Quilts, Flowers, and RVs in Indiana

We're now camped at Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN for a Newmar Kountry Klub (NKK) Rally. NKK is the owners club for RV's mfg'd by Newmar. Ther's 400-some RVs here. Rallies are pretty much like a convention except the topic is RVing and the attendees are all living in RVs.

We've really enjoyed touring the area around the Rally - very picturesque farms - many of which are owned by Amish who can be seen riding around in horse-drawn carts or riding bicycles. We've enjoyed visiting the many shops...noodle, cheese, quilt, garden, etc.

What we like best at Rally's is exchanging ideas with others about travel destinations and RV living!

Oops!

Nuts! Forgot to get something at our friends house before we left. I did not discover it until after lunch 30 minutes away and was ready to hook up the car. I had to drive back to Bethel and pick it up. So we lost about an hour of travel time today. However, we did go about the same distance we had planned. Now we are in South Williamsport, PA at the Nittany Mountain KOA for the night.

Thanks, Danbury! California Here We Come!

We had a great week in Danbury. Caught up on some doctor appointments - Ellyn's semi-annual bloodwork was great and she got another shot of artificial cartilage into her trick knee. Our dear friend (and Rabbi) Lynne was visiting Danbury from Dothan, AL with her husband and it was almost like old times to attend Shabbat services with them and our other UJC friends. Ellyn had a great Rosh Hodesh Group outing on Mindy's boat - so glad the lightning almost held off 'til we were back on the dock. While, Geoff hung out with Jim and Rob. We had a wonderful dinner at Patti's and Gerry's and it was so wonderful to be parked (and neighbors for a week) at Debbi's and Peter's. They were terrifically gracious about welcoming our RV to their driveway and we greatly enjoyed their new shower!

And now the time has come for us to start our big trek to California. Our target is to be in the SF Bay Area on September 2nd. In the meantime, we are excited to be seeing many sights, having many experiences, and visiting with many long-time (and some new) friends. This entire journey, including wintering in the south is scheduled to end up with return to the Northeast for Passover. It should be really something special to be on the road (yet still be in our home) for that long. We really appreciate the support from our friends and family. We look forward to you keeping in touch and keeping us up-to-date with what's happening in your lives while we're on our journey!

Back in the Soup

We have been in Connecticut for a few days now and it has rained every one of them.  

After we were in Maine we went to Cape Cod for a few days. We stayed in Camper’s Haven RV Park in Dennisport. They had a nice little beach right on Nantucket Sound and we hung out there a couple of days. I tried to get my kite up in the air again there but it was too gusty. I am going to see if I can convert it from an aerobatic kite to a regular one to see if it will fly better. If that doesn’t work, I will find a kite store and get something new. The beach was teaming with shells,which we later discovered were Atlantic Slippers.

From the Cape, we moved to Rhode Island to Fisherman’s Memorial State Park near Judith Point. From there we took the ferry to Block Island to visit with Norm and Shelly Topf. Norm is the brother of a good friend of Ellyn’s, Barbara Uziel, from NCJW. Norm and Shelly are also RVers and members of the Chai Chapter of FMCA. We met them in Brookville, FL this last winter when we attended the FMCA Rally down there. They have a summer home on Block Island and we went to visit with them. They took us out for a day of clamming and kayaking (I paddled around in one of their kayaks and Ellyn got a clamming license). It was good clamming there and Ellyn and Norm raked in enough to make a really good snack of stuffed clams back at the house. Norm cooked them up on the grill and Shelly stuffed them. Afterwards, we spread the clam shells on their driveway and stomped them down to make paving. It is going to take a lot of clams to finish the job.

We came back to Danbury to do some Dr. appointments and pick up our mail. From here we head west to Indiana, Chicago, St. Louis, Boulder, et. al. Watch here for more news as our travels continue.

Beautiful Wonderfilled Maine

It had been 18 months since our last trip to Maine (with Nicole and Pieter that time) and as soon as we were back here, we were quickly reminded why we love Maine so much. It's the seacoasts, little harbors, the lobster bouys and boats, the lighthouses, eating the lobster, the little craft shops everywhere, etc. etc. And now we can add something new to the list....the numerous lightning bugs right in the field near camp site.

Geoff has started posting the Maine photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoff0522/ (Note: the link is always on the left on this blog page)

We had a nice time last night joining the German tourist family at their campfire last night. They're spending two weeks in a rented RV traveling from NY to Bar Harbor and are now on the return trip back to NYC. They had never seen lighting bugs and it added to the fun to watch their daughter's joy and delight as she caught them.

Oh yes - and another highlight of our stay in Maine was the day at Logan's in-law's "camp" on the lake with the whole family....Maureen's whole family including her Grandfather and our whole family including Brian's girlfriend, Katherine. That day was quite windy and we found kayaking on their normally mirror-like lake quite choppy. Even so, it was great fun to be out kayaking with Logan and Brian using Marc's and Diane's kayaks.

We're here for 3 more days (including today) with hopes for another kayak outing, some beachcoming, a visit to Boothbay Harbor and I'm sure more surprises!!

Much Better Now

We have been in Massachusetts now for about 5 days and the weather has improved a lot.  After one day of mostly rain, we got a half a day of nice weather, then a full day, and then, on the 4th of July, it was nearly perfect.

The fireworks in Boston went off without a h itch and we enjoyed them very much.

On July5, we had a BBQ party at Logan and Maureen’s house, and it was really nice, bordering on hot.

Today, it was hot. Ellyn and I went kayaking while our RV was in the shop and it was a scorcher until the clouds moved in. The water in the lake was very nice however.

It was Lake Rico in Massasoit State Park, in Taunton, MA.

Now we are at the Boston/Cape Cod KOA in Middleborough, MA. Or is it Middleboro. It looks like they are actually the same place. It can be spelled either way? Weird.

New Dampshire

Yep, we're here and, yep, it's been raining. The north east has been getting pounded with the wettest spring on record, and now we are in the midst of it. We got to Brookline, NH yesterday and visited with Ellyn's cousin Philip and his wife Vicki, and Ellyn's Uncle Lou was also visiting. When he heard we were on our way, he stayed over a day to see us. It was our first visit to their home and we got to see all of the adding on and remodeling they have done. The house is about twice the square footage it was originally and they are still making changes.
But today is a soaker. I think the weather people have given upon predicting all day rain because they said just a chance of thundershowers and it has rained pretty much all day here. I did get out and flip the kayaks after pulling out extra stuff we had stored in them with tarps on. Now that stuff is back in the car and the tarps are off. I like the configuration better this way.
Off to the Boston Minute Man Campground in Littleton, MA tomorrow for four days and to spend part of the 4th of July holiday with our sons.

Mixed Emotions: Relief, Amazement, Sadness

Relief: The trip is over. Mom has been returned to her home at Valley Terrace in White River Junction, VT. Ellyn and I now have the RV all to ourselves again. We can come and go as we wish, can stay up as late as we want, can sleep with the door open to our bedroom, and can regulate the temperature in the RV according to our wishes. I am not saying that Mom had made too many demands, but we needed to change our own behavior because she was our guest in the RV. Now we are "empty nesters" again.

Amazement: First, we are amazed that everything went much more smoothly than we thought they would. Mom traveled much better than we thought she would, was much more at home sleeping on our RV fold-out sofa than we feared she might, and the clean out of the house went quicker than we thought it would. We even were able to relax for one entire weekend and do some fun things instead of just working. Secondly, that we were able to get everything done and Mom back to VT about a week quicker than we expected. We have a week to relax now and travel in VT and NH before visiting the boys in Boston for the 4th weekend.

Sadness: We have to say bye to Mom now for the better part of a year. Of course, we will be able to stay in touch by phone and send her cards, but we will be traveling out west during the summer and will likely winter in the south west. She is ok with this and we have our lives to live but she is not getting any younger and we frankly don't know if we will have another chance to spend this much time with her.

