Three Times and Out – Written 7/31/2010

This morning, Esther and I left my brother’s in Lawrenceville, GA about 7:30 and arrived at Camping World about 5:30 this afternoon. It took a little longer than usual because of:

1. Traffic jams
2. Numerous rain squalls
3. Having to fill up the gas tank about twice as often as usual.

During our trip, we were nearly run into twice by a speeding driver swerving in front of us. We still had a good time listening to the third Babylon Rising book: Babylon Rising: Europa. It left us hanging with the hero in quite a predicament, as usual. I’ve already downloaded the fourth book Babylon Rising: Edge of Darkness to my Kindle and will be reading that tomorrow. In some ways, I hope it’s the last one so I won’t be left hanging again, but the stories are so good I hope there are many more.

Both Esther and I had to get some things out of the camper before I left it at Camping World. As I was leaving the camper, the portable step I was using slid out and collapsed under me causing me to hit the pavement with my poor, much-misused head. It’s sore and had been bleeding quite a bit, but my head isn’t aching and I’m not experiencing any double vision or nausea or other symptoms of concussion. Actually, my back hurts more than my head. Still, I hope no one worries since I am just fine. Let’s hope this is three times and out.

After my fall, just to be on the safe side, I called my friend Karen Dersham to ride over to Esther’s with me in case I had a problem driving.  I didn’t. I arrived home fit as usual. Good thing I didn’t hit anything important.

I checked my TV DVR and found about 35 hours of taped programs I’ll need to watch. My DVR was set to record many shows and I doubt I’ll ever get caught up, but I’m sure going to try. My goal tonight is to watch 3 episodes of The Closer, then I’ll choose my next favorite and watch them starting tomorrow.

I turned on my hot water heater circuit breaker when I got home and am really looking forward to a nice hot shower and shampoo tomorrow. Going to see Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore tomorrow then to Anthony’s Coal-Fired Pizza – hope they haven’t gone out of business because I’ve been gone. :) :)

Until next time… (and do NOT worry!)

A Change of Plans

Last night, I called my friend Kathy McGrath to let her know we were coming by today, but found out she was not going to be available. Since we didn’t have to travel to the southeastern section of South Carolina, I decided to take another opportunity to spend some time at my brother’s near Atlanta. I really hate I-95 that much, enough to add a few hours to my trip to avoid it.

In preparation for this morning, I hitched up my camper last night. Can you believe it only took about 15 – 20 minutes. It’s almost like I know what I’m doing. Well, with the possible exception of how NOT to pick up a sway bar. I sat on my trusty green bench and picked up the sway bar, cradling it in my lap. Esther started to warn me about something on the bar and the next thing I know, rusty water is pouting out of it onto my lap. What a mess! Rusty water everywhere. But I’m still encouraged about how fast I was able to hitch up.

If you’ll recall I mentioned we would be going out to dinner last night. Well, in this I was NOT disappointed. Esther, her daughter Dawn, Dawn’s husband Paul, their two sons Nathan and Daniel and I went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Was it ever good! I think I like it better than Longhorn or Outback. The fried dill pickles were great, the service was wonderful, the steak was sizzling and cooked perfectly and the baked potato, cooked in salt and served with a liberal amount of sour cream and butter, was absolutely without equal. Yummy!

We had a great time at dinner and then proceeded home to watch the movie Jumper.

We got up early this morning and headed for Atlanta – about 7 am. Everything went smoothly until about an hour and a half into the journey when we saw a sign that indicated there was an accident about 5 miles ahead. Sure enough, before you could blink, traffic started to back up. We crept along for the entire 5 miles until we saw a tow truck loading a crushed car – small and totaled – onto a flatbed tow truck. I can’t believe anyone survived.

By the time we got by the accident, we both were ravenous and started looking for a place to eat. Soon, a Cracker Barrel sign said to get off at the next exit. We pulled in, but didn’t see a place to park the truck and camper so I drove around intending to go around the back and park along the other side. Wonder of wonders, the drive was blocked – it did not go through. I HAD TO BACK UP! I jumped out and loosened the sway bar which you are supposed to do if you back up. (Also, this delayed the time when I had to back up.

Well, I was doing a pretty good job of backing up when what to my surprise, two cars tried to go by me and around the back of the building too. Not enough I have to back up the trailer, but I had to contend with people just as short-sided as I was. In short order, I backed up the camper and we started on down the road.

