What have we been up to?

We will post our paddling events separately and just talk a little about what we have been doing at the resort.

We went to Wal-Mart in Osprey to groceries and a number of other things, such as a $20 artificial Christmas tree. Suzette decorated the tree with shells we had picked up on our paddling adventure.

Decorated for Christmas

A look at a section of the park.

Although I didn't post a picture, our site has what some call FEMA row behind us. There is a whole row of park model trailers. Actually they look better than the news pictures of FEMA trailers.

Logan and Larry at the dog park.

We have taken Logan to the dog park several times. We call it the dog bark because he doesn't play but barks at the other dogs. I think he is trying to herd them. After a while he just meanders toward the gate so we take that as a sign it is time to go. He has also done a good job of mooching treats from other dog owners. If he smells a treat he just sets up. Who can refuse that?

Sunset over the Gulf on our 40th wedding anniversary. Taken at Venice pier 12/14/2008

We had our 40th Anniversary dinner at Sharky's. Good meal at a reasonable price and a most excellent sunset.

We have also take time to visit the pool and hot tubs, eat out way to much, and just enjoy the nice weather. Enjoy the weather where you are, it's the only weather you have.

Paddle day

Friday Dec. 5 is our first paddle day. We were off to meet Rich and Linda at Indian Mound park in Englewood. We arrived a few minutes before them and looked over the park. We had not seen Rich and Linda in about a year so you can imagine the excitement when they arrived. After our hugs and greetings we unloaded our kayaks and set out on our adventure.
It was a fairly long but easy paddle on the ICW but after a couple of hours we reached Stump Pass State Park where we beached and ate our lunch.

We then had a lazy paddle from the park to the inlet.

Where we beached the kayaks and did some shelling. I asked about finding shark teeth and was told it was unlikely to find them here. Well with just a little looking we found 3 or more. I managed to find the largest so i got the cookie.

Once we had a couple of bags of shells it was time to decorate the shell tree before heading back to Indian Mound park.

The tide had turned and the wind came up a little so we had a little challenge getting across the inlet to make our way back. During the trip we saw a lot of mullets jumping, a few Osprey, Brown Pelicans.



Once back at the park we wondered what the distance of our paddle was. I told Linda that I would use my map program and get an estimate. We also made a date for Monday to go paddling again. This time it was our pick and we choose Turtle Beach.

Ft Clinch to Sun-N-Fun 12/3

It was an uneventful trip to Sun-N-Fun. Basically boring. As usual we stopped at the first rest stop on I75 just South of Ocala for a lunch break. We arrived at Sun-N-Fun about 3 pm and were escorted to our site. Once backed in we realized we would need a 30A extension cord as well as a picnic table. Once we were setup we went back to the welcome center so see about an extension cord. Yep they had nice ones for sale so we bought it and they put in a work order to have a table delivered the next day. We got the tag for the dog so if he got lost they new which site to return him to. Then to the mail room to get a box. $5 key deposit and we were in.

Back at our site we pluged in using the new cord and hooked up the cable TV. No workie. Called the office and they said it should work. I told them I would deal with it in the morning.

Time to eat so off we went to an Italian Buffet. Good dinner.

Thursday was laundry day as well as find our way arround the park and finish our set up, flags, chairs, awning, spread ant bait. Yep fire ants. Welcome to Florida. While the laundry was tumbling I checked out the cable TV connection. I was sure my cable from the stub to the camper was ok and plugged in correctly. So I took the 19" flat screen and an extension cord and hooked to the feed at the post. No signal. A call to the office and another work order. It was not long and maintenance arrived and found that my site was not hooked up. In fact Comcast had not connected the cable to the main distribution. Well there wasn't even a tagged cable for our site, so he ran a new cable over the ground.

After the laundry we went to the pool area and had burgers and fries for lunch. Then off for shopping to replentish the larder.

Called Rich and Linda to set up a paddle date. Tomorrow the kayaks hit salt water.

We decided to go to the Sahib Shrine and have hillbilly supper and surprise Jean. She was shocked to say the least. "What are you doing here? Ann and Wally arn't here?" She had no idea we were spending the winter here. We had a nice visit and decent meal.

Our site at Sun-N-Fun

Sesqui to Ft. Clinch SP FL.

On December 2nd we left Sesqui and headed to Ft Clinch SP in Florida. This park has 2 campgrounds and we were able to get the last available site in the Atlantic loop. As the name implies this is on the Atlantic coast. Nice level sites near the ocean. We were in site 2. I don't know that we saw a bad site. Once we got setup we headed to the visitors center and Ft Clinch. We were so late that they let us in for free. We only had about 30 minutes to view the fort. This fort did not see any action in any wars. It was being built during the civil war but evacuated twice in the face of a superior force since it was not completed.

