Tybee Island In The Sun

Tybee Island was the destination today and we made a beeline for our visit.  For those who haven't been there before, it is an island southeast of Savannah, GA with the ocean on one side and rivers on the other.  It is a less developed town and isn't overrun with highrises, condos and huge homes.  They do have a few of the above, but the beach is still easily reached.

The Tybee Lighthouse and Museum was our first stop on the island.  

Ordered by General James Oglethorpe, Governor of the 13th colony, in 1732, the Tybee Island Light Station has been guiding mariners safe entrance into the Savannah River for over 270 years. The Tybee Island Light Station is one of America's most intact having all of its historic support buildings on its five-acre site. Rebuilt several times the current lightstation displays its 1916 day mark with 178 stairs and a First Order Fresnel lens (nine feet tall).

 We all decided that it wasn't a good idea to climb the stairs to the top, so we just admired the lighthouse from below.  Across the road from the lighthouse are some old gun batteries from the 1800s.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the museum is its location in Battery Garland of Fort Screven. Battery Garland was constructed between 1898 and 1899. It was originally used to mount a huge 12 inch “non-disappearing” rifled long range cannon on top of the battery.

Within the walls of Battery Garland are seven rooms which contain artifacts and exhibits covering more than five centuries of history. Most of the lower rooms which now contain the Museum’s exhibits were originally used to store smokeless gun powder and projectiles which weighed over 700 pounds each. Battery Garland was named in honor of Colonel John Garland, Eighth Infantry, who “served with distinction in the Florida War, and died on January 5, 1861.” 

I had downloaded a few geocaches and one of them was across the street from the lighthouse.  Judy, Herb, Gerry and I set out to find the elusive cache and Judy actually was the one who found it.  I will take credit for the find and have entered it into my list.  There was another cache across the street, but it involved keys and other obscure rules and they weren't able to solve the puzzle.  

It was a beautiful day and the beach was almost deserted.  Gerry managed to get this nice picture and it sure does look inviting. 

Tybee Island Beach

These witches were gathering in a parking lot and looked to be almost ready to ride off on their brooms.  We didn't dare hang around too long or they might have taken us with them.  Scary looking bunch as you can see.

Gerry and Judy went shopping along the beach looking for end of the year bargains.  Luckily none were found and Herb & I escaped with our wallets intact.  We would have parked, but it cost $2.00 an hour to park and it only counted for the first space you were  in.  If you moved, then it was another $2.00/hour.  Every available space on the island had these signs up and it was impossible to park in a free spot unless it was a large business.  I don't mind paying for parking but felt the cost there was out of line with what was available.

A few years ago, Gerry and I along with friends Mann and Carolyn stopped at the The Crab Shack on Tybee Island and had a nice meal.  We decided it was time for another trip out there and commenced to search for it.  Even though it was well marked and such, we had a difficult time finding the place.  I thought it was closer to Savannah but we finally found the place.

They are famous for their "low country boil sampler" as pictured below.  Since I can't eat shellfish, the three of them decided the "boil" was too much food for them to finish off.  People at the next table let me take a picture of their meal and it sure does look good.

To say the place has an eclectic flavor would be an understatement.  They have an alligator pen with about 100 alligators 2-4 ft long right at the entrance.  The light fixtures are old bushel baskets with a bulb in them and the cats have the run of the place.  We all thought our meals were OK, but not that tasty and were overpriced.  More of a tourist stop than a 5 star restaurant.  It is a nice place to visit at least once, but not more than that. JMHO

Judy & Herb

Gerry & Me

Our table on the water.

We went back to Savannah after the late lunch and headed for River Street and the Halloween festivities that evening.  More to follow on our trip there in the next blog.  Stay tuned.

That was half of our day, how was yours?

HIlton Head Visit

Larry Jr. loves Jeeps and BMWs and recently purchased a used 328I BMW to replace the old 1992 BMW he was driving.  The 1992 was giving him problems and he decided rather than putting a lot of money in the car now to keep it running, he decided to garage it and work on it later when he has the time and money.  His new (Used) car is a beautiful Burgundy color and has low mileage and is very clean.   I am jealous!

