Getting Ready To Hit The Road

We've been at the cabin for two months and it's already time to hit the road.  Time really flies by when you are having fun.  The last couple days we've loaded the motor home with a few items from the cabin.  There isn't as much to load this year since we have basically used the motor home all the time.  

October 20, 2015

It's been raining up here and the ground is soft where I have to back up the motor home onto so we have brought in about 1 1/2 ton of rock to make a mini driveway.  Cassie & Jack lent us their truck for this task and it took 2 trips.   Thankfully, Cassie and Bella were there to help unload the rocks.  It went by fast with their help.  The rocks were placed next to the motor home in the indentations made by the tires last year.  

New rock next to MH.

 The girls brought up their dogs to let them run and Remy ran around like an animal on crack cocaine.  I was very impressed by her running, jumping and turning on a dime skills.  She never got tired and wanted to play by running all the time.  Me thinks she was cooped up in the house too long.

Bella & Remy in driveway

 As you can tell by the winter jackets, it was a cold day up there for the unloading of the rocks.  Cassie & Bella wanted a fire so I gathered up some wood for them to burn.  It took a while but they got the fire blazing real well and kept it going until after sunset.  S'mores were on tap and enjoyed by all. 

Cassie and Jack also are campers and have a popup camper that needed some repairs before they go camping this weekend.  Jack came up after work and worked on the unit and got it all ready to go.  They are going to Gettysburg for the weekend and joining another couple there for pre-halloween festivities.

Jack getting ready to repair their camper.

October 21, 2015

 Cassie came up to help us get the motor home out on the road.  It is a very tight fit with trees along side of the narrow road leading out to the highway.  Once we cleared the cabin area, the next problem was actually exiting the area of the cabins.  There are trees on both sides of the narrow lane that I have to navigate through with only a couple inches to spare on either side.  I managed to line up the motor home and get out without scratching the unit.  

I drove the MH down to the local Food Lion parking lot 12 miles away and we hooked up the car there.  Cassie followed us and we said our goodbyes.  It's always difficult for us to tell her goodbye, but we will be back there for a couple days in November.  Then it will be goodbye for a longer time period.

We had an easy drive to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, VA where we camped for two nights.  It's a nice campground and we've camped there a number of times, but this will be the last time.  It cost us $79.00 for two nights with only an electric and water hookup.  They do have a dump station on the way out.  I can't understand how a private campground with a mortgage, paying taxes, staff and such is cheaper than a State park where they don't have a mortgage, taxes and have a number of volunteers.  While we can afford the cost, I wonder about all those families who camp to enjoy nature can afford those prices.  There is something wrong with how they accept and disburse money for these parks.

We drove over to visit with our good friends Mann & Carolyn the next day to catch up on what they have been doing.  We met them in 2000 down in the Florida Keys and have been friends since then.  They were just starting to camp and had a Flair motorhome and now they are thinking about selling their nice Journey motorhome and hanging up the keys.  They recently bought a house in Florida and intend to spend the winters there.  We always enjoy their company and the time rushed by quickly.  Then it was on to the Charlotte, NC area to visit with our children Barbara & Larry and their families.

That was our exit from the cabin and first visit on our route.  I see a number of blogging friends are on the move and enjoying themselves out there on the road.  Hopefully we will run across some of them as we make our way out to Tucson once again.
 

Firewood & Cold Nights

It's been very cold for this time of the year here on the mountain the past 3-4 days with temps down around 26F at night.  I've covered the water hose with leaves and that helps insulate them from the cold enough to keep them from freezing.  I also have a drop light with a 100W bulb in the water intake area of the motorhome which helps keep the compartment warm enough to keep it above freezing.

My next door neighbor Bob cuts down dead trees for firewood each year and I let him cull the dead trees from out 3 acres.  Over the years he has cut an access road to reach the trees at the back of the lot.  Here he is on the right with his trusty John Deere tractor getting read to cut down an 85 ft oak tree that has been dead for a couple years.  His brother Dave is on the left and was his helper that day.

Dave on left and Bob on the right.

Bob used to split the wood by hand but last year he bought a log splitter to make life a little easier.  All that means is he splits more wood now and it wears him out faster.  

Bob cutting the tree into fireplace lengths.

 Bob, Dave and Annette are working splitting the tree into fireplace sized wood.  Bob actually has a very nice wood stove that he uses as his main source of heat in the winter, with a propane furnace as a backup.  His cabin is well insulated and that helps with the heating bills.

Bob, Annette, and Dave  Notice some of the split wood on the right.

Sunday Bob was working on taking down some more trees on another neighbor's property when he downed a tree that fell against the neighbor's house.  Luckily, there was very little damage and Bob repaired it quickly.  No problem!  He did manage to get five truckloads of firewood and that will help him get through the winter.  They are expecting a cold one again, much like last year when it was bitter cold for weeks at a time. 

I was joking with him and said another neighbor warned me to not let Bob near our cabin on this search for firewood since he was a danger to himself and others in the area.  I had him going for a while until he caught on I was pulling his leg.  All in good fun.

Bob has been a great neighbor here for the past 35 years and has been helpful with many projects.  It is great to have a neighbor like him.

