July 2008

July 28th we went to Bozeman today and bought new tires for the car, yes we got Tiger Paws by Uniroyal. While we had the tires installed we walked to a local Café for breakfast, it didn’t look to good on the outside but inside was very nice and decorated in western favor the food was great also. We than did some Wally World shopping as it is 100 miles from where we are and we don’t get this chance to often. We didn’t have a plan for the day as we happened to see a movie theater and decided to see a movie. The one we picked was Mama Mia, it was a very enjoyable flick and we both had a good time. We than drove back to Ennis (50 miles) and played a quick 9 holes of Golf. Naturally we left the camera in the car, as Jon teed off of number two hole we saw a Buck, Doe and twin Fawn Antelope. Kathleen had to wait to tee off as they were less than 50 ft. in front of the ladies tee, it was an awesome sight. After the golf we did some more shopping for cold items at the grocery store. The drive home from Ennis (50 miles) was spectacular sight as the sun was setting and the sky was slightly overcast, at a few places the sun was bright on the mountains and made them look as they were covered in gold. Thank the Lord for his beauty.

July 27th the cowboys arrived for a round-up of the cattle. We are surrounded with grazing fields and BLM land, and a number of herds are in the area. We have corrals onsite and they are bringing in about 1000 head over the next two days. Tonight we had a late night Steak Fry, fresh steaks that if they are 18 ozs it is the runt piece, got to talk to several of the cowboys and thanked them for the work that they do, Putting meat on the table. We are members of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals).

July 27th we watched as the cowboys brought in the cows and were amazed at how well the dogs worked the herd. On Monday when they finished they discovered that about 85 head were missing and they went back out to get them, it was well after 11:00 o’clock till they were finished. They were back in the Saddle early Tuesday morning, not a life that I would cherish, but being out in the open they are enjoying it to the max. It is such a shame that some big fat dude sitting in New York is making more money in selling the cattle than the cowboy is.

July 23rd & 24th At the spur of the moment, since we had two days off together we are going to do an overnight trip to Teton NP. On the way to Jackson we did some geocaching and one of the caches was above the Teton Pass, from here we could see quite a lot of the Jackson Hole area. On the way there we called half a dozen hotels to find a room, thanks to our DeLorme Street Atlas we had the names, addresses and Phone numbers of these places. Upon arriving in Jackson we checked into our room, even after having trouble with the key. We than drove to Teton NP and made a lot of stops at places of interest, also we got a lot of information on things to see. We returned to Jackson and went to the Million Dollar Bar and Steak House, what a great meal. After that we took a walk around Jackson and enjoyed the town. At about 11:30 PM we found out why this place had rooms. There is a Bar next door and after it closed everyone was in the parking lot to do whatever, talk or tussle. This kept Kathleen up and she was at the window making sure they would not destroy our car. Someone called the police and it broke up at about 1:15 AM, as usual Jon slept through it all. Upon rising on the 24th we went to Teton Village for breakfast, from there we went to Jenny Lake South and took the boat across the lake. We than hiked to Hidden Falls, it is one of the nicest falls we have seen also while there we saw a training class for rock climbing as they have a school near by. From there we hiked to Inspiration Point which is about 420 ft above the lake. The views are just fantastic from there, the lake in front of you and the Teton’s directly to your back. From there we hiked back around the South end of the lake to the parking lot, total of the hikes a little over 4 miles. We quickly changed and headed to Colter Bay as we were going to do a boat cruise, the day before we inquired and were told that this never sells out. When we got there after much waiting we were indeed informed that it was SOLD OUT, for the time we wanted to go and that other time were open. We than left and drove through the North end of the Teton’s into the South Entrance of Yellowstone. Having been to a lot of this area before we drove straight to West Yellowstone. We visited the Bear & Wolfe Discovery Center, we spent well over an hour there, but you could spend nearly a day there as we didn’t go to any of the movies. After this we ate and did some shopping before we returned to Wilderness Edge.

July 18th we went to Ennis today, we had cleaned out our closets and were taking the clothing to The Nearly New Shop. This is a volunteer shop and all of the proceeds go to the town. We made our phone calls from here as well, Ennis is 50 miles from Wilderness Edge and is the first place we can get Cell phone reception. We also got brakes for the car and Jon can get them on in another day or so. We finally go out to play some golf, first time since April back in PA, and the score showed that we are rusty. Went to the store and did some shopping and went back to camp.

July 13th we headed out to hike to the CD and we did hike for about 1 ¼ mile and didn’t come across it, we now realize that we didn’t go far enough. We also tried to drive to the area only to realize that this involved a long hike. After spending a lot of great time doing this we did some geocaching. We were a lot more successful at geocaching. We will have to spend more time at the CD in the future.

July 12th after work Glenn and Chris invited us to go along with RT and Donna and we went to the cliffs of Cliff Lake. We had a great ride out and such great views, and from the top of the cliffs we were awestruck with the scenery. We all had a great time and just enjoy being here.

July11th we left early before 7 am and drove through Yellowstone (where we saw some baby elk) and went to Cody, WY. Out of Yellowstone we entered Shoshone National Forest. What a gorgeous drive. We saw different rock and mountain formations that we didn’t knew existed. Naturally we did some geocaching and had a good day. We stopped at the “Buffalo” Bill Cody Dam and saw how it was built. We drove around Cody for a short time and then went north and took a scenic bypass. Such an understatement as scenic bypass for this highway. Neither one of us has any adjectives left to describe this part of WY. Also the Nez Piece Indians used this trail to run from the Army in the late 1870’s. We than stopped at Crooked Creek and had a good supper and did some shopping, it is a great little MT. cowboy town. We than entered Yellowstone through the Northeast gate driving through Lamar valley as there is a lot of animals in that area. We were looking for bear, moose or wolves and didn’t see any. When we got back home it was after 9 o’clock and we were tired and worn out.

July 9th we drove into Ennis (50 miles one way) and did some shopping and also stopped at the local Golf course. We didn’t play just got some information. We also revisited Virginia City again and just had a nice relaxing day, nothing special but a very good day.

July 5th had the day off and did a lot of cleaning on the MH as we unloaded it and swept out the compartments. This was a lot of dirt from the journey out. And of course when every thing was out of the MH and flash storm blew up and it started to rain pretty hard. We got it all away and we were soaked. So much for life on the road, it is a good life.

July 4th Went into Ennis today and had a wonderful day. At 10 o’clock in the morning the Annual 4th of July parade kicked off and it lasted 1 hour and was such a great small town parade. The town boasts 860 people and there were thousands of people there. After the parade we had a bar-b-que Buffalo burger lunch as the Lions Club had a fund raiser in one of the towns parks. We than drove out to the fairgrounds and bought reserve seats for he rodeo. We had great seats that were about 30 feet from the gates, all the action was in front of us. During the rodeo it was quite windy and it took a toll on the roping events, the wind was constant at about 25 MPH and had some heavier gusts even though the temps were in the low 90’s.

July 1st Today we visited the canyon and water part of Yellowstone NP. As usual we did several geocaches along the way. Discovered that most of Yellowstone is in a giant crater and that there are many, many craters within in it. Such an awesome place as all kinds of geological areas. Visited a lake that drains into two different rivers and that the two rivers go to two different oceans. Spend a lot of time at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and saw how the park got it’s name as the sides of the canyon are yellow in color. We did have a hard time today as we did some caching and we had picked some earth caches, these are like doing home work and it takes a lot of the fun out of it.