In the next exit or two, there was a sign for an IHOP, but we never found it. We finally found a sign for Hardee’s and went about 3 miles off the road until we found it. By then we were both starving. I had bacon and egg biscuit and Esther had the loaded biscuits and gravy, which includes NOT 1 BUT 2 sausage patties and 2 helpings of eggs in addition to a biscuit and gravy. She ate everything except half of a biscuit.

At the store next door we got a couple of 12-packs of diet, caffeine-free Sun Drop. While in college in the late sixties, Esther and I both fell in love with Sun Drop (I think it had twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew, if you can believe it), but it’s hard to find, especially in Florida. Anyway, we stocked up today.

The rest of our trip to my brother’s was uneventful except for a stop at Abbott’s in Gaffney to pick up some peach cider. Oh, and some idiot nearly ran into us when he swerved in front of us. The Lord just have moved my truck just in time.

Tonight we had a great dinner courtesy of my sister-in-law and the Macaroni Grill and then watched TV.

Tomorrow, it’s back to Florida.

Until next time…

Richard Childress Racing Museum and Winery

I think I mentioned that we are in the heart of NASCAR country.

Today, Esther, Nathan, Daniel and I visited the Richard Childress Racing Museum and the Childress Vineyard and Winery.

The museum is an awesome place. It probably contains about 50 Childress racing cars. If I had known there were going to be so many, I would have kept a count. The first photo is the front of the building and the second is of Nathan, Esther and Daniel standing in front.

Since Dale Earnhardt drove his No. 3 car for Richard Childress for several years and brought him a lot of sponsors, many of the exhibits are devoted to Earnhardt. As you enter the museum proper, the following poster is about the first thing you see:

 

There are also a number of pictures like the following showing with Dale and Richard Childress together.

 

I took pictures of almost every car, but will only show a few here. One of my favorites was, of course, the Bass Pro Chop car.

Another was the Tasmanian Devil car:

Jack Daniels was a Childress sponsor at one point and there is a very nice exhibit devoted to them.

 

The next picture though shows the Jack Daniels car in a little different light. The following car passed the finish line upside down and on fire. There is a video that runs every few minutes showing what happens. Amazing!

There was also a section devoted to the beginning of NASCAR, including this gem:

 

The following display shows the very real connection between NASCAR and country music:

Childress is apparently an avid hunter and supporter of wildlife conservation. There are a number of tributes to various conservation groups as well as a number of stuffed animals shot by Richard Childress.

I took a couple of pictures I thought were neat. The first is a wheel hub and second is of a hold-down for a hood.

Aren’t they neat?  I know, I know. You think I’m crazy.

After we left the Childress Racing Museum in Welcome, NC, we headed to the Childress Vineyard and Winery where we had a delicious lunch complete with dessert.

This shows the front of the building from the parking lot.

The entire estate is beautifully landscaped as you can tell from the next two pictures.

Most beautiful of all though are the vineyards themselves where every few rows has its own rose bush.

 

Speaking of landscaping, my niece’s house is also beautifully landscaped.  Even the butterflies think so.

Well, the day isn’t over, but I am. We are headed out to dinner, but haven’t yet decided where. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Until next time…

VBS, BBQ and BPS

Not only is North Carolina known for NASCAR, some might also consider it the BBQ capital of the world. There seems to be a BBQ joint on every corner.

After we picked up my great nephew Daniel from Vacation Bible School where he was helping, my niece Dawn, Daniel, Esther and I went to a BBQ restaurant for lunch. Daniel who doesn’t like BBQ had a hamburger steak with fried onions and fries. He drank something called Diet Cheerwine – I have no idea what that is. Dawn had a pork BBQ sandwich with red coleslaw on it, Esther had the BBQ tray with pork BBQ and red coleslaw. I had the BBQ plate with pork BBQ, red coleslaw and French fries. There was so much food, I had to leave about half of mine.

The coleslaw and the BBQ were both quite vinegary. I have no idea what made the coleslaw “red” but it wasn’t because they used red cabbage and it wasn’t really that red. The BBQ sauce was runny and vinegary, not like what we’re used to in Florida.

