Saying Good-bye to an old “Buddy”L

January 21, 2014

During the night, we heard a loud speaker a couple times. We couldn’t figure out exactly what was said. We both got up early as usual and showered at the club house. It was around 6:45 am, when I heard the loud speaker again. It was coming from one of the Navy ships. 

Cruiser or Destroyer?

They were getting ready for a voyage out to sea. I quickly grabbed my Nikon and was able to catch the cruiser, at least I think it was a Navy cruiser heading out. Maybe some of you Navy guys can tell me the difference. I know the cruiser is bigger, but this ship was definitely bigger than those WWII tin can destroyers.

St Augustine

Our departure from Navy Station Mayport was around 9:30. A stop at the Post Office, the propane refilling station and our first re-supply of food at the commissary actually made our departure around 11:30 am. Instead of heading down I-95, we drove one of America’s Scenic Byways along route A1A towards St Augustine. This route brought us to secluded high end residential homes with manicured lawns, live oak trees that have survived years of weather from the Atlantic. Further down, the road was straight as an arrow with tall grass on one side with, I believe, man made barrier on the other. We pulled into St Augustine around 1 pm. We had been here before and knew exactly where the free RV/Bus parking was located. It sure is nice to be able to park and take a fifteen minute nap in the camper.


Lucien, Elsie, Helen and
Peanut on the table

St Augustine is geared to the tourists, but it’s still fun to walk St George Street (closed to vehicles) and checkout the artists and their clever ideas on crafts. We also took a minute to go into the Minor Catholic Basilica. For a building that was originally built in 1575, it is in remarkable condition. We lost track of  time and it was getting late for one last destination. 
One of my former National Guard buddies, whom I had gone to Alaska with, passed away last November here in Florida. I wanted to touch  basses with his wife. Elsie lives in Deltona. We made it to her house in early evening and she graciously talked to us about Roland (Peanut) Dresser’s life as it drew to an end. Peanut was a small guy in size, but a giant of a man. He always was there for the National Guard Ammo section, of which he was a part of. We thanked Elsie for meeting with us and soon we were rolling down the road. We hoped to make it to my cousin’s home in Winter Springs, but we figured it would be too late and decided to camp for the night at our favorite Crackle Barrel Campground Restaurant.

That is what we did and saw.

Florida…The Promise Land! Sun, Sun, Sun!

January 20, 2014
This morning we packed up the camper and headed for a quick trip over to Savanna for a quick look at those charming 22 squares (gardens) in the old section of town.

The word between our
heads says it all! "Sunshine"

To get there, we had to drive five miles on base to the main gate only to find it locked shut with no one around. Martin Luther holiday was the occasion. We couldn’t get off base from the main gate. A five mile U-turn took us back to the gate next to the RV campground. Remember the old adage. “The truck camper is like a canoe going down a river without paddles”. It didn’t want us to go there, so we headed south to Jacksonville and the Navy base at Mayport, Florida. When we crossed into the “Promised Land” meaning the sunshine state, we weren’t disappointed. We stopped at the first visitor center and couldn’t resist taking a ‘'selfy” picture.

I relied on my navigation software to guide us to the Navy base. Oddly enough, I could see that we were headed towards the wrong side of the St Johns River. I knew that no bridge existed over the river, as super sized ships navigate into port. I nearly turned around, but the GPS said only three miles to the base.

Navy Sunset!

I figured, if anything else, I could get a picture of the base from a different vantage. Ah, soon there was a sign indicating “St Johns River Ferry”. I was trying to figure how much it would cost. The digital readout sign was scrolling too fast. Trucks under 20 feet were $10 plus $1 for passenger. Trucks over 20 feet were $20 bucks. You pay on board, so it was kind of hard to figure. The truck camper was inline and what ever it cost we were committed. The attendant came over and swiped my credit card on his reader. I said, “how much?” he said “$6 bucks” thank you. It was well worth $6 or even $21 dollars to avoid the dense city traffic in and around Jacksonville.