Atlantic campground loop

Sunrise over the campground

A view of the Atlantic from Ft. Clinch

Amelia Island Lighthouse

On our way to find a restaurant we stopped to look at the Amelia Island Lighthouse. Then on to find some eats. We went where a local at the fort recommended but decided we didn't really want to eat there. So we drove around and not finding anything we decided we needed fuel. So off to a local station that has diesel. While filling up I asked a local where they would go for good food at a reasonable price. She said, Barbara Jeans just down the street. So off to Barbara Jeans. Good eats, good price.

After a good meal it was back to the camper and wait for sunrise.

Sunrise over the Atlantic

See more pictures here.

On the road again ...

We got on the road about 0911 after saying good bye to a couple of the folks. We headed for US220 to Greenville, NC and picked up I85 then I77 which brought us to Columbia SC and Sesquicentennial State Park for our overnight stop. 305 miles on the clock and the low fuel light on.

After we got set up we went to the park office and checked in. We headed out to find fuel, 30.x gal at $2.749/gal. We had about 4 gallons left in the tank. Then it was off to a Big Lots we passed. We picked up a new toaster since our $7.00 Wal Mart special was giving us trouble.

Off to eat. Found a Ryan's and decided we could graze there, oh a $ store in the same plaza. Of course we had to spend some $ to help the local economy.

Back to the camper and looked at where the next stop would be. We decided on Fort Clinch State Park in Fla.

Dreary Sunday

It's 34 with light rain and snow/ice in the mountains. There are no campers, they all left yesterday. Al l the sites are clean and the comfort station only needs a light cleaning.

We had picked up most of our stuff and packed it away yesterday so there is only a little to do today when the weather clears a little. We also will turn all our Camp Host supplies and say our good bye's.

Now to find enough to do to keep from having cabin fever.

I'm not sure if I will be able to post until we get to Sun-N-Fun on Wed. since I will not put up the antenna until then, if I even need it there. I will try the "card" plugged directly into the usb port. If the cell signal is good it should work ok.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant ...

Maybe this post title should be Blog Slacker ...

Well it is Thanksgiving day and Arlo's song is a must hear and sing along, hence the title.

We'll get back to today a little later but first I want to ketchup, he he.

We're on out second tank of propane since this has been a colder than normal month here in Virginia. So that is about $50 for heating and cooking this month. Of course we also use a 1500W electric space heater and that helps a lot. Once the weather was getting below freezing for several nights in a row we disconnected our fresh water hose. However the hydrant froze up and we had to use a torch to get water flowing again. One of the other campers, a class A, had a similar problem.

We have not had many campers since I last posted. We did meet a nice couple from FL that were here last week before spending time with family for Thanksgiving. They live in St. Pete and we will be looking them up when we get settled at Sun-n-Fun.

We've seen snow flurries, blown and raked leaves, cleaned the comfort station, cleaned sites and all that jazz. We went to Lynchburg on one of our day's off and visited Jefferson's retreat Poplar Forest
and had a very nice tour.

Suzette in front of one of the oak's at Poplar Forest

After that it was off to find a Five Guys for lunch. Then some shopping.

We have had some problem with circuit breakers popping. Seems like 1500W space heater, toaster, microwave, hot water heater, tv, ... exceed the 30A service we have. Maybe we should get a 50A to 30A adapter. Then we would only pop the inside 30A breaker and I would not have to go outside in the cold to reset. The best thing would be to add a separate circuit to run the space heater. Humm.

Earlier I wrote about blowing leaves. Well we wanted something to do so we have been keeping the sites and culverts clean of leaves. Also the leaves near the comfort station had been blowing into the showers and the entrance way to the men's room. So between me using a backpack blower and Suzette using a rake we made a big pile away from the comfort station. The next day the picnic table that had been about 20 feet from the pile of leaves was right on the edge of the pile. Since the pile didn't move we figured that the raccoons must have moved the table so they could jump in.

We spent time working with Lauri, park interpreter, to help prepare a tank for an exhibit as well as look for an old tobacco barn. We found the barn.

We also went to several of the cemeteries that are located within the park but not part of any tour. Also a couple of the buildings that the general public doesn't get to see unless they go off trail. Well this one they can see,
Ok now lets get down to food. We have been eating quite well. Before we left Lake Anna Clif, one of the rangers, gave us some venison hamburger and a Caribou steak. Then on our last trip to Culpeper Phil, our neighbor, gave us some venison/pork sausage. Needless to say we have had some good eats. Also we had purchased a small crock pot several months ago and have been using that to prepare several meals.

