Bear Country

Right next door to our campground is Bear Country. This is one of those drive through wild animal preserves. You drive up to the gates, pay your admission fee and drive right in. Following the road we came across wolfs, elk, and bears. Lots and lots of bears. The elk stand right in the middle of the road and sometimes block the road to where a worker has to come out and chase them away to unblock traffic. You wouldn’t want to upset them in anyway because they have a rack on their head as wide as your car and could probably do some damage. The bear area is similar with bear walking down and crossing the road all around your car. There must be 100 bear in this area. Their in the dens, in the water, rubbing up against the trees and like I said walking right down the middle of the road. I guess it was too hot for the Buffalo because we could see them huddled up in the shade a distance from the road. After the drive through, you have an opportunity to get out of your car and walk around some pens where you can see badgers (snarley mean little buggers), cats of all sorts, and baby bears. The baby bears were of course the main attraction. This was a lot of fun.

Rapid City

We have made it to Rapid City South Dakota. We made a one night stop over half way between Sioux Falls and Rapid City. The drive was a straight shot but very windy. I am real happy the way this Workhorse Chassis handles a strong cross wind. It wasn’t a struggle at all. There is not much on the road between Sioux Falls and Rapid City. We have traveled through forests, bayous, and corn fields. But the travel across South Dakota is nothing but rolling hills of nothing but wheat fields. You can see for miles and not even see a tree.
Of course we got here in time to get setup just before the thunder storm hit. The local news says it should be short and then it will get hot again. We will be here for a week so I will have time to get things cleaned up again. We plan to do a lot of touring and hopefully lookup some friends that live here in Rapid City.

Sioux Falls Park

Well, you can’t go to Sioux Falls without seeing the Sioux Falls. Yes, there is a reason why it is called Sioux Falls. Today we visited Sioux Falls Park while the Motorhome was in the shop (more on that later). This is where the Sioux River comes crashing down over a section of Quartzite stone. They created a park around the falls which was pretty nice. There were a few people just sitting in the park enjoying the sound and sights of the falls and a few kids fishing from the rocks. I guess the locals around here call it there own Niagara but I have seen both and there is NO comparison.

As I said in the earlier post, The motorhome developed a starting problem. I found that it took a few cycles of the fuel pump (key on, key off) to build up the fuel pressure to start it. Fortunately there is a Workhorse shop in town so we buzzed by on one of our outings. They said, sounds like a fuel pump and they can get me back on the road in 1 day. I said how about Monday since we have to be out of the park that day, so the appointment was made. They found a pretty clogged up fuel filter and we decided to go ahead and change the fuel pump since the filter had a lot of crud in it. They had the whole job done in 2 hours. Tonight we are “camping” at the Sioux Falls Wal-Mart and will get an fresh early start in the morning.

Sioux Falls South Dakota

We decided not to make a stop between Avoca Iowa and Sioux Falls South Dakota as we planned. However we did stop for lunch at the point where we had planned to stop for the night. We almost were forced to stop there for a while because the motorhome refused to start on the first 2 tries. Finally on the third is started and everything seemed fine. We traveled the last 100 miles to Sioux Falls without any problems. I decided to leave it running while I went in to register just in case and it was a good thing because when I did shut it off at our site it would not start again. After several tries I called my roadside service and found out that they do not do roadside trouble shooting. They will tow us to the nearest service center. We didn’t feel like spending the night in a service center so I told them I would call them back it I couldn’t figure it out. Well with a little fooling around I got it running. I found no fuel at the engine. The problem is, I don’t know why this is happening. Sounds like vapor lock but I didn’t think these modern engines suffered from vapor lock. We got the last site at the park we in and will stay for 4 nights and relax. We have been through to many states in too short of time lately and need to slow down a bit. The car and the motorhome are so dirty. I can’t wait to get things cleaned up.

Avoca Iowa

This town is like something you would see in a movie. It is a very small quiet country town. There is actually a Drug Store on the corner in town. The park host says the town closes at 10:00p. The sheriff imposed a 10:00p curfew. We only drove 2 hours today. After yesterdays drive I wasn’t ready for another long haul. We are at a County Fairground Campground. We were actually going to stay at a campground across the street but after taking a look at it decided the Fairgrounds Campground looked better. We are on grass under some nice full shade trees with full hookups and all for $10. The only problem is the biting flies. I think if we were across the street we would still have to contend with them. You are on an honor system here. You fill out the envelope and put your money in and slip it into the slot. There is a Camp Host here that keeps an eye on things. He is from Oregon and is really friendly and helpful. He helped me pick out a choice site, helped me back it in and even trimmed a tree branch because he was concerned I would scratch the motorhome. I would really like to sit somewhere for a while but haven’t found any thing worth staying for at the last few stops. For two days in a row now, I placed the satellite dish on the tri-pod, went inside to get the settings and it was right on without any adjustments needed.

Altoona Iowa

We woke up this morning to Dennis. The rains from Hurricane Dennis started about midnight. It was only a gentle rain but steady. It wasn’t until a few miles down the road that we finally broke out and the sky lightened up and the rain stopped. Then is started getting hot again. I decided since we left at 9:00a that we could drive a little further today. What a mistake. I think if it were some nice country roads it wouldn’t be so bad but there was no good way to get here than to take the Interstate. Putting up with trucks whizzing past at 70 MPH and bad roads for over 4 hours just doesn’t work. We stopped for gas and lunch and got here by 2:00p. This is just too long on the road. We don’t have to be in such a hurry. We are now at a park called Adventureland, which is between an amusement park and a casino in a town called Altoona, which is just out of Des Moines, the capitol of Iowa. This is just another overnighter. Oh, by the way, we passed 2 mile stones today. We crossed the Mississippi river heading west and the motorhome turned 10000 miles.

