Nov 22 through Dec 20, 2012 Hondo doings

November 29, 2012

We’ve done quite a bit – the motorhome and ‘shed’ are decorated for Christmas :)  We had a marvelous Thanksgiving dinner with approximately 100 friends. 

I am the electronic Calendar activities lady here in the park…and I’ve been busy getting the Dec calendar ready to go to print.  There is always something to do here…just as an example, Mon, Wed, Fri schedule looks like this:  9am exercise, 10am line dancing, 1pm Bridge, 4pm Social Hour, 6:30 all manner of games, from Texas Hold ‘em to Hand and Foot dominoes and everything in between until 9pm.  The rest of the week is similar, but different, with busy needles sewing club, 8 Ball Pool, Mah Jongg,  Bingo, card bingo, Ice Cream Socials, Chicken dinner, omelet in a bag breakfast, pancake breakfast, Orientation, plus lots of holiday events going on.  Is it any wonder we need a calendar to keep it all straight!  Whew!

Of course, we participate in a lot of these events, as well as doing our own thing – a group goes to a local restaurant El Azteca on Tuesday evening where they have roll back enchilada plates for $5, that include three enchiladas, rice, beans and homemade tortillas.  On Thur mornings we go to El Charo for breakfast as a group. 

Then David has Dr appts, as a matter of fact we are going to Kerrville tomorrow morning for his pulmonary testing.  Next week he meets with the specialist to see what if anything can be done.  I wish they could give him something for the coughing – that is the worst. 

I did do some black Friday shopping, getting a bread maker, pizzelle iron, and a TV for the shed – and just made arrangements to get a picnic table for our lot here.  I shopped online at Sam’s, Home Depot and Lowes, the least expensive picnic table I could find was over $300…found a guy in San Antonio that makes ‘em for $125 for a nice, painted 8 foot table…David and Bob will be going to pick one up on Sat morning, and get some new batteries for our golf cart.  That should be the end of our ‘big’ spending for the winter! 

Dec 7, 2012

Boy, we’ve been busy!  David had Doc appts in San Antonio, I’ve been playing Bingo, and Card Bingo, and had some fantastic meals – both at home, at the Nutrition Center AND in restaurants, had a meeting with our Thrivent Financial Advisors, made several loaves of bread, just generally trudging right along!  The weather has been phenomenal – highs in the high 70’s and lows in the 50’s…gotta love it!

Dec 8, 2012

Tonight we had a block party here on our lot, to honor the lady that used to have our lot!  I made sloppy joes, there were grilled hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, veggie plate w/dip, salsa and chips, brownies, cookies, chocolate candy, kolatches…everything was excellent, everyone brought their own chairs and drinks, and we just had a great time! We started at 4:30 ish and went until 7:30…NICE!

Dec 17, 2012

Once again just living the life :)  Christmas preparations -  made a batch of Pizzelles, baked a Texas Sheet Cake, and hope to get chocolate Pizzelles for our D’Hanis kids – need to make 3 dozen, so that will be on Wednesday. 

On Saturday the park did omelets in a bag – two egg omelet, ham, cheese, mushrooms, onions, jalapenos, hot sauce, along with toast, fruit cup and coffee for $3…what a deal!

We’ve been to San Antonio several times, and will be going tomorrow too!  I have been going in to play Bingo with Bob & Jan Wheaton, and Armando.  We leave about 11:30 and get home about 4:30, except last night when we stopped at Panda Express for take out dinner – boy it was delicious! 

Today Cinder has a groomer appt, as do David and I for haircuts – different places from Cinder of course…grin. 

November 4, through Nov 22, 2012

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Punkin Park Campground

43037 Billville Rd
Hammond LA  70403

We traveled about 200 miles today, and were glad of the extra hour we had.  After battling rain for a couple hours, we pulled into this park about 1:30, and had some Taco soup for lunch.  This is not the best park we’ve ever been in, and I must say that as it got dark, we closed up tight.  There seems to be some loud people, squealing tires, and just general malcontent here, and we would not stay here again. 

I made porcupine balls, baked sweet potatoes and veggies for dinner.  We ate and enjoyed the end of the Steeler game where they beat the Giants – yahoo!  We’ll take a win any way we can get it!  

Monday, November 5, 2012

Pine Grove RV Park, LLC
1102 Alan HickmanDr
DeRidder, LA  70634
www.pinegroverv.com

After another 190 mile day, we arrived here about 3 pm.  This is a very nice small park in town.  Very clean, spacious sites,  electric, cable, good wifi, for the princely sum of $10 per night (Passport America). 