Now to Thanksgiving. We had planed to cook the 8# turkey we had purchased in the dutch oven. However when we started to thaw it out we realized that it would not fit in the dutch oven we had. We devised several plans to deal with the over sized turkey. When the day finally arrived we decided that the best thing to do was a little ortho surgery. Maybe dismemberment would be a better description. well anyway we got the bird in the oven with stuffing. About 2 hours later it looked like this.

When the digital meat thermometer read 185 the bird was done.

The bird was done a little before the rest of the fixin's. My fault but Suzette recovered nicely and we sat down to a feast. Now that's good eats!

Later Lauri and Terry stopped by with pie. We had a nice visit with them.

Well I have rambled enough. On Monday we head for Florida.

More to follow.

Oh yeah to see more pictures of our Smith Mountain Lake adventures click here.

Brrrrrrr!!!

31 with flurries this morning. Wind has blown gusty all day. Since this is our day off we decided to take care of some shopping, do the laundry and have lunch out. Mission accomplished.

To damned cold to do much. Actually it wouldn't be bad if it wasn't for the wind. weather.com shows temps in the low 20's tonight and it is near freezing now. I added water to our onboard tank and disconnected the hose and filter. It might not be cold enough long enough but why take a chance?

It was cold enough last night and today for water that had accumulated in the large slide topper to freeze. The wind had gotten under the topper and blew the ice off. There are still sheets of ice on the ground.

Today's pic.



Yep we have a tent camper. He is doing a roofing job somewhere on the other side of the lake.

Just checked the thermometer and last nights low was 30.1 and today's high was 38.4.

Shutle Launch, ++

Last night we watched the shuttle launch on NASA's site. Follow the link and click on the Public Channel, live mission coverage. Really neat.

We have not had many campers this week. They had the final 2 days of their managed deer hunt. Not a lot of hunters. After the hunt we did see a nice buck, 6 pointer. On those days we spent a lot of time out of the park. On Monday we went to Roanoke do do some shopping. We stopped a Lowes and purchased PVC and fittings to make 2 rotating flag poles.

We also went to the new Camping World and picked up light bulb and a couple of other items. Always fun to look though. In that same shopping area is a new Gander Mountain and Tractor supply. Needless to say we also visited them. Again we made a small contribution to the local economy.

Tuesday was laundry day so it was off to Moneta to the only laundromat that is close. After the laundry was done we went to lunch at a new sub-shop. Nothing to brag about. Then it was to Moneta Farm Service to get a propane tank refilled and pick up a couple of items.

Wednesday was fairly nice so we went to the maintenance area and picked up a backpack leaf blower so I could get some of the leaves blown off the sites. We want to make sure folks can actually see where to back in.


While doing that job we had a camper arrived. They will be here until Monday.

Friday we took off and went to Westlake and more shopping. Need to keep the economy going you know. Anyway there is another building center that we had not stopped at, Capps, so we took the tour there and bought a new ceramic space heater. We will try and sell our current one. Since that was such a success we continued and gave aid to CVS, Food Lion, and lunch at Chopsticks. Back to the campground to await the arrival of the 3 campers that had reserved sites.

One came in about 4:30 or so and we met them and recommended a site. They wanted to get disconnected and off to B'day dinner. Like I said earlier, after dinner we watched the launch on the computer and a little TV.

About midnight we heard a commotion near the comfort station. There were 3 vehicles there and they were looking for a site. It was raining. It was dark. They have tents and wanted a site with electricity. We directed them to a couple of sites for them to choose from and went back to bed.

More rain off and on today. Time for another puzzle and for me to cacth up on this blog stuff.

Big Event

Friday the 7'th I was in the parking lot at Moneta Farm and Home and my cell rang. It was Lori our lawyer in VT. She wanted to know if we checked our e-mail. Oop's I forgot about the closing on our property in Vermont. She gave me the highlights over the phone and assured me that all was well. So I told her to continue with the closing and that we were heading back to the camper and would check our e-mail and give her a call.

So the net is we are owners of 7.46 (+/-) acres of beautiful land in Vermont.

Lot 5 LaBarron Rd.
That's Mt. Mansfield in the upper left.

The construction continues, few campers

The construction continues. Where will the incoming RV's park?


A couple of RV's will just come to the campground and set up and then return to the office to sign in.


I need to supervise the removal of the kiosk. Well not really they are doing well without my help. Interesting to see water flow from the electrical conduit.



They are getting ready for the second week of hunting. It is nice to see that the deer have a safe place to hang out. I think the park is divided into 10 zones. The biggest zone has 5 hunters most of the others have 2 or 3.

