D-Day +1 (Carlisle PA)

 

And no I am not going to start every post with D-Day.

Well this is the first day of the rest of the month’s travels.  We Boondocked overnight at a Flying J truck stop.  They are huge truck stops with hundreds of trucks parked.  Some overnight some for a few hours, so the drivers can get some sleep.

They are a RV friendly place with an island designed just for RV’s to fill up, take on water or dump the waste tanks.   The place where most of the RV’s park overnight is a free for all.  With RV’s parking everywhere they can without any consideration for others.

Here we are parked overnight

We went to the Big Boys lot and parked there  It was noisy with trucks pulling in and out and running their engines all night.  We were so tired that it did not bother us.   We started out generator and warmed up some leftovers we brought with us.  Made coffee and went to bed around 9 PM.

Got up this morning stated the generator put on the HEAT, and made breakfast.  Right now I am waiting for Ann to get ready so we can pull out.  We are headed south on I-81 to the Shenandoah NP for a few days of R&R where we will organize the camper better and do some sightseeing.

To be Conitinued …

D-Day -1 (departure day)–Flushing NY

 

Well this is the day we have all been waiting for, well maybe Ann and I .  It is time to scratch that Hitch itch.  We made a trip out to the camper today and brought lots of Stuff.  Clothes, some of my tools, the computer, satellite receiver, pots and some of the food. 

Tomorrow we get up around 4 am and finish packing the refrigerator food, the rest of the clothes, turn off everything in the house, set the alarm, lock the door and take the truck out to Amityville where the camper is. 

Next hitch up and depart hopefully around 7 am we will be on the road heading south. 

Next blog entry will be from the road.

To be continued …

Take off – Flushing NY

 

Well we have a date to take off, April 21, 2011 at 7am.  We will be gone for about a month.  Heading to North Carolina for an Escapees Rally from April 28 to May 2.  Then just traveling around North and South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.  All travel plans are etched in Jello.

After we com back finish getting the house cleaned up and put it on the market.

We had the painters in to paint the living room, stairs going upstairs, hallway up stairs, our bedroom and Heidi’s room.  Well not really Heidi’s room but Ann’s office. “ Isn’t amazing how we still call it Heidi’s room when she hasn’t lived hear since she was away at college.”  We had the wall paper removed from the walls in the bathroom and painted.  When we come home we will have them paint the basement and the hall going downstairs.  Next is the have the rug in the basement cleaned.  That should be it.

This week we are  cleaning up after the painters have left and getting the camper ready.  We have to de-winterize it.  Bring sheets, clothes, food and setting everything up ready for The Trip.

Next week is Passover so of coarse we are having 21 people over.  The last Passover in this house.

When we hit the road the posts should be more frequent.

See you down the road…

New Update–Flushing NY

 

I guess you are wondering what has happened to us in the past  few weeks, months.  Well, I have been cleared to go from one doctor.  I am now waiting to go to the second doctor for clearance to take off.  If all is well, we are aiming to leave April 21st, right after the  2nd Passover Sedar.

We have started to get the house ready to be sold.  We have a painter coming the beginning of April to give the house a fresh coat of paint.

Ann has been going through our STUFF and getting rid of a lot of thing that have been accumulating over 45 year of marriage (that includes 19 years in the house).  BTW,  Ann will not let me do any of the packing.  She does not trust me. Ann’s boss from  the job she retired from called her to come back to work for a few weeks to fill in because they were short handed. So she is juggling between work and packing. Not an easy task between working and packing.

We will head for North Carolina to a multi chapter rally of Escapees. Escapees is an organization of full or part time RVers like us who travel full time or part part time that we belong to.

When we get back the end of May,  we will put the house up for sale.

After the rally, April 28-May 2, we will wander around the area.  We will go through the Smokey Mountains, Georgia, South Carolina, or wherever we find interesting and the weather is good.

I’m Bored–Flushing, NY

 

I am tired of waiting for doctors for this appointment and that procedure.  I was going through some of my old pictures and I thought I would share them with some of my close friends, so I am putting it on the internet. 

Ann and I have camped on and off over the last 44 years (yes, 44).  There were many years that we did not have a camper of any kind and we traveled by plane, car and train and stayed in motels.  We traveled to many places in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Russia (thanks to Andrew, Ann got to see the Hermitage Museum)  

We Started with:

Our 1967 Volvo and the Coleman popup

The car is dirty because the picture was taken at the end of the trip.

The camper was just a box on wheels that had a tent on top to open up to sleep four.

Everything else was the same as tent camping.  We used a Coleman gas stove to cook on, an Ice chest to keep things cold and a Coleman gas lantern for light at night.

Notice those skinny guys in the pictures.

On this trip we went to the Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada. 

The following are some pictures we took on the trip to the Expo 67 (where  we saw the world premier of  “Bonnie and Clyde”!).  You can go through them if you want.

		Expo 67 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next….:

In 1969 we bought a pickup camper.   It was a Chevy 3/4 ton pickup with a 350 cu. in. engine with a manual transmission.  We bought the camper from a Ford dealer.  It was a all ABS plastic shell inside and out with a foam core. It came with a 12vdc/120vac refrigerator, stove and heater. 

I added a chemical recirculating toilet in a closet in the back.  I also added an extra battery in the back that was able to be charged from the truck.

 

We really were roughing it, No A/C (OMG).

Next…:

In 1974 the pickup camper was stolen.  After that we the bought a van camper.  Now known as a Class B motorhome.

We traveled across country in a 5 week trip to California.  In 1976, we sold the van, as we bought our business, Roan Electronics.

FYI, in the picture above Heidi is not quite 2.  Andrew went camping with us once when he was about 4 months old! 

Looking forward to being on the road soon in our 5th Wheeler….

Enough is Enough Already–Flushing NY

 

MORE SHOW???  Still stuck in snowy New York.

             Down the Street                                        Up the Steet

               Back Deck                                             Driveway

                 Front Walk                                    Back Steps

             Front of House

Again 12-14” of Snow!!  At this rate we will not get out until spring.

So, we can’t feel sorry for all of you  who are in warmer (?) climates and are complaining about the cold! 

 

Still stuck in Flushing NY

Well just an update.

Things change, it looks like we will not be leaving next week. Bummer. I did not get the OK from the doctor because of a problem with the Prostate surgery. He wants to do a procedure to check out my plumbing and make sure it is ok, no scaring.

So it looks like the Quartzsite RV show and the Escapees Boot camp are not in the cards for now. We hope to get going in February.

We did get some cool outer ware for the trip though. Caroline & Andrew gave us these great T-shirts for Hanukah.

We will make good use of them once we do “hit the road”

“The only cure for Hitch Itch is lots of cheap Diesel.”