Happy BirthdayShiloh

The birthday girl!

July 31 – HAPPY 8^th BIRTHDAY SHILOH!  Yes, my granddaughter is 8 today!  I’m sure there was a party happening somewhere.

We managed to get on the road at 9:45.  Of course it was raining and the traffic was horrendous.  So many people must be heading home to MA, NY and CT since there would be no fun on the coast today in the rain.  We had traffic clogs over and over.  Sure makes for very slow progress.  We had about a 2 hours slot of clear skies but alas, it didn’t last.  Most of the Interstate roads up in this area are really turnpikes and there is toll after toll.  We really are fortunate in Florida to have as few as we do.  Then they don’t use the toll money to maintain the roads!  You’re also more at their mercy to stop for fuel.

Doesn't that look like fun?

It continued to rain and rain and rain.  We had one 2 hour stretch of clean skies.  Then as we changed to I-90 the traffic got worse again and once we got cleared we could see the eastbound lane clogging.  We tracked the clog for about 7 miles!  There was no accident, just people exiting and having to stop and pay the tolls.  What a mess! 

We were spending the night in a Wal-mart outside of Albany, which should have been a simple thing.  We had gotten off for fuel and in getting back on there appeared to be a slight mis-communication, which we still don’t agree on who was responsible, but we went east instead of west and you have to go for miles to get off!  So once we did we drove through Albany, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and found our Wal-mart.  There was a nice big space for us all the way to the front end up against the hill going up to the road.  We arrive at 6:45, no thanks to the weather and the wrong turn!

We didn’t bother with the slides due to a tree and we weren’t parked level so we just managed for the evening in really cramped quarters.  I heated our leftovers, which we thoroughly enjoyed at this point, watched a smidge of TV and called it a day!

In Search of Lighthouses, where the heck are they?

July 30 – I was having some problems with people not having access to my photo albums and asked Kam to fix it for me.  Unfortunately in the process all the photos I had linked to my blog disappeared.  I apologize to my readers but at least now you can view all my photos with the link on the first page of the blog.  I try to caption all of my photos so you and I will know what they are.  I’ve asked Kam to also check my “comment” link towards the bottom as I’ve had readers mention that they were not able to use that feature.

Pemaquid Point from the rocks below

Today did not really go as planned.  So what is new?  We left for our first lighthouse stop to see/visit Pemaquid Point Lighthouse and although it was a ride to get there, it was well worth it.  I parked in the lot beside the lighthouse park and walked in as Bill was not going to be able to do it.  It was $2 and I took lots of photos, got my book stamped and I enjoyed climbing over the

Side view

rocks leading into the bay.  The point is between the Johns Bay and the Muscongus Bay.  I could have gone up the lighthouse but the line was long and slow and Bill was sitting in the hot car.  Which reminds me that we were surprised at how hot it was!  This lighthouse has a nice house and a Bell House in front in addition to the lighthouse itself.

This is the point at which things went downhill!  The next stop was over an hour

Pemaquid bell house

away on another point.  It was the Marshall Point Lighthouse.  Once we were rather close Bill said we’d been here before.  What we didn’t know is why I hadn’t gotten my stamp.  Some places are run by all volunteers and we’ve been there during the posted hours and they’d be closed due to no volunteer available.  Well, that was not the case here.  AS soon as we parked I told him I had this one.  A couple of weeks ago I had given Bill my stamp books and a list by state of the lighthouses.  He was to mark them off the list so I’d know how to start mapping.  I noticed some that I knew we had been to so I rechecked it all and he missed quite a few.  This being one of them.  But, I compounded the error by marking it off the one list but not the other, so we had a nice drive but for no gain.

On the way out we stopped at another summer only spot along the road called “Yardbird”.  I would think chicken was the main fare but knew since we were almost on the bay it would have seafood as well.  Bill had a burger and I had a small clam strip basket.  Yummy!  They came over very good French fries which I shared with Bill and I had a small container of slaw.  We sat with a couple from Freeport,Maine who were out and about for the day.  Lunch was very tasty and filling.

The last lighthouse of the day was the Indian Island Lighthouse, which is privately owned but the stamp for it is located at the Owl’s Head Lighthouse where I’d been before.  It seems they would tell you it’s available when you ask   The booklet says it’s open til 4 but it was closed by 3.  I was ticked!  So where I got home for the day I send SASEs to 3 lighthouses, 2 from this trip and 1 from 2 summers ago that I realized never responded.

