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Friday, July 29, 2016

Aging

Cordorus State Park
Hanover, PA

We are back at a park we know well.   Wide open grassy sites.  Good cell and satellite reception.  Would be perfect if there was water and sewer.   We will be here for a week.......the 60 gallons fresh water in the tank will suffice.   We are just steps from the bathhouse.

I've been thinking a lot lately of the fact I am now in old age....early 70's.   My body does not want to cooperate.    Forget about sitting on the ground or kneeling.   I need a crane to now get upright. Guess I am glad we have a shower in the RV.  Getting up from a tub would be impossible.  And embarrassing when the firemen have to rescue me.

This week my older daughter turned 50.  My baby will be 48 next week.  How did that happen.

I look at my granddaughters and wonder how they will be at teenagers.  Not to be a downer, but I can't help but wonder if I will there with them.   My grandson is almost 29.  A grown man.   Most of my step-grandchildren are on their way to adulthood.

My biggest worry is not my body but my head.   Since the stroke I often mean one thing but say something similar.   I really hate it when ordering a meal and mean Special # 2 (meatloaf) but say Special #3 (what almost passes for chicken croquet so I have to eat what tastes like fried bread.)  Len gently corrects me several times a day.  He usually knows what I mean, not what I say.

Today I am really frustrated.   I got a new MIFI a few weeks ago.  It came with a $50. rebate.  I filled out the paperwork and sent it in.  Then I remembered....I forgot to include the proof of purchase.  So, it was rejected.   The same week we bought 6 tires for the truck.  I went online to get the $60. rebate.  It was approved and we received it last week in the mail in the form of a debit card.   I showed the card to Leonard and then have no idea where it went.  I suspect I threw it out with the envelope.  But I don't know for sure.   I've looked everywhere I can think it would be.  No card.

Is it my age or something more scary.   Or possibly I have become an airhead.


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

A weekend trip

Upper Deerfield Twp
New Jersey

As many of you know, my sister, brother and I own a small cabin in north central Pennsylvania.  Our parents bought this property back in the mid 60's.   It is an old one room school house.  As I've relayed before, the cabin is back in the mountains and sits about 1/4 mile from the birthplace of Silent Movie star Tom Mix.  He went to school in this building.   Okay young people ...Google Tom Mix.

On Saturday morning we left our Rig at our friends house and drove the 280 miles to the cabin.  We intended to stay until Tuesday.   However, we found the bedroom carpets were saturated from a leak in the shower.    We didn't want to further dampen the recently installed carpet so did not use the shower.  We kept fans on the carpet the entire time.

That means no shower on Sunday or Monday.  We did not want to chance the bad smells another day so headed back to NJ a day early.    My siblings and I will make plans for installing a new shower.

The town of Driftwood, Pa is in the middle of the Pennsylvania Elk herd.  We saw no wildlife either Saturday or Sunday.

Coming from the town of Piper, Pa on the Quehanna highway it is 7 miles of paved road and about that many more of mountainous gravel roads to the cabin.  Or taking the Quehanna highway from Piper and picking up 555 thorough the town of Benezette adds another several miles.   An option to save some mileage is from 555 before entering Driftwood is to across the river, Mix Run, that runs directly in front of the cabin.  Our 4 wheel drive truck handles it with ease.   Mid river:


Looking to come up the other side:


Short drive up to the cabin:


Ah, there she is:


Taken from the front yard showing the river below:


We did not see any wildlife Saturday or Sunday but Monday morning they were in abundance.  These are shots taken on the mountain road between the cabin and the town of Driftwood, a distance of 4 miles.







Altogether we saw 6 Elk and 7 deer.  Not bad.

Last night .............long showers!

Tomorrow we hitch up and move to Sea Pines Thousand Trails near Cape May, NJ for two weeks.

Until next time......

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Just toss it

Upper Deerfield, NJ

WANT FRUSTRATION????   Is there no quality anymore?  Buy something, it breaks, replace the purchase, repeat.

By way of examples.