Friends Judy & Herb arrived here in Hardeeville, SC for a weeks visit with us in the motorhome.  We will be touring the Savannah & Hilton Head area while they are here and possibly travel down to Jekyl Island for a few days.

Herb broke a tooth on the way here and we made an emergency appointment for him with a dental group in Savannah for 9:00AM this morning.  On the way to the dentist traffic was terrible and at a standstill for long periods of time.  We finally got on US 17 on the way to Savannah and came upon a horrific wreck.  A large 18 wheeler had crashed into a Ford Explorer and then ran off the road down an embankment.  We all thought the driver couldn't possibly live through the crash, however we found out later in the evening that he only had a few scratches and nothing major.  He did manage to drop his load of wood chips in the middle of the highway and delayed us for 20 minutes or more. 

Herb went to his dental appointment and Gerry, Judy and I went to Panera Bread for breakfast.  Their breakfast menu isn't that great but we managed to finish off the sandwiches and coffee.

Herb finished up and we picked him up at the dentist and then headed back to the motor home for him to pick up his medical card and then drove to Hilton Head, SC to check it out and pick up a prescription at a drugstore.  There was an hour wait for it and we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch and enjoyed the meal.  After picking up the prescription we drove all over Hilton Head checking out the sights.

Hilton Head has numerous parks and one that we stopped at was the Veterans Memorial park.  It was a beautiful area on a cove in the bay with walking paths, green open spaces and a nice memorial honoring the veterans.

 

I managed to convince Gerry, Judy and Herb to pose for some pictures. 

Judy & Gerry

Herb & Judy

I managed to download some geocaches and we stopped and picked up one close to the park.  It was hidden high in the tree and I was the only one tall enough to see the container. 

  
Gerry and Judy wanted to take a walk on the beach and I managed to snag a great parking space close to the beach and most importantly, close to a Tiki Bar.  Herb and I treated ourselves to a beer and a margarita while we waited for the ladies to finish their walk.

They came across a Horseshoe Crab on the beach and it was the first one Judy had ever seen.  They are common on the Maryland and Delaware beaches and we have seen many of them in the past.  They were so plentiful many years ago that the people collected them and ground them up for fertilizer.   They are a mean looking crab about the size of a soccer ball, but really are quite tame. 

We drove all over the Island and were impressed by the area and how well hidden all the shopping centers and businesses were.  As a matter of fact, the drugstore was so well hidden that we had to search all over for it.

There were two nice campgrounds on or near the island and we checked them both out.  They were both upscale RV resorts and would be nice to stay in either for a week or so.   I've never seen so many Wanderlodge motor coaches all in one place in my life.  Many were quite old and didn't have any slide outs, but looked great otherwise. 

By this time we were all tired out and headed back to the motor home and had a light dinner and some relaxation.  Now the girls are trying to get us to play some card games and Herb is resisting bearing the brunt of their anger.  Better him than me.  LOL

That was our day, how was yours?

Overnight Delivery - Not!

When we ordered our new phone on Sunday we were promised overnight next day delivery.  We were assured it would be here on Monday, but that isn't the case.  It wasn't delivered to FedEx until 8:00 AM on Monday morning in Coatesville, PA.  We are in Concord, NC.  No delivery today.

Now it looks like it will be delivered on Tuesday before 8:00 PM.  Evidently they don't consider Sunday a day and must refer to "business days" , but that isn't what they said.  So we will visit with family another day and then move down the road on Wednesday and make the 5 hour trip to Savannah, GA.  The saying in RVing is that plans are made in jello and subject to change.

We visited with our newest great granddaughter today at the daycare center and it was difficult getting Gerry to put her down and leave.  We will see her again on Tuesday, but Gerry wanted to see her both days.  It must be a maternal thing with women.

London & Great grandparents Gerry & Larry

Great grandpa and London

Dinner with Larry Jr., Jane, Grant, Barbara & Henry was on tap for the evening.  We had a long wait at the restaurant and finally were seated after 45 minutes.  At least we were able to chat with each other and catch up on the day's events.  Jane had to drive through an area on I-40 where a deputy had shot and killer a mental patient in the median strip.  Never a dull moment down here.

