What else would you do!

Unpacked and now what to do.... go to Disney World!

But, where do we go first? Not a park! ............

Where else but the "Cast Connection!"

We found a tee shirt that was embroidered. Had to have it. Disney is more into selling "press-on" appliques instead of the classy stitched ones. (Bummer!)

Now we can go to a park!

Of course you know what holiday is nearing....

The line to the "Haunted Mansion" was all the way to Frontier Town.

They're making great progress on Fantasy Land.

This will be turned into mountains.

Below is to be a grand water ride

The below "stitched" photo shows the new Castle wall built to encompass the new area. This photo is taken just behind the carosel and the Castle. The Pinocchio Village Haus is to the left.

Remember the old "Sky Way!" Well, that's gone. They removed the "mountain" where the "Sky Way" gondolas were entered! We didn't ask to find out what it is but it's looking really cool!

The photo is taken between "Peter Pan"on the left and "It's a Small World" on the right.

Disney is undergoing lots of construction in the Magic Kingdom. It appears most of it will be completed in time for the busy season... when all of you get back here!

In spite of being mid-September, the park has lots of guests.

We enjoyed our "walk about" thanks to some cloud cover.

Oh well, it's back to DisneyQuest!

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to work I go........

(Now that tune will be stuck in your head for the day!)

Almost there!

Up at dawn, dump the tanks, fire up the coach and head across the street to hook-up the HHR, and pray that the Low Air alarm and warning light stays off! We're leaving Amish Country! We’ve got over 1100 miles to go and we don’t need to be mesmerized into insanity with that thing going off for all those miles.


Connect the tow bar, insert pins and clips, check. Connect the power plug to the motorhome, check. Connect the break-away cable, check. Set the auxiliary brake, check, Plug in the ICX cable, check. Plug in the power plug, check. Hit the test button……., hit the test button…….. what the!!!!! After resetting everything I check the remote in the motorhome to tell me what’s going on……. “brake light switch not connected!” UGH! Sure enough, I press the cars brake lights and NO brake lights! Grrrrrr! OK, we’re not licked yet. Our HHR tail lights have their own wiring, i.e. I have all the lights I need¸ we just can’t use the auxiliary brake system for the trip!!!!

That’s just another thing we’ll deal with when we get home.

Off we go. We pick up our “Country Sausages” we ordered at Kaufman’s and head out. We just turned onto Rt. 83 in York, PA, 37 miles out and BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!! The Low Air Buzzer and warning light are talking to us! The gauge drops to zero but we press on. I know there is air and the brakes are working fine. But OMG, do we need to listen to this!!!!!! There’s no place for us to pull over, shut the engine off and see if that will reset things. Then, the buzzer went off and the gauge showed full pressure!! What the??? Onward we press. Through Baltimore, one accident. Through D.C. and into VA, another accident, this one is really bad. We see a car covered with a sheet. Then further down 95 another accident, a semi jack knifed and took out about a dozen trees!

Five hundred plus miles later and we’re sitting at the Exit 139 Rest Area in SC.

Day two and we have just over four hundred miles to go. No more than a few miles on the road and BUZZZZZZZZ! Terrific! This time, in the time if took both Pat and I to react, I look down at the gauge and the noise stops and the gauge is back up to normal! That was the last time we heard it. Thank goodness!

This is it. We’re feeling the temperature rising and the sun higher in the sky. We left MA at 42’N by 71’ W driving to 28’N by 81’W. Simply put, we are over 1400 miles further south and roughly 400 miles west of Dracut. The other thing that tells us we’re in Florida is this…..

The “Love Bugs!”

As we closed in on our destination Pat longed for an “Earl of Sandwich” veggie sandwich. We thought we’d pull into DownTown Disney and stop for a “final meal on the road.” Nearing Exit 65 we decided against stopping with the motorhome and felt it a better idea to get home and return in the car. (Sorry Laura, you know I’d just have to get “lunch and eating” in my blog somehow!)