Following our lunch we all got in my beautiful red pickup and headed for the Concord Mills mall. It’s almost to Charlotte. We went by our exit and had to go two exits past it to find a place to turn around. The Bass Pro Shop seemed bigger than any of the others I’d ever been in. It was also laid out a little differently, but they still had some great stuff.

We then walked through most of the mall, including a Christian book store, an As Seen On TV store, and a pretzel stand – I had a parmesan pretzel. Oh, I also had a strawberry Julius. The others went into multiple stores while I sat and waited and walked along with them. Daniel likes to go to that mall because of the NASCAR store there. They have a number of go-cart tracks, but he couldn’t ride today because they only had two open and he didn’t want to wait 30 minutes in line. They have a lot of video games, tons of NASCAR shirts, miniature cars, and other paraphernalia.

On the way out we went by way of the Food Court and Dawn, Esther and Daniel had gelatos – tiramisu, chocolate and chocolate chip. I had to try a piece of Arthur Treacher’s fish to see if it was as good as I remembered – it wasn’t.

Dawn made some delicious Reuben sandwiches with Ramen noodles for dinner. YUM YUM!!!

Even though I’m in the middle of a great murder mystery, I napped through most of So You Think You Can Dance… I just don’t get those kind of shows and though great, the mystery did not keep me awake. I hope I didn’t snore. How humiliating would that be!

I got to do a lot of people watching today. It sure takes all kinds to make the world. I saw a few guys with their pants hanging down – wouldn’t you just like to grab them and pull them down? – it wouldn’t take much.

Until next time…

Parkway Ford, D

This morning, after getting up and showering, I called Parkway Ford in Lexington, NC and made an appointment for my car to have an oil change and the tires rotated. I called about 8 am and they were able to get me in by 10 am. The folks there were very friendly and helpful.

Unlike a lot of people I’ve talked with, I never mind waiting for things like getting my vehicle serviced. I almost always have a book to read and a car dealer is a nice, quiet place for book-reading.

This morning, I started a new book I had just downloaded on my Kindle. Called Babylon Rising: The Secret on Ararat, this book is the second in the Babylon Rising series, books by Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series. Just like Left Behind, this series really makes you think and just like Left Behind, they leave you hanging at the end of each book.

Thanks to the quiet time at the car dealer, I’ve been able to finish this book today.

This afternoon, we were planning on going to a place called Concord Mills, about 25 miles from here, where they have a Bass Pro Shop (they’re kind of like WalMart in that every time I see one, I have to go in), but it was storming pretty badly and we decided to leave it for another time. No wonder I had lots of time to read.

Dinner tonight was pizza and wings from Dusina’s Pizza in Welcome, NC. It was extremely good pizza, but the wings were better than the pizza.

After dinner, we watched the classic movie The Sting with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Ray Walston, and Eileen Brennan. Although I haven’t seen it in years, I guess I’d put it in my list of the top 100 movies if for no other reason that Scott Joplin’s wonderful ragtime music. I’m sure you humming it even now.

This is NASCAR country and tomorrow we’ll probably go to at least one of the many NASCAR-themed museums in the area. The Childress museum and winery is at the same exit as the Ford dealer, only about 8 miles away.

Until next time…

Traveling

Yesterday, I took a pictures of the KFC restaurant I told you about:

I’m leaving the pictures kind of small so you can see the way the mouth opens and closes and the eye rolls.

This morning, with Esther’s help, I unplugged everything and hitched up the trailer so we could begin our journey back to Florida. We’re not exactly taking the most direct route. Instead we went north through Georgia to visit our nephew Bruce, his wife Lynn and their son Andrew in Duncan, SC. We spent quite a bit of time with them, enough so we got to eat a wonderful steak sandwich lunch Lynn made, we played two games of Scrabble (and they wouldn’t even let me win ONE), and had scrumptious lasagna and garlic bread that Lynn also made.

She is really quite a cook as evidenced by the weight I probably gained today.

Here’s a picture of Lynn hard at work in the kitchen:

I also got a picture of their living room:

We got so involved in conversation and the Scrabble games that I complete forgot to take more pictures. Oh well, Esther and I are talking about visiting them in the fall when the leaves are turning. Who knows, maybe we’ll get to sample some more of Lynn’s wonderful cooking. And, they might even let me win at Scrabble next time. :)

Tonight, we arrived at my niece Dawn’s house where her husband Paul successfully backed my trailer into their driveway IN THE DARK. As you know, it has been my intention to NEVER drive my camper in the dark, but sometimes we can’t control what happens. Or should I say we can NEVER control what happens.

