Things To Do and Places To Go....up North!

Pat finished her 12 day shift stretch and we completed packing the Journey by late evening Friday. We had the HHR hooked up to the motor home and ready to go. We took our time and made all the last minute preps, fired up our "Old Friend" and idled our way out of our RV Port. Turning onto Rt. 27 we realized we forgot the GPS! A quick "turn-around" and back to the house we went. Fortunately, I don't think anyone witnessed our return. Within a few minutes we were on our way...... again.

Nearly 700 miles later we pulled into a secure and empty rest area under the lights. Around 1:00 a.m. we awoke to a family talking very loudly as they took a break and headed out. We also noticed the place was full of campers/travelers. A short time later we were again awakened by some voices only you could tell they were trying to be as quiet as possible. Originally, I thought a family was in a small Class C until I noticed more and more kids and adults walking out of the rig! It seemed there were more than a dozen people packed into the rig. I stuck my head out the window to see what type of rig they were in. It turns out they were in one of the fancy short buses and they were going or returning from a function.

Day two, 600 miles and we're through D.C., Baltimore and beyond. The only "incident" to report took place while crossing the twin Newburg Beacon bridges. We were in bumper to bumper traffic and a voice on the CB says to check out the "wall of water that looks like a tidal wave heading for us!" Sure enough, we watched as the front began to engulf the hills in the distance as it made its way up the Hudson River! Yikes! Let's get off this bridge! Well, we did and were slowly over taken by wind and heavy rain that reduced our speed to around 40, and that was fine by us. We made it just fine and were glad we were off that bridge!

Our next stop was the rest stop in Union, CT. We pulled into our camping spot in Dracut, MA early noon the next day. Our "Old Friend" never missed a beat and treated us to a comfortable trip. We typically travel between 63-65 mph. It may seem a slow pace but it's the most comfortable for distance and a whole lot less stressful driving.

Our Hosts, Pam and Lee greeted us and set us up to feel right at home...

...right next to Pam and Lee's Meridian!

We spent a restful evening in Lee and Pam's "hang-out," their exquisitely well furbished garage, had a few beers and a good night's sleep.

Now we get to plan our appointments and visits for this shorter than usual stay.

But first, I've got to catch up with our best friends George and Judy. They have a camp on a beautiful lake in NH and Pat and I get to set aside a few weekends a year to enjoy the Sunapee Lake area. It also helps that I got George into Amateur Astronomy. Together we've frequented a ball field near his camp that has gorgeous dark skies. Too boot, George recently purchased a telescope he'd been researching for several years, a Celestron GS-8. It's a beauty. It's a motor driven 8" Equatorial Mounted Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

And, it never fails that when someone buys any new Astronomy "toy" the sky clouds up and you have to wait to use your new "toy!" Sure enough we were clouded out, Grrrrrrrr!

I had George set up his new scope in his basement so we can practice with the movement, set-up and break-down. It's always much better to do all that before you head out into the dark.

The highlight of the weekend was to visit with George and Judy's son Mike and his wife Candice to see their new Granddaughter, Raia.

Beautiful!

I got to give Ashley her "Tinker Bell" wood carving...

And Pat and I got to see her incredible garden....

I guess Ashley's three week European trip let her garden get away from her!

We got to catch up with Bill and Angela at home.

Of course being from New England we anticipate eating awesome fish from the cold water of the New England coast. Our Aunt Ruthie, her daughter, Angela, Bill and Angela, Pat and I and Ashley made way to Gloucester and the Seaport Grill http://www.cruiseportgloucester.com/seaportgrille/  just across the street from the "Crow's Nest." (You may recall the movie "The Perfect Storm?" That's the local drinking establishment of the crew of the ill fated fishing vessel, the "Andrea Gail.")

Below is a small glimpse of the Gloucester Harbor and local fishing boats.

We were invited to dine with Pat's best friend Cathy at Cathy's sister and her late husband Richard's home in Groton, MA.

The home is the design of Suzanne's late husband and what a home it is.

