A Beautiful Finish

Myrtle Beach The FINAL Day

Day 53

Friday June 19, 2009

It was already hot when we awoke. We realized that we couldn’t spend much time on the beach, and that any time spent there would have to be early in the day. Not like years ago, when we'd get too much sun...aging makes one listen to their body!

We were on the beach before ten o’clock. As we walked toward the beach I was taken by the spectacle of many rainbow colored beach umbrellas against the backdrop of brilliant blue sky and white sand. I had been thinking to myself that the sun was going to feel like we were under a broiler and that in the shade of an umbrella, it would be fairly comfortable. Then it dawned on me that we’ve never owned a beach umbrella, never.

I turned to Jim asking, “Why don’t we have a beach umbrella? It would make it so much more comfortable.”

He wrinkled his brow for a second and answered, “I don’t know….why don’t we? It’s taken us 43 years to realize this?”

We both laughed at our ‘DUH’ moment. In all fairness, we’ve had pools for so many years, we could always duck out of the sun and before that we lived in RI where every ray of warm sunshine was much appreciated!

We’re going to get a nice beach umbrella…soon.

Beach at the Apache Campground

It's called the 'Grand Strand' and it is grand indeed




Colorful umbrellas by the Apache Pier

Packed in, but only three sites from the ocean

We lasted about an hour on the beach. Don’t suggest that I keep cool by taking a dip in the nice, refreshing ocean. I don’t do salt water anymore. Remember, my son is a commercial fisherman….he tells me too many things about what lurks just below the surface, yeah he does. Besides, whether it’s a hunk of seaweed or a great white shark that touches my leg while I’m in the ocean…I will react exactly the same way. I would hope that someone, anyone would catch that moment on on video for YouTube when I,d prove to the word that Jesus wasn’t the only one able to walk on water. I’d do Him one better…I’d be RUNNING on water!

Guess I took too much time taking pictures....he came looking for me!


I could get used to a view like this...



The beach was great, but the hour plus we stayed was our limit. After a cooling shower, we headed off in the Jeep for lunch. On the way we took a little detour to view some of the area where the forest fires occurred earlier this year. Huge fires of this sort, are quite rare in the area. We drove by miles of blackened forest, and that was only what we could see from the highway.

By now it was a lunchtime and I remembered that we’d passed a Cheeseburger in Paradise on our search for a bank ATM last evening. As usual, Jim was questioning my navigational skills, but as usual, I was right. The restaurant was decorated in a casual, beach decor and felt perfect for the area. The burgers we ordered were excellent, and our waiter named Smoke, was well polished. A good eating experience.

We kicked around how we should spend the rest of the day. The weather was SO hot, that the thought of anything outdoors wasn’t too appealing. Even going to the popular shopping places locally, such as Barefoot Landing or Broadway at the Beach requires a good deal of walking outside in full sun. That and we really couldn’t think of a blessed thing that we wanted or needed at the moment! Going to the movie was an option, but then again, there really wasn’t anything that appealed to us in theaters this week.

So…what to do? The saying goes, ‘Do what you know best'. Apparently we’ve not DRIVEN enough in the past eight weeks so after checking on the dogs we headed north, up RT17, back toward Wilmington. We took the Southport Ferry which saves miles but not time…especially when you miss the last one by minutes and wait 45 minutes for the next one. But on this day, saving time was not important, it was more of a nostalgic ride back to a different time. Southport has grown by leaps and bounds, sometimes not for the better. But the heart of the town is still frozen in time and beautiful.

Southport/Fort Fisher Ferry







Hey Smiley!

Norman on the Ferry

The good part of missing the previous ferry is that you get the ‘front seat’ on the next one. It was much cooler on the water, even the moist wind felt good. The ferry docked at the very end of Cape Fear and we drove up RT 421 past Fort Fisher, Kure Beach and finally Carolina Beach. Jim’s mom and dad had retired to Carolina Beach where his aunt and uncle had lived most of their lives. So it is a place with many memories and their neighborhood really has not changed much over the years. We drove on to Wilmington, stopping for a Dunkin Donuts coffee along the way.

The sun lowering as we drove the 75 miles toward Myrtle Beach. We detoured off RT17 for a bit, taking the old RT17 through a tiny town named ‘Bolivia’ that we had made fun of over the years that we drove the 200 miles from Charleston to Wilmington. The angle of the sun bathed the landscape in a stunning way, highlighting the cornfields, marshes, forests and shoreline with buttery tones. Beautiful.

The dogs were overjoyed that we actually returned to them. Undoubtedly, they were sure we would never return from every excursion that we took during this trip. I don’t think shih tzus have any short term memory….or long term for that matter!

As twilight fell, we walked on the beach. The pier had live entertainment (sort of) so we paid the $3/per fee and walked to the end, past the fishermen and then sat and watched the singer, playing along and singing to pre-recorded music. Actually, he wasn’t half bad. We sat to watch the kids dance, little kids just dance naturally…it was cute. We were both thinking the same bittersweet thought – wasn’t it just yesterday that our three children were little like that? Life goes on…

He's soooo going to miss this...


It was our final full day of the trip, and it was a perfect way to end the journey.

Tomorrow: Home James!

Tobacco Road

Roanoke Rapids NC to Myrtle Beach SC 280Miles

Day 52

Thursday June 18, 2009

The light was so bright that was shinning through the cracks on the sides of the pleated shades this morning, that we thought for a moment that we’d overslept! But it was only the sun.

It was steamy and there were plenty of clouds around too, but the sun was a welcome sight as we left Roanoke Rapids heading south. We chose to take the ‘scenic’ route today because we didn’t have too far to travel. Jim’s mother grew up in this tobacco, cotton, corn and soybean growing part of the state. He spent time during the hot summers here. The city kid on he farm with the country cousins. We traveled past rural farms and small towns where we make note of the required buildings: The church, post office, general store, filling station, movie house, cafe, inn and sheriff/fire dept.

We took RT43 down to Kinston, then RT 258 to Jacksonville and finally US17 for the remainder. Thunder storms were all around us, but we only hit a few periods of intense rain. The frequent showers have this area looking like a rain forest. I soooo prefer the green to the brown of the desert. Although I must admit that we have suddenly become reacquainted with the heat and humidity and we are having difficulty acclimated this quickly. Normally, we have several months to go from winter to summer!

