

Charlotte took some pictures. Of her sister Abby:

Of herself:

Later in the evening we found the camp playground. What fun the girls had there.

Thursday was Charlotte's 5th birthday. We arrived at their house right after 5 pm. Amy had been busy the two days the girls were with us, painting and decorating. Charlotte checking out her newly redecorated room

After her favorite meal of spaghetti and meat sauce, it was time for cake and ice cream!

Abby really likes the chocolate cake.

After cake and ice cream, time to open the presents. A favorite was LOTS and LOTS of school supplies from Aunt T and Uncle Steve.

After spending some fun time with the family, it was time to head back to the campground for some well deserved rest and relaxation. On a sad note, we probably won't see these sweeties again until mid November. For a few moments there were tears from this Grandmom.

New chairs similar to old chairs.

2011-07-25T09:30:00.002-04:00

Bridgeton, NJ

First, welcome to our newest follower Raymond. Good to meet you here.

We arrived back here at daughter Terri and son-in-law Steve's house in NJ on Friday from our almost two weeks in Gettysburg. When we left there it was in the high 90's and about 100 when we (or should I be honest and say Leonard ) were getting set up for our 4 days back in this area.

Back on Thursday we drove under to MD from Gettysburg to Amy's house to deliver our two recliners that came with our Montana.

They will be keeping one and gave to other one to their tenant who lives in the small house on their property.

We like these chairs as they reclined, rocked and swiveled. However, we did not like that they had to be at least 18 inches from the wall to recline fully. I never recline that far but Leonard loves to take naps in the full reclining positon.

So about 6 weeks ago we ordered new chairs from Boscovs, a local department store. They arrived while we were in Gettysburg. Once we (Leonard) got set up, we went to Boscovs and picked them up.

They were easy to bring into the rig since they are Lazy Boys and the back ends are removable. When shopping for new chairs we found these that are the same size as the original ones. The fabric is different but the brown color is just a little different from the old chairs. When you look closely you will see some black running through it. I wanted to keep with the brown as that is the predominant color scheme in the rig.

Oh yea, they will do. This is son in law Steve and Leonard trying them out.

We do have more floor space now. I miss the rocking feature but I can live with these to have the additional space.

We did not do much of anything on Saturday. Terri made pulled chicken and a peach cobbler. I did my part by going to the store for potato, broccoli, and macaroni salads. It was just TOOOO hot to move.

On Sunday we attended our church. Then in the afternoon we met our friends Clare and Tom for dinner midway between their house and Terri's for dinner at one on our favorite dinners - Peters Diner in Williamstown, NJ.

Peters dinners come with soup AND salad and some great rolls and breads. Not a cup of soup, but a bowl of soup. Not a small side salad, but a huge salad of mixed greens, carrots, onion, tomatoes and cucumbers. The meal portions of large also. As usual, we eat the soup, salad and bread and bring the dinner home for the next night. (Dinner is cooked for tonight - yippee).

I put our camera in Len's pocket because I planned to take a picture of Tom and Clare but forgot about it until they were pulling out of the parking lot. I do that too often. This time we were just too busy catching up for me (Or Len) to remember the camera.

Today it is getting the propane tanks filled, catching up on laundry, grocery shopping and going to the bank. Tomorrow it is off to Cororus State Park near Hanover PA for a 6 day stay. We are looking forward to Saturday. We will be visited by Laura and George of www.owensontheroad.blogspot.com.
Check them out.

The Battlefield and beyond

2011-07-20T15:20:00.000-04:00

Gettysburg, Pa

Most historians agree that the Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War. Gen Meade's Army of the Potomac successfully turned back Gen. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North. The battle raged from July 1 to July 3, 1863.

On July 2 and 3 a battle was fought at Little Round Top.

The Union army was holding their position but saw advances from the South. The battle was finally won by the north when the 45th New York joined the battle. As this area was rocky, the north make fortifications from the natural rock formations, many of them still in place today.

Their are more than 1,340 monuments throughout the park.

This Pennsylvania monument towers over many smaller ones and can be seen from several directions.

On the Confederate line is the impressive monument to Gen. Rbt. E. Lee. The base of the monument is in recognition of several trades such as farming, carpentry, etc.

One building still shows the scars of its contact with a cannonball. If you look closely you can see it below the two diamond insets.

When the girls were with us over the weekend, we climbed this 80 step tower to view the surrounding countryside. We were delighted that both Charlotte and Abby climbed each step up and down, especially since Abby just turned two last month. Quite a feat for such short legs. And not one complaint.

In November 1863 President Lincoln dedicated the Gettysburg National Cemetery with a short speech that is recognized as one of the most poignant in this country's history.

Gettysburg Town Square

Our time is ending here at Gettysburg as we pull out on Friday.

Fun times with Granddaughters

2011-07-16T14:21:00.002-04:00

Gettysburg, PA

On Tuesday we took a ride to the outskirts of Gettysburg to Adams County Winery. We remember this winery from our last visit to the area. After sampling a few, we picked out two we enjoy - one red, one white. Leonard says the red wine reminds him of wild muscadine grapes that he used to pick and eat in Louisiana.

On Wednesday we drove the 59 miles from Gettysburg to daughter Amy's house over in White Hall, MD. After having dinner with the family, we brought Charlotte back to the campsite with us.

Thursday we were a little disappointed. We had told Charlotte we were taking her to the Boyds Bear store. We rode around and around and could not find it. We had been there twice before. So, I called daughter Terri who was at work. I had her search on her computer. The store closed January 1, 2011! What a surprise. When we had been there it was always crowded and seemed to have a good business. I need to remember to Google it and get the scoop.