View of the bay in Rockland

for the Owl’s head one, but didn’t, so we drove to the state park where it’s located and I walked the trail to it and of course, it was closed.

On our way through Rockland I spotted a nice bay view so we detoured out to the water.  While taking photos of the boats I saw Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, which we’d seen before but not from

Rockland Breakwater

this viewpoint.

We finished sooner than we expected so headed on the Augusta to meet Polly and maybe her niece for dinner.  We made a stop at Bed, Bath and Beyond for coffee since I had 2 coupons and attempted to find a car wash, which didn’t happen.  We met at Longhorn Steak House and it was so good to see

Longtime friends!

Polly.  Her niece came shortly after and we had a very nice visit.  Polly’s health is still not the best but she’s working on it and was very happy that we took the time to include her in our plans.  We caught up on the families and friends we share in Ocoee.

Once we said our good-byes, Bill and I headed back to the campground and made it just before dark.  It’s REALLY dark in those woods once the sun goes down.  Time to ready up a bit for tomorrow’s trip!

Drive to Maine and Lighthousing

July 29 – It rained during the night but I was so tired I didn’t hear a thing.  I made breakfast then it was time to fill the water tank and empty the dirty water tanks and unhook the electric and cable.  It takes me a while as I’m not as familiar with Bill’s procedures.

We left for Maine around 10 and there was heavy traffic.  I guess everyone

One of the many shops down by the harbor

was heading further north for a cooler weekend.  Our campground was Blueberry Pond Campground in Pownal and once we were getting close we thought we might have made a wrong turn as the road turned to gravel and clay.  But, we Bill called and they said we were on the right road.  I hadn’t called Polly until we arrived and we had a nice chat and planned to meet in Augusta for dinner tomorrow.

I say he's the Gorton
Fish Filet guy

Burnt Island LIghthouse from
West Harbor

We left for West Boothby Harbor to see about a stamp for my Lighthouse Society Book and some photos of Burnt Island Lighthouse.  The boat trip to see it is only on certain days and we would not be around for that but I asked 2 people where I might get photos of it and I walked to the first spot and then Bill and I drove around the harbor to the other side and onto private property to see it better.  I didn’t get the best photos, but they were better than nothing.  No one had any idea how I get my stamp so I’ll have send a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) to the mailing address to see if they will co-operate.

Burnt Island Lighthouse from East Harbor

By now we were getting pretty hungry so we stopped at a little lobster/fish/sandwich shop along the road, Karen’s Hideaway.  Bill had a burger and I had an awesome lobster roll, packed with lobster and we shared an order of homemade potato chips and saved the bags ones that came with our order. I do love lobster.

It was well over an hour drive to the harbor so we headed back and made a stop in Brunswick at the Wal-mart to get a new phone charging cord for my phone.  The one that worked best I broke when I shut the console lid in the car on it.  We ended up driving home in the dark and that gravel road was spooky!

I mapped out our plan for the other 3 lighthouses on my list and wrapped up the day with a bit of blogging.

Resting Day

July 28 – Once we had breakfast we did some “chores”.  Bill fixed a section of our sewer hose while I washed the front of the RV.  Then I did a load of laundry, washed dishes and wrote some postcards.  After lunch we went to see the NEW Ghostbusters.  That was a seriously funny movie.  I laughed more than I have in ages at a movie.  The matinee was only $5.75 each but then the soda was $4.00. Ripoff!



Isn't he cute?

Bill's clams

We changed directions and went by a Trader Joe to see if they had different bags in Massachusetts and they did:  New York bags that they got by mistake!  Bill checked Trip Advisor and Yelp for a dinner spot and found Atlantic Sea Grill.  It was a little more upscale that we had planned but the food and service were excellent.  He had clam strips and I had a lobster with carrots in a butter and brown sugar glaze and an aromatic rice pilaf. As good as that lobster was, that rice was really running a close second.  Bill wants me to have what I like, especially when I get to eat lobster repeatedly, but he hates when I get a whole one and pick it apart for ages.  My dad taught us how to get every bit of meat from crabs and lobsters and I loved every bite of it.