When we reached Wilmington Jim HAD to stop at a barbeque place that he always took his mother to. I’m not particularly fond of the eastern North Carolina (vinegar based) type, but I had a small plate too. This stuff sits like lead and once every year or two is enough for me.

On the way out of Wilmington we stopped at the cemetery where Jim’s mother and father are buried. There were two funerals going on and we did get some strange looks as we drove through the narrow lanes with the big RV dragging the Jeep behind.
We also took a little nostalgia time and drove past his parent’s house and the house his mother lived in after his dad died. Then hit US17 again toward our home state of South Carolina…which we haven’t been in since late April.

I’ve thought to myself how fortunate we’ve been to not have witnessed a serious accident in all these miles, but I won’t say it out loud until we park in our driveway. We almost made it. We were nearing the SC state line on US17 when a car blinked his lights at oncoming traffic. Jim remarked that police might be around the corner. We turned the corner only to see several cars stopped, no flashing lights, or police. Then as we drew nearer we were horrified at what we saw. People were leaving their cars and running back and forth between two cars that had collided. A full size Ford sedan had broadsided a pickup, apparently rolling it several times. A woman was lying, face down on the pavement, about 100 feet from the pickup which was now in a ditch in the median. My first thought was how a fastened seat belt would probably kept her in the pickup, that was badly damaged, but the passenger compartment looked intact.

We managed to ease to our right where we got access to a back road. We had no idea where we were going, but knew it had to come out somewhere. The cars in front of us were going to be tied up for quite some time with the accident, the road would be closed down for some time. There were several cars stopped, and people were trying to help, there was little we could do to help. Needless to say, this upset us for the remainder of the ride, which, thankfully, was almost over.

Yesterday, we called the Apache Family Campground to see if there were any sites available for the next two days. We were surprised when we said yes, we had tried three others. These are the HUGE seaside campgrounds, with mostly permanent sites. I thought with so late a reservation we’d be waaaaaaay back by the highway, but couldn’t believe it when we discovered we are only feet away from the beach! Of course, we’re wedged in here like sardines in a can, but every ocean side campground is that way.

Tomorrow and Saturday the weather is forecast to be extremely HOT, temps nearing 100 with high humidity. Our beach time will be limited….morning sounds good to me. Some people don’t understand ‘too hot for the beach’, but believe me, it can be!

My daughter called earlier this evening. She and her brother were checking on the house and discovered that it had been hit by lightning yesterday during some very severe storms. YIKES! I am very glad that I took the time to pull every wire connected to my computer out of the wall….surge protector or not. I’m just very, very glad that I wasn’t home at the time of the strike, they said that photos were knocked off shelves, I would have FREAKED!. It went through the vinyl ceiling of the porch and there is a scorched area about a foot long. We’re thinking it’s an exit…so where did it enter? I see an electrical inspection in our near future, I won’t be at ease until the attic is thoroughly checked.

Tomorrow, Myrtle Beach and whatever!

Day 51 Pine Grove Pa to Roanoke Rapids NC 385 miles

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

We thought that by the time we drove more than halfway through Pennsylvania we’d break through the cold front and rain. Wrong. It was cool and rainy when we left the KOA at Pine Grove Pa.

The rain, not good for travel, has certainly blessed this agricultural area. The area is beyond lush. The streams and rivers are full and the crops look good. I don’t think I’ve ever seen greener corn….it’s not too tall yet, but green! There are so many valleys between the mountain ridges and the farms are plentiful. The , old stone farm houses over a century old, if walls could talk…

We knew we were to run into some heavy rain today. It seems hard to believe, but this is the first heavy rain we’ve driven in. The only other severe storm was during the night in Hot Springs at the beginning of the trip. Although the clouds were thick and menacing, the heavy rain period lasted less than an hour.

We traveled I81 through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, through a small portions of Maryland, and West Virginia and finally Virginia. We like to take a route to get over to I95 and avoid the dreaded Beltway around Washington DC. A few years ago we began to take I66 at Front Royal VA, which runs east/west from I81 to the Beltway. We take it for about 20 miles, then drop down to US17, avoid the Beltway and emerge on I95 just below Fredericksburg VA. This one hour drive is absolutely beautiful, through rolling pastures and thick forests. The farms are from the Civil War period. You can almost imagine Union or Confederate troops marching over the next hill. And avoiding the Beltway is good for the nerves too!

The clouds and showers traveled with us to the border of Virginia and North Carolina. I may go blind when I see bright sunshine again. We are staying in a new campground in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Once here, we started trying to decide exactly where we want to end this trip. We were thinking Hattaras but it’s so far out of the way and the weather is iffy…if we want head home, it’s a long drive. Then we thought of Morehead City, which is very nice, but still a good drive from Charleston. Thought of Wilmington, then finally Myrtle Beach. That’s only two hours away from home. Jim was REALLY pushing Myrtle Beach. They have huge camping areas there but it took several calls to find one that had an open spot. This is the first time on the entire trip that we had to make more than one call for a site.

After all this time and all the different campgrounds I found a couple of ticks on the dogs. Actually, I think it was from the place last night, there was a wooded path at the dog walk. Of course, I should have not mentioned it to ‘city boy’ because he immediately started to swat imaginary insects all over his body while driving down the interstate. Sheesh.

We had a simple take- out meal here in the RV. When we went by the plaza near here to pick something up, we noticed the Applebee's was closed. There were several flower bouquets at the front door. We were told that the 29 year old female manager was found dead inside on Tuesday morning, apparently she was murdered late Monday evening.

Tomorrow we head to our home state…we’ve made a pretty big circle, eh? Hopefully, we can get some beach time in before we return to the real world!

Stay Away from the Chez KOA

Narragansett RI to Pine Grove, PA 348 Miles
Day 50

Tuesday June 16, 2009

Cold and damp as we awoke on our last morning in RI…we’re so outta here! We were paid up until check out on Thursday morning, but the weather was not cooperating. Wednesday is reported to be fairly nice, but we didn’t want to suffer through today to enjoy it.