Build it and they will come

We are camped in a corn field for the night. Actually we are in a campground called Hickory Hollow, next to a corn field, in a little town called Utica Illinois. This is only a one night stand and is a Passport America park so we got a full hookup pull through site with 50 amp service for $15 a night. It is a fairly new campground and is really nice. As you can tell we chickened out and decided not to head for Hurricane Dennis. Even though it is pretty much petered out there is still all the rain associated with it. We have had enough rain in the last 6 months.

Bad timing

Our plans were with good intent but our timing is off. While in Niagara Falls we decided (well, I decided) to head on over to Elkhart Indiana and visit some motorhome factories. And while we were at it we will head on down to Kentucky and visit some good friends we have met along the way. Well it turns out that most of the factories have shutdown for the 4th of July week so factory tours are out. It hasn’t been a total loss though. We did visit the RV Museum and are planning to take a tour of Amish farms. There are a lot of RV dealers here, of course, so we have been checking out new motorhomes. Also with hurricane Dennis heading on up this way it looks like the weather in Kentucky is going to be a little hairy. I have come up with an alternative route if Dennis look like too much of a mess. I will decide Monday morning which way we are heading when we hit the road. I guess I should be grateful that I have a choice.

Elkhart Indiana

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Last night we spent the night at a campground in Bowling Green Ohio. The place was pretty nice. It's is a Passport America park and only cost us $13 a night. It is called Fire Lake and all sites have a lake view since all sites surrounding a small lake.
We found out that our LP alarm works yesterday when Susan dropped a container with rum in it on the kitchen floor. It instantly shut off the LP and set off the alarm.

Anyone that knows RVs knows about Elkhart. This is where a large number of major RV manufactures are. As you drive down the roads in Elkhart you have to keep an eye out for the horse and buggies. There are a lot of Amish here. The shopping center parking lots even have parking places for them with posts to tie up the horses. Some of the RV manufacturers use their skills in their cabinetry. We will be touring a few factories and visiting the RV museum.
The drive here was so relaxing. We drove US-6 all the way. Maximum speed was 55 mph as we passed miles and miles of corn and wheat fields. The farms look just as they do in all the pictures I've seen with old red dilapidated barns and silos.

As we work our way back toward the west we are still in the Eastern Time zone. What this means is the closer we get to the Central Time zone it stays light later. It doesn't get dark around here until 9:30. It's hard to get used to.

All quiet on the Eastern front

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Where did everyone go? Today is the 4th on July and this place has cleared out. I guess since most people have to head back to work tomorrow, last night was the big celebration here at the campground. There were fireworks all over the campground for hours. This morning almost everyone packed up and headed home. It is very quiet tonight.
Tomorrow we are heading out. We will spend one night in Bowling Green Ohio then it's over to Elkhart Indiana. We plan to take in a couple of RV factory tours while in Elkhart. Might even leave with a new home. Who knows...

We are camping

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This is the first time since we started our Fulltime journey that I have felt like we were camping. We are in a campground In Geneva-On-The-Lake in Ohio for the fourth of July weekend and it is full of campers. Not RVers but campers. We are in a large open grassy area where you just find a spot and setup. There is water and electricity spread through out so if you got here early enough you can at least have power and water. We missed out on all the 30 amp power and all we could find is 20 amp power. There are families everywhere and people out mingling with others and helping each other out. It is a far cry from some of the RV parks we have been in where you might not have any contact with your neighbor other than maybe a friendly wave or a nod. Here you have the sounds of people having fun, kids playing, the smell of campfires, and the sound of fireworks all around. Fireworks are legal here, heck they even sell them at the local Wal-Marts. I think it is going to be a noisy and entertaining weekend, but we are ready. After all the touring of Washington DC, Gettysburg, Hershey, and Niagara, we are ready to just sit for a while and do nothing. This is the perfect place and a good long weekend for that.

Niagara Falls, Unbelievable!

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I have been told that Niagara Falls is a place that we had to see. I thought to myself, "OK, so there is a lot of places I need to see." Well, after seeing it for my self, I see what everyone was talking about. This is just one of those things that can NOT be described.

We started our tour of the falls by visiting all the view points around the falls. I was totally awed at the power and amount of water that goes over the falls. The absolute must do while at Niagara is the Maid of the Mist boat ride. This is a 30 minute boat ride that takes you right into the Horseshoe falls. They nudge in as close as they safely can and hold the boat there for about 15 minutes. Needless to say, you get totally soaked from the mist off the falls. The view of the water coming over Horseshoe falls is incredible! It has to be the closes thing to what Moses saw during the parting of the seas. Now, I know I have been lacking at updating the photo page, but the photos of the falls, especially from the Maid of the Mist, are a must see. So you must go to our photo page and see the photos of Niagara Falls.

Lost in Buffalo

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In our quest to stay off the interstates and toll roads we took our usual smaller country roads from Erie to Niagara Falls. This is normally not a problem but on this trip most of the towns we passed through had us down to 25 mph. This added a lot more time to our drive. But the big problem was when we reached Buffalo New York. The road I planned to take was detoured due to an event going on. This detour took us right into the heart of downtown Buffalo. Right where I carefully planned NOT to go. Lucky for us, it was Sunday and the traffic was very light. The weather here in New York is HOT and HUMID. Even just sitting outside, with no physical activity at all, you start sweating. And to top it off, the cottonwood trees are shedding. It looks, at times, like it is snowing, with all the seed flying from the trees. It is so bad that the campground has to clean the pool filters once a day. We are only about 15 minutes from the falls so today we made a planning trip to see what tours they had to offer. While there I got the above photo. We were literally 10 feet from the top edge of the falls. I didn't know you could get that close. Tomorrow we are going to see the falls from below on the Maid of the Mist boat that takes you right into the mist at the bottom of the falls. We WILL get wet.

Still on the road to Niagara

We decided after checking with the Good Sam Trip Planner and finding there is a Mountain Advisory (steep grades) on the route we were going to take, that we would go 100 miles out of our way and stick to the lesser inclines. This new route took us to Erie Ohio where we had already made reservations for the 4th of July weekend. There are 2 campgrounds in the area and since we had the reservations with KOA we decided we would try the other. Well the KOA looked better so we checked in. What I didn’t realize is this KOA has no sewer hookup in the whole park. This is not a problem for tonight except for the $45 a night fee for 30 amp electric and water only, not even cable TV. I couldn’t even setup the Sat Dish because of the trees. I canceled our 5 nights stay for the 4th and found a nicer park just 30 minutes down the road. They have no sewer sites available but is a much nicer park.