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June 2008

June 27th we drove to the Virginia City/ Nevada City area to do some sight seeing. What a beautiful drive and an area rich in history. Learned about the vigilantes, and the # 3-7-77 which to this day is worn on the shoulder patch of the MT State Police. Also learned aboutGeorge Ives and how his trial and hanging changed the face of justice in the area. As usual with geocaching we went to some of the out of the ordinary places. It was a nice day and at the end we had a bite to eat at the Wolfe’s Den.

June 24th We enjoyed the day a Yellowstone, we saw bear (black & grizzly), Wolfe, elk, goats and a host of other animals. We drove up to the Mammoth Hot Springs area and also to the Tower-Roosevelt area. There is so much beauty and such a diverse type of area. Again we did some geocaching and it took us to places we would not normally go to. It was a long day but we enjoyed it, on the way home we stopped to eat and get a few groceries.

June 21st Elmer and Phyllis returned and the stayed in a Rustic cabin near to where we are parked. We spent the evening together watching videos and playing cards. They are leaving early in the morning to drive back to the Jackson Hole area.

June 17th Elmer and Phyllis are leaving today and going to Glacier NP. We did a little geocaching and did a tour of Quake Lake area. After that we went to Boseman to do some shopping as the nearest Wal--Mart is there, which is still 100 miles one way. After doing all of our errands we stopped for supper in Ennis and till we got back it was 8:30 pm. We decided that before we make that trip again we will have to be desperate.

June 16th Along with Elmer & Phyllis we went to Yellowstone NP for the day. We mainly went to the geyser area and just saw so much and learned as much. Took a lot of pic’s and at the end of the journey we watched “Old Faithfull” erupt. We stopped for a great supper and when we returned we all were exhausted.

June 15th Elmer and Phyllis got her in the afternoon and the resort put them in Saddlehorn, which is about the best in the resort. When we finished up with work we spent the evening with them

June 10th We continued our trip back in we had Sun, Snow and rain. We did take a little detour to do some sightseeing and it was very pretty, and as we keep saying “awesome”. Did a little shopping to refill the shelves and had a bite to eat before getting back.

June 9th Leaving the Gilara’s we proceeded to return to Montana. We hit some rain, Snow and sunshine. We had a good travel day and did a little sight seeing where we crossed the Columbia River, we also marveled at the beauty of Eastern WA. We stopped for the night in St. Regis, MT.

June 8th After getting up, packing and getting breakfast we went to visit with two of my cousins, Jerry and Paul Gilara. They live next to each other in Black Diamond, WA. First about Jerry, (last I saw him was about 40 years ago) he is married and has five children. Him and his Wife, Mary came to WA. where he worked for Boeing for a short period of time. He than got a job at a small machine shop and he started to buy into that company, the company shut down because of labor problems. He being one and two other owners started a new company that makes control valves for high reach equipment. At the present time they employ over 220 people. He has just sold he share of the company and retired. On a personal note he owns a plane and has his commercial license, he also taught himself to speak and read Russian. Jerry took us on a plane ride. Aunt Minerva is living with Jerry and she stayed up the night before and made us a book of her Poems, Drawings and Needlework. Paul our most gracious host who put us up for the night is a occupational nurse and safety coordinator for a Genie plant. Several years ago he held the same position in a Kenworth plant, the same plant that Gray Ridgeway (Green River Killer) work at the same time. We had a great time with this visit.

June 7th We couldn’t believe how long we slept in the morning as we told Deb we would help with setting up the party, but we overslept and barely made it in time. We did have a good time and spend the afternoon there.

June 6th We got up and had breakfast with Donnie and then met up with Mel and Jarret and just sort of hung out. Sort of a lazy, rainy afternoon, and than we went to the Tacoma Dome for graduation services. The City of Tacoma needs to work out a lot of entrance and exit plane to move cars into the area. Probably over 5000 people to attend the graduation and they omly opened on door in the building. The graduation was great and we had a great time.

June 5th We got up and had breakfast and took off to see Mt. Rainer, we drove around the whole mountain and saw a lot of sights, but never did see the mountain as it was a rainy, snowy, overcast day and at a lot of the time we could not see 200 feet up. For dinner we met up with Mel and Jarret for dinner and enjoyed this time as they are very mature for there age, totally enjoyed the time together.

June 4th We arose this morning and after eating a continental breakfast at the hotel we did a tour of the Boeing plant, it is amazing at the size of the buildings as it is the largest building in the world. We were stunned in that there was more computer work going on that physical work and at the fact that how components are out sourced. From there we did a Duck tour around Seattle and got to see a lot of sites and learned a lot of information. We were lucky on the tour that it stopped raining for a period of time. We than took a ferry to Bremmerton and got to our hotel room, after switching rooms because of a animal smell we meet up with Ron & Deb for dinner. It was a good day.

June 3rd We got up this morning and started for the Seattle area, we stopped to wash the car and we hadn’t gone five miles and were in road construction, after that as we continued we were directed to take a logging road for about 45 miles, so much for the wash job. It was a great drive with lots of scenery which we would of never seem on the interstate. At about 11:30 we stopped for breakfast in a small town (no not a Bob Evans) and had a delightful breakfast, from there we continued up over some high passes that went through some snow and finally got back on I-90 we continued through Eastern Washington and marveled at the rolling plains of the state, than through the Columbia Valley and into the mountains in Western Washington. We stopped at several exits before we found a motel to our liking.

June 2nd just what a fantastic day sight seeing as we saw goats, bears, deer in there habitat. The Road to the Sun is not opened yet and all of the sights we saw of God’s creation were wonderful. We are planning on coming back in September as we only got a small peek as to what this place has to offer. .

June 1st we left for Glacier National Park, we had a great drive and we are awed by all of the sights we see around every corner. We checked into a Motel 6 for two nights and went out and had a geat dinner.

May 2008

May 31st Jon’s birthday and he had the day off, Kathleen did work on that day. As it was John, the owner’s birthday on Thursday they had a large family gathering and all of the workampers were invited to the party. Jon was included in the birthday celebration just like family. It is a great feeling. We had to get packed for our trip to Washington for the graduation of Kathleen’s granddaughter.

May 28th, 29th, 30th, Spent time working, Jon mainly on the site up grading and Kathleen doing housekeeping. The 30th we went to West Yellowstone and meet up with Buffaloman and Bearlady.

May 27th after about a 225 mile trek we arrived at Wildeness Edge Retreat and meet just some great people. From the owner Janet, and to the managers Glenn & Chris, also fellow Workampers R.T. & Donna. We got set up for a couple days as we will have to move when we leave this weekend as the site are being up graded.

May 26th we left this morning and had a nice ride to Billings, Mt. where we parked at the local Wal-mart for the night. We did are final shopping there, and filled up our shelves to the top.

May 25th we went and toured around the town of Deadwood. It was great to see how the town survived over the course of 140 years. One thing that we like is that all of the revenue from gambling in the town goes to the preservation of the town, also that they do not allow any bets in access of $100.00. We came back and started to pack for our trip tomorrow, as we are heading in to Montana.

May 24th as the rain stopped and we had another great day we went to Wall Drug. Didn’t think a whole lot about all of the hype over it, we think that South of the Border is bigger. Although Wall Drug does sell better quality items. We also toured the petrified forest in the Black Hills, this is a great geographical site and we totally enjoyed it.

May 22nd and 23rd we did nothing as it was a hard rain in the area, receiving over 4 inches of rain. The area was in a drought and this was the most that they had at one time in years.