We had 7 campers for the weekend. Made our life easy. One arrived about 7:30 and I went to hold a flashlight to help them back in. They were to have a pullthru but the one they wanted was occupied so they took a back in.

All but one of the pullthru's are on the left of the road. This makes them "backward" pullthru's from our perspective. This means that the awning and entry door face the road. The utilities are on the left as is the picnic table, fire ring, and tent area.

It was an easy weekend and we had everyone out of the CG before 3 PM. We closed and dummy locked the gate. We watched the start of the NASCAR cup race, feed the dog and went to dinner. We wanted pizza but the pizza shop was closed so we went to the new seafood restaurant. We decided to stop at the new drive-in/dinner for coffee and pie. No apple pie and the coffee was like hot water with cream and sugar. Yuck. We bitched and didn't pay for the coffee. The owner said they were having trouble with their coffee maker. We will give them another chance. But if the coffee isn't any good we will cross them off our list.

I was a little, well alot, miffed that ABC cut away from the race, with under 20 to go, when it went longer than scheduled so they could show Americas Funniest Home Videos. What's up with that?

So we will watch football. Oh Jimmie Johnson won the race. Thanks Sirius.

Good Eats

During our last shopping trip we decided we needed a whole chicken to roast. We choose to do the big meal on Thursday. So after we got our work done this is what we ended up with.

It's done.
Using the grill I could cook standing up.

Getting ready to carve the bird.

Acorn squash, white potatoes and white sweet patotes, gravey, stuffing.

Oh boy left overs.

Mike, one of the rangers, was interested in what we were doing and we had him stop by when we were about to take the chicken out of the Dutch. He was impressed.

Only one camper arrived today.

SML - What's this?

We arrived at SML and noted the new entrance sign and stone work gate posts, nice.



Then we saw the parking lot;


No way was I going to pull in there. So we decided to just head to the camp host site and get set up before returning to the office to check in. We made the turn to head toward the CG and were met by a very excited Lauri. It's nice to have a warm welcome.

After we get set up we return to the office to pick up the camp host box of stuff and see what is going on. They are building a new Visitors Center and office building. How can that be with the state short of funds? Ah 200? bond money that they are just now able to spend. Things in the pipe line can be completed. Well they need the office space and the VC will allow the current VC to be put to good use for other naturalist programs.

The campground is empty so we just check a few things out and decide to get a leaf blower to clear the sites before folks arrive for the weekend.

Lake Anna, a few days more

The new camp hosts, Issy and Johanna, were to arrive on Sat Nov 1 so we moved to another site. They arrived late in the day because their GPS wanted them to take a scenic route. Like a detour which required them to unload their toad from the dolly, unhook the dolly, turn the coach around and hook everything back up. Ya just gotta love a GPS.

In any event we had made arrangements to stay at Lake Anna until Nov 5'th because the CG at Smith Mountain Lake was closed Monday and Tuesday for a deer hunt. Since Issy and Johanna arrived late we continued on as hosts while they got settled in. They took over on Monday and we did laundry. On Tuesday we went to Culpeper to put some unneeded items in storage, pick up our mail and restock supplies before heading to SML.

On Wednesday we stopped by the office on our way out to say our final good bye's to those that were there. A bitter sweet moment.

Camp Ghost

On Halloween night the campers at Lake Anna State Park were visited by the Camp Ghost's.



We had fun going from site to site in the golf cart and giving away candy. We actually scared one lady who was leaving her camper to head to the comfort station.

Thanks for the picture Alan.

Drawing to a close

Our time at Lake Anna is drawing to a close so I figured I better put a few words down so folks know what we have been up to. We have found that there are some folks that actually read this blog and give us grief when I don't keep it up, so I will ramble on ....

We had a couple of visits with our Arctic Fox friends from the afnash.com group. Durafox, Steve and Karen from Stafford, stopped by one Sunday afternoon and we had a nice but to short visit. Another day Sandman, Joe and Jeanie from Fairfax, dropped in for an all to short visit. We also had a couple that were interested in an Arctic Fox 30U, Calvin and Judy, stop by one afternoon. They checked out the camper and what we liked and didn't like, short list there, about the camper. Nice folks all.

Our neighbors from Quail Ridge came to camp one weekend. It was good to see Carl, Suzie and the kids. We had a nice weekend with them. We'll miss them and the kids but we can keep in touch with e-mail and phone. The kids had a good time riding their bikes, razor, and hiking the trails.


The campground has been busy on the weekends and very slow during the week so we did take some time to see local attractions. We took a trip to James Madison's home which has been restored to the way it was when James lived there. It was quite a change from when we last visited which was during the renovation.

James Madison's home

Blue Ridge from James Madison's home.

