Back to the home without wheels

So we left the campground by Davey this morning.  Had a short nice ride on a beautiful day and arrived in Alton NH around 130 pm.  A quick look at the house with the nice mowed lawn courtesy of our good neighbor Fred and Ginny across the street showed it in good shape.  We opened the door closed since the middle of October and found all was well.  I headed down to turn on the water and found only one small leak that I easily patched in the water line.  I wanted to replace an old shut off valve next to where the frozen pipe so this was a good time for that.  I also put in another drain at the low point for next years drain.  

We had a lot of small trees down in the yard from an ice storm this winter and Lynda spent some time pulling branches away.  We were both tired after getting everything in shape and headed to the local Chinese place for dinner.  So that is it for now.  The end of our annual trip north.  Lynda and I are tossing around what to do for next year.  We have a trip out to western Pennsylvania for our Photography business this summer and hope to get a few small trip out in the Bus.  We will head for Colorado in September for Justin's and Lindsey's wedding and may head out west after that.  Bye everyone, love you all.

Pics:  Water line break, Lynda looking out towards the mountains in NH,  our house in 1964

David and Lynda

At my Son David's

We are now still in Vermont across the river from New Hampshire and my Son David.  Yesterday and today we spent time with him and his family and today with them at our campsite.  It was so good to see them again and the children are just beautiful.  David and I played guitar and we enjoyed the two days.  I must say Vermont is one of the most lovely states I have ever been in.  Tomorrow we head east to our home in Alton only 83 miles more to go.  It has been a good trip home and I do love our travels in the Magic Bus.  Pics of the view into New Hampshire from Vermont parked on top of a mountain in the Bus.  Also my Son David, grandson, David, grand daughter Delilah, and their Mom Melony.

In the Mountains of Vermont, Back in New England

A short trip today into Vermont and one of our favorite campsites that we have been coming to for years.  We are at Greenwood RV right out of Bennington VT.  It is an old ski resort and the sites are just beautiful.  We can walk with Charlie on the old trails and he gets to swim in the lake here and the clear mountain streams.  Ann the owner treats us like old friends and goes on with Lynda when we come glad to see her.  Tomorrow we will head up by David's to a campsite in VT across the river from him.  We will visit a couple of days and see my Grand children and Son

Up in Catskill by Hunter Mt.

Left Jersey and headed up the Garden State Parkway to the NY Thruway. Off at the Catskill Mountains for a few days.  We had a bit of a crisis on the way as the 12 volt socket that holds the various plugs came apart and blew a 30 amp breaker.  We lost the AC fan, radio, and power to the garman, remote tow car indicator, my power seat, and some other things.  But star ship Magic Bus kept on going and I managed to screw the socket back together and reset the breaker making things better upon arriving at the campsite.  The area here is nice as we have a the north lake mountain just above us and are very close to the great hiking trails in the huge state preserve.  Lynda and I took a ride up to the Katerskill falls trail and where pleased with the sight of it.  We leave tomorrow to head to Vermont and one of our favorite campgrounds at Greenwood Lodge.  Pics of the hike today.

Jersey Shore, love it!

Today was a great day.  Jackie came by and we headed for our old stomping grounds of Seaside Heights.  We started by the ocean where we tossed our Mom's ashes years ago, and then took a stroll along the boardwalk for pizza and to see what it looked like.  Hadn't changed much since we were little and came there for our vacation.  Afterwards we headed back to Jill and Mikes and took them out for dinner to a local place.  Going to stay one more day and go over my sisters to visit  her house.  Good time here that's for sure.  Oh and some Yankee ice cream in the store, nothing you would find in New England.  

In New Joizey

We made Egg Harbor NJ and my Niece Jill and her husband Michael's home.  What a great home it is.  We have camped outside it for many trips now and sure enjoy their hospitality and friendship.  Last night Mike took us out for a wonderful dinner at a local spot and treated.  We then returned to watch a movie, "Doubt", on their huge screen with blue ray.  Nice indeed.  There house is so comfortable and the best campsite with have been in.  Ha.  Today we walked around the 2 mile block and we found $27 laying on the side of the road.  Good treat.  Being back in Jersey feels good.  If I had a lot of money I would buy a house on the ocean.  Anyway it's nice to visit and today is my sister Jackie's birthday and we will see her in a bit.  Pics of the house, Lynda with Money, Jill, Lil Jack and Lynda, and Michael.  Also Jill's cat Chance with a vole.

On Kent Island just east of Washington DC

Today was a kind of tough trip of 232 miles to Kent Island MD.  We are at the Elks here and the campsite they have is really nice.  Only $15 and we have 50 amp electric.  The Elks have made a half a dozen nice clean big sites and we will come this way again.  The trip here started out fine taking route 301 instead of the interstate that goes through DC.  But as we got closer to DC we hit a whole bunch of traffic lights and traffic.  Well we made it and the area is great.  We are only a few miles from the Naval Academy of Annapolis, and when we come back I would like to visit there.  Tomorrow east to my home state of New Jersey and family.

