Sunday, March 23, 2014

I got up at 5 AM as Abby wanted to go out. I really couldn't play "fishing dog" as the front of our motor-coach was out on the road. So in I put my sneakers on and actually took her for a mini walk. The air was crisper than we were use to, but I wasn't cold either. She finally relieved herself and I went back to asleep. We ended up leaving around 8 AM for home. There were no problems on our route. When we got back to the location we keep our RV, I was very sick with fever of 102 degrees. I helped George pack up our clean clothes and part of the food, his concentrator, his oxygen machine that fills his bottles, our medications, ipads, camera and tyhe like. And then came home. Took a shower first thing then started putting things away. After that crawled into my PJs and took a nap with plans to call the MD in the AM.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

We got to sleep in today as the Quartermaster Museum we planned to stop at didn't open until 11:00 AM and we were only an hours drive from it. My daughter's husband is stationed at Dover AFB, and we have to jump through hoops just to get on to the base housing area. So I was surprised when all it took to get on Army Base Fort Lee was our drivers licenses. I also felt sure we would need to park the motor-coaches at a Walmart or such and drive the tow SUV. So that also surprised me that we could take the RVs on base as well. The Quartermaster museum was very informative and interesting. Bob who was drafted in the Army many many years ago. He found his insignia in a case from his division. He also bought a Army Veteran hat. We have this long standing friendly rivalry as both George's and my Dad were Navy men. And now I have a SIL in the Air Force. GO NAVY! Afterward we had lunch in our respective RVs and then Bob had noticed that when we entered the gate on to the base that there were two gas stations that had diesel at a cheap price. Bob lead the way and when we arrived at the stations they had the pump isles perpendicular to the station and we having a longer motor-coach plus towing knew from experience that we would get hopelessly stuck. So Bob pulled in with their RV and there was a thin shoulder we could have waited on but it appeared to me as our car wouldn't fit on it too. So I made the judgement call to go on ahead of them. We at this point were going to go home, which they knew how to anyway. I texted them to say we were on our way, and that we were going to the Pilot down the road. It took us a long time to go a short distance, so I called Cherry Hill RV Park a great campground for touring the Washington, D.C. area, plus it is close by to the METRO. (excuse the construction as they are in the midst of adding a water park and conference center). The place in season is a bustling place which you need to make reservations for. It's one of our favorite campgrounds to stay at. Its also open all year. We were able to get a pull through campsite and we were glad we stopped. Only problem was the hot tub was closed which was disappointing for George. By this time my cold was full blown and I slept on the couch to keep from coughing in George's face. Abby our cavapoo slept part of the night on top of me and the other part on the other couch. I played Scrabble and Words with Friends on my ipad before finally falling asleep.

