May 28th & 29th on Thursday we did a little sightseeing by going into Acadia NP and went to Thunder Hole, even though we were there at the allotted time it was not a very good showing as the seas were somewhat mild. From there we bypassed Cadillac Mountain as it was fogged in and we will see it at another time. We did go and do some shopping for the pantry and to get some supplies for lunch for next week. Because of the overcast day and pending rain we came home and relaxed for the rest of the day. Sharon did stopover in the evening and told us about Larry and his bout with a sinus infection and that they went to the Dr. and got some medicine. He is in bed and was told to rest for a few days, what a way to spend your days off. On Friday we drove up to Bangor to meet up with the Pages and had a great time, Lee & Leigh are wonderful hosts and we spent some time at their MH and then went out for lunch. As we were in the restaurant the rains started to increase. We drove back to their site and dropped them off, we were going to do some sightseeing but all we would have seen was more rain. On our return trip we had nothing but rain; at a point in time since we had just eaten we stopped at a gas station in any out of the way spot and took a 45 minute snooze. We then continued back stopping at Dunkin Donut’s and got ½ dozen donuts, they were ok but we sure like the Krispy Cream donuts a lot better. After returning the rain did stop and we went out to take a walk around the CG and we met up with another person that we will be working with and their first day is Monday as well as ours.
May 27th after breakfast and cleaning up we went to Bar Harbor, Jon missed a turn off and we did a very scenic route to get there. We stopped in at Coastal Kayaking and Bicycle Rental and introduced ourselves. We met up with several people that we will be working with and did a walk around town. Everyone is very nice and we are looking forward to getting started. This is a very typical New England fishing area and we are totally thrilled to be here for the summer. We then went to Wal-Mart and bought a few items, just as the rains started, the rest of the day were indoor activities only. If any of our blog readers get into this area stop in and see us, we can help get you around the area.
May 26th we woke up this morning and the temperature was 36 degrees, as we looked out we could see the frost on the grass. We went to the dump station, emptied our tanks for the journey today. We did see Paul and we thanked them for the stay and wished them a good summer and also encouraged them to have a good Halloween weekend at the end of the year. Two years ago we gave a little input with the Halloween weekend and they are into it completely. As always we hate to leave for adventures unknown, but that is the spice of traveling and we are looking forward to around the next bend. We went across New Hampshire on good secondary roads and we had a good travel day, we did watch our temperature gauge and we didn’t lose a drop of water the entire trip. Now at a point during the summer, hopefully sooner than later, we will have to remove the heater core and have it repaired. After about a 6 hour trip we got to our summer home at Smuggler’s Den in Southwest Harbor in Maine. We unhooked and set up camp and after a good meal we met up with Larry & Sharon, they are across the street and Larry is working at the same place we will be. We are looking forward to the summer and having a good time.
May 22nd & 23rd arriving here we had some issues with our water leak and the bug problem; also our sunshade fell down from the rough roads that we had encountered. The roads in PA, NY, CT, and lower MA. were terrible with a lot of potholes and poor transfers from road surface to bridges. We did get up Friday to a beautiful new day and we are at the western edge of the White Mountains. The views are just fantastic and being early spring, eveything is so green. As we said, we are mid way up on the western edge of New Hampshire at http://www.scenicviewnh.com/ . We worked here two summers ago and we are so happy to have that wonderful experience. Paul & Carole along with their two daughters and son-in-law keep the place as clean as a pin; they run a great program and are just great people to be around. They make sure that it is kid friendly and give it a family atmosphere. If you are ever in the area we give it a true thumbs up. We did arrive bearing gifts; for the Main man we brought a bottle on Captain Morgan, son-in-law got a case of Yuengling Lager, and for Carole we brought a box of Opera Fudge, now if you are not from Lebanon County, PA you probably never heard of this homemade candy. Do not confuse this with Fudge as it is not and as for the taste when it comes to sweets, it has no rival, far and away the best.
We fixed the problems that we encountered on our trip and did some cleaning on the inside as well. As for the water leak, it is from the heater core that heats the front of the MH while traveling, and also the defrosters. We did a bypass on the water system and corrected the leak, and at a later time over the summer we will remove the core and have it repaired or replaced, seems that we can get to it without too much of a problem. We did get to walk around the CG and renewed a lot of friendships. As a matter of fact we made several rounds and just enjoyed all of the camaraderie. On Saturday night there was a band here and we had a great time, even though we weren’t right at the band site, we were across the road at a campfire. Once again we want to put in a plug for the CG in the White Mountains of New Hampshire http://www.scenicviewnh.com/ and if you are in the area you will enjoy it here. Just another great two days.