The home is long as you can tell by this "stitched" photo. The large yellow room at the rear is the "great room." The interior and exterior design by Richard speaks boldly of Richard's love of art, style and function.

Above, the "great room" is spacious and includes the second level open space for much of the artwork that Richard practiced and loved.

But, topping off the second floor of the main part of the house is a well-stocked library...as Ashley found out!

The above composite of five photos gives you an idea of the beautiful woodwork that Richard so loved. Richard loved the arts. He was a dancer, dabbled in painting and became a serious wood craftsman. Surrounded by the ambiance of Suzanne and Richard's home you feel like you're back in time.

Next up our little group headed to our very own childhood retreat, the Salem Willows!

http://www.salemwillowspark.com/

Yes, that's Salem as in the "Salem Witch Trials." http://salem.org/  As kids, Salem Willows was our summer retreat to the beach.

The above photo shows the Salem Pier to the left. (Which was destroyed in the storm known as the "Perfect Storm.") Our beach is just to the other side of the wall and straight out is the Atlantic Ocean.

However, my fondest memory of Salem Willows is this tiny cove....

My Dad was at work, my big brother was in the Marines and for many days, through more than a few summers, my Mother would bring me to this cove. She'd read, I'd run the rocks and dodge the cold water as the tide rose and ebbed. We would eat Chinese chicken chop suey for lunch (and the family owned restaurant is still there). In fact, that's why our group headed to Salem Willows!

Ashley couldn't resist reliving her own childhood memories of running the rocks.

My Mother let me ride the amusement boats.... that are STILL there.....

Salem Willows gets it name from these....

The park gets nearly all of its shade from its Willow trees.

Walking down the short main street you see the remaining buildings of so long ago.

These remaining buildings of yesteryear house the very same machines that, to this day, fascinate young and old as you passby as they "pop" and "click."

These are the Pop Corn Poppers and Taffy Pulling machines that I (and so many others) got Pop Corn and Taffy from back in the '50's!

Above, the machine is feeding the rolled/stretched taffy into the wrapping machine.

Not much has changed at the "Willows" for many years. However, the cost of these tasty treats surly has!

Our hosts, Pam and Lee headed out for a few days.

 They're visiting family in the south and going to take in the races at Bristol, TN. They asked Ashley if she would "doggy sit" while they're gone. I've mentioned these two doggies in an earlier post so you might recall their names, Mindy and Shillelagh. And boy are these two fun to watch as they interact with each other. Although, after Pam and Lee drove off and we let Mindy and Shillelagh out you sure can see they missed their owners...

...as they search the area where their motor home sat.

Oh, we can't wait to see if Pam and Lee saw the billboard that has a photo on it that looks like this....

These two are doing their best to keep Ashley busy. The two of them are used to an "early riser" as Lee heads out to work around 5:00a.m.

They've already attached themselves to Ashley as they do their best to nearly knock her down welcoming her as she comes and goes, in the morning when they wake her up, walks back and forth from our camper, etc. You get the picture.

We took advantage of Lee and Pam's generosity and "hang-out" and had a BBQ.

Bill and Angela, their daughter Dawn, her son Cody, Chase (their son Bill Jr's son) and Ashley gathered around the "Man-Cave" for lots of food...

Cody and Chase brought along their bikes and did some exploring.

Pam and Lee will be  back in a few days but in the mean time Mindy and Shillelagh will keep their eyes fixed on our camper...

We parked the HHR in front of our camper to ward off the "stare!"

Time is flying!

Summer if speeding by! Ever since Pat transferred to Food and Beverage at ESPN Wide World of Sports it seems all we do is say "good morning and good night!" Pat has worked several 10+ day shifts. For a while, Pat was struggling to get her "hours." Well, right now she's well over 400+ (most of which from the last two months) and making a whole lot more $$$$ than me! Most of her shifts have been early mornings which she doesn't seem to mind but she's ready for a break. And that's going to be this weekend. We're heading north in our "old friend" our "Journey."