We also visited the Civil War Museum at the Exchange Hotel and in Gordansville, Spotsylvania Court House and the battlefield. I still can't get my head around an engagement where tens of thousands are are lost in a single battle.

The park has acquired some new property and we were able to see that new section. We don't expect it will be open for a few years given the budget cuts in Virginia. This new section is known as the Ware property.

Viewing the lake from the Ware property.

One Friday we went to the office and found them in a panic. Phones and Internet were not working. I worked with Dave checking surge suppressors on the phones all to no avail. I rebooted one of the routers but that did not help the phone or Internet issue. After more checking we reset the hughes.net modem and associated router. Still no apparent help. A while later the park manager, Doug, arrived and when he checked his office computer he found that it was working. So rebooting the hughes.net stuff had some effect. While Suzette was helping Joanne with compiling information for a report I went to our camper and got my laptop and an Ethernet cable. I had figured that the router in the front office might be the issue with the 2 front office computers. I plugged in and NO connection. The wall Ethernet outlet is a duplex outlet. So I plugged into the other outlet. WALLA Internet. Double Walla the phones worked. Humm. Who was the tech that wired an Ethernet, RJ45, outlet to the phone system? It just doesn't seem right that someone would wire phones into an RJ45 Ethernet outlet when the phones in the office use an RJ11 outlet.

The weather has been all over the place. Cold and rain, we saw 33 one morning, as well as clear and warm, yesterday was in the 70's. We have had foggy mornings which made for some pretty pictures of the foliage

Fog in the morning.

On our way shopping one day we received a call from Ann and Wally saying they were leaving for their trip to Florida the next morning and would stop in the Fredricksburg area at a Holiday Inn Express. We figured we would meet for dinner and thought we would check out the area for a restaurant. But first we thought we should find the hotel. We found where a new Holiday Inn Express was being built so figured there must be another one. NOT. Exchanging several calls with Wally he decided to stay an exit earlier, about 6 miles, in Massoponix. Since it was lunch time we decided to hit a Five Guys then to finish our shopping.

That afternoon Ann called again to let us know they would not be coming down I95 but I81. So there is not chance of us meeting on their way down. We will see them next year in Florida.

Halloween. There are a few campers here so we have to do something. Oh we will be the Camp Ghost's. Suzette had brought a sheet to make a costume from so with that done and fitted she stuffed a latex glove and put it in a bowl with some candy. Before Joanne and Roberta left the office we took the golf cart to the office and attempted to sneak up on them. We did a lousy job but it was a good laugh.

After dinner we dressed in our ghost costume and set off about the campground to do reverse tricks and treats. Meaning that we would give out candy. We had quite a time and everyone seemed to like it.

We had changed our plans so that we stayed over here at Lake Anna a few extra days because there is a deer hunt at Smith Mountain Lake and the park is closed so there would be no campers. Also the camp host that was arriving to take our place did not have known hosting experience. So we figured we could help here until the 5th.

Cool nights warm days

Fall is sure in the air here. The nights have been cool to down right cold, 35 this morning. The day's have been warm and clear. Quite nice really.

The weekends have been busy with the campground about 90% full. Then during the week it is mostly empty. Tonight there are 5 of the 46 sites occupied. One camper arrived about 2030.

We have gotten in some kayaking and a couple of trips back to Culpeper. One day we got to do some shooting with Lindsay as well as have a good lunch at Five Guys. We have also eaten out a few nights, usually after a hard Sunday's work.

You can see some pictures here.

Look at all the trees

So said a little boy from the city. We had a full campground again this weekend. There was a school group from the DC area here. Fourteen sites of Chinese Americans tent camping. What a time. That put a strain on the shower house as well as us. We had to remind them that you shouldn't try an burn a 6 to 8 foot log with out cutting it to fit in the fire ring. No don't do dishes at the water hydrants.

The water and electric sites were also full. We were just plain busy keeping up with the cleaning. No real issues. Of course you don't here the noise complaints until the offenders have left. Oh well.

Tuesday and Wednesday will be our day's off and we are not sure what the weekend will bring.

The trees are turning and the days are shorter. Fall is here.

Hobie Mirage

Last Tuesday Suzette and I went Kayaking with Mel and his friends. They all have Hobie Mirage kayaks. I had wanted to try one since I first saw one at a dealer in Vermont last year. Mel gave me my chance. Wow what fun, and I was using an 10 or 15 year old model. That Mirage hydro drive really works. You can see pictures here. The wind on Lake Anna was quite stiff and I was able to get the kayak to surf on the waves.

Suzette was using her Manatee kayak and was having a hard time keeping up. She said she felt like a pickup truck in a bunch of Porsche's. We had a good time and were invited back this week.