Once we got home it was time to put away as much as I could before bed in hopes of leaving sooner in the AM.  Yeah, right!

Sox vs. Tigers

July 27 – GAME DAY!  We thought if we left by 10 for the train station then we’d get to the stadium plenty early.  Wrong!  Well, of course we didn’t leave right on time and the drive to the end line of the station took longer than expected.  We thought we’d miss the morning commuters but I don’t think so.  Then the station has parking for 925 cars and traffic to get into the lot was horrendous!  The first lot was full and closed and we didn’t see many handicapped slots in it and by the time we got close to the entry of the second lot we were not sure we’d get a spot there.  Luckily everyone ahead of us got in and we could see a line of spaces in the front we “assumed” were handicapped.  We paid our $6 and were told yes, those were handicapped so we didn’t have to drive around.

The scooter is a life saver



I put Bill’s scooter together and got our bag of snacks and water and of course, the station for the subway was all the way to the other side and once we got there the line for tickets was LONG.  I thought it was a person in a booth but it was 3 automated machines and with so many non-frequent users it was a very slow process.  Bill took the ramp on up by the platform and I eventually got to a machine.  The glare was so bad I couldn’t read the screen and got my card rejected twice so I tried again and put in cash and “voila”.

We managed to get on the first train once I caught up with him and the

The big screen at Fenway

 attendant came out.  There are only a few cars with special ramps for handicapped and the guy pushed the button and the ramp appeared.  Bill got settled in and I found a seat further into the car.  By the time we arrived at the Fenway stop the train was packed!  Good thing we didn’t try going further up the line to catch the train as the driver rejected people at almost every stop.

Then we trekked up the sidewalks to

Some of the action

the main street that intersects with Yawley and went through the bag check and into the stadium.  First thing on my agenda was a trip to the restroom!  Then after asking 3 people I found the Fan Services.  They issued us new seats and had an escort take us up to the Grandstand level which is where our original tickets were.  We were seated 3 sections closer to home plate and right behind the section.  They have folding chairs where the wheelchairs or scooters go and stationary seats beside each one.  It really was nice seating and easy to leave for the concession or restroom.

Once we got settled in and the game started Bill was ready for lunch so I stood in the forever line for a burger, fries and coke at $21.20.  Ridiculous, but I guess we have to pay it to pay those multi-million dollar players!  I took him his food and I went down a level and got a $10 chicken wrap and drank water I brought. 
 

The stadium was really full for a mid-week day game.  No one cared how hot it was!  Bill enjoyed the game since Detroit is his second favorite team.  He did wear a Sox t-shirt so he wouldn’t get mugged!  There were tons of tourists there just to be at Fenway and they wore shirts for teams all over.  It was a good day for Detroit 4-3
.

We left after the 7^th inning to try and avoid the rush to the train and commuters heading back also.  We missed getting on the first train but got on the second one and it filled up along the way.  I left Bill at the lot closest to the station and went for the car.  It was still there!  Then we hopped on the roadway and headed back to our campground.  Traffic was heavy all the way and these are some aggressive drivers!

I wasn’t much for cooking as I was exhausted by the heat, driving, lifting the scooter parts, stressed over the whole event, so we had lean cuisines with extra veggies. What a day!

Headed on to Massachusetts

July 26 – We didn’t plan to head out until around 10 and by the time we hooked up the car and stopped for Steve to fill our propane tanks it was close to 10:30.  We didn’t have 2 hours of driving today.  There were some traffic slow downs along the way but we had no trouble finding our campground in Littleton, MA.  This will be our first time camping in Massachusetts. 

It’s a nice park, Boston Minuteman Campground, with tons of super tall trees.  It’s nice and shady but narrow roadways.  The guy that led us to our site got me backed right in and off he was to take care of the next RV.

Once we got settled in we went to Wal-mart a couple of towns over for a sewer hose clamp, some I hooks and a couple of grocery items.  I put some pickle steaks on to cook and get things ready for the game tomorrow.  We can take 2 bottles of water, food if we want.  Then we watched TV and started talking about where to head from here.

Great Day at Charlie Brown

July 25 – 5 months til Christmas!  I think we all need a reminder that we’re on the down slope of the year!