We jumped into the car and headed to Wal-Mart because we were out of some basics, milk, eggs, bread, dog food J  The most important of the basics was the dog food!  We then came home and had leftover Taco soup, and it was yummy the second time around too!

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

We got up and headed out to Coushatta Casino.  What a great day!  When we got there we signed up for the Player’s Club card – and the lady that gave them to us said we were in luck, the Buffet was on sale for $5.50 per person on Tuesdays…we were happy about that, so we went and played some slots for a while, then went to the buffet.  I must say it is one of the better buffets we’ve been to in a casino.  Very large variety, extremely fresh, the stuff that should be piping hot was, and the stuff that was to be cold was icy!  We waddled out (it was $11.00 including drinks) and played some more slots.  We ended up coming home with a surplus of $8.75…now I would consider that a successful casino experience!

We spent the entire evening and part of the night watching the election returns.  Very happy with the outcome :)

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

We got up to a very disturbing phone call, telling us that our daughter that lives in Grand Junction, CO was in the hospital and had a heart attack in the middle of the night.  She is really too young to have this happen.  We spent quite a while just trying to wake up and deal with the fact that Tanaya is in the hospital.  Later on we got to talk to her and assure ourselves that she is doing ok – they put in a stent and she will go to Cardiac Rehab for a couple days.

Otherwise it was a very lazy day!

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Hanks Creek Campground
Lake Sam Rayburn
Zavalla, TX

We got up and on the road this morning by 9 am – and we drove until noon when we arrived here at the Corp of Engineer park.  We are in site 24, which is marvelous.  We have an inlet on the door side of the motorhome, and the lake out the front windshield.  This lake has 750 MILES of shoreline, and is big enough that it makes its own waves…amazing!  Since it is a Thursday, there are hardly any people here – as a matter of fact, in this loop, there are only 2 other campers!  There is a very nice shower house just across the way that I can use in the mornings, since there is no sewer here, just a dump station, which means about Sunday we will have to go dump! 

The lady at the gate said they have quite a few reservations for the weekend, so I think it will be fun watching all those folks come in and set up :)  

We have NO internet here, and little to no phones.  David did manage to get a text msg to Tanaya telling her we have limited service, I’ll get one off to Dawn soon.  We will go into either Zavalla or Lufkin tomorrow to check them out, and probably have late lunch/early dinner.

When I put lunch on the table today, David took a bite of carrot, chewed, inhaled and promptly got a couple pieces of carrot in his lungs.  This was followed by almost 2 hours of pretty nonstop coughing.  I thought I was going to have to take him to an ER, but finally he coughed 1 piece out – and after another excruciating coughing bout, the second one came out.  It was exhausting for him, and after about 10 minutes to calm down, he fell into a deep sleep.  These spells don’t happen very often, but when they do, they are extremely frightening for him.  Me too but in an entirely different way.  When you have COPD and can hardly breathe anyway, and then you can’t stop coughing, it is terrifying!

The plan was to get out the grill and make burgers, but I think it will be soup for dinner, tomato with grilled cheese, very good comfort food. 

Friday, November 9, 2012

After a wonderful lazy morning of sipping coffee looking at the lake, walking Cinder and making a good breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs, we got ready and drove into Lufkin.  It is 20 miles away from the campground, and we stopped in Huntingdon where there is a library, and the sign on the outside said ‘Try our free wifi’ – we went in and oh my, every site we use was blocked – couldn’t get to our blog, couldn’t get to BING, or MSN, could not get to facebook – sheesh.  The excuse was that the school paid for the wifi and they blocked students from using all that – David said they really ought to take down the sign, it’s pretty misleading!   We went on into Lufkin where we found a McDonalds and we got a couple drinks and used their wifi for about an hour.  We then went to Olive Garden and had soup, salad & breadstix for lunch – boy, we love that lunch! 

 We came back home and just kind of vegged out for a couple hours, then made burgers on the grill for dinner…life is good!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Once again it was sip the coffee on the banks of the lake, take Cinder for a walk, play a little fetch with her, made ham on the grill outside (don’t ya just love the smell of cooking outdoors), grits and eggs – yum!  Then it was go outside and read a while since David was busy getting the file ready to upload to the LSC site, and just hang out.  About 1:30 we went into town to use the wifi at DQ, and of course we had lunch there – David had the steak finger basket and I had a grilled chicken salad – and a small butterfinger blizzard :) 

David talked to Tanaya and she is doing much better – on lots of drugs, but hopefully that will stop her from more heart trouble!  I called my aunt Nancy, who is really more like my sister…my Aunt Kay is not doing well, she is in the hospital and is having issues remembering things, she is seeing/hearing people/noises.  She is only 74, and too young to be going through this!   Wished Nancy a happy birthday, talked to Harry too.  David and I chatted on the way home that we may have to go to PA and take care of Aunt Kay – whatever will be will be, I don’t have an issue with this – if need be we will go and aunt Kay can move into the spare room with us, and I’ll take care of her.  I know Nancy would help too – Kay is the only sister she has left.  I’m glad my mom doesn’t have to see this – she was so broken up when Aunt Leila died.  I love them so much, it just breaks my heart!