The house is on the market in Grand Rapids and we are waiting to hear of any nibbles. There is one couple who seem serious but we have not heard anything about an offer yet. There is still that other shoe left to drop.

Geoff's Mom's House

We just wouldn't have thought it possible, a week ago. Geoff's Mom's house is emptied out and on the market. The realtor held an open house, today. Just about the only thing we have left to do is to pack up the stuff we're taking back from the house and head east. We'll do that on Monday. Between now and then, we'll have a relaxing Father's Day and visit Geoff's Uncle.

Photos of the house are are on Geoff's flickr page - the link is the left.

Michigan, Day 12

Saturday, to be exact. We did the flea market last Saturday, but today the realtor is having an open house. Mom and I have to go by there this morning and do some clean up. All our boxes of stuff to take should be put into the garage and we need to run the vacuum sweeper around. Also, I need to make some copies of the photos I took yesterday onto a disk for the realtor.

Susan has been great help getting the house cleaned out, also with the help of her boy-friend Craig and his truck. The garage is totally empty. I had some trouble parting with Dad's stuff, but then I realized it was the man who defined the stuff, not the other way around. With him gone, it was just stuff again. I have a few of the tools which I could use but the rest are gone to others who may be able to use them. I found the odd "created" tool, like the C-clamp, cut and welded to pipes to make the opening deeper.

Update: Monday, 6/22- Leaving Michigan. So we headed out today for Vermont to take Mom home. The house is safely on the market and we have removed everything we want from it. The rest is gone except some furniture items. Susan the Realtor told us today that a couple from a local trailer park are talking to their lender and we could possibly have an offer before we get Mom to Vermont.

We stopped off near Detroit to visit with Ken Hafeli and his wife Josie. Ken and I were fellow "Lounge Rats" at Michigan Tech in the 70's.Now were are grey haired old fogies with married children (all 3 of his, just one of ours). We had a great dinner at a local diner and then played Ladder Horseshoes in their back yard (Ken and I won over Ellyn and Josie).

We are staying at a campground in Monroe, MI and will head into Ohio tomorrow.

Our Future Plans

Wow - we're a bit behind in updating the blog. Here's a quick summary - we picked Geoff's Mom up in VT on 6/3, it took us 5 days to drive to Grand Rapids and we've been here working to empty Mom's house since last Monday. We're staying at a cute campground on a lake with very friendly neighbors that's about 20min. from Mom's home. We'll fill in more details in a later post.

Meanwhile, we've made some plans for our future travels....

July 2 to 9 - Boston area for an extended 4th of July weekend. Maybe we'll even go see the big fireworks. We've never seen a big city fireworks display so that might be fun. And maybe we'll finally get to kayak on the Charles river. And of course, we'll get together with L&B a bit.

July 9 to 16 - A week in Maine staying at a campground right on a river/bay for some lobster and kayaking, touring, and perhaps a family get-together at L's in-law's "camp".

At that point, we'll probably drop by Danbury for a couple days and then we're off to the west for a really extended trip.

August - Our first set stop is a rally of RVers with the same maker as our RV. Here's a good article about the rally and it's effort to bring some economic impact to those affected by a really ailing industry: http://www.newmarcorp.com/news/kountry_klub_rally
After the rally, we will travel to CA - route not yet determined.

September - We have reservations starting the week of Labor Day for six days in Yosemite - our honeymoon location. L&J may join us up there for a few days. Then time in the bay area and then down to S. Cal.

Sometime in Oct, we'll start heading east with stops in TX to see cousins and much etc. So much to do and see!

Danbury, NYC, & Cambridge Visits

Here's a quick update to catch you all up....
1) Had a quick visit to Danbury. We parked in Bethel first for a couple days in Allison's driveway, when they were away, and then in the treet in front of their home. We had lots of fun eating and catching up with them....including an incredible pasta dinner debbi made for Liana track team. Ellyn also got a chance to play Mah Jongg, with her friends.
2) On Satureday we went to NYC to have lunch with Ellyn's father. He was in NYC to receive a distinguised alumni career award from CCNY. Logan & Maureen, Brian & Katherine as well as Ellyn's cousin Ann-Lynn and her husband, Alan were all there. The restaurant was great and it was great to all be together and it was a beautiful day in NYC.
3) Next we met up with the group we went out to dinner with on a monthly basis. Our timing was great to meetup with them for a visit to Melting Pot fondue restaurant. It was pricey but a great time was had by all.
4) On Tuesday, we left for Boston where we visited Brian's and Katherine's apartment for the first time. It is really spacious and sun-lit on the 6th floor with a great view. Brian had gotten take-0ut for us. We each made a menu choice from either the bar-b-q restaurant or Japanese/Chinese restaurant. Plus the kids gave Geoff a b-day gift of $$ to go on a sand-dune buggy ride when we are in Michigan.They love giving us gifts of memorable experiences instead of things.
5) Yesterday, we drove up to VT so we could pick up Geoff's Mom to take her to Michigan to empty out her home of more than 60 years. As I write this, Mom is in the "navigator seat" and I'm at the dinette table. We realized a couple days ago that Geoff's passport is expired so we won't be able to take the short cut through Canada. Bad timing - because the requirement for a passport just went into effect on Monday. It's only a couple hours longer to drive around the Great Lakes via Cleveland.
That catches up the blog - we are hoping to do some fun stuff on the trip and will post the highlights.

Shenandoah Valley WOW!

We arrived at Shenandoah Valley Campground on Monday afternoon with plans to stay two nights and one day. We love this campground - it is in a beautiful little valley and right next to a little river that even has a waterfall. Ellyn says it's her all-time favorite campground. Geoff said that Ellyn says that about every campground we go to.

Here's all we've done in our one day, here...

1. Our plan for a pre-breakfast bike ride around the campground scuttled by the flat tire on my bike. That made getting my bike tire and inner tube replaced as the first thing on our agenda. It was easy to find a bike shop in Staunton - about 15 min. away. The bike guy fixed the bike quickly but not so quick that we didn't have time to pick up a few sundries in the bike store.
   
2. After the bike was done, we took advantage of being in Historic Staunton to walk around the charming small city. There are many 19th century buildings and we had fun using the Walking Tour Map to learn about each of them. We had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant.
   
3. Our next stop was Grand Caverns. We've always enjoyed visiting Caverns through the years - though it was even more fun when Logan and Brian were still traveling with us. We were totally impressed by this cavern - really nice big rooms with plenty of undamaged stalactites and was unique in three ways: A) The limestone plates in this cavern ran vertically 2) There are about 30 or more "shield"features - a typical cave only has a few and 3) The cave has been open to the public since 1806 - more than 200 years ago. Both union and confederate civil war soldiers visited the cavern. And it was the custom back then for visitors to sign the walls - more than 200 signatures have been authenticated to be civil war soldiers - we saw a few of them.
   
4. We then returned back to the Campground and did laundry. However, the special aspect of this laundry room was that it was right next to the hot tub room - with six hot tubs. We relaxed in the hot tub while the laundry was being completed.
   
5. Next, a very quick dinner so we could get to the DJ entertainment for the second night. There's a deck with lots of red, white and blue colored lights and a DJ each night. Other than the campground owner family, there were only a few other people but we still had lots of fun doing the two step and Geoff even did Kareoke.
   

That's a pretty busy day. We really like it here and want to come back - hopefully when the weather is a bit warmer and we can go in the river or the pool and we still need to drive on the blue ridge parkway.

Photos to follow on Geoff's flickr page - please see link on the left.


Tomorrow, we plan to drive most of the way back to New York. We'll see many of you in the next few week as we visit the NE. See you soon.

