INLAND HABOR….

Got to Inland Harbor RV Park…

exit shortly after noon…they are doing a lot of construction at this exit and it was kind of messy so I just pulled into a place that claimed to be some kind of out- let mall with a bunch of stores…well it looked a little on the dead side to me with empty stores ..when pulling further into the parking lot I seen a sign for an antique store…that looked very familiar…I have been here before…thought I might as well check it out again…while I was walking around I bumped my shin on something and bled like a stuck pig got that fixed up and  …got out of there seen Burger King and went in had lunch…some BK are better than others this one served dry burgers …then it was about 1/8 mile to the park…I took pix in the antique mall and will make a post about it later…

entrance to the park…I know these pix might be kind of boring but I have nothing else at this time…anyway I can always go back and see & read what I have done…

They don’t have camp host here but have a couple that manage the park …below is the office and the other half of the building is where they live…very nice set up..and they take great care of the park…I guess a couple years ago another manager let things go and it was not a pretty sight…now it is lovely to say the least…

The loops are not really loops but streets that end at the same place and you walk around and up and down the loops…that’s what I call them anyway…it is just  lines of rigs but the place is so nice and clean ..well manicured that it doesn’t bother me at least  …I love it here…I can see me spending a lot of time here…

And here is a pic of my sight…put my awning out and put up my flag…table cloth , chair and I call it home for 2 days…only one little thing missing a big important thing…

RV friends Lori & hubby Doc …live here about 9 months out of the year…below is one of the new sites they are putting in…should be ready by end of Oct… the one in pic below is where they will move their 5th wheel to…in the hottest part of the summer they take off to PA for a couple months…then back here….sounds good to me…I could live like that….

That night for a dinner we had appetizers …Doc made them …delish smoked salmon on rye with cream cheese spread & fruit and some wine…I took over some cheese and crackers to go with it…

yummy…

Good company and good food…cant beat it…

all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings G&M

SANTEE LAKES …

Got here….

to Santee Lakes Campground on Lake Marion in SC…decided to spend a couple nights here just to break up the WM camping I was getting tired of it…but it sure saved me some $$….I think camp grounds are expensive…maybe its because of being a Florida resident you get 1/2 off all state parks…and also I have the old peeps pass that is free for some things and 1/2 off COE camping…but this was a Good Sam so got 10% off…in pic below is the office and because of the shape and also how the camp ground is laid out makes me think it was once a KOA ….

it is looking more & more that CA is not the only state in a drought….this is a boat dock launch …the water is usually up to the platform you just step in or out of your boat…the lake is down at least 5 feet…I can walk right under the dock that is now beach…that use to be water…you can no longer launch a boat from this campground…many unhappy camper fisher people…

See the beach that use to be under water…

There are a lot of year round people at this camp ground…close to 85% are full time living here…some are decorated to the hilt…as you can see in the pic below…most are more conservative in their decorating..but most all have built some kind of deck along their rig…this is a little to much for even me…lol

Below is a nice deck…a lot of them also enclosed decks that make them an all season room…some really nice ones that one might see added on to the back of a home…like a Florida room…This is something I would like to do …have maybe a TT or 5th wheel set..and have a van for GTG and travel/camping…I don’t think I will ever full time ..things are just not going right for that and every year that passes I get older…and I found out with age one starts having health issues that make things/life more difficult …I do know I don’t want to live in a S&B any more and love the campground setting and feel…Maybe a jello plan?

And here is a really nice after sun set pic…sometimes it is not just the sunset that makes a beautiful pic…this was taken a few min after sunset …it was the only time I had seen the sun in about 10 days…notice the fluffy black clouds along the tree line in the back ground..that is 1-95…then take a look at the tree tops in foreground…big black foreboding storm clouds…this was a short lived sun event let me tell ya….and  I have only seen the sun peep out for a short time while driving since then….it has been a very gray trip…

And the rest of the story…

not much of a story…right now I am visiting with rv friends Lori & Doc…in GA….very nice RV park…will be a post for the future…not sure where I will go next….if any where I am very close to Melbourne so must think about it…all for now thanks for looking and come back soon ..blessings G&M

A TRAIL IN THE CITY….

Well I  did find…..

something interesting at one of my WM over night stops….a hiking trail …well acutely it was between WM & Lowe’s…I went looking for a geocache …description said you could access beside Lowe’s…well I went to the parking lot and bummer that side was fenced off…did not know what to think…so went back to look at the description again and see that something else was there…and so walked over to the area and seen what was there in the pic below..

