Old Fords & Memories

Back when I was in high school in the mid 50s, my brother had a 1950 Ford 4dr car that I would sneak out or he'd let me use every once in a while.  There is a man near us at the cabin who works on old cars and usually has one or two of them for sale in his driveway.  His latest addition is a 1949 or 50 Ford 2dr car in great shape.  It looks like it may have been "hopped up" since I see an exhaust pipe running along the side of the car.  We used them when we had "cutouts" that we would use to make the car louder.

The car has twin spotlights, fender skirts, big white walls and lots of shiny chrome.  That is something you don't see very often nowdays.  Plus the car most likely has the distinctive Ford motor sound that you could identify even if you didn't see it!.  The cars we drive now don't have any personality, unique sound and I don't know what the kids of today will collect when they get older.  It's their loss.

Do any of you remember the sound of dual hollywood mufflers or straight pipes?  I do and miss the sweet gurgles of the pipes whether quiet or loud.    

I remember watching my brother speed shift the transmission and thinking it looked easy.  One day I snuck the car out and decided to speed shift it like my big brother did.  The only problem was that I missed 2nd gear and popped it into reverse and hit the gas pedal.  Ker bang, clunk, chatter, smoke and all those bad things happened in a flash.  Oh boy!   I did learn that 1st and reverse gears shared parts and took out both of them.  No problem, I still had 2nd & 3rd gears and drove the car back home and parked it exactly where it had been parked before this adventure.  I put the keys back where they were and never said a word about it.

Did I mention it was my "big brother's" car and I took it without asking?  At the time he was 17, 6' 2", 240lbs, 50 some inch chest and had a short temper.  I made sure I wasn't around when he got in the car and slammed it into reverse and tried to back out of the parking spot.  Ker ban, clunk, chatter, etc and the car stopped.  He had some choice words to yell out, slammed the door and walked off.  We had to repair the transmission and once again I kept my mouth shut.  I hope he doesn't read this blog or I will be in trouble. 

One night in particular was quite exciting.  The rear passenger door wouldn't stay shut sometimes and I pulled up to a stop sign on Gillespie main street, made a hard right turn and floored the gas pedal.  The rear door flew open with my friend Nick holding on for dear life and screaming to stop.  One little problem though.  The gas pedals in those days had rods attached to the pedal.  I had punched the gas pedal so hard that the rod slipped off and was stuck under the floor and I couldn't let up on the gas.  I went zooming down main street about 65mph before I could get the rod unstuck.  All this time Nick was screaming like a little girl for me to stop.  I think that was the last time he rode with me in a car. 
What a trip down memory lane!

We drove down to Costco in Frederick, MD today around 3pm.  The traffic heading west on I-70 was  bumper to bumper for miles and the closer we got to Frederick, the slower it was going.  Labor Day weekend Fridays are always a mess out this way.  Campers, cars with rooftop carriers and everything thrown in together.  Once we finished our shopping we took US 40 West and avoided all the traffic.  It is also a very pretty drive going up and down the hills with all the trees and greenery.  

We did stop at Famous Dave's BBQ restaurant in Frederick so Gerry could get her BBQ fix.  We were surprised when we looked at the menu and saw a small glass of draft beer was $5.69 each.  The meals had gone up quite a bit also compared to last year when we went there.  What in the world is going on with the prices there?  We paid $5.25 for a pitcher of beer at the Ott House restaurant just a couple weeks ago.  Granted it was on special, but even the regular price isn't that much more.  Guess where we will be eating in the future.

Other than me having some blood drawn for a doctor appointment on the 8th of September, that was all the excitement for us today.  

I hope you all had a nice day and I won't be writing about Pink Locker Rooms again.

Pink Football Locker Room

I read an amusing ESPN article online today about how in 1979 Hayden Fry, the Iowa football coach, had the visiting teams locker room painted pink.  He said it calmed the team down and made them more passive.  Over the years the University of Iowa has remodeled the locker rooms and now have pink showers, floors, sinks, carpeting, metal lockers and urinals.