I thought we would sleep later than we did but I was up at 8 and Bill wasn’t long after.  I made his Sunday breakfast on Monday and he was excited to have blueberry scones, bacon, soft boiled egg and some nice fruit.

We kinda laid around and he watched some TV.  I finally put an additional latch on the malfunctioning bedroom sink cabinet door.  Works really well now.

Chis, Pam and Steve’s son, stopped by and visited for a while before getting to work.  It was nice of him and good to see him.  We feel very welcomed even though we are just for a couple of nights.

Bill wanted to go to the Vanilla Bean Café for lunch as it was a favorite 2 years ago.  We headed over and the bridge was closed and we were detoured and then were just left dead in the water.  Finally had to get the Google Maps to get us there.  Lunch was good (but pricy) and we enjoyed it.  Then leaving we came to the other side of the closed bridge and were detoured in the other direction.  Luckily it brought out on the main road so we weren’t lost again.  We stopped at our favorite ice cream place but they no longer sell hand dipped ice cream, just prepackaged stuff.  So we went to our second favorite place and Bill got coffee with oreos and cookie dough and I got a coffee and coconut. Hard to pick a favorite!  We met a girl there visiting relatives here who is from Jacksonville.  Bill had a nice chat with her about Florida and Florida State.

Time to head back to the RV where I worked on my journal, banking and washed a load of laundry.  Bill read for a bit then went to lie down.  At 4:45 I went up to the office and sat on the porch with Pam and Roxann and had a nice glass of wine.  Steve got showered and joined us and we discussed dinner plans etc.  At 6:15 I walked home to get Bill and there he was, dressed and ready but hadn’t called me.  So we drove up to the office and let Pam and Steve drive.  I took a small carrot cake I had in the freezer with some cream cheese frosting for dessert.  We had dinner at the Midway which is Greek and Italian.  I had Souvlaki and Bill went with a calzone.  Pam had a huge steak salad and Steve had steak.  Bill was the only one to have leftovers as his calzone was huge!  It was very good and we had intended to buy them dinner but Steve told the waitress before we even sat down that he was to get the check.  Sneaky!  We really appreciated it but wanted to take them out for allowing us to camp for free for 2 nights.

When we got back we sat on the porch and had our cake that everyone enjoyed.  I left Steve the last little piece!  We talked a lot about RV’s since they bought one earlier this year and plan to start doing some travel in their off season.  She used to drive a school bus so she was not the least bit afraid to drive it.  Their son has an RV repair shop so they have good back-up!

Time to call it a day as we head on closer to Boston tomorrow.

Back to Charlie Brown Campground

July 24 – This was a miserable day of driving!  We left the Casino about 9:30 and between roadwork and idiot drivers it was very stressful for the driver!  We stopped for fuel and planned to have lunch but the Pilot did not have a place for parking.  That is unusual so I told Bill to mark that one off in his Exit Now book.  It was stressful to get out, just a horrible tight little road loaded with traffic going into and out of a mall! 

I have seen more deer carcasses and parts along the road since we left Virginia.  It’s very sad.  I also saw 4 deer grazing on the interstates and I guess it won’t be long before they think the grass is greener on the other side and make a dash for it! 

We didn’t stop much but with traffic back ups we didn’t get to CT to Charlie Brown campground until 4:30 and Bill was surprised that we were an hour sooner than he had calculated.  I must have a heavy foot!

Pam came right out to greet us and said to just leave the RV and come sit on the porch!  Steve made it up later after showing a couple the park and I had a NICE glass of wine and Bill had a coke and ice cream!  It’s so good to see them and just catch up on the campground, the people and our lives.  They bought an RV and are hoping to start doing some travel in their off season.  We keep inviting them to Florida but with her parents still here they don’t want to go too far for too long as Pam is the primary person to take them to appointments and shopping.  We still feel bad that the summer worked out like it did.  They had 6 couples lined up as some always have to drop out and ended up with only 1.  I know it’s been a stressful summer for them.

We set up and had some pulled pork and slaw for dinner and then just watched TV and rested!