We came home, went for a walk, played with Cinder, and had a bite to eat (David had cereal, I had pepperoni, cheese & crackers) and got ready for bed early – I just hate Daylight Savings Time – it is dark too early and stays dark too long! 

Sunday, November 11, through Tuesday, Nov 13

Stayed the last couple days and did literally nothing – hung around read J

Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012

Traveled to Bastrop, TX where we stayed at a very overpriced KOA – NEVER AGAIN! 

 Thursday, Nov 15, 2012 through Nov 22, 2010

We pulled into Potters Creek, Canyon Lake COE park, site 89.

This is a lovely lake, most all the spots are very nice, and we watched about 40 rigs come in – the weekend campers.  There was a group here that I didn’t go introduce myself to, but they reminded me so much of our camping clubs in WY and CO.  they had a pot luck Saturday night and it looked like it was a lot of fun.  Just not feeling very social right now :(

We went for a drive into Gruene and stopped into Camping world, looked at some units…didn’t buy anything J  Had a very nice lunner at a place called ‘Granny D’s’…David had country fried steak and the works and I had a patty melt, then we shared a piece of coconut cream pie. 

We expect to be on the road bright and early (around 10) on Tuesday morning and hope to pull into Hondo by 2…I’ll try to post some pictures then, as we are on our Mifi and the upload speeds are abysmal…the park has wifi, so I might just put up a bunch of pictures from the last couple weeks!

Oct 28 to Nov 4 Summerdale Plantation Blue Angels

Sunday, October 28, 2012

We drove about 90 miles and arrived here at Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL.  This is our second year at this park, and we really like it.  We like the lots (HUGE, LEVEL and TREES IF YOU WANT’EM), very nice folks, and best of all about 10 miles away is Foley, which is a very nice sized town with all the amenities you’d want.  Super Walmart, plus many other grocery stores, clothing stores, outlet mall, etc…at least 100 restaurants, including Lambert’s, home of the throwed roll. 

After setting up we got in the car and went to Lambert’s for lunner, then stopped at WalMart where I got some much needed groceries, and now we are back home, and will be going to the Ice Cream Social at 6 this evening.  Doesn’t get much better than this!  It is a balmy 75 outside with touch of a breeze, so no need for AC  or heat, although that will change tonight I’m sure J

It is so nice to be settled in for a week!

Monday, October 29,2012

This was a working day – we had to have Cinder to the groomers by 9 am in Spanish Fort, AL.  We got there about 10 minutes early, and we then had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, followed by shopping at Best Buy, World Market, and Bed Bath & Beyond. 
 
One of the things we did when we went full time was take out the heavy old TV in the bedroom, and found a Rubbermaid box that fit the opening that I use as a ‘baking box’.  However, now we have lightened the bays up, I have room underneath for this box.  SO we got a TV for the bedroom.  It is crazy, we got a 19 inch LED TV that weighs 5.6 lbs for $100…that is amazing! 

We came home and I gathered laundry, got that all done, then we had leftovers for dinner and after walking Cinder, we just hunkered in because although Sandy was wreaking havoc on the East coast, here it is very chilly.  About 38 degrees….brrrr!  However, it will be 70’s by lunch time tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

It was a lazy morning, we slept in until almost 9, futzed around a while, I went next door and visited with Ellie Meacham – her hubby Jim was grocery shopping, so we chatted a couple hours.  We made a date for lunch tomorrow.
I came home and then went into Robertsdale where I got a wonderful pedicure and manicure, and picked up Mexican for dinner. 

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

This was a ‘working’ morning, we got the entire cockpit area of the motorhome cleaned, all the rubber on the windows conditioned, windows washed and the little vacuum came out and got under the seats and along the walls.  It always feels so good when that area is done, David helps because I can’t get the part in front of the steering wheel done unless I put a pillow on the steering wheel and lay on it! 