In any case, after a few harrowing moments of driving into the rather steep driveway across from Dawn and Paul’s and attempting to back IN THE DARK into a driveway that appeared very narrow from where I sat, Paul offered to take over. He nearly twirled in the wind caused by me jumping out of the truck and offering him the job. He did a great job.

It’s late (23:50) so I’ll sign off for now. More tomorrow.

Until next time…

A Quiet Day in Marietta – written 7/25/2010

Today, I met Don & Rose at the Waffle House in front of the LaQuinta Inn at the first Acworth exit (Rte 92). Esther was going to come but she was up sick all night and wasn’t up to it.

After a great breakfast, I stopped at WalMart (another day like every other day) then back to the camper for a quiet day spent mostly reading and catching up with people on the phone.

You would be so proud of me. I emptied my black and grey water tanks all by myself and didn’t even give myself a shower while spraying through the toilet into the black water tank. Remember last time when Don & Rose helped, I sprayed myself more than the tank.

The hardest part of taking care of this rather nasty job is kneeling down to reach the levers that release the contents of the tanks. Fortunately, I have a red, white and blue kneeling pad and a small gardening bench/seat that I use to help me back up. If it weren’t for the seat to lean on to get up, I’d still be out there on the ground.

I also use the seat for all of the jobs that would require a lot of bending over, like getting into compartments or raising and lowering the stabilizing jacks.

Tonight, I hope to finish the Randy Wayne White book I started this morning. Deep Shadow is the latest in the Doc Ford series. If you’ll recall, I noticed it was out while Esther and I walked through Borders book store while we waited for the movie Salt to begin.

Tomorrow we head for South Carolina to visit our nephew Bruce, his wife Lynn and their son Andrew then it’s on to North Carolina where we’ll stay for a few days at Esther’s daughter Dawn’s. She and her husband Paul and their sons Nathan and Daniel live in Lexington between Charlotte and Winston-Salem.

Well, back to Doc Ford.

Until next time…

The Wedding and Reception – written 7/24/2010

Today was the wedding. It was held in the Harmony Grove Church which reminded me a lot of the church in Ansonia, PA where Mark and I were married. The exception is that Mark and I were married on February 11, 1967, in snowy Ansonia with very little heat and my great-niece Melody and Chris were married today July 24, 2010, in STEAMY Georgia with NO air conditioning.

I wish I could include all of my pictures from the wedding in this blog, but I took more than 60 and there just isn’t room for all of them.

The following picture is of my sister-in-law Esther, Melody’s parents (Bob and Donna Dunning) and their sister-in-law Pat standing outside the church before the ceremony began. My great-niece Sara’s boyfriend Eric is in the purple shirt on the right in back of them.

Here is the happy father escorting the beautiful bride up the aisle.

Below is the sand ceremony where the two colors of sand are poured together representing the joining of two lives to become one.

See the happy newlyweds walking down the aisle.

 

Here are the grandmother and grandfather of the bride, my dear sister-in-law Rose and brother-in-law Don whom I just recently visited in Johnson City, NY. They’re the ones who helped with my first “dump-the-black-water” experience. They cleaned up nice, didn’t they?

The wedding reception was held in the Grand Oak Strickland-Thacker House (built circa 1901), a picture of which is shown below with my sister-in-law Esther standing in front. The food was delicious and the wait-staff cordial and efficient. The house has a beautiful plate collection and a lot of antiques.

The groom’s mother and grandmother are shown below as they watch the cake cutting ceremony.

Chris and Melody are cutting the cake here while my niece Donna (standing to the left of Chris) and someone I don’t know look on.

I’m told the cake and cupcakes which my niece Donna made were delicious. I’m not much of a sweet eater so I can’t say, but Esther gobbled hers down. She had one flavored with lemon and lavender. Obviously, Chris and Melody think  it “took the cake” (heh! heh!) as you can see by the way they’re feeding each other samples.

Below is a picture of three of my beautiful great-nieces: Sara, Hannah, and Krysta. Sara and Krysta are Melody’s sisters. Aren’t they all delightful?