The Coca Cola 340 and a half

Six and one half hours of bumper-to-bumper, all out racing (with intervals of extreme boredom while they dried the track, or tried to) added up to one wet day in NC. The Coca Cola 600 rolled off a day late and was able to get in only 227 laps. They had one period of about one hour of track drying around lap 70, and another of about 2 hours at lap 170. Finally they reached 201 laps, an official race distance, and it was not raining. 26 laps later was a different story. They tried to get the track dry 3 times during the next 3 hours but to no avail. The rain kept coming; not an all out deluge like we had had on Sunday that had delayed it in the first place, or like on Saturday, when they called the Nationwide Series Carquest 300 after 170 of 200 laps, but just a steady drizzle.

During this time, fans slowly but surely started filtering out of the stands, and only the diehard fans with no pressing appointments or with their homes near enough by to be able to be home before midnight, stayed on. Finally NASCAR called it. Of course, that was the signal for the rain to stop and the sun to come out.

I returned my scanner that I had rented for the weekend and started the long walk back to the RV. By this time many of the RVs in the campgrounds have left. Some left this morning and I saw more leaving at each red flag period. We will still be here tonight and will head out in the morning, up into Virginia. The next place we have to be is in Danbury on June 1st for some Dr. appointments.

Clam Strips Questions Answered

I've always been curious about clam strips because it didn't make sense that they were a little park cut out of a regular clam. Finally, I thought to look it up and here's a great explanation http://www.weloveclams.com/strips.html It doesn't have anything to do with our current travels but I thought others might find this interesting.

Deluge - Bad Timing

A short time ago, I walked Geoff to the track, when he went to the Nationwide Cup 300mile race, so that I could use the rest room. While I was in the rest room, the cloudy sky just opened up and it started totally pouring rain. By time it let up enough for me to walk back, our RV's open vents had dropped water onto our TV which is now not working. We use a flat screen on a wheeled cart in the RV. I can't believe that I was gone for only a few minutes and that happened. Oh well. Maybe when it dries out, it will start working.

Meanwhile, I'm it's more or less stopped raining but I'm sure there will be quite a delay in the running of the race. I'm sure Geoff will have a good time and lots of stories to tell me when he gets back to the RV later tonight.

Geoff: Wow, that was close. I almost had to go back to the RV for a change of clothes. The skies opened up, as Ellyn described, just as I reached the entrance to the area under the grandstands. It was packed with people and there were gofl carts trying to move around under there too.

The track was soaked but the rain stopped and the race started about 1 1/2 hours late. About 11:00 and 170 laps down out of 200, it started raining again. At first it looked like it would just be a little and they could restart but then it came down harder and they called it about 11:30.

It was fun being there though. There is nothing you can see on TV which is like sitting in the stands and feeling the thunder from those 43 engines racing by at nearly 200 mph. I felt a little bad though for an older woman sitting near me who came with one of her children and who obviously could not tell what was going on. She did not stand for the restarts, which she probably could not have seen anyway because she was shorter than those around her, and did not appear to be able to tell which car was which even if she could see them. Whenever I looked over at her, she looked bored and deafened, since she was not wearing any ear protection. Heck, I was following it and had my scanner on, and I could barely tell which car was which.

Geoff's Big B-Day - Generator Village

Today's the day of Geoff's big birthday and we're camped in the Family Campground at Lowe's Motor Speedway. When we made the reservations, the campground was sponsered by and named after "Country Crock" but now the signs indicate that it's the "Klondike" Campground. Ah - the big business world of NASCAR.

As most of you know, Geoff is a huge NASCAR fan so this 2nd biggest race weekend of the year (2nd only to Daytona) is perfect timing for his birthday weekend. 10 years ago, for his 50th b-day, I gave him a NASCAR Driver experience right here at this same racetrack so he's driven it himself.

The weekend is chock full of races and race events. Last night, I joined Geoff for the timed qualifying. One car at a time doing one (with an optional 2nd) timed to determine which order they would start Sunday's race and also the slowest four cars/drivers wouldn't make the race. I liked the qualifying a lot - but even with ear plugs and sound deadening earmuffs, I could still hear the cars and (surprisingly) the announcer. I was surprised that many of the fans cheered for more than one driver and I didn't hear any boo (as they sometimes do) for the driver I kind of root for, Jeff Gordon. Also, I learned from the announcer that the new rookie Home Depot driver, Joey Lagano, is from CONNECTICUT!!

Tonight Geoff went to the dirt track racing, tomorrow night is the 300 mile 2nd tier (Nationwide Cup) NASCAR race and Sunday night is the main Sprint Cup event - the Coca-Cola 600. I'm not going to any of those races - too scary because of the likelihood of accidents and too noisey for me. However, today, Geoff and I took a bus tour to two of the NASCAR shops/museums/stores. Each of those facilities housed four Sprint Cup Drivers - including Jeff Gordon at the Hendrick's shop.

Now for the bad news - we are totally sardined into this campground which is adjacent to the track. And everybody is running generators - and the ones that are stand-alone generators (like those folks use when their power goes out) are NOISY. And the RV that just pulled next to us, put their generator right under our window. The good news is that all the generators need to be turned off between midnight and 7am. The trick is to time sleeping for exactly those hours. The generators are definitely a downside of this experience. This afternoon, Geoff took a snooze in our outdoor recliner with the hearing protection on.

Be sure to use the link to Geoff's photos on the left.

Jekyll Island - Our First Rain

We're now on Jekyll Island - a Georgia barrier island. The entire island once was owned by a group of "barons" of the end of the 19th century. Now, it seems like a cross between Walt Disney World, Newport Mansions and a large National Park. By law, the island must remain at least 65% undeveloped and it is criss-crossed by 20 miles of paved biking trails. That's the good news - but the bad news is that it has rained since we arrived here, yesterday afternoon. We really can't complain because it's the first rain-out in the month that we've been traveling. BUT it is unfortunate that the forecast is for it to rain, again, tomorrow and we leave on Wednesday. Guess we'll just have to return here, again.

Despite the rain, we did visit the beach, for a few minutes, to view and photograph the turbulent sea. We also stopped by the Nature center where there were several sizes of sea turtles. Ellyn can't help but think of the turtle, Crush, in "Finding Nemo" when she sees those real turtles. We had a great seafood lunch - love those Grouper sandwhiches - and dropped by the Jekyll Museum which had a lot of details about all aspects of Jekyll Island's past.

We are hoping that there is a break in the rain, tomorrow, for us to do some bike riding and, perhaps, to take a tram tour of the island.

Happy Birthday to Brian, yesterday. And we're on a countdown to Friday - Geoff's big birthday!

Don't forget to take a peak at our photos - the links are on the left side of our blog page.

On the Road Again - A Beautiful Coastal Road

Most of this is excerpted from a note I sent my brother, yesterday.....

We drove from Panama City Beach to Panacea - we only stopped in Apalachacola for lunch at the Apalachacola Seafood Grille (recommended strongly by my brother's wife, Liz). Geoff had the "Largest Seafood Sandwich" which was cod bites piled high and Ellyn had a fried grouper sandwhich. Both were great but Ellyn concluded that the Grouper was more tastey. We, then, walked around the block. It was a very quaint historic seeming town to visit - but it was fairly hot for walking around too much. We liked seeing the real fishing boats and also looked in the windows at the closed print shop plus took a few photos. We'll have to get back there to spend more time, I think. Next, we drove on to Holiday RV park on the water in Panacea, FL. We went for the dip in the pool and will generally just hang out here this evening (great view). Today, our plans are to drive to Wakula Springs and to the Costco in Talahasee then drive towards the Atlantic Coast. We have reservations on Jekyll Island for 3 nites starting Sunday. Then, onto the raceway in Charlotte with plans to arrive there on the 21st - in time for Geoff's big birthday on the 22nd. We have liked the Panhandle coast and do hope to get back here again.