We were almost ready to leave when we hit a little snag in our plans. One of the last steps is to pull the slide-out room in and secure it with two stabilizer bars. Today one of those bars snapped as he tried to lock it in place. Stop, unhook the Jeep and find someone who can weld this thing before we hit the road. Luckily, this is an area with many large boats so we just traveled down the road until we spotted a welding shop. Luckily the man was able to weld it right away. We only lost about an hour of travel time. Plus a little bonus, while waiting for the welding I turned on the lap top to write the blog on Live Writer and discovered I had a WIFI signal. Yippee, I got to surf a little!

Traveling all day, we never saw the sun. Heavy clouds, but no rain. Apparently the entire northeast has had a very rainy, cool and damp spring. We thought that by the time we drove all this way to southern PA we’d hit the warm weather….not.

Campgrounds are few and far between on I81 in Pa. We found a KOA, six miles off the highway. Most KOA campgrounds are much closer to the highways, but there’s nothing else around.

Dreary afternoon at the KOA in Pine Grove, PA

It’s a nice place. They have a large restaurant by the office. We went to at 6:30 and no one was eating there. That should have been a clue…but noooooo, we ordered anyway. I mean…how bad can it be? Oh Lord.

I ordered 1/4 barbecued chicken, green beans and corn bread. I asked the girl for dark meat (thigh and leg) what I got was a wing with about 2 inches of breast meat attached and it was dried out and ice cold on the inside. I ate a piece of the wing and took the cold chicken home to the dogs. The dish of green beans was RAW(not just crisp -RAW, and the corn muffin weighed about half a pound… Never eat anything that is way heavier than it should be, the extra weight is usually grease.
Jim’s sandwich was just okay. Well, there’s a meal I won’t have to worry about gaining weight!

We walked around the campground, which is on a hill so we, at least, got some exercise. WIFI is only at the office….which is quite far down the hill. I don’t need the internet badly enough to make the effort tonight. We’re tired, long ride today.

Tomorrow, hopefully we can find some sunlight! By the look of the weather map we should. We would like to spend our last few days of this trip at the outer banks of North Carolina, or somewhere on the ocean. BUT, if the weather is not cooperative, we may just head on home.

Seems like we’ve been gone forever!

Last Day in RI

Day 49 Last Day in RI

Monday, June 15

Cloudy and cool this morning…see a pattern here? Jim’s friend picked him up for a day of golf. Jim hasn’t played in a couple of months. Before we left the doctor told him to give it up for a time because his shoulder was hurting him. Wonder of wonders…the shoulder stopped hurting. Amazing how things improve when one does what the doctor says to do!

I had the luxury of taking my time for a change. I read the paper, watched the Today show and spent some time doing my hair. Most mornings it’s - let’s go, let’s go, let’s go…

I wanted to visit a friend but when I pulled my address book out, I realized that I have her address, but not her phone number. I normally get phone numbers now from the internet. I didn’t have WIFI at the state campground where we were staying. So off I drove with the laptop (and the laundry) to the Panera Bread a few miles away to try to get her phone number. Jim took me to this place the day before, but I got lost…and by the time I got straightened out, it was getting late. I knew I wouldn’t have time for a visit with her so I downloaded the past three days to the blog.

Now, to get back to the coin laundry, a few miles back. Yep, I got lost again. How does one even get lost in a place as small as RI, you ask? Well, I grew up in the other end of the state and when we visited the beach areas we took a direct route to the beach and back….now, I was off the beaten path. It didn’t take too long until I recognized a familiar place and get myself oriented. I even managed to find the coin laundry and get that accomplished!

The sun was shinning so we ran down to Galilee, the fishing villiage to take some photos of one of our favorite places in the country

Beaches in Galilee, RI

The opposite view from the one above




A few feet away, the beach roses in full bloom

Cold lifeguards in mid June

Another reason why I love this place



Our campsite at Fisherman's Memorial State Park

Spotted on another RV, wish I'd thought of it!

Jim enjoyed his golf game and time spent with his friend immensely. Later that evening we went to this friend and his wife’s home for a wonderful dinner. We’ve known them since the early 70’s. Again, it hardly seems possible that our families have grown and so many years have gone by.

Tomorrow, we unhook and head south. We will be traveling west through Connecticut, picking up I84 across NY and on to Pennsylvania and I81 through the mountains.

Day 48 Rhode Island

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Heh, heh…it poured all night and came down even harder this morning. Of course, with the rain came cooler temperatures, down in the mid 50’s again. We were supposed to go for a boat ride with friends. Too bad the weather didn’t cooperate.
Move on to Plan B. Go walk around Newport.

The rain stopped and it the weather called for mostly sunny so we headed over Newport Bridge.I remember when we had to take a ferry to get to Newport from Jamestown and the building of the bridge was a VERY big deal. In fact, when my daughter was born in August 1968 I shared a room with a girl whose husband was an iron worker who had been injured during the bridge construction. That is how I always remember the age of the bridge.

We enjoyed a couple of hours of walking around this colonial town. Many of the homes are of the same colonial period as Charleston, but smaller, with definitely smaller windows. After all, they wanted to maintain the heat and Charleston wanted to try to stay cool in those days of now central heat and air.

The sun came out and people began to fill the touristy city. Luckily, we were almost ready to leave by the time it got crowded.

We drove over to Westerly, RI, the coastal city sitting on the Connecticut line. At one time, this seemed like another state all together, Westerly was sooooooo far away, almost an hour drive! Now, with the newer highways, it’s a shorter ride, but people still consider it a journey.

These cousins raise shih tzus, as I once did. They had a litter of week old puppies, I miss my puppies now that we don’t breed anymore. How cute they were! We left for a wonderful dock lunch and then they showed us around parts of Westerly and adjacent Stonington Ct, which we’d never done more than pass by before. Imagine, we lived over half our lives and there are places so close we’d never seen. They showed us some amazing oceanfront homes.

We said goodbye and returned to the RV, but not before a stop at the Stop and Shop supermarket to stock up a bit. Somehow, we always find more than we went in for.

Tomorrow, Jim golfs and if I can locate some phone numbers I may visit an old friend…if not, laundry calls!

Rhode Island

Day 47 Rhode Island

Saturday, June 13

SUNSHINE!

We awoke to sunshine, blue skies, birds singing, and warm temperatures today! Yessssss!