Now let me say that I drove right by this and did not see it…but just to say it is set back a little from the road way…so I said to self…this is the trail…I was expecting a geo-trail not a walk/hiking trail…big difference…geo-trail is just a well worn path that people have taken to get to a cache….

if you want to click the pix and get a better idea of what it is and where it goes….the cache is only in about 100 ft. but then goes off in the woods what looked like on my phone gps another 50 ft. or so….my phone is not as accurate as a regular gps…if I had my other one I might have found it…

I did not walk far on the trail as it was already noon and I had to be on my way…but I did find some really strange looking fungus on a tree the pic above…I have never seen anything like it..anyone know….?

All the fungus I seen today was white…and a little green liken very stark in this dark wet forest…it had been raining all night and was gloomy day so it was very dark and damp along the trail and in the woods…

This was my last WM camp for a few days…when I left there went to Santee Lakes Campground in SC…still rainy and gloomy…but just before sun set …the sun did come out for a bit …just enough for this great pic of the sun setting…this camp ground is on lake Marion …an older camp ground in the woods…and of course everything is wet and damp…but at least it is not black top..I have been here since Friday afternoon it is now Sunday morning and I will be leaving for another WM over night…then on Monday I will stop in Georgia to visit Women RV forum sister Lori…there was not much to do here but walk around the loops …I think this is an old KOA…so it  has no walking trails or anything….I will make another post about it soon….I have learned a few things this trip about the rig…myself and camping…some good and some not so good…as always I am still grieving over my Maggie and that has made this trip different in its own way…it could have been different with its own learning curve….I know it would have been a much better and happier trip for sure…

This is it for now thanks for looking and come back soon …blessings G&M

ONE MORE WM NIGHT….

Well we had one more….

night at WM…why do I still say ‘’ we’'…guess because Maggie is in my heart and my minds eye…at least that is what I say to her all the time…below is a pic of sign on the enter door to WM…not sure I have seen this before Free Wi-Fi…I think I would have noticed …also there was a McD in WM and they had free also…so I was good to go surf…

Got here mid afternoon…it seems like I do good driving in the AM not so much in the afternoon so I like to stop early…look around and see what I can find ….mostly I see only a bunch of stores…but in this WM parking lot there were a couple Geocaches….I parked right in front of one of them…..see pic below…can you figure out where….gray skies …that has been the whole trip so far but I don’t mind means no hot blaring sun while driving…

 

I found both of them in no time since I am familiar with this type of hide…when I first started to geocache I had no idea where they were…had to read and research what was meant by certain hints they would give….

 

Maggie loved to go caching she would jump up and run to the door when I said we are going geocaching…when I found one I would lay it on the seat and she would sniff it out …then sit there and watch what I was doing when signing the log…

A pic below of the lake after sun set…looks almost like a black & white photo…this is where I am for Sat. & Sun…will post more about it next time…

I guess these post will not be in order …as I was bad again and did not keep up to date…so anyway at least I am getting them posted…not much to tell when camping at WM …except I did find something interesting for my next post…about a trail in the city….so that’s it for now…thanks for looking and come back soon …blessings G&M

DAY ONE….SOUTH 2015

 

First day out ….

and it is with out my girl….Maggie…see no little face in the window waiting for me to get gas… I wont post these pix any more…

Any way it was a uneventful first day out…and that is the way we like it…I stopped a lot and only made it to the Cumberland MD area ….and stopped at a WM for the night..I looked up an overnight WM on my new app. and it worked out great right on my way just of I-68 never stayed at this one before..went in ask they said park in the back of lot…as usual and that was it…the trees don’t look like it yet but the store is getting geared up for fall….found this guy interesting to look at…luv fall colors …and the artist in me seen a million other things around the store to put with this display and dress it up more….

 

After I got here went in to check out the WM ..nice big store…went to walk out and to the right was a little store found it was attached to WM and the Mall was attached on the other side, never seen a WM and a Mall together…so walked around there not much of a food court but I was not planning eating out anyway….then I spied my fav fast food Chic-flit so since I have had it only once in 4 mo. figured it was time again…so you see what I got…..

And the rest of the story….