To Niagara

We are on our way to Niagara Falls. This has posed a challenge for me. I need to find the best route up and over the Allegheny Mountains. We are in a little town near Penn State College called Spring Mills. I mapped out two routes and couldn’t decide which to take. I took my map a couple of sites over to some locals and they set me straight. Thank goodness for locals. I will take the “Truckers Route”. This is less windy and hopefully less steep. It makes sense. Just before pulling into this campground we climbed a nice looong steep hill. It had me down to 3rd gear and 45 MPH but the Workhorse didn’t flinch. It will be interesting to see what kind of mileage I get going over the mountains since the last leg of the trip I averaged 9.8 MPG (I am real happy about that). We will be making one more stop before arriving in Niagara. Once in Niagara we will stay put for a few days.
The campground we are in is nice. I think we are the only motorhome here. All the rest are trailers and most are permanents, although their places are neat. I wasn’t going to setup the satellite dish just for one night but I had a clear shot of the southern sky and their cable is just hooked to a TV antenna and only picks up about 3 channels. I had the dish set up in a matter of minutes. I needed to set it up anyway because it has been a while since I last set it up and the receiver will shut you out if it hasn’t received a signal for a while.

Hershey Pennsylvania

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We are in Hershey Pennsylvania and this place smells like chocolate. I am not kidding. When you drive down Chocolate Avenue (what else) past the factory you really can smell the chocolate. We visited Chocolate World and took a simulated factory tour. This is as close as you can get to a factory tour. A short distance from Chocolate World is the Hershey Museum. The museum takes you through the early days of the town created by Mr. Hershey. We didn't get a chance to see the Hershey Gardens and the Car Museum but there is always next time. There is also an amusement park called Hershey Park. Needless to say, this place is loaded with kids.

The park we are in is nice but a lot of the sites are a real challenge to get yourself level. Ours is better than a lot even though my right front tire is hanging in the air and there is quite a leap out of the motorhome. We made reservations late so we didn't get full hookups. We only have water and electric. There is no cable at our site and the trees prohibit us from seeing the satellites for our DirecTV so we are stuck with the 3 channels we can pick up with our roof antenna. But we are only here for 2 nights so we will survive.

Gettysburg Pennsylvania

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We spent 2 nights in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. In stead of signing on with one of their tour busses we found that we could rent a 2 CD set tour that you can use to take your own personal tour. This was great because we could just pop it into the CD player in the car and go at our own pace. We could stop it at anytime and get out to get a closer look at the sights. They also say there is more information on these CDs than the busses give you. It took us a little over 2 hours to complete. This place is LOADED with monuments. Every couple of yards along the tour is a statue, plaque or monument. If we stopped to look at each one it would take us 2 days to complete the tour. The photo above is the spot where the Battle of Gettysburg started. The gun on the lower left of the photo was the actual one that started the battle and is points in the actual direction it was on the morning of July 1, 1863 We stood on the battle fields where the Battles of Gettysburg took place those 3 days in 1863. We visited the site marked by the Solders Monument (photo below) where Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address.


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The campground here is very nice. A little pricey but nice. I wish we could have spent a little more time here to just sit and relax but I made a few reservations ahead so we must be on our way. This is one reason I do not like making reservations but it is a must in popular areas and during holidays.

Chipmunks

We are now in Gettysburg Pennsylvania and there are Chipmunks running around everywhere. I would get a picture but they won’t stand still long enough to take the picture. I know I have said it before but the houses we pass by while taking the country roads are amazing. I just can’t understand why they need such big houses. These have to be 4,000 sq ft with there 3 stories and most likely a basement. Susan says they remind her of the White House with there tall columns in front. These are set back from the road a couple hundred yards with manicures front lawns. Some are surrounded with corn or wheat fields. It should have only taken us about 2 hours to get here but we had to take a detour that added another half hour to our drive. Looks like we are headed for the mountains. We have been traveling along the coast lines since entering the gulf coast of Texas and barely got higher than sea level. Now we are turning inland and have run into some foothills. We are only at about 700 feet now but once we head toward Niagara Falls we will be heading over the Allegheny Mountains. Since we have been heading down the country roads, I don’t think I have had the coach over 55 MPH in a while, mostly 45. Probably good on gas mileage.

George and I

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I knew if I hung out here long enough I would run into someone I know. Now that I got a chance to spend some time with George, I am ready to move on. Tomorrow we will be doing laundry and getting things ready to head on down the road. We are heading for Gettysburg to see more Civil War history. We had a great time here in DC. I just wish we spent more time seeing the sights. It's just that there is so much to see. The really cool thing about DC is most everything is free, except transportation. Well I've got to spend my money somewhere. Although I wouldn't mind driving around here, parking can be a challenge, and if you make a wrong turn you might end up in a bad area. We may be through here again sometime and if we do we can see the things we didn't get a chance to this time. It's not that we have to move on, it's just that I can't stay in one place too long before I get the itch to travel again.

Smithsonian Institution

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Boy are my "dogs" tired. Today we thought we were going to spend the day visiting the Smithsonian Museums. We only had time for one and a half buildings. There is so much to see, One could spend a full week and probably still not see it all. We are beat!
On the way to the Museums we were about to cross the street when a motorcade of police motorcycles and police cars came screaming down the street with sirens blaring. Between all the police vehicles were a limo and several security vehicles including one with windows down and weapon poised. This was in route down Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol Building. Could have been the president.

Alarm Clock?