After dinner we drove over to the camp playground.

Shortly afterward, a group of riders came back to the stables from their ride through the battlefield.

On Friday Abby had her two-year old doctors appointment. We had made arrangements to meet Amy and Abby over in Hanover after the appointment to bring Abby back to the campground until Sunday.

This is Charlotte on the lookout.

In the afternoon we all took a dip in the pool. In the evening it was back to the playground.

Today we got up early and took a walk around the campground. The girls got to pet lots of dogs also out taking their owners for a walk.

Then we went to The Land of Little Horses, right outside Gettysburg.

The big attraction was the resident donkey who appears to have free run of the place.

Charlotte volunteered and was part of the act in the Arena. She assisted in leading one of the horses around to meet the crowd.

It was a busy morning and all was exhausted. Abby fell asleep in the truck on the short drive back to the campground and took her one hour nap. Charlotte is napping now.

Here is wishing each of you a great weekend with mild weather.

Back to Gettysburg

2011-07-12T10:29:00.000-04:00

Gettysburg, PA

One of our first camping trips when we got our first RV was to Gettysburg, PA about 7 or 8 years ago. We don't remember! At that time we stayed at Artillery Ridge Campground, where we are staying again.

This is a Passport America campground that also gives a 10% discount to Good Sam members and 50% off to Escapees members. The literature says the 50% discount is not in effect for Friday and Saturday. We are staying 11 days which includes one weekend. They gave us the 50% discount for the entire stay. Yippee! We seem to remember they did the same when we stayed here years ago. I suspect they only maintain the weekend full price policy when people stay only for the weekend.

This campground is only about a mile from Gettysburg National Park. One of it's draws is they have horseback tours of the battlefield. We did this when we were here before. The campground is larger than we remember it. There are a lot more stables and pastures. We pass several on the way of our site.

We are way at the back of the campground with very few other rigs in the area. That is fine with us. But we realize all this will change come the weekend. That is our rig on the left.

For the next two days we are just going to relax. When we arrived yesterday after only a 155 mile trip, we were exhausted due to the 98 degree temp and high humidity, so went out for dinner at the local Perkins.

I love the settings of Gettysburg and the nearby towns of Abbottsville and New Oxford. Route 30 (Lincoln Highway) passes through the town squares of these towns which are lined by old buildings such as hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. This is the Gettysburg hotel.

I got up early this morning and had my coffee outside under the awning before the heat set in. Leonard joined me about 1/2 hour later. Ah - this is a fine life!

Oh yes, welcome to Judy from Travels with Judy and Emma. Good to see you here as our 70th follower.

It's an annual thing

2011-07-10T17:46:00.001-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

For the past three years we have taken granddaughter Charlotte to Storybook Land in Cardiff, NJ.

I remember well taking my own girls there when they were little ones. We also would take our grandson Justin, who is now almost 24. So - I suppose this has become a family tradition of sorts.

This year we also took Charlotte's little sister, Abby and our great-niece Siani. What a great idea to take Siani as she took the girls on some of the rides while Leonard and I sat and watched.

Charlotte has become afraid of some of the rides. However, Abby usually has no fear. This one was the exception. See her holding on tight to Pop Pop.

When asked if she watned to go on it again, her answer was a resounding NO. Her sister didn't even give it a try. Instead she looked at the Snow White and Seven Drawfs animated scene. And had me take her picture as Doopy.

A favoite Mother Goose character is Little Bo Peep and her sheep. There is one of her sheep, begging to be fed.

If you are ever in the Atlantic City area and have grandkids with you, make a side trip to Storybook Land. This small park is ideal for the little ones, up to about 10 or so. The rides are geared to them, making some of them a tight fit for us more mature folks, in age and body.

Welcome to our newest follower Pidge! So good to "meet" you,

On a side note, I downloaded Google Chrome yesterday and I still can not post on blogs that do not have the option of Anonymous posters. If you are one of these, that does not mean I don't check in on you, I just can't comment.

If you don't see a comment

2011-07-06T20:01:00.000-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

To fellow Bloggers - just because I do not comment on your blog, does not mean I don't read them. I read several a day. Blogger will let me leave comments on some. On some will only let me leave comments under Anonymous. And it some cases, I can not leave a comment regardless of what I do. It puts me though a series of loops where I have to sign into Google over and over again, never getting anywhere.

I know, lots of us are having the same issue. Some day they might fix this problem? I just don't know.

Singing and dancing on the 4th

2011-07-04T22:41:00.001-04:00

Upper Deerfield Twp, NJ

Even in hot and humid weather such as we felt today, the Fourth of July Celebration goes on.

Son-in-law Steve sings with the Sherry Lynn Band. Sherry is the star of the act, but Steve is the featured male singer. Today they performed along the river in nearby Millville, NJ.

Steve's turn at the mic.

Always the line dancers. That is daughter Terri in the green. I joined in for one dance - sorry too hot for this old lady.

After two shows, it was back to the house. Lots and lots of good food and good times.

Later in the evening Steve entertained their friends,

while his friend Ron (a fulltime Rver) took on the dirty dishes.

It is now 10:45. I can see people are still over in the house. (we are "camped" in their side yard). Sorry, too late for these old folks. Time to jump in the shower and call it a night.

I hope each of you had a great 4th and always remember the real reason for the celebration.