The weather is gorgeous, it is to be 75 degrees, the sun is shining and all is well!  Oh yes, remember last year when we got ‘satsumas’ the orange/tangerines that peel easily and are like eating liquid sugar…well, here at the park a lady has a tree and they are ready, she said help yourself…so we did!  I got a bag for us to eat now, and I’ll get some on Saturday for the trip J  Boy, we love them!

We went into Robertsdale and had lunch with Ellie & Jim, nice time chatting and doing some more catch up :)  I had an open faced roast beef sandwich, fries with gravy (haven’t had any of those for at least a year), and a nice salad.  We didn’t see anyone dressed for Halloween, and I missed seeing the little ones!  Maybe next fall we will stay in PA for Halloween – all plans are in jello ya know!

Thursday, November 01, 2012

We got up and around and finally headed to Gulf Shores to the beach about 11.  They have a very nice public beach with FREE parking about ½ hour from here in the park.  We carted our chairs out to the hard packed sand, got into the water about thigh high – it was COLD – 67 degrees….bbbrrrr.  We sat and watched the waves and the people for a couple hours, then we took a drive through Gulf Shores and toured the state park. 

They have 408 sites, all with full hookups!  That is all well and good, but they were less than ¼ full, and I think it is because of the price.  $31 to $44 per night.  The sites were nice, paved, roomy, picnic tables and fire rings, not too close together but for sure not ‘isolated’, and I would hesitate to pay that.  The sites that are lakefront – you couldn’t even see much because of the tall grasses, and there are alligators, so who would want that?  There is no ‘beach access parking’ and it is a good mile from the closest site to the beach.  I just think that is why they are not too busy!

We had a very late lunch at Papa Roccas and it was very good – we then came home and went next door to Jim and Ellie’s for happy hour – which stretched to 3…gotta love those! 

Friday, November 02, 2012

Happy Birthday Dawn!  We had a full day planned, so at 6:15 we called and sang Happy Birthday to dear daughter – didn’t get to talk to her, but knew she would have a good day!

We left home at 7 am, and pulled up to the gate at the Pensacola Naval Station at 8…got waived through and went to handicap parking, got a wonderful spot to set up our chairs and settled in for a LONG day filled with aerial delights.  We had never seen the Blue Angels perform, and I must say they did an outstanding job….but from 9:30 until they performed at 2, there were helicopters, migs, all manner of jumpers, funky looking airplanes, walls of fire, you name it and it was out there! 

I did get a little more sun on the back of my neck than I wanted, but as soon as I realized it I went back to the car and got my umbrella…at least I didn’t COOK.  David’s monk spot is very red and so are his shoulders!  After the beach yesterday and today on the flight line, I’m as brown as I was in July! 

Of course they had all the carny food there, I had a corndog for breakfast and David was good and had a protein bar I had taken along – we had hamburgers for lunch and then about 2 we had a big pretzel…so on our way home at 4:30, we stopped for some dinner – and lucked into a Friday night seafood buffet that was $11 each including our drinks.  It was actually pretty good, with fish, chicken, shrimp, gumbo, deviled crab and all the usual veggie and salad offerings.  The shrimp and hushpuppies were outstanding! 

We got home around 6, and can’t remember the last time we were this tired.  I took Cinder out for her evening stroll and David was napping when we got back – I expect we will be in bed early tonight!

Saturday, November 03, 2012
This was a get ready to go day – we cleaned, dumped tanks, and just did stuff that needed to be done.  Went to the flea market and got some fresh lettuce, garden tomatoes and nice strawberries, so we had wonderful salad for dinner, along with leftover Italian :) 

Oct 21 - 25, 2012 Savannah GA

Sunday, Oct 21, 2012

We drove on down to Hardeeville, SC, which is just 10 miles from Savannah, GA.  We to in around 2 and just hung out…I bought us 2 day trolley passes for downtown Savannah..stay tuned!

Monday, Oct 22, 2012

We drove into Savannah and got on our trolley, I must say I totally recommend this way of seeing the city.  If you go by yourself, you may very well see all the sites, but you won’t know it!  Also the parking in the downtown area is atrocious!  Anywho, we got off at stop #2 and strolled over to ‘The Lady and Sons’ Paula Dean’s restaurant.  Now there are good and bad reviews on this restaurant, but we fall into the ‘exellent’ review!  We walked up to the window at 10:45, gave our names for the 11 o’clock seating, and our names were called at 11:05 – we were sent to the third level dining (elevator) and a lovely young lady brought us each a hot hoecake and a garlic cheddar biscuit, took our drink orders and left menus…  I got the buffet, and I must say that the fried chicken was melt off the bone tender with crispy breading – fantastic!  Also there was meatloaf, any number of veggies, mashed potatoes, a fantastic corn soufflé dish, sweet potatoes, and for dessert, peach cobbler!  David ordered a meatloaf sandwich, and there must have been a pound of meatloaf on that sandwich, along with very different fried potatoes…wow, we waddled out of there!

