Rainy Weekend and RV Repair #2

Rainy Weekend and RV Repair #2

Saturday September 23, 2023

We were supposed to leave today, glad we decided not to, it's suppose to rain heavy all weekend. Will try to get as much done as possible.

Jim  went to visit his mom after breakfast. He was gone for hours. I got to hang out and do travel food prep,  even though our one slides is not out. 

He stopped and got milk to make yogurt,  on his way home. Of course he was starving, I had told him earlier that the MW stopped working, think it blew a fuse again. I made what I planned, just did small batch of chicken in our small air fryer. I said you better get something then.. because it would take awhile. Thought he'd be home quick, over an hour later he arrived, having already eaten. He filled with Diesel too.

Tonight after dinner we were invited over to Dennis and Linda Price for drinks. We couldn't do it last night so we packed up in the rain and went over to their Park Model in my car. 

Had a lovely time chatting and catching up and I enjoyed one of his Cosmos that he makes, I diluted it with my sparkling water from Aldi's. We headed home after 10:00 p.m. what a great day even though it rained, all day.

Sunday September 24, 2023

This morning after breakfast we were going to go visit his Mom together, would be the last time this year. He called her and she basically told him not to come. She thinks she's being nice, not having us go out in the rain. He tried to explain three different times, we're going out anyway to get things done, including other errands. But he said after she said NO three times, just forget it. We tried....

We left after lunch, dropped the car off first, with Bryan. We stayed and chatted for awhile.  Then we stopped at Giant grocery store, for more milk. Jim was  compelled to buy a lottery ticket, ended up with $50. 

Went back home and prepared for travel day tomorrow.

Jim had to fix the MW fuse 3 more times.

Sad that I couldn't see Travis and Mia this week. He was doing stuff and couldn't be bothered. Acting mad we are only here a week. I said we are living life, the only one we get. Never actually talked to him. Sad....

So tried to pack what we could to get ready for tomorrow.

I'm so sick of the Rain.

Monday September 25, 2023

This morning we head back to Goshen, Indiana to Affinity RV, group for repair #2, for our slides. Going to try and experiment, and try to keep what we need on this side of both slides. So we will be able to get to the fridge of course, and sort of the microwave and stove with a good arm stretch to do it.

Jim had to repair the kitchen slide three times, the last time he had it out. He wanted to leave early of course and we got out of here a little after 9:00 a.m.

It was less than a 4-Hour Drive. We stayed on the Ohio Turnpike for the night. Every other rest area has RV hookup with electric. It's a great place to Boondock, with electric as I call it.

 We had a great night. Only put the bedroom slide out. Was able to heat up dinner with a good stretch. We went for a walk around the building and went inside. They had many tempting fast food places. One was Wendy's, Jimmy John's, a salad place which I did last time, a year ago. And Dunkin' Donuts. Resisted and went back home. A few RVs were coming and going.

But what makes it really nice is no trucks go right past you.

Seven Days back "Home"

Seven Day's back "Home"

Monday September 18, 2023

This week marks a back " Home " week packed full of doctor appointments,  errands, and " see you next year ".

WARNING ...Boring REAL Life Stuff AHEAD

 This was our home for 25 years, over 6 years ago.

This morning we were up and had breakfast and coffee, while watching the leaf forecast, it's a thing here, in Pennsylvania.

Off to the cardiologist to see Dr Shipe for Jim at 10:45. Jim did great and passed his appointment with flying colors. 

After that we went back to the RV and had leftover Chinese food for lunch, and changed our clothes.

 Then we went over to Byron, I went with his wife Vicky. I offered to help them clean one of their houses to get it ready for sale. 

Jim went to see his Mom again. We only cleaned a few hours, and then she let us keep the car for a week. YES, The one we sold to them last year when we moved. Great selling to a friend. So generous.

So I was in my glory and took " my " car and couldn't go right home, so I stopped at the dollar store for things I needed. It's amazing how much joy I can get out of that.

Tuesday September 19, 2023

 I was up early this morning. Heard people a few sites up from us. Jim said they were trying to pull a FW out that had a fire. We had found out a guy installed lithium batteries himself, below his LP bottles, and they had caught fire.

I had made a nail appointment for 8:00 a.m. all the way out in Bethel, 45 minutes away. Had to get up at 6:30 a.m.. so worth it, decided to put on gel polish with Mary, the lady that did my nails for 20 years. 

I'm eventually going to buy a light and polish and do them myself. That's the plan, went out to Mary and had a great appointment.

 She gave this a huge box of produce  a client brought in for her to get rid of.

 Then I went to vacuum out the car, it was driving driving me crazy. So dirty, I hate a dirty floor.

