Last Week of October - 2006

We are firmly encamped here at Scuffletown, USA, just 10 miles from Ashley & Javi's home in Simpsonville, SC. I have been performing some maintenance items on the coach this week. The first work item was the clean it up, inside and outside. I cleaned up the battery compartment that had some minor corrosion on the battery posts. I also re-caulked the shower stall. This week-end I have been helping Javi clear brush and dead trees in his back yard. They want to build a flat area for playground equipment for Cammy and Ceci. The engineering to do this will be impressive as this is NOT a flat yard.

MA has been helping Ashley decorate for fall and for Thanksgiving by making wreaths, cornucopia, etc.

Monday, October 23rd - to South Carolina

Today we drove from Statesville, NC to our home for the next five weeks, Simpsonville, South Carolina, near Greenville and Ashley & Javi's home.

We are parked at a place called Scuffletown, USA where we have stayed many times in the past. Thet have geese, peacocks, mulch, gravel, boat storage, country dancin' and a small chapel along with several dozen campsites.

This will give MA & I a chance to relax, catch our breath, get some maintenance items done on the coach plus help Ashley & Javi in some of their new house projects...not tomention getting a lot of grandbaby face time.

Saturday, October 21st

This morning we left Frederick, Maryland and made the short drive to Front Royal, Virginia where we met Tim & Louise Fahey for lunch. I worked with Tim for three years in the 1980's at Amtrak in Philadelphia. We had a most enjoyable time with these fine folks. Many memories of our days in the Amtrak Data Center.

Front Royal was unbelievably crowded for such a small town. The "leaf peepers" are out in droves. Tim says that the happens every fall for about three week-ends.

After lunch, we drove down I-81 to Lexington, Virginia where we are parked ia a Lowe's parking lot, watching movie rentals and the 1st game of the baseball World Series.

Friday, October 20th

Today we left Gypsy and the coach in Frederick, MD and drove down to Manassas, Virginia to gather information. I have been asked to work a sale in Manassas for four weeks, ending just before Thanksgiving. I have been trying, by cell phone, to locate an RV park or trailer park that accepts coaches but have been unable to. We made a final check in person and had no success. The FEW parks are full with seasonal travelers and workers for the Washington, DC area. We drove by the store and met David Voss, the Highfill sales manager and Mark, the store owner. It would have been convenient to work this sale but, I was faced with a "housing" shortage.

On the wasy back to Frederick, we drove thru Charlestown, West Virginia where we considered buying a home in 1980.

On Our Way...Again!

It took Doug from Sammer Towing in Downingtown, PA about two hours to arrive. We ended up bolstering both rear wheels with wood blocks AND, at MA's suggestion, placing long 2x4's under the tow hitch in the rear of the coach. MA noticed that forward progress was being stymied by the lower part of the hitch which had dug about 3" into the asphalt in Gale's driveway, so the 2x4's allowed the hitch to "ride" down the boards rather than being stuck in the asphalt hole. I SLOWLY drove the coach down the makeshift ramps and out into the road. SUCCESS!!! According to Doug, "Your woman's idea made all the difference".

So, we proceeded down to US-1 in southern, PA and into northern Maryland. We ended up in Frederick, Maryland at the Cracker Barrel for the night.

Thursday, October 19 - Second Time is a Charm - NOT!

This morning we packed up the coach and said good-bye to Gale, our hostess for two nights in her driveway in Kirkwood, PA. Her driveway is fairly steep and dips where it meets the road. I took the drive down and the dip VERY slowly, so slowly, in fact, that I, once again, got STUCK!!! This time, after about one hour of raising the coach using the hydraulic leveling jacks, stuffing 4x4's and 2x4's under the drive wheels, had made zero progress toward extricating the coach. I called Coach-Net, with whom, we have a towing and service policy. They are sending out a tow truck from Downingtown, PA, the nearest service center for this kind of towing. Meanwhile, we sit 90% in Gale's driveway (did I say STEEP?) and 10% in the road. Many Amish buggies have driven by, very quizically looking over this 40' immobile motorhome. MA cooked breakfast for the three of us (including Gale) and...here we sit...stay tuned.

Wednesday, October 18th

Drove around the Amish country in Lancaster County, PA today, stopping in Bird-in-Hand, PA to have lunch with Todd, Carole and Samantha Mitchell, friends that we met while I was working a furniture sale in Houma, LA. Todd, Carole and Sam, as well as their son, Josh, also work for Hoyt Highfill Associates, working sales around the country. They do many more sales than I work, so they are constantly on the move. They are managing and working a sale near York, PA and we arranged to meet them at the Plain & Fancy Farm in Bird-in-Hand. It was a terrific lunch with fried chicken, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and apple crisp dessert.

After we said good-bye to Todd, Carole & Sam, we drove to Strasburg, PA and I toured the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania...very interesting as PA has a long and rich history of railroading.

On the road back to Gale's home, we saw this hot air balloon landing in the field of an Amish farm.

Tuesday, October 17th - Back to Pennsylvania

We left the Holbrook's Farm near Danbury, CT and drove to Lancaster County, PA to the home of Gale Vivian, a neighbor from our days living in Virginia. The entire trip was driven in rain showers and wind.

As we got to Gale's home, we had to turn the coach around because of a very tight right turn into her driveway. We used a gravel driveway of an Amish farm just up the road from Gale's. Long story...got the coach stuck in a small ditch used for water runoff. I could not go forward or backward. I used the rear hydraulic leveling jacks to lift the rear wheels about 6 inches off the ground. I stuffed wood blocks underneath both rear wheels and was able to slowly back up and get turned around.