This is the time of year to visit central FL. There were plenty of parking spaces at DownTown Disney. Pat’s idea for lunch topped off the trip beautifully.

Oh, for all of you (soon to be) returning “snowbirds” they’re widening the curvy section of Sherberth Rd. just at the intersection of the entrance of the Animal Kingdom Lodge where Oceola Blvd. ends. Also, many of you remember that Panera Bread was planned for just across Rt. 192 from Miller’s Ale House. Well, the building is roughed and it won’t be long now, …and, we’ll have another place to eat!

We were welcomed back by this little fellow....

He didn't seem very excited to see us, so I moved him to the retention pond across the street!

All that’s left to do now is clean out our “Old Friend,” and wash off all the bugs before they become part of the paint! We get to enjoy (ugh) these nasty creatures at least a couple times through the year. It took me longer to rub these buggers off than it did to wash the crud off the HHR!

It turns out there was nothing wrong with the HHR Brake lights! I'll have to review the Brake unit set-up to see if I may have missed something.

Just when you think you've got one problem solved another pops up. Our home electric hot water heater elements just crapped out!!!!!

AAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG!

Dracut, MA to Lancaster, PA, ......UGH!

We're sitting in our coach at the Beacon Hill Campground and still thinking about yesterday's 400 miles of our trip home. It rained off and on but topping off our tank in Bloomsbury, NJ with lightning overhead was a not-so-subtle hint of what was to come. We drove onto Rt. 78 at Exit 7 and got the news on the CB. Two tractor trailers jack-knifed ahead of us at PA Exits 57 and 60! With pouring rain and speed reduced to under 30mph we were just 21 miles from Rt 222 and our escape from this parking lot. While inching along we actually witnessed a pick-up towing a large animal trailer jack-knife in the passing lane. The driver, braking when he saw traffic stopped, lost control and ended up hung up against the center wall. No one was hurt but that was to be the third accident we encountered on Rt. 78. One hour later we turned onto Rt. 222 and smack dab into another back-up due to an accident! Four accidents in all and another we heard about on the radio. We lost two hours in traffic! But our story gets better...

We were about fifty miles from our destination when the Low Air warning light and buzzer broke our monotony. We pulled over and began the litany of options ahead of us. As many of you know, when air is lost in an air brake system, the breaks will cease to function! It seems that within a minute or so the buzzer silenced itself and the gauge jumped right up to the correct air pressure. What the....! I had brakes and air and what just happened. Off we went. But, six miles from our campground the Low Air light and buzzer sounded again.
This time, I pulled over and tried to work this out in my head as to what was happening. We never did loose air! I made some basic checks under the coach and all was normal. I shut the coach off, let it set for a minute and fired it up again. The gauges worked normally. I hoped the shut down may have reset something and away we went. Our "Old Friend" and our HHR looked like we've been "muddin!" We can live with that... as long as we can keep going.


We're camping at the Beacon Hill Campground on route 772 in Leacock, PA. http://www.800padutch.com/beacon.html It's situated on two levels terraced on the side of a hill just a short walk from the Kitchen Kettle. This picturesque campground is nestled in the heart of "Amish Country." Campground owners, Cliff and Rene are extremely friendly and have many "repeat" customers.

The  below "stitched" photo give you an idea of its layout.

On the second level of the campground you can sit in this shaded and manicured garden looking over Amish farms and the beautiful landscape.

This is the view in front of our coach...



Staying one day gives us just enough time to sample all the jams and jellies in the Kitchen Kettle, http://www.kitchenkettle.com/index.asp visit with some friends and pick up (literally) pounds of their yummy Country Sausage! We did a driving tour to hunt down an apple pie for desert and we caught the eyes of a couple of locals.....

We spent some time with our friends Abner and Becky and their daughter Kathleen. They are the owners of Lapp's Coach shop http://www.lappscoachshop.com/ which just happens to be just across the street from the Kitchen Kettle.