Then I had made arrangements to go see our old neighbor Mary, Mary #2, lol. We had a lovely visit and she made us coffee. Esther's was closed.

We walked over to our former house next door, got to meet the new neighbors. They moved in about a year ago. The people we sold it to only stayed 5 years, but they were Amish and ruined the electric for them. They had to get all new wiring, we found out.

View of our barn, where we kept our 2 horses, from inside Mary's house. 

 She introduced me to her they're from the Ukraine I think. 

It's amazing what they've done to the house, it was beautiful. The only thing left that they didn't touch yet, but they will. Is the tile bathroom floor in our bathroom and our kids room. 

Top our BR, middle pic, is Thomas's room. Bottom picture she said was like exercise room, I said OK but we called it Travis's room, lol.

Both vanities and the vinyl in the laundry room downstairs, only thing left we did.

Her daughter and SIL live in the basement.

 We had a great visit her showing us around then I went back and said goodbye to Mary. 

My CAR

 Then I stopped at Bell & Evans wholesale chicken store. It's so much better buying it right from them. I never went there when we lived here, but I go there now. I got a $110 worth of chicken.  I asked them if they would prefreeze it for me, so we can pick it up on Thursday when we're out in the area again. Cuz it would be a while before I got home today. 

Then I went to our local grocery store called Redner's, ate the lunch I prepacked in the car there. 

I worked on the blog in the car for almost two hours,  because the internet's great here, I brought our own hot spot.  Then I walked around in the store almost an hour. Found a few things I wanted.

Having a great day, so far.

Then I went to my yearly Doctor appointment. I got my flu shot, and asked if when we come back Thursday for me to get blood work, if Jim could get a flu shot too. They said he could,  but he wasn't seen for so long. So she wanted him to have a  physical first. He didn't want two Doctor appointments a year. I'm lucky that I get him to go to one, the cardiologist. 

 He won't be happy about that, he will get over it,  but seems silly if both of us don't get a flu shot.

I got home about 4:35 o'clock or so.

We had decided to stay a little longer, if we could. We had asked the Ranger and he told me when I came back we could stay now till Tuesday if we wanted. That was a relief.

 Jim and I had dinner together and I did a Zoom Call with my NoBS accountability group.

Jim sat out at his fire while I did the Zoom.

Wednesday September 20, 2023

This morning we got up early and had a leisurely breakfast. I had a zoom call with no BS at 10:00 a.m.. then we had a slightly early lunch and left for my mammogram appointment at 12:30. After that I had made an appointment, I had a little time to kill so I decided to walk around in Aldi's. You know it's my favorite. Few things I wanted to buy but we weren't going to be home again for a while. So I decided to ask an employee if it would be possible to push my cart into the walk-in fridge and I would pick it up after my appointment. 

She was lovely and so nice. I paid for everything, and they pushed the whole cart in for me.

 I made a last minute appointment to get my hair trimmed. It was such a treat to get my hair cut. As I waited, a lady came in and she looked in the box and said what is that. This was her creation, 

 the receptionist said she couldn't stop eating it. It's not real but it sure did look like it. Be great for Halloween. 

After my hair was done we stopped back at Aldi's and I ran in to get my order. 

Just then doctor's office called wanted to know if I could change my appointment time for tomorrow morning, I just made it yesterday. I explained we had no other time slot open to move it. She said OK, they would make it work.

Jim and I headed home with our groceries I put everything away and we had dinner together. 

We went out, Jim had to put air in the car tires, it said low tire pressure.

We went up to grantville's Winner's Circle Saloon to line dance and celebrate a dear friends birthday Shirlene Leininger. 

Jim Miller even came to celebrate with us, he's now 8,  I used to love the two step with him.

 We had a great night dancing and seeing everyone. 

They shut everything down at 10:00 p.m. we headed home for the night.

Thursday September 21, 2023

This morning was our busiest day so far. Jim had coffee and we left about 8:30 in the morning. Went all the way out to our Fredericksburg doctor I got my blood work done, got my flu shot. Jim had his quick physical with a lovely PA we just met. Luckily he liked her a lot, he finally got his flu shot. They also did blood work on him even though he already had coffee. 

Everything is taking way longer than we expected.

Then we left to go get breakfast at Esther's Diner right next to the grocery store I was at yesterday,  Redner's. But now it was 10:15 and we had an appointment at the bank for 10:30. I had to call and push it back till 11:00.

 We had a wonderful breakfast, we so enjoyed their coffee. 

Then we went out to our diesel guy Hassler. Jim got some filters he needed for the truck. 