That was our day, how was yours?  

I Gave Up!

Our children and friends have encouraged us to join them in the 21st century and get a smartphone.  While I didn't really want one the situation with Millenicom (our internet provider ) going out of business forced me to make a decision on who to go with for the internet on the road.  After a lot of thought and research we decided to stay with Verizon and take advantage of their double data plan and at the same time purchase a Samsung S5 smartphone.  We could have gone with a phone with more features, but thought the S5 was best for us.

Now we have 30 gig of data and a smartphone for just a few more dollars than we spent with our old Verizon phone and the Millenicom 20 gig plan.  We were able to keep our Jetpack Mifi unit since it was really a Verizon piece of equipment and we own it.  They are over nighting the phone to us here in Concord for free and and we will hang around an extra day to make sure we pick it up before we head down to Savannah, GA.  Texting still isn't in our future since neither of us really like to send text messages.

Yes, I know we will love it and wish we had bought it earlier and now we can do all those wonderful things with it.  GPS, Gas Buddy, Weather channel, Restaurants, Photos, etc.  Of course we do all those now with the computer, Tom Tom and a camera, but now we can do it another way.  Progress doesn't come easily.

We had an interesting visit to Costco today.  Larry Jr & Family were headed that way and we needed some things there and we drove in separate cars since each of us needed space to haul the goodies home.  Jr. had some pictures that he had picked up from Costco and gave them to us to deliver to Barbara on Monday.  I had to move some things around in the car and placed the pictures on top of the Honda and then forgot about them.  We drove off and were heading home and heard someone beeping their horn and finally followed us to Larry Jr's house.  He informed us that the pictures had blown off the car and were in the road.  A busy road at that.

Well, it was time to hurry back and salvage what we could of the pictures and found them spread out over one hundred yards of a 2 lane highway in rush hour.  Not good.  I parked the car with the emergency lights on and we started to pick up the pictures.  A woman and her grandson parked in front of us helped, another person stopped and also a man on a bicycle helped.  It was a madhouse for a few minutes and we had traffic backed up for a block or so when we finally retrieved all the pictures.  We thanked the good samaritans were out of there in 5-10 minutes.  I am sure everyone that was delayed weren't that happy, but nobody flipped us the bird or yelled.  The people down in Mint Hill, NC still have manners and showed it today.  Our hats are off to all of them.

I watched Gerry, Jane and Grant carve out some pumpkins.  The first one went well, but the 2nd pumpkin was spoiled and runny inside and very smelly.  Glad it was them and not me.  Jr grilled some great steaks and prepared potato wedges, salad and a Key Lime Pie for desert.  Great dinner and even better company.

Larry Jr took his mom out for a ride in his new (2010) BMW 328I and showed her what it could do.  He had it up to ciento veinticinco mph in short order and thought he was scaring her, but she is an old hot rodder and loved it.  Just don't tell anyone he was driving that fast.  I tried to sit behind the wheel but my stiff knees made it difficult to get comfortable.  The car sure did look good and maybe I can get a picture of it on Monday

We visited with them a while longer and then came back to the motor home and hopefully get a good night's sleep and be ready for an early morning ride over to Barbara's house and pick up the new phone.  Good night.

Family Gathering

Gerry and I spent the afternoon and evening visiting with our daughter Barbara and her family.  Since they knew we were coming, they invited our grandchildren over for a cookout and some s'mores in the evening.  Jared and Hannah arrived too late to have their picture taken but they were there for dinner.  They bought a new Jeep and also picked out a dog for Hannah, so they had a good excuse.

We arrived in time to play a game of corn hole with Barb & me standing Henry & Gerry.  Since I didn't know the rules and we were playing to 11, I thought we'd won when I scored a direct hit and scored 3 points giving us 13.  Henry scored one point and their score was 11.  Since he scored 11 exactly, they won the game.  I think I was scammed.

 Henry is taking his best shot and winning the game.  I guess I need to understand the rules before we play again.

 Grandson Sean and Taylor showed up right after the corn hole game and joined us around the outside bar. 