I picked up a couple of shifts at EWWS and boy it's different working in this heat. However, it's not as bad as you'd expect. We cling to shady areas and hydrate constantly. At least in this humid heat you can certainly tell your loosing fluid, unlike that dry heat out west.

Let's see, oh, we heard from Pete and Joan. They connected with Jack and Alice at a NY Blue Grass festival.
Thanks to Pete here's the group, "kickin' back".....

Boy they look right at home don't they? Hey Jack, you know how to save more gas towing your "tag-along" camper? Get Pete to tow it behind his truck and slide-in camper!

They had a great time.

Jim and Judy have been "hibernating" this summer. No Internet but  all in all they are having a great summer!

Next post will be from New England.

Something is missing in DownTown Disney!

Sunday was a great day for our routine walk in DownTown Disney. Yeah, we stopped in at Giradelli's for our chocolot sample and then headed to.......

..... oh, how'd you guess! Pat's favorite, The Veggie!

After lunch we always seem to head to the "Art of Disney" store to see what's new. Naw, we didn't buy anything, but it's fun looking.

Then we headed to the water taxi for the ride to the Market place. Something is different!

Let me give you a different view.

Figure it out? The balloon is gone! This past weekend they deflated the balloon and removed it for inspection and maintenance. The waterfront looks soooo different. I spoke with one of the Aeroflight attendendants to ask him if they are able to save the helium. He said no, the gas gets contaminated. But, in about eight hours they had the balloon down, deflated, folded and taken away. Don't fret, it'll return!

About that time we had had just about enough of the heat and headed home.

Speaking of "looking" a couple of weeks ago Pat and I headed to the Market Street restaurant in Celebration for breakfast and their weekly street vendor tents were set up in the street. We just happened to find a couple of things to our liking. First off we talked to a fellow who sold Bee honey. We heard that local bee honey is great for allergies. We bought a bottle of "unfiltered" honey that is supposed to be great to help with allergies. We don't notice a whole lot of improvement in our allergies yet but it sure is better than the store bought stuff.

But then, we happened upon an artist's tent who paints on palm tree fronds. They really caught our attention. One in particular found a place on one of the walls in our "Animal Kingdom" spare bedroom.

It is georgeous!

To get an idea of the uniqueness of this piece of art here is a side view.

In this photo you can clearly see the shape of the frond

Yes, the artist, Sonia Larson, and her husband literally "hunt" for fallen palm fronds, trims them and prep them for paint. They make an incredible surface to paint due to their curve and length. She tells us that finding the right frond can be very frustrating. Most are broken, split or unfit to put any finish on them.

But man, the finished product is awesome!

Her website is http://www.palmtreeamerica.com/ however, as of the posting it may still be down for updating. It should be up and running soon.

 However you can visit her own website: http://www.artistsonialarson.com/

A room with a view please.

I've got to catch up on a few things. First off, after our trek to Lazydays to NOT purchase a smaller camper we realized that our dash A/C was not blowing cool air. Soooooo, a couple of weeks later I set an appointment to go back to Lazydays to have the A/C serviced. I had a gut feeling that the problem was more than just needing to be re-charged. We had it charged two years ago. Anticipating an expensive repair I called Good Sam Extended Service Plan claims department to verify that the repair will be covered. It was, so we thought, read on.

Thursday morning Pat headed to work and I headed to Lazydays. I booked the earliest time I could and hoped to have the repair completed in one day.....RIGHT!

They took it in at 8:20a.m. and within a couple of hours I had the verdict. Sure enough the coolant was depleted, oils leaked out, compressor and all the hardware failed. It seems the seals leaked and everything except the rubber hoses needed to be replaced. No problem, $1,549.00 of repairs, what the heck, we're covered! But, I've got to be the overnight guest of Lazydays. It's going to take eight hours to complete all the repairs. All that was needed was the Good Sam ESP authorization! ........DENIED! It seems the agent who told me a couple of weeks earlier we are covered forgot to mention that our Journey is two years beyond the coverage that includes seals and gaskets! The  coverage is good for a motor home up to seven years or 70,000 miles. Our Journey is nine years old with 54,400 miles. After the age or mileage limits are reached you must add "Extended Seals and Gasket" coverage in order to be covered. It sure is nice to know that NOW!