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Yes, this morning I woke to the sound of an alarm clock. We took an all day tour of DC and had to be on the bus by 7:10am. I forgot there even was a 7:00am.
The tour was totally awesome. We all loaded into a 40 foot tour bus and the driver did a monumental job of weaving through the streets of DC. We not only visited DC but went across the Potomac River to Mount Vernon to Visit George Washington's home. We also stopped at the Arlington Cemetery to see President Kennedy's gravesite and witnessed the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknowns. I was quite impressed. We then went back over to DC and stopped at a number of monuments. The above photo is, of course, the Iwo Jima Memorial. It was a full day.

Washington DC

I tell you what, the back roads sure make the drive more enjoyable. The first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes of our drive today was Interstate. Once we got off the interstate you could just feel the relaxation set in. It is also nice because you can stop at the road side stands, gas stations, and stores without having to get off the interstate.


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Damn! OK, so I nailed a tree backing into our site. It could have been a lot worse. A broken tail light lens is all the damage I did. The campground we are at has a well stocked RV parts store and I found an exact match. What luck!

Man it's hot here. It is over 90 and probably over 90% humidity. Thank god for 2 air conditioners. They work so well, after a short time, we had to turn one off since it was getting rather chilly inside. I understand though that it will cool down considerably when the remainder of tropical storm Arlene moves through here.

Colonial Williamsburg

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We spent yesterday visiting Colonial Williamsburg. This is a part of Williamsburg that has been restored to what it was during the 18th century. Everyone is dressed in the costumes of the era. We decided instead of paying the $34 each admission which allows you to enter the buildings, that we would just walk the area and use the money for breakfast and dinner. The nice people running this campground advised us to not waist our money on the admission and they were right. We even passes 2 couples that said, "see, they didn"t pay the admission." Apparently they were disappointed that they did.
Today we did nothing but sit outside the motorhome and enjoy the day. I spent a few hours on the computer and phone making reservations. I normally would not make reservations but we are stopping at Gettysburg, Hershey, Niagara Falls, and the 4th of July is coming up so I thought we would be safe and make reservations. We lucked out and got a site that someone canceled out on for the 4th so I guess it was a good thing I decided to make reservations. We will be spending the 4th on Lake Erie, should be fun.

To Williamsburg VA

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The above photo is the roads leading out of Virginia Beach on our way to Williamsburg. Yes I did drive the motorhome down there.
The drive here to Williamsburg, VA was short even with all the road construction going on. As we traveled up the interstate, I noticed a motorhome back behind me and wondered if they were going to the same campground as us. Sure enough they pulled in right behind us at the campground office. I jumped out the door and the other guy said, "Your from California." And pointed to his plates which were also California plates. After talking a while I found that they had just about followed the same route as us. We looked forward to sitting down with them and swapping stories but shortly after pulling into their site they fired up their motorhome and took off. Something about the campground didn't satisfy them. We find this campground to be quite nice.
Last night I hooked up my data cable from the computer to the phone and my software did not recognize the phone. Oh No! I fooled with the cable and found that if I hold it just right it would work. I found some pins on the phone connector had been pushed back into the connector and apparently were not making good contact. So today it was off to the Verizon store. It turns out that I had about 10 days left on my warranty so they just gave me a new phone at no charge. Sometimes life can treat you right. Then it was off to get a haircut so not too much excitement today.
I had a very difficult finding a campground at our next stop, Washington, DC. All the reviews I read for the campgrounds in the area were not favorable. I did my best, I hope, to pick the lesser of the evils and made reservations. This is for a week so I hope it is tolerable. I need to get on the ball and make reservations for Niagara Falls because that will be the 4th of July weekend. Nice place to spent the 4th if I can get a spot. It looks like most of the campgrounds are on the Ontario Canada side so I am going to see what it takes to go through Canada. It looks like leaving through Canada is also the best bet to avoid the toll roads around Niagara Falls.

Digger’s Dungeon

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Those of you that are Monster Truck fans will get a kick out of this. As we were running through Kill Devil Hills we came across Digger's Dungeon which is the Race Shop of Grave Digger. I had to make a big U turn and head back to check it out. They had a couple of Grave Diggers in the shop being worked on, or built. Digger's Dungeon is a gift shop filled with bits and pieces of his crashed trucks. Behind the counter in Digger's Dungeon is a big window that looks directly into the engine shop. They were putting together engines and had one monster of an engine on the dyno. Just out of curiosity I asked where Dennis is today and the girl behind the counter said, "He is back there in the shop somewhere." I looked but didn't se him. Being the Grave Digger fan I have been for 20 years, this was a real treat for me.

Cape Hatteras

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This is a view of our site on the Outer banks on Hatteras Island. Note the house in the background. There are lots of these along the beach. We finally got some good weather so we could get out and enjoy. We visited Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and on the way I thought I had forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. I was so mad at myself. After getting back to the motorhome and unloading the car, I spotted my camera right there in the back seat where I had left it. I was even madder then. Oh Well, at least I got a postcard of the light houses (see the where have we been section).


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This is a photo of the road leaving Hatteras island. The sand dunes are quite a contrast from the tree covered roads of the country we have seen.

Bad weather on The Outer Banks

It’s raining and the wind has been blustery from yesterday afternoon through all day today. We did nothing. Well I actually spent a lot of today tracking down and temporally patching a leak in one of my windows. Hopefully I found the problem. I am not sure yet because the rain slowed down shortly after I found what I think is the problem. On top of all that, the power went out in the area for about 4 hours, but we live in a self contained motorhome, who needs power, we can make our own. Since we have not been out and about, I have no pictures to post.
As I mentioned, our cell company has let us down by deciding to not serve this area. This means we still have phone service (extended network) but no internet service. I have found a weak wireless signal here so I can get on the internet sporadically. Don’t know where it is coming from and I really don’t care. So if you don’t hear from me for a while, I have lost the signal. We move up to Virginia on Monday and should be back in network then.

Outer Banks

We are now on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is where Cape Hatteras is located. We are on the Extended Network with out cell phone which means I have no internet connection but I found a weak wireless signal so I will take advantage of it as long as I can. It is suppose to rain for a few days but the weekend is supposed to be great. There are many light houses to explore here also Kitty Hawk is near by so we will do some sight seeing.