After eating came out to the MH opened the door and a blast of hot air hit me like a furnace …so fired up the generator and flipped on the A/C to…then figured since I was boon docking I better get the fridge on some propane or I was going to have a bunch of spoiled food…here is a pic of the drive thru pharmacy at this WM never seen one of those before either a free standing stall out in the middle of the parking lot…easy drive thru and pick up your pills….just like banking…has those suction things that go back and forth to the building…

later I just did a lot of walking around inside and out of the stores…at dusk some cars started gathering in the WM parking lot…it seems that kids now days loiter there and not in the Malls so much….that was one reason it was noisy …a 5th pulled in by me and the kids kept coming and getting closer to us…about 9 I moved a little but that did not help much …looked out the window later and seen the 5th wheel move a distance away so I did also…but did not want to get to far away from where we were to park  now these kids were down rowdy or bad…just noise with talking , laughing and the males revving of there engines showing off their power to the females…stuff like that….  no drinking either…but then about 11pm the all left in one big roar…and there was peace for sleeping…well that is all..not much to see or do on this first leg of my trip…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

READY TO ROLL…

 

Just a short post….

Saying I am all ready to roll out …have a bank appointment at 9 then I am off…will take 2 days to Winchester…I moved the rig out to the street early yesterday morning so I could level it up and turn on my fridge…cooled down all night and loaded this morning…will post more as I move along….thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

A RAINY SAT……CHESTNUT TREES…

So I took the motorhome out ….

for a spin….went to the Shenango Campground…to empty my tanks…they close for the season tomorrow the 13th ….so I thought better do it today….rain and all…I woke up at 4am could not go back to sleep…so ended up keeping my eye on the big glob of green on the radar…looked like it would be an all day rain here…below a pretty green back road in PA….

By the time I finished my breakfast and got things stowed so I could roll…it was almost 9am and the rain had stopped…but was dark and gray…I knew it was going to start up again so I took off hoping I could get the job done before it did…only took about 15 min….to get there….took about same to empty and clean sewer hose…after that I went to the day use parking lot and took a walk down to the boat launch then walked a loop and took a small trail so much nicer than walking the city streets …just at the start of the trail is this sign with a bunch of little trees planted and protected by a very tall fence…

come to find out they are American Chestnut trees…reading I found out that in the 1950 4 billion chestnut trees were killed by a fungal pathogen that came from Asia….click on the pic to read more…I guess the high fence is to keep the deer from eating the tender young trees….When I was a kid…my grandfather Reinhart would bring chestnuts down from the mountains when he went deer hunting…he kept the trees a secret because people would also cut the trees for the wood…any that were left…Grandma would use the chestnuts in the Thanksgiving stuffing…For family grandpa and my dad…and my brother later was included …had a hunting camp in Ridgeway PA…they went every year after Thanksgiving dinner and stayed for 2 weeks buck hunting…grandpa was the camp cook…not sure if it was because he was a cook in the Army during WW I or not…just a little family history…

and on to the rest of the trail…not a very long one but it ran along the edge of the lake…had to go down some hills to get there but they had wood steps to take you …I didn’t go because I wanted to beat the rain.. that was on its way…there were a couple bridges along the way…over some huge ditches that when it rained I bet were impassable…

This trail took you from the main campground road thru the woods to another loop….the loop that Nan and I were camped at just before she left…I had seen what looked like a trail by the bathrooms and wondered where it went …well today I found out…  a tree over hanging the path I guess they figure it is not going to fall…me I am not so sure….I watched it the whole time I waked briskly  under it…

 

And the rest of the story….

I kept looking for wild life…butterflies…fungi but seen nothing…I love the things that Sherry comes up with on her hikes…of course I am not in the Blue Ridge but I am at the foot hills of the Allegany Mountains you would think I could find something…I am particularly fond of the butterflies & mushrooms…all the color and texture of them….and the butterflies remind me of my little butterfly fur baby….when I got home it stared raining again and rained all afternoon so far…had a coupon for McD…for one of the  new crispy buttermilk chicken sandwich…with free med fries and drink…was good but I will not buy it again because of fried…not much else on this rainy day…so guess I will end it here…thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings to all G&M

ps….might not post this until morning cause of data running out…will renew on the 13th…

)sun rise in the city….soups on…

Sept. 8

I  was up at sun rise……

talking with the birds this morning…there was a bird tweeting ….tweety tweety tweety…he would call out 3 times…so I tried to tweet back at him…he would pause then call again…I think he was answering my tweets …anyone know what kind of bird makes that sound….below is a pic of the sunrise this morning…. pretty sun rise among the pines in the city….

sunrise among the pines in the city

I took this pic of a tree in my front yard…This is a Kousa Dogwood tree (Japanese) up until two years ago it was lush and green you could not see thru it like now…my neighbor who is a Master Gardner told me that it was the last two very bad winter that got them…hers died this winter..said if is not a bad winter it should survive ….I want to compare next year…it is a great little slow growing tree..in spring it has white dogwood flowers for a couple months…then it is green..then where the flowers were  a little red ball develops for the fall… so you have a 3 season tree..so we will see what it looks like next spring…

