A New Re-Start

Well, we spent 10 days in Connecticut doing something we prefer not to do when traveling by RV; we moved out of the RV and into a friend’s house. Then we put the RV into a storage lot. However, we were in the area to visit and say good bye to a good friend who was dealing with cancer. There are no RV parks in a reasonable distance and we had no other alternative. It turned out to be a good way to handle it and the amount we paid for a month in the storage area, of which we only used 8 days, was less than we would have paid for a campground for that time. And our friends were very good to us, cooking on most occasions.

Their dogs and Jordy got along well although Jordy seemed to prefer the food their dogs were getting over that which he normally gets. He also refused to come up to our bedroom one night and he slept with our friends on their bed. The next few nights we had him come to our room but allowed him to sleep on our bed. This seemed to work OK and everyone got a good night’s sleep although we got up earlier than our usual time because of Jordy’s desire to get going. Normally, we have him in his crate and he stays put until we let him out after we get up.

The RV was OK after being in storage and getting its new batteries. However, a problem has returned of it stalling out after about 20 seconds of running and then restarts hard. It did it when leaving the storage lot and then did it again the next morning when getting ready to leave. Geoff is thinking it might need a new fuel filter. He regrets not getting an oil change done while it was waiting on the new A/C unit in Florida. Now it will probably have to be done on site in Massachusetts. He is also going to see if he can get a new belt for the dash A/C compressor. the old belt disappeared during the trip North. We may not need it for a while but we will want to have it by June. Things might be warming up a bit by then. We will also get a spare in case we lose another one.

So now we are in Massachusetts at one of our favorite campgrounds. We came to Normandy Farms in Foxboro back in 2008 after we bought our first RV. The campgrounds have changed somewhat since then but is still a great place to spend a couple of weeks. Our plan is to be here until May 24th and then we will go to New York to meet up with our friends from Connecticut again to start our journey West. Coincidentally, we came upon some other friends here in the campground who live at Sun-N-Fun in Florida. We and they were equally surprised to find each other camping within 100 yards of each other. You just never know what your going to find when you live the good life. We are looking forward to seeing our 17-month old Granddaughter, Simone, for the first time since we were at her first Birthday in December. We have been able to see her a lot over the internet but it will be fun to hold her again.

On the First Part of Our Journey…

We finally got our RV all loaded with the things we needed for our Summer adventure, at least we thought we did, more about that later, and pulled out of Sun-N-Fun around 11:30 on Sunday, April 24th. The RV was performing well and, other than the fact that “loaded” does not necessarily mean “stowed”, meaning the place was cluttered with bags and boxes we would have to deal with down the road, it was smooth sailing North. The repairs we had had done to the RV seemed successful. The dashboard air system was blowing nice, cool air and we had tried out the rooftop A/C while loading and it was working well too. Hate the expense but love the results.

The first day was pretty uneventful and the traffic was clear. We made it about 430 miles and into South Carolina for the night. After Geoff put out all of the slides, and we were putting away stuff, Geoff saw a movement in the bedroom. Quickly he grabbed a clear cup and a piece of cardboard and coaxed a small tree frog that had somehow found its way in, into the cup. It is not known if he came in while the slide was being put out in SC or if he had traveled all the way from Sarasota with us, but we hope he likes his home in SC.

While unpacking, we discovered the first of the things we forgot. Our very expensive knife set was left behind as well as our grilling utensils. We have some old knives we will have to make do with and some other utensils we can use with the grill. So far, nothing critical.

The next day was longer because we got on the road earlier. We ran into a construction delay in North Carolina but Ellyn was able to anticipate the backup using the social networking app Waze (ways) and we turned off and went through some local towns before getting back onto I-95. We stopped at a campground just north of Washington DC. We were glad to miss any rush hour traffic on the beltway. In the first two days we had covered almost 1000 miles and had about 350 to go the third day.

We usually do not like to travel this fast but to give ourselves some time to relax between long trips but a good friend of ours is very ill in Connecticut so we made the best time we could to get up here and see her. We will be staying in the area for a week or two until traveling on to the Boston area. Since there are no campgrounds close by, we are staying with friends in Trumbull, CT and have put the RV into temporary storage. It is not how we like to travel but, once again, the circumstances require it.

Post Script: Beware unusually low fuel prices! We stopped at a station in South Carolina and topped off because the price was only $1.90/gallon, about 10-20 cents lower than other prices we had seen along the highway. When we got to Connecticut, we saw an unusual warning indicator on the dash. It turns out this indicator means that water has been detected in the fuel. Geoff will have to drain the fuel filter and add more Howes Lubrication to the tank to see if that fixes it. Beware!