A Kayak First - The Yummy Kind

We had a great kayak outing, mid-day today. First, we kayaked about a half mile up the Grand Lagoon from our Campground to a marina restaurant. This is the first time we've ever paddled to a meal. The water was a smidge choppy as we headed out but, after lunch, when we kayaked back from the restaurant, the conditions were BEAUTIFUL. We kayaked about 3/4 miles past the campground in the other direction and relaxed on the little beach. Ellyn learned that if she laid down, at water's edge, with her PFD still on, that it was a perfect pillow. Ahh!

Along our path, we saw many many jumjping fish, pelicans, storks, gulls, etc. etc. And Ellyn is so glad to, finally, be seeing well! So heavenly!! It was a 3 mile total kayak path - not too much exertion. And now we're having a bit of a rest then we're off to another sunset on the gulf beach. We'll probably pack dinner to have on the beach.

Only one more day here in Panama City Beach before we start heading east on Friday...and we've just about reached our goal of organizing all the last minute stuff we stashed into the car and RV when we left the house. We should be in great shape by Friday.

Dolphins and Pick-Ups

Here's some stuff that happened today - our 7th day at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, FL -

1) We went swimming in the Gulf beach today. Ellyn wasn't in the water too long because the "yellow flag" waves were a bit much for her but Geoff enjoyed them. We saw a pod of dolphins through the binoculars from the beach. Loved that!

2) Geoff flew an old kite of his and we started up a conversation with a couple on the beach. They are RVers staying in the park only two days and we had such a nice conversation that we all went out to dinner, tonight. It was a pleasure to exchange tips and experience with them. We exchanged our info-cards so we can keep in touch to perhaps meet-up for another dinner someday. (Oh yes, and the kite crashed - not sure how much repair is needed).

3) If you're following Ellyn's eye saga, you may recall that the new prescription still left her seeing double but it was improved. She found a place to order the stick-on prisms and bought a few different diopter strengths. They arrived today and the 3 diopter prism did the trick - so for the first time since February, Ellyn can now see well with her glasses!! YAY!!! She's going to make an appt. at John's Hopkins to follow-up on that on our way back to CT at the end of the month.

4) P.S. To Geoff's account of Ellyn's ear problem (yesterday), here's a link to a web description of how little of a problem it is: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vertigo/DS00534/DSECTION=causes. The ear-dr. who said I had this problem (when examining me for something, else), recommended the head-shaking solution and it seems to work.

It's hard to believe we only have 3 more days, here...so much kayaking, biking and beach-ing still to do.

Mother’s Day 2009

Staying in one place for a while has its perks. Today we got to be lazy in the morning. I got up and fixed Ellyn a nice breakfast of a mushroom and cheese omelet and some cantaloupe. Then we packed up all our dirty laundry and made a trip to a local coin laundry. All done in about 2 hours. Next, a quick lunch and off to the local Target to do a little shopping. Then to a movie theater to catch the new Star Trek movie. It was great!

At the Target, I got a little scare from Ellyn. As we approached the entrance, she suddenly grabbed me and said “I feel really dizzy. Hold onto me.”. I did that and she shook her head hard and said it was passing. I tried to get her over toward the store and out of the parking lot, but then she suddenly dropped to the ground. I was scared but she seemed to be laughing it off and shook her head again. Other people came up but she was able to get up and go on with the shopping. She said she had been diagnosed by her doctors to have some kind of sand in her inner ear. I had not heard of that but she said they told her to just shake her head and the sand would redistribute and the dizziness would go away. I guess it worked but I guess this was the first time it happened while she was standing. She had not told me about it before but I guess she has had it happen every couple weeks or so. Sheesh!

After the movie we walked around a little in the outdoor mall near the theater and then headed back to the RV. We had to move it over to the dump station at the park and empty the holding tanks. Now we should be ok until we leave here on Friday. Then we headed out to get some dinner but I had left my wallet in the RV by mistake. It was disappointing but we came back to the RV and just had some leftovers.

Now I need to put away the clean clothes and get our bed made back up so we can get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day in paradise.

From Sunny Florida

Hello from St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, FL. We have a water view campsite. There's white sand, clear water, snorkeling, kayaking, biking, etc etc and we're planning to stayhere for TEN days!!
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This morning we took a bikeride around the park. First, there is a little sandy waterfront right near our campsite where we saw hermit crabs scampering. Then we rode to the fishing pier and, finally, to the beaches. Two of the beaches are at right angles to each other....one is directly on the gulf and there was a red flag, warning of rough water, on that beach. However, there were surfers in the water and many of them were standing up using paddles which is the first time we saw that. It's pretty warm and sort of humid, here, so we are using the AC in the RV.

Logan's Memories

Hope this post from Logan's blog this week gives you a chuckle:

My parents made a censored version of Raiders of the Lost Ark for me when I was young. Indiana Jones escapes from the tomb, blows up the plane, steals the ark back from the Nazis in the desert, gets on the ship with Marion, THE END. I was probably in my teens before I saw the whole version on television. I had never even questioned it.

Someone's going to bring it up, so here's another anecdote: When I was very young, my parents called the ice cream truck the "music truck" to keep me from screaming every time I heard it. I don't know how long that one lasted, because I have no memory of it.

Anybody have any trouble believing we would do this?

Sweet Home Alabama

We are having a very nice ("sweeet") time in Alabama. First, we visited Dothan and our dear friends, Lynne and Rob. About 10 years, ago, Lynne chose being a Rabbi as a second career. She studied Hebrew intensively to pass the entrance exam, spent a year in Israel away from her husband and, after five years of study in rabbinic school, Lynne was ordainedas a rabbi. Her first synagogue is a 55 family congregation...oh yes, and we are the 55th family! We want to maintain membership in a synagogue while we're traveling so we decided that this way we can really have Rabbi Lynne (as her congregation calls her) as OUR rabbi.

It was a very special Shabbat at Lynne's synaogue as they had a Holocaust survivor, Anne Rosenheck, as the speaker. Anne was 13 years old when her family was transported to Aushweitz and that was the last she saw of her family. However, she survived and you could hear a pin drop as she retold her story of survival with several very close calls. Here's an article about the community event she also spoke at. http://www.dothaneagle.com/dea/lifestyles/local/article/holocaust_survivor_to_share_story/68820/ On Sat evening, we had a lovely dinner at Lynne's and Rob's home with Anne and her friend, John Stembridge, also at the dinner. John had incredible stories in his own right having once been Mayor of North Miami, Florida and quite involved in all sorts of different global experiences.

That didn't finish our experience with Lynne's synagogue - yesterday, we joined about 30 congregants to attend a AA baseball team, the Montgomery Biscuits. It was great fun - of course, I got some biscuits and gravy at the park! Afterward, we joined the group at Jason's Deli. The only downer of the day was that the Biscuits lost the game. We're returning to Dothan on Wed. to help with the synagogue's Deli Day fundraiser (they're selling 800 corned beef lunches) with plans to stay for another erev Shabbat.

And now we're camped at Gunter Hill COE campground. The COE is US Core of Engineers and that means that we're camped on land that's adjacent to a COE resevoir - well, actually, it is a beautiful lake. We have a wonderful view of the lake out our back windows and we had a really nice kayak outing late this afternoon. We were supposed to be touring the Civil Rights sights in Montgomery today but, somehow, got sidetracked and ended up just hanging around the lovely campground today...it was good to have a down day and we'll resume our sightseeing tomorrow. I'm sure that will give a lot to add to a future post.