Thanks Mel.

Lake Anna State Park

Well here we are getting back in the old camp host grove. We will be here until the end of October. Pretty much the same drill, welcome folks, keep the comfort stations clean, pick up campsites when folks check out, talk to our campers.

So far the excitement has been a couple of groups that figured on PARTY. At least one received a ticket for drinking in public. One group had their beer confiscated. No major issues in the first week.

We did have a nice visit from Steve and Karen, a couple of Arctic Fox owners, we had "met" on the internet.

This first weekend the campground was full and there was a double and triple triathlon being held. This event drew folks from all over the world. We met folks from France and England that participated.

High fuel prices don't seem to be keeping folks at home since we have had folks from all over staying at the camp ground this weekend.

When something of interest happens these next 3 weeks we will post. Other than that we are here at Lake Anna SP in Virginia. Drop in for a visit if you are in the area.

Getting out of the house

After Maine we headed to West Thompson Lake, Connecticut, Corp. of Engineers park to spend a couple of days and do some paddling. We didn't paddle. There was this little thing called Hanna that brought bad weather. We just got a lot of rain and there was some local flooding that did not affect us. We went looking for fuel to make the trip from Connecticut to PA but the price was at least $.50 higher than Mass. So we drove the 12 or so miles to MA to fill up.

After we left West Thompson Lake we made our next stop at Promise Land State Park in PA. for an over night. The next day we made the last leg home.

Once home it was time to start moving on getting things out of the house. We decided to make a trip to VT to take the other 2 motorcycles and a bunch of tools up to a storage facility there. So we spend a couple of days getting things loaded up and made the 12 hour trip to VT.

We got things unloaded the day after we arrived and headed out to the lot we are buying. We staked out a location for the house. The weather was miserable. We took care of some other errands before heading back to Steins for the night.

The next day we met with our builder and discussed plans and suggested some changes. Then off to Morrisville to Taylors Color World to pick our our flooring. We visited with Jerry and Donna before picking up the Goldwing and trailer to take to storage with the other motorcycles.

The next day we headed home to start empting out the house.

We spend the next several days packing, working around the home inspection, survey, moving sale, repairs that the home inspection turned up. Lindsay was a great help in taking things to the storage unit. Some how we got it all done. We lived in the camper in the drive way for about 5 days before we headed to Lake Anna for our camp host duties.

Maine and "home"

We have a lot of catching up to do since I last posted.

Tuesday we went to Cape Elizabeth and hung out watching the tide change while we waited for the Blue Angles to do a fly over. Never happened. We had a nice relaxing time while we waited.


Then we continued on to LL Bean stopping for lunch at Day's Seafood Take Out. Neat place right on US 1 a little south of Freeport. Our kind of place. Give your order at the window and wait for your number to pick up your food. Then find a picnic table and chow down. Fine dining.

Of course at Bean we checked out the outlet store first and then the main stores. We picked up a few items but not much.

The next morning we planned to go kayaking so we got our drinks, snacks and jumped in the truck. Key on, glow plug indicator off, key to start, drop in drive, move forward and WHAT NO POWER STEERING. Kill the engine and restart, like that will help NOT. Open hood and find the serpentine belt is off. What the hell, Oh

Ruined it's day. Slowed ours. Call Good Sam ERS, they tell me I'm still under warranty and kick me over to GM's ERS. I give them my tale of wooo. How far off the road are you they ask. I'm in a commercial campground. But how far off the road they ask. Less than a quarter mile I say. Can a wrecker get to you? Yes they have big Class A'a next to me. Yes but can a wrecker get to you? YES I say. Ok we will have them take you to dealer x. Ok. Call them and let them know you will be arriving and the nature of the problem. OK I say.

I call the dealer, we don't do warranty service on a GMC we are a chevy dealer. I tell them it isn't warranty service, the stupid mini bear, I mean chipmunk, just wanted to commit suicide and kicked the belt off. No can do they say we are Chevy and can't do warranty service on GMC since there is a GMC dealer close by. What is their number I ask. They give it to me. I call GMC ERS and tell them the tow will have to be to the GMC dealer. Can't do that they say, too far. What? They are in the same area. Let me check the lady say's. Ok we can do that.

In a few minutes GMC ERS calls back and lets me know it will be about 1.5 hours before we see the tow truck and don't believe the automated message. That is followed by an automated message that the tow will arrive in 30 minutes.

The tow operator arrives and loads us up. We jump in the cab and off we head. The tow truck is a Ford diesel. over 300K on the clock. It sounds like it needs a tow. Now power off the line. One injector isn't fireing. In for service tomorrow. If it lasts that long I think.