We hopped back on our trolley and off again to see several very old building (1792 old), and then when we got to River St we got off – David sat and watched the river while I shopped – in and out of at least 20 stores…we got back on the trolley and continued around back to the beginning. 

Got back home and just collapsed – had leftovers for dinner and watched the boob tube until the sandman came wandering by!

Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012

This was a rest and catch up day – did a load of laundry – the Laundromat at the park was pretty crappy, so I only did one load – cleaned the MH, took Cinder for a long walk, then we headed out to find a WalMart – can you believe we had to go 11 miles to find one!  Sheesh!

Oct 24, 2012

OK - today we ate at Mrs Wilkes - we got on the trolley at 9 and were there by 9:25 - if you are very early like we were, there are benches for about 9 people, so we got a bench - they opened at 11 and holy cow, the trolley drivers told us it was the best southern food in GA, and they were right!  There was fried chicken that was hot and crisp on the outside and melted off the bone on the inside, beef stew, meatloaf/gravy, stuffing, collard greens, au gratin potatoes, black eyed peas, green beans, baked beans, rutabagas, sweet potato casserole, sauteed cabbage, mac and cheese, cukes with vinegar, cole slaw, biscuits and cornbread, corn on the cob and corn casserole, blueberry cobbler and banana pudding.  It was served family style and was so fantastic and fun!  We waddled out of there!  Highly recommend Wilkes.

We got back on the trolley and got off at River Street once again, and I shopped the other direction! 

Oct 25, 2012

We drove to Hilton Head Island – what a bore!  We’re looking to find a beach and play in the water, but every beach was a far walk from the parking area.  It was around ¼ mile from the car to the beach and David was not up to walking that far, especially carrying chairs and paraphernalia so we came back home.

We went to dinner at Crab Shack on Tybee Island – with Nick, Terry, Greg & Jan…the food was fabulous as well as the company!  I’ll let the pictures speak for me!

Top photo is Greg and Jan, bottom photo is Nick and Terry!  We had a great time - thanks for letting us horn in on your celebration! 

 

I'll try to get back on with pictures when we get somewhere with a good internet connection!

Oct 15, 2012 through 20th, Myrtle Beach SC

Monday, October 15, 2012
We made the 44 mile trip to Myrtle Beach.  Here at the Moose club we have full 30 amp hookup with water, and a dump station next door.  We set up and had lunch at the club, burgers/cheesesteak.
We then took a ride to find the Landmark Resort where we need to be in the morning – so we got a little sightseeing in as well.  We came back and had dinner at the moose – all you can eat spaghetti, salad, garlic bread for $5 each…it was pretty good!  Of course I had a nice glass of wine too J

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Today was the first day of the USS Tolovana Reunion, which is the ship that David served on during his 5 tours of duty in Vietnam.  We went to the Landmark Resort (huge, 4 swimming pools, lazy river, pool side tikki bar, etc) and basically spent the day chatting with folks who had also served on the Tolovana…and this evening a group of us went to Captain Benjamin’s Original Calabash seafood house – it was excellent.  The crab legs were hot, fresh and delish, as well as over 170 items on the buffet.  We finished up with butter  pecan ice cream – yum!

Wednesday, October 17

We had an appointment with the Camping Connection to come out and put a new seal on our toilet.  David didn’t feel that he could do it and it started leaking and was causing problems with our new wood floor!  Well, took the guy about 20 mins from start to finish and charged us $166.33.  Believe me, if we need to replace another one I will do it myself if I have to!  Sheesh!

We went into the Landmark for a 10 am meet & greet, and ended up staying there until noon!  Afterwards we went for a drive along Ocean BLVD, which was pretty nice.  Stopped at ‘The Beach House’ for lunch, David of course had a burger and I had a fantastic grouper sandwich…boy I miss the seafood when we are back in TX or PA…along the Atlantic Coast it is so fresh it literally pops in your mouth! 

We stopped at a couple of ‘junque’ shops and once again I found nothing to buy :)  We came home, got naps and then I made a pot of cheddar broccoli soup for dinner – it was very good, and since the temps had dropped into the sixties, it was an ideal fall meal. 