This American Life LIVE

We just returned from Alpharetta (in the suburbs of Atlanta) where we attended the This American Life Live broadcast. I'm a huge fan of the Public Radio show, This American Life and what we saw tonight was a live show broadcast to movie theaters throughout the country. Some venues sold out but the Alpharetta movie theater only had about 50 people. The show was great - extremely moving at times as well as very funny. However, in my opinion, the highlight of the show was seeing Ira Glass being so cutely cumudgeonly at the sound board...can't see that on the radio! Oh - yes - one quirk in the evening was the satellite dropped out for about 10 minutes during what turned out to be a thunderstorm. Luckily, the cartoon that got interupted will be put on the website.

Another highlight of the show was Josh Whedon doing his first live musical performance of one of the songs in the "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" director's commendy. Apparently, the whole director's commentary is done in song. We hadn't heard that, previously, and now plan to buy the DVD when we get a chance. Here's more on the Dr. Horrible phenomen.

Other stuff we did today was to celebrate our first day of warm weather by exchanging our summmer and winter clothing in the RV storage, replace my paddle lost in the kayak excitement (see post below), pick up a few things at the huge new Alpharetta Costco and I got my first pedicure of the season. Tomorrow we're off to Dothan, GA to visit with our friends Lynne and Rob. We haven't seen them in two years so it will be SO GREAT to see them!!

Wherever You Are, Be All There

Wow - we're really behind, already, in our blogging....we've been having some great days and our travels are just beginning.

Please see Geoff's flickr page for photos from the following....

We arrived in Dahlonega which is in the foothills of the northern Georgia mountains (hills compared to the Rockies, of course) on Monday afternoon. The weather is perfect and sunny and the trees that aren't blossoming are now bursting forth with their new leaves. Our first night, we went to listen to a singer-songwriter night at a local small music venue which was wonderful. Yummy dinner and great music in an very small venue. Yesterday, we went to the GA Racing Hall of Fame and then the Dawsonville Pool Hall for lunch. I'll let Geoff write about that.

Geoff: The first thing I noticed about the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame was that it was also the Dawsonville City Hall. I guess that pretty much nails its importance to the city. For those who are not racing fans, Dawsonville is famous for being the home town of many early stock car racers, but most notably, Bill Elliott, who was mostly prominent in NASCAR in the 80’s and the 90’s, although he still races today on occasion. The hall has many of Bill’s race cars, but also has cars from other racers from Georgia, as well as some notable ones from famous racers not from Georgia. We sat and watched a movie on the start of NASCAR and many of the racers in the sport who called Georgia home. One of the gentlemen talking about the history was Gordon Pirkle, a racing enthusiast who was also the owner of one of the most popular eating spots in Dawsonville, The Pool Room. Well, as I was looking over some of the cars, he walks by and says hi. We talked for a bit and he said that they had just gotten one of Davy Allison’s cars in. He also mentioned that they were not as interactive as they had been because of cut backs in funding, but they are still open every day and free to the public.

Later, I told Ellyn about talking with him when we were eating at the Pool Room, and then as we walked out, there he was. So we stopped and talked with him again and told him how much we liked the Hall of Fame and the food at the Pool Room and he was very happy that we enjoyed it. When we mentioned we were from CT and had heard of Jerry Nadeau, he went in the back and brought us each a Jerry Nadeau keychain.

Today we did a ton of things.....waterfall hike, lunch by a river in "Bavarian" Helen, bought grits at an operating Grist Mill, flea market, Appalachian Trail Mountain Crossing, Cabbage Patch Kids Babyland Hospital. We saw a sign at the Mountain Crossing (which is the only portion of the AT that goes inside) that said "Wherever you are, be all there" and that pretty sums up how Geoff and I are trying to live each of the days we'll of this extended traveling.

Tonight, we're off to the boarding house style dinner at The Smith House and tomorrow afternoon/evening we'll go down to Alpharetta to see the "This American Life" Live viewings at the movie theater. It's supposed to be 80F which will be amazing. I already gave my legs their first shaving of the spring and I'm going to try to squeeze in a pedicure tomorrow.

Kayak Tumble & Cowboy Boots

Well - today almost matches yesterday's home sale in terms of being extremely memorable.

This is how our kayak outing was supposed to go:
Step one: Place Geoff's bike at Hominy Creek River Park
Step two: Put in Kayaks at Bent River Creek Park
Step three: Enjoy gentle flowing French Broad River as we paddle 7 miles past Biltmore Estate
Step four: After arriving at Hominy Creek River Park, Geoff rides his bike 4miles back to retrieve the car at Bent River Creek Park

All went well as we put the kayaks into the river, then we noticed little patches of rapids which were a bit more exhilarating than we've paddled previously. We came to a highway overpass with a good patch of rapids all across the river between the highway supports. The current rushed me towards one of the pillers and YIKES!!! I was heading fast for the pillar and feared breaking an arm against it but instead I "just" ended in the water. This is the first time is our several years of kayaking that one of us ended in the water. Luckily, the river was refreshing but not too cold and not too deep but was rushing. Between the river not being too deep and me hanging onto Geoff's kayak, we made it over to the shore without me tipping over Geoff's kayak.

The force of the river had my kayak still pinned onto the highway pillar with me glad that I wasn't pinned between the kayak and the pillar! Geoff went back and heroically maneuvered the rapids (very impressively) to loosen my kayak but it would not budge. Finally, he got into the river to push the kayak loose then got back into his kayak and pulled my kayak over to the side of the river to where I was sitting. Oh yes, while I sitting there, another kayaker hit the pillar and fell in the water as I had but was taller than me so he was able to pop right back into his kayak and went off paddling.

The one thing we lost in my tumble was my paddle - which on a calm river wouldn't have been a problem since Geoff could easily tow me. However, without me having a paddle on this river, it would be a problem whenever we hit another rough patch. And we still had over six more miles of paddling til our planned endpoint. (Are you starting to wonder what this has to do with cowboy boots? That's coming up soon, don't worry.) Even so, we decided to try Geoff towing me which went well for about 10 minutes but then we came to another small rapid and I panicked at the thought of going through it towed by Geoff. We went to the side of the river so I could walk around it and then I realized that there was a path at the top of the river bank. So I scrambled up the muddy river bank to walk my way out while Geoff continued down the river to the planned end point.

I walked for about 30 minutes on what I soon figured was a Biltmore Estate bridle path. I felt a little strange walking along drenching wet and still wearing my PFD (life jacket). Eventually, came to a pasture with a few beautiful horses being fed by what I learned were Bilmore staff. I told them my story and the young horsewoman, Elizabeth, was about to end her shift so she agreed to drive me to Geoff's and my meeting point. And one of those staff members feeding the horses had on knee high blue cowboy boots. I didn't realize anybody that actually worked with animals wore flashy boots like those. I wished I had my camera. While I waited 10 minutes or so for Elizabeth to finish feeding the horses, I sat on a log in the middle of that beautiful pasture and felt amazed at what a different experience I was having than the one we had planned.

Elizabeth wasn't sure where the park was so she checked the web from her cell phone but then it turned out that she was bringing me in the wrong direction so we stopped someplace for directions. They had no idea but I did get to use the rest room there and then I found out the my luck was really odd, this afternoon, because the toilet wouldn't flush. Uggh....but then we got through to Geoff on the phone. He had successfully completed the kayaking and was at the location of his bike. he asked Elizabeth to take me to where our car was and that he would ride the bike to meet me. And that's just what happened and we were reunited.

Now we'll need to get a new paddle for me....and we think we'll stick to calm predictable lakes from now on! Phew!!

Addendum from Geoff:

Whew, I'm pooped. After I got Ellyn's kayak loose, chased it down, emptied the wter out of it, hooked it up to the back of mine, I was about a quarter mile down stream from where I dropped her off. Trying to paddle back up against the current was not working, so I got over to the side of the river and got out and walked, dragging both kayaks behind me. I caught up just in time to see another kayaker go into the drink right in the same spot, but he was able to get righted and go on.