Flight 93



July 23 – What a day!  We managed to leave

This is a section of the up
and down roads we took

between 9:30 and 10 for the Flight 93 Memorial.  However, I had to get turned around in the campground and Bill followed me in the car and out on the main road and it was miles and miles before there was a place along the road where we could stop and hook up the car.  I didn’t want to try to turn out of the camp ground at a 90 degree turn on a narrow 2 lane road on a hill.  We were also having a problem with the leveling legs.  One stays down about 2 inches and causes a light to stay on and error message to flash.  I tried releveling several times and finally got it to stay up but the error message stayed on all day.

At the new Visitor Center

Then the roads were 2 lane and up and down and it was quite nerve racking.  We didn’t get to the Flight 93 National Memorial until 12:30.  Then we pulled over to the truck and RV parking, which was only 5 spaces and they were taken and one was a pick up truck!  We kinds just sat there and stared and luckily for us one of the RV’s had people in it and they were leaving.  We had a quick lunch and I unloaded the scooter and we went over to the overlook of the crash site and then to the Visitor Center. 

The overlook off the VC to view the entire site

I don’t know how anyone could go thorough that exhibit and not leave in tears. You don’t have to know a single person but it is so emotional.  They even have tissue boxes around as they know the affect the exhibit has on people.  There was quite a large crowd today, I guess because it was Saturday.  We didn’t drive down to the Visitor Shelter, which is the closest a non-relative can get to the actual site.  The site now has a huge boulder where the crater from the crash was.  It stands as the headstone for all the victims as there


was nothing to take home to bury.  They did find stray items, such as a credit card, work ID, keys, but nothing viable of the people.  It is a wonderful tribute to those people who made the choice to stop those madmen from getting to Washington and killing more people there.  It’s way out near a small town but well worth the trip if you’re in that part of the state.

The Hemlock Grove and Visitor Shelter

So now it was officially time to hit the road.  Since it was after 2 and we had 30 miles to go on more 2 lane up and down roads it was slow going.  I pulled over once when I could and let 13 vehicles get around me.  I hate holding everyone else up.  We ended up just north of Harrisburg, PA for the night.  We staying in the trucker/RV lot at the Hollywood Casino at Penn Racetrack.  Bill thought I’d like to go gamble but I was tired and preferred doing my blog.

We had some lasagna I had made and froze with a nice salad for dinner.  Quick and easy to prepare and quicker to toss the paper plates in the trash!  Then we watched an episode of “Hell on Wheels” on the computer before seeing the final episode on TV.  Drats, another one bites the dust.

Long but productive day



July 22 – I got up at 8 planning to leave at 9.  Bill wasn’t interested in the

Art at the VC

places I wanted to visit today and it would be all walking and stairs and he’s not able to do that so I did the first half of the day by myself.  I unloaded and assembled his scooter so he could go over to the pool or just drive around and check out the campground.  I left his breakfast partially ready.  He got up as I was ready to go and detained me for a few minutes.  Then I was off to Uniontown to Staples.  I had to go there to send the baseball tickets via UPS. 

 

I missed my exit and went to the next one and it worked out OK.  I had a bit of a wait and I was a little concerned I’d be late at Kentuck 

 

Best I could do to get the entire front of the house in

Knob for my 10:30 tour.  Uniontown is in the opposite direction and I wasn’t sure where was as it’s in the woods back in off any main roads.  I arrived, parked and checked in at the visitor center and picked up my ticket and still had time to make a trip to the bathroom at the parking lot. 

Kentuck Knob was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Hagan family who owned the Hagan Ice Cream Company in Uniontown.  They had become friends with the Kauffmans who owned

Notice the hex lights, it's from the hex
openings in the overhang

Fallingwater which was designed by Wright some years earlier.  They came to love Wright’s style of design and commissioned him to build their home about 10 miles outside of Uniontown.  It’s small by most standards but for a 1954 home it has 3 bathrooms, one for each bedroom.  The kitchen is hexagonal with natural lighting from the hex skylight.  Wright generally designs the furniture also for the

These are windows in the shapes of all of the
sections of the house in a repeat pattern

homes and he makes a lot of it built in so it cannot be moved and rearranged.  He was quite pointed with his opinions and generally did not accept requests for changes to his ideas and designs.   It’s a beautiful house in a beautiful setting. The Hagans had to move and sell the house for health reasons and sold it to Lord Peter Palumbo of London who has added tons of collectible art and has opened the house to the public after purchasing another house in the area.  http://kentuckknob.com/ 