We make it to Bill Dodge and Matt the service specialist took very good care of us. $95 later we had a clean truck with the belt on and the departed critter disposed of. We didn't attend the services.

We did get to go kayaking in Scarbourogh Marsh.

There are more pictures here.
I'll post a few more days tomorrow.

Labor Day Drive

We had found that there was an early arrival fee at Bayley's campground in Maine so we took our time getting ready for the road. We left Moose River about noon after doing our wash. We decided to take US302 over to I 295 in Portland ME. Rough road. Really Rough. We saw lots of RV's heading West. They must have had to go to work the next day. Lucky them.

We arrived about 3:30PM and put on a back up show for some of the other campers. We got things done and the peanut gallery congratulated us on our calm. After we were set up we went to the Clambake for Lobsta.

Moose River CG St. Johnsbury VT

Well I decided not to edit the last post. So this one will have our time At Moose River. Next will be Maine.

On Saturday we headed to the Farmers Market with a stop at the Farmers Daughter gift shop. Big, with lots of antiques. We bought a couple of trinkets. We proceeded to town and found the farmers market. Crunchy Granola. We did by some Blueberries and a most excellent sweet roll.

This is one for your bucket list.
The Fairbanks Museum is located in St. J. so we headed off to find it. Of course we made a wrong turn and I had to get the GPS out and have it lead the way. Wow it is fantastic. If you are near St. J. you should make time to visit. I don't think I can describe in words what the eye took in. On the mezzanine you could go from Switzerland to Japan to the Civil War by just turning a corner. Some of the displays on the main floor were visible through glass "flooring" so you could get an overhead look.

We stopped at Maple Grove but there were no tours on Saturday. So we went to the store/gift shop and looked at the maple and related products they had for sale. Of course I made several trips to the maple candy samples. Yummmmmm.

Back at Moose River we went to play bingo which was being run by the local Lions club. We didn't win anything but we had a good time. After bingo we kicked back until the Bean Hole dinner. Good feast.

After everyone had their fill things were cleaned up and made ready for the free entertainment, Country and Western singer. We've heard better. We think she was southern Vermont since she said "Jeezum Crow" with a southern accent.

On Sunday we decided to go to Lake Willoughby and kayak. On the way we stopped in Lyndon to look at several covered bridges. We stopped at a sport shop and inquired about launch sites and got a heads up that things would be quite choppy with the wind we were having. Sure enough the launch site at the southern end was very choppy. There was on person our kayaking and several divers were putting their dry suits on over their snow mobile suits. Didn't look like fun to us so we continued on the the north end. Wow what views. At the north end the lake was a bit calmer but the wind was still quite stiff so we decided to forgo the paddle. We headed to Barton where Suzette knew the owner of Bel-View campground. We visited for a while and took a self guided tour of the CG. We returned to Lyndonville by way of US 5 and stopped for a quick lunch before visiting the 2 bridges we missed on the way north.

Back to the campground via St. J. where we topped off the truck in preperation for tomorrows move to Maine. Back at camp we visited with Mary and Gary Lunderville who had lived in Jerhico and Gary was on Essex Rescue. Small world. At 5 was the corn roast. We ate way to much corn and leftovers from the bean hole dinner on Saturday. This was followed by another bonfire and a good country and western singer.

We had a really nice time at Moose River and would recommend it to anyone.

You can view our pictures here.

More ketchup

Just don't want to do it all in one post. Besides I had a day done and managed to delete the content and not get it recovered before the next auto save.

Friday August 29'th

One thing I forgot to mention in the Thursday post was that Jerry and James wanted us to meet with them at the proposed house site. Since today is a travel day we said no but I did call Jerry and discuss with him where we thought the house should be. Hopefully he has enough information to get an estimate for the site work.

We got hitched up and left for St. J. and Moose River CG. We made a stop at an overlook a little west of St. J. and visited with another RV'er who had stopped.

Arriving at about 11:45 we got checked in and decided to opt for cable TV at an additional $3/day because the campground between several hills and both the TV and Verizon Cell signals are weak. We were assigned a pull thru site. Neat the way they are layed out. Two sites are very close but approached from opposite directions so that the street sides of the RV's face each other. But they are offset such that we are not across from each other. This allows for a large "yard" between two RV's on their curb side.

Our pull thru site

After getting setup and having lunch we just kicked back and rested a little. We talked with another RV'r, Jerry, who is Full Time and uses VT as his home base. He said it was an easy process and that the registration of his rig was no problem. I think he uses his son's home as an address.

I'm going to bed now. I'll edit this later and add more. so check back to this post.

