Catch up

We traveled to GA and FL for 5 weeks from the third week of January to the end of February.  We had a condo in Orlando for the one week the first of February so it was nice to have space while it was cold. Two daughters visited us in Orlando. We traveled to visit friends in Englewood and started north again.  I had enough cool, damp weather so back we came and had to winterize the rig again.  We tried again in March on Easter for 1 1/2 weeks traveling to TN and GA.  That was much nicer.  We saw an early spring in the south with flowering trees and did not have to winterize arriving home.  Spring in Connecticut was terrible.  We had heat early April then cold so things froze and our spring buds just never formed again. No flowering trees or many flowers this spring!  Apples and peaches will be premium in a few months.

The PW is cleaned and waxed and ready to go for the summer.  I will be using it for my Wilton, CT NPS site Weir Farms volunteering once a month and hope to travel to Washington state by way of the Canadian Rockies this August and we have been penciled in for volunteering in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for the month of December so we have plans. 

We are off and running in 2016.  Happy Travels Everyone!

Summer in New England

We have used the 2008 PW on and off this summer for short things like my volunteer days in southern CT, a few trips overnight in NH, upstate NY and a long weekend down at the RI shore.  The humidity has kept me low because we have had 4 heat waves.  I hated the one in early September- bahh, humbug!!.  We are off to Hershey, PA for a class B rally for almost a week starting tonight.  We have attended this rally in the past.

This PleasureWay Excel is a good rig and everything is working the way it should.  We have even used it for a second vehicle on occasion.  I miss the excitement of traveling but do not miss the rig itself.  Although it is so much harder to pack the small rig it is so much easier to travel in.  Life is one big compromise!  I am dreaming of a trip next summer by way of the Canadian Rockies to Olympic National Park.  We will see what the future holds.  John wants to travel south for a month or so this winter. 

He used a golf membership very often this summer and I am taking 2 college art courses this fall. (Old folks can fill in space for free if there is room in regular courses).  I am taking it for audit for I do not need the courses.  I have a degree in Fine Arts. We will give a talk on the NPS at the end of October, we have joined a Learning in Retirement Association at our local college and we are going to lectures there so we are just not slaves to the house!  LIFE IS STILL GOOD!

New PW and Trip to Parris Island, SC

Where has the time gone?  We have purchased a 2008 PW Excel TS and I have used it for Weir Farms NHS volunteering and we used it on a trip to see Grandson graduate boot camp last week.  The rig is working great. We have purchased new tires (originals were on it). NEVER travel with dated tires.  An RV needs decent, not over 7 year old tires with good tread.  You take a very real chance if the tires are old.  We know people who have learned the hard way and their RV was damaged (one beyond repair).  We had a tire go flat on our original PW on a trip years ago.  Thank Goodness, it was a good experience with pleasant helpers, but we were running on an old tire, the only old tire on the rig, the former spare.  Never do that! It looked perfect with no cracks but..........it blew!

 

We have also had to purchase a battery. The refrig went out while traveling to SC.  It was the house battery and not the refrig. problem. The refrig had a kill switch that turned it off instead of ruining the refrig.  I would rather get a new battery (old was original) than a new refrig. - $$$$.  Battery and tires are just maintenance issues that are part of owning a vehicle.



The Visitor Center - a 1700's old farm house of the 2 farms there.



The studio I am docent at Weir Farms
 

New PW

This week should go by very fast.  "Big Boy" is going to his new home.  I start training at my new volunteer NPS position at Weir Farms, Wilton, CT and we travel to Pennsylvania to get "Baby B II".  We have found a 2008 Excel TS, a little different from our last one but it has only 22,000 miles on it and in our price range.  Of course it is contingent on us seeing the rig.  Saturday one of our granddaughters is graduating college so that will end a busy week! 


Our new to us travel companion - a 2008 Pleasure Way  (kind of small compared to Big Boy!

We Are Making a Change

We have a deposit on "Big Boy" and we put a deposit on a RAV4 so we can go to the dump (oops-transfer station).  We had a truck, different car and the PW before our adventures of the last 4 years.  We now must think of one vehicle that can do some truck stuff and also something I can ride in more comfy.  We are also looking for a used Pleasure Way Excel TD about 2007. (emergency 2nd vehicle and traveling partner) We decided we can't give up traveling completely!  It must get in the blood! Anyone know of one????????????


This was our 2001 Pleasure Way in 2009.

I can finally show pictures of Georgia!

My horse picture grouping is from Cumberland Island.  They are everywhere on the island.

We saw a few things while we were in Georgia.  We went to Cumberland Island National Seashore and took an all day island tour including a ferry ride.  We visited St. Mary's and we saw a traditional procession honoring George Washington.  We saw different animals and a burn in Crooked River State Park.  We went to a submarine museum.  A sub base is right next to Crooked River State Park.

We toured Plum Cottage. It is from the Carnegie era when the island was a rich man's winter retreat.  JFK Jr. was married in a tiny, tiny church on Cumberland (no picture). That is why it was a private ceremony.  We saw the church but I cannot find the pix. Plantations were on the island before/during the civil war and in the colonial era live oaks were sold for timber for sailing ships.  Now it is a national site which you must take a 1 hour ferry ride or your own boat to see.  We took an all day tour with a NPS guide, Robin, who was wonderful.  No vehicles (except our tour vans) are on the island now and roads are bumpy sandy one way paths.  There is primitive camping - what you bring in you bring out and one small campground with showers.  Young people in groups were on the ferry and ready to camp there.

Around President's Day there was a ceremony honoring George Washington in St. Mary's.  The president knew people who had connections with Cumberland Island so the first ceremony was just a few months after Geoge Washington's death.  That tradition continues today. There was a riderless horse with backward boots in stirrups in the procession.

 

At Crooked River State Park they did a prescribed burn.  Some of the burn area was in back of our rig.  Note below how close to the MH is was.  They knew just what they were doing.  The next few nights after dark fires in dead trees were still burning as patches in the woods glowed and flamed. 

 

What is now and what we left behind

This is what we left behind and below is what we arrived to this past October.
  We will stay put in this beautiful place for a time.  I have a painting studio here.