On a cool day a few weeks ago and before I packed up my $5 yard sale toaster oven …I needed to bake a few things hanging around in the freezer…needed to clean up that also….so bake these…chicken pot pie…and some cookies…those Nestle cookies in the freezer little squares …mush them down and they get round…worked great as you can see…I am much surprised by how well a toaster over works..esp. baking…

MMMM cookies !! (like cookie monster says)

More cooking…at the small local farm market I got these mini sweet peppers home grown from Amish….they are sort of like those ones we get at WM a bunch in a bag…but these are round and look much more like a bell pepper….and oh so very much sweeter and tastier than the store ones….so I got out my mini slow cooker and made up a bunch of stuffed peppers…stuffed with ground beef sort of like meat loaf…turned out very tasty….

Stuffed mini bell peppers..

And this is one of my most favorite things…fresh tender Zucchini squash…if new tender I do not peal it…other wise I peal skin cut into medallions…shake in zip lock bag of flour  …..put small amount of butter and some EVOO and fry until crispy done…mmmm good I mostly do not eat fried food …so glad this is once a year thing…I have been cooking on the picnic table outside  with my hot plate …I do not want to heat up the kitchen because of the heat sensitive cheapo refrigerator….be ware of the small cheap ones at the big box stores…very poorly insulated….anyway I call it a “cook out”… 

 

And the rest of the story…

Pic of the day Maggie…this was taken one time Sarah and I were over visiting Sandy & Linda in St. Cloud…Sandy and I were out in the kayak…Sarah , Nicki, and Maggie waiting for us at a pavilion…I am still missing my girl so much …is a bad week I have been thinking about moving on down south with out her….I can’t even imagine what I will be like…we always had a good time traveling…last few years we had to stop often…she loved those stops…she would jump up…run to the back …start dancing and prancing by the door to get out…she was soooo happy…loved all the new smells and sights…

All for now thanks for looking and come back soon blessings to all …G&M

THINGS & GETTING READY….

Some things I have seen….

while riding around the PA country side this summer…for one reason or another…. like on the way to Hermitage and the camp ground … the old covered bridge below…when I was a kid and even into when I first married early 60’s this bridge was in use…one lane…I guess the  vehicles were a lot smaller back then …when I stand there up close I can not figure out how we ever crossed …it looks so small…the powers that be…have made it into a sweet little park…there are hiking/walking trails that run along the river..and there is a kayak/canoe launch…in the last couple years the local Geocaching club place about 200 caches along the Shenango River the river starts at Pymatuning State  Park and runs into the Shenango Lake probable 20 miles give or take….there is also a River Watch group that regularly patrol the river and keep it passable…cleaning it up..a nice place…a place to visit in this area…

A couple years ago…while traveling the back roads I started taking pix of old barns and buildings mostly barns…the one below I seen last week ….it looks more like a horse barn out in the middle of a pasture rather than a working barn …filled with hay and cows…I like these types of things…like taking pix and looking at them…I really would like to get up close and explore them…but privite property I would not…I even like the ones that are falling apart…basically I like  old things….one thing about being here this summer I loved looking at all the different shades of green…the land scape is actually very beautiful…with the wild flowers sprinkling in some color…so much different than in Florida….

And the rest of the story….

A few days ago my son came to help me with the bathroom sink problem…while he was here I ask him to wash the roof on the motor home…so he did and went ahead and washed the whole thing…thank you son…all week in the mornings I have been working on cleaning and packing and repacking…I am getting everything in the house out and in the rig…I want to bring in a new real estate person before I leave…I am not at all happy with the one I have ..our contract is up Sept. 17 and if I can get someone else to give me a contract until next spring I will do it…if not and they want a year…I am going just put up a for sale sign with my phone # …someone wants to see it I will call my son to go show it…he is an excellent salesman…and if he sells it he will get commission…not someone who says he is going to do things to push it and doesn’t..like open house and such….

Nice clean rig….

The back bay repacked…the middle of the bay is empty right now….but I am sure when I get everything together I will fill it and might even be a repack…

Need a repack??

My pic of Maggie girl today (Sat.) …this was taken on our last trip together…Sparrow Pond to get the roof leak fixed…our ritual on our way out..WM or gas…she would watch me doing what ever…this was at WM… was thinking about that trip…remember sitting behind the rig looking at the pond watching for wild life…and fisher people…with her sitting on my lap….her little head and eyes moving all  over looking and looking…. I am really missing her today…

Thanks  for looking and come back soon

blessings to all G&M