Hannah and Krysta are joined here by my great-nephew Tim (Hannah’s big brother). Hannah and Tim, my niece Judy’s children, live in California.

Esther and I really had a great time today. It’s always fun to see family and friends that live far away, people frozen in time--at least in our minds--the way we last saw them. It’s a surprise to see the kids all grown up and the adults with a little or a little more silver in their hair. While appearances can change, their essential self remains pretty much the same. I really have a great family. I wish I knew them all a lot better.

Until next time…

Safe Arrival, The Marietta Diner and Salt – written 7/23/2010

Today was a big day. I drove over to my brother’s house and my sister-in-law Kathy drove the two of us to Atlanta airport where we picked up my sister-in-law Esther, who will be attending our niece’s wedding tomorrow and then traveling home to Florida with me.

We didn’t have to wait very long, but I telt you, I’m so thankful Kathy was willing to drive over. it was a long drive and the airport entrance and parking garage were very confusing. Since she’s been there several times, she knew just where to go.

Then, once we got back to Jeff’s, Esther and I drove to Marietta. She needed to pick up some stuff at WalMart – I told you about the necessity of going to that store on a regular basis. We stopped for lunch/dinner at the Marietta Diner where Esther had a Philly Cheese-steak, French Fries, Onion Rings (2 rings, one of which she shared with me), and a bowl of Lemon Chicken soup. I had the Gyro Platter which came with French Fries and a small… ha! ha! … Greek Salad. We both had to bring back leftovers.

After trying to find the movie theater to see what was on and when, we eventually gave up and just drove over. Incidentally, it’s called the Parkway Pointe AMC Theater, if you’re ever here and need to call. This is in spite of the fact that it’s at the Cobb Galleria.

Having about an hour before our movie began, we visited Borders bookstore, where I didn’t buy anything, but Esther bought one book.

I was excited to learn that Randy Wayne White, one of my favorite authors, just had a new book published called Deep Shadow. When I got home tonight, I ordered it on my Kindle and can now read it as soon as I get a  chance between finishing the novel I’m reading and reading the Lewis and Clark journals.

Esther and I saw the movie Salt starring none other than Angelina Jolie. It was a fast-paced thriller with so many twists and turns, you’ll have a time keeping track of what’s happening. Now, anyone who knows me realizes that I am easily entertained, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know a great movie when I see it. And this is a great movie!

We had talked about going to the Marietta Diner for dessert afterwards, but neither of us was hungry. That was NOT due to eating too much popcorn since we didn’t have ANY popcorn. However, we did each have a large drink and when I say large, I mean huge – much larger than the drinks they serve in the Regency 20 in Brandon. They have the appearance of a 50-gallon drum, but probably don’t hold quite that much.

Anyway, if you get a chance to see Salt, please don’t hesitate. It doesn’t have any bad language, but there is some violence. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Until next time…

Bass Pro Shop, Discover Mills and Despicable Me

This morning, I got up early and made my way to Discover Mills in Lawrenceville, GA. It took about 40 minutes to get there and I arrived about 45 minutes before Bass Pro Shop opens. Never without a book, especially now that I have my Kindle, I read until time for the store to open (9:00 am). They had some great sales there and I got some shorts, shirts, a mosquito repellent machine and refills for it, a Rapala fillet knife (for when I start fishing again – if ever), some Ham Jerky, some neat flip-flops, and some other stuff I don’t now remember.

BPS opens before other stores at Discover Mills, but by the time I finished shopping there, other stores were opening up. Since I needed to buy something to wear to my niece’s wedding on Saturday, I walked all the way around the mall visiting various shops, most of which did not have clothes my size. Actually, I wouldn’t have bought any clothes even if they had been in my size. Most clothes today are UGLY!

Fortunately, I stumbled on The Dress Barn and found a helpful sales clerk named Gloria (originally from Johnson City, PA). I found a very nice top and some classy looking black slacks, but I was afraid they wouldn’t fit. I guess I have lost some weight; the slacks I bought were two sizes smaller than what I normally used to wear.

After my shopping spree, I stopped at my brother’s and had a nice visit with him and his wife Kathy, then started back to Marietta. This afternoon, I went to the AMC theater and saw Despicable Me in 3-D. Steve Carell played Gru and there were 3 little kids that could win the heart of the most despicable person living. What a great movie!