May 21st we drove and geocached the Spearfish Canyon. What a beautiful sight to see, and by geocaching we got to see even more of the area. We had supper with some fellow workamping friends the “Rvingmillers”. We had a great time and spend over two hours together and just talked about common topics that mean a lot to workampers.

May 20th we drove to the country’s first Memorial, Devil’s Tower, What an amazing site. There is not enough that I could say about the awesome beauty of it. We probably saw about 20 climbers on the tower, maybe 40 years ago I would of tried it. On the way home we stopped at the Vore Buffalo Jump where the Indians drove the buffalo into a pit and if the fall did not kill them they could finish the job with there bows. The bones of an estimated 20,000+ buffalo are there.

May 19th we mover about 60 miles to Rush no More CG and spent the day working around the MH. We also did a run to down town Sturgis, to do a little shopping. Spent the rest of the day relaxing around the MH.

May 18th we attended a local church in the morning, it was a very personal experience as being a small town they knew the regulars and the visitors. Made us feel right at home. In the afternoon we did some walking and a geocache. Later in the day we meet up with Travelingal from the WK forums at the local Perkins Restaurant and had an enjoyable three hour visit. It is so wonderful to meet up with other Workampers. We have casually met a lot of other Workampers on our journey.

May 17th in the morning we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial, what a great sight. We watched workers drill and set charges that would set off by Ann Currie from the Today Show on Monday. We also spent a lot of time just touring the facility. In the afternoon we drove the Needles Highway to Custer State Park, another beautiful drive and the Park is just awesome with all of the wild life and the natural setting.

May 16th we traveled to the Black Hills and to Crooked Creek CG as we tour the sights in the area, we monitored the transmission and all is well. In the afternoon we went into Rapid City to pick up our mail and meet the people that do our service, at the same time we registered to be able to vote and also get an absentee ballot. In the evening we went to Mt. Rushmore and did the tour of the place and stayed till the lighting of the faces, it was a wonderful sight and we can not believe all of the sights that we have seem over the past couple days.

May 15th after checking the fluid level in the transmission we saw it was very low and when we went into Mitchell to do some sightseeing we picked up fluid and other supplies. After adding 5 qts. Of fluid we than hooked up and started our journey to the Badlands, at a rest area we stopped and checked the fluid level again and saw that we needed another 4 qts. of fluid. We finished our leg of the journey with no more problems with the transmission. In the late afternoon we did a tour of the badlands and what an incredible area, more than we could ever expected to see. We stayed in the Badlands till night and watched as they transformed with the sunset.

May 14th leaving Amana Colonies we traveled through Iowa on our way to Spencer to pick up a Select-Air Comfort mattress. We took all secondary roads and totally enjoyed the country, we had planned on staying the night in Spencer. With out any reason to stay in Spencer we decided to move on and go to Mitchell, SD. On the way to SD we went into part of Minnesota for a while, on this leg of our journey we took the interstate system. We arrived at Family-e-Fun CG for the night, at that time we discovered that we were having a problem with the transmission in the MH.

May 13th As we left Springfield we met with Jerry and he took our mattress, we than headed across Illinois and into Iowa. Again we took secondary roads and just marveled at the beauty of our great country. We stopped for the night at Amana Colonies, after setting up we did some geocaching. We would like to come back to this place as there is so much to do and learn in the area. Just a nice place to be.

May 12th meet wit Jerry & Lois for a lunch of “Horseshoes” which are served in Springfield. Quite tasty and the one that we split was plenty. We than went to the Lincoln Museum and learned about the time of Abe Lincoln. Jerry than took us out to the Springfield Mile race track and it was very impressive. We ate a light supper and returned to there place to enjoy the evening. We made plans to meet Jerry the next morning to discard our mattress, other than that we bade farewell abd will see the in Florida next winter.

May 11th we left in the morning for a drive to Springfield to visit our friends Jerry & Lois. The drive was again on a lot of secondary roads and the scenery was wonderful. We met Jerry & Lois for a Sunday Soup and spent the evening there, it was a great time that was had by all.

May 10th we took two classes each in the morning and than attended the closing ceremony, we won a autograph book by Gaylord Maxwell. We than hooked up, eta a light lunch and headed out for Illinois where we spent the night in a great little community park in Carmi. We had a good day and a great drive as we took a lot of backroads.

May 9th another day of classes and again we each took 4 a piece. After attending the classes we are discovering that they are geared more towards a new camper. They are informative and focus on things that we know, but just make us reremember the issues. Would not suggest the class for fulltimers.

May 8th we took the MH to have it worked on and made it back by the first class. Each one of us attended 4 classes today and gathered a lot of information. We had to cut the last class short as we had to pick up the MH. We were well pleased with the work on the MH and to think that they only charge $65.00 per hour. Rained most all day but, after supper it stopped and we could put the hitch and bikes back on the MH.

May 7th we moved over to Western Kentucky University for Life On Wheels and got set up and than did some shopping in the afternoon. We did fine one Geocache in the parking lot. We also went to the opening ceremonies.

May 6th we drove around the area a while to just get our bearings, we tried to find Dwight Embry’s garage and couldn’t find in so we called them and were told it was on the other side of town. We did locate them and were impressed with the place. Kathleen took her driving course in the afternoon and did excellent. After that we just walked around and met some of the people.

May 5th we finished our journey. It was the first time that I drove out of the eastern time zone can’t believe it that I never did this before. We pulled into Bowling Green KOA and it seems to be a gathering place for a lot of the Life On Wheels people. The weather for driving both days was just great.

May 4th we started early and drove 450 miles which is much too many but we are pushed to get to Bowling Green. We got within 20 miles of the W Va. / Ky. Border till we stopped, that will leave us with about 300 miles to go.

May 3rd just totally enjoyed the day renewing friendships and for the evening meal we had the steak fry at Red Run.

May 2nd We did some last minute shopping to get supplies for our trip out west. Jon went to the old bus stop and met up with some friend’s there. Later in the day as campers came in we got to see a lot of friends.

May 1st we babysat Sammie for the last time this visit and packed up to go to Red Run for the weekend. We had a good trip down and we used our new toy, the DeLorme Street Atlas for the first time and it works great. When we got set up at Red Run we were visited by some of the neighbor’s and had a nice time.

April 2008

April 27th we had a cookout for Kathleen’s family Donnie and his family and Dave and Sammie as Missy was missing as to not feeling well. Also there was Elmer and Phyllis. We picked a day but the weather would not cooperate as it was cool and dreary. We started to say a lot of goodbyes as we are leaving on the 1st

April 25th we picked up mom from the hospital and took her home. I had heard that my daughter and granddaughters were going to visit her this evening. I greeted my daughter before she came into the building and I didn’t know if she would stay or leave, she stayed and I got to spend over 1 hour with the girls it was a great time and I also got some Pic’s.

April 23rd we found out today that Mom will be coming home from the hospital on the 25th. This is good news and she is healing very well.

April 21st in the last several days we mainly worked around the MH and Kathleen was babysitting Sammie. We are getting ready for our long trip, we continue to repair or modify different things on the MH.

April 18th we went to Blue Mtn. Golf course and enjoyed a great afternoon of golf. In the evening we met up with Jeff & Shirley for supper and later enjoyed a campfire with them. Another great day.

April 17th as the days pass we are in a routine as Sammie is here and I usually get to the Hopsital once a day. We are also spending time on fixing up the MH. We have discovered that we need to take care of some problems and today we called a garage in Ky. for repairs. All of the local shops are filled till after we leave so we had to made plans while we are on the road.