The healthy breakfast we ate is about the only meal that is smart lately…this is part of visiting RI. We know that we won’t be able to enjoy certain foods when we leave, so we enjoy ourselves without guilt. We will repent at home, oh yes…we will.

The weather was perfect for a bike ride so we biked down what is called the Galilee Escape Road (built after Hurricane Carol in 1954) toward the fishing docks. Before we got that far, we turned right onto Great Island. Biked over the little bridge and into another world. Quaint. This is what the New England Seaside is to me. At one time these were almost all summer ‘camps’ as they were called. They were mostly summer cottages for people from the city, and some full time residents, probably fishermen and people who worked in the fish processing factory. Now, they are interspersed with some large lovely homes.

Then we biked into the village. The ferry was loading up for a trip to Block Island, about 10 miles offshore. We walked out on the pier and watched the fishing boats dock. I noticed that all the deck hands were smoking…they must be doing well, cigarettes are over $8.00 pack here!
We stopped at a tee shirt shop that I always hit while I’m here. Then on to the end of the village, a beach and some jetties that line the channel between the ocean and the harbor. There is a reconstruction project going on that has taken over the beach and made the jetties inaccessible. This will be a sad summer for some who love this area. The jetty/beach/parking lot area is a place where many ocean loving, but not ‘beachy’ people love to come to sit in the parking lot at the edge of the jetty. There they may pull out a lawn chair, or just sit on the rocks watching boats of all sizes return to port, or to go fishing. Last time we were here in the summertime we noticed some even people tailgating, grilling sausage and peppers (RI is mostly Italian) that smelled so good, while watching the boats. This summer that won’t be happening…

Later we visited yet another cousin and her husband. I actually knew this cousin before I knew Jim. Her large family lived across from my aunt and uncle and their large family. Later I went to high school with her and her younger sister who was my age.

We enjoyed a few hours of reminiscing. Her husband is a few years older than Jim, but they’ve known each other’s families for years and he and Jim talked about the old gang. Back then, everyone knew everyone and neighbors all helped raise each other’s kids. Everyone was poor, and nobody noticed or cared.
After a lunch, many laughs, a stroll down the gorgeous beach at Matunuck and a lot of catching up on lives later we left. All nearing retirement, it felt like just yesterday we were all getting married, choosing careers and starting families. The years fly by, don’t they?

The weather was still great, and there was still a good deal of daylight left when we left at 4:30 so we headed back to the middle of the state (a 20 minute ride…RI is small!) to the city where we raised our family and where Jim had been a cop. We drove a big loop through town, past the two houses and neighborhoods that we’d lived. And also through the areas where Jim had spent most of the time on certain police beats. Many things have changed, many things exactly the same. Sweeping changes around the airport and most of an entire neighborhood gone for airport expansion. The houses are gone, only the trees remain…and they are SO much bigger than we remembered. Trees grow a LOT in twenty years!
Jim wanted some Italian bread to go with his to-go box from last night. We passed an Italian Bakery. If you are familiar with this part of the country, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. I wanted to stay in the car, but he insisted I accompany him into the bakery. Gorgeous pastries, and of course bread. And don’t forget the ‘tomato bread’ pizza strips…we only got one strip ‘for the road’.

Back to the campground, but not before I decided that I was ready for fried clams. Jim enjoyed his veal and Italian bread, I had my fried clams…a perfect day.

Tomorrow, rain forecasted….again…who knows? We are visiting yet ANOTHER cousin in the afternoon!

Rhode Island

Day 46 Rhode Island

Friday, June 12, 2009

The fog rolled in last evening and the fog horn sounded about every ten seconds, every ten seconds, every ten seconds. At some point during the night the showers turned into torrents, it rained hard. That’s okay, as long as it’s not thunder and lightning, the dogs are fine…and we can sleep!

Morning, was grey, foggy and cool….again. BUT it warmed up and I was happy. We headed up to my hometown, Johnston, to visit one of Jim’s fifty-something cousins. Yes, you read that right. Jim has over 50 FIRST cousins. I thought it was something like 54, but the family historian, who we were visiting with, said 58 and I’ll take her word for it. During our visit and our trip to a restaurant for lunch, she filled us in about all the relatives. I don’t know how she keeps track. Of course, I only have a handful of relatives, so I didn’t grow up with it.

The clouds were thinning out and on our way back to Narragansett the sun came out! We grabbed the bikes and headed just a mile or so down the road to Galilee, a sleepy little fishing village. It hasn’t changed much over the years.
Galilee was my dad’s chosen spot for clamming. If the weather was warm and the tide was right, that is where we would be in the summer. A little inlet a tidal pond, a good low tide and mud is all you needed for bucket of calms. Just up the road was a beautiful sandy beach, complete with a playground. What more could a kid want, this was heaven! This state park looks out over the salt pond and when the wind catches the salt breeze along with the wild beach roses in full bloom, I am immediately transported back over fifty years. It is a good feeling, even if only for a brief moment.

Thankfully, we managed to squeeze that exercise in because later we joined long time friends for an Italian dinner at a restaurant that has been in business for many years…and known for ridiculously large portions. We took most of the meal home.
Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to improve. We are going to meet with another of Jim’s first cousins, who lives near where we are staying. They live in Florida, but spend summer’s at the beach here…the best of both worlds

Day 45 Meredith NH to Narragansett RI
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Cold and drizzly this morning…surprise! No wonder everything is so green this year.

We left the mosquito coast…um, I mean Meredith a little after nine o’clock, gassed up and headed to I93 south. Years ago, this trip would take hours on the state road. The state roads wound through the forest, farms, villages and cities. Now, it’s a straight shot to Massachusetts. Tom Tom wanted us to go straight through Boston…obviously Tom Tom has never been to Boston! We have, so we opted to drive I495 around the whole mess of insane traffic. We laughed at how this stretch of highway through the state used to see soooooooo long when we lived in RI. As I mentioned earlier posts, in RI anything over 15 miles is a journey.
The weather continued with heavy cloud cover and drizzle, we didn’t actually see the sun all day. I guess it saves wear and tear on our sunglasses.

Jim thought he’d drive I95 through Pawtucket, Providence, Cranston because ‘he hadn’t done that in so long’…until he came to his senses with the traffic increasing. Thankfully (for my nerves) we took I295 around the metropolitan area.