A male Univ of Iowa professor is demonstrating this weekend protesting the pink color in the locker room.  He's done other protests in the past other than the pink locker room so he isn't new at this.  The school is going to honor Hayden Fry this weekend and the professor picked this time for his demonstration to get the maximum coverage.

I don't see any big deal with the pink locker room and I'm sure it wouldn't affect my play as a result of it if I were still playing football.  During my 4 years of playing high school football, basketball and track we always used the girls locker room at the school we were playing that day/night.  Some schools always went out of their way to leave some articles laying around in plain sight to distract or disgust us.  

Some of the locker rooms were filthy and it looked like that was standard procedure for the schools.   One school always left the windows open the night we played them in basketball in January or February.  I grew up in South Central Illinois and let me tell you it was cold there during this time period.  One night it was so cold that we didn't shower after the game and just boarded the bus for the return trip.  We did the same thing for the one school that had a filthy locker room.

The schools would do anything to get an edge on the visiting team.  As far as I can tell my school's girls locker room didn't fit into either of the categories above.  But then, I never was in there during the middle of the winter.

We played East St. Louis High at their school one year and beat them when they had a higher ranked team than we had.  As a going away gesture they threw rocks and stuff at our team bus as we were pulling out of their driveway.  They did take their basketball seriously and didn't like to lose to a school with a much smaller attendance.  At least they didn't shoot at us and set the bus or fire. 

We've had some nice weather at the cabin the past couple days.  It is drying out somewhat and the dehumidifier hasn't run non stop like it had been doing the past few weeks.  I guess I will have to watch it and fill those gallon jugs with distilled water pretty soon or I won't get them filled.

Other than that, it has been quiet up here on the mountain.  I hope you all are having a great summer.

They are calling for temps in the high 40s tonight.  We aren't ready for cold weather so soon.  What's next, snow in September?   

  

Do Pocket Knives Have Legs

Many years ago in the 1960s my father gave me his pocket knife.  It was a small one and not overly expensive, but I treasured that knife for years.  I carried it everywhere with me and depended on it to be in my pocket.

Gerry, Larry Jr & I went to a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game around 2005 and shortly after that I couldn't find the knife.  I called the stadium to report it missing but they never found it.  I also searched high and low for the knife for months.  No such luck.  When we sold our house in 2006 Gerry found the knife under the sofa seat hidden way out of sight.  Whew, that was a relief.

Fast forward a few years and I decided to pass the knife onto my son Larry Jr. and as far as I know it is still in his possession and safe.  I bought a knife before I found the old one and kept using it for years.

My very good friend Gerry Cavanaugh was heavily into guns and knives and had a huge collection of both.  He lived in Wyoming and Arizona later in life and we visited each other a few times.  We always kept in touch even if we didn't see each other for a while.  He was the kind of friend who you could sit down and have a conversation that you were finishing from the day before, but you hadn't seen him in a year or two.

He passed away a couple years ago and instructed his wife to give me one of his favorite pocket knives.  I've been carrying it around since then and couldn't find it a week or so ago.  Oh no, another knife walked away again.  We searched all over including calling the Ott House restaurant to see if I lost it there.  No such luck.  We tore the cabin and motorhome apart looking for the knife along with the car.  Nope!

Well, today I searched the car again and the knife had walked back and was hiding under the seat.  It is safely in my pocket now and I may have to tie it down to keep it from wandering around.

The Knife (No, that isn't my belly)

 If any of you are bored, I have a perfect solution to spice up your life.  Take a Jeep ride down a mountain like the one in this youtube video.  Watch it to the end and you will get a lot of laughs out of it.

Black Bear Pass 

That's all for tonight.  Hope you had a great day.  Gerry is feeling better and the sun came out today.

Birthday TIme

How come birthdays seem to come around faster as you get older? I remember back in my pre-teen days my birthday never seemed to arrive on time. Now it has caught up to me and arrives too fast.