April 12th we picked up Sammie and with Jeff & Shirley and Devlin their grandson we went to Circle M in Lancaster for the afternoon. We enjoyed the indoor swimming pool and the water slide.

April 11th we were invited to Elmer and Phyllis’s Place for supper and we had a wonderful time talking and playing cards. Quick footnote Mom is doing better each day and we get in to see her each day.

April 9th Mom’s surgery took longer than expected, but all is fine and we stayed there till she got into her room. She was put in ICU mainly for observation as to a slight heart problem.

April 8th Took mom into the hospital today which at this time will be for at least a week, surgery will be tomorrow and we hope that all goes well.

April 7th Kathleen will be baby-sitting Sammie for the next several weeks and she is such a joy to have around. She likes the playground the best along with her bike. Talked to Grace (mom) today as to when she must go to the hospital.

April 6th finally made it back to church, as our first Sunday in Pa. and was nice to meet old friends again. We were invited to Jeff & Shirley’s place of supper, and we had a great time with a lot of stories.

April 5th we reached Pa. where we will spend several weeks, Wegot set up and went in and spend some time with Grace. Dave & Missy along with Sammie came over tonight with pizza and we have a great time with them.

April 4th much to long of a day of driving but we did want to get a good step into getting to Pa. We made it to Va. And enjoy a good peaceful night of sleep. Finally got some internet and realized that our Credit Card was compromised by someone in Detroit, Mi. Called the CC Co. and had a stop put on it, Will have to be issued a new card.

April 3rd after checking in the MH for service we went to play golf and enjoyed the day, When we were finished, they had the MH finished and we continued our trip North. We got into South Carolina till evening and we stayed at another CG that was along I-95.

April 2nd meet with Mike & Kathy for breakfast, seems that all we are doing is eating and saying good by. They had their truck in the garage for some work and were told in would not be ready till early next week. We also hooked up today and headed for Jacksonville, where we will have some service preformed on the MH. We had a nice slow trip up to J-Ville and enjoyed the night next to the by-pass at the Cummins shop.

April 1st we went golfing with Debbie & Eddie and had a great time. After golf we meet up with Nora, Woody, Larry, Angie and Gracie for dinner, it was a great time till we had to say our good-bys.

March 2008

March 31st just spent a lot of leisure time doing nothing. Taking a mental break from our winter job.

March 30th Nora, Woody Angie, Larry and Gracie came out to the park in the morning for a short visit. Latter in the day we all went to Debbie’s and Eddie’s place and had a cookout and played games in the afternoon. It was great having family time.

March 29th we left Sun-n-Fun and drove up to Moss Park in Orlando for 4 nights. We had a reservation for three nights and took a chance that they would have an opening for tonight. They had one site left and it was a Handicap site that was larger and had a concrete pad (what a shame). We than meet with Debbie and Eddie and had a great night.

March 28th our last day of work. Sheila didn’t really want to see or talk to us, she is terrible. We had a great time with ou fellow workers and bid them farewell. Dorothy, (Troy and Tristan) Mike, Kathy and ourselves went to Ci Ci Pizza and had a great time.

March 27th we went to a meeting asked for by Deidre’ about all of the problems that we had with Sheila. We gave her our letter and than talked about the problem. She wanted to know what would get us back, our reply was not next year maybe after that. She stated that changes would be made. In the afternoon we attended the bowling banquet and had a great time. I won a gift certificate to Jr’s Packinghouse Café, we than gave this to Dorothy as she had a tough year.

March 26th we played golf with Jerry and after that we met up with Lois and went to Jr’s Packinghouse Café to eat. Can’t believe we didn’t know about this place sooner as it was great.

March 22nd we along with Mike & Kathy went to cracker Barrel for brunch with Kathleen and Mary (Priscellia). This was a great time to be had by all, we met and talked like we were friends all of our lives.

Mar. 8th to the 12th we looked at other RV. Resort in the area of Arcadia, Bowling Green and Avon Park. We picked a real nice park in Avon Park, Adelaide Shores RV Resort and we will winter here next year. We will take the winter off and just enjoy the place. For the past several weeks we have not done much of any thing other than work, bowl and play golf. We have decided that the 28th will be are last day of work and we will leave the following day. We thought that we were happy when we arrived at this place, but after working here we will be a lot happier to leave. We have been going to Arcadia to play golf as we really like that area.

Mar 4th we along with Mike & Kathy went to the Strawberry Festival for the day. For the price of admission we got to see several shows and had a great time. We will go again when we are in the area.

Mar. 1st we went to Arcadia to look for a place to stay next year. We are pretty sure that we will take the winter off and spend our time in Fl.

February 2008

Feb, 28th did our bowling thing and we think that we are getting back on track. To bad the season is over in two weeks.

Feb. 27th went to play some Golf in Arcadia again with Jerry, Lois, Lindall, and Sandy and had a great time.

Feb. 25th I usually don’t talk about work but, today we ran into the worst left mess we ever encountered. At the park they had some circus people here that worked the Sarasota circus and we have never seen such a mess. I raised pigs as a teenager and they were cleaner than these people. I will not even call these people pigs as it gives a bad name to pigs.

Feb. 23nd Went to a local flea market and did some shopping and than finally took out our Kayak for a maiden voyage. The Kayak did a great job, we didn’t get wet and after about I hour we came back. We loaded up and on our way home it started to rain, timing is everything.

Feb. 21st before we left we played a couple games of shuffleboard. We than made our way to Orlando to Downtown Disney as we were going to La Nouba, Cirque Du Soleil. We did a little shopping and than went to the Rain Forest to OVER eat the food was very and the helping were huge, we than made the mistake of getting dessert. When we came out it was raining and we had to go to the other end of Downtown Disney for the show. As for the show there are no words that I can think of to describe it, other than I would go again and again and I am glad that we got to see it in this lifetime. While the four of us were there no one spoke a word as we all were speechless.

Feb. 20th Had a painful procedure this morning at Sea Pines Va. Hospital. Got through it ok and had good news and was told that hopefully medication was all that I needed. We got back and when Jeff and Shirley got there we went to play 9 holes of golf. Probably one of the hardest nine holes I ever played because of my morning test. We finished off the evening by going to the pool side bar here at the park to eat and get drinks. We were going to play shuffleboard but the rains came and washed that out.

Feb. 19th after work we packed up and went to Siesta Beach with wine, cheese, and crackers to watch the sunset. The sand at Siesta Beach has to be some of the finest in the world. We were in for an additional treat as the sun set in the west a full moon was rising in the east. What a beautiful night, except for the Sea Gulls.

Feb. 18th Jeff and Shirley got here today and we just took a nice walk around the park, we went to the poolside bar to eat and drink. Had a nice time and a lot of good conversation.

Feb.16th back to Baypines again for hopefully the last test. Came home and did a lot of cleaning as Jeff and Shirley will be arriving on the 18th.
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Feb. 14th we got our kayak today, it only tok six weeks from the initial order. It will be a couple days till we get to use it.

Feb. 13th back up to Baypines for more tests, after that we took a slow leisurely drive down the golf coast. Just an enjoyable day in Florida.

Feb.9th we got up and went to play shuffleboard at a daily tournament and lost big time, these players are very good and take the game seriously. We again to Mayyaka park to ride bike and it is such a beautiful place, quite and tranquil.

Feb. 8th with our kayak issue settled and to our favor as we got all of our money back we ordered another one. Same model and accessories but with upgraded seats at an increased cost of $20.