My first view of Fallingwater -the terraces are over
the waterfall

After my tour I checked out the gift shop and got directions to Fallingwater, only about 15 minutes away.  On my way I stopped in the tiny town of Ohiopyle and got a sandwich to go for my lunch.  The town is packed this time of year as it’s on a river known for canoeing and kayaking.  There was also road work going on so I was delayed at 2 sections of the road.  Once I arrived I picked up my ticket at the entrance gate and got parked with no problem.  I enjoyed my overpriced sandwich with

My final view - there's still mist from the rain

a bottle of water and headed to the Visitor Complex.  It’s hexagonal with a kiosk in the center to check in for your tour.  I was offered to go on an earlier tour so I took it.  The Hex has a museum shop, bathroom, conference room, entry walkway, walkway to the house and a café and each side of the hex. 

Each tour has only 13 people and there are lots of stairs and small spaces.  But nothing can tell how unique and well planned Fallingwater is.  Nothing compares to standing across from the waterfall and hearing and seeing the magnificence of it all.  Wright was an extremist on tying nature to his designs and this house brings nature in at every turn.  I’ve wanted to visit here for years and it was exciting to finally see it.  Unfortunately it started raining halfway though so we didn’t spend as much time on the terraces as I’d like.  It was just about cleared by the time we finished and I went for my photo of the falls www.fallingwater.org. 

Friendship HIll

Time to make a quick stop in the museum shop and then home to pick up Bill.  He wanted to go by Ft. Necessity and get a magnet for his collection.  Even though I got finished sooner than expected, there wasn’t time to tour the new visitor center.  We went to the fort several years ago.  From there we headed out to Friendship Hill.  Bill said we’d never been there and it was quite a drive.  Bill didn’t want to take the scooter, but once we arrived in the parking lot he rethought that!  You had to go up a long cascading walkway to the top of the hill.  Then he said, “oh, we’ve been here before”.  So I went up and talked with the ranger and  a re-enactor and watched the 2 short movies.  Honestly I did not remember one thing about the place.  It was the home of Albert Galletin, who was Secretary of State for President Jefferson and stayed in office for 13 years.  He is the one who negotiated the Louisiana Purchase and cut the country’s budget deficit in half.  He was a very interesting man.  I got Bill a magnet and also found out with his handicapped hanger we could have driven up, but I wasn’t walking back down since it was almost closing time.

Then we made the long drive back to Uniontown and Bill found us an excellent restaurant for dinner, Caporella’s Italian.  We parked and he hobbled up the stairs and halfway down the “train station” building to go in and they said they were all booked.  Looking at the crowd we could tell it was a popular place.  It wasn’t but 6:00 so we didn’t expect it to be so busy already.  The hostess checked with a waiter about an empty table that was reserved in 45 minutes and we said we could eat in 45 minutes so he seated us.  Wow, was it delicious with top notch service.  Bill had classic spaghetti with giant meatballs and I had a special of shrimp and crab ravioli.  He had leftovers, I did not!  Then I didn’t have as much bread before as he did.

We had passed an Aldi’s on the way in so stopped there for 1 bag of necessities and then went through the McDonald’s drive thru for the tiny .49 ice cream cone.  Kerry and Jude called and we facetimed with them while he walked in water puddles and we ate ice cream.  Then it was back to the RV to map out tomorrow.

Arrived safely in Pennsylvania

July 21 – Ugh, travel day.  At least it wasn’t raining.  After a quick breakfast and securing everything inside, Bill got on the scooter and we put away the TV cable, the electric cord and I did the sewer.  Nasty!  Oh and the water hose too.  As we were about done 2 of the guys came by but there wasn’t a lot left to do.  I brought in the slides and I drove the car out to the lane to position it for hooking up and Bill Catron backed out the RV.  My Bill and I hooked it up and by the time we were done we had Morris, JoAnn, Nancy, Chris and Bill as our send off party!  They invited us back on the way home so we will see, it all depends on how our days time out.  It’s going fast already!

They are all such nice people and we have some fun times with them.  Most of them we will see at our first campout in October but Morris is having shoulder surgery and won’t be there and Bill and Chris dropped out, as did Kay and John, so our club is shrinking!