We got to say hi to Deb, the owner of "Pepper Lane Fudge and Sweets" and met her husband Mike.

http://www.kitchenkettle.com/members/pepperlanefudgeandsweets.asp

Deb was busy cooking chocolate and pecan fudge for the day. Deb also enjoys following along with our Blog. She and her scrumptious fudge were the topic of one of our past posts.

One thing we didn't remember about Lancaster County,PA, this time of year is the most humid time for the area! This seems worse than Florida! WOW! (I take that back, they only suffer through this for a month or so! You get to enjoy this for five to six months in FL!)

Here's a map of a few places to visit if you should be in the area....

My phone call to Freightliner confirmed my thought that we didn't have an air pressure problem but more of a "gauge" problem. The Tech I spoke with identified the Vehicle Data Control (VDC) as the likely culprit.

Air lines from the compressor enter this electronic box that sends data to the gauges and the warning buzzer. The VDC is located under the rear bed on a rail above the engine. The bed lifts up but there are two large steel insulated panels bolted down that seal the engine compartment from above. The VDC will most likely need to be replaced. We thought about heading to the main Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney, SC but the earliest they might be able to get the part is next Monday! That's out. We're going to try and drive home and have it repaired then.

The Techs said that the problem will not affect anything else, but it certainly will be a nuisance!

Just over a thousand miles to go...... and a bunch of "what ifs" ahead of us!

News Flash!! This just in.......

While clearing some of the road dirt off our Journey a man walked around the back of our coach, looked at me and said..."you are here!" What a surprise! It was none other than "Big" Buzz!

Some of you do not know "Big" Buzz but many of our friends from Encore Lake Magic Resort sure do.

Yep, (from left to right) "Big" Buzz, Judy, Cathy and Judy's brother Rick.

They've been traveling together and will spend a few days here in Amish Country. After that they split up and "Big" Buzz and Judy head north to Maine while Rick and Cathy head south to D.C.

We spent a few minutes telling each other how shocked we were to actually connect and get to say hi. Our hasty reunion was so short but sooo great!

They looked great and are looking forward to returning to FL. Rick and Cathy have been to Lake Magic before and this year they'll be wintering with all of us after the Holidays for several months. I see a "welcome party" in order! Meeting up with "Big" Buzz and Judy and Rick and Cathy was an awesome surprise. We wish them an enjoyable and safe trip and are looking forward to seeing them in November

....and that's the news of the day!

Time's up!

It's that time again! In a few days we'll be "breaking camp" hooking-up the HHR to our "Old Friend" and heading south. We've got a few more things to report on before we go.
We visited our homestead in Hampstead, NH to spend some time with our land owners, Laura and Chuck and their family. They're enjoying their grandchildren and making more time for themselves. Laura and Chuck have worked hard all their lives. Their son Chuck Jr. is taking on more responsibilities in their business allowing Laura and Chuck to enjoy car racing and travel. As Chuck Sr. says, he's entering "semi-retirement. As with most business owners, it's difficult to "let-go" of what you've built over ones career. They've paid their dues and now it's their turn to reap the benefits of all their hard work.

Over the months ahead, together they will plan trips to visit many of the streets and back roads of America. This month they're heading to Iowa. They've sketched out a plan to visit the John Deere factory and (are you ready for this) "drop in" on "Dannielle," the TV show "American Pickers" receptionist. Laura and Chuck will be on a real American Adventure.

Lee asked me to ride with him in his '78 Vette to give it a run and I wanted to see his finished project at a nearby Nursing/Assisted Living facility he worked on much of last year.

You may recall this photo from last years' visit to MA when Lee took me to see his "project."

Before...

After...

What a fine piece of work!

Oh, I should mention, as you know Lee and Pam are not your average car lovers, they're into building them as well. Lee's been tinkering with their Vette. Last year he began the "rebuilding" of the Vette. He sold the Mack  and Ford pick-up trucks he was going to restore when he "felt the need for speed" instead. He put a big block Chevy engine in the Vette putting out 350 H.P. This winter he's attacking the body.