There is a regional food here in RI, that is very specialized, ‘New York System Hot Wieners. One of those food that, if you didn’t grow up eating them, you probably wouldn’t even like them. Basically a hot wiener is a hot dog with a difference. It comes on a steamed bun, covered with a Coney Island type meat sauce (there lies the ‘secret) covered with onions, mustard and some of the time, celery salt. They were sold in working class neighborhoods in diners. You get your food fast. When a person only gets 30 minutes for lunch, you better get their food to them fast. We can be away for years and when we walk into one of these places, it’s like nothing ever changed.

Narragansett was our next stop to the Fisherman’s Memorial State Park. We’ve got a very nice spot….a little slant, it took a bit, but we’ve leveled. The longer we’re on the highway, the harder it is to ‘feel’ which way is perfectly level, the bubble level things don’t always agree with what we feel. We took a bike ride around the campground…I was too cold, so it wasn’t a long ride. There are so many rabbits here that I was afraid I would run over one. It makes walking the dogs harder too, Brandy aka Little Dummy, tries to catch them and takes off after them. The entire length of leash zips out before I even know what’s going on. She looks smart for 20 feet anyway!

Later we went for my ‘absolutely must have’ steamers (steamed clams) and a boiled lobster. YUMMO!

We switched our TV with our converter box over and we are amazed at the great reception and picture ! That’s a good thing, because with the weather forecast, we may not be doing much else!

Tomorrow, meeting up with friends and relatives, and dodging the raindrops.

Should Have Kept His Chin Up

Day 44 Mt. Washington Area

It drizzled all night. That sounds worse on the roof than steady rain. It falls on the leaves overhanging the RV and makes different size drops that are not in any pattern. Plop...plop, plop, plop...plop! And I was cold, even with my cuddle duds, socks, blanket, comforter, and a warm body beside me. We have a heater and I think the thermostat was set for 66 degrees. Geez, what a wimp!

We went for a walk around the campground which is large and is on both sides of the highway. The weather felt exactly like Portland OR/Vancouver WA, cool and damp. Thankfully, we bought insect repellent with the highest DEET percentage...there are a bazillion mosquitoes here. Well...wet and wooded, why wouldn't there be?

Later we got in the Jeep and took the old road, RT 3 up toward the Mt. Washington area. It snakes alongside Interstate 93. The older road is in rough shape, I think they let it go after the newer interstate was built. But it goes past all the little old New England villages, deep woods and the old motor courts, many still in operation. At any time we could have jumped right on the interstate but chose not to.

Not long into the drive we came upon a SUV with a couple about our age pulled over on the opposite side of the road. The woman, beside the car, was looking at the front of her vehicle, holding her hand over her mouth and looking very upset. As we rounded the curve we saw why...they'd just hit a doe and she was gravely injured. She was trying desperately to climb back into the woods, but her hindquarters were injured and struggle as she might, could not move. The woman had her back turned to the pathetic animal. This the second injured deer we've seen on the trip and it's heartbreaking. The man in front of us had a pickup truck, he stopped. Hopefully, someone had a weapon to put her out of her misery.

The clouds would part and occasionally we got a peek of 'almost' sunshine. Whatever it was, we could see shadows for a few miles, until the clouds grew thick again. Being in the mountains, we could actually see the clouds sinking lower until we were in their mist.

They did part long enough for us to see where 'The Old Man Of The Mountain' used to be. He was on that mountain for God knows how long, until May 3, 2003, when he came crashing down. Apparently, the five pieces of granite ledge that formed his face, all rested on his chin. When the chin gave way, the rest of the face crashed down the mountain. I remember seeing it when I was 8 years old. My mother always said the old man looked like my great-uncle Pete. He did.

Now, there is just s almost smooth ledge. Practically everything in the White Mountain area of NH used to have the his image on it. The route signs on the highway even have his image. I'll be when they discovered he was gone, they kept staring at the edge of the mountain thinking, "What else could it look like?"

It looks like nothing but a big rock...no matter how hard you squint.

Then we drove (the long way) to the road that goes up Mount Washington. Visibility was very low driving up to the road. The toll is hefty...and 8 mile drive costs $23 for car and driver and $8 for each additional passenger. The road is scary, even after driving up Pike's Peak, I was uneasy, I remember this drive from long ago...and not fondly. We pulled up to the ticket booth and asked about visibility. It was not good, they said, less than 100 feet. That was good enough for us, we decided NOT to go up. The traffic is two-way and we'd like to see what is coming at on on that road! Yay, $31 saved!

Let's see...lousy weather, no old man of the mountain and no visibility on Mt. Washington...this day was going to crap rather quickly. Next we headed toward North Conway/Conway and grabbed a late lunch at Applebee's. I got the crispy orange chicken bowl. I wasn't too hungry and knew this thing is so big that you can get a couple of extra meals out of it. I picked up a Steamfresh Asian veggie thingy that I'll mix with it and the two of us can get a meal out of it.

A couple of miles down the road from the restaurant, we passes a large highway construction project. A policeman was directing traffic around it. As we passed, Jim suddenly shouted, "Hey, I know him!" He pulled into a parking lot and got the officer's attention. The cop instantly recognized Jim, and ran to the curb to greet him. They had worked together for many years and hadn' t seen each other in over 20 years. They only had a minute or two to talk, but Jim felt good about it...another life.

The Weirs Beach, just down the road from our campground is gearing up for a HUGH motorcycle gathering. They were starting to set up tents yesterday and today there are dozens of vendors getting ready. The weather may not comply.

We stopped for groceries and came back for the night. Then I gave two, count 'em, two dog baths , I'm so done...one dog to go, but NOT tonight.

Tomorrow we head down to Rhode Island, which was home up until 1989.

This is June?

Day 43 Lake George NY to Meredith NH 155 Miles

It rained hard most of the night. Believe me, you know when it rains in a motor home. Loud, very loud.

The morning brought slight improvement, only drizzle and heavy cloud cover, which is way better than heavy rain. It's very cold and windy, at one point this afternoon here near Lake Winnipesaukee the car thermometer was reading 51 degrees. That's January weather in South Carolina!