 Taylor immediately woke up great grandson Griffin as soon as they got there and he took to Aunt Taylor real well. 

 Grand daughter Stephanie showed up next and looked beautiful as usual.  Her husband Shawn had made plans to spend the weekend with his mother in the mountains so couldn't join us.

 Uncle Sean and Aunt Taylor were teaching Griffin how to catch a ball.  He actually did very well for a child less than 2 yrs old.  Maybe he will be a wide receiver or something when he grows up.

 Barbara and grandson Ryan (father of Griffin) posed for a nice shot even though the sunlight and smoke were behind them.

 We had a great dinner of hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad, grilled vegetables and other fixings.  It was cooling off outside by this time and some of us ate inside and those who had jackets or sweater decided to brave the cold and take their meals outside.

Later on we had some pumpkin marshmallows, crackers and chocolate (s'mores) to top off the day.  They were prepared in their fire pit on the patio and that helped keep us warm also.  We all were stuffed by then and tired out from the days activities. 

We had a great day and enjoyed seeing all the gkids, ggkid and families.  Great, but a tiring day and we left fairly early in order to catch up on some rest.

Our friend Dee questioned why we aren't bringing our bikes this year.  The bike rack doesn't fit on the Honda and due to time running out we decided to leave them at the cabin.  We hope to be able to buy a couple old bikes at a yard sale or the flea market and leave them once we leave the park next year.  That's the plan, now to make it work.

That was our exciting and fun day, how was yours?

On The Road Again

The clock alarm went off and sounded terrible this morning and it was tough getting out of bed.  We knew an early start was important so we forced ourselves to start the final loading of the motor home for the trip.  The car was also loaded to the gills with stuff heading for North Carolina. 

Cassie came by and helped us with all the work and also to visit and chat with us as we worked.  There were only small items to load and then we started work on winterizing the cabin.  There were lawn chairs to be stored, bikes brought inside and other small tasks to perform.  It was time to turn off the water pump and the outside electricity for the motor home. 

Our neighbors, Ken & Diane came over and helped us clean the leaves off the slideouts and then helped with guiding the motor home out of the tight spot it was parked.  It took a couple tries and we were finally on the road.  That's after I negotiated the narrow lane leading away from the cabin.  The entrance to the cabin has a couple really narrow spots where the trees are next to the road and also leaning over the road.

Gerry and Cassie followed me down the mountain and we hooked up the car in the Food Lion parking lot.  It was my first try at connecting the new hitch to the Honda and all went well.  Gerry did the inside part of the connection with the Brake Buddy and running the tranny through it's gears.  A quick light check and we were on our way to Chesterfield, VA for the night.  It was sad to tell Cassie goodbye, but we can't even begin to think about staying in the cabin over the winter.  We will chat with her often and keep up with the happenings of the girls and Jack.  We miss her already.

It was an easy drive except for a few miles where the wind buffeted us around a little.  I wasn't sure if the tail lights were working and wanted to get to the Pocahontas State Park before sunset.  I almost made it and only had to use the lights for the last 10 minutes of the trip.  As it turned out, the tail lights worked fine and I was concerned over nothing.

Our friends Carolyn & Mann dropped by the campground and brought a couple pizzas and some beer and we had a nice feast.  It was greatly appreciated after our busy and tiring day getting ready and being on the road.  We spent the evening chatting and discussing plans for them this winter and also our plans for the winter.  They are heading for Florida and we are going to Arizona so we won't see them until next summer.   It would be nice if we could convince them to make the drive to Arizona, but that isn't in the cards at the present time.  We bid them a fond farewell and are finishing up with some chores and then heading to bed.  

That was our day, how was yours?

Farewell Dinner With The Gang From Maryland

We are planning on leaving on Thursday and decided it was time for another Ott House fix before we leave.  Cassie, Jack, Elizabeth & Bella joined us there for a very enjoyable evening.

I ran into an old flame of mine who was sitting at the bar and decided to drop by and talk to her.  I must have waited too long since she had changed a lot since I last left her sitting at the bar.  I can't imagine what happened to her since I've aged so well.  I think I will keep Gerry.  What do you think?