Friday, March 21, 2014

The night before, we told Laurie and Bob to be ready to leave at 7 AM which Laurie turned her nose up at. After we had called it a night and were in our individual motor-coaches George told me to text Laurie and tell her we would leave at 8 AM instead. So in the morning, motor-coaches were leaving left and right. The fields had finally dried out and surprisingly there was "frost on the pumpkin" or in this case the SUV. For years when the children were young they always heard me use that term, and they never knew it was just a saying, rather than the literal meaning that frost was actually on a pumpkin. My older daughter just found this out recently within the past year when there wasn't any pumpkin in sight. We both left the Georgia Fairgrounds, with us in the lead as we were headed to our next destination which was a campground George had seen advertised on the way down. It had a hot tub which is a big draw for George. While driving, another Motor-coach passenger was yelling something out the window, so we pulled over and George looked over the SUV and motor-coach and didn't see anything. I forgot to mention that George bought a tire monitoring system. So we already knew there was a problem with one of the tires on the SUV, as there was a screw in it, but it was holding air. So later, when the GPS took us through this little squeedunk town, while we were stopped at a traffic light one of our bay doors opened. Laurie jumped out of their RV and saved the day and closed the door. Unfortunately, she injured her knee as their coach's steps didn't come out and she jumped from the door landing to the ground hard. I have a Flying J / Pilot / RV Plus Card which I have a $200.00 credit plus we get 6¢ off the advertised price. However the diesel prices in Georgia and South Carolina were more than we wanted to spend at that station. With the help of Gas Buddy, Laurie picked out a diesel station where we both got diesel. While there I also bought two, 2 liter bottles of Dr. Pepper. Later we did stop at a a Pilot/Flying J but to get lunch at a Wendy's. Laurie stayed in the coach as her knee was swollen, and Bob bought vanilla Frosties. I was running a fever but I had a chicken sandwich which tasted good. The trip up to the campground in North Carolina was 514 miles and we rolled in at 7 PM and we were able to get two pull-through sites. After dinner we all decided to go to the hot-tub. On the way, we met April, a woman we had all met down at Perry who was a glass blower from Franklinville, NJ. She had a Phaeton made by Tiffin, and she was extremely knowledgeable with regards to the motor-coach that Laurie and Bob were interested in buying. She followed us to the hot-tub and while we went in, she chatted with us from the side. After a bit two bearded North Carolina sibling natives arrived. It was very interesting talking to them. One was celebrating his 21st birthday. They were in the area to catch stripers which is some kind of fish. The older one had been a game warden until he got married and moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he was a teacher. He and his brother had started farming and they were interested in raising cattle. April also raised cattle. I asked if they had problems with their calves dieing and she said no. The reason I asked was one of my friends who raises cattle for a living had a rash of calves die due to the extreme cold and March snows. On Facebook, I just saw that she lost another calf whom she had named Clover. April left to go back to her motor-coach and we stayed another half hour when I stated I was turning into a raisin. And that's when we all left to go back to our motor-coaches.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

I had planned to go to a seminar on the Polar Bear migration until I realized it was sponsored by one of the motor-coach tour groups who want an incredible amount of money for their tours. I at some point began coughing and my voice was beginning to deepen. George drove Laurie & Bob down to the area where the new motor-coaches were. I walked to the rally area once again as no tram was in sight. George went to the vendors and I went to a quilting class which was very informative. I didn't know that one could by a jelly roll which consists of strips of cloth already cut to form a quilt when sewed together. Of course my fellow classmates were all experienced seamstresses. If they only knew that I would be attempting this feat with a needle and thread by hand. The speaker had some amazingly complicated designs which she talked about each one and how she had created them while traveling. If she only knew? I did find out that I could take my sewed together jelly roll to a professional quilter to have the quilting done. After the quilting seminar, I went to play bean bag baseball in the multi-purpose building. Had a great time but my team lost, however I did get a RBI and the bag in the third base hole. The other two times I was up, I struck out. After that I met George at the vendor area where he was looking at electric motorized scooters at $675.00 each. I test drove it plus we checked to see if the scooters would fit in the SUV and it was easy to check as George had the SUV in the area from driving Laurie & Bob. We ended up buying two which one of them had to be shipped home as the dealer had only brought three to the show. George was able to get a deal for buying two. Both Laurie and Bob expressed that we could have gotten an even better deal if we bought four and wished that they had known we were going to buy them. George plans on using his over at the Biz Park to collect the rent, LOL! We also bought flexible lids that fit on any shape container, a dressy scarf for Fran, a light made from plastic panels, an LED light strip for the awning, two carbon things for grilling with no mess, and a Rand McNally GPS Navigator. We had an outdated Garmin which was fine except there was no way to program it to know that we had propane on board. So every time we went south on I-95 and cut over on I-695 toward the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the Garmin would constantly scream "recalculating" and try to steer us back to the Baltimore Tunnel. Many times George would just turn the darn thing off until we got back to I-95. It was such a pleasure! It also has a bigger screen. They only thing, George dislikes about it is that it only shows the route that you are driving and cross streets, but it doesn't depict the off ramps like the Garmin. I suggested, putting the Garmin next to it with the sound muted. After we purchased the scooters and loaded our loot into the SUV, we went back to the RV. After diner, we all went back to WalMart to return the water boots, and then stopped at DQ for ice cream. Afterward, we all settled in for the night.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