After a whole lot of angst and phone calls I had to make a decision. We're already into Lazydays for the cost to inspect the system ($200.00). We either wasted the $200.00 and come back (in the future), repay the diagnostics plus the total costs to repair the system. We decided to go for it.

... and so I hunkered down in the bay, headed to Cracker Barrel for supper, bought a quart of beer at the Flying J, some Cracker Jacks and made a night of it!

Hey, looking at the bright side, I didn't have the same problem my neighbor did....

Naturally I walked around a lot the next day. Ate their breakfast and lunch and made lots of phone calls to Good Sam Extended Service Plan.

I managed to talk to a Good Sam Claims Supervisor. He suggested I try "pleading my case" to the Good Sam ESP Review Board. Now, you all know that I like to write.... soooooo, just this morning I faxed the Review Board forms, copy of my service receipt and my two page letter. We shall see what transpires.

I checked out a few Class C's. I even took a few photos to show Pat. However, thinking about another rig right now is a moot question!

Working around cars and mechanical things all my life I just couldn't resist "checking out" the Technicians work.

He had a "bear" of a time getting the compressor off. I wouldn't want any part of working on a diesel pusher. Check this out......

The above photo is taken lying on my back looking up at the left side of the engine. The bright round mount is the oil filter seat. He had to remove the oil filter just to get his hands on the bolts of the compressor. The bolts were frozen solid on the compressor. Thankfully, he did a great job of getting the bolts off without damaging the block mounts. But, look at what he had to do to get the compressor off...

He had to destroy the bolt-through castings of the body of the compressor. There are also the two hose connections at the top of the compressor that snapped off trying to free them. Ain't the Northeast snow and salt great for metals?

Compare the new compressor....

I must admit, Joel did a very good job in spite of one extremely aggravating task.

I headed out at just before 5:00p.m. on Friday and got to enjoy cool air coming from my dash and the pouring rain of Tropical Storm "Debby!"

Pat's doing very well at ESPN Wide World of Sports. She's also "slammed" with shifts, the summer is truly their busiest season. At least we've got most of August free to take a break.

In other news, here's a few photos (taken today) for those of you who reside at Encore Lake Magic. Larry and Judy emailed me today and wondered how their rig is doing in storage. Well, the few summer residents are enjoying "water front" campsites.

Darlene and Buzz' site.

Duane and Kathy's and beyond.

"Just Jack's" site looking toward our site in the 800 loop.

Jack, all is well. The three bungee cords you have going under and across the mid section of your tarp popped off. One of the material clamps broke causing the others to strain and pop off.  I got them secured and all is well.

Actually, the campsite and the "Four Corners" area fared well  as "Debby" slowly tracked over us. We were spared the high winds and tornado's. They seemed to go around us, thankfully!

And for those of you who store your rigs in the Campground's storage area here you are.....

(Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

John (Manager) tells me that a family of hawks have set up house-keeping near Larry and Judy's fifth wheel.

(I think Larry and Judy's rig is the fourth from the right.)

Don't worry Larry and Judy, except for a lot of squawking, the hawks don't seem to be bothering your rig!

John has watched the hawks grow and get louder. I think he's ready for them to move out.

He's also been enjoying the family of gray foxes that have found a home in Lake Magic.

So, be sure you check your rigs really good when all of you return.

Speaking of checking your rig, I had a learning experience when dropping off our motor home for the A/C service. We were doing the "walk-around" with the Service Writer and I noticed what appeared to look like (pardon the phrase) someone threw a six inch long "poop" on the metal wrap of our awning. At a closer look it was a huge mud-dauber's nest. I got up on my ladder and proceeded to get that thing off my rig!

