Going Home Again

Can you really go home again?  I guess that is what Lynn and I have been finding out.

It's hard to believe that we have now been on the road for almost two months.  We left Winston-Salem on Wednesday, July 6, and headed for our first scheduled stop in Winchester, Virginia.   There was nothing significant about stopping here except that it is about 300 miles from Winston-Salem, on the way to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

We stayed two nights here which gave us time to explore the area and rest up a little.  We did enjoy seeing this area, especially a delightful downtown pedestrian mall, where we enjoyed a brief cup of coffee at a nice outdoor table.  The area is steeped in Civil War history and we also visited a small museum and learned more about the area. 

I learned one lesson in RV'ing here and that is to always have the emergency brake on when you put the slides out.  I won't bore you with the embarrassing details.  Nuff sed!!!!

Our next stop was in Montgomery, Pennsylvania.  This was close to Williamsport where our friends, Ken and Sandra Ramacher live.  Our campsite here was right on the banks of the Susquehenna (sp?) River.  We had a wonderful visit with Ken and Sandy and they treated us royally, taking us out to dinner, giving us a good tour of the area, and cooking out for us on our second evening.  We also were able to meet their daughters, Barbara and Ann, and some of their children.  All in all a good stop and no embarrassing lessons to learn here.

We made it to Thomaston, Connecticut the next day and stayed there only one night so that we could get on up to New England.  We learned about the high cost of tolls when you are towing a vehicle.  Cost us $5.50 to cross the Hudson River.  The next morning we braved the Hartford traffic and didn't really have any problems.  We were at our selected campground in Salisbury, Massachusetts in the early afternoon.

Black Bear Campground in Salisbury, MA was our home for the next four weeks.  From there we could get together with Lynn's son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Marriah, and also Lynn's sister, DeeDee and her family.  On our second day here we went to Gloucester, Massachusetts where Chris and Marriah were enjoying a weeks vacation at a house right on the water.  We toured Rockport which has lots of little shop and restaurants and ice cream places.  Had lunch on the water and Lynn was able to satisfy her longing for steamed clams.  We walked off our lunch and then enjoyed a huge ice cream cone before heading back to the house for some time to enjoy each other's company.   On the way we visited a small state park built around an old granite quarry.  A self guided tour explained a lot about the granite business.  We then made it back to the house where started raining during the afternoon but we were out again for dinner and Lynn enjoyed more seafood. 

The next day DeeDee came to visit us at the campground, probably with the hidden purpose of examining our motor home and determining whether or not we were losing our marbles with this venture.  We went to Newburyport, another quaint town with lots of shops, etc.  We had another great lunch and again Lynn enjoyed seafood.  Again we walked off our lunch and enjoyed ice cream.  I guess DeeDee decided that we weren't crazy because she seemed to like our motor home and thought we would have a wonderful time on our trip.  She is planning to join us in California when we visit Andrew and Marjo.

While at Salisbury we were able to take some nice walks on the beach, celebrate Chris' 40th birthday (twice), spend time with DeeDee and Bob, enjoy a bonus visit with Leslie (DeeDee's daughter) who just happened to come for a wedding , watch Chris and Marriah play volleyball, and finally, celebrate Lynn's birthday.  Lynn finally satisfied her longing for seafood and for her birthday requested that DeeDee and Bob serve steak and baked potatoes.

While there we also visited some of our old homes in the Lawrence area.  It was pleasant to take this stroll down memory lane and reminisce about where we met and married, neither of us felt any longing for the past.  We are happy and quite content with what God has given us.

Finally, too soon it seemed, it was time for us to move on.  We went on to Trenton, Maine, near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  This was absolutely beautiful country which we thoroughly enjoyed for a week.

Then, we moved on to St Johnsbury, Vermont.  Without a doubt this was the most beautiful campsite on our trip so far.  We were parked on the bank of the Moose River, with the water being no more that 15-20 feet behind our motor home.  Unfortunately it rained for most of the time we were there and we weren't able to enjoy it as much as we would have liked.  We did get to a maple syrup factory.  This past week when we read about the floods in Vermont in the wake of hurricane Irene, we prayed that this area did not suffer the heavy flooding reported in parts of Vermont.

Our next stop was Westhampton, Massachusetts, near where Lynn grew up in Westfield, MA.  We toured downtown Springfield, MA, then went on to Westfield where we were able to locate Lynn's parents home.  This house was almost unrecognizable as a result of changes made to the structure.  Lynn said that it was nice to see it but she had no longing to live there again.