We stopped with Mary because I thought she took a credit card. 20 years and never used one, always wrote her a check. Should have stuck to that. 

Then sign papers at the bank, talk to our financial advisor.

After that we left picked up the chicken that they froze for me. It was a warm beautiful day and then we had to go all the way out to Cleona for my eye doctor appointment. About 40 minutes away, Jim dropped me off and then took the chicken home to put it away in the freezer. Can't believe he got it all in unsupervised. As he calls it. 

He came back to pick me up and then we ate at Hoss's salad bar for lunch. 

Then we headed home, got ready and got the food I made out. We had a lovely dinner with Thomas,  Kerri and Sarah. I had made an eclair cake and the grilled veggies.

Sarah is playing tennis this year.

It was the fastest few hours ever. They might come to Florida this year :)

Friday September 22, 2023

This morning we had go to the bank again to meet Jake to sign some papers. This time in the Lebanon office. He was in Ephrata, so we had to wait. 

After we sign the papers, we went over to Vicki and Byron and worked on the house a little more. Jim and Byron went back to their house and he helped Jim put on new fass fuel filters on the truck. Eventually got to the RV and they changed the pucks in the Hitch pin.

He went back to there house. I had a few more glorious hours alone.

Later I had some food I took to there house. We all had dinner together. I made a hamburger macaroni soup in her pressure cooker, she never uses.

They made pork chops, I had Aldi breadsticks too.

They fixed the car tire that kept leaking, I found a nail it earlier.

Beautiful sunset.

After dinner about 8:30 I went home and Jim stayed to hang out and party with his bud :)

Bushkill Falls

Bushkill Falls

Friday September 15, 2023

This morning we got up and moving pretty quickly, as Jim was wanting to leave as early as possible. That's a normal thing for him though. 

What a great night boondocking at Cabela's.

We said goodbye to our neighbors for the night from Iowa. Jim had to back out of the spot we were in. No way he could go around this truck.

 Worked out fine even asked us if we were okay. Found out he was picking up a huge boat from Cabela's.

We left and headed back towards the Poconos in Pennsylvania. To Timothy Lake South, Thousand Trails that we were at with the class C a good 6 weeks ago.

 Once we arrived, the weather was great, we got situated and found a pretty nice spot. Didn't do much else today, but he had a few beer's, it did rain a little later.

 Saturday September 16, 2023 

Today we decided to go tour the waterfalls, we left after lunch. Went to Bushkill Falls there's eight waterfalls there within walking distance. You can do it a short walk or the longer one to see all the falls. I took my own personal survey and started asking people how hard of a walk it is. Wanted to make sure Jim was up for it. We almost decided not to, they said it was a lot of steps. I gave him the choice and he said let's go. So proud of him for pushing himself a little.

 I went back to the truck and took off my jeans and put on comfortable pants. We put on our hiking shoes, grabbed  more water and off we went.

 The only thing we didn't know is they charged you to walk. For senior citizens we paid $19 each. I really didn't want to, but we decided, why not. The walk didn't take as long as expected, a good 2 hours for us.

 Before we left there was a display with the Indians and artifacts. 

The Falls were beautiful. 

I talked to so many people doing my survey, I lost count. So as people would pass us they would say, oh you made it. I kept offering to take people pictures. One group was from Ireland. Once we passed each other the second time, I asked of all places, why are you in Pennsylvania. They were there to see relatives, so I said to their grandparents, oh you're the crazy people that live in Pennsylvania in the winter. They laughed and agreed and we all kept moving. 

I so enjoy talking with everyone it was a great beautiful walk. 

You saw this picture on the bottom with stacked rocks. We noticed there was a lot of people who couldn't speak or read English. We watched one family look at the sign, and then they started to stack rocks. I told Jim they needed to put a red circle with a line through it. Cuz that's a Universal symbol for all.  We actually spoke with them and told them why you're not supposed to do it. They quickly knocked it over and called the kids away. 

Once we got back I told the security guard, that was making sure people didn't walk in for free. I told him the story that they needed to do the red line with the circle. Also told him how I picked up trash.

The waterfalls were called bridal veil,  Lookout main falls, eight in all. 

Once we left we stopped to get Jim a six pack of beer. We took a little drive around in the truck before we went back to the site. We didn't get the golf cart out for only a couple days. Saw these deer on our drive.  Above pic

 Got back to the RV, glad dinner was ready as we were pretty hungry by then. What a great day 

Sunday September 17, 2023. 

Today is moving day back to Hershey Thousand Trails. As always Jim wanted to leave ASAP. 9:00 a.m. was his goal I think we left at 9:15.