The ferry ride was only a five or so minutes across. We were parked second vehicle towards the front. Approaching the docking area, I noticed that the ferry was not inline and the captain revved the engines to correct. Over the loud speakers, he announced that we might have

 

to go around again. He then announced, “Prepare for a bump and motorcycles secure your bikes!” He somehow managed to guide the ferry into the docking area. It was our first time ever to be in a broadside approach to docking and we’ve been on a lot of ferries including crossing the mighty swift running Yukon river. Adventure always seems to find us. I guess I call it adventure verses disaster.

Mayport Naval Base is about three miles from the ferry. We drove into the RV campground and there were sites available. This campground is located right on the waterfront in the Navy yard. We were fortunate enough to watch several ships go in and out of port…from a cruise ship… a ship that had railroad cars on it… to a Navy destroyer, were all in our view from our truck camper. We took and evening walk around the park and captured several orange to red sunset photos. We stopped into the clubhouse for a cup of decaf coffee and chat with fellow campers. One of them also writes a blog and had just come back from touring Europe with there camper. That’s right they had there camper shipped there and toured the continent for eight months! We are supposed to exchange blog addresses later.

 

That’s what we did and saw!

Columbia, SC…Home of the Pecans and Family!

January 18, 2014


Chris, Aunt Simone, Jennifer, Aliya and Sandy

It is just a short hop, skip and a jump from Charlotte, NC to Columbia, SC… our next stop on the adventure trail. Helen’s aunt Simone is living there, in the winter, with her son Chris and wife Sandy. It is always a pleasure to stop in and see them. Chris’s house is located in a residential neighborhood very close to 600 acres of the Clemens Agricultural Research University. This land is covered with fields, large pine forest and experimental Pecan trees. Trails abound everywhere. I was especially thrilled to  go for a nature walk with the family, including aunt Simone who is 87 yrs. young. She has two walking poles and believe me she can move for her age! On our return to the house, Sandy’s daughter Jennifer was waiting for us in the living room along with her new born 3 month old great granddaughter Aliya. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking while Chris and Sandy  were in and out of the kitchen preparing a gourmet meal. The soup and corn bread deserved a five star rating!.
Aunt S

Higgins, Sandy, Helen and
Aunt Simone in the Pine Forest

imone is at a stage of life that requires her to make a decision to live with Chris and Sandy and give up her home in Plattsburg, NY. I’m sure she will make the right decision.
January 19, 2014
We took Aunt Simone to church this morning and shortly after we said our goodbyes and headed East on I-26 and finally on I-95, the main artery for snow-birds and everything else heading for the sunshine state. Tonight we are staying at Hunter Army Airfield at the military RV campground. We got the last site. Actually, the registration office was closed and we thought that a self-registration was in order, but we couldn’t even do that. (no camp host around) In that situation, we occupy and see if someone comes knocking. It is now eight pm and no one will come. We are safe and sound for the night.
That is what we did and saw!

Charlotte, NC…The First Visit…The Ambulance!

January 16, 2014


Peggy and Helen

From Troutville, VA (a little north of Roanoke, VA) our overnight stay to Charlotte, NC is just a couple of hundred miles away. Our sister-in-law lives there with her step mother. Her kids also live in the area along with grandkids. Peggy gets out of work at 1:00 pm. It would be a relatively short ride for us to meet her around 2pm.
Leaving Roanoke area, the sun was shinning, but very cold. At 23 degrees, the Red Roof Inn proved to be a good choice last night. I-81 snakes up and over many mountains with a continuous rise in elevation. For the first time since leaving Berlin, NH, we actually had snow on the ground. Not much, but a trace to an inch. The highway was bone dry. In some places, the valleys below were a site to see.
I knew from past experience that I should fill up the gas tank as the prices in North Carolina are high. I paid $2.92 a gallon! A price that I have not seen in several years. A quick lunch at Arby’s and we were getting close to Charlotte. I decided to alter the GPS route and take a beltway around Charlotte. It would be 10 to 15 miles longer, but it also eliminated a lot of city traffic.