Post Post Script: Oops, too quick on that bad fuel call. Turns out the connector on the bottom of the fuel filter that feeds the “water in fuel” indicator was broken by some piece of road debris. I found it when I went to drain the water. Nothing but fuel in that filter so no water problem after all. A judicious use of Duct Tape and we should be back in business. However, (isn’t there always a “however”?) I have not been able to start the engine since we put in the storage lot. I think I have to get a better charge on the coach cells. I ran the generator for a couple of hours today but I might have to get some help. Not a good sign for our big trip.

Last Post Script: After some consideration, we decided that the chassis batteries needed to be replaced. We are not sure if they were ever replaced by the original owners and we have not since buying the coach in 2010 so we found a local source and put in two new starting batteries. This did the trick. Geoff got the coach restarted and warmed up. Things should be good to get back on the road again.

About to Relaunch

Ok, the long, cold Winter of 2015-16 is over and we are coming up on our spring launch into RV travel mode again. April 24th will mark our departure from the Sun-N-Fun RV Resort and the beginning of a six month adventure into the 48 contiguous United States. Stay tuned to this blog for updates as we go. It will be our most adventurous since the 2012 Alaska Adventure. Let's just leave it at that for now. Keep coming back to see how it unfolds.

As for us, we have been here in our SNF vacation home since the first week in August of last year. This is our longest time in one spot since we started this journey back in April of 2009, just over 7 years ago. It has not been boring because this resort is never boring. Things were quiet in the "home owner" area of the park because there were not many of us, but the rest of the park was hopping with Summer campers and Day Pass people enjoying the pool area. We enjoyed the peace and quiet around our end of the park and were able to let Jordy out without a leash to chase a ball on our walks. 

The only problem with being here in August and September was the heat. 80-90 degree days with lows only in the 70s and frequent rain storms. Actually the heat lasted well into November and it really did not get cool enough for a major change in how we would dress for each day until January. By then we were lucky to remember how to put on long pants and socks.

The 2016 season was loads of fun with Geoff teaching and playing guitar lots and Ellyn doing loads of sewing projects. Geoff was also able to do lots of bowling, despite an abbreviated league season, there was lots of open bowling times he was able to enjoy. We joined a local synagogue this year and enjoyed meeting lots of new friends there. We attended the local Jewish Film Festival as well as the Sarasota Film Festival which is just winding down. We also got to attend four Spring Training baseball games here in the Grapefruit League.

Among other special events this passed season, we went to Walt Disney World 4 times, one of those times on our own but the other times to meet up with friends. The biggest event this passed December was the new Star Wars movie, which we saw three times in the theaters and purchased on disc the day it was released. Since we had seen the original when we were first dating, this was a very special event. It was as strongly anticipated as was "The Return of the Jedi" back in 1983. It did not disappoint.

Now, we are getting the RV ready with some needed maintenance and a top to bottom cleaning before filling it with the necessities for 6 months away from our stationary home. Geoff already replaced some lights and did some PM on the hot water heater. We have some minor A/C issues to get fixed and then we can head out. We had a big chassis inspection done last Summer so we think it should be all set for a long trip. We are looking forward to being on the road again.

Update: We finally got to the A/C repairs although perhaps a little late. Today is Thursday, April 21, and the work is not done. We are hoping to get the rig back early tomorrow so we can get loaded up before Sunday morning. However, we have a Passover Seder tomorrow evening and a show to go to on Saturday evening. This will cut into our time. There has been a slight change in plans for when we leave here though. We were going to stop off in Charlotte, SC for a few days and near Washing DC as well, but now, because of a very sick friend in Connecticut, head straight there, hopefully a three day trip. We will be there for a week or two before heading off to Massachusetts.

Maine Summer

Although we have been spending most of our summer in the Boston area, we have taken a week and spent some time on the water in Maine. We pulled into Libby’s Oceanside Camp (“camp” is the Maine name for a campground) where we have a second-row view of the ocean. The Ocean side sites are reserved for mostly seasonal stays. Also, we don’t think they are deep enough for a 40 footer. But we like our spot and the weather has been probably the best we have ever encountered on a trip to Maine. Usually we will have some cool or rainy weather but, for the most part, it has been warm and sunny.

The campground is right at the southern end of Long Sands Beach here in York, ME, and the beach is very nice at low tide but when the tide comes in it is nearly completely covered. It is kind of funny to see the beach crowded with people at low tide and then nearly deserted at high tide. Some even have to take to putting their chairs up on the sidewalk if they want to sit near the water at all.