After Ellyn went up the bank and found the Biltmore trail, I towed her kayak on downstream toward the park where my bike was parked. This took another hour and a quarter. Ellyn said she would try to call me but I had no cell signal while on the river. After I got out, and got both kayaks out, and locked them up with my bike lock, and strapped the rest of our gear to the back of my bike, I checked the phone and found I had a couple of calls from a strange number. I called it back and asked if Ellyn was there. She was but not with the person who was helping her. They could not find the park I was at but I asked her to take Ellyn to the other park where the car was parked. 

I had no doubt I could make the ride, but I had used up a lot more of my energy in the kayak than I had expected when we put out onto the water. I had to get off and walk a few times on hills when my legs got too rubbery but I made the 5.9 mile ride in just under 44 minutes. Then we had to go back and load the kayaks. Ugh! There was a group of kayak fishermen there who had seen me trying to get the kayak off the bridge piling and they helped me put one of the kayaks up on the car.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rain day. I can use a break. 

And Now For Something Completely Different

Today we got the official word from our real estate attorney that the closing on our house sale will be Friday at 3:00 PM. So now we can celebrate, and just in time too, since tomorrow is our 31st Anniversary.

Yesterday, we headed out on our newest adventure in our year-old RV. We cleaned the last of the stuff out of our house in Danbury and pulled out of Claremont Avenue for the last time. Twenty two years and seven months we lived there, the longest either of us have had the same mailing address in our lives. Now we are living a mobile lifestyle.

It isn’t perfect yet. We moved way too much stuff into the RV from the house and are going to have to get rid of a lot of it. We were able to drop off some old electronics at Ellyn’s brother’s house yesterday which he will take to their town’s recycling event in a few weeks.

Tonight, we are at the Walnut Hills Campground near Staunton, VA, for an overnight stay and then on to Asheville, NC, where we will get to really relax for 4 days. Ahhhh.

Amazement and Mystery

Amazing - we are actually moved totally out of our home of 22 years. Due to arrive within an hour in Baltimore for my eye appt. And we're trying not to worry that the closing of the house is inexplicably not yet scheduled. Our Realtor tells us that the buyers realtor and lender say it's all go which is why it's a mystery that it's not scheduled.

Tuesday or Wednesday

Closing getting closer....we hear it will be Tues or Wed of this week!!

So Close We Can Taste It

Ok, we are now getting serious. The final clean out of the house is in progress. Items are being sorted into "Freecycle", "Goodwill", "Dump", and "RV" piles. The last load has gone to storage the rest is out or we find room to carry it with us. Monday we head south come hell or high water. This better happen.

The Sale Seems to be Approaching

We definitely don't want to count our chickens too soon before we cross the bridge but, finally, today we did hear that our buyers have a loan commitment to buy our home. The closing is set for only SEVEN DAYS away!!

We'll keep you all posted.

Tales of Houseselling - 2009 Version

This house selling is really a headache....here's a recap:
Sept 08 - Put house on Market and get first buyers by end of the month

Oct 08 - US Economy goes into turmoil and house deal falls apart when buyer loses Wall St. Job within a week of the closng date and just as we donate the last of our furniture

Nov 08 - House goes back on the market

Dec/Jan - Housing market totally dead for the holidays

Feb 09 - After several low offers, new buyers for $12,000 less than first sale agreement and we agree

Mar 09 -

• Buyer's appraisal for the mortgage comes in $5000 less than sale price due to using comparable from last summer that was a "short sale" - we agree to the lower sale price to speed the process. This apparently a backlash from when appraisals were over inflated during the "bubble."
  
• Buyer's Mortgage Insurance Co. requests 2nd "verification" appraisal which comes in another $10,000 lower
• After reviewing recent sale prices in Danbury, we indicate we won't further lower our sale price. Buyers indicate they are still interested in the house.

Current Status - House sale contract expired and buyers need to decide new strategy for financing for sale to continue while we are trying not to think about the sale falling through and the need to put the house back on the market. UGGH!

Working on a Dream

Our house sale is supposed to close in only 11 days but there is currently a nerve-wracking delay in the buyer's mortgage commitment. I know that there are many others in the country who share our sadness that we've done everything right by our house and the greedy mistakes of others continues to keep us from living our dream. Our home sale is still alive but it looks like we'll be living with uncertainty about the mortgage commitment through the weekend. So it looks like we'll be working hard, this weekend, to regain our optimism.

By the way - although all the lyrics don't exactly fit our situation, the mood of the title track on Bruce Springsteen's new album fits our mood these days: Working on a Dream Video

On The Road Again

Well, we did end up taking the RV to Baltimore for Ellyn's surgery (see the previous append) and we are now staying at the Bay Harbor RV Park in Abingdon, MD, about 30 minutes from the Johns Hopkins Medical Center where Ellyn had the surgery done on Wednesday. It has been rather cold and windy but, since we settled on an offer on our house on Tuesday, we decided to hang out here for one more day before heading back to Danbury. The park is right on the Bush River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay, and is nice and quiet, has wi-fi and cable TV, so Ellyn has been comfortable here resting her eyes and recovering.

We walked around the park a bit yesterday, until the wind came up and forced us back inside. It is still pretty windy today and only a few degrees above freezing. This morning the outside water hose was frozen up. I think I will have to leave the water on in one of the sinks to try to prevent it happening again. 

Today we went to Lutherville-Timonium to the Maryland State Fairgrounds where they were having an RV show. Although we are now happy RV owners, we still like to look at other rigs and see what is new or different. But now we may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. If all goes well, we will be closing on the house by the end of March and then we will be totally free. Ellyn will have to come back here for a follow up appointment but we will have our kayaks then and maybe the weather will be nice enough to be able to do some paddling.

Back in Danbury

We're back in Danbury, now...well, at least for a few days. Happily, we had a very uneventful drive all the way back from FL - in 3 days including an overnight stop at Ellyn's brother's and sister's-in-law home. We're catching up with friends and errands here and will be leaving again on Monday or Tuesday for us to travel to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for Ellyn's eye surgery. She's having eye muscle surgery on her strabismus. Here's more information that you would ever want to know about the surgery http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/wilmer/pdfs/STEDLG.pdf and the renowned Dr. Guyton, who will be performing the surgery http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/wilmer/employees/cvs/Guyton.html We're currently leaning towards traveling by car and staying in a motel because there aren't any year round campgrounds that are close enough to Johns Hopkins.

Enough Already

This is Ellyn and I'm going to write this one in the first person - I'm a bit bummed out today. It was 24F when I awoke this morning to go to a 8am Rally speaker IN A TENT. I know that's not as cold as it's been in the NE but we are IN FLORIDA and we are at a rally where we are supposed to be spending time OUTSIDE and in TENTS. In my bummed feeling this morning, I feel like this cold weather stole our last week in Florida. It's supposed to warm up to 65F this afternoon and the 70's tomorrow but we start home the day after that so this was our last week. As the saying goes...Everybody talks about the weather but nobody can do anything about it. By the way, there was frost everywhere this morning. In Florida. Hummmphf!

The good news is that in 20minutes, that I'm going to join with some other members of the Chai Chapter of the RV club to PLAY MAJ JONGG....that should cheer me up even if I don't win!

Fort de Soto County Park

This was our last park stop before the FMCA Rally. The park is a series of islands or "keys" as they are called in Florida. The camping area is very nice and the spaces are quite wide and long. We were able to get the RV in and out pretty easily.

The first evening it was very clear so we went out on one of the fishing piers to watch the sunset. They keep the piers open after dark for fishing but the rest of the park is closed. Before it got very dark, we went by the kayak and canoe rental area to check out the ease of launching our own. A park ranger came by when we were leaving to see what we were up to. Guess we made him nervous.