Thursday, Oct 18, 2012

Since the dinner/banquet was this evening, we went to a pancake house for a good breakfast about 11:30, then we went to the beach and sat in our chairs for a couple hours, watching the para-sailers, the surfer dudes, the ski-doos and of course old people like us, just sitting around looking!  It was a lot of fun!
We came home and got naps, got all gussied up and went to the Landmark where they served a marvelous Prime Rib dinner – it was excellent and had all the trimmings with it, right down to the cheesecake with strawberries!  Then it was time to say goodbye to all the lovely people we met this week!  We didn’t get home until almost 10 pm – that is a late night for us!

Friday, Oct 19, 2012

First time all week we got to sleep in – we took full advantage!  I did a little cleaning, played with Cinder, watched a movie, then we got ready and headed out to a Mongolian Grill.  This was a terrific choice – we love them because we pick what we want fresh and they grill it without oil/butter so if you get lots of veggies it is very healthy.   It was in North Myrtle Beach which is quite a drive, but I had a $5 off each person discount coupon which made our dinner under $20…and it included a salad bar, soup and dessert!  An excellent value .  We came home, played on FB and went to bed after the ball game!

Saturday, Oct 20, 2012

Today was a sleep in day again – we went next door and dumped our tanks at the church where there are 3 cleanouts!  We called Pastor Mike and he gave us permission to use one, so for a donation (20) to the church, we can just head out in the morning – no sloshing around!  So, for staying at the Moose club for 6 nights, $60 with full 30 amp hookups, and a dump for 20, it was $80 for a week – what a great deal!  Yes, we could have put $5 in an envelope as our donation, but we might want to come back this way again and stay – and Pastor Mike will remember us I hope :)
We had a great pizza/salad lunch, and we have enough pizza for lunch tomorrow.  David’s sugar does better if he eats the carbs at lunch rather than dinner – I have a pot of beef/onion/potato soup on right now since I had 3 potatoes I needed to use up.  I also had leftover spicy beef that needed used. 
I will wash the windshield on the MH this evening, and do a little other cleaning as we get ready to head south again tomorrow.  The planned route is 211 miles, and I don’t know if we will do it all in one day or stop somewhere.  This retirement is hard to take sometimes!

Oct 9 through Oct 14, 2012 Wilmington NC

Tuesday, Oct 9 – Sun Oct 14,

Moose Lodge
1501 Carolina Beach Road
Wilmington, NC

After about a 110 mile travel day, we arrived at the Moose Lodge.  They have 20 amp power, which will keep the oxygen machine running, and our computers.  Unfortunately their wifi will not reach to the motorhome, so we will have to cart the computers into the club to use the internet – not a problem, it is only about 100 feet away J

 We lucked out when we stopped – it was Taco Tuesday, so their tacos was make your own, $1 each and salad $2…David had 2 tacos and I had a huge salad, they were very good…and the price can’t be beat!

We did take off after naps and drove to Carolina Beach where we walked to the beach and watched people in the water – I hope there is a beach closer to us, since that one is about 20 miles away!  I did stick my feet in it – and it was cool but by no means cold.  There were a lot of folks in swimming in the waves.

We came back home, set up and had soup and sandwiches for supper – Cinder got the opportunity to be OFF LEASH for quite a while and got to chase the tennis ball – when we are at most campgrounds there is no place for her to run and it is hard on her – she loves to run after the ball and tires herself out!

 We do get about 14 TV channels, and one of them is CBS so I will be able to get NCIS – yippee!
Oct 10^th – we went to visit the Battleship North Carolina – this is an exceptionally well done restoration of a World War II Battleship – from the beginning movie through the gift shop, if you are in this area you should plan at a minimum of 3 hours to see the ship.  We came back home about 2, got naps then went over to the Moose club for a great dinner – I had a great chicken salad and David had a burger and fries J

Oct 11^th – my birthday!  I got text messages from dear daughter, Dawn and SIL Daryl…we went to downtown Wilmington where we took a river tour – and were disappointed.  It was up the river maybe a mile – less than 3, and back with little to no information about the history of the area.  Recommendation – take a trolley or horse drawn carriage tour to hear/see about the history of downtown.  I shopped at the Wharf and Riverwalk bought nothing – I must really be off my game! 

We then went to Front Street Brewery – WOW…this is a must do!  Great little brewery tour followed by amazing food – I had a dish recommended by our waiter, Chicken Nachos which was fantastic, bbq's shredded pork over tortilla chips, with cheese, onions, tomatoes, fresh salsa and a chipolte cream sauce– here is a picture J 

That evening I skyped with Dawn and kids, Branden and Ariel who sang happy birthday to me – that was very special to me!  Later on I got a call from grandson Devon, and that really topped off my birthday right!