I hit it with a brush and it popped off, hit the ground and broke open.  I couldn't resist checking this thing out. I could see spiders in the tubes of the nest. What the......? I thought mud-daubers are wasps?????

It turns out, they are. Fortunately, they are not very aggressive and you can easily get rid of them. But what about the spiders????? Here's what I learned, the mother mud-dauber places the egg in the nest and hunts down spiders and seals one into each tube with an egg. Hence, when the egg hatches the new born has something to eat!

...... and now you know the rest of the story, good day!

Memories!

We're in it now! The heat and the "wet" season. We can expect clouds to "bubble up" each afternoon and the chance of thunderstorms to be the "order of the day."
Pat got slammed with shifts next week as Wide World of Sports commences its busy summer activities. I'm pressing on with my routine three shifts per week with occasional training shifts sprinkled into my schedule to give me a change of pace.
Yesterday, we were both on the same page for lunch. We headed to the Wave for, guess what!

Does that bring any memories to mind?

Our awesome Hostess, Betty, sends along a vibrant "Hi" to everyone. Betty misses all of you and looks forward to seeing everyone in the fall. In the photo below, Betty just couldn't resist a photo op with "Flat Stanley."

Some of you may recall, Pat and I considered trading in our 34' Journey motorhome for a pre-owned Itasca Navion IQ. This past week we came as close as you can to closing a deal on a 2010 Navion IQ with 9500 miles on it. We've been conversing with a sales person at LazyDays for a number of months but this time we even put some $$$$ to hold the unit until we can see it. the salesman sent us pictures and we began the negotiations. This past Monday we started up the Journey to bring it to LazyDays to "barter."

As we drove the 56 mile ride, both of us sensed our "old friend" knew something was different about this trip. The Journey rode untypically smooth and was a joy to drive. Her 54K plus miles belied her age, comfort, exploration and outstanding times she provided us with since May 1, 2003.

You could tell neither Pat nor I were comfortable with what could be "her" second last ride with us.

Christian, our salesman, sensed we were not at ease with what might transpire.

He took us to see the Navion.

Call it fate or whatever, the Navion was being detailed. There were two cleaning ladies inside and their cleaning materials seemed to make the Navion "unappealing" and claustrophobic. We looked at the measly 19 cubic feet of storage and all we think is that our HHR  would become "cabinet" space for even the simple stuff we would need to travel with.

Pat and I sat in the front seats and tried to find reasons for abandoning our "Old Friend."

I swear our Journey was talking to us. This newer, smaller, fuel efficient "glorified van" couldn't hold a candle to our nine year old traveling companion.

We walked to the nearby Cracker Barrel for lunch confident we made the right decision.

Our Journey rode "a little taller" on the way home.

"She" even backed into her RV port without making any corrections and hit the painted marks as if she was telling us, "aaahhhhhh, it's good to be home!"

Clouds UGH!!!

The clouds just wouldn't cooperate. Like many central Floridians I was relegated to the Internet to "see" the once in a life time event.

All in all, I'm glad I could, at least, get to watch the transit. I followed Venus as it entered the Sun's limb. Once the dot of Venus "broke free" of the edge of the sun and began its slow march across the sun's surface I was satisfied that I can say I saw it.

I set my telescope up in hopes that the clouds may offer a window of opportunity... but, to no avail.

Here's the objective lens without the solar filter.

...... and here it is with the white light solar filter in place.

This is a 110mm (4.25 inches) William Optics refractor.

I enjoy using this scope while on the road. It's relatively easy to set up and it's very good for planetary and double star observation. It's a "short-tube" which provides a very wide field of view.

I set it up just around 1815 hours only to break it down about thirty minutes later. You guessed it, I saw a tiny "window" in the sky and set it back up. That's when the solid gray clouds settled in. To add insult to injury, just after I set the optical tube in its case, it began to rain.

 And, that's astronomy, besides learning about the celestial dome surrounding Earth, it teaches humility and patience,

I hope many of you got to see the Venus Transit of 2012.

Now we can wait for the Transit of Mercury in 2016!