Tonight, I was able to keep an internet connection long enough to download 177 emails. Hopefully, I won’t have any trouble uploading this blog-post.

I spoke with my brother-in-law Don and sister-in-law Rose, whose granddaughter’s wedding we’re all I’m attending Saturday. They had a wheel bearing go on their pickup around Greenville, TN. A good Samaritan pointed out the problem with the FRONT wheel. Good thing it didn’t fly off as so many do. If they can’t get it fixed and can’t rent a car, I’ve offered to drive up to Greenville to get them. It takes about 5 hours from here.

Tomorrow, Jeff and Kathy are going with me to the airport to pick up my sister-in-law Esther. She’s flying in for the wedding and then we’re going to make our way back to Florida, visiting family and friends along the way.

I didn’t get a nap today so I’ll probably go to bed early.

Until next time…

Marietta Visitors

This morning, it was my intention to drive to Kennesaw Mountain and go hiking at the Battlefield Park there, but as I was leaving the camper, I noticed that my camera battery was almost exhausted. Deciding to go a little later, I got out my battery charger and hooked it up. I figured it would take about an hour to charge.

While I was waiting, my phone rang. My sister-in-law Kathy wanted to know if it was alright for her and her mother to come over so we could go to lunch together. How providential! I had a little time and drove to WalMart for some more stuff – is there a day where it’s not a good idea to go to WalMart? I had to get a dishpan and some crackers to go with the cheese I bought yesterday – who knows why I bought the cheese in the first place.

In any case, they arrived around 1:00 pm and we decided to try out the famous Marietta Diner. It’s been featured on the Food Network.

We were NOT disappointed.

What a menu they have!

Kathy and her mother split a Reuben Panini and I had the authentic Greek Salad … complete with Dolmades, Kalamata olives and 1”x1”x4” chunks of Feta cheese. I also ordered a Grilled Feta appetizer with tomatoes and red onion. Everything was absolutely delicious. Services is wonderful I could go there for every meal while I’m here and not exhaust the possibilities.

As proof of my visit, following is a picture of the take-out box – I couldn’t eat all of my salad and will probably have it for breakfast tomorrow. I doubt I’ll be able to eat any more today.

Apparently, the owners of the Marietta Diner own three other restaurants in the area: the Marietta Fish Market, the Cherokee Cattle Co., and Pasta Bella. I doubt I’ll have the time to visit all of them, but maybe on one of my future trips to the area, I’ll get to try them.

Last night, I spent some more time reading about Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. Fascinating stuff! Did you know that on the return voyage, a one-eyed member of the company named Pierre Cruzatte shot Meriwether Lewis in the butt while hunting? He’s the same man who owned a violin and used to entertain the company at night with his playing.

Until next time…

I’ll try to pass on any other interesting tidbits as I come across them.

My First Official Night in a Campground

Last night was my first official night in a real, down-to-earth campground with my travel trailer. I’m at the Best Parks of America Atlanta-Marietta RV Resort off Cobb Parkway in Marietta, GA. I turned off my light to go to sleep at 8:50 and slept through until about 5:30 when I read for a while and then went back to sleep until about 7.

I would normally have stayed up to watch The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles, but did not have what I needed to hook up to the campground cable. Besides which, I was mega-tired from working in the hot sun to back up my camper, unhitch it and attempt to set up everything.

The backing up went surprisingly well. In just a few short minutes, with some pulling forward and backing up, I backed the camper into my spot with a little help from the fellow in the camper across the street. Actually, I think he was more concerned about his pickup truck than about whether I got backed up right.

I was able to unhitch the sway bar and spring bars with hardly any effort. It’s amazing how easy it is when you remember to take out the safety clips. I had a little difficulty getting the four stabilizing jacks to go down. First, I couldn’t remember which way you had to crank them and secondly, they wouldn’t move either way. I went from jack to jack trying desperately to get one of them to move. Finally, on my second time around, I was able to get one to go down. Once they were loosened, they went down very easily, but oh, the first turns were almost impossible. I won’t mention his name, but my cousin Elwyn tightened them up so they wouldn’t come down while I was driving.