Oct 12^th – we traveled about 20 miles to Fort Fisher, which was a blockade fort during the Civil War – Wilmington was the last southern port to be shut during the war, because of the blockade runners at Fort Fisher.  You can read all about it at:  http://www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/fisher.htm

After wandering around for a while we drove up to Kure Beach where we watched the ocean for a while, then up to Carolina Beach where we had some great hot dogs  at Island Hots.  The sea air made them extra tasty! 

After naps we went to the Moose club for dinner, where I had a reasonably healthy crisp chicken salad – it was delicious!  At 7 pm the Moose Club had BINGO open to the public, and if you are a Moose Member you get a free packet…so I played 18 cards – didn’t win a thing :) but I had a great time chatting with a lady who is from Pittsburgh area.  We talked about all that terrific food, haluski, halupki, apple butter, pierogies…the good stuff!

Oct 13^th – was get ready to go day – do a little email, watch a little tv, go for a drive to get Krispy Kremes – wait what???  Yep, we indulged in a couple fresh donuts – they were so good!  We put up all the awnings, hooked up the car, and hit the hay early. 

S & W RV Park

532 Holden Beach Rd, S.W.
Shallotte NC  28459
910-754-8576

Nice little park, we are in site 20 – we needed to dump our tanks, clean our sinks, etc., before we head to the Moose Club in Myrtle Beach South!  After 5 days at the Moose club we definitely needed to dump and clean up!  So we came all the way 40 miles south – and tomorrow we’ll go another 44 miles and be there! 

We’re heading out to Golden Corral to get FOOD – starving it is after noon and we haven’t eaten (David had a stick of cheese and some crackers :)  We could not find the Golden Corral, but came upon Jerome’s Seafood & Steak house and had an absolutely fantastic buffet, at $8.95 each it had everything you could want.  Besides wonderful fried chicken and bbq pork, they had melt in your mouth shrimp and handmade stuffed cabbage rolls.  I haven’t had any that good in years!!!  To top it all off was homemade apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream – wow, we waddled out! 

Then we drove down to Holden Beach and looked at the ocean a bit…now we’re back home, inside the AC because it is HOT outside – 88 degrees!  Tomorrow we will head down the road and be in another state.  Man, I love this life.

Sept 27 – Oct 1, 2012 John H Kerr COE Park

This is our first time at a COE campground – to say we were impressed is an understatement.  The site we are in, 131B is fabulous, with a water view out the back.  All the sites here at this loop are very nice. The lake is 55,000 acres!

There is water and electric at the site, with a shower house right next door that is spotless!

The folks have been extremely helpful!  Several swimming beaches and at this time of year the lake is like bathwater J

 

Here is a picture of our site, from the beginning of 'our' driveway!  It is far back in and as you can see, nobody parked near us!

 Here is a picture of the view out our dinette window...NICE!

 

The restaurant Pino’s was fabulous – I had chicken parmesan and David had Stromboli…Yum! 

Friday we drove around, through Boydton several times where we visited a Dollar Store (the only one in town) that had a little veggie/fruit market in front of it.  We also toured Rudds Creek, and although the sites are very nice, they are not as long as the ones in North Bend Park. 

We toured Buffalo Creek campground as well as Longwood – none compare to North Bend.

We visited South Hills and Clarksville, and had a wonderful Mexican meal in Clarksville, can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but on the south end of business 58 – absolutely fantastic!  Service was lousy, but we were in no rush and the food was outstanding!  Also in Clarksville they have a beautiful Veterans Memorial

RATES:  With the access pass it is $15 per night, 14 day limit…Fabulous! 

Sept 25 – 26, 2012 Appomattox & Lynchburg VA

After yet another terrible twisty windy roads, we arrived at Paradise Lake, which is halfway between Appomattox and Lynchburg.  Nice wide sites under shade trees, lot of seasonal campers.

We drove into Lynchburg and ate at a terrific place called The Neighbors Place where we had fabulous shrimp in a chipotle cream sauce over choice of pasta – and David had a STOUT…first time since spring that he had a stout! 

On Wednesday we went to Appomattox National Surrender site, did that tour and saw some interesting things!  Lots of paraphernalia from the Civil War and about Lee surrendering to Grant.  With the access pass we paid nothing.

We ate lunch at Granny Bee’s – which I highly recommend!  Good food, very fair price!

RATES:  PA park, but still $20 a night for full hookups.