Today was only a two and a half hour drive. Jim wanted to go different than the Garmin RV wanted him to. Since this was a rare occasion he actually knew the way, we went his way. I asked if he had planned a bathroom / diesel lunch break. He said he didn't. We were so close, but ready for all three.

 He said there was a Pilot in Pine Grove, so we got off the exit. And realized the Pilot they advertised was closed. In this area we know so well, and there's no where to turn around. So we had to continue on and we knew that the Pine Grove KOA was just up the road.

 A long way when you have to go. LOL. So he ended up going there pulling into their, luckily huge parking lot. And getting it done. 

Then we continued on, the clouds

looked angry and very weirdly shaped, it was about that time it started to rain.

 So we had about an hour drive in the rain total.

 We arrived at Thousand Trails Hershey a little later than Jim wanted. There was 41 rigs coming in today, we found out. Found a spot way in the back, but the internet's terrible. It cleared up and and was nice later. But eventually it did rain again. 

Once it cleared up a little we took off to go see his mom. We had a nice visit and they had pizza while we were there. Jim had a couple slices but we had planned to go for chinese. So we stopped on the way home. Now we'll have a lot for leftovers tomorrow. So funny being back.

Best Boondocking Night

Best boondocking Night

Thursday  September 14, 2023

Cabela's in East Hartford Connecticut 

We got up and had a leisurely breakfast, didn't have to leave today till 11:00 a.m.. we are ready to get out of this giant sandbox, in Rochester Massachusetts. 

 Here's some pictures where you can see the sites, and the road, everything is just sand and a mess. When it rained it was a river running everywhere. 

We left and headed to East Hartford Connecticut, we planned on boondocking at a Cabela's tonight.

We had a lovely travel day was beautiful out today. We had our leftover subs from yesterday for lunch on the road.

We arrived at Cabela's a little before 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. We followed the signs that pointed to the RV parking area. It's good we arrived when we did, as it was filling up. 

Jim pulled in the first spot, we had a nice shade tree, garbage can, even a water faucet. It appeared to be locked but it wasn't, he did take a gallon from it at one point. There was all kinds of unique RVs there. 

The weather was perfect to Boondock.

Not to hot,  not to cold.

Jim got the generator all set up and ready to start. 

First we made sure it was okay to stay the night.

 Then we proceeded to look for a good rain coat for Jim. We ended up finding one. I'm glad we bought it here, instead of LL Bean. 

  A couple that was walking by. I heard him say they're from Pennsylvania. I went out and talked to them while Jim was still in the shower.

 They were a lovely couple traveling in this little a-liner Style trailer. They've been out for 3 weeks and they are from Iowa. He was very chatty and she wanted to go in to eat, she said they haven't eaten since breakfast. I told Jim for her sake I hope there's food in there, but there might not be. Turns out there wasn't. Covid shut all them down.

 She said she had food,  she just didn't feel like eating hers.

It was so funny because he mentioned that this trip has been a lot of togetherness for them. I guess I'm not the only one.

That all  took place before we went in.

We eventually came out this guy was parked next to us. Glad I didn't have to watch him squeeze in that spot, would have made me nervous. Jim said he is a professional. Ok

 We had dinner in the RV. I had salads ready to go, we sat outside to eat, it was lovely evening. Once we finished, I decided to go back in myself and walk around. Jim said we should have looked for a stove top toaster like we used to have. A lot nicer to use when you boondock.

Unless it's super hot out. I did find one eventually came out just as it was getting dark.

 We watched a little TV had great internet and  I showered and we went to bed. I feel like this is one of the best boondocking stops ever.

A Day American will Never Forget

A Day American will Never Forget 

September 11, 2023

Today we leave Maine and Moody Beach, Thousand Trails campground. 

On our way to Gateway to Cape Cod

Thousand Trails, in Massachusetts.

Had a good 2 1/2 hour travel day.

Goodbye Maine, for now. What a great trip we've had.

We arrived and checked in. 

Walked to check out a few sites that were available for us. Picked A 24. Alot of trees again. This place is a big giant sand box. In desperate need of some stones.

He had to make a big turn to head to our site.

Went for a walk around the campground and settled in for the evening. 

I got alot of things out of the freezer out front. Want to do some travel food prep soon.

Tuesday September 12, 2023

After lunch we took a drive into the town  called West Wareham of course they had a Walmart close by.

We found a few stores I want to hit tomorrow too.

Had alot of rain again and what a mess this place is when wet. Battle trying to keep sand out of the RV.

Wednesday September 13, 2023

After  breakfast this am, I did a  zoom call with no BS till noon.