We've been staying in the motor home most of the time since we arrived here in August.  It is much easier to not have to unpack everything and then repack it later when we are getting ready to leave.  We purchased a macerator to empty the black/gray tanks into our septic system so it's possible to use the motor home.   We do use the cabin for other things as well as when we have company, since there is more space there.  It works out great for us this way.

We are planning on leaving the cabin on Wednesday morning and heading for Concord, NC to visit with Larry Jr. and Barbara and their families for 3-4 weeks before continuing our journey back to Tucson for the winter.  Hopefully, we will arrive there around the first of December and I can resume my newspaper delivery.

We've been having goodbye lunches the past few days and I will write about them later.  This has been the shortest time we've been at the cabin since we've been fulltiming and time has gone by in a flash.  It seems like we just arrived here and it's been almost 2 months.  

That's it for the night.  Hope you all are enjoying the beautiful fall weather and crisp nights.

Nice Fall Drive - Happy Columbus Day

It was time to get away from the cabin and see some of the beautiful fall scenes in the area.  The leaf colors aren't at their peak yet but they are still beautiful to see.  We have numerous fire trails in the area and many are open this time of the year so we went off the beaten path.

First however, we stopped by a couple roadside stands to pick up the last sweet corn of the season.  They had a nice autumn decoration set up with pumpkins and small gourds.  

We drove by another farm and produce market and admired their seasonal decorations.  We usually stop here for our fresh squeezed apple cider but bypassed it today.  Hopefully, I can talk Gerry into making her hot spiced apple cider before we leave the area next week.

It was a nice cool day so we decided to take a leisurely drive around the mountain and enjoy the views.  

Adams County, PA is known for its apple/peach orchards in addition to the Gettysburg Battlefield.  We are on the southern portion of the orchards and drove through several of them along this journey.  The orchard pictured below also has some of the best cherries we've ever eaten.  It's a pick your own place that isn't that well known and we want to keep it a secret.

The apples are ready for picking.  We saw a few people in the orchard but not many.  They had better hurry before the deer get their fill of the apples.

They had stacks of crates ready to be filled and shipped off to the processing plant a few miles away from here.

Just over the first ridge is Gettysburg, PA, but it's hard to see since we are 10 miles or so away from there.  The visibility was fairly good, but there was just enough haze in the area to cloud Gettysburg.

All this driving and seeing apples made me hungry for an apple pie.  We stopped at a local market and Gerry went in to buy a pie, but she must have gotten distracted and wound up with a Key Lime pie instead.  Must have been because she was reading  about the recent visit to the Florida Keys of blogger Where's Weaver .  

This is also the time of the year for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and many bloggers writing about their time there.  It has been difficult reading about the Florida Keys and the Fiesta while sitting here on the mountain.  We love to visit both places and weren't able to this year.   I even told my youngest grandson of marriageable age not to get married the first of October and guess what he has on the schedule for Oct 8, 2016.  Yep, getting hitched. Getting him married off takes priority over the Fiesta.  It was only 5 years ago that our granddaughter was married on 10/10/10 and wiped out the Fiesta for that year.  What's up with these kids?

That was our day on the mountain, how was yours.
 

Misty Morning Drive

Well, we are finally finished with doctor appointments and are good to go for another year.  No big problems with these old bones so far other than old age creeping up on us.  Actually, more like a gallop than creeping.

My last doctor appointment was early in the morning and we left in fog and morning mist.  We were treated to some great views of the mountains and open meadows along our drive.  Gerry managed to take a few pictures but we couldn't really stop and take more due to the appointment.  

I was in and out of the doctor's office in record time and we stopped at a Bob Evans Restaurant for breakfast.  I had what looked like an open face omelet and Gerry ordered the blueberry crepes.  We both enjoyed the meals and the never ending cups of coffee.  Of course, at $2.19 a cup, they should be refilled constantly. 

We decided to stop on the way back to the cabin and gather some walnuts for our local squirrels.  For some reason walnut trees don't thrive near the cabin; however, down lower there are hundreds of them.  Most of the walnut trees are along side of country roads and the locals don't gather them at all.  We used to pick bushels of walnuts and then crack them open for the meat.  Gerry baked a lot in the winter and fresh walnuts really hit the spot. You do have to be patient picking the meat out of the walnuts and that was a job to be performed while watching football.

As we were returning to the cabin a solitary turkey walked across the road in front of us and then flew into a tree.  Gerry whipped her trusty camera out and captured a couple pictures of what looked like a young tom.  He sat in the tree for a couple minutes watching us and finally decided to fly further back into the woods.

  
We've started our departure routine early this year so we aren't so rushed.  It's been raining a lot up here and the ground is soft next to the motorhome.  It's a very tight fit exiting the parking spot and I have to back up onto an area that is dirt.  Last year it was dry, however the motorhome left a few ruts as we pulled out.  I've decided to watch the weather closer as the actual date comes closer and if rain is in the forecast, I will move the motorhome to a local state park for a few days.  

It's been quiet up here on the mountain the past few weeks.  Just a few visitors (neighbors) stopping by, some doctor appointments, shopping and regular life events.  Nothing really interesting to blog about.

My brother went to the cardiologist yesterday and all is going well with him on that issue.  The doctor was pleased with his progress and said he was fit enough for his 2nd major operation later this month.  He gets asked how he is doing so much that I think he'd rather not talk about it.  

That's it from up here.  Hope you all are having a great Autumn.