The drive wasn't far, only 155 miles, but we took all state roads. We got onto Rt4 in Glens Falls, NY near Lake George and stayed on it all through Vermont and almost to Meredith NH. I just wish it had been sunny, the small New England towns with all their history were so quaint as were the old farms. So many are not working farms now, and falling into disrepair. Woodstock, VT looks like a Hollywood set of what a New England town should look like.

It was after 3:30 by the time we got settled in. We'd skipped lunch and thought we'd have a combo lunch/dinner. We headed toward the town of Meredith and saw the signs for Hart's Turkey Farm. My dad used to drive up from Rhode Island (about 160 miles) for their turkey dinners...and people from RI don't usually travel more than 15 miles for ANYTHING. This place is very well known in the region, but we'd never eaten there before. It was very good...but I'll be popping the Tums soon.

We left there and because we apparently hadn't driven enough, headed down to Alton Bay, at the very southern end of the 20 mile long lake. My aunt had a cabin on a lake near there in a little village called Gilmanton Iron Works. The lake was Crystal Lake. We were only a few miles away in Alton Bay, so I asked Jim to drive a little further to see if I could remember my way back to the cabin. The lake was still beautiful and I did find he cabin, although, it's been remodeled extensively. Jim reminded me that it has been 50 YEARS since my first visit there...wish he hadn't thought of that!

Our little excursion to the cabin was a round trip of 60 miles. Oh heck, what's another couple of hours on the road at this point?

We are back in the Meredith Woods Campground near Weirs Beach on Lake Winnipesaukee. Still dodging the bikers...they are gearing up here for a bike weekend, this coming weekend. We will be in RI by then. Speaking of RI, we did something that is unusual for us, we made reservations! We will be in Narragansett RI from June 11 to 18. Um...that is, of course, if the weather changes. If it continues this cold and damp/misty/rainy we won't be staying for a week, that's for sure.

Tomorrow, the forecast is for more of the same cold, rainy weather of today with highs in the upper 50's. We will be going for a ride north of here, probably up to Mt. Washington.

Don't Rock the Boat

Day 42 Lake George, NY

The sun was shining brightly as we woke up this morning under the canopy of tall trees here in Lake George. This is how a campground should look ...like you're part of a forest.

Campsite in Lake George

We headed down to the village to board the Mohican for a one hour ride around the lower section of the 32 mile lake. There were only a handful of passengers, all about our age. The lake was calm, winds were light and the sun was shining brilliantly. Just perfect for a nice, peaceful lake cruise...

Tour boats in Lake George

Just before it got noisy

Fort William Henry in Lake George

Then just before they cast off the mooring lines a bus pulled up....a bus full of MIDDLE SCHOOL KIDS. Oh my. They boarded with the chaperones and teachers, sat down and ate their lunches....lunches with LOTS of sugary snacks, lots. As the boat pulled away from the dock our last means of escape was gone and we were to spend the next hour with a hundred or so 5th and 6th graders...who just ate...sugar.

The captain was narrating, I think. I recall faintly hearing his voice amid the yelling, giggling, running, stomping, stair-climbing, jumping din...maybe. The teachers sat and talked, the kids were only being kids without restrictions. To escape some of the noise we walked out onto the open stern. I was a little concerned because they were running from one end of the three tier ship to the other and jumping down the stairways .I was afraid one of them would fall overboard. I asked Jim (aka Mr. Grumpy) what he would do if one fell in. I guess he was a little frazzled by them because this former life guard and All-State swimmer said, "Let him drown!" Nah, really folks, trust me, he'd be the first one in the water.

When we neared the dock to get off I noticed that the dozen or so of us 'elderly' people were all in front trying to get off as fast as possible. We were all complaining. We just wished we had been told that a large group of kids were coming, we'd have probably taken a later cruise. We laughed with some of the other passengers that when we were that age in Catholic school, if the nun said to sit and be quiet, we'd go into full rigor mortis. Or else.

We headed back to the RV, had a sandwich for lunch and headed back out for a ride up to the northern end of the lake. We rode about 50 miles up to Fort Ticonderoga. Really a pretty lakeside ride. Oh, the lakeside homes! Many homes are priced in the millions.

Pricey real estate

Outside Fort Ticonderoga

Fort Ticonderoga

Covered bridge in Ticonderoga NY

Jim and Norman

You've seen the Roaming Gnome commercial?

Back at the RV we grilled salmon for dinner. Jim, who never liked salmon is now absolutely crazy about it. Weird. The good thing is, he's learned how to grill it perfectly...now, if I can just get him to keep this up when I get home.

Tonight, it has started to rain. Tomorrow's weather is going to be rainy so we are heading over to New Hampshire and most probably will end up in the Lake Winnipesaukee area.

Stop and Pay Toll (bring lots of money)

Day 41 Grand Island NY to Lake George NY 375 Miles

(would have been shorter, but we took a 'scenic drive')

Sunday June 7, 2009

Family of geese at the KOA Niagara Falls

Woke up to cloudy skies, as predicted. No big deal, it's a traveling day and most will be on the New York Thruway, I90. Should be called the New York Screw-way. We checked the card at the toll booth and saw that we couldn't get off this highway without giving them our firstborn and a pint of blood. Our firstborn eats too much and we're both on medications that eliminate us from blood donations, so they settled for a mere $42.00. Aren't they wonderful?

We stopped along the highway at a service center for lunch. As we were leaving I stopped to pick up a Sunday Newspaper. I gave the guy $5 and he informed me that the paper was $6. WHAT?!! I decided real quick that I didn't want to read it THAT much...I mean, I'm only going to throw it away in a couple of hours!

While heading east along the highway, we were traveling along the same route as the Erie Canal. I can remember being 5 or 6 years old an playing some kiddie songs, 78rpm, on the wind-up Victrola (Man, I'm really dating myself here!) . One of the songs that I would play over and over was 'Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal'. I just 'Googled' it and was surprised to see most versions say 'fifteen miles'. I was sure it was fifteen years...apparently the kiddie version did say that. Lyrics. What a huge endeavor at the time. They dug this 363 mile canal, from the Hudson River to Lake Erie with shovels!