A little north of the beach is the Nubble Lighthouse. We drove up there on one of the sunnier days here and took some nice pictures. Then we continued on up to Kennebunk and hit some quilting stores Ellyn has been looking for. There is a competition going on called Row by Row where a pattern for one row of a quilt is sold at each store. The first person to turn in a quilt with those patterns at each store wins (something). Ellyn will likely not be competing but she likes to get the rows. They have a decidedly nautical theme this year.

We went down to Portsmouth, NH and took a boat ride out to Star Island, one island in the Shoals Isles group. The islands are split between Maine and New Hampshire. Star Island is in NH and has big hotel on it as well as some historical markers and old stone buildings. The day was one of the coolest of our time here but the sun came out and it was very nice.

Of course, we visited lots of seafood restaurants and at some wonderful Maine lobster. The lobsters here are very fresh and is one of the most sustainable crops in the world. The rules for lobster fishing here are designed to keep the fishing plentiful and the lobsters go from the ocean to the boiler in very short order. Ellyn had three in total while we were here and Geoff had a couple of lobster dishes as well (he is too lazy to try and get the meat out of the shell himself).

We also met up with some friends up here.  A couple that Ellyn used to work with at IBM that live in Portsmouth met us for dinner and then we visited their house that they are remodeling. We also drove to Biddeford, ME to have lunch with Logan’s MIL, Diane, and exchange experiences with our shared Granddaughter, Simone.

It was a great week of camping in Maine. Now back to Salem, MA to finish up our time in the Northeast.

Turn, turn, turn

So another winter season at Sun-N-Fun RV Resort has come to an end and we are preparing to head out again in our motorhome to points north. Our plan for this year is to spend about a month in New England visiting with friends and family (and mostly seeing our adorable Grandchildren), and then working our way back down to Florida in July. We will likely be back into our home in August. We know, it sounds crazy but we have done so much traveling the past three years we have decided to do much less of it this year. Also, we have some doctor appointments this summer which cannot be done remotely so we will have to be here in Florida during the long, hot, dog days of summer.

The season at Sun-N-Fun was great. Geoff had a wonderful time teaching guitar, bowling, playing horseshoes and learning Pickleball. Ellyn had her many sewing activities to keep her quite busy and we had lots of time for going to the pool, visiting with our friends here in the park and going to events outside the park. The spring has had us going to lots of movies, as there was a Jewish Film Festival in March and then the Sarasota Film Festival in April.

The car has had its spring tune up and the RV will be going in next week for an oil change. Then we will be packing all of the stuff we will need for our travels into the motorhome and also packing into the last two weeks here in Sarasota all the things we want to do before saying goodbye for a few months.

Update: A day before we were ready to leave Sarasota for the Summer, we found out that Geoff’s Mother had passed away. She had been weak for a few weeks following a heart attack and, although we were hoping she would hold on until we were able to get up north, she passed peacefully in her sleep on April 30th. Our plans were changed accordingly to take us directly north to Vermont, where she had been living for 7 years since Geoff’s Father passed in 2008, to be there when family arrived for her memorial service on May 9th.

Geoff’s two brothers, their wives, our sons and their wives and kids, and several of the cousins in Geoff’s family converged in Vermont for the service and a general get together over a few days. It was decided that Geoff’s Mother’s ashes would be kept by one of his brothers and then brought to Michigan in July for interment with his Father in Lansing, where we would also attend the Lynch-Fineis Family Reunion. It will be the second year in a row for us to go to the reunion, a yearly event since the 1940s.

Next, on to Boston for time with our kids and Grandkids.

Our Winter Trip to Boston

In December, while we were in Florida, our second Grandchild and first Granddaughter was born to our older Son, Logan and his wife Maureen in Boston, MA. On January 16th, we flew from Sarasota, FL to Boston to visit with both of our Sons and their families and to finally meet the newest member of our family. Jetblue Airlines has reasonably priced, non-stop flights and Logan met us at the airport and took us to his house. When we arrived in their neighborhood, we saw that Maureen was walking down the street with the stroller and their dog, Gus. So, we caught up with them, parked the car and joined their walk. It was a cold day and there was a bit of a breeze, but the sun was out so it was a better walk than it might have been.

When we got back to the house, we finally got to hold the little princess, Simone Francis. She is so small but at over one month old, is starting to be attentive and responding to sounds and things in her field of vision. When Geoff got to hold her, she was cooing at him and really looking into his face and even smiling a bit. It was very satisfying. We had dinner with them and then, when it was bed time, we went to our hotel for the night. The next day, we spent most of it at the hotel, as both families had some pre-scheduled events going on. But it was the coldest day of the visit so we were happy to stay in most of it. In the afternoon, Brian, Katherine and Oliver came to the hotel and we went to the small pool. Oliver is really happy in the water. They have been giving his swimming lessons and he is taking to it quite well. It is nice to know he should be a very confident adult around water.

