VALLEY FORGE

We arrived at Valley Forge Christian College on May 16th. After Allan got the RV backed into our new home site, I changed places with him to set down the landing gear and put out the slides. He came back in the motorhome and pointed to the rear camera monitor. I glanced over at the monitor and almost jumped out of the driver's seat when I saw this wasp.

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I did not get a picture of him when I first saw him and this is not a good one. He filled the whole monitor screen and was staring at us. Was it a giant insect coming to eat the motorhome?? Dave and Linda's Tiffin is parked next to ours, but they are attending district meetings as RV MAPS representatives and will return next week. Linda had warned us to be careful when parking because a pair of killdeer had two babies two sites over from us. They are little things but sure can travel fast. We also looked out our window to see a groundhog peeking around the tree.

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Don't think he is the famous Punxsutawney Phil that looks for his shadow in the Spring. The picture is not of good quality, but it does show that he has made his home under one of the dorms.

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We visited Valley Forge National Park on Friday after work.

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This is inside the train station.

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This is the house George Washington lived in when he was in Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.

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Allan said I should include this picture showing me heading for the stable. Where else would I be going?

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And here is George, himself.

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GETTYSBURG

We visited Gettysburg on May 5th which was our second visit (2009).  We drove around the battle fields and took pictures.  So many men lost their lives here and they were all fighting for America, just on different sides.

LANCASTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA

Lancaster County was not far from Carlisle so we did not get an early start.  That seems to be our usual story on moving day.  We had an uneventful trip and beat the rain to Roamers Retreat Campground in Kinzer.  We stayed here in 2009 on our way to Maine and Vermont.  This is beautiful farm land and very interesting to see how the Amish live and work. 

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One thing I did notice was the area has increased in non-Amish population with many new houses and much more traffic.  I hate to see that, but I suppose that is progress.  I am not sure how that will affect the Amish people and their lifestyle.  We can see it is more dangerous for them to have their carts on the road with all the traffic.

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We made several stops at different farms who specialized in different foods.    We made three stops at one farm during our stay in the area, buying pies for $4 and $4.50, and a loaf of bread for $.75.  At another farm we bought a dozen brown, free range chicken eggs for $1.50.  There were so many beautiful gardens.

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We had good weather although it did rain several days and we needed to use the heater a night or two.  I am not complaining.  The rain caused our pictures not to be as good as we would have liked.

Strasburg had a train museum which was closed the day we were there, but we did get some pictures. 

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Across the road was this.  Does anyone remember these?

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The main transportation for the Amish is horse and carriage and horses and mules plow the fields. 

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The children have scooters, non-motorized.  They were offering buggy rides for hire.  Some of the areas had rubber mats for the horses to stand on while they tied to hitching posts outside businesses.  Walgreens even had a hitching post.  Most of the roads are paved now so I am sure that is hard on the horses hooves and legs.

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Since we are such patriotic people, we felt we should patronized the Amish eating establishments.  We were not disappointed in the quality or quantity of the meals.  We also stopped in an Amish furniture store.  If we had had enough room, I would have bought the most comfortable glider/rocker I have sat in and it was so well made.

The Amish people work hard and have long hours.  The children help out in the work, too.  All of the people we talked with were very nice and friendly and seemed very happy. 

BONGIORNO CONFERENCE CENTER

We were the only RV in the campground at Bongiorno Conference Center in Carlisle, Pa.  It was sort of lonely for a while, but several days later another couple arrived, Jack and Georgie Bowers who live in Virginia. This is a very nice facility which includes a golf course.  Allan worked on a number of projects while we were there.  He helped clean the swimming pool before they started filling it with water.  One of the guys said it took about four days to fill.  Allan moved furniture and did some plumbing repair.  The last few days he and Jack worked on the new RV sites.  The weather has been cool enough to need the heater at night and we have had a number of rainy days.  They did not have any work for the ladies.  The only thing I did was pick up the mail for the office one day.  When we are at jobs that have nothing for the ladies to do, we usually do catch up on all the pink jobs we have put off because of lack of time.  I got the freezer defrosted and refrigerator cleaned out along with cabinets rearranged.  I also worked on the financials. 

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Carlisle is a neat college town.  We drove around several days to take pictures of the different  architectural styles.  There is a lot of history in this town.

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We drove to Gettysburg one day.   In 2009 we took a horseback ride through the battlefields.  This year we just drove.  This is a beautiful area with many statues and monuments dedicated to the many men who fought in the Civil War, many of whom lost their lives.

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Mt. Vernon and Carlisle, Pa

On May 2nd we visited Mount Vernon.  We saw George and Martha's place.  I think I was most impressed by the view they had of the Potomac River. 

Thanks to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, Washington’s estate has welcomed more than 80 million visitors to date—and at no expense to taxpayers. A private, non-profit organization, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association does not accept government grants or tax dollars, relying instead on ticket sales, retail and dining purchases and donations. (from their website)

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This is where George Washington kept his riding horses. By the looks of the saddles they had not been used in a long time, but the smell of horse manure was prominent. Oh, such sweet perfume!