George took the tram with Laurie and Bob while I putted around the RV. George wanted to go to the vendors. After taking Abby out and enjoying my coffee, I took a shower and then headed to the tram stop. Without seeing any in sight I decided to walk which probably was over a mile. As I passed the Sutherland Livestock building which I wouldn't have passed if I took the tram, I noticed a whole group of peeps with their dogs. It was only 10 AM and I double checked my schedule which stated that the pet contest didn't start until 11 AM. So I decided I probably had time to go back and get Abby. We arrived back to the contest area where the peeps were checking in. I didn't realize that I had to sign up in advance, however they took us as a late entry. Abby was up for Most Friendliest and Most Adorable. I thought for sure she would win the Most Friendliest and everyone else in the spectators area thought so too. However when the the winners were announced a standard poodle won. :( I had to agree that the tea cup chihuahua definitely was the cutest pup there. I took Abby back to our motor-coach and met up with George who was there meeting with a shade dealer. After lunch, we went back to the vendors and eventually met up with Laurie and Bob at 3 PM as they were supposed to take a test drive. While we were there with them Laurie was picking out colors and looking at floor plans while Bob was negotiating a price but the numbers. So then the salesman was pestering them, and vice versus. Laurie was griping that one of the dealers was selling a different brand of motor-coaches at list price. George and I got tired of waiting for their test drive to commence so we headed back to the clock tower to pick up the tram. While riding the tram we saw Bob test driving the unit, which made them want it even more. They finally came back and we had the short ribs I had cooked in the slow cooker the night before. They were delicious. Then they left to go see the nights entertainment, while George and I watched Magnum PI reruns from a bygone era. It was funny to see Tom Selleck running around in hot pants and a Hawaiian shirt.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

In the early AM, I played "Fishing Dog" which is what I refer to as when I stand on the front steps and let the dog out on the retractable leash just in the area near the RV so she can pee. Then I reel her in and later when we get up and dressed, George takes her for her long walk. We all got up and headed to the vendors which opened at 9 AM via the blue tram. I never even noticed that the tractor trams had flags on them depicting the route they took. All the tractors were either orange and blue, so naturally I chose to take the blue tractor route as that was where our coach was parked and it was just by accident that I got on a blue flagged tractor tram. I kept saying that I had only seen blue or oange tractors and never white, black, red or green. Laurie and I went through the first building full of vendors buying super cleaning fluid for showers, which we split the cost for. The dealer was selling one bottle for $20. and two bottles for $30.00 which we bought and just paid $15. each for. Then he told us that for $10. we could upgrade to even more, so I got another whole bottle for just $5. At home I will find out if it was such a great deal or not lol. So going to the venors began the quest for Free re-usable bags. Laurie and Bob are re-usable bag magnets. They can spot a swag bag or swag item in a second and were drawn to them like flies on honey. I also bought a microwaveable popcorn popping dish as I am allergic to some ingredient in most store bought microwaveable popcorn bags.
Midday, I took my loot back to the RV and while I was there I browned short ribs and placed them in the slow cooker for Wednesday's dinner. George had a guy come give a price on new blinds and enlarging our table. We also signed up to have our front entry door fixed as it intermittently sticks which is annoying. At night we all ate dinner together and then headed off to the entertainment which featured a comedy act.

March 17, 2014, continued...

Back at the RV we let Abby out. In the afternoon, George and I went to a seminar about traveling to New Foundland on our own. The speaker had great insight mixed with humor for an informative and fun time. I also bought the speakers books with the subject matter in the seminar plus Traveling to Alaska on Your Own and another book Full Timing. At night we enjoyed bbq baby back ribs which we precooked and grilled ourselves. Laurie and Bob went to the preview of the new motorcoaches after dinner while George and I relaxed.