The next day we went to the far end of the park to walk the nature trail. This was to let the day warm up a bit before we went kayaking. It was a bit disappointing because there were no animals or birds to be seen. We cut it short and went back to the picnic area for lunch. At least we did see some birds there as well as some noisy fishermen.

So, we went to launch into the bay. It was still a quit cool and breezy but the sun was bright and warm. We saw a woman with a small dog with a PFD on. Ellyn chased her down for a picture and chatted with her for a while. The woman also took our picture before we parted ways. At one point we saw some other kayakers watching an area of the bay intently. When we got close, several dolphins broke the surface. We had not expected that. One of the kayakers told us they had also seen a manatee in there before.

We finished up, went back to the RV for a nap, and then out to dinner. It was Super Bowl Sunday and we were close to Tampa. Little traffic at that time. We tried to go to a Japanese restaurant but it was closed. We did find another place open but we were the only customers and the sushi chefs were watching the game.

Fort Myers - Shady Acres RV Park

Shady Acres is probably a typical Florida RV Park where people go to spend the entire winter. There are some modular homes here but most people are in either mobile homes like ours (class A) or large fifth wheel or travel trailers. Many are here for two or more months. We are only spending 6 days here. Our parking space is prt of a long row of spaces about 25 feet wide. It was a tight fit to get the RV between the concrete pad and the electrical box. Geoff had to go back and forth two or three times before getting lined up right. It was also complicated by the RVs stored in the spaces across the narrow road.

The first night here, the park was having an ice cream social. Bring your own dishes and $2, and they supplied the ice cream. Wow, the thing was packed, and they said it was more people than usually show up for these things. But they had enough ice cream and cake for every one and it was fun to meet some of the other campers.

We had several places picked out to visit while here, but the first day we headed for Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a swamp area with one of the last virgin cyprus forests left in the US. It is home for aligators, lizards, wild cats, and lotsof birds. They have over 2 miles of boardwalk over the swamp andthe weather that day was beautiful. We found out about it from the couple in the next RV over at our park. The first half was a little disappointing, but we did see aligators, wood storks, and other birds we had not seen before. It was a nice walk.

On our second day we went to the Edison and Ford Winter Homes, which is a display in downtown Fort Myers. Thomas Edison wintered here for many years and even built a laboratory in which he did experiments to try to find a domestic source of rubber between World Wars One and Two, in case the US was cut off from its supplies from foreign countries. He was successful, but the advent of syntheic rubber made it unnecessary. The site has been highly restored and the location of the largest banyan tree in the continental US.

Day three, we went to nearby Sanibel Island, an upscale resort area, but with very nice beaches open to the public, nice bike paths all oer the island, and good shelling. We biked and spent time on the beaches, but also kayaked Commodore Creek off of Tarpon Bay. It winds among mangrove trees and was a nice trip, but some areas were quite shallow and difficult to get through.

On day four, we went to Manatee Park, where manatees winter in the effluent stream from a nearby power plant. there were a few there but, when it is colder, there can be as many as 60 there at a time. We saw a few, two with babies, but it was not very dramatic, since you only see their backs or tails for a moment and then they go under again. Also the water is very dark and not easy to see very far below the surface.

Day five was cool and rainy, the first since we arrived. The other days were all 80+ days but this day started at about 65 and stayed there all day. This was a day for taking care of some business, and doing laundry. The RV park had a pig roast in the evening. We made our barbequed beans in the crockpot. Having our bikes here has been nice, since we are a fair distance from the park office and getting on the bikes to go over there or to go to the pool has been nice.

Tomorrow we head out to Fort Desoto State Park near Tampa. We will be there during the Super Bowljust a few miles away but will likely not even watch it.

Oscar Scherer State Park

This little state park on the South Creek is quite nice. We had a wonderful time there riding on the nature trails and attending some events. The first day there was a folk music event in the Nature Center and the last night there was a Camp Fire talk by one of the rangers. We found out some information about the Shrub Jay and where we could see them. The last morning, before breakfast, we went out to see if we could find them and we were not disappointed. They are quite active in the mornings and they are also quite friendly and curious.

At first, we did not see them except at a distance, but when Geoff went off the path to look closely at a Shrub Oak, one came and landed right above his head. After that, there were several around very close to us and we were able to snap many good pictures.

We had heard that they would even land on a person's head quite frequently, but  we did not think that would be very likely, and were going to head back for breakfast and to pack up to leave. As we walked back to the bikes, one flew right over and landed on Geoff's shoulder. Ellyn had the camera and was able to get a couple good shots before it flew off again.

The second day we took our kayaks out onto the South Creek and paddled about 1 1/4 miles down to the bay. We saw many birds along the way and even some other kayakers coming up the creek. There were also lots of fishermen around. It was one of the first really warm and nice days we had had in Florida and we think that a lot of other people wanted to enjoy it as well.

Winding Down at Disney

The friends we have been spending our time with here at WDW have departed and Ellyn and I are here for two more days. Today is the Obama Inaugural and we will be watching that this morning. It is also a chance to run a few loads of laundry and do some work on the car. The shifter has gotten stiff, although the transmission seems to be working ok otherwise. I am trying to find where the linkage runs to so I can see what has it "gummed up".

Yesterday we took an early morning Segway tour in Epcot. If you are not familiar with the Segway, it is a two-wheeled, gyro-stabilized, microprocessor controlled transportation device. Kind of an up-right scooter. We were able to try them out and get used to them indoors, and then take a tour around the countries of Epcot. It was a lot of fun.

We had our friends over to the RV one night this week for some dessert. Now we know how many people we can comfortably fit in here. We also went over to the campfire and made s'mores.

Having a Great Time!

We've been in Walt Disney World for 4 days now and have been having a great time with friends Marie and Dave and 7 of their friends and family. The whole group are wonderful and we're enjoying so many laughs and good times with them. However, we've been so busy that we really haven't had time to update this blog properly. However, Geoff has posted some photos on flickr. The link is to the left.

By the way, it's about 15 degrees below average here - but that means the highs are in the 60's which is pretty comfortable during the afternoons AND it's lot's warmer than back in CT so we do appreciate the temps here.

Buyers are on the prowl....

While we're here, our home is still for sale back in Danbury. Yesterday, we had calls indicating that TWO buyers were going to be looking at it and, today, B. our Realtor, is hosting an Open House. One of the buyers looking at the house, yesterday, was viewing it for the THIRD time. Perhaps some of this action will result in an offer, we hope!

Steven Foster State Park - Day 1

Jan 10, 2009

Today was pretty relaxing. We started out just hanging around the RV, making some posts online, doing a little clean up and organizing, and listening to the radio. About noon, when the temperature outside was up to about 67, we decided to take a bike ride around the park.

We went to the carillon tower and listened to  the bells and toured the museum in the lobby. Then we went down by the river and checked out the kayaking possibilities. Unfortunately, the river level is very low and a long walk down from the parking lot, so we decided to wait until WDW to get the kayaks off the car.

We did some more biking around and Ellyn looked in some of the craft shops and the gift shop. Then we went to the museum and looked around in there for a while. Finally we came back to the RV and did some more relaxing.

We went out to a convenience store and picked up a couple of items we needed plus some sausages to grill. We also got some firewood at the ranger station to make a little campfire. Dinner, sitting around the fire on a very warm evening, a large full moon shining down, and a quick load of laundry in the convenient washers right near our campsite and another successful day of RVing came to an end.

Florida Adventure: Leg 4 - GA to FL

Jan 9, 2009

Ah, sunny Florida at last. And it was a sunny day too. We are finally out of the bad weather of the North and into the sunny South. We did get to tour Savannah a bit and walked around the harbor front area for a half hour. It was very nice. We have to get the pictures off the camera.