After we left the highway we decided we'd take a 'scenic' route around Sacandaga Lake on country roads to Lake George. And thus began our very own one hour episode of *LOST*

We actually knew where we were, just couldn't get oriented. The country roads have unmarked intersections, the locals know where they are, so why put any signs up? Poor Tom Tom was trying to get us back to the shortest route to Lake George...'Turn left, then turn left, Turn around when possible!, over and over. But Jim wouldn't listen. I wasn't much better with the map. The map had state routes, but not these county roads. Plus, we were right in the middle of the crease on the atlas where the pages meet (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it) and it was even harder to read. Jim was getting really pissed off....he'd been driving for over 300 miles already, and you have to remember that when we're towing the Jeep we can't back up and you need a LOT of room to make a u-turn. I was pretty sure we were going in the wrong direction, but with the solid cloud cover, I couldn't get my bearings from the sun. I pointed this out to Jim, who told me I was wrong. Then I noticed Tom Tom (who had been silenced) had the destination mileage going UP and not down. Then I did something that really freaked Jim out...

In May of 1976 we took our first cross country trip with the kids. My dad, who had been a boy scout and a very careful person, took me aside before we left and pressed a pocket compass into my hand. I laughed at him, "Dad, what the heck is this for?" He told me it was in case we got lost. I informed him that there were plenty of road signs that would tell me which direction I was headed. But he insisted...just to be safe. And I listened and put the compass in my purse. It must have made an impression on me because I have been carrying a compass with me ever since...just to be safe. I'm sure I'm probably the only woman on planet earth who has been carrying a compass with her for 33 years.

So with Jim cursing and Tom Tom pleading and reconfiguring at every intersection, I reached down to the bottom of my purse and pulled out...*The Compass*. Jim looked at across at me with horror, "What? What have you got there? THE compass? You're looking at THE compass???...Put that THING away!" Must have really scared the crap out of him, in all our years of traveling I'd never gone for THE compass.

Just as I put it away, we re-entered a little village that we'd 'visited' 15 minutes or so earlier. Me and Tom Tom had pretty well figured out how to get back on 'normal' roads but Jim insisted on asking the first human he saw where he had room to pull far enough off the tiny roads not to get killed.

We rounded a corner and spotted an elderly couple having a yard sale (I think every third house up here has a weekend yard sale) and he got out of the RV to ask how to get back to highway 29. He returned to the RV with easy directions and laughing. He said that he thought that the couple was going to get into a brawl, each insisting that their version was the correct way back to the highway.

So we spent an hour going in circles, but gained some fun memories....yeah, it's funny now.

A half hour later we were pulling into the Lake George RV Resort, three miles from the village. Very nice place. We're finding that so many places are near empty that we can bargain a little for price. Still, it's $50 per night.

We settled, then went for some groceries in town. Jim wanted some ice cream. We were walking down the aisle trying to decide, when we both spotted something at the same second. Friendly Ice Cream! Then we both said, "Maple Walnut!!!" together. See, Friendly's is a regional creamery that we both fondly remember from RI, but to find it in a WalMart freezer was quite a surprise...AND maple walnut is NOT available in the south. I even emailed Edy's once and they said it was a region specific flavor. Who knew?

Our evening was complete, we knew where we were and we had maple walnut ice cream!

Tomorrow we'll do some touristy stuff here in Lake George, the weather is supposed to be great!

Niagara Falls! Slowly I Turn....

Day 40 Geneva on the Lake OH to Grand Island NY
165 miles

Saturday June 6, 2009

The weather was fantastic again today as we left the Lake Erie area. We took RT531 which is the part of the Lake Erie Circle Tour. We passed mile after mile of vineyards and wineries. I don’t remember quite so many vineyards on earlier trips. At one point I90 rose on a bluff and we could look to the north at Lake Erie. The lake stretches for a far as the eye can see, hard to believe it’s a LAKE and NOT the ocean.Eventually we moved south to US20 and then to I90 for the rest of the day’s trip northeast toward Erie Pa, Buffalo NY and finally the Niagara Falls area.

We arrived in the area of the Falls early, around 2:30pm. We settled on the KOA here on Grand Island. It’s only about a ten minute drive Niagara Falls. It was early enough for us to go visit both sides of the the American and Canadian Falls.

On the US side looking toward the Canadian Horseshoe Falls


First, we went to the American side, and to the left side Goat Island and Three Sisters Island. We’ve never viewed the falls from this side before and we appreciated the different perspective and the beauty of the state park. There were hundreds of people there today. I’m sure the delightful late spring weather had a lot to do with it.


The American Falls

Norman wanted to come along, he saw the American side...
And the Canadian...(shhhhh, no passport!)

We then got in the car and drove over the bridge, crossed the border and visited the Canadian Falls. That side is more built up and geared to tourism. There were even more people there! By this time, the sun was getting lower providing us with a spectacular rainbow.

The mist was blowing UP, we got soaked

Now, THEY really got wet!

When we came back over the bridge to the US side, the agent who checked our passports and asked us where we were from in South Carolina. Seems he came from an area between Myrtle Beach and Wilmington NC. We mentioned that Jim’s mom had lived in Carolina Beach NC (small town) and the agent knew the town well and has family there. He also knew Jim’s uncle! Small world, eh? Yes, I put the ‘eh’ there for the Canadian effect…


We ran back to the RV to take care of the dogs and then ‘tried’ to go out for some dinner. Bad idea. There’s really nothing except fast food here near the KOA, so we decided to head toward the bigger city, Buffalo. Apparently no one eats out here. We did see a busy seafood restaurant, Harry’s, on the Niagara River, but couldn’t find an off ramp to get to it. So we continued on…until we were almost in downtown Buffalo. Jim took the exit to try to turn around and get back on in the other direction. Nope. The other ramp was closed down. This left us in the middle of the ghetto…no, ghetto is too nice a word. It was more of a crack house/garbage/boarded up sort of neighborhood. And we couldn’t find out way back to the Interstate without getting further into it. Finally, I saw a sign that read, ‘downtown’ and told Jim to head that way, at least we’d have a point of reference. There was also a bridge, we could have taken, but it was clearly marked to Canada and they would have just turned us around because we no longer had our passports with us.