Feb. 6th we went with our neighbors Jerry & Lois) again to Arcadia for golf. Also playing was Lois’s cousin and her husband (Lendall & Sandy) after golf we all stopped to eat, it was a great day.

Feb. 2nd We went to the Big Cat Habitat with Jerry & Lois. What a great time we had and got to see the bears, lions, and tigers. They put on quite a show and we got our picture taken with a white tiger.

January 2008

Jan. 30th we went to arcadia for the day and played golf there. It is such a nice peaceful area and the course was very pretty. We both even had good days score wise as well. This was the first time we got to play since we played with Eddie and Debbie.

Jan. 27th Oh, the long drawn out days of the winter. We like the area and the park we are in but the job itself has a lot to be desired.

Jan. 23rd after not having and success with getting our kayak we started to investigate why it was not sent. We went through e-bay and paypal and also called our credit card company to expatiate the problem.

Jan 17th we started on our bowling team and meet up with our partners (Emory & Ida) we will have a good time bowling.

Jan. 16th we went again to the Va. Hospital in Baypines for another appointment and was informed that they will be doing more tests. Had to put in some time tonight at Woodland Hall for a Murder Mystery dinner, All we did was plate food and clean-up.

Jan. 12th went to another beach today and just walked around and had a good time, also went to the “St. Armands Circle” and strolled through the countless boutiques in the area. A very nice area but to say the least a bit pricey. Went to a local lake as they had some kayakers there, when we get ours we will probably start here before we go to the inlet.

Jan. 10th we went to the Job Fair in Lakeland for the day and got to meet a lot of great people there. These are some of the people that we read on the forums and it was nice to put a face on them. We are sure that they wanted to get a face on us because we show our tiger on the forum.
Jan. 9th had to return to Bay pines Va. For some more tests and we just had a great day and we are still amazed how well it hospital is run. We had to do some shopping for some articles we needed and just enjoyed being in Fl. For the winter.

Jan. 5th the weather really warmed up nicely and we walked the beach at Siesta Key, probably some of the smoothest sand we ever saw. It is supposed to be one of the finest beaches in the country and we can see why. Kathleen saw a Verizon store and had wanted for a while to upgrade her phone. We went in to look around and she picked out a camera phone, when the salesman came back he had two one for each of us. At this point we now have two new camera phones.

Jan. 3rd we went bowling with the Sun N Fun bowling league as our last week of being subs.

Jan. 2nd we went to the Va. Hospital in Bay pines, for some medical checkups. We did find that they have a great system and we were in and out in two hours. This was registration, meeting with the nurse and doctor going to the labs for blood and urine tests, and also getting meds at the pharmacy. The cold spell hit us good and of course we had some issues with the heat, same problem as last spring. We are going to have to get some spare parts and fix the unit. We jumped out the bad sensor for now and know how to manually operate the system. We went to E-bay today and bought a 330 Sea Eagle inflatable kayak.

Jan. 1st to start the New Year we worked as this was a scheduled day, we did enjoy our pork & sauerkraut though. We did have a cold spell come in today and the temps are going down to the 30’s.

December 2007

Dec. 29th Debbie, Eddie & James came over for a visit and we had a great time as we showed them around the resort. We played several games of shuffleboard and sat at the pool side bar. Debbie also got to buy a seat for her bike.

Dec. 27th we joined a bowling league at a local bowling ally that is for the RV Resort only. We are lucky as we have off on bowling days. Kathleen was especially happy as she had a 190 game.

Dec 26th we were playing shuffleboard and we watched other people how it play it correctly, we were asked to play in a game of shuffleboard contest with about 30 other people. We are very new to this.

Dec. 22nd we went to a local State Park and did some biking and as usual we missed a biking trail and wound up on a hiking trail and it was very bad as the sand was soft and 1 to 2 inches deep. We did have a good day as we saw turkey, deer and wild pigs.

Dec. 20th we went to see the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions at their winter headquarters. They put on free shows every Thursday, Friday & Saturday through April. It was a great show and lasted about 1hour and 20 minutes.

Dec. 15th we went to the Bok Singing Tower in Lake Wales and spent the day there. While also at Lake Wales we went to Spook Hill. Dec. 18th to the 21st we spend hours on the phone with the new computer as our e-mail was receiving but not sending. With each tech we were doing the same thing over and over. Finally we got a senior tech and he had us shut off a program in the Acer and that took care of it. Seems that we had two anti-virus programs running and we didn’t need two.

Dec 7th we were taken on a little informational tour with the sales dept. We were also introduced to the $3.00 lunch while on duty, two soups, salad bar, and an entrée. We changed our eating as this will be our big meal so that we don’t have to cook in the evening. Will save a lot on food bill and also save a lot of time.

Dec. 5th & 6th we spend both of these days Christmas shopping and getting the presents ready to be shipped.

Dec. 3rd was our starting day at Sun N Fun and we met some fellow workampers. We are going to enjoy the winter stay here as the overall setup is much more than we expected. We also got our schedule and that being we work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.

November 2007

Nov. 28th we moved from Orlando to our winter home in Sarasota at Sun N Fun RV Resort. When we arrived the first thing we did was spent about 1 ½ hour at the car/RV wash to clean the rig & car. The next couple of days were spent getting to know the area and setting up for the winter.

Nov. 26th We left Savannah going south to Orlando; we are staying at Moss Park, which is a County Park that Debbie secured for us. What a great location as we saw several types of wild life. Eddie and Debbie came to visit us and we went out for supper and had a great evening.

Nov. 25th We did the tour of Savannah, and what a great time it was to see this beautiful old town so rich in history. After the tour we proceeded to Tybee Island and along the way we stopped at Fort Jackson and Fort Pulaski. Once again we are thankful for our decision to buy a senior card (which cost $10.00 for the rest of our days need to be 62) as this is a National Park and we got in for free. This is the place that new and modern technology happened during the Civil War. When the fort was completed in 1847 it was deemed invincible, and at the beginning of the Civil War it was occupied by rebel forces. The Union forces set up a siege from over two miles away with a new Rifled cannon. The rebel forces did not have a cannon that was capable of firing that far and the new cannon tore the fort apart with ease. The siege was over in thirty hours, and sends a shock wave through the rebel army. Robert E. Lee at one time helped in the building of he fort and said that it could not be breached. We than ate on Tybee Island and returned to the MH to start to pack of the next part of our trip south.

Nov. 24th We made the journey to Savannah and set up camp. We did a quick trip into Savannah to the local visitors center, as to plan our trip for the following day. As we were talking to one of the persons at the desk we were advised that in about two hours there was a lighting of the Christmas tree along with a parade of boats in the river, and to be topped off by fireworks. We decided and went to River St. and ate at the Shrimp Works and by the time we were finished eating the ceremonies were just getting started. The lighting of the tree took very long, with a lot of speeches and singing. The parade of lighted boats of all sizes and shapes was fantastic, and each boat had thousands of lights on them. We did forgo the fireworks as we were tired from the long day and wanted to get back to our MH.

Nov 23rd We went and did some geo-caching in the area, and once again saw sights that we normally would not of seen. We walked around at Barefoot Landing; we were quite surprised that it was not very busy as this is Black Friday. We returned to NASCAR Speedtrack and saw that it was very busy and we decided not to stay. As the weather was getting cooler we than returned to the MH and started to get ready for the next day’s trip. In the evening we went to the Legend’s Show and had a very enjoyable evening. While at the show we saw Jerry & Lisa Bartlebaugh from Bartlebaugh Amusements who were camper’s at Red Run. Once again Kathleen said that I know people everywhere we go.

