A Visit With The New Twins

Our granddaughter Stephanie & husband Shawn had identical twin girls on April 19, 2017.  Aubrey Raye and Penny Rose recently celebrated their 3 month birthdays.

I haven't written about them since I wanted to let the proud parents notify all the family and friends of their arrival.  Now they all know about it and it is my turn to introduce them to our friends.  We have seen them a number of times and taken many photos, but very few of me holding them.  For some reason I shy away from holding the small babies and let Gerry have my share of time doing that.  Plus, she is much better at it than me.

Aubrey or Penny & Me

Penny or Aubrey & Me

Gerry & ?

Gerry & Barbara feeding the twins with Gabby keeping a close eye on them.

We spent a couple hours visiting this time and Gerry was in seventh heaven around the twins.  Barbara also loves to take care of them and quit her job to be there for them while Stephanie works.

We sure enjoyed meeting the girls and look forward to seeing them again in October. They are great grandchildren 6 & 7 with two sets of twin girls.

Phone Connection On The Road 1997

We didn't have a cellphone back in 1997 and traveled all over the country without one.  This was how we stayed in contact with our three children while we were down in the Florida Keys. 

Gerry would call the children and have them call us back at the pay phone to avoid the high cost of long distance calls on the pay phone.  At that time the phones were installed at Long Key State Park and numerous other places.  When was the last time you saw a pay phone at a campground?

 We camped at Long Key SP, Bahia Honda SP and alternated between the two parks when our 14 days were up.  It was necessary to reserve a space 11 months ahead of time due to the popularity of the parks in Jan-April timeframe.  We managed to get sites in the Keys from 1996-2006.  It finally got to be such a headache reserving sites there that we gave up after 2006 and have spent the last 11 years camping in Tucson, AZ.  Now that is another story.

Larry sitting in the shade by our 1995 Flair RV at Long Key SP

Our campsite on the beach at Long Key SP

 

Jared, Sean, Stephanie & Ryan at Bahia Honda SP after the Easter egg hunt.

Bahia Honda SP Gulf side beach

The end of a perfect day in Paradise

Now we each have cell phones and can't get into the Florida Keys state parks since they are even busier than ever.  I think I would like to give up the cell phones and spend Jan-April back in those state parks.   

Where were you in 1997?

Sights Around The Charlotte Motor Speedway Campground -

We spent ten days mooch docking in Larry & Jane's driveway where we took care of their dog and cat.  They took advantage of us being in the area and Grant attending a Boy Scout camping week to visit Asheville, NC.  They rented an AIRBNB house for 4 days and had a great time visiting the Biltmore Mansion, tubing in a river (funny story associated with this, but not enough space to write about it), hiking and just having a great time.

Grant had a great time at the Boy Scout camp except for when his kayak overturned and he hit his head on some rocks.  He is fine, but it was a scary moment for him.  Must be something about them being on the water.

When we returned to the campground (black tank was full) the entrance was blocked due to a rainwater pipe being broken.  We had this problem when we left but it took them a while to get a repair crew in there.  The pipe was about 4ft across and split in half.  They brought in some heavy duty equipment and have been working on the repair for the past week or so.

Entrance to campground and broken pipe

 We had to talk them into letting us go back to our favorite spot at the end of the row on the right side.  The  campsites to the right of this row are not level and slope downhill.  While we have leveling jacks, I don't like to have one side extended so much more than the other side.

Normally this row is full.  We are at the end on the right side.

Repair almost finished.

There has been racing every Tuesday night for the past 5 weeks or so at the main racetrack.  Since we have been visiting family, we haven't been bothered by all the noise.  We usually are returning about the time the races are over.  It would have been nice to attend one of the races but it didn't work out this time.

Charlotte Motor Speedway

 

The Dirt Track

Z-Max Dragway

Entrance to drag way and campground

There is one other camper in this area and he lives here full time.  As he said, he got the camper and she got the house in their divorce.  Nice guy and seems to be taking it all in stride.

Right across the street there are hundreds of vehicles for sale including pickups, cars, cheery pickers, huge diesel generators, large and small trucks and lots of other construction equipment.  There is a public auction starting on July 27 and it looks like it will be a huge one.  Wish we could stay for it but I'd probably buy something I couldn't use or get to the cabin.

Need a cherry picker?

More equipment

We are in the middle of these photos and I have some interesting sights to see all day long.

It's been very hot these last few days with some afternoon thunderstorms.  The temp has been up around 97 with high humidity to go along with it.  I think I prefer the dry heat rather than humidity.

That is what we've been up to lately.  What about you?

Lets see, where was I

My last post was May 24 and we were in Alabama at the Gunther COE park.  Rain was the word of the week while we were there.

After that we headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama and spent a week there checking out the sights.  We found a nice Passport America park. When setting up was completed, we explored around the area.  We've been to Gulf Shores 3-4 times and always have enjoyed our visit there.  We managed to be seated right away at Lamberts Restaurant one night, then found a couple other eclectic  restaurants including the Tin Roof .  It was an interesting, out of the way place and very busy.  

We had a check engine light come on the motorhome and had a mechanic check it out.  He said it was something to do with our super charger on the diesel engine.  Oh Oh!   The local (Mobile, AL) Cummins repair shop was booked out 3 weeks so we set sail for Charlotte, NC.  I plotted out a course on less traveled roads and saw a lot of rural Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  It was actually nice to see the small towns and farms along the way.

We pulled into the campground at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and contacted the local Cummins garage.  They managed to squeeze me in an appointment and checked out the problem.  The service manager came out a few hours later and showed us an estimate of the repair cost.  $5,500 was his price if all the parts were needed, including a new super charger for $3800.  Ouch!  I said to go with it and hoped the super charger replacement wasn't necessary.  Thankfully, ours was fine and we got out of there for a very reasonable price with only one part being replaced.  

We've been visiting with our daughter Barbara & family along with son Larry Jr and family.  We've had the addition of twin great grand daugters and have gotten to see them a number of times, plus spending time with our other great grandchildren.  

Barbara decided to retire and Henry threw her a big retirement party with over 60 people in attendance, mostly relatives.  Cassie, Jack and Belle made the trip along with Cassie and Barbara's friend Lee.  We had a great time seeing everyone at the party and catching up on their lives.

We've been looking for a house in the Charlotte, NC area the last 3-4 weeks and haven't found one that we both like.  South Carolina is very close and we have checked out a number of homes there.  Gerry's found a couple, but I didn't like them and she didn't care for the one that I liked. We don't want to just buy one and settle for something close since this will probably be our last house purchase.

If we can't find something we both like we may check out North Florida on the Atlantic coast near Fernandina Beach.  Then again we may also look for a place on the Gulf Coast south of Sarasota.  Lots of options open for us.

I will write more later when things settle down.  We are both in good health and still enjoying the Rv lifestyle but think it is better to buy a house a year early than a year late.  

That is what we've been doing the last 2 months.  Lots of visiting family and checking out houses.  We are heading back to the cabin later this week and hopefully will relax up there for a couple months.