Pictures are of Lynda working out, us in the starship Magic Bus, the Elks, some shots of the bridge coming here from Washington, and Lynda's plants under a plant light.  Bye bye

Big jump to Northern NC

To day we left our friend Schumann's RV park and drove smoothly 303 miles to the border of NC/Virginia.  We are at a place called Crossroads RV park in Roanoke Rapids North Carolina.  It is a brand new park and part of our Passport America discount camping club which we use the most.  This one even has a hot tub as you can see in the one picture all for only $20 a night.  With the photos of this place I put in a picture  from our walk this morning at the Schumann park.  It is a tiny frog, one of thousands that were everywhere.  This one is the size of an aspirin tablet.  It was hard to walk fearing we would crush them.  Anyway the trip was great today.  My flight attendant, Lynda, tended to my drinks and food and I just kept driving up a straight northern interstate 95 till we made it.  We stopped for fuel in South Carolina before getting on the road and paid only $2.15 / gallon for diesel.  No doubt with prices going up we won't see that again.  The Bus averaged 10.6 miles per gallon for 650 miles.  That is driving at 63 miles per hour towing a loaded car.  Not bad for something so big.

Tomorrow we head just east of Washington DC to an Elks club on Kent's Island in Maryland.  Next day to my sister Jacks for her birthday in New Jersey.  See ya.

St Augustine to South Carolina

We zoomed out of the Palm Bay area up to St Augustine.  There we took a nice campground for the night and went into town to look around.  We had heard so much from some people that came to our Elks to camp about the Elks in St Augustine that we had to take a look.  I have put in some pics.  They have camping in the back but not as nice as Florida Keys thats for sure.  We did the Japanese Rest. thing after and enjoyed that, some pics again.

Next morning we pulled out and did 250 miles up to a campground we have been stopping out for many years.  It is owned by an old couple and we like to give them the money.  Not that it is a lot, only $15 for the night, but they look like every bit helps.  I always fill up our propane there too.  It is across the street from a nice state park and because of all the rain the river there was over the banks as you can see in the pics.  Tomorrow we head up 95 to another campsite on the way home.  More to come then as Lynda wants to watch Law and Order.  Ha

Back to Kennedy Space Center

So we used our two day ticket today to go into the space center once more.  We got our timing wrong and missed the tour bus going to the launch sites so just poked around the area.  We bought tickets to the iMax showing of "Star Trek" for later in the afternoon.  In the meantime we took in a 3D space station iMax movie that was really the best.  After that we had our packed lunch, not going to be caught again buying in the cafe, and waited for the Star Trek flick.  

We rushed to get in the front of the line and waited for the start.  Lynda was let down that it wasn't 3D straight off.  Now I know Justin and Marc are Trekkies, but Lynda and I are not.  We both were less than entertained sadly, but at least we can say we saw it.  

Out in the parking lot we came across some Black Skimmers.  Not an everyday sight but the space center is a huge wild life preserve and we noticed many different critters.  Tomorrow we may take a ride to check out the beaches a bit more before leaving Tuesday morning.

Great Place

We ended Sat with a trip shopping then went to a great historic "Old Town" near us called Melbourne.  It was really charming with many interesting shops, art and great food places with music.  We took the advice, for the second time, of the campground host Kevin and ate at a place called, Meg O'mally's.  This as the name applies is an Irish Pub with such a wonderful menu and character.  Lynda and I so enjoyed the food and to top it all I got to watch the Yankees beat Philly.   Ha.  After that we walked through town then took a nice drive around the area.  Good day indeed.

From Lynda about yesterday's visit to the Space center: 

"On Friday we visited 

the Kennedy Space 

Center.  I had envisaged seeing the places where history took place such as launch pads, and mission controls and all the stuff you see on TV (and Star Trek)!  We were told to go to the Visitor Complex and the weather was dreadful so we spent the day there going from one exhibit to the other, all of which, in my opinion, were not that impressive. In fact the best part of the whole visit was the IMax theater and a small film about man's voyages to the moon. I think we'll make a second visit and go to some of the outlying sites and maybe watch the latest Star Trek movie at the IMax theater. That should be fun! I know that Justin and Marc would enjoy it.
Something which has amazed me about the area where our campground is, is the large number of ospreys. In the UK they are the most endangered bird, but here I have seen at least 50 in a very small area. They are everywhere, like seagulls. This small stretch of coastline is relatively unspoilt and undeveloped and the Indian River is a huge body of water which obviously provides a bounty of fish for the ospreys.  Wonderful!"

To me the trip was so so.  Like she said it rained, and has been raining every day, and we couldn't go outside to see what the area was about.  We found out we could use our tickets another day within a 7 day period so will go back and do the bus tour to the launch site and watch "Star Trek" in iMax.  That should be cool.  Today we walked a bit with Charlie and enjoyed an area where some ospreys have two nests.  It is so relaxing to do nothing, I love it.  We also planned our trip north and are going shopping now.  Bye.  David