I did manage to find two pretty girls that were willing to sit next to me.  That is, until I started teasing them and it was difficult keeping them there.  Once the food was gone, they were ready to hit the road.  It was fun while it lasted.  I sure do have a weakness for redheads.

As you may notice in the picture above there is a display case full of pins.  The Ott House caters to the National Fire Academy attendees and is full of fire fighter memorabilia including patches, pins, helmets and other associated stuff.

  
 The case contains almost 180 beautiful pins from fire houses all over the U.S.  Behind the bar is a beautiful plaque donated by a Bag Pipe group in New Jersey.  The colors were vivid and even if you weren't into fire fighting stuff you would be impressed by this decoration.

  
Wednesday is trivia night at the Ott House and you must have a reservation if you expect to get seated.  Pitchers of Yuengling draft at $5.75 also must bring in a few patrons, including me. The large group sitting at a table next to us all had matching shirts on when the trivia session started.  Since the girls had school in the morning, we decided to not play trivia this time.  We bid them a fond farewell and headed back toward the cabin.

It was a long day with an early start and lots of work packing the motor home for our trip that will last until next summer.  We spent 2 1/2 months taking things out of the motor home to use in the cabin and now have to return it all in a couple days.  It has been very tiring running back and forth and carrying all the stuff back and then finding space to store it.  But it is worth it.  We get to spend the time visiting with Cassie and family and then when it gets cold, we head south.

That was our busy and tiring day, how was yours? 

Where Was I 31 Years Ago This Month?

Rather than bore you with our preparations to leave our cabin in a few days I thought I'd show you the results of a small task I've been working on the past week or so.  I used to use Seattle Film Works to develop all my film and they produced prints and slides at the same time for a small additional cost.  Over a couple years I accumulated around 1,000 slides and misplaced the box they were stored in.  Well, I found it and decided to digitize all the slides.  Boring!

At the time the slides were taken I was traveling all over Africa on business and wound up in some scenic places.  Back then many countries would confiscate your camera if you took a picture of bridges, buildings, military installations and other sensitive spots.  I managed to take a few of these illegal pictures and as far as I know it didn't cause the collapse of the country.  Even though, I was in different countries a number of times where they had a coup just before I got there or had one while I was there and a couple times it happened just after I left.  Fun times!

One of my favorite places that I spent a little time in was Kenya in 1983.  I was there about two weeks and managed to get some time to take photos of the wildlife and scenery around Nairobi.  It was a little dangerous to travel to Mombassi at this time, so I skipped that part of the country.

The first special trip was to visit Treetops over night and photograph the wild animals at the water hole nearby.  Princess Elizabeth of England received word that her father (The King) had passed away while she was at Treetops that evening and she came down Queen Elizabeth.  I went up a Foreign Service Office and came down the same the next morning.  Nothing exciting like that happened while I was there.

"For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience she climbed down from the tree next day a Queen …..."

These now famous lines about the accession of Queen Elizabeth II were written in the visitors' log book of the "Treetops Lodge" by World renowned hunter Jim Corbett.

The original "Treetops" was built in 1930 and hosted many different famous people over the years.  That version was burned during the Mau Mau uprising and it was rebuilt once again a few years later.

The structure below was the present day one that I spent a night in and didn't get any sleep at all.  They have a salt lick near the building and the animals come out at night for water and to use the salt lick.  Also, the building was made out of wood and had small rooms and narrow hallways.  The windows had bar on them to keep out the animals and I didn't feel comfortable trying to sleep there.  Plus, all the action was on the veranda high up in the building.

Note the guide with the large rifle.

Water hole

Rhino near the building

There were rhinos, elephants, cape buffalo, hyenas and numerous other animals which came to the water hole that night.  My camera didn't take great night pictures so they tend to be grainy.

The next day we went to the Nairobi National Park right outside of Nairobi to check out the animals there. It was necessary to drive through the park in a car since it was so huge and there were a number of animals there weren't respective of our position in the food chain.  

I wanted to get a nice photo of the two 13ft long alligators sunning themselves by this water hole.  When I walked down closer I only saw one alligator and my friend Ron yelled that the other one was trying to circle behind me.  Thankfully I was still fast on my feet in those day and I scurried back to the car and safety.  Lesson learned.