No, it isn't my birthday but it is the birthday of Larry Clark, Jr. I won't go into detail how old he is, but to Grant he is old. We wished we could have celebrated his birthday with him and had to settle for a phone call instead.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARRY

I was trying to find a suitable picture of him for the event and this is the best one I could find. He was getting ready to leave Costa Rica after high school graduation and return to the USA and get ready for college. Keep in mind that he had to change planes in Miami and can you imagine the bells his looks set off with the Customs people? The only reason they let him in was his Diplomatic passport.

Larry Jr - 1991

We hope he had a great day celebrating with Jane and Grant.  He did say a movie was on tap as part of the day, so I hope it was a good one.

We finally got a whole day of sunshine up here at the cabin and hopefully it will dry out and the humidity will drop to a comfortable level. I have been having to empty the dehumidifier twice a day to keep it running. It's about time I save some of the water in gallon jugs to put into my batteries on the motor home. They work better on distilled water from what I hear.

Other than the above it has been slow days the past week or so. Nothing much exciting or even interesting going on other than Gerry slowly feeling a little better with her shingles.

Hope you all are enjoying nice summer weather wherever you are.

Movie Time and Fires

Gerry is having a fun time with the shingles.  So far it looks like it will be a mild case, unless they continue to pop up over the next week or so.  She is uncomfortable and has to watch how she sits with her back on chairs.  My job is to spray the benadryl on the sores and keep out of her way. 

Now it looks like our next door neighbor might also have shingles.  Hummmmm!  He is sort of stubborn about going to doctors and we have strongly urged him to get it checked out and get on some medicine asap.  I am not optimistic he will listen to us.

We spent the afternoon burning a lot of old papers including all the GEHA insurance documents we've been filing away.  I can access the records online a number of years back and that is good enough.  Maybe we can go to a paperless society.

Our Canon Pixma MP830 printer/fax/scanner/copier can scan paper in batches and we are organizing our medical information in preparation to scanning it in also.  The Canon scanner can scan duplex or simplex so that will cut down on scan time also.  I ran a test run of 5-7 papers and it zoomed along very fast.  I'd love to take the Canon with us in the motorhome but it must weigh around 50lbs and is very bulky.  Guess our HP Photosmart C4200 will have to suffice when we are on the road.


We watched "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" last night with

 Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston and Tim Holt in the lead roles.  We both have seen it before but wanted to watch something sedate for a change.  The movie was filmed in 1948 in Mexico, Arizona & California with a lot of actual street scenes in Mexico.  It is always a pleasure to watch a classic film with seasoned actors in it.  There were a number of shootings but no heads being blown off in front of us or anything like that.  These movies depend on the actors playing the role, not sensationalism and off the wall scenes.

We did solve a mystery up here at the cabin the past few days.  We have outside flood lights on a motion sensor and they come on a lot after dark.  We've checked outside to see what is causing this a number of times and finally found out we have three cats that like to hang around our cabin.  They run when open the door and aren't that friendly, but at least they keep the mouse population down.  Good job gals & guys cats.

Linda Mc is trying to make us jealous by traveling down to the Maine coast and eating "lobsta".  We both like it but I can't eat shell fish so that doesn't bother me but Gerry's mouth is watering for some good "lobsta" and shrimp.  Now if she had mentioned Grouper, then I would be jealous also.

Thanks to all those who have sent emails to Gerry encouraging her with her shingles problems.  I know she appreciates the concern and wishes for a speedy recovery.

If you are still reading by now I imagine the exciting writing has you on the edge of your seat or possibly sleeping.  Wake up.  It's time to go for this edition.

That was our day, how was yours?

A Kink In Our Plans

Gerry had what we thought were spider bites on her back and we were treating it with benadryl to relieve the itching.  It didn't seem to be working that well and she was having difficulty sleeping.  Then there appeared to be a couple more spider bites on her arm and it was an "oh oh" moment.  I finally convinced her that she should see a doctor and find out what this was all about.