May 21st Ah, the day we are looking for, moving day as we start our journey to Bar Harbor. We got a later than expected start as we took our MH in for some work. We had the front wheel oil seal replaced last week and this past Monday we saw that we needed to add some oil to it and that soon after we added the level went down. So we took it back to have redone. We started on our journey at about 10:00 am and it was going fine till we got to Scranton, PA and there in a construction zone was an accident and Rt. 81 was a parking lot. We did manage to get off and proceed through the town to reenter Rt.81 north of the accident. From there as we left Pa. on Rt. 84 just in Port Jarvis, NJ we stopped for fuel, while there we discovered a water leak in the engine coolant system, it was in the front near the heater core. After calling a place and being told that they didn’t have time to do it we decided just to relieve the pressure in the system and go our merry way and keep an eye on the temp gauge. With all of the time lost at several places and events we hit Hartford, Ct. at 5:00 work traffic, took us about 35 minutes to go 3 miles and then just up the road we got into Springfield, Mass. where it took us 25 minutes to go 2 ½ miles. Soon after that while still in Mass. we pulled over to fill the radiator with water, one thing with the MH we have a lot of water on board. We then proceeded into VT. And just as the sun faded over the mountains we got into New Hampshire. We drove the back roads of NH with very poor headlights (the first time we drove the MH at night, and believe us the lights are only for daylight driving) and our windshield full of bug juice which will take a lot of work removing. We arrived at the CG and after setting up Jon went out and talked to some of the campers that we know here. It was a long day and a day to test our patience but we did really well, so after all it was a great day.
May 18th we are nearing the end of our time here in PA. In the last week we have had our MH worked on as well as having the fluid changed in the transmission on the car. Kathleen has been quite busy in fulfilling her Chiropractor appointments. Along with that she is babysitting her granddaughter, and they have been having a great time together. One day last week when she wasn’t going to watch her granddaughter, events changed and she called and asked if she could come out to be with her grandma. Over the past several weeks she stayed overnight several times, she has to do it now as when we come back she will be in kindergarten. Jon has been quite busy as he replaced the boots on the tow bar and generally went over it and brought it back up to specs. One day Kathleen was shopping for food at the local Amish / Mennonite stores also know as chip & dent store, we do a lot of shopping at these stores prior to leaving as we found that their prices are hard to match anywhere. Well when she came home we needed space to store all of the items, we had a space under the table but it didn’t have any shelves so Jon made up some shelves there and we made it a pantry. As we are finishing up we discovered that the problem we had repaired on the MH was not repaired correctly and on the day we are leaving we are taking it back early in the morning to find out what the problem is, and hopefully get it repaired at that time. Over the next few days we have so many meetings with family and friends, and in a sort of nice way we will be happy to get on the road to get some rest. Once we start moving and getting to our work in Maine we hope to be able to make more blog entries.
May 10th “Happy Mother’s Day to all and we wish you a good day. Our plans were to take Jon’s mother to church today but she called early and said that she couldn’t make it. We then went to the church that we usually go to here in PA. We always enjoy going there and it is great meeting all of our friends we have made here. After that we spent time with family and had a great day. Kathleen’s two sons and their wives were there and it just made for a great day and we did a lot of reminiscing and talking about events that are planned for the future. Kathleen’s one son and his family were at Disney World last Oct. and her second son is going in June, and we are planning on going in Dec. So we all had a lot to talk about. We didn’t get home till late in the afternoon and we just snuggled in our MH for the night.
May 6th we are so happy to be back in PA. for our short stay, Kathleen’s granddaughter just loves to spend time here, as she has a lot of friends at the campground especially the play ground area. As we had her the other night she couldn’t wait to sleep with Pokot, that is a wish she has while we are gone. Today was a short time in between rain storms that are in the area, and Jon took advantage of it by playing golf. He played a round with the present owner of the business that he had. They had a great time and got to do a lot of talking about all sorts of subjects. We are happy that they are doing a good job at the Campground, as we know this is not an easy job. As they were finishing up they could feel a new weather front coming in and a few hours later the rains came with at least 1 inch of rain overnight. We have enjoyed visiting with a lot of our family, and this past Monday we were invited to attend a Bible study at Jon’s sister’s place and that was a great time, we will be returning as long as we are in the area. As always; what is better than living in a campground?
May 2nd Just another great day as we had Kathleen’s granddaughter overnight and she was such a fun person to be with. When we get back in the fall she will be going to school and we wouldn’t get to be with her as much. In the afternoon we went to the campground that Jon used to own and spent a lot of time with the campers. It was nice since we renewed friendships and set up some future plans. Seems that a few of them will be going to Disney in the fall and since we are nearby we plan on going there for several nights. Jon was asked about playing a round of golf with the owner and it seems that it will happen in the near future. After we left the campground we stopped for some supper and had a nice drive back home. We are planning on a lot of family time while we are here and our schedule is nearly full, so as always we are enjoying our short visit in the area.
.JPG)
.JPG)