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We have been followed by thousands of kids from all over the United States, in Washington D.C. and now Mount Vernon.

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Richmond and D.C.

I have been able to do some research on my genealogy in several states.  Allan has been very patient driving me to libraries and waiting on me to finish.  Sometimes these waits have been hours.  In Richmond he decided to do some sightseeing while I did my thing.  He is the best!

While in Richmond we were able to visit my childhood friend from 1st grade to 12th grade.  We lived a few houses from each other.  This is our second time we have visited with Raylene and Mike.  We always have memories to talk about and what has been going on with each other in the present.  Mike was able to give me some pointers on knee surgery as he just recently experienced one.

We didn't realize what an important part that Richmond played in our country's history.  Richmond was the capital of Virginia and Virginia being a prominent colony in forming the United States at the time of the revolution.  There were many famous figures from this era that were present at the Virginia capitol building at this time, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  The capital also played an important part in the Civil War as it was the capital of the confederacy.  This is where Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederacy and Robert E. Lee took his commission to lead the army.

We drove to Cherry Hill Campground in College Park, Md. and then took a tour of Washington D.C.
D.C. was in construction or refurbishing mode everywhere.  This day about did me in.  I sure was a tired puppy with aches and pains all over. 

We took a bus tour from our RV campground to Washington D.C. which included Union Station, Library of Congress, Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials,  the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, Arlington Cemetery, the White House, and we drove by many of the buildings connected with the Smithsonian Institute and a brief tour of the Holocaust Museum.  We were impressed by the neatness and cleanliness of the downtown area for these buildings and structures being so old.  The reflection pool between the Washington and Lincoln Monuments was drained and under repair.  The only trashy thing that we noticed was a small presence of the Occupy Movement across from the White House.  President Obama was not home as this was the time when he flew to Afghanistan.





Prior to our Richmond and Washington D.C. trip we visited a cousin of Allans in North Carolina. She and her husband live in a retirement community. We have seen quite a few facilities around the country, but I think this one tops them all. I was amazed at the variety of options the residents have. They have a huge pool and even a large shop room for the guys. Apparently one of the ladies even uses this room. While Allan attended Camp Freightliner in Gaffney, S.C. I drove to the Union library for some genealogy work. Allan said he learned a lot at the two day seminar. After that we dropped our MH off to have a slide seal replaced at a dealer and drove the jeep to Birmingham for my appointment with the doctor. Allan and I were hoping to learn at this doctor's visit how many times I would have to return before being released. We had planned to work on a church project in Maine, but the surgery and follow up visits looked like we might have to cancel our trip. Originally, the office told me I would need to return for 4 visits, one, a week after surgery and then monthly. Praise God the doctor has allowed me to return in October. By then we will be back in Alabama. I still have to continue with my liquid to soft diet for a few more months. We spent several days at Deep River Campground in Asheboro, N.C. Our site was not very level and the campground wasn't either so I did not get to walk around much. Allan visited the lake and the river which was beautiful. The campground was located centrally so I could do some genealogy work in two different towns. We moved on to Apex, N.C. and camped at Jordan Lake State Recreational Area. There were very few campers when we arrived. We had a beautiful view of the huge lake. Katie even enjoyed the view,lots of birds and squirrels for her to watch. We bought a new GPS since our Garmin died. We went to Camping World and bought some wheel covers and a Rand McNally Tripmaker 7710. You can change whether you are driving a car or RV. It also allows you to put in your length. I did some genealogy work in Raleigh. We also went to a farmers market.

PICTURES FROM FLORIDA

Allan and I drove the RV to Sarasota to Sun N Fun RV Resort and parked for about a week.

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Yancy and Brian and their friends, Dave and Rhonda, drove from Birmingham with a LOADED car along with Maggie, our grand dog. They stayed with us. We had wall to wall air mattresses, but surprisingly it did not seem crowded to us.

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They were gone most of the days to the beach and other activities.

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We really enjoyed having them. Allan was able to spend quite a bit of time with his brother Paul.

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We got together with all of his family one night at a Mennonite restaurant. It took two long tables to accommodate everyone. We were able to visit with Mary, Paul's wife, and Becky Doll, a cousin of Allans. There was a canoe trip down the Peace River with the alligators and a trip to Myaka Park. Everyone had fun. Allan and Yancy tipped over their canoe and Paul catapulted out of his canoe.  Allan and I got a chance to walk on the beach one evening.

We drove to St. Augustine, Florida for a one night stay.

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The town was very crowded with no places to park. Allan would get out to take pictures and I would drive around the block and then pick him up.

Our next stop was Georgia.

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We visited Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island and Savannah.

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None of the beaches we have seen along the East coast compare to the Gulf especially Siesta Beach in Sarasota.  While we were on Jekyll Island we visited Sea Turtle Center where they do research and rescue work.  It was very interesting to see all differnent kinds of turtles up close.  Allan says we resemble a turtle as we carry our house around with us.

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