She went to a local doctor to have an expert opinion of what it was.  By this time we both had ideas of the cause but didn't voice them out loud.  Yep, she has the shingles in three spots and they haven't spread beyond that for the last day or so.  That doesn't mean they won't but at least they aren't running rampant.  She is on medication to help with the shingles and hopefully she caught it in time to avert a full blown shingles attack.  Say a little prayer for her that it doesn't go into that.

I've been applying bendaryl spray to the affected areas and it seems to help a little.  Ahhhhh, the Golden Years!!  Now we will have to wait and see how it goes.

Other than it is raining again up here on the mountain, there isn't a lot interesting to write about.  We did watch a good movie last night called "The Internship" with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.  They are salesmen selling watches and the company goes out of business since nobody wears a watch anymore.

They wind up as summer interns at Google and team up with 4 others to try and win a job with Google.  It is a funny movie about gaps in ages and newer technology.  I don't want to say more about the movie but we both enjoyed it a lot.  No car chases or murders for those who like that but there is a good study of human nature.

BTW:  I had shingles about 10 years ago and it wrapped around 1/2 of my body and was quite an experience.  The doctors misdiagnosed it and I wound up at the Miami Heart Institute with the experts thinking it was a heart attack.  $75,000 later after the procedure a male nurse diagnosed the problem as shingles.  1/2 of the doctors finish in the bottom of the class and I must have gotten the bottom finisher in that group.  I did find that my arteries were fine and not clogged up.

Stay tuned for the next saga in our life.

 

57 Is A Special Number

Gerry and I were married in 1957 and celebrated our 57th year of marriage today.  It is hard to believe that 57 years have passed so quickly, but when you have a great wife, it makes it easier.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GERRY

We will celebrate with a nice anniversary dinner later this week once I pick out a special place.  The pickings for a great restaurant are slim up here on the mountain, but something will come to mind soon.   I hope!

Gerry's niece Erin is in town on business and we took the opportunity to meet her for lunch at BJ'S Brewhouse in Frederick, MD.  She was coming from the DC area and we were heading down from the cabin and arrived at the restaurant at the same time.  Our original plan was to meet at Olive Garden however when Erin spied the Brewhouse across the street there was a change in plans. 

As usual the Brewhouse waiter asked if this was our first time at the restaurant and we replied yes, but we've been to the one in Tucson.  His face lit up and he informed us he was a University of Arizona graduate and worked at the Brewhouse there.  Small world.  Later he came by and informed us that a patron at the bar had on an Arizona State University shirt.  He and I chatted about the upcoming basketball season at UA and he was quite excited about their chances for a National Title. 

We wound up spending 2 1/2 hrs at the restaurant and got caught up on all the family news.  The conversation flowed so freely that we neglected to get a picture of Erin.  She will be returning in September for another work visit and plans on staying with us for 3-4 days before reporting to work.  I am sure there will be pictures taken then.

Our return trip took us through Frederick and eagle eye Gerry spotted an old car.  I caught a quick glance and it looked like a 48 or 49 Packard.  After a few blocks they were stopped at a traffic light next to us and I asked what year it was.  1949 with 130,000 miles and running great.  They were on a trip with the car and heading for I-70 and making good time.  One thing that stood out about the care was the beautiful chrome and big whitewall tires.  We took a few pictures driving down the road and they aren't the greatest but give you an idea how nice the car looked.

1949 Packard

I prefer to take US 40 back to the cabin rather than I-70 since it is more relaxing on it, plus I like the up and down grades on US 40.  One added benefit is the ice cream trailer parked near Greenbriar State Park that has great soft ice cream.  We stop there every chance we get and haven't been disappointed yet.

Since we had such a late lunch, we skipped dinner and just had some chips and dip to go along with a glass of wine while sitting on the screened in porch.  The deer were active in the meadow and it was nice seeing the 5 of them meandering around and grazing.  Very relaxing.

We topped the day off by watching a movie that was meant for younger people.  It was entertaining but the use of the "F" word was excessive.  It was hard for them to speak a sentence without using it.  Maybe that is how the 25-35 year old people talk now, but we find it offensive.  We were always taught that if you used profanity it was a sign of ignorance.   