I also was unable to get the cap off my PVC pipe that holds the sewer hose. My brother-in-law Don put that on so it wouldn’t come off while I was driving. I tried to get a pipe wrench at WalMart but they didn’t have one. My brother Ray suggested channel-lock pliers. I got some this morning and got it off with no problem. Now, I’ll have them if I need them.

By the way, I used a Sharpie to mark the back right-hand jack with the direction it should go. When you get old and feeble-minded,you have to do whatever you can to remember.

I turned my refrigerator on for the first time yesterday evening. By this morning, the freezer and refrigerator were both cold. I’ve got some soda, some hot dogs, some cheese and some wine cooling in there. If it’s not raining later, I plan to grill some hot dogs.

This afternoon, I went over to the Shower Suite and took a shower. Wow, I think it’s the nicest shower I’ve ever been in. Maybe I’ll take my camera with me tomorrow so you can see what it’s like.

In the meantime, I think I’ll read a little and relax a little more. Boy, this life on the road is sure tough, isn’t it?

Until next time…

Renewed Good Intentions

At the recommendation of my sister-in-law, Rose Dillenbeck, I have been reading The Journals of Lewis and Clark.

At the beginning of the book, in the introduction by Anthony Brandt, I found something that gave me new determination to write in this blog EVERY day, even if I cannot publish it right away. According to Brandt: “Under the worst of circumstances, in the worst of weather, they wrote. They did not miss a single day.” How inspiring this is!

Lewis and Clark “left their winter camp on Wood River in Illinois Territory on May 14, 1804 and returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806…” and they weren’t driving around in a beautiful red Ford F-150 towing their 25-foot travel trailer. They endured all manner of hardships during their travels and yet, they never missed a single day.

Another advantage of writing every day is I won’t have so much info to share stacked up.

Some Pictures:

The following two pictures are pretty much self-explanatory. If you are ever in the Corning-Painted Post area and want to see them in person, you’ll find them at the Central Valley Cemetery just north of Hornby.

While in Johnson City with Don and Rose, we visited the Oakdale Mall where there was an exhibit on one of their home-town heroes: B.C. comic creator, the late Johnny Hart. Apparently there was a contest to create the best BC:

 

Smart of B.C. sponsored by the Binghamton University Foundation; artist Steve Palmer/Dave Skyrca

 

Lyon HART; sponsored by Piaker & Lions; artist - Nancy Ryan

 

Hart’s Fancy sponsored by Sam A. Lupo & Sons/Rescinti Dry Cleaning; artist: Saybert Carpenter

HART Full of Smiles sponsored by Hatala Orthodontics (don’t you love the braces on their teeth?)

Building with HART; sponsored by WH Lane Inc; artist is Laura Rowe

 

PhilHARTmonic; sponsored by Binghamton Philharmonic; artist Lynne Standord

 

Eat Well, B.C. Well; sponsored by UHS; artist – Aubrey Clark

 

HART N. Soul; sponsored by Lourdes Auxilliary; artist – Joanne Thorne Arnold

 

 

Grrrrr-HART; Coughlin & Gerhart LLP; artist – Kelly  Finan

 

HART of Lettuce; sponsored by Behlog & Sons; artist – Kathryn Chesebrough

 

HART on the Range; sponsored by Arby’s; artist – Jon Ed Bon Federovicz

 

B.C. Square Deal; sponsored by Wendy’s; artist – Felix Eddy

 

HART Hat Zone; sponsored by Tim Duffek Contracting; artist – hART work crew

 

HARTchitecture & Engineering; sponsored by Keystone Associates; artist – Alexis Pleus

The above was a fantastic tribute to one of my favorite comics artists.

DILEMMA

The Holiday Inn where I stayed night before last did not have convenient parking for vehicles towing trailers. I pulled in behind a truck and trailer, thinking I’d be okay. When I came out in the morning, there was this car parked directly in front of me and another car (which left before I took the picture) parked behind me. I went in and had breakfast, hoping the car would be gone when I came out. It wasn’t, but being the intrepid backer-upper that I am, I turned the wheel the right way and back up a couple of feet. I was then able to pull out around the car. WHEW!

Today, I’ll be leaving my brother Jeff’s to go to a campground in Marietta where I’ll stay until my sister-in-law Esther (who is flying in from Tampa on Friday) and I have attended our niece’s wedding.

Well, off to get ready for first real campground camping experience. More later

Until next time…