What a week - catching up

This has been a busy "vacation" I will try and catch up with a day by day, blow by blow account in this LONG post.

Monday August 25

Laundry day, $10 for 2 loads at the campground. Yep expensive but convenient. After that chore we headed to Winooski to a bike shop and to check our a canoe/kayak launch by the Millyard. The bike shop didn't exist but the launch site did. Steep downhill carry but they had built a slide to allow you to get a kayak/canoe down/up.

Since the bike shop had closed we went to Burlington to get a new tire and spare tube for Suzette's bike. After I installed the new tire we rode down the bike path to Burlington's watefront. Looked in on Friendship but they did not have customers for the noon sail so no one was there. We headed on over to where the Lois McClure had been tied up but she had sailed for Basin Harbor which is the home base for LCMM.

On our ride back to the campground we got a call from Ann that we were to meet them at the fair at 5:00. We left early so we could look for our friend Bruno who work camps there. We managed to find him but used up to much time so we only had about a half hour visit before meeting up with Wally and Ann.

We did the fair food thing, bloom'n onion to get the cholesterol up, then walk to the Ox pulls, walk back to the exhibit area and look before the next course. Sausage w/krut Suzette had a cheeseburger. More walking and looking at exhibits. Time for desert so we head to the maple sugar house/exhibit and get maple frosted doughnuts. Just finished with them and my cell rang. Damn what could that be? Oh it's Fran, our realator, with an verbal offer. Humm that' interesting.

Walked, talked, looked and were ready to head to the car when we came by another Al's. So I just had to have a pint of fries. Hummmm good.

Said our good by's and set the meeting time and place for Tuesday's activities. Now to see what the offer does to our spreadsheet.

Tuesday August 26'th

Called Fran back with our counter offer. Called our Vermont realator(s) to see if we could arrange another showing of properties on Wed. With that set we went to meet Wally and Ann for our bike ride on the fill section of the bike path. We had a nice ride but it was cool and the wind was blowing a bit.

From Biking and Kayaking The Winooski

Back to camp to have lunch and get ready for the next adventure a nice little kayak float down the Winooski. We loaded the 4 kayaks in the truck and headed for McCrea Farm put in and a 3 mile down river float. Damn wind. Once we reached the RT127 bridge it did get windy and choppy. A hard paddle for about a mile, ugly ugly. We were all glad to reach the fishing access take out.

After we returned to camp we started cooking the chili mac in the dutch oven. What no chili mix. Wally went to the store and returned with 2 packets, one is a spare, a six pack of Long Trail and a bag of roasted unshelled peanuts.

When Donna and Jerry arrived we set out to consume the pot of chili and the corn bread we had baked on the grill. After dinner we visited for a while giving Jerry his B'day card and a very used $10 bill so he could by his Interagency Senior Life Time Pass. Wally and Ann left, Jerry and Donna stayed a while longer and visited.

Wednesday August 27'th

After breakfast we went over our Florida plans in light of the pending sale of our Virginia house. I resubmitted my Florida State Parks volunteer application. We received a call to meet Don our realator in Jeff about 1100. We had to stop by Wally and Ann's to pick up some forms that we had had overnighted to us at their address. Short visit and off to Jeffersonville to meet with Don. We went with Don and his father to look at another piece of land. Didn't like it, to verticle. Lunch at Jana's before meeting Diane at the LaBarron property.

Mount Mansfield is in the background

We met the Diane, the selling Realtor, as well as the land owner. We spend about an hour looking things over, finding the lot pins, discussing the covenants and related details. The proposed house site does not afford a view of Mansfield so we want to see if we can move the site.

That burned off most of the afternoon. We made plans to meet with Don on Thursday for breakfast and get the paperwork started.

I needed to be at LCYC by 1700 to sail on K2 so we went back to the camper and downloaded the pictures we had taken earlier in the day of the old hood in Essex.

We had a good sail with what little wind there was.

Thursday August 28'th

Met with Don at JP's in Essex for breakfast and to get the contract offer going. A lot of signing, dating, and initialing. After breakfast and the discussion on buying the property we made our way to Underhill Center to meet with James and Jerry O. who will be our general contractor on the new house. We discussed a lot of items, heating, A/C, ICF, siding and roof choices to name a few. Since we were most of the way to Jeff. we decided to visit the Union Bank and talk about a building loan and other accounts. We had a very productive meeting with Susan Lassiter VP/Branch Manager. Next we called Peterson & Ruple and made an appointment to meet on our way back to Essex. Another good discussion so we decided to use them to represent us and signed a POA so Lori or Barry could sign for us.

Back at camp we started putting things together so we had less to do on Friday morning before we left for Moose River. Off to Wally and Ann's for dinner and talk.