Now we headedd for Memphis to visit my sister and her husband.  We stopped in Averill Park, NY, in the foothills of the Adirondiack mountains.  Our GPS quit functioning when we arrived here and we decided that it probably needed a battery.  So, we decided to go to Pittsfield, MA, to find a Best Buy where we thought we could probably get a battery.  It was a beautiful drive to Pittsfield and we found the store without the aid of the GPS.  Once in the store, the sales person said that they didn't sell batteries, and that likely it was a battery that couldn't be replaced.  So, his obvious solution was for us to purchase a new unit.  We did so reluctantly and when we got back to our motor home I was reading the manual to set up the new one when I read something about a reset button to be used when it stopped functioning.  The light bulb came on and I thought that there probably was a reset button on the old unit.  A quick look at the manual (when all else fails read the directions.) revealed that indeed there was and  it actually came to life when I reset it.  This necessitated another 60 mile round trip to Pittsfield to return the new unit.  Any way, it was worth it and we avoided having to buy a new one.  The old one is continueing to function well and we are learning to trust it more and more.

Now, on to Jamestown, NY (birthplace of Lucille Ball) for another leg on our trip to Memphis.  There is a rather large lake in the area but GPS or no, we drove around for some time but weren't able to locate it.  Our frustation was softened by a wonderful ice cream sundae at "Friendly's".  We had three kinds of ice cream, two kinds of syrup, chocolate cake and whipped cream, topped off with a cherry.  Out of concern for her diet, Lynn graciously let me have the cherry.

Next stop, Delaware, Ohio, just north of Columbus.  No big events here but we used the time to catch up on a some maintenance projects that needed to be done.  Here, the campground was one of the nicest, cleanest ones we have encountered.  More on campgrounds in a later post.

Arrived in Goodletsville, Tennessee for our next stop.  This was a "one-nighter", our last stop before Memphis.  At 2:00 am we were awakened by the shrill beeping of the LP Gas alarm.  Immediately opened the windows and shut off the gas.  This seemed to work and the beeping stopped so we were able to still get a decent night's sleep.  The next morning we located a RV dealer who wasn't able to check it out but said that in 90% of the cases this could be caused by low voltage in the house batteries.  With his assurance we felt safe enough to proceed to Memphis where we were to take the vehicle in for service and an oil change the next day.

We put my sister's Memphis address in the GPS and hit the road.  For some reason the GPS took us right through downtown in Nashville.  After some harrowing moments of floundering around (not lost, just having an adventure.) we checked the GPS and saw that inadvertently I had changed it from "automotive" to "pedestrian" use.  When that was corrected it put us on a direct route to Memphis.

We arrived in Memphis in the middle of a hot afternoon.  The plan was to park in my sister's driveway, hook up the electricity and water and stay there for the 3 nights of our visit.  Naturally, with the heat I wanted to get the electricity hooked up as soon as possible so that I could turn on the air conditioner.  I did a pretty good job of backing into their driveway with my brother in law, Gene's help.   He was all set with a place to plug in the electricity and water.  I attached the electric cord (with an adapter that put 15 amps of service into the 30 amp plug), hooked up the water and was ready to enjoy our visit with Patt and Gene. For some reason I went back inside the motor home and saw that the air conditioner wasn't working.  Checked and learned that the circuit had shut down.  Reset it (several times) and it just kept shutting down.  This was a major problem.  There was no way Lynn (and myself) would stay in the motor home with the daytime temperature in the high 90's.  Because of Lynn's allergies and Patt's dogs, it wasn't advisable to stay in their home.

We were able to locate a campground close by and were able to make a reservation.  This mean unhooking everything and redoing it at the campground.  It was annoying but considerably better than suffering the heat or a major allergy attack for Lynn.  The next morning I had to unhook again, to take the vehicle in for service.  At the Ford dealer I inquired about the house battery (2 batteries separate from the automotive system) and was informed that they couldn't look at those.  This meant locating an RV dealer who could look at them and replace them if necessary.  The problem here was that there was only one RV dealer in the area.  When I called I was initially told that they were backed up for several days.  After some pleading and grovelling I was told that if I could get there by 3:30 pm they could probably help me.  This was OK because the servicing was to be completed by early afternoon.  All I had to do was pick-up the RV at the Ford dealer and find the RV dealer by 3:30 pm. 