March 17, 2014 - Saint Patty's Day

So since we couldn't return our locator cards and get our welcome packet on Sunday, as we weren't sure where they were going to put us, I knew from past experience that we needed to get the packet in the morning of the first day of the rally. Even though it it poured all night, we were able to walk on the pavement to pick up the blue tram in our sneakers. It was cold, raw  and lightly drizzling. The wind made it worse on the open to air tram. We ended up putting Starbuck Road on our locator card. Laurie and I went to sign up to make a glass bracelet and Laurie was dismayed to find out that one of the other crafts was sold out since we didn't get there until 9 AM. Neither of us could remember that we had to get to the Multipurpose Barn at 7 AM in order to sign up for the crafts. We did get the bracelet craft scheduled for that same day. All of us walked over to the vendor barn only to find out that they wouldn't be opening until Tuesday. From there George and Bob went to one of the seminars that they were interested in, while Laurie and I sauntered back to the multipurpose only to find out that we were late to the Bean Bag Tournament. We finally did get a an opposing team. We did better than expected however we still lost 21 - 18. From there we met up with they guys and went to the food court for lunch. George and I had pulled pork sandwiches and shared a basket of fries which came to $23. Wow sticker shock, however they were tasty. Bob had a hamburger and Laurie had pulled pork too. We also had water and I had a cranberry juice. After lunch Laurie and I went to our class to make the bracelet while George and Bob had to go move the Rvs. They left laughing that they might tell us where the RVs were being parked. Laurie gave them one of her famous expressions which we all laughed about. When we arrived at the craft class, our classmates were already seated which means one needs to get to their class probably at least 30 minutes in advance. We couldn't sit together and the women at Laurie's table began begging me to control her as I think she was giving them once of her expressive faces. LOL! I told them that it was their fault that they split us up, and now they had to deal with her. She made a pink, green and white bracelet with cabachon glass. I made multicolored glass which I can't remember what its called. After that we took our bracelets back to our RVs

On March 16, 2014

We left Camp Pedro around 7:00 AM and our friends Laurie & Bob were in the lead. I forgot to mention in the post below that Camp Pedro has a security gate with access key, which is returned in a little box on the front porch of the office when leaving. Woke up to a misty morning which soon became pouring rain. We saw about 5 vehicles on I-95 that had driven off the road and were in the ditch with EMS personnel and police attending to them. There was also thunder and lightning. I was monitoring the weather for any signs of severe storms. Most of those storms went south into Florida and Alabama had tornadoes. When we arrived at the Georgia State Fair Grounds and Agricultural Center in Perry, GA the rain was just a mist. It was a crazy mess with what turned out to be 3052 motor-coaches in all shapes and sizes plus their tow cars. We had paid for electric and the electric field was under water. So the first night our whole section was parked on the roads, with the plan to move us in the morning on Monday. We all drove in our car to Longhorn Steak House for dinner. After dinner we drove to Walmart and bought knee high water boots in anticipation of more heavy rains that were expected through the night. During the night it poured rain as promised.

Trip to FMCA Rally in Perry, Georgia

Left for Georgia on Saturday, March 15 ~ After spending several days before the 15th packing up the Motorhome (RV) we still needed to bring more stuff on the morning we were leaving. Just as we planned to hook up our tow car to the RV, we realized we had left the tow bar that hooks to the car home. So DH drove the RV and I the SUV back to the homestead. MIL was home sleeping and we scared her a bit by coming back. We took Abby our cavapoo out for a quick walk in familiar territory, while DH put the tow bar on the SUV. I then drove it to the back of the RV where we hooked it up. I ended up calling our travel buddies Laurie and Bob to tell them we were running late and we would meet them at the diner in Mullica Hill NJ. Arriving at the diner we had an enjoyable breakfast before heading out on our journey. The planned destination was to be Camp Pedro in South Carolina. We called ahead for reservations for two motorhomes. My DH and I had stopped there before for one night on our way to Florida back in 2009. It is secluded from the main attraction South of the Border. The campground was very clean and pet friendly. The amenites are shared with the motel there and although we thought about going to the indoor heated pool, we were too exhausted from the drive down from NJ.