Nov.22nd We did the Thanksgiving dinner at the CG, as we sat by the window we were right next to the Atlantic Ocean. The view as well as the campers there it was a great time

Nov. 21st went and played a round of golf, as it was a great day to be out. We also went to the NASCAR Speedtrack and ran some go-carts.

Nov. 20th Arrived in Myrtle Beach for 4 nights. Staying through till Saturday just enjoying all of the things to do in the area.

Nov. 19th we drove to North Caroline for the day as we head south.

Nov. 16th We left Lickdale CG and went to Camp Fox for three nights, to say we had a great time would be a gross understatement. Friday night fire was about 10 people and the Saturday fire was at least 25 people. We left there on Monday morning and we were told that back in Lickdale they had snow.

Nov 12th Jon spent several days getting Ed & Luann Brandt’s Motorhome ready for the winter. We installed insulation around the bottom, checked the batteries and some other tasks o make their winter better. Ed is on chemo and radiation treatments and can not travel this winter, if they could they would be in Florida.

Nov 10th we attended a Thanksgiving supper at Kathleen’s sons place. Both of her sons were there and we had a great time. The grandchildren were well behaved and pretty much took care of themselves, that left time for the adults to just enjoy the evening.

Nov. 8th we were invited to supper at Jon’s cousin Joan. We have a wonderful time as her and Bob do a lot of traveling and we traded a lot of stories. They are very interested in going on a trip to Israel that the church is getting up.

Nov. 7th we painted Kathleen granddaughter’s room. It was a good day and the task was just the project we needed to pass away some of our time while we are here.

Nov. 4th left at 5:30am and picked up Jeff & Shirley and headed to Delaware for the World Championship Punkin Chunkin. We got there at 10:00am and met up with Fox & Linda and we had a great day. It was a perfect fall day and the weather was great. We watched, as the air cannons were chunkin punkin’s well over 4400 feet. We did see a few catapults that sent punkin’s over 2200 feet. We had a short visit with Fox & Linda before the trip home. We got back at 8:30pm totally exhausted.

October 2007

Oct. 19th we went to a movie in Reading, which was titled “The Blued Eyed Six”. It is a movie about a murder and hangings held in Lebanon County, Pa. in the 1878. We enjoyed the movie, but after the movie was a panel discussion with six of he actors and the Kreider twins (producers). We enjoyed the discussion more than the movie, as Kathleen is a descendant of one of the men that did the deed and was hung and Jon is a third cousin to the Kreider twins.

Oct. 12th got to meet a lot of old friends and are getting ready to fore fill a lot of medical appointments. Ed and Luann Brandt are two sites away and they just started to fulltime about a year ago. Eddie just had a reoccurance with cancer and we do wish him well and hope that they can get back on the road in the future. We are helping them to get their motorhome insulated for the winter in Pa., hope it is a mild winter.

Oct 11th we continued our travels to Lickdale CG in Pa. In the Tremont area it took us 2 ½ hours to travel 5 miles because of an accident. Made it in about 6 pm and set up camp.

Oct. 10th we left Scenic View at 6:30 am and went to Chichester Camping World for tires on the motorhome. As per prearrangements we met Sandy Thompson there to pick up our old tires. She was probably there less than 15 minutes total. We than headed out to Masschutes for the night. Upon checking in we bought into Passport America as we do plan to travel and it should save us $$.

Oct. 5th – 8th we worked and stayed at the campground, bidding farewell to a lot of campers and are making ready to move. We will miss this area and hope to get back to visit in the future. The Clark Family treated us to a farewell dinner at the Woodstock Inn, it was a wonderful time.

Oct. 4th we went on the Hobo Railroad for a foliage tour. It was about 1hour and 20 minutes long and the foliage was not yet at peak. The ride over and back on Rt. 118 was very colorful and we enjoyed that.

Oct. 3rd we did one geocache that we had tried several times before and we found this time.

Oct. 2nd for the next couple of days we are just getting the motorhome ready for our journey south.

September 2007

Sept. 27th thru 30th the owners at the campground took a weekend of camping and we watched over the campground. It was a very light weekend and there were no problems at all.

Sept. 25 another beautiful fall day with a high blue sky and just a few wisps of clouds in the sky. We took to the golf course and totally enjoyed the day. The foliage is changing every day and the carpet of cover is different everyday. The temps were in the mid 70’s it was great, except for the high golf numbers. Tiger is safe from us.

Sept. 24 we did nothing other than go to Wally-world as we were recuperating.

Sept. 23 WE DID IT!! Starting at an elevation of about 1350 ft. at 7:30 am we hiked up towards Little Haystack Mtn. We took the Falling Waters Trail, which is 3 miles. Along the way we encountered some fantastic water falls and totally enjoyed them. On the way up we did a short side hike to see Shinning Rock. What a gorgeous site it was and the views were great. When we reached the peak at 4790 ft. the temp was in the mid 50’s and the wind was steady at about 30 mph and we would say that there were gusts of up to 50 mph. The sky was clear and we could see as far to Maine, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, and Canada. We than turned north and hiked 3/4 mile to Mt. Lincoln which has a elevation of 5089 ft. This is the Franconia Ridge Trail and is part of the Appalachian Trail. We had packed sandwiches and snacks and ate them here. The food was good but the view was nothing short of spectacular. It was a high, clear sky and as it was late Sept. the foliage was just starting to appear. After lunch we continued north for .9 mile to Mt. Lafayette, which is at an elevation of 5260 ft. Of all the trails we were on today 90% were rock, and the hiking was not easy. From Mt. Lafayette we watched several gliders in the area as they were having a great time their selves. We than headed west on the Greenleaf Trail 1.1 miles to the Greenleaf Hut, here they serve as a rest stop for hikers and can do overnight quarters for the Appalachian hikers. We took a short rest and than headed south on the Old Bridle Path Trail 2.7 miles. We were so happy that we didn’t come up this way as it is very steep and at places you have to sit to slide down. We took a short stop at an area that looked like an auditorium that was rock formation and could seat from 20 to 25 people and had a snack. We continued towards the car and it seemed like we were not going to make it before darkness set in. We have got to be the slowest hikers on the mountain. When we got to the car it was 6:30pm still with some light. We drove home and went to bed.

Sept 18th we moved our MH to another site so that we could clean the roof and paint it. Also to clean the rest of the MH and the awnings, it had gotten really bad under the trees. Kathleen did most of the work as Jon was doing some extra jobs for Paul & Carol, had to put railings on Becky’s porch and replace the roof.

Sept. 10th, 11th, and 12th only to have it rain most of the time. We did set up an appointment at Camper World in Chichester to get new tires on the MH. We will be getting them the day we leave here.

Sept. 7th we went out geocaching and came up zero, if we have time we will try to find these caches.

Sept. 6 we went and finished the Franconia bike trail, as we only have one car we had to park at different lots and wound up doing the trail twice. We than did some geocaching and hiked to the top of Artist Bluff, what a gorgeous view and to think we would never of done this if not for geocaching. We also did some other caches that day. One that we enjoyed stated at a community park, as we had to get clues for the coordinates from monuments in the park. We did learn a lot about the history of the local veterans in the area. It was today that Kathleen commented about her bike that it was not shifting; we discovered that it was not assembled correctly and we repaired it. Thank god that they don’t work for NASA.