We had planned some sightseeing in downtown Memphis, so we went ahead with that, had a nice lunch and returned to the Ford dealer to pickup the RV.  Of course it wasn't ready.  I finally was able to pull out of the Ford dealer about 2:30 and head directly for the RV dealer.  Made the 3:30 deadline with only mintes to spare.  I left it in their hands and we sat down to wait.  Naturally they didn't have the proper sized batteries in stock so we had to wait for the correcct ones to arrive.  Finally we were able to pull out of the RV dealer at 5:00 pm, just in time to fight the rush hour traffic in an unfamiliar city driving a 30 foot long truck.  Not the best of times but thanks to our trusty GPS we arrived safely back at the campground after  a reasonable time.  What a day, but now we were roadworthy and felt comfortable about the LP gas alarm.  Praise the Lord!!!

The rest of our time in Memphis was uneventful and we had a wonderful visit with Patt and Gene.  Our anniversary was August 28, the day we were scheduled to leave, so Patt and Gene took us out for a wonderful Italian dinner on the night before.  The food was so plentiful that we came out with enough leftovers for our dinner the next evening.

On Sunday morning we attended an early service at their church then treated Patt and Gene to breakfast as a small taken of thanks for their wonderful hospitality.  After this we hit the road again and drove to Benton, Arkansas, which is between Little Rock and Hot Springs.

We spent the next morning at Hot Springs National Park.  This is a very interesting place and while it might have been nice to have a bath in hot mineral water, we didn't indulge.

The following day (Tuesday, 8/30) we drove on to Oklahoma City where we planned to spend 3 or 4 nights.  As we approached our campground Lynn pointed out a huge black cloud off to our right.  When we got into our campground and had everything hooked up we turned on the TV and learned that there was a major brush fire in progress about 2 miles east of where we were.  It was a dangerous fire and a number of homes were destroyed and some major highways were closed but we were never really affected.  We pray for those firefighters and those who lost their homes that day and again the next day in 2 more fires.  The temperatures were in the low 100's and wind speeds were above 20 mph in an area that is in a severe drouth.  Not a good combination.

The next day we visited the memorial to those lost when the federal courthouse was blown up in 1996.  It is a beautiful memorial that one cannot visit without being touched.  Then we saw the park where large bronze statues of covered wagons, men on horseback, soldiers, etc commemorate the "Run of '89" (1889) when the Indian lands were opened to settlers, which is considered to be the founding of Oklahoma.  To a native Oklahoman this was also quite impressive.

The following day we drove around in Chandler and Shawnee where I was born and raised.  Obviously there were many changes, the most disheartening being that a lot of older homes and buildings while still standing have deteriorated badly.  There are of course many new buildings but a lot of the old ones are still there.  I was able to show Lynn where I was born, lived and went to school.  As I saw these places it opened many memories (good, bad and humerous) some of which I tried to relate to Lynn.  I hope I have aged better than these towns.

Today we drove to Norman, home of the University of Oklahoma.  Here the shock was the complete urbanization between Oklahome City and Norman, a distance of about 20 miles.  Also, the plethora of new modern buildings mixed in with and around the vastly expanded campus was overwhelming.  All in all I think that this was a pleasant surprise.  Lynn commented on the overall beauty of the campus.

When we arrived in New England we had a few hot days, then the weather seemed to cool down and we didn't even need to use our air conditioner most of the time.  In fact, we did put the heat on occasionally in the morning.  As we got back further south, the heat was almost unbearable.  Fortunately Memphis cooled off slightly from 100 plus days but Oklahoma City did not.  We have tried to do all of our outdoor activities in the morning before the temperature reaches the high 90's.

On our journey we have had a variety of church experiences, all good.  I'll try to go into detail about our church visits in a future post.

Tomorrow we head towards California.  We hope to be there, holding our new granddaugher and hugging Andrew and Marjo and Celsiana in about a week.

Well, at the beginning of this rather long, rambling post I asked if one could truly go home again.  I guess we have confirmed the general belief that, no, you can't go home again.  The physical locations we associaate with "home" have changed tremendously while both of us have also changed immeasurably in the years since we "left home."  Our conclusion is that while our lives would have been different and not necessarily worse, we are quite happy with our lives now and see no need to go home again.  We thank God for all the blessings He has put in our lives and especially the blessing of putting the two of us together.

Love to all.  Let us hear from you.