We also had our first breakfast out at a great restaurant in the downtown area. We had some trouble finding it but I asked a couple gentlemen at an outdoor area and they were able to direct us.

We stopped at the welcome center just inside Florida and ate lunch at a picnic table. Then we went inside for some free orange juice before getting on the road again. We pulled into the Steven Foster State Park campround just before the 5:00 pm closing time and got into our camping spot before dark. Oops. backed the RV again an overhanging tree limb and put a little dent in a portion of the roof. We got to take a short walk before bedtime under a brilliant full moon. Without the moon, we would have had a great view of the stars, as this is away from most urban areas of Florida. We will be here for 3 days so this is our first relaxing time of the trip so far.

Florida Adventure: Leg 3 - NC to GA

Jan 8, 2009

This was our first day with (mostly) no rain. It was warmer too, so we were able to forgo the winter coats when we stopped places. We blew through the rest of North Carolina and South Carolina and into Georgia, headed for Savannah. This is one of the places Ellyn really wanted to see but, sadly, due to our reduced schedule, we are unable to stop places for long. But since the next leg is shorter, maybe we can take a ride into the city before having to hit the road again.

We had an incident with the "toad" (our CR-V) when we stopped for gas and to run the engine (needs to be done every 8 hours while towing). The battery had gone dead and it would not shift into park or start. It looks like towing for three days and not running the engine more than a few minutes a day, lets the Brake Buddy drain the battery. We had to disconnect, turn the RV around, jump start the car, and then rehook the tow, after letting the car run a while to recharge.

We got to the RV park late and had some trouble getting someone to let us in because we had little or no cell coverage.

Florida Adventure: Leg 2 - NJ to NC

Jan 7, 2009

It started at 4:30 am. I awoke to drumming rainfall on the roof of the RV but then also heard a trickle of water inside. I got up to see what it was and quickly found that the toilet was overflowing...again. S*&T! This happened one other time and it was due to a sticking valve in the toilet. The water trickled in until the black water tank was full and then ran out onto the floor.

This time was worse because the sewer line was not hooked up. I had to run out in the rain and hook up the sewer line, and the dump point was far from the coach but I just reached it, and then dump the tank. Then I came back in and cleaned up all the water. Good thing we had lots of extra towels. We also had not used the toilet much and so there was no bad smell.

We got out of the RV park at about 10:00, stopped at 2:00 for lunch at Dixie Bones, stopped for gas south of Richmond and arrived at the RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads.

After the gas stop, there was a thunderstorm and there were some pretty strong winds buffeting the RV around pretty badly. A couple of times I had to wrestle it back into my lane, fortunately not when there was another vehicle there. When we got to the RV park, Ellyn put on the weather on TV and found that there had been some winds up to 70 mph in the area. We had some more winds until about 9:30 and then they died down.

Florida Adventure: Leg 1 - Danbury to NJ

Jan 6, 2009

Ugh. Today was a tough one. We pretty much procrastinated yesterday on getting the RV loaded up so this morning we got up at 7:00 planning to leave at 10:00 and finally got out at 11:40. We stopped around 1:00 on the Garden State for lunch and a rest break and then continued to the NJ Turnpike. We pulled into the Timberlane Campground around 4:00 pm and got an overnight camping spot.

We saw mostly rain on the way, although it did seem to have some sleet in it at the beginning. We could see it swirling across the roadway in front of us. We also saw highway trucks loaded up with sand and lined up waiting to go out where 684 meets 287 in White Plains.

Now we are hunkered down waiting for the weather to pass over tonight. Hopefully, it will only be rain tomorrow. We plan on driving into North Carolina and stopping at a campground south of Rocky Mount.

Family

We have had a wonderful week of family....First we drove to Logan's and Maureen's to celebrate the first night of Chanukah and also Logan's birthday. It was a wonderful evening with Brian's girlfriend, Katherine, also joining the five of us.....plus Logan's and Maureen's dog, Gus. Logan and Maureen prepared traditional latkes AND sweet potato latke's. Logan prepared a out-of-this-world brined chicken in wine sauce. Lots of laughter and yumminess. And Gus was great fun to watch as he played with his new toys.

Our second family event was that we had brunch with five of my cousins on Monday morning. Fred is the son of my father's cousin and we became acquainted with him and his wife, Lucinda, in the past year, through the efforts of Fred's geneology of my father's mother's family. We met their younger son, Leon, for the first time on Monday. Also joining us were newly discovered cousins, Abby and Ilyse. Abby is the grand-daughter of my great-grandfather's brother. They were in Boston for Abby to have a job interview. We had so much fun laughing and talking together. I am really thankful for Fred's effort to discover our family tree!!

And our third family event of the week was the Geoff and I drove up to Vermont to spend Christmas with his Mother who lives in an Assisted Living apartment in White River Junction. Logan and Brian drove up there, also, from Boston. We had a wondeful Christmas noon Dinner in the beautiful dining room at her residence. There was lots of joy and laughter.

And now we're back home. I work for two more evening shifts at the department store and then my retail career is over for this season. I hear that the day after Christmas is the worse day to work retail so tomorrow should be an interesting experience. :-/

Next week, we'll spend New Year's Eve at Gary's and Susan's, as we have for nearly all of the past 21 years.

Our next travel plans are to RV down to Florida for a month in ONLY TWO WEEKS!!!

There's photos of our RV in the snow and our family events on Geoff's flickr page - the link is to the left.

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!!

Ellyn's First Shift

I survived my first 5 1/2 hour shift at the big department store. Yes, I messed up the POS (cash register) many times but lucky fo me, it was easy to recover. Trickiest at the POS were the coupons which everybody was using. I never got to ask anybody if they wanted to open up a credit card because every customer used the store credit card.

Now the dirt....in my training, it was emphasized that a goal is to give the customers a great shopping experience. This turns out to be a difficult task. First, I'm working in a large department which is only staffed by me and, at times, a second person. And in addition to checking out customers, we have to empty the fitting room, put clothes back on the racks, and straighten out messed up clothing. It's tricky to put stuff on the racks because they are displayed by designer and there's a ton of designer nooks to search before find the home for each item. Second, a lot of things are going onto discount racks and we need to put each item on the correct discount rack. With all those tasks, it's pretty hard to great the customers to ask them what items I can help them find.

Then, there is the fitting room...I was pretty stunned how awful it looked - very dirty rug, old pealing paint, etc. It was quite a contrast to the name-branded sportswear we are selling. Do any of the store executives check out the fitting rooms?

As for me, I survived okay with only a 15 minute break. It is a long time to be on my feet flitting around putting things away but not a huge problem. The biggest problem was how warm it was - I'm tempted to bring in my thermometer as I bet it is nearly 80F. I'm certain people would buy more sweaters if it was cooler in there. :-)

As for my co-workers, they all seemed very intelligent and professional. I did find out that one of them has a day job, also. Uggh.

I work again tomorrow night and I don't find out the rest of my schedule until then.

Ellyn's Training

Yay! I passed my training for my seasonal department job. My assignment has been changed from petite to "better" sportswear. The training was all done by computer and a training POS (Point of Sale - what we used to call a Cash Register). I really like the thought that a major part of my job will be to give the customers a good shopping experience - which was a big emphasis of the training.

Much to my disappointment, we did not get trained on how to fold the clothes. I'll have to wait until Tuesday to find out my schedule. So, it looks like my seasonal job may only be for just over two weeks - at the most.

It's really interesting to think that I might have as much satisfaction (at least for a few weeks) in one of the lowest paying jobs as I did at my previous career. But I guess I already knew that it didn't take a big paycheck to get enjoyment and satisfaction from a job well done - I had already learned that from my volunteer work.