Heading back to the coast

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When we leave to head on down the road it is usually a sad day. We have stayed in some pretty nice places the last month or so. But we are also excided to move on. This time I am especially sad because I have enjoyed Free Wireless Internet for the last 4 days.
The above photo is an example of the kind of roads we have been taking. We have tried to stay off the interstates and travel the back roads. It might take a little longer but when you have to drive on these type of roads, you want it to last longer. Tomorrow we are heading for Washington NC. This is just going to be an overnighter so we are going to check out the Wal-Mart first. If it looks scary we will head for a campground. We will need to go to the Wal_Mart anyway because the nearest store from our next stop is 30 miles. We also have a pile of laundry that needs tending to. At least we will get all the chores done before settling in at The Outer Banks. I hope we will have cell coverage on The Outer Banks so I can get my internet fix.

Averasboro

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We have visited Fort Sumter where the first shot in the Civil War was fired and today we visited the Averasboro Battlefield where the last big battle was fought. During this battle which took place over two days, 1200 were wounded and at least 350 killed. We drove up the road where the battle advanced which is now lined with wheat and corn farms. Some of the homes along the road which were used as headquarters and hospitals are still standing and some have been restored and are used as private residents today. We found out that what is considered today by most as the Confederate flag (all red with a blue X with stars inside) is in reality the battle flag. There were actually 3 Confederate flags. The first looked much like the Union flag with 7 stars in a circle on a blue background with 2 red and 1 white stripe. This was confused with the Stars and Strips of the Union flag so it was changed. The second was the familiar Confederate blue X with white stars but was located in the upper left corner much like the Union flag. The rest of the flag was all white. They abandoned this flag because when hanging limp all you might see was the white and confuse it as a surrender flag. On the third flag they added a vertical red stripe at the end so as not to confuse it with a surrender flag when limp. Ironically enough, no one complains about the real Confederate flag, Only what they think is the Confederate flag which is in reality the battle flag.

Wade North Carolina

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We are in a little town called Wade North Carolina. The drive here was scenic. We took all the back roads and some of them were barely wide enough to pass another car with the motorhome, but what a nice drive. The pace was slow and the view was great. It seems that every house we passed had a front porch with porch swings or rocking chairs. You can tell life around here is slow paced. The traffic was light by California standards but there were a lot more vehicles on the small country roads than I expected. It could have something to do with the holiday weekend. We ended up in a KOA park. Usually we stay from the KOAs because most we have seen are run down or way over priced for what they are. This one came highly recommended and is really nice. As you can see in the picture, the sites are huge. They gave me a KOA discount card so maybe we will be staying at a few more down the road. The charge for the card was $14 but then they gave me a $14 discount on my site because I had the card so it was basically free.
It looks like we are going to have a fairly quiet Memorial Weekend, doesn't seem to be too much to do around here. We will just have to sit back and relax, what else is new huh? Last night we sat out by our faux gas fire pit listening to the guy a few sites over plunking on his banjo and enjoyed the evening.

Last day in Myrtle Beach

This morning we took a drive into town to check out the bikers. As I mentioned, this weekend is Black Biker weekend. It is still early but a lot have already arrived. This proved to be pretty entertaining. I was a little disappointed though because I expected to see a lot of custom choppers. Instead what we saw was a lot of Ninja style bikes.

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We spent the early afternoon walking the beach. The beaches around here don’t have much in the way of waves which makes it nice for the kids. The water was very clear. But what really caught our eye was the amount of shells on the beach. This place is shell collectors haven.

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After the beach we just sat by the lake and watched the alligator as he made his way around the lake. Also what we found comical is the turtle heads that pop up in the lake. I don’t know what makes this so comical but we laugh every time one pops up. They just look so funny.

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Tomorrow is another travel day. We will be heading inland Just for the weekend then back to the coast. We figured we had a better chance to get a site for the holiday weekend by heading inland.

There’s a gator in the lake

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Susan and I were walking around the lake this evening when we spotted this guy floating in the lake. He is only about a 4 footer but a gator nun the less. I saw a sign that said not to feed the alligator but didn't expect to see one. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Looks like I got the leak in the motorhome roof fixed. We had a really good soaking again yesterday and there was no leaking. Good thing it was a simple fix. The motorhome is shinny again. It is difficult to keep this thing clean since most parks don't allow washing of vehicles. This park does so I took advantage of the situation and washed the car and motorhome.

Myrtle Beach Bound

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Monday was a travel day. We got started at around our usual 10:00a departure time from Charleston and arrived in Myrtle Beach about 1:00p. On the way here we were seeing the leftovers of the Bike Week that went on last week. Just before we got into Myrtle Beach we saw the "Girls Gone Wild" motorhome pass by heading south. I wish I had my camera handy.
The park we are in is top notch. You have your choice of beach, lake, or forest sites. With 1150 sites you have a good choice. We chose the lake and what a fine site it is. The site is probably 50 feet wide and plenty long to get the biggest rig into. Just down the row in front of us is the beach. We can either look out our front window and see the beach or out the back and see the lake. Just 3 sites down is a full laundry, fully stocked store, snack bar, restaurant, play ground, in door pool, large outdoor pool and a lazy river for just kicking back and tubing around and around. The weather is great but it did get a bit windy last night. I had to go out at 3:30a and roll the awnings in. In the evening we took a walk on the beach which is clean and loaded with shells. Then we sat by the lake until sunset watching the turtles popping their heads up and down. What a life, huh?
After we arrived in Myrtle Beach, we momentary lost contact with the world. Our cell phone would not call out or receive calls. I found a pay phone and called Verizon to see if it was us or them. After about an hour of try this and try that we determined it was them so they filled out a trouble call and said they would have it fixed in 24 to 48 hours. Well it only took about 2 hours and we were back on the air. The bad part however is that while trying this and that, one of the things they tried is to remove my account and rebuild it again. In doing this I lost my Verizon High Speed internet connectivity. On inquiring about it I found out that I had been receiving it illegally. It is a service that I should have been paying for. What happened is that when they originally setup my account, they had no way of blocking someone from just buying the "Office Kit" and logging on and also no way of limiting usage. And since I was able to do this, I thought it was included in my service. Now they can block someone from doing this but only on new accounts and, since they rebuilt my account now they can block me. No need to say I was rather upset. Now I have to pay $40 a month for limited access. I am going to do some research into other methods to access the internet but in the mean time I will give them my $40. I guess I could always look at it the other way and say I was getting something for free that I should have been paying for. It doesn't make the hurt go away though.