 These hippos were just hanging out together in the old swimming hole.  Hippos are a very dangerous animal and don't take kindly to people disturbing them and I respected that.

 There were larger herds of these animals, but I wanted to only capture a few of them on film.  They didn't seem to mind us being there and ignored us for the most part.

This ostrich must have thought we were going to feed him and decided to walk up to the car.  They can be a little testy if they aren't fed and we continued on our way.

I thought the zebras were a fitting way to say The End to this blog for tonight.  

I do have a number of other photos and slides from the trip, but don't want to overwhelm you with them.

 

Brake Buddy Installation & Millenicom-Verizon

Well, I am still able to get on the internet and still don't know for how long it will work.  I spent over an hour today talking ( mostly on hold ) to Verizon staff regarding the demise of Millenicom and what Verizon is going to do with their customers.  Nobody at Verizon could help me with this.  I was passed from one group to another and eventually was cutoff.   Finally I gave up and decided to wait and see what happens.  In any case, the issue will be resolved in a week or so since the double data special for ATT & Verizon ends on October 31.

Jack came up to the cabin and we (mostly Jack) installed the brake buddy on the Honda.  We had to run two wires through the firewall with one going to the breakaway switch and the other to the battery.  The battery wire supplies 12V power to the brake buddy and the break away one applies brakes to the car in the event the car becomes disconnected from the motor home hitch.  It rarely happens, but it would ruin your day when it does.

Yes, that is me laying on the ground working on the breakaway switch on the car.  We had just tested the brake light, turn signals and the tail lights on the car with it connected to the motor home.  Everything worked except the tail lights and that will require some more testing to see which wire isn't where it should be.  I can drive without the tail lights as long as it is daylight hours so it shouldn't delay us getting out of here on Thursday.

The Blue Ox you see above is the new tow bar which stays on the motor home.  The old tow bar had to be removed when I needed to back into a campsite and it seemed to have gotten heavier each year and more difficult to store in the car.  All that is past us now and should make it easier to get on the road in the morning when we are traveling.

The Saturn required us to remove a 30amp fuse when towing and then reinserting it to start the car.  It wasn't a big problem, but the new wiring system on the Honda makes all that a thing of the past.  We are looking forward to seeing how it all works out.

Luckily we had a couple days of dry weather and were able to finish the job before the rain started tonight.  So far it is just showers and if it doesn't rain any harder, we shouldn't have a problem with getting stuck in the mud.  The parking spot is gravel but I have to angle the motor home back and forth to make a hard right turn and avoid some trees.  Tricky, but doable.

That was our exciting last couple days, how were yours? 

Possible Interruption In The Blog Postings

For the past two years we have subscribed to an internet provider called Millenicom.  They buy service from Verizon in bulk and then sell it in smaller chunks to their own subscribers.  It has worked very well for us and we've been pleased with the service.  That all came to an end today when it was announced Verizon took over Millenicom customers and will be contacting us.

Well, I haven't heard anything from Verizon and don't know how long I will have service, but in any case we will go with someone to provide us internet while we are on the road.  Most likely the provider will be Verizon, but that isn't certain at this time. 

It is also about time we looked into a smartphone and a data plan with it.  Our main phone is an ATT cell phone and we use that for most of our service.  We also have a Verizon phone with limited minutes and maybe it is time to move forward.  We don't like to text, no instagram stuff, etc so some of the benefits of a smartphone don't really interest us.  Basically we use the phone as a phone, not as a camera, GPS, weather station and such.  

So, if I don't update the blog for a while most likely it will be because we are switching providers, upgrading phones, tweeting and all those good things.  It will be hard to switch over from the phone below to the new fangle ones.  What do you think?

 Give us a call sometime.  It's three longs, two shorts and one long.  For those under 60 and need an explanation, let me know.