It was 10 when we drove up the hill and out to I-77.  I was thrilled that there wasn’t a drop of rain all day!  It was bad enough driving up and down and back and forth on the mountains.  There were a lot of single lane spots but not a lot of work being done.  I DO NOT like mountain driving.  I don’t mind driving up but I hate going down when the RV picks up speed and you have to push the engine break button on and off and sometimes the downshift buttons.

We stopped about 12:30 at a plaza on the turnpike in WV and had our lunch.  I ran the car the required 5 minutes while “chatting” with Stub Hub.  They emailed me a UPS mailing label to send the tickets to the buyer.  I told her I would print it tonight and send tomorrow.  I don’t get my money until I complete this step.  Since they have to be mailed it costs me another $12 but at least we’re recouping most of our money and I won’t have to scalp them at the game.

We didn’t stop again until Morgantown, WV where we got diesel and a bathroom break.  I told Bill to mark in his book not to stop there again.  The road to the Pilot station was horrible and full of pot holes and straight up a hill and then they don’t have many pumps and it took forever.  Then the drive back down was just as bad.  I kept feeling like we were going to tip over!

We finally arrived at Brenner’s Campground in Farmington, PA at 7 but because the guy behind us was in a hurry to get in the gate he opened it for us and I drove through but didn’t know I had passed our spot.  Then it’s a crummy spot and not level.  I checked in and then unhooked the car and moved it so I could back up and get into our space without driving all around the park on narrow hilly lanes.  What a disappointment.  On top of that the road in is in serious need of some tree trimming!  $48 a night, it’s very different up here where the season is so short!

Thank goodness I made dinner yesterday.  All I had to do was heat up the pork and set out the slaw and leftover Waldorf salad.  It sure tasted good and went down easy!  Hardly any dishes to wash!  While we ate I put in a load of laundry too.

After dinner I printed my Stub Hub label and it was going to MN.  That worried me since the game is in MA.  So I “chatted” with them again and she said that was the address he provided so that’s where I send them and as long as I do what everyone agreed to I’ll get my payment.  So tomorrow I get to find a UPS place somewhere. 

It has been a long day but at least the driving was pretty driving with Charleston being the biggest city we had to go through.  Everything is so green!

Party Time and leaving tomorrow

The ducks out early hunting their breakfast

July 20 – I was up earlier than Bill and checked the river for the ducks.  There was quite a flock of them and I wanted to get a photo of them swimming in line down the river.  Unfortunately I got busy making slaw for on the road and putting a pork loin in the crockpot to cook for meals on the road that I missed them!  Poop!

I put a load of laundry in and when we got ready to leave I put it in the dryer.  We left right after a quick lunch for the library where they

Bass Fiddle at the Library

have an electric outlet.  We both did some email and research on campgrounds near Boston.  I posted a couple of days blogs and paid bills.  I also worked again on the Stub Hub deal but still don’t have it settled.  Then later this afternoon I received an email that the tickets sold and I need to upload them by 7-25.  Now what?  I will call or chat with them tomorrow and see if I can mail them instead.  I should have chosen that option but didn’t realize what a hassle it was to upload them.

Once we packed up from the library Bill wanted to go to Rose’s.  He’s never been in one and it’s just a small scale Wal-mart.  Rose’s has been around for many years and he never heard of it.  I picked up a couple small things but we needed to get back for the 5:00 birthday/anniversary celebration.

Bill and some of the guys

I made my Waldorf salad as soon as we got back and then took my shower.  There were supposed to be 20 but we only had 17.  They grilled burgers and hotdogs and you could have pretty much anything on top.  The food was great as always and

Nancy's anniversary and Joann's birthday

there was a dual designated cake and Kay made homemade cherry and blackberry ice creams.  They were a BIG hit!  I had the blackberry and it was yummy.  Bill tried both WITH cake.   I passed on the cake.  Once the major event ended I hung out at Don and Nancy’s for a while and Bill was out with a couple of the guys still.  Then he got on his scooter and we headed back up the lane.  We hadn’t seen inside Morris and JoAnn’s new place so we stopped and got the tour.  It’s very nice and they can look out their kitchen window and see the river.  She has lots of storage space and very comfy recliners. 

 

When we got home I put a few things away in the bottom storage and cleared up the counters to get ready to leave tomorrow.  I watched “Suits” and called it a day!