Touring Charleston

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The above photo is a magnolia blossom from one of the many blooming magnolia trees around here. Also the air everywhere around here has the sent of honeysuckle. It almost grows wild around here.
So far we have had 2 beautiful days here at Charleston. The weather has been clear with temperatures in the 80s and little humidity. We took the opportunity to do some sight seeing today. We went into Historic Charleston and took one of the tours around the town. Our tour guide was full of information. For instance, Did you know that the Charleston dance was invented right on the streets of Charleston, well where else. But I bet you didn't know it was black musicians and dancers that started it. We also learned that Charleston is a town that has been devastated by hurricanes fires and even a major earthquake. I wasn't aware that there were earthquakes in this area. I thought that was something us Californians only knew about.
Tomorrow we have to move. Originally there were no spaces available here at the park for the weekend but with the weather being so bad, I acquired at the office and they had a space available. We are only moving to the other side of the park so it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully we can get it done early enough to do some more sight seeing. The weather is supposed to turn bad again starting tomorrow so we shall see what happens.
The people here are extremely friendly. Everyone we meet are eager to help and answer questions and offer suggestions. There was even one fellow that offered us his spare bedroom if we needed a place to stay. Tourist towns are fun because everyone wants to know where you are from. When we mention California, right away they are curious about what method of transportation we used to get here. When the find out we travel in a motorhome, they want to know all about it. We love to tell our stories. And of course most wish they could do the same.

As I sit here outside under my awning writing this I heard some rustling behind me. I turned to see a raccoon the size of a small dog 4 feet from me snatching food from my bird feeder. I love nature.

Must put it into perspective

I mentioned in the last post that I found a leak in the motorhome. I was feeling pretty down. I would rather be out touring than spending the day chasing down leaks and trying to figure out what to do about it. I then started thinking about my lifestyle. I realized that I could be sitting at a desk, dealing with the problems at work, then I get a call from Susan about a leaky roof on my house. But since I do not have a job, or a house made of sticks, and have no where to be, and lots of time, I can take some time out to deal with my leak. Today I stopped by the park office on my way to Wal-Mart and extended our stay 3 more days. At Wal-Mart I picked up a 3 dollar tube of Silicone and patched what I think is the problem. There is only one more place where the water can be getting in and tomorrow I will focus on that. It’s a maintenance item that should be attended to anyway and won’t cost me a cent. The rest of the day I spent sitting under my awning, with the rain falling, listening to my Sinatra CD, and watching the birds and squirrels eat from my feeder.
I feel better now…

It’s pouring

…And we are leaking. We set out to do some shopping this afternoon and just as we returned it down right poured. They say we had 4 inches an hour. Susan said, “If we have a leak, it will show now.” It showed. There was water dripping out of the light fixture. I removed the fixture, pulled the wires clear and proceeded to dry things out a bit. Suddenly is started dripping from the TV antenna crank. Since this is only 1 foot from the light I suspect they were coming from the same source. I did my best to keep things dry until the delude slowed enough to climb on the roof. After inspecting the antenna area I believe I discovered the breach. I had noticed a while back a spot in a rubber boot that the manufacturer punched a hole in to run some wires. I remember wondering how water never got in there. I applied a temporary patch until things dry out. It is supposed to rain for the next couple of days, so we will see. I sure hope that’s all it is.

The road to Charleston

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Isn't this terrible? This is what we have had to put up with since we left Florida. Oak covered roads through Georgia and now South Carolina. Sometimes I can actually hear the twang of my CB antenna as we pass under the trees. Some roads I am glad we went down with the car and not the motorhome. The campgrounds have been just as nice. In Georgia we had as many as 8 squirrels and 3 blue jays hanging outside our window at one time.

They would actually run up the tree just outside our dinning room window and peek in the window at us. Here in Charleston we spotted a BIG old raccoon rummaging through the dumpster (in the middle of the day) as we sat under our awning.
We could only reserve our site until Friday. This place is full for the weekend. Normally this would be no problem, we would just move on. Unfortunately this poses a problem. The next stop is Myrtle Beach. This week just happens to be Bike Week in Myrtle Beach. All campgrounds are full. At this point I am not sure what we are going to do. I am going to check the other campgrounds around here and possibly stay through the weekend.

Too much History

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I am sure glad I will not be tested on all this. Yesterday we spent the day in Historic Savannah. We drove around aimlessly as usual and decided we needed to take a narrated tour. There was just so much that we wanted too know. We hopped aboard one of the many tour trolleys for a 90 minute guided tour. This was the best thing we could have done. We left with a much better understanding of the history of Savannah. Savannah played a big part in the Civil War and Slavery.




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Today we visited Fort Pulaski which is located on Cockspur Island. This is where the Union Army thought they were protected from the Confederate Army until the Confederate staged an attack from Tybee Island. The confederates fire power was too much for the fort and destroyed the outer wall leaving the forts gunpowder magazine variable. At this point the Union surrendered. You can see the many scars left by cannon fire in the walls and some even still contain the cannon shot imbedded in the wall.




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Over on Tybee Island we toured the Tybee Island Lighthouse which was constructed to guide ships into the Savannah River. This is actually the forth lighthouse after the first 2 were destroyed by storms and the third was set fire by the Union Army to keep the Confederate from spying of them at Fort Pulaski. There are 178 steps to the top of the light. I climbed every one of them. The Light keepers houses are still there and beautifully restored.

