On The Road Again

We spent the weekend getting in some last visits with Barb & Henry, Larry Jr. & Jane and preparing for our departure from the Concord area and taking Grant with us.  After almost 7 weeks there, we had a lot of rearranging of "things" and repacking some of the bins.  After all of that, we actually had some open space in one bin.  Not for long I am sure.

Larry Jr. helped me get the Saturn hooked up last night and a few other chores that I wasn't looking forward to.  Jr. & Jane brought Grant over after work and we all enjoyed a Taco dinner.  They bid a fond farewell to Grant and headed home to 3-4 weeks of quiet in the household.  

This morning we woke up early and started putting more last minute odds and ends away, had breakfast and hit the road.  I wanted to get to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, VA before the afternoon rain storm came through.  We had an easy drive here except for some rough pavement on I-85, but there wasn't a lot of traffic so that made it great.  We did run into a brief downpour for a few miles, but nothing of any significance.

Grant as co-pilot.

Mr cool.

Grant burning off energy at Rest Area.

 
The campground has 50 amp electric and water, but not sewer hookup.  That will work for us since we plan on leaving Friday morning for West Virginia for 4-5 days and visit with Cassie, Jack and family before we take Grant on his camping trip through PA & NY.

While we are here we will meet up with Carolyn and Mann in the afternoon and evening for the next couple days.  They have travel plans, so this will be a short visit with them.

July 4, 2013 Happy Independence Day USA

Happy Independence Day to everyone out there reading my blog.  It's great to live in this great country of ours and to have our freedoms and be able to celebrate them in peace.  Thanks to all those who served in the military past and present who have contributed to this freedom.  In addition, thanks to all the Foreign Service members who are stationed in dangerous posts throughout the world.  It was a comfort to know that our government & military would come to our aid in the past when we were serving our country.

One of the highlights for us has always been the parades and fireworks.  In the past, local & state politicians would take this opportunity to give long speeches and promise you everything.  We were spared this on this 4th since nobody is running for office this fall.  

We went to the Harrisburg, NC, 4th of July parade this morning very early and had a good time.  Barbara was working a booth along the parade route and we managed to find her group and sit next to the booth and visit with her a little.

Barbara, 2nd from right.

 The 4th celebration always has to have Uncle Sam present and he showed up for this parade.

 

  
Gerry took over 100 pictures during the parade and I have narrowed them down to a few that highlight the parade and some of the participants.

This will be a two part posting today.  Barb, Henry, Gerry, Larry Jr., Jane, Grant and I are going to see the new Lone Ranger movie today and then adjourn to Larry & Jane's house for a 4th of July picnic and then some fireworks.  So, check back later to see how our day went.

Well, it is later now and we are back at the motorhome.  The gang went to the movies today and saw The Lone Ranger and enjoyed it very much.  A number of people have said they didn't care for it, but we all found it entertaining.  It sure wasn't like any other Lone Ranger movie we've seen in the past.  Lots of action, Tonto was the star and the Lone Ranger was a wuss.  I won't go into any further description of the movie, but check it out and see for yourself if you like it.

After the movie we all went to Larry Jr & Jane's house for a traditional 4th of July dinner.  Traditional is hotdogs, hamburgers, baked bean, homemade potato salad, snacks, watermelon and adult beverages.  Ryan, Dee and Griffin joined us for dinner and we had a nice long chat with them and Gerry got her baby fix.  It was great seeing them and all being together for the holiday.

Larry Jr. shot off the fireworks he bought on Wednesday afternoon.  He had a very nice selection and we enjoyed seeing the display.  His neighbors also had fireworks and two of them had the ones that shot up in the air and burst apart.  The four neighbors should get together next year and have a great display.  It sounded like WWIII out there on his porch for a while with all the fireworks in the area.

We visited for a while and then headed back home.  We are worn out and ready for bed.  Wouldn't trade the day for anything and had a great time.

Hope you all enjoyed the 4th of July celebrations as much as we did.   Happy Birthday USA!!

Firework Shopping & Last Day Of School

Today was the a big event for Grant since it was his last day of school for the summer.  He was as happy as can be to start his vacation and possibly sleep in later.  

After picking him up we headed to South Carolina to buy some fireworks.  They have a number of places that sell fireworks and they are located right on the SC/NC border just south of Pineville, NC.  The traffic was a nightmare getting into the parking lots and the heavy rain didn't make it any easier.