Almost Ready To Hit The Road and a 4 Hour Lunch

We ordered a baseplate, switches, light kit and hitch for the new Honda CR-V from Amazon dot com and they all came in right on time.  Installing the hitch is about a 4 hour job for people with the right tools, lift and patience, none of which I have.  So, we scheduled an appointment to have Beckley RV in Thurmont install the difficult parts.  It wound up being a 6 hour job for them and a lot of $$$$ flying out of my plastic card.  At least it is done now and I don't have to actually do it myself.  Whew, dodged a bullet on that one.

Gerry & Cassie have been working on card making the past few days and finally finished up this session.  Now we can put all the craft stuff away and clean the motorhome in preparation to load it with food, clothes and all the necessities of full-time living in the unit.  We will start on this on Thursday and hopefully be ready to leave here by the middle of next week.  That is, assuming some great calamity doesn't come up and delay us.  Last year it was the tree grabbing the mirror on the motorhome and breaking it.  A couple years ago 14 inches of snow snuck up on us before we could hit the road.

It's been raining hard the last few days and I put a large tarp on the area I use to turn the motorhome around in preparation for our departure.  I hope it keeps the area dry enough that the motorhome doesn't get stuck.  That would be all we need to start the trip on a sour note.

We do have a few other chores to take care of before we leave but they should be manageable to finish in time.   Our mail will be sent out on Oct 20 and we will wait for it to come in before we leave.  

We have been exchanging emails with Barb & Henry's old neighbors from Chesterfield, VA the past few months as they begin their life as full time rvers.  They are camping in Gettysburg for a few days and we met them at the Ott House (yes, we do like the place) for lunch today.  Debbie and Dale are youngsters compared to us old fogies but we had a very nice 4 hour lunch with them today.  Yes, we talked non-stop for 4 hours about rv stuff and everything else under the sun.  It was great seeing them and we hope we can connect with them again down the road as they travel the USA.

Dale & Debbie at Ott House

 I hope we didn't talk their legs off and we can visit with them again.  Have fun out there you two and keep ahead of the snow.

The maple trees in the area are at their peak for color now and we found this one on our way back to the cabin.  The sun was going down and some of the color had faded, but it was still a beautiful tree.

 

If anybody has a favorite baseball team left in the playoffs, I am available for hire to put a jinx on the opposing team by rooting for them.  When the playoffs started there were 3 teams I was rooting for to be in the World Series final this year.  Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.  One by one they all lost their series and were eliminated.  Now it is down to Kansas City Royals representing the American league and the St Louis Cardinals playing the San Francisco Giants to see who represents the National League.  Not much interest here in the World Series now with the remaining teams.  Wait until next year!

Those were the highlights of our past week or so.  How have you all been doing out there in blogland?

Family Day on South Mountain

It was family picture time on the mountain today.  It's been a while since our three children and the grandkids were all together at one time with us.  They manage to visit each other while we aren't in the area and it was very enjoyable seeing the gang all here.  Barbara's children didn't make it up here but they were in our thoughts.  Especially Stephanie & her hubby Shawn had to endure a vacation at Sandals Resort in Jamacia as part of their anniversary present to each other. (10/10/10 married).  Henry said something about having to work and that we don't have a lake nearby, so he couldn't make it.

Larry Jr and Jane had to leave early for the long drive back to Mint Hill, NC and get ready for the school and work week ahead of them.  They only were here a short time but it was an intense and pleasurable visit.  We will see them again at Thanksgiving, if not sooner.

Grant,Jane,Larry, Elizabeth,Cassie,Bella  in back Jack & Barbara

Larry, Grant & Jane

Jack, Elizabeth, Bella & Cassie

Barbara, Larry & Cassie

Barbara, Larry Sr, Gerry, Cassie & Larry Jr.

Grant & Me

Bella, Grant & Elizabeth

We were sad to see them leave but they did have a beautiful day ahead of them for the drive.  They came up in a rainstorm and left in bright sunshine.

Cassie & Co stayed for the afternoon and we had a nice visit with them and enjoyed ham, cole slaw, continental potatoes, and green beans  for dinner.  We topped it off with carrot cake and peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert.  I think the girls may have eaten some Halloween candy also, just a hunch.

Why is it something you look forward to takes forever to arrive and then it's over in an instant?  That is what happens when you have a great time.

That was our Sunday, how was yours?