From downtown we did manage manage to find our 190 north on-ramp and head back in the direction that we’d come from. Now we decided to head the other way toward Niagara Falls to find a place to eat. We weren’t being terribly fussy…a Chili’s or Friday’s would have fit the bill. We drove all the way to the falls, touristy/hotel area…and we STILL can’t find anywhere to eat! By now we’re getting quite hungry. We did see a few places to eat, but every one was for Indian cuisine and we don’t care for Indian.

We turned back toward the KOA, and I told Jim to try ONE more road, toward Tonawanda…the only direction we hadn’t tried. So we drove, and drove and saw only residential neighborhoods. Don’t these people eat out? Then we saw a sign for a ‘shopping mall’…aha! There are always out parcels around malls. Except when the mall is closed….as in ‘shut down’. BUT…there was a small grocery store there. I asked Jim to stop and we could grab some grape jelly and a loaf of bread (already had peanut butter at the RV) and we could have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…which by now, was sounding REAL good.

We’d been driving for almost TWO hours. I was starting to feel like we were in a Chevy Chase vacation movie! But you know what? The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were GREAT!

Tomorrow, heading toward the Adirondacks and maybe the Lake George area. We have many pleasant memories of that area from when the kids were little and always try to stop there if we’re near. Last time, in 2003 we hit town the same weekend as a HUGE motorcycle week. Everything was full and we ended up in Saratoga Springs…which was nice too.

So tomorrow, north and then east toward New England!

Day 39 Richmond IN to Geneva on the Lake OH
300 Miles

Friday, June 5, 2009

KOA in Richmond IN on a beautiful early June morning.

Brilliant sunshine and cool when we left the KOA in Richmond. It’s probably a very nice place in full season, but over-priced at $40 this time of year. There were fewer than ten spaces filled last night

.
We took I70 to I270 around Columbus then I71 to I271 around Cleveland then to I90 for a few miles to US20 for the last 30 miles. Ooooh, bad idea, the road is the main business area, with narrow lanes and traffic lights every block…took awhile to do that last 30.

Finding a campsite is a little different in the northern part of the country. Most are seasonal and basically set up for summer vacationers. We stayed in. or near, this town on another trip, it may even have been as far back as 1991. The Campground we are at is very large and well cared for. Most of the spaces are extended stays and I’m sure many of the families have been returning here for years. We are across the road from Lake Erie with beach access.

A beach on Lake Erie looking West

Looking East on Lake Erie


This is a beautiful area on the shores of Lake Erie. After we got settled, it was still early, so we took a ride along the shore. We headed toward Ashtabula. There are some gorgeous homes on the shore of the lake. I was enjoying the spring blooms. Irises certainly do well here! I also spotted some clematis vines that almost made me cry with envy they were so full of spectacular blooms. Mine struggle so in the heat, I was jealous. The sun was so bright today that all the colors were brilliant….the trees and the lawns were so green!

Iris near a small park on the harbor in Ashtabula Ohio

Jim saying hello to 'Sara' in Ashtabula. Dogs know...

The state of the economy is also very evident in this part of the country. Obviously, this is an area impacted by problems in the auto industry. We have seen many closed businesses.

Our campsite is by (what they call ) the ‘lake’. It’s a pond. There’s a bunch of Canadian geese, domestic geese, ducks and one swan. We bought a quarter’s worth of feed for them. Aggressive critters, those geese…

The dogs check out the geese at Indian Creek Campground

Tomorrow we are heading east toward Buffalo.

We may visit Niagara Falls. We have not been there since 1991. I’m sure it hasn’t changed much!

Thrilling Day! Nah...

Brandy and Norman at the KOA Dog Playground tonight

Day 38 Eureka MO to Richmond IN

345 Miles

I wish I could write something terribly entertaining about today's ride. I can't...unless I make something up. But I won't do that. It was just a ride, a long ride.

We left Eureka ( a suburb of St. Louis) at 9:00 to miss most of the rush hour traffic. The worst part of being in more populated areas of the country is traffic and bad highways. The combination of heavy truck traffic and winter weather makes for bumpy roads. And everyone knows how much we love bumps...sarcasm here.

At one point this afternoon I tried to open the refrigerator while going down the highway only to have everything on a the top shelf on the door come tumbling out. The vibrations had knocked the shelf off its track. At least it wasn't as bad as last year when Jim's hot sauce spilled all over the inside...it looked like Jeffrey Dahmer's refrigerator! This time only pickle juice spilled, not nearly so messy.

Crossing the Mississippi River

It didn't take us long to cross over the Mississippi River and into Illinois. We took I270 and I255 to get around STL to I70 which we stayed on for the rest of the day. This is one stretch of I70 that we've never been on before. The scenery was nice, as long as I can look at something besides DIRT, I'm fine. I was a little surprised at how treed Indiana is, I remembered it as more farmland... maybe the area I've crossed in the past (north of here) has more farms.

We lost an hour getting back into the Eastern Time Zone. Bummer, I like Central. I can get to bed at a more decent time...Tonight Show starts at 10:30pm, much better than 11:30pm!

It was around 5:00 when we pulled off the highway to a KOA right on the Ohio/Indiana line. We're down a gravel road, in farmlands. But there are plenty of trees, a pond and GRASS! The dogs are happy.

We had an easy dinner, thanks to yesterday's 'to go' boxes. The RV smelled wonderful...eau d'Italian restaurant. Which is soooooo much better than wet dog!

Later, we needed to move our bodies a little so we took a walk. The campground has a nature trail for about a half mile in the woods. Jim is such a city kid, stuff like that makes him a little uneasy. He's fine in a city ghetto, but wood scare him, go figure. We questioned the trail a couple of times, as it would split here and there and with less than a hour of daylight, all I could think of was getting lost out there. I'm the one who wanted to take the trail. I'd never hear the end of it if we couldn't find our way out! At least we could always hear the noise of the highway, so I knew we couldn't get too lost. I was secretly hoping a bunny would cross our path....just to see the 'city kid's' reaction!

Then we took our dogs out to the little dog agility course here at the campground. Agile shih tzus...NOT. They were afraid of the equipment. I ran around the the perimeter and they followed, so they got some exercise. I need it more than them these days!

Rookie isn't too fond of the see saw, Norman loves it!

Tryint to teach Rookie how to get over the bar
His way is better...go around it!



From looking at these photos I see I need a root touch up badly!

Tomorrow we are heading toward Lake Erie and points northeast.