On Sunday, Simone’s other Grandparents, and good friends of ours, Diane and Marc Dubreuil came up from New Milford, CT and we went out for a nice brunch with them. It was so good to see them and to congratulate them in person, as this is their first Grandchild. We had a great brunch then went back to Logan and Maureen’s house for more baby snuggling. That evening was the big football game with the New England Patriots taking on the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC Championship. It was great fun to watch this game with our sons and Oliver at Brian’s house. The Pats won in a blow out so we had a great time. 

We stayed over on Monday, partly because it was MLK Day and our sons had off from work and also because, if our flight up was delayed because of weather, we would still have two days so see everyone. As it was, the weather was great, and on Monday we had sun and about 40 degrees, so we went to the Arnold Arboretum and took a long walk. It was a beautiful day. Then we took the kids’ car and went back to the hotel and then came back to their house in the evening for dinner.

The next morning we were up at 5:15 to get to the airport for a 7:40 flight back to Sarasota. Once again, all went without a hitch and we enjoyed being back in the warm weather. We have plans to fly back up in the spring before taking the motorhome to the West Coast for the Summer.

Photo Trickery

I love how this picture turned out.

You might ask “How long did you have to wait to get just a single bird on the wing with all the others in the water or was it just luck”? Well, no, not all luck and I actually shot a bunch of pictures in a sequence to get the one I wanted. But I also used a little bit of photo trickery to get this final result. The original picture looked like this:

Notice the extra birds in flight in the picture. I wanted to edit out each of those birds and be left with just the one. At first I tried using an editing technique in which I paint over the extra image with replicated colors in the rest of the image, and this can usually result in satisfactory results. For instance I was able to use that in the following shot to remove the people and leave only the main objects.

However, in this case I knew I had taken several pictures in sequence and some of them may have clear images in the are where the other birds appear. So I checked out the other pictures and found this one in which the marked areas corresponded with the birds in the original photo and I should be able to copy and paste over each of the birds nearly seamlessly.

I use a program I first got for free when I worked for IBM called “IBM Perfect Photo”. It contains a photo editor program I have used many times to touch up, combine, and otherwise edit jpeg images. I had lost it a few years back after switching computers but I was able to find a copy for a nominal price on line and so now I have an official, paid-for version of the program. It is my go-to Photoshop.

Disney Isn’t Expensive Enough?

OK, so after only 3 weeks at Su’N’Fun, we headed out in our RV for 5 days in Disney World. Cool, huh? Sure, it is kind of an expensive place to visit but we have good friends from New York who come down here a lot and we have a great time going to the parks with them. So we carefully listed all of the things we needed to have and got them loaded into the RV, which had been thoroughly cleaned and emptied of nearly everything. Anyway, we thought we had everything covered and we headed out with plans to stop at the Camping World on I-4 to spend a $25 gift certificate we had and to help out a friend by returning something she had bought there.

All went well until we got ready to leave and the parking break on the RV would not disengage. The good news is, Camping World has a great service area. The bad news, it’s Sunday and their service are is closed. Ugh!. Oh, more good news, we have Good Sam Emergency Road Service. So we call, and they dispatch a repair company from Orlando, about an hour away. They get the service to us, but we are pay for their work (a minimum 2 hour charge) and their return to their location (another hour).

While we waited, we unpacked the stuff we had brought to the RV in boxes but just put on the bed. While we were doing this, Ellyn discovered there was a key part of her CPAP machine that she did not pack. Oops. Fortunately, it is a part which wears out easily so she could order one online and have it shipped to the campground in Orlando. A pain but problem solved.

When they arrived, I was immediately worried. It was two guys in their personal car. I had expected a marked truck with lots of tools and possibly even parts on board. These guys had some wrenches and a voltmeter. But they assured me they are competent to diagnose the problem and set to work. About and hour and a half later, they felt they have traced it to a pressure switch under the dash, but there was no place open to get the part so I took the part and made plans to get a new one the next day.

So now, what to do for that night. We could boondock in the Camping World parking lot, but instead we opt to take the car and drive back to Sun’N’Fun, about an hour away, for the night. A pain but at least we would have air conditioning without having to run the generator all night. We grabbed out all our medications so they wouldn’t have a problem with the A/C off and headed home. There was one bright spot in our return to Sarasota; we got to watch the latest episode of “The Walking Dead”. We also got to retrieve the part for Ellyn’s CPAP machine and she had it to sleep with on Sunday night.