Error corrected

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After realizing my mistake in going to the wrong campground, I went to the office this morning and explained my miss calculation to the girl at the desk. "No problem", she said. She gladly refunded one nights fee and we were on our way. It was a short drive but nearly took us an hour to get here (all back roads). These State Parks are nestled in a forest of trees and are quite an obstacle course to drive the motorhome with car in tow around them. We are now 10 miles from Savannah instead of 26 miles. The park is nicer too. We even have cable TV, although I was able to setup the satellite dish here. Also we have 50 amp power instead of the 30 amps we had at Fort McAllister State Historic Park. The flying bugs are a little over the edge so I set up our screen room for the first time and we spent the afternoon and evening bug free. Tomorrow we are going to attempt to spend some time in Savannah as long as my back holds out. There are a couple of restaurants that are owned by a cooking host that Susan watches and she wants to check them out. One boasts good down home southern cooking and the other is seafood. I'll go for the southern cooking myself. We may also seek out a good southern BBQ while here.

I can’t see the Satellite

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We are at Fort McAllister State Historic Park near Savannah Georgia. The woods are so thick here that my satellite dish can not see the satellite. I found a very small opening in the trees and tried for about an hour before giving up. We get about 5 channels on the Antenna so that will do for now. It turns out I messed up anyway. We ended up at the wrong state park although this is a park is nice. Actually this was our second choice. The first one, although Woodall's RV park guide gave it 4 out of 5 stars, ended up being small, cramped, right on a major road, and a bit scary looking. We are about 26 miles from Savannah and the park we want to be in is about 10 miles from Savannah. Don't ask me how that happened, I have no idea. It's not like we have to be anywhere at anytime. We paid for two nights so tomorrow we are going to see if we can get one night back or transferred it to the other state park and we will move. The drive here was nice. We were going to stay off the interstate and take the back roads but I messed up my back and thought a 2 hour drive would be better on my back than a 3 hour drive. Don't worry, I'll be OK in a couple of days.
Well my new weather radio works. We were sitting today relaxing when an alert went off. Seems there is a severe thunder storm heading through the county northwest from here. It should not effect us at all except for a little lightning. I narrowed the alerts by programming in the county we are in and the county nearby instead of the default "any". Now the only alerts we should get will be a real concern.

I under estimated our stay

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We had to extend our stay here at Jacksonville because I under estimated our time here. We were running out of time to do the things we want to do. I think the rain Thursday is what threw me off. Well that's what this lifestyle is all about. We don't have to be anywhere at any anytime so we will stay another day. We are having a ball ( so what's new) here visiting more of Susan's cousins. Today was a combination Mother's day and birthday brunch. Lots of good food! We were entertained by Tina's bird all afternoon. This bird has a vocabulary you wouldn't believe. It not only blurts out words but also sound effects and more. For instance, it will make the sound of a phone ringing, answer it with "hello", hold a conversation and hang up at the end. What a riot!
After the rain ended Thursday the weather has been great. It has been a comfortable high 70 to low 80 with little humidity. In the mornings and evenings we sit outside the motorhome and get entertained by the squirrels that scamper around the trees next to our patio. They run up and down the trees peeking around the branches at us. We put out our "bird feeder" and the squirrels have come up and rummaged through and picked out all the sunflower seeds and left nothing but empty shells. Then we watched as a couple of ducks came up from the lake, headed right for the feeder, had a snack then back into the lake they went. How did they know it was there? So far this feeder has been shared by birds, squirrels, ducks, raccoons and who know what else while we are sleeping.
I almost forgot. We have been features as RVers of the month at www.rvresources.com. Check it out.

Jacksonville

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We have made our way to Jacksonville Florida today. When we woke this morning in St. Augustine there was thunder, lightning and rain. We took the coast route and the drive was good except portions of the road were rough. It could be due to storm damage. We got about half way to Jacksonville and suddenly, as if we went through a invisible wall, the rain suddenly stopped. I mean the road wasn't even wet. How weird. It's a good thing we took advantage of our time in St. Augustine because there doesn't seem to be much going on in Jacksonville. The campground we are at is great. We got a spot right on the lake. I wish they would design the sites so we could drive straight in instead of back in only. That way we would have a great view of the lake out our front window. Instead we have a great view out our bedroom window. It is raining tonight. I love the sound of the rain falling on the roof of the motorhome.
The motorhome has been running good since I replaced the burnt plug wire again. I am glad that is all in was. Fortunately replacing the wire was a since. I simply raised the front of the motorhome with the levelers, turned the wheels all the way to the right and sat in the wheel well while replacing the wire. It wasn't even as hot as I thought since I just shut it down from driving a while.

St Augustine

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St. Augustine was fun. We spent the day visiting the sights. We thought the day was going to be a bust. We started by visiting the Whetstone Chocolate Factory and found they were no longer conducting tours. Then it was off to Tom's Fruit and Produce Stand, they no longer have fruits and produce. It is now a tourist gift stand. We then headed over to the Alligator Farm and found they wanted $18.00 each to view the gators, we passed on that one. One that is real impressive is the Castillo De San Marcos. This is a fort that was built from 1672 to 1695. The walls are 18 feet thick and 30 feet high. It is part of the National Park systems and we got to use our National Park Pass to see it. It is a must see if in the area. There are also other historic sights to see in the city. Being the Oldest city in America, the whole place is full of history.

We moved

We are in St. Augustine Florida right now. We will be here for 2 days while we visit the oldest city in America. That’s what they call it.
Well I blew another spark plug wire. The symptoms were a bit different this time so it confused me for a while. I pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot with the thought that if I didn’t figure it out right a way we could spend the night and get help in the morning. I figured I would start with the plug wire and go from there. That was it! Good thing I had 7 spares. I will be giving Workhorse a call tomorrow and see if they have come up with any more ideas. I am about ready to foot the bill and go for some race wires.