August 2007

Aug. 31st we picked up Kathleen’s new bike, we did take it on a bike path but because of rain we had to stop our biking.

Aug. 28th we left early for a trip to Northern Maine. Was mostly a geocaching adventure and it turned out to be a wonderful sightseeing journey. We keep on saying that geocaching takes you to places less traveled and to see sights that are not on the regular commercial venue. We got to see a couple of great waterfalls that were fantastic. In the campground we did meet up with Rich and Barb from New Jersey and spent the two nights talking with them. They would like to become fulltime campers, in about 2 years.

Aug. 24th on a scheduled day off we were asked to work as Becky (the owner’s daughter had a baby, it is their first grandchild) so we swapped days off as we did not have a problem doing this as they are very good to us.

Aug. 22nd we went to Laconia to order a bike for Kathleen. We than did some geocaching and sightseeing around Lake Winnipesaukee. We especially liked the town of Wolfeboro “known as the oldest resort town in the U.S.”. We walked around the town and the boat piers and just enjoyed the whole area. After leaving Wolfeboro we did get to the “Castle in the clouds” what a great area as you can see the mountains meet the lake. Rather than going home and cooking we ate at Walter’s Basin in Holderness, as we had a table with a view to the lake.

August 21, John & Linda Vandermark came over from Vermont for a visit. They showed us a great when we visited them, so we had to return the favor. After a short chat we drove over to and drove the “Kanc” as it is a breath taking drive. We stopped at several overviews and also at Royal Gorge. From there we went to Mt. Washington and took the auto road to the summit. For those that have been on the auto road, you know the experience but for us first timers it is an experience. At the summit the views were spectular as it was a great day. We were very fornicate with the weather as it was 50 degrees on top and less than 5 MPH wind speed, it was advertised that you could see 100 miles. On the drive home we came through Franconia, past the remains of the “Old man of the mountain” and stopped at the Woodstock Inn for supper (a place that I would recommend to any one). It was such a great day, as we bid good-bye with a tear. They are going out west in a month and we will be going that way in spring and we hope to meet soon.

August 16, “WE FOUND IT” Over the course of the last several months we have been getting information on the location of a crashed B-18A bomber. It crashed in Jan, 1942 on the side of Mt.Waternomee, 7 crew on board and five came away alive. For more information go to: http://www.logginginlincoln.com/Page2.html. This was no easy task, and we did try before we had a GPS. At that time we went as far as we could without getting lost. Today we had the GPS and hiked the first mile on a great trail to a clearing. After that the trail was an overgrown logging trail from the turn of the last century. We knew that the bomber was a mile from the clearing and after hours hike of 1 mile we were still a mile to the bomber. At that point we went across the mountain towards the bomber. Half of the time we should have had a machete as the limbs, bog, rocks downed trees and any other obstacle in the way. It took us 4 hours to get there. The last 3oo feet we found a trail. It was great when we came to the area and across the last obstacle there was a flag at the spot of the plaque, made us feel good. The elevation here was 2747ft. We are entering the GPS coordinates at the plaque: N 44 00.514 W 071 46.919. We spent some time in the area as we knew the crashed over a wide area, and would not be able to see all of it and we had to start our journey back. The trail we found we used to go back but let us say it is not a trail but only paint marked on trees. We followed it for a mile and realized that it was taking us away from the clearing we had to get to. We than turned through the forest to continue our hike and finally got to the clearing. As we were here before we knew we were home free. If we were asked today to do it again, NO WAY. Maybe tomorrow we will feel better about it. After this was all over and getting home and cleaning up. We treated ourselves to supper at The Twig, and also Sky King was having open mic that evening. So we enjoyed a few songs before leaving and crashing at home.


August 15, Went back to Laconia to return the bike that was lent to us. We ordered a new bike for Kathleen and were told it would take a week, in the mean time the distributor exhausted their supply of “07” and are awaiting shipments of the “08”. The bike shop loaned us a bike for the Bar Harbor trip. We than played a round of golf on a par three executive course.

Aug. 10th as we awoke and prepared breakfast and broke camp upon leaving the campground we encountered a camper that I knew at Red Run. We spent a lot of the day exploring Mt. Desert Island before we left and we did find 4 geocaches today that took us all over the place. Got back to New Hampshire a 10:00 pm that night.

Aug. 9th we did a Wal-Mart run to get an air mattress for the tent. We also did some more geocaching and went to places the normal traveler would not go on the island. Did some sightseeing, as the skies were perfectly clear. Rode the bikes around Eagle Lake about 6 mi. We than went on our prearranged Whale watch and what a great time that was. We spotted one whale that was feeding in a school of fish near the surface. We were watching him for well over 30 min. As we returned to shore another lobster dinner was just yelling for us and we enjoyed a great feast.

Aug. 8th we went to Bar Harbor, Me. Drove in rain all of the way and set up our tent in the rain. Because we couldn’t see anything we did do some geocaching. This is a great activity as it takes you to places one would never go to. We found two caches today and then we went for a lobster dinner. We went to Abel’s and had a great dinner. After that the sun came out and we went to Bar Harbor to do some shopping and sign up for whale watching. Returned to Hadley’s Point campground as the winds increased greatly after trying to spent the night in the tent we moved into the car because of the noise. Not a very good night’s sleep.

Aug. 3rd in this heat we stayed low and did some geocaching and found a great cache in a limestone kiln in NH. Went looking for a second one but the heat got to us and we went back to the pool.

Aug. 2nd we went to the Polar Caves in Rumney, NH and spent some time there, it was very enjoyable and exciting. With all of this hot weather again we hit the pool.
Aug. 1 Took a short hike to a waterfalls just to sit in the falls and enjoy, but with the lack of rain in the area the most you could get wet was the bottom of your feet and the falls were dried up. With this we went back to the campground and jumped into the pool.

July 2007

July 31st we didn’t have anything to exciting set up for this week. We went to Lincoln to get some information for the future as to the whereabouts of the crashed B-18 bomber, and we were successful in getting some GPS coordinates. Also obtained some more hiking information and bought a great trail map of the White Mts. Area.

July 22nd we met Eddie & Debbie along with Mom for breakfast at the Quentin House. In the afternoon we had Mom’s 90th birthday party at the Quality Inn in Lebanon. What a great time was to be had by all. I cannot put into words what a great party it was. In the evening we went to Dave’s place for a cookout and a good time with her family.

July 21st we met Dave at the Mt. Lebanon cemetery to fine the burial plot of Charles Drews. Leaving there we went to Donnie’s home to meet with their family, Kathleen’s oldest granddaughter was in from Washington State. After the visit we went to Spring Side pitch ‘n’ putt golf course. In the evening we visited Jeff and Shirley for an evening of relaxation.

July 20th we found our 1st Geocache, we than took Sammy to the playground in the morning, later in the afternoon we went to Green Dragon to shop and than to Red Run Campground for a visit.

July 19th in the morning I golfed with Woody at Monroe Valley, in the afternoon I had a great visit with Jim & Peg Denier, Harvey Lengle and his sister Linda this was at my sister Nora’s home. On this day Kathleen took her granddaughter’s shopping to the outlets in Reading, and they had a great time.

July18th we stopped at Cabela's in Hamburg to do some shopping and than did a lot of errands (credit union, banks, gift certificates, etc.) also visited with some family. It was quite an exhausting day.

July 17th left to go home to Pa. For a special visit, just took the car and not the MH. Sort of a bad move as we could not find a motel room for the night in the NY/NJ area.