Sept 19 - 23 Front Royal VA

We got here to Skyline Ranch Resort just outside of Front Royal, VA, about 1:00 on Wednesday after a terribly twisty windy nasty road for our first day out!  We spent Wed afternoon just relaxing, doing the shakedown after sitting for 4 months!

Thursday we got up and headed for Skyline Drive and Shanendoah National Park.  I must say that the park is gorgeous as is the drive, but I most likely will NEVER do it again.  Up until mile 26 where we got to have lunch, see the stables, etc., the rest of the trip was green and for us, pretty boring.  I'm glad we did it though :)  We did have a marvelous lunch at the skyline cafe, where I had a Reuben and sweet potato fries and David had a burger and fries, and then we SHARED one of their signature desserts - blackberry cobbler with homemade blackberry ice cream...can you say YUM!

Friday we drove around Front Royal, picking up some groceries for the weekend, and getting a pretty good deal on some firewood, then we came back to the MH and just relaxed...our wonderful kids arrived about 8:30, got set up and then we had mountain pies and just relaxed around a good campfire.

Saturday morning Dawn made a fantastic breakfast pizza that we all just gnawed on!  Then we went for a nice long walk, the kids were doing the shakedown of their 'new' motorhome, so there were lots of things they were checking on - lights that wouldn't go out, lights that wouldn't go on, etc., just the usual stuff :)  All in all, pretty good day, I made sloppy joes, sweet potato salad, baked beans and of course there was the bonfire - and we plyed a great long game of 'Name that Tune' where the kids got as many tunes right as we did!  We did break out a bottle of bubbly to christen the kids motorhome :)  Here is a pic of both of the units, side by side!

This morning we all had breakfast together, waffles, sausage, eggs, juice - then they started packing up...it all went well, and they pulled out about 11:30ish.  I did shed a few tears because I don't know when we'll see them next, but at least they are in the states, and if I need a fix too bad I'll just fly to DC to see them!  I'd love to see them over Christmas, but that is always such a busy crazy time...sigh!

This afternoon we plotted our course for tomorrow - we were planning on going to Stafford, then over to the coast and south, but David has cold feet about driving in big city traffic, so we will be taking yet another windy twisty road to Lynchburg VA where we will stay for at least 2 days, maybe more. 

July to Sept 2012 Berlin PA

Well let’s play some catch up shall we :) 

·       4^th of July was fantastic with a great picnic, then fireworks with our friends Nancy & Harry Gindlesperger – we had front row seats and great company

·       The 6^th through the 14^th of July was spent getting the house cleaned, laundry done, beds made, and some cooking done for the grandkids visit.

·       July 15^th the Grands arrived, Devon, Branden, and Ariel.  Boy, it was so good to see them (of course it was good to see Dawn and Daryl too)!  No time for much cooking, I did make Eggs Benedict for breakfast before Dawn and Daryl headed back to DC to start their jobe.

·       July 22 – 29 We packed up the kids and the MH and went to Friendship Village in Bedford, where we (Branden, Ariel & I) spent much time in the swimming pool, and just enjoying each other’s company!  On Friday, Angie, Alan, Nick & Lauren came to visit, and later in the day Nancy, Harry, Shirley and Leonard came down and we had a wonderful picnic, with sloppy joes and corn on the cob – of course s’mores were made late into the night!

·       Time N time again – we had some cookouts/bonfires, shopped, cooked, did some sightseeing with the kids, (took them to the Flight 93 Memorial), and just had a great time! 

·       August 20 was David’s birthday, so we had lots of cake – and a bbq of course! 

·       August 21 – Devon and I headed to Daytona Beach FL where he is attending Embry Riddle Aeronautical University – we had a great road trip and I was honored to be able to represent his parents for orientation.

·       Aug 25, I flew from Daytona to DC, where Dawn and Daryl picked me up, and drove me to PA, where they picked up their two youngest and took them back to DC to get ready for school.

·       Aug 26 through Sept 11 was clean the house, do all the bedding, wash down all the ucky that had accumulated through the summer, and start the process of packing the MH for our trip south.

·       Sept 12 – 16 we spent in DC with the kids, playing tourist :)  We even rode the Metro!  We toured the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, then we had an awesome tour of the Pentagon (where Dawn works), had a day of rest, then toured the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Vietnam Women’s Memorial, Korean Conflict Memorial and the WW II memorial – all of which we had seen before, but well worth seeing again!

·       Sept 17 – 18 High gear packing the MH, finishing up the house and getting ready to head out.

·       Sept 19^th First leg of our journey…and a separate entry!