Just the other day a trailer backed into his driveway and here's what he rolled out........

A (sort of) retired Super Modified! In earlier posts I mentioned that Pam and Lee enjoy following auto racing. Well, they're more than a little interested. Both Pam and Lee have followed, sponsored and loved the Super and Modified racing circuits for years. This past week they took a major leap into the arena, they purchased this car and together Pam and Lee will become the "P & L Motor Sports" racing team. The past few days, fortunately the weekend, Lee and Pam have been working over the car and trailer like kids tearing open gifts at Christmas. The car has sat in the trailer since 2001. They're building a racing team of friends and fellow racing enthusiasts and they hope to put the rubber to the track next year.

This is one strange vehicle as you can see....

The engine is on the SIDE of the car.

Whoever drives this thing is in for a treat...

...and it just looks strange.... it's direct drive!!!! No transmission!

You can bet this baby can make some noise!

Within minutes, Lee had the cowlings off and is preparing to inspect every part of the vehicle and make it race ready. The Big Block Chevy is waiting for the first mist of alcohol to explode inside its cylinders and make its presence known on the track once again.

We wish Pam and Lee the best of luck and we'll look forward to hearing and hopefully see them run this car to the Victory Lane many times!

Bill and Angela are celebrating their 45th Anniversary so we had a little get-together to celebrate....

Believe it or not, from left to right: Bill, Bobby, Angela, Cathy, Judy Dave, Pat and George!

We had a grand time! Ah, PhotoShop can do wonders!

After our little celebration, we headed back to our home-away from home to find Pam and Lee enjoying a New England treat... Lobsters!

Photo correction- that's not Lee's belly, he's holding the plastic bag full of lobsters!

The four of us enjoyed some great conversation and called it a night.

Our last day will be spent prepping our "Old Friend" for the trip home and sharing some cheer with anyone who drops by to see us off!

Even with an extra week, our time up north is rapidly dwindling. It never fails, the shorter the time left the more you pack into it. The Northeast is gorgeous at this time of the year. Schools are back in session and "Snowbirds" begin to make their winter travel plans. Pat and I will make our way home over the next few days. We'll miss the glorious fall foliage that graces New England but we don't miss the snow. We miss the well defined seasonal changes we've enjoyed for all our lives as well as the family members and friends we leave behind each time we visit.

Darn! I must have had a "brain fade!" Better late than never.  How could I forget one of our most eventful days while here in MA. We were invited to a "Summer Get-Together" with our long time friends and Groveland, MA neighbors, Janet, Erin, Caitlin and Dan.

For nearly all of the twenty-two years we resided in Groveland, we shared so many outstanding memories as we literally watched their two beautiful daughters grow into two beautiful young women. Dan and I shared so many ice-cold "line beers" and helped each other with all the great stuff "happy home owners" do. The BBQ was held at Janet's Mom's home. Pat and I became "honorary" members of the Donovan Family Annual Christmas Party.

Thanks for the memories Dan and Janet!

Prior to Dan and Janet's BBQ we killed a little time (and $$$) and headed for Jordan's Furniture. We weren't looking for anything, just killing time. Pat caught sight of this cute chair table. Well, it's now packed in our HHR!

Jordan's is quite an experience, it houses an IMAX theatre, Trapeze school, Water "Fireworks," Ice Cream and Jelly Bean Store. To boot, Jordan's is a huge supporter of Red Sox Nation.

Some of you Red Sox fans may know who this fellow is...

It's "Wally" of the "Green Monster" fame!

"Wally" is climbing over the "Green Monster." He's quite large. Going diagonally up the lower left corner of the photo is the escalator and "Wally" is holding a (life sized) Red Sox player in his left paw!

I think that just about does it!

We hope you'll stay tuned for our next post from Florida.