Barb & Henry called and we talked for quite a while.  They got another letter from their HOA about weeds in their yard.  The funny thing is that the weeds are in the neighbor's yard, but B&H get blamed for them.  Henry is still a great supporter of HOAs.  I wonder how many more letters he gets before he changes his mind?

Cassie and Jack called earlier in the day but we were going down the mountain and had poor cell service.  They were also on the move and we will have to talk to them on Monday.

Larry Jr. and Grant went to the Carolina Panthers - KC Chiefs pre-season football game and seemed to be having a great time.  They even have Carolina blue shirts on for the occasion.  Burgundy and Gold of the Washington Redskins look better. 

  

That was our day, how was yours?

Group Dinner at the Ott House

Yes, that is correct.  We had a farewell dinner at the Ott House for Jane and Larry Jr.  Larry Jr wanted to meet at one of his old haunts in Frederick MD but it seemed they missed his $$ contributions and they closed their doors.  RIP Griff's Landing Restaurant in Frederick is closed.

So, he decided that the 70 mile drive to the Ott House in Emmitsburg, MD was worth the effort.  I readily agreed since it is one of my favorite watering holes.  The atmosphere is great and the food is OK.  Try the Wings for an appetizer.

Gerry and I arrived early only to find out it was trivia night and the large tables were all reserved.  We managed to beg enough that they put two tables together and made room for the 10 of us.  Cassie, Jack, Elizabeth, Bella and Lambeau plus Jane & Jr, Kenny, Gerry and I all squeezed around the table.  We also lucked out and it was $5.25 pitcher night for Yuengling beer.  What more could anyone ask for, wings and good, cold draft beer?  

Bella, Cassie, Elizabeth, Jack & Lambreau

Kenny, me & Gerry

No, that isn't an optical illusion with Kenny being taller than me.  In fact he is 6 inches taller and makes me look like a shrimp.

Jane, Larry Jr & Kenny.

 We all enjoyed the beverages and meal and then hung around to play trivia.  We were tied for 1st place and lost on the tie breaker question.  Who knew that there were 100 phones in New Haven, CT in 1878?  I knew that my grandfather's phone number in Gillespie, IL was # 16 in 1923, so I guess New Haven is larger than Gillespie.  We actually should have won but at my suggestion they changed an answer to a question and I guessed wrong.

Then I got beat over the head for not knowing the New Haven phone question since one in the group thought I was alive then.  Shameful to treat an old man that way.

We all broke up fairly early since Jack & Kenny had to leave for work early and Jr & Jane had a long drive back to their hotel.  We had a great time with all of them and enjoyed the evening very much.

Earlier in the day ( 7:45am ) the roofer stopped by to measure the cabin so he could order the material.  After he left we took a drive to the roofing supplier north of Shippensburg, PA via a round about drive.  Tom Tom decided we needed a scenic route to make it interesting and had us turning right and left all over the place out in the middle of corn fields and farms.  We finally found the place and selected bronze as the color for the metal roof.  

We stopped in Shippensburg to have lunch at a local diner and Gerry enjoyed her meal, but my meat loaf left something to be desired.  I will try something different the next time we go there.  There was a fire down the street and we had entertainment while we ate.  That helped with downing the meal.

Then it was on to some geocaching in the downtown Shippensburg area. It is an old town and the houses reflect that.  It would be possible to film an 1800s movie there with a few modifications.  Six found geocaches were added to our collection with one being a very interesting find.  The others weren't that difficult, so it was a good day.

That was our interesting day, how was yours?

Rain, Rain & More Rain

Last summer when we returned to North Carolina from Tucson it rained about 20 out of 24 days and then continued on when we returned to the cabin.  I am sure the farmers liked it then, but I wonder how they like all this rain we've been having this year.

There was flooding of the interstates in Detroit, Baltimore was flooding, DC got their share and it has been raining for the last 24 hours at the cabin.  We watched "Noah" last night and I am beginning to get concerned.  At least we have trees here to build an ark, so we are reasonably safe for the time being.  