2nd Week of October 2006

Very sorry about the lapse in postings. Internet access has been VERY problematic.

Wednesday, October 11th Arrived back into Danbury, Connecticut area and have, once again, set up camp at the John Holbrook Family Farm.

Thursday, October 12th Javi arrived this evening, having awaken in Vienna, Austria, travelled to Prague, Czech Republic and into JFK. I picked him up at Connecticut Limo in Danbury and he stayed the night with us on the sofa-bed.

Friday, October 13th Ashley and Camryn and Cecilia arrived today from their trip to Binghamton, New York. It was wonderful to see them again. Later, former Danbury neighbors, Steve and Bev Graham, brought lasagna over to the coach for dinner. Bev also brought a Halloween version of her famous Yule Log.

Saturday, October 14th Today, high school friends of Ashley got together at Ron & Linda Pekrul's home for a PAR-TAY. We were celebrating that all four friends gave birth to little girls this year!!!
Later, we stayed with Camryn, Cecilia and Marley (Chrissy Cowden's daughter) while Javi & Ashley and Jared and Chrissy went to dinner.

Sunday, October 15th Had a delightful Sunday Brunch at Chrissy & Jared's home. We had the great opportunity to meet and visit with Jared's parents, Jim and Debbie Cowden.

Sunday, October 8th

Today we drove up to St. Albans, VT and over to Smuggler’s Notch, just north of Stowe, VT. The drive over Smuggler’s Notch was VERY congested with the Columbus Day Week-end tourists all struggling to get to the Notch. Some places were REAL hairpin turns with cars parked on both sides and people walking everywhere. We got back just in time to watch the Cowboys game (lost to the Eagles).

 

Monday, October 9th

Drove the coach down to Rutland, VT and then drove the Jeep down to Weston, a very quaint New England Village that is the home of The Vermont Country Store of mail order fame. After doing some shopping there, we drove over to Whitehall, NY and watched a small boat lock thru from southern Lake Champlain into the Champlain Canal which connects up with the Hudson River in Troy, NY. This was the first locking that Ashley and I went thru in 1992 when we travelled the length of Lake Champlain, the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River for five days.

Saturday, October 7th - Montreal, Quebec

This morning we drove the 7o miles up to Montreal. We had a great lunch downtown at La Republica and then took a three hour tour of the city.
One of the spectacular sights was the Basilica of Notre Dame where Celine Dion got married. It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen.


Later, we visited the St. Joseph Oratory, built magnificently on a hillside.

On the way back to our campsite in South Hero, VT, we stopped at a Roast Beef Dinner in North Hero, a fundraiser for the North Hero Volunteer Fire Department. The dinner was delicious!


This is a sunset scene over Lake Champlain, less than a mile from our campsite.

1st Week of October 2006

Very sorry about the delay in updating the BLOG. The main reason is the complete lack of connectivity, not even WiFi hotspots that I could drive to. The Champlain Valley Exposition facility had VERY poor cellular reception, therefore, connection by my Cingular AirCard was virtually impossible.

Here is a rundown of the past week.

Saturday, Sept. 30th - I played in a Newmar-sponsored golf tournament at the Williston Golf Club. There were 90 participants. I played like a real dog BUT, 89 players played worse. So, I ended up winning the thing by default.
Along with all of our Louisiana friends, we went on a dinner cruise of Lake Champlain. In all, Newmar participants numbered 430. We took up the entire Admiral Deck. The food was very good considering the number of folks dining. The lake is beautiful but, it really was too dark to be able to appreciate the beauty.

Sunday - This was a VERY cold and rainy day. MA shopped for groceries and I watched football. WE attended the Opening Ceremony where 49 states and 9 Canadian provinces were recognized in a flag ceremony.

Monday - Attended seminars on generators, leveling systems, etc. but MA's class on One Stroke Painting was canceled at the last minute because the instructor had an auto accident and was being treated at the hospital for a broken leg.
There was a dinner for all the attendees (875 units) that was OK. After dinner, The Diamonds entertained us with DooWop sounds from the 50's and 60's.

Tuesday - More seminars on Caterpiller engines, Allison Transmissions and microfibre cleaning products.
This evening, the Texas and Louisiana folks hosted a Jambalaya dinner cooked by Raymond Daniels and Fred Walton, our Louisiana state director. We were expecting 60-80 folks...about 140 showed up! But we did had food for everyone. MA fixed her bacon & green beans in a crockpot.

Wednesday - more seminars and I got five problems taken care of on the coach by Newmar and Dometic (awning) technicians.
Dinner was sponsored by Coachlight RV in Carthage, MO.

Thursday - Today, MA and I volunteered at the vendor exhibits, acting like we knew where things were and directing people to the new models display and the vendor booths, etc.
Dinner was ham tonight followed by entertainment. Everybody was saying goodbye tonight because Friday morning would be taken up with the departure process. I got several very sincere "Thank You's" from the Texas and Louisiana folks that we "steered" thru New England. There were very appreciative.

Friday - Said our final goodbye's and drove 20 miles north to South Hero, VT where we are camped for a few days We are killing time until next Wednesday when we return to Danbury, CT to see Ashley and Camryn & Cecilia who are already there visiting high school friends and showing off their progenies. Javi will also join us there on Friday.