The next morning we headed back, but Geoff had considered the results of the emergency repair guys and decided he was not comfortable with their diagnosis. When we got back to Camping World, we turned the problem over to their service area. They were able to look it over and bring it in. The brakes actually did release this time after being held for about 30 seconds and we were able to move the coach into their repair bay. They decided that the problem was that the rear brakes were mostly seized up and need to be removed, cleaned and lubed. When they got them off, they also decided that some of the parts needed to be replaced. This meant going to find the right parts, but they were able to do this, so we were closer to having this fixed in one visit.

Ellyn took Jordy and the car and headed for Disney to spend the day with our friends and Geoff stayed with the RV for the duration, which turned out to be all day long. After everything was finally put back together, they tried the parking brake release and, you guessed it, it still did not work. Finally a call to Spartan, the manufacturer of our chassis, revealed that there was a valve in the system which was probably the fault. It was determined that the problem they fixed with the rear brakes was probably the reason the valve broke. However, they had to order that part. They were able to get the system working by bypassing the valve, but we would have to go back on our return trip to get the new part installed.

Things are not over yet, though. We found out when we finally got to Disney World that Ellyn had forgotten some of her medications so we had to get a prescription sent to a local drug store and, since it was too early for a new prescription, the insurance would not pay for these pills. Ugh! At this point this trip has cost us about $2000 more than we anticipated, and there will still be a bill for the valve replacement on the return trip. The good news, we spent 5 days in the “Happiest Place on Earth”.

Our Last Two States

Since we started RVing in 2008, we have camped in every one of the 49 states accessible by RV except for two which we always seemed to go around, one way or another. On our travels back to Florida this year, we decided to take them in. We are now camping in Elkins, West Virginia at the Pegasus Farm Campground. This campground was a little funky to get into, since we turned onto a gravel road and the entrance is a single lane path from the owners’ house down to the camping field. We were actually greeted at the entrance by the owner, who was very friendly and escorted us to our campsite. After getting set up, he came back with information on the area and our registration paperwork. He was trying, in a joking way, to get us to stay for more than 2 nights, but we have a deadline in Dothan Alabama and we still want to visit with friends in Kentucky. He mentioned playing music and found out that I play guitar. He came back later in the evening and brought his mandolin. We played together until the light was failing. I think we sounded pretty good.

The second day, we went into Elkins and took the New Tygart Flyer, a 1950s streamline locomotive pulling some 1940s train cars along the Cheat River. Along the way we went through a 3/4 mile long tunnel with an s-curve in it and ends at the High Falls of the Cheat River where we were able to get off the train for about 30 minutes and check out the falls. The track also takes a the sharpest curve east of the Mississippi and the train could not make that turn.

After two nights in Elkins, WV, we headed west again to Lexington, KY. Traveling west on I-79 through West Virginia, we passed through lots of rolling mountains covered with tress. It was very beautiful. We landed at the Kentucky Horse Park Campground. The first evening there, there was a horse jumping competition in the arena at the Horse Park. We went to see it and it was very interesting, with a points system based on making all the jumps in a specified time. All of the riders who made it with no errors in the time allowed went into a “jump off”. The final rider had to beat just over 39 seconds with no errors and she did it. It was very exciting and she looked very happy. It looks like a dangerous sport though, as there was one horse that fell and threw the rider in the first round and then a rider who fell from her horse in the jump off. Fortunately all the horses and riders seemed to be fine.

The next day, we went back into the Kentucky Horse Park as real tourists. There is a small admission fee, but they are currently only charging 50% so it was really reasonable. We rode our bikes in rather than trying to find parking for the car. We took in the “Horses of the World” show twice, in which they bring out different breeds of horses and explain their origins and uses in their countries. We also went to the Museum of the Horse where they have many artifacts and information about the history of the horse and its relationships with man over the ages. It was quite interesting but Geoff eventually got “horsed out”.

Next, on to Louisville, KY to spend an evening with our friends from Sun’N’Fun, Rick and Gayle. Jordy got to go along too and see their doggy, Sarah. While the dogs relaxed at their house, we went into Louisville for a tour and to visit the Louisville Slugger Factory (which curiously used to be across the river in Indiana). It was fun although we could not take any photos in the factory. Geoff and Rick tried (in vain) to hit balls in the batting cages and we saw a fun film which made us ready for Spring Training to start.

Next we will be stopping in Nashville, TN for a couple of nights to take in the Grand Ole Opry before going to Dothan, AL for Rosh Hashanah and then (finally) off to Sun’N’Fun for the winter.