July 12th we went to Plymouth and saw Plymouth Rock and saw the Mayflower II, did a little shopping. Our journey back we passed Gillette Stadium where the New England Patriots play. We could not get in, as there was a lot of construction in the area. Coming back through Boston we again went through the Big Dig and went back to New Hampshire. While on our travel we went to New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. Back to the campground and go to work. Friday the Thirteenth was an unlucky day for a local moose as it was hit and broke it’s spine. The police took care of putting in out of its misery, and gave the moose to some of the seasonal campers in the park. They spent two days butchering and on Sunday they cooked up several pounds of meat. As we were somewhat apprehensive as to the taste of moose we did try it and it was delicious, we did get several pounds for the freezer and cannot wait till we have a moose supper. If you get a chance it is good eating.

July 11th we started the day to drive out and see Cape Cod and we needed to find a diner for breakfast, we came across a place that looked good and had a lot of cars around it. Had to be a good restaurant or a Wal-Mart. Grumpy’s restaurant is a fine place to eat, while we did have a 10 min. wait and we were lucky as people who came later waited 30 min. Leaving there we went to the Brewster General Store and what a find as people were sitting outside on the deck reading their morning papers. For the regulars each has an old post office type mailbox for their own personal morning paper. We than stopped at the Strawberry Patch gift store and browsed for a while. Continuing out the Cape we stopped at Ellis Landing and Rock Harbor. We also stopped at several beaches along the way and did arrive in Provincetown and visited the Pilgrim Monument. On our return trip back we stopped at a restaurant and had some clam “chowda”, and it was great. Back at the campsite we had hot dogs and enjoyed the evening.

July 10th drove down to Boston and did a day of sightseeing and did the Old Town Trolley Tour, what a great tour as they have 18 stops throughout the city and at any stop you can dismount and get back on different trolley. (Trolley’s run about every 15- 20 min) We parked at the Charlestown Naval Yard and toured the Constitution before we started our tour, as this is stop #3. At stop #5 we got off and walked around the area of the Old State House, Boston Massacre, Old South Meeting house, Faneuil Hall. Reboarding, we stayed on the tour for a while and enjoyed the driver/guide and the information that they gave us. We did get off at stop #9 and walked around the outside of Fenway Park, maybe was expecting more as this park with all of it’s fabled tradition sits in the middle of town with very little or no parking even some of the bleachers are built over the streets. Getting back on the trolley we than went to stop #13 Copley Square/Newberry Square which features the Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library. We than reboarded the tour and changed trolley’s at #1. At #2 we dismounted the trolley and walked to the Paul Revere House and followed the Freedom Trail to the Old North Church (did the church tour). Followed the trail to Copps Hill Burying Ground, than walking we went to the Bunker Hill Monument, walked up the 294 steps to the top and enjoyed the view of Boston. We walked back to the car and proceeded to Shawnee State Park via the Big Dig through the center of Boston and set up our tent.

July 5th, we returned to the states and stopped in Vt. for breakfast. We found a quaint little bed & breakfast on the shores of Lake Champlain that was so serene and peaceful we could of stayed forever. A waitress at the bed & breakfast told us about the Snow farms vineyards down the road, and as we were going to stop at a winery we decide to try this one and it was a great find. After leaving the winery we made our way to Waterbury, Vt. and when in Waterbury you go to Ben & Jerry’s for the tour and ice cream. With much will power we did leave and go down the road to Cabot Vt. and again when in Cabot you go to the Cabot Cheese and Butter Factory. We did not take the tour, as it would have been an hour wait for they were that busy. Moving on we went back into New Hampshire and we stopped in Bath. There is the oldest continuous operating General Store in the country, from as far back into the 1700’s. Any one going into that store receives a free piece of fudge. (It was some of the best we ever ate). As we got to our home we were quite weary and tired. We did get everything stowed away till next week.

July 4th We took a shuttle bus into Montreal and did a tour of the city, which needless to say is magnificent. After the tour we had three hours to do whatever we wanted. As it started to rain when we returned to our tent and for the rest of the night and we stayed mostly dry as we did had a few leaks, we endured.

July 3 Left early in the morning to meet up with John & Linda Vandermark in Burlington, VT. We decided to stop for breakfast along the way and in the state of VT. They do not list facilities along the interstate so we got off at the Montpelier exit. As there were no restaurants at the exit we drove into town to find a restaurant. We stopped at the J. Morgan Steakhouse for a wonderful meal. This place is almost in the shadow of the capitol building. This has got to be one of the most picturesque capitals in the country. With it’s golden dome in the back drop of the lust green mountains. We do know that it is the smallest. We met up with John & Linda and we took a 1 1/2 ride on the Ethan Allen III on Lake Champlain, what a breath-taking event. We also toured the Lake Champlain Chocolate Co. We went to eat at the Shanty that overlooks the port of Burlington. From there we went to Montreal, Canada and set up our tent for two nights.

June 2007

June 28th we biked some more of the trail at Franconia Notch State Park. This is a lovely bike trail with all of the wonderful scenery. Our GPS unit came in today as we feel it will help us with our hikes and we want to get started in geocaching, which will take us to new locations.

June 26th we went up on Cannon Mt. Which is the mountain that the Old Man on the Mountain was on as it fell in May of 2004. We enjoyed the views, as the summit is 4180 feet up.

June 21st we played 18 holes of golf and as we are not very good we don’t look for that good round but are happy with a few good hits. We do really enjoy being out in nature and enjoying life.

June 19th we did a hike to “Light on the mountain” did not find the downed bomber on this trip. Will have to get more information as to the whereabouts of the crashed B-18 from over 60 years ago.

June 12th we hiked the Welch/Dickey Mountain trail, which is a 4 1/2 mi. hike. It is a very steep rugged, rocky trail and at points it has jagged drop-offs. The two summits are 1/2 mi. apart with a 300 to 400 dip in between the two. 14th we biked some of a trail at Franconia Notch State Park as I say some of it as we found out that our bodies are getting older.

June 8th we hit the golf course, also got some information to work at Sun –N-Fun for the winter in Florida, and back to work for the weekend.

June 7th we rested our weary bones.

June 6th we hiked up Mt. Moosiluke 4802 high, great hike beautiful scenery and cold at the peak, while there an A-10 did a fly around

June 1 Elmer & Phyllis came up and we went to several waterfalls and also saw a moose up close.

March, April, May 207

May 31st we went to Saint Gaudens National Park and bought a senior pass for the national park system.

May 30th we hiked to Franconia Falls approx. 6 miles.

May 23rd went to Manchester and toured the city and in the evening went to a Hershey Bears hockey game and the bears won.

May 10th we are getting ready to open up the campground. Took some small driving trips around the state.

May 3rd got word that Kathleen’s niece passed away in Virginia We went to Virginia on the 6th for the funeral and returned to Scenic View on the 9th with a cracked windshield that happened in Scranton, Pa.

May 1 started our new first workamper job.

April 29 left Lickdale Campground for our summer job at Scenic View Campground in New Hampshire.

March 30 left our plaza apartment and moved into our 40 ft. safari motorhome. Moved to Lickdale Campground for the month of April. Made the car ready to be towable such as brake systems and electrical lights. Also made camper ready to move such as cabinet closures and wine glass holders. Aproxmently April 11 the heating system stopped working and after calling hydro-hot they overnighted a part as we replaced the part it did not fix the problem, again called hydro hot and we short cut a thermostat and they send another part, if was replaced and worked fine.