 Then we got ready and went back to town. We took a nice little walk around the shops and stores around. We went into Lowe's, Home Goods, and  LL Bean. Jim still in need of a good rain coat.

Then we had lunch at Jersey Mike's.

We both had Italian sub, and brought half of each home. 

Then Jim sat in the truck while I went into Aldi's. All in the same area together. Oh my so much fun for me. I feel like I was able to get so much of what I wanted, all for 89.00.

I like to look at stuff from Germany, my MIL is from there. They had a new selection of cakes. Apple and cherry tarts, apple walnut, strawberry cream, and almond cake. Almost got one.

Then we got diesel and went home. 

Nice we ate already, so I just had to change and start putting stuff away.

Jim got the grill out, grilled onions and peppers, zucchini next, then reheated some of the sausage Tony and Sue gave us, I made a pasta salad with all that. Then he grilled chicken last. I put everything away and did travel food prep for over 2 hours. Made a cottage cheese pudding, and white chicken chili. One of my favorite jobs, love it. I'm such a domestic goddesses.

Also another favorite, laundry, I did a few loads yesterday and today too.

By now it was time for dinner I had everything ready and we ate and watched TV and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Real life, not a great adventure everyday. LOL

Smoking Hot Friday

Smoking Hot Friday 

Friday September 8, 2023

Today we didn't go anywhere, we stayed home and Jim got the smoker out and we did a pork shoulder on the Ninja. 

He got the smoker going and we put it on in the afternoon. 

Then we took a golf cart ride. 

These lovely sunflowers are finally starting to open. 

Lovely the way they had them along the building.

They were predicting rain, and just as expected it was about to pour. We got back to the RV, Jim unplugged the smoker and we tucked the Ninja underneath the camper. With the pork still in it. We went inside and it just poured. 

In about 40 minutes, it slowed down enough. We went back outside. We set the Ninja in the back of the golf cart, under the nose of the fifth wheel, to protect it from rain, and he started it up again. It just wasn't done enough the way I wanted. It temped at 160, for pulled I wanted it 190 to 205 degrees, wanted to be able to pull it..

It took about a total of 4 hours, with a little rest in the middle. Lol The temperature was set at 250° 

Well it was fantastic, best ever. It definitely doesn't look pretty in the picture, looks burnt, but it wasn't it pulled apart just like I wanted it to.

We tried doing the same on one  upstate with Drew. We were rushing it too much, and it wasn't totally thawed out. Plus we started it to late in the day. This time it was perfect.

That was all the excitement for today.

Saturday Saturday 9, 2023

Today after a normal morning routine Jim took me to the craft show they were having at a local high school. As soon as we arrived in the area we saw the sign advertising it and I told him I would love to go. 

First we went to Walmart and took the old truck batteries back. You get $10 for each one returned. We walked around a little bit, only got a few things.

Then we headed back to the craft fair.

It was a really hot day, a lot of it was on the inside. 

Saw a few really cool things. 

The only thing I bought was a little gift for someone. Jim stayed in the truck the whole time, except when he came out so I could show him what I liked. It was hot too.

This was cool artwork. Everything the lady made was with eggshells. If you

Zoom in you can see the details.

After we left the craft fair we stopped at the produce stand really close to the campground. I have been wanting to stop, but they were always closed when we went by. They had beautiful things but very pricey, he was very unfriendly too.

10.00 for the strawberries above. 

You can see the price we paid for diesel too, above.

Didn't get anything then. Then we went home for lunch and dinner later.

After lunch Jim put the golf cart away it's supposed to rain a lot tomorrow too.

 Sunday September 10,

Today Tom and Yvonne were leaving. Jim said goodbye to them as they left, and thank them for everything.

They had a nice site.

 Jim wanted to put our problem slide in today in preparation for moving tomorrow. So before the rain was supposed to start again, he said let's do it now. So I hit the button and he goes out to push.  Now it takes 2 guys to do it :(

 At that moment, we were getting a new neighbor in Tom's site in front of us, in another motorhome. 

They had backed in and saw Jim struggling, and he came over right away and helped Jim push. The four of us chatted for a minute, and I said we should let them get back to work, and we thank them for their help.

I didn't want it to rain on them when they still had to set up. They were so nice. 

Then he went on the roof to clean it off. This was a nice site, but the pine trees dropped so many needles with pine sap on them, extremely hard to get off. Haven't found anything that works yet.

 Then he was picking up sticks that have been dropping with all the rain. He made a little fire with them that burned for almost 2 hours. It smelled really good too.

Shortly after it started to rain, alot.

We were pretty much in for the rest of the night had dinner. 

Started watching Longmire,  TV show Carla and Gary recommended.