1.    My daughter gave us a Keurig for Christmas.   We make AT THE MOST an average of 2 cups of coffee a day.   About 3 weeks ago it started making a grinding noise.   Then the noise stopped for a couple of days.   Then started again last week.   This unit has 3 settings to brew different size cups of coffee.  We always used the largest size.    Last week we attempted to make our morning coffee as usual.  It made a racket and filled the cup less than 1/4 of the way.  It would take us 4 or 5 cycles to get a full cup.   These things are not cheap.  And it lasts 5 months?  What to do?  Just get a new one and hope it lasts longer I guess.

2.   We bought a chaise lawn chair at Camping World a couple of years ago.  Not Cheap!  It lasted one season before it started to tear.   We've bought more of those bagged lawn chairs then I care to count.  They, too, tear apart in just months.  WE ARE NOT THAT FAT!!!!  (well me, maybe a little.)  Will never buy another one.  Last year we got two nice lawn chairs at Penneys.  You guessed it, material is ripping.  Does anybody make a good lawn chair?   For slightly fat people?

3.   Last June I bought a new JetPack MIFI from Verizon.  Worked well.  I was pleased.  On Tuesday I turned it on.   Won't do anything.   I took it to a Verizon store.  They could not get it to turn on either.  It had a one year warranty.   Expired 3 weeks ago.  Only choice to buy a new one. But what steams me.......the warranty on the old one was One Year;  the contract, Two Years.  This means I still have to pay $10.00 a month for 11 more months for a device that does not work. Plus $10.00 for the new one.  I will be making a call to Verizon.  Still in all, the original MIFI should have lasted more than 12 1/2 months I would think.

4.   Even simple things.   When was the last time you bought dish soap that made suds.   Palmolive, Dawn, Joy.... no suds.   Might as well buy a cheap brand that doesn't make subs to pour down the drain instead of paying more for the name brand to pour down the drain

5.   Quality Control.... is there such a thing anymore?   We love our new Fifthwheel RV.  We love the layout, we love the inside storage, we love the way the truck handles it.  Yup, we love it.  Glad we got it.   HOWEVER..... the first time the shower was used, water ran all over the bathroom floor.  Upon investigation I discovered the problem.   The silicone to seal to shower door tracks stopped where the vanity started.   I got a flashlight and looked between the shower and vanity, an distance of no more than two inches.  I saw gobs of silicone on the floor, side of shower and vanity.  I went to the owners forum.   I find FIVE other people with the same year and model RV had the same problem.  Whoever was in charge of placing silicone  along the  shower tracking needs to be trained to do their job right or be fired.  And what about QC????  Dealer fixed it.

Enough..... these are just a few of my complaints.   What about you?  What makes you frustrated?

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Which would you prefer?

Port Republic, NJ

We are spending our last few days at


I have mixed feelings.   I like the cost here with our Thousand Trails membership but.....

Today we went for a ride through New Jersey Pine Barrens and the Wharton State Forest.  As a child and young adult I knew the roads through this section of NJ like the back of my hand.  Not anymore.


Excuse the  following hazy pictures, they were taken from inside the truck.  No rolling down windows.  Ever hear of Green Head Flies?  It's the state bird of NJ.   They attack and cling to the truck.  They do the same to ones body. And Bite.  Hard.


When we lived in this area we would trailer our horses here.  We would park in a field behind this monument.



One time we saddled the guys, followed a path and crossed the gravel road from the monument.  We were attacked.  The ears of our horses were covered with Green Heads.   We were covered.  The horses were stumping and attempting to shake them loose.   We decided this was not a good idea.  We crossed back over to where the truck and trailer was parked.    Not a Green Head in sight.   I guess the Green Heads were not old enough to cross the road.    So we followed this old, abandoned railroad track and had a good few hours of trail riding.  And not a bite.


Now, which would you prefer........ where we are parked at this campground on a holiday weekend:




Squeezed in tight, loud music well into the night.

Or riding rough roads,


passing deserted small villages deep in the forest,


crossing over cedar steams,


and one lane bridges,


ending at this campground (no Green Heads noticed here)


with few neighbors


I know which one I would prefer.   Just can not get our 43 foot home down these roads.

Until next time.