Ann ready for operation

About fifteen minutes from our destination in Charlotte, Helen got a phone call from Peggy (our sister in law). She said that her step-mom, whom she lives with, had just fallen and needed to go to the hospital. We arrived just as the ambulance was leaving with Ann, the step mom. Helen and Peggy left for the hospital and I stayed back to hold down the fort. Seven hours later the girls, including  Ann, showed up with the news. Ann had fallen on a bag of groceries by the outside of the front door. She had a cut above the right eye, bruised palm and the broken arm with the arm pulled out of the elbow socket. They couldn’t  operate because the operating rooms were all booked. The doctor called the following day to say that he could do the operation at another hospital about twenty miles away. On Friday, the four of us headed for Carolinas Medical Center Pineville. I must say this is by far the best hospital I’ve ever been in. There are large waiting rooms with large screen monitors that give you up to date info on the patient. We were given a patient number and then could follow her from pre-op, to operation to post recovery. When a smiley face appeared that meant that we could go in and see Ann. The volunteer aids would come right over and escort us to  Ann's location. Great service! Oh, Ann came through the 3 + hour operation very successfully. See her metal implants in the photos. Now, I’m all for adventure, but who would have  guessed that we would be in a hospital with a family crisis. Ann stayed in the hospital Friday night and came home on Saturday. She is doing fine for an 82 year young lady. We decided that Peggy would have her hands full on Saturday, so we said our goodbyes and left mid morning.
That is what we did and saw!

The Long Hiatus is Over ~ We’re About to Travel Again!

December 30, 2013

Since early September, I’ve been working on my patience. Patience to stay busy and not think of a trip to the sunshine state. My promise to my wife was to be around until after the holidays. I would need a diversion to keep mind and body busy, vary busy. I decided to install radiant heat under my office floor. That normally wouldn’t take very long to accomplish, but the office is the part of the house that doesn’t have a full cellar. About half of the crawl space is three feet high and the rest is 12 inches in height. Now this is a tight fit for a belly that is 11-1/2 inches thick! I won’t go through the whole sequence, but basically I had to remove existing insulation, grind hundreds of underlayment nails, drill floor joists, install Pex tubing, heat transfer plates, install ridged installation, fiberglass insulation and finally a vapor barrier. This all took over a month to accomplish. I still needed to stay busy for another couple of months so, I installed more radiant floor heat in three bathrooms and of course, this led to a complete remodel of two full baths and one restroom in my office…and now that brings us to the holidays! Oh, on my down time, I’ve been working on an article about “The Baby Boomer Generation” I’m hoping to have this published in Truck Camper Magazine. No guarantees about this being published, but I will submit it in the next few days and see what develops.  
The camper has been sitting under the lean-to down at the shop.

Last view of the F-550

I’ve got my F-550 dump truck in the shop being detailed for a sale after the first of the year. It is a 2002 with only 14,398 miles original miles. Any takers? In any event, I will be moving the dump truck outside in a week or so and bring in the truck camper for loading supplies for our trip to the end of Route One… Key West, FloridaThe game plan is to stay in Key West until early spring. When the weather gets warmer in Utah, we will head in that direction to visit all of the National Parks that we haven’t explored. Our daughter will house sit and keep the utilities up to snuff.

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January 5th, 2014
Many of our followers have commented on the New England weather, as it made the National News headlines. Yes, it has snowed a lot, but this made the news because for once southern New England got more than there share. We have escaped the abnormal snowfall for our area. The one thing that we did get is an abundance of cold weather. When it doesn’t snow it is clear, sunny and bitterly cold. Twenty-one below was recorded on my indoor/outdoor thermometer. This spell has lasted for nearly a week. Prior to this past week’s cold, we did get freezing rain, but here again, not as bad as the folks south of the “Whites”.

Our departure is still schedule for the 16th of January. I had one meeting rescheduled and the other postponed. Now the big factor is the infamous East Coast weather down along the eastern seaboard. I hoping and planning to be able to quickly make it from northern New Hampshire to Virginia without encountering severe winter weather. We won’t even stay in the camper until the temperature moderates. Once our travels bring us into the southern eastern states we will slow down and start visiting family and a lot of new found friends.
January 14, 2014
Houston we have liftoff at 6:30 am. Finally, after a very busy Monday we left Berlin. On Monday, I was fortunate  enough to sell my F-550 dump truck. I also was notified by Truck Camper Magazine that they want to do a front page full feature of the article that I submitted. This is of great news for me as this was on my bucket list. I really like to write about travel adventures.