Larry Jr. is a certifiable pyro and always looks forward to shooting off fireworks.  He prefers to do it in his own yard rather than get all tangled up in traffic at the different fireworks events.  This year was no exception.

Jr asking sales person for advice.

Grant, Jr & Me

Grant

I think Grant is a well on his way to becoming a pyro person also.  If he could have, he would have spent a ton of money in the store, but Jr kept him on a tight leash and got out of there without breaking the bank.

We then had to fight the traffic back to Jr.'s house to drop them off and then a short visit to Barbara & Henry's before we returned to the motor home.  We were both beat and needed some down time in order to recover enough to start all over again on the 4th.

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for Dinner

Gerry & Barbara have been "encouraging" me to go out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a long time.  It sort of reminded me of way back when Larry Jr. was about 6 years old and the girls worked on me to get a dog for Jr.  I knew that taking care of the dog would not be on their agenda after a week or so and then someone else would be responsible.  Yep, that is how it worked out.  At least this time I had a great meal and even better company.

I finally weakened and we bought two $50 coupons at Costco for a total of  $80.  I should have bought 4 coupons, not 2.  Two things come to mind when I think of Ruth's Chris, very good food and $$$$.  We had excellent meals and very good service from Russ, our waiter.  All in all it was a very pleasant experience.  The restaurant was full when we left, so many others were enjoying themselves, also.

Gerry, me, Henry & Barbara

Henry then took us on a tour of downtown Charlotte and we were impressed with the area.  The main drag has many restaurants and bars for blocks and all the places were doing a booming business.  It is one of the cleanest cities in the US what we have been to and the pride everyone had in the city showed.

We all adjourned to the motorhome for some adult drinks and visited for a while.  Since we had a fantastic creme broulee at the restaurant, we didn't have dessert at the motorhome.  By the end of the evening we were all stuffed to the gills and worn out, so we called it an early evening.

Earlier in the day Larry Jr. came over to pick up Grant and we hooked up the TV in the bedroom to a blu-ray DVD player.  When I installed the TV I thought we could use the home theater system in the motorhome, but couldn't get it wired correctly.  The blu-ray is dedicated to this tv, so that will work out fine for our needs.

The Storms Just Keep A Coming

The last few months have been interesting and especially the last couple weeks.  We had another rain event come through here tonight and dump about 6 inches of rain in the area.  One report said to watch for flooding in the Charlotte Motor Speedway area and that is where we are located.  No danger to us since we are on high ground and far away from any stream.  The 3 ft deep ditches along side of the road were full and carrying a lot of runoff down the hill.

This is what we saw when we were returning from picking up Grant this evening and bringing him back to the motorhome for a sleep over. 

The skies opened up and the downpour began and it was difficult seeing the road at times.  There wasn't much traffic, so that was a good thing.  The wind really picked up and was pushing our poor old Saturn all over the road, but no real danger.

I got an email from cousin Al who was/is in Missoula, MT and he said it was 100 degrees there at 8:30 PM.  We were at 69, so that part was better, but we could have done without the rain.  Actually, the temp. dropped from +/- 90 degrees prior to the storm.

Last night grandson Sean and Taylor came over to the motor home for dinner.  They have seen the motorhome before, but this was a chance to see it better.  Gerry fixed up a great spaghetti dinner with a salad and Texas Garlic Toast.  Yummy!.  Sean and Taylor visited with us for a while and then had to get back home since they had to go to work today.  It was really nice seeing them and having some two on two time.

Our neighbor at the park is a very nice guy from Atlanta, GA.  He is on his way to a family reunion over the 4th and just wanted to take it easy for a couple days, so stopped here.  He worked for FEMA and knew a couple of friends of ours who also worked there.  It sure is a small world.  He had some stories about hurricane Katrina and the attention given to New Orleans, while Mississippi was devastated even more, but was overshadowed by New Orleans.  He said the powers to be in Mississippi were a pleasure to deal with and had their act together.  I won't repeat what he had to say about the politicians in New Orleans and the governor in that state.  I think anyone who read about the situation down there will be able to figure out what he thought about them.

Well, it's almost midnight and the rain has finally eased up enough to go to bed.  Grant will be up at the crack of dawn, so it's time for us to hit the hay.

I hope you all had a nice day and kept cool and dry.