Ooops, the computer is in the motorhome and now the rain has picked up and we will have to make a mad dash for the cabin.  Bad timing on my part.


The roofer is coming tomorrow morning to measure the cabin for a metal roof.  At this time we are leaning toward a bronze roof, but will pick out the color for sure after he leaves and then verify bronze is our selection.  We have a poor pitch to part of the roof and it is difficult for asphalt shingles to be waterproof.  The roofer assures us the metal roof will take care of that.  Time will tell.

Back to "Noah" the movie.  It was long and some parts boring, but told an interesting story.  I would give the movie about a 6 on a scale of 1-10, which puts it above average.

We have the TV series "Band of Brothers" on disc and have been watching the series the past few nights.  It didn't interest us when it first came out, but now we are enjoying the series.  It is based on some true aspects of members of the U.S. Airborne unit and their battles in WWII.  It is graphic in some spots and shows a side of war not usually seen on TV, but is well done.

I'm still looking for Joanne, so if you see her let me know.  This is an old picture of her, but I think she still wears the same glasses.

Have a safe and dry day out there.

Quick visit and a cookout

We've been back at the cabin for little over a week now and finally have taken a day off.  As mentioned earlier, the cabin is in fairly good shape for being vacant for a long time, but there still are a lot of things to be cleaned, repaired, stored and whatever, in order to make it liveable again.

Larry Jr. and Jane came up late Saturday night for a short visit on their way to Bethesda, MD.   Jane will be attending a conference there. They had somewhat of a sendoff party Friday night and were late leaving their home for the 7 hour drive up here. Then, they ran into the Saturday traffic on I-81 which slowed them down a lot. Of course, the obligatory stop at a local Roy Rogers restaurant was involved in the delay also. They finally arrived at the cabin around 10PM and we visited until after midnight.

Since they were only going to be here a short time on Sunday, we invited Larry's good friends Kenny & Peggy, Tom & Darlene, Cassie Jack and girls to join us for a cookout. All told there were 12 people here for the cookout and we lucked out and had great weather. So nice, that everyone sat outside for their visit and food. We all sat around in a circle like a campfire, but didn't have a campfire.

Gerry had prepared her “famous potato salad”; “famous baked beans”; fresh corn on the cob and I grilled up hotdogs, cheeseburgers, hamburgers and one lonely black bean burger. We also had homemade black bean salsa, and Darlene brought a salsa dip and guacamole dip. I think the nice weather made everyone hungry since all the salsa, dips and food disappeared quickly. There were also adult beverages and soft drinks consumed in quantity.

Before and after the dinner groups were playing charades and having a lot of laughs. Everyone joined in playing charades but not everyone acted out a charade. I was in the latter group.

The party started to break up with everyone having to go their separate ways, Tom & Darlene back to Annapolis (2.5hr drive), Kenny & Peg, Cassie & Jack back to Smithsburg, and the guests of honor down to the conference site in Bethesda. Gerry and I finished cleaning up and proceeded to crash in the motor-home.

After some phone calls we decided to watch a movie called "Admission" with Tina Fay playing an admission officer at Princeton University. It was a good movie, but predictable in it's conclusion. It was light and did settle us down. We finally called it a night.  That was our day, how way yours?

Goodnight Joanne, wherever you are!

A Vist With Linda & Sherwin

Friends of ours who we met in Tucson a few years ago stopped by to visit today on their way back from Virginia.  They spent the night at a local Comfort Inn after arriving in a rainstorm Tuesday night.  We were caught in the same storm as we left Applebee's Restaurant about the same time as they arrived.

We went over to the motel this morning and picked them up and chatted for a while in their room and then it was off to the Flamingo Restaurant in Fayetteville, PA for lunch.  It is a small local diner where you can get good food at reasonable prices.  We were seated quickly and ordered our meals and continued on with our chatting.  We all liked our choices and would go back again for lunch.

After that we took the back road (all roads are back roads here) to our cabin via the South Mountain Restoration Center.  They were surprised how large it was and that if you didn't look for it, you would miss it.