That is what we’ve been up-to!

TCM…Calendar Winner…I’m Thrilled!!

I have just been notified by Truck Camper Magazine that one of my photos, taken this past summer in Newfoundland, was voted one of the thirteen best by TCM readers for the 2014 TCM Calendar. There were 386 photos submitted and 3,378 votes. Checkout the winners. http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-lifestyle/announcing-the-2014-tcm-calendar-contest-winners. What is so remarkable is all of the really cool photos submitted. I had a hard time picking the best. My personnel favorites are from Meg and Jed Wolfrom. They drove their truck camper from Northern United States all the way to the tip of South America. They also were voted in the top 13. They have several of their photos that are priceless. Also checkout their blog especially the photo albums pages. http://adventureamericas.wordpress.com/photo-albums/ Their blog is highly adventurist even with the sad disaster of being attacked by mountain village people in Peru. It is worth following their archived blogs. They are now home and safe and hopefully thinking of future travel adventures. 


That is what we saw and did!

Cape St George...Newfoundland, Canada ~ Calendar Winner
 

Mt Washington…Revisited!

October 19, 2013


The Summit!

This Saturday, we had a visit from my brother, Richard and his wife Monique from Manchester. They are always  good to us when we visit them in Manchester and we wanted to reciprocate. It was a good time to use my rain check pass for a trip up to the top of Mount Washington via the Auto Road. They had never been to the top. The weather looked good from down here in the Androscoggin valley.
We had a light lunch and soon headed south for the fifteen mile journey to the Auto Road. The valley temperature 54 degrees, the weather partly cloudy, but we could see the top of the mountain, a good sign for viewing the vistas 

Rime Ice with Helen and Monique

below. One has to remember that if your on top and clouds are present, one doesn’t see anything but fog!
The drive up the auto road starts upwards abruptly with  hardwood forest surrounding the winding road. A glimpse here and there of the valley appearing lower and lower as we climb pass the two mile marker. The eight miles to the summit does begin to get very scenic especially after the four mile marker. The “Mountain Ash” berries were now the only color visible. The bright red clusters seem to jump out. This invited us to stop for a few seconds to take a photo. I’m doing the driving and Rich is doing the shooting with his new digital SLR camera. The “Oos and Ah’s” 

Me and brother Rich enjoying
the scenic views!

start appearing as we are up above the tree line. We stopped at the pullouts going uphill for more pictures. The temperature has now dropped to 48 degrees, still not bad for this halfway mark on the ascent.
At the three quarter mark, a noticeable difference! There is a slight trace of rime ice on the shady side of the granite rocks. This was a change from our visit a couple of weeks ago with our friends from  Miami. The temperature was balmy then compared to a colder wind of today. The summit was now in view and the parking lot was not as crowded as before. I made a passenger drop-off at the very top, to keep  my passengers

from climbing the many stairs.
The top today was completely different from two weeks ago. The rime ice covered everything  on the Northwesterly side.
rime ¹ (rm) n. 1. A coating of ice, as on grass and trees, formed when extremely cold water droplets freeze almost instantly on a cold surface. The rime ice made intricate patterns on just about everything. The temperature was now down to 38 degrees. Richard soon was on his own capturing the rime ice formations. Helen, Monique and myself worked our way towards the television antenna to capture the ice in that location. We strategically stood in locations to scale objects and rime ice in the photos. It was a new experience for Rich and Monique as well as for us.

Ironically, this day had just as many people on the “Rock Pile” as two weeks ago on our last visit. It seemed that there were more hikers on the summit than auto road customers. The weather was definitely colder, but this is nearer to the end of the season weather wise. We found out, later in the day that this would possibly be the last day that the auto road would be open for the public. They do use the road to resupply the guys who stay at the weather observatory year round. Of course, they only come up in the “Snow Cat”. This machine is designed with large two foot wide lag tracks that grip and climb like a bulldozer. They rotate the observatory crew every two weeks, weather permitting.

It was time to start down the mountain and depart on this final tour of the season. This time, I followed the auto road guidance and descended in low gear all the way down. The brakes didn’t heat up all and again we made it down safe and sound.

 

That is what we did and saw!