Traveling at last

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Tomorrow morning we will be back on the road. We were supposed to leave today but we don't like traveling on the weekends and it was supposed to be raining all day. Even though it is only about 2 ½ hours to Jacksonville from here I figures it will take us about 5 hours. That is because we are going to stay off the interstate and take the coast route. Since I don't drive for more than 3 hours at a time, we will be stopping over for a couple of nights between here and there. I hope to make it to St. Augustine. I would like to spend a couple of days there.

Our stay here at Orlando Florida was just great. We got to spend time with family that live in the area and Susan's parents flew out from California also. There is so much to do in this area that a month just isn't enough. But I just have to get back on the road. There is always next time. I think the next time through we will limit our stay to 1 to 2 weeks and head on down to the keys. I found a campground right at the end of the keys. That would be cool. The campground we are at is very nice. I was undecided over 2 in the area but with some advice from friends on the internet I chose Orlando Winter Gardens. Good choice.

A new toad?

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I wish! Last night Susan's cousin came over to check out our humble home. It is no doubt dwarfed compared to his 15,000 square foot home on the lake but mine has wheels and I can take it with me. I like that. Anyway, after the visit, Jim and Jenifer took us to a local jazz club for some food and drink. On the way home Jim was so beat that he asked me if I would mind going to his house and driving his convertible Lexis to our house so he wouldn't have to drive to our house and back to his. He said, in fact you can keep it all weekend and return it on Sunday. Twist my arm! The problem is, it rained today. Well we still have tomorrow.
We were going to go to Universal Studios tonight to see the Mardi Gras but since it wants to rain here we will just have to do that another time.

Another day at Disney

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Today was The Disney's Animal Kingdom. I didn't feel as beat after the Animal Kingdom as I did after The Magic Kingdom. Not sure why. Maybe I needed a day to loosen up. The Animal Kingdom was very cool. Being the nature lovers we are, we got up close looks at the big cats, gorillas and more. They have a really cool Jungle Safari ride that takes you around to see many animals. The driver does a good job pointing out where the animals are hiding and gives you a little education on them. There is so much to do at Disney World that we will have to go back a few more times to see more.

How did I ever do it

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We just spent the day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. We are either getting old or out of shape. Probably more like old and out of shape. We were beat at the end of the day. I guess sitting under my awning outside the motorhome all day is taking it's toll. The Magic Kingdom was, well, what can I say. Living all my life 1.5 hours away from Disneyland in California, I went at least once a year and The Magic Kingdom is very similar. But we had a great time. We couldn't ask for better weather. What I don't understand is why they have to charge so much. It cost about $60 a person to get into each park and then there is food and snacks to buy. The place was packed so they must be making a fortune with the prices they charge.

More of the house

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The above is a photo of only part of the inside of the house.
Susan's parents have gone off to Massachusetts and her cousin is going to Paris so we have some time to our selves. We are going to checkout Disney World and Disney's Animal Kingdom then Universal Studio in the next week. Universal Studio is having Mardi Gras nights every Saturday night for the month of April with real authentic floats from the New Orland's Mardi Gras so it should be worth checking out.
It has been somewhat hectic, but very enjoyable, for us with all the visiting we have been doing in the last couple of weeks. We have been gone just about every evening, not getting in until after dark. Not our usual mode of operation since going fulltime.

What is it?

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You have to click on the photo and get a closer look at this face. Yes it is a cat. This is Sinatra, Susan's cousin's cat. This cat looks like it ran into a brick wall. They also have a 3rd generation Manx named Frank and a cool little puppy named George.
The last couple of days Susan and I did NOTHING. We went nowhere and did nothing but sit around the motorhome. We will be here until the end of the month so we can do nothing and not feel guilty. Next week we will be doing the tourist thing so I should have more to write. Until then I am catching up on some maintenance items on the motorhome and car.

We're still here

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...in Orlando Florida. The park we are in is very comfortable and everyone is so friendly. We have been so busy spending time with family that I haven't had time to update the journal. We haven't even had time to do much sight seeing. We will be here for the rest of the month so I am sure we will find time. In the mean time we are just having a ball. Susan's cousins are lots of fun to be around. The above picture is her cousins house that we are spending most of our time at. This place is beautiful and is located on a peninsula that stretches out into the lake so there is a lake view from every window in the house. The sunsets are magnificent over the water. I know it was a very hard decision but he just sold the place. The upkeep in a place like this is just huge. Next month he will be moving into his other home in the country club across the street. I believe this is the same country club that Tiger Woods resides at. The weather here has been great. We have had mostly warm days in the high 70s to low 80s with little humidity and the evenings are very comfortable. We are keeping a close eye on the weather up north and might take our time traveling to let the storms clear out.

The Snow Birds are going home

Snow Birds are a name given to people that live in the cold northern parts of the country and travel south for the winters. They settle into the RV parks for months waiting for the weather to warm up back home. Well they have been pulling out of here at the rate of one or two a day now. The couple between us and the lake have left leaving us with a great view. Nice!
I have been as busy around here as I was when I owned a home. Since we are settled in for a month, I have been cleaning and fixing. Fortunately the weather has been great. I would hate to have to be doing this during bad or cold weather. They are calling for a thunder storm Thursday and Friday. Good this will force me to take a break for a couple of days. We have been here for 4 days now and haven’t even done any sight seeing. Since we will be here for a month there is plenty of time for that.

Orlando Florida

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4 month and we finally made it to Orlando Florida. We will be here for a month while visiting with family. Susan's parents are going to fly out to visit family also, so we will get a chance to spend some time with them too. Glad we got out of Tallahassee because they are still having some pretty sever weather and more tornado watches. The weather was warm and humid when we got here and last night we had a small thunder storm drift through. I even got up and turned on the air conditioner. Today the weather was cooler and comfortable. I spent the day cleaning up the motorhome. It sure looks nice. I have been waiting a long time to do that. A little more detailing and it will be good to go for another few months. I still haven't got a chance to take that Air boat ride to go gator hunting yet. I have been wanting to do that since Louisiana. I hope I can "get 'er done" while here.