Finally we arrived at our little cabin in the woods and chatted up a storm with them and filling each other on what we've been up to the last few months.  It was non stop conversation for a number of hours and only interrupted by a great roast beef dinner that Gerry prepared.  We did sit on the screened in porch watching the deer going by in the meadow and listening to the songbirds in the area.

It was great seeing them and hopefully they will stop by on their way out west in September.  If not, we will see them in Tucson and continue on with our chats.  

Thanks for stopping by guys and taking time out of your journey to spend a day with us.  See Linda, I did remember you would be stopping in and visiting.  

That was our day, how was yours?

If The Shoe Fits

I think I may be growing older faster than I should.  Still have the wanderlust and love to see new places and enjoy the full-timing RV life, but signs are creeping in (running faster) that I am getting old.  I still see the 18 yr old in my mind, but the mirror tells me otherwise.

My son has almost the same shoe size as I.  have a nice pair of shoes that I never wear since they are a little snug.  I decided he could get better use out of them than me and asked if he wanted them.  Sure, why not was the answer.  So, I went back to the motorhome and started looking for the shoes.  The places to store shoes are limited in the motorhome (Gerry's craft supplies see to that) but I couldn't find the shoes.  Gerry helped me look and took everything out of the closet on her side of the bed.  (Twice!)  No shoes.

Then it was outside and tear up the bins looking for the shoes.  I knew I had them since I wore them for Easter services.  Ok, take a break and look later.  Same drill as above but no luck.  Later I looked again and Gerry helped me and asked if I was sure I brought the shoes with me.  Of course, I wore them on Easter Sunday.

By this time both of us were frustrated and decided to look for them again once we got settled into the cabin.  Well, then things took a turn for the worse for me.  As I said I am getting older and don't think as fast as I used to.  On one of my trips into the cabin I found the shoes on my shoe rack.  Oooooopppsssss!  If it would have been one of my younger days the shoes would have been transported to the motorhome and placed in an out of the way spot.

Nope, I told Gerry the shoes were in the cabin.  That is when the rolling pin came out and it was time to get out of the way.  Now that my headache has gone away I am writing this before I forget about it and look for the shoes in the morning.

Growing old isn't for the faint of heart.

That was my day as I remember it.  How was yours?

All Good Things Come To An End

For years those who travel from North of the Mason Dixon line on the east coast to places further south below the line dreaded the I-95 corridor through Baltimore, Washington DC, & Richmond because they faced huge traffic jams in the area.   A few years ago many people wised up and took I-81 around the area via I-66, US 17/15 and connected back on to I-95 near Fredericksburg, VA.  It was a little longer but traffic moved more freely.  That is how it used to be for a while.

We were heading north on I-95 about 30 miles south of the US 17 connection and traffic came to a standstill.  Keep in mind, we weren't running into the Washington DC exodus, but were going the opposite way.  It was stop and go for well over an hour and then the traffic on US 17 was very heavy.  It finally thinned out and we made good time once again.

Those on US 17 heading for I-95 weren't as fortunate.  Traffic was backed up for miles heading south and not moving very well at all.  What a mess.  So, for those of you wanting to take this route, don't expect to make good time.

We made the trip from Chesterfield, VA during some heavy rain and then lighter, but constant rain.  Since we were driving so slowly, it wasn't a problem.  We did see a number of stupid drivers taking chances and only looking out for themselves.  A few of them even drove along the shoulder of the road so they could pass a few cars and move up a length or two in the miles long traffic jam.  I don't know where they were going, but they must have been in a hurry.  Probably didn't want to be late for "happy hour".

It was nice pulling into our driveway at the cabin and getting settled in.  The cabin looks pretty good, my old storage shed had fallen down, but other than that we are in good shape.  We will stay in the motorhome a few days and air out the cabin, clean it and then gradually move in for the next 2-3 months.  Our "snowbird round trip of 2013/14" has officially come to an end.
 
That was our exciting day, how was yours?