Back home and the month of November 2021

   Now that we are back home, there is not so much to write about.  That's not to say that our home life in North Oxford, MA isn't full of wonder and adventure.  Just quite a different type than touring the US in our RV.  I have definitely found the wonder in doing the weekly grocery shopping, as my refrigerator is now much larger than the RV's, and I even have an extra refrig in the basement, so I don't need to shop every few days.  And, our daily walks are adventurous -- if it is over 30 degrees, and not snowing or raining.  I have even started doing Jazzercise with daughter-in-law Aimee, streaming on the big screen TV in our basement room.  Much easier that having to drive anywhere to do them.  And, Peter takes that opportunity to walk, while I Jazzercise.

  There have been a few things worthy of writing about and/or posting photos of.  

• We took our RV in to the dealer to be winterized and to fix a list of things we noticed on our recent trip.  It's a good thing we are not planning on going anywhere, as they have 150 RV's scheduled for this month and next.  We are number 75.  Fortunately, they did winterize it the day we brought it there, so we don't need to worry about it freezing on their lot.
• Lots of doctors and dentist appointments --needing to catch up from our visit.  We both got our Covid boosters.  I was a bit tired that day, but Peter didn't even notice it.  I had a wonderful massage with a new massage therapist, who did very nice deep tissue massaging -- which I really needed after all of the driving we did.  I even got my hair trimmed again, with my own stylist, who I like.
• We did a Game Day at Claire and Ian's house.  It was really nice to spend the afternoon and evening with them.  We played some good games.  
• We also got to visit with Anica, Aaron, Quinn and Owen at their house.  Lots of fun, seeing them all in person after being on the road for three months.
• Then there was Thanksgiving Day at our condo.  What a delight to have everyone here, in person, again.  Anica, Tamara, Claire and Scott's families all were able to come.  Anica even brought their new puppy.  I can't believe how much Adelle has grown and matured.  She and Cheyenne really connected, immediately.  And Quinn and Savannah did too.  That left Owen and Siena to trail along.  Anica had brought some craft activities for them all to do.  And, they watched the Grinch Who Stole Xmas on Netflix.  Dinner was yummy, as usual.  Peter was trilled that Scott and Amy brought the turkey.  A good day was had by all.  And we give thanks.
• Finally, we have signed up to be volunteers at Meals on Wheels in the neighboring town of Auburn.  So we just went for training.  It is about a 1-2 hour route, delivering to about 14 locations.  It turns out that the town of Auburn is a very large town, miles-wise.  I must say, that when I am at the Auburn Senior Center, from where the meals are served and delivered, I really feel YOUNG.   It seems like everyone there is OLD.  Oh well, it feels good to be of service to these folks who aren't able to cook for themselves.  

Visit to Anica's photos:

Thanksgiving Day photos:

Siena and her magnets

Watching The Grinch 

The Pless "girls"

Anica's puppy - Zooey

Cheyenne and Adelle

Nov 4 - last day before heading home, East Stroudsburg, PA

   We woke up to find that our water hose leading from the spigot to our RV had froze overnight.  So, no showers this morning.  Bath house is right next door.  We ate breakfast, and hung out until lunch.  By that time, the hose had thawed, and the water was back on.  

  We decided to have one last sightseeing adventure, before ending our 3 month journey.  Another water falls!  So, we drove to the nearby Delaware Water Gap National Park, to the Dingmans Falls and hiking trail.  We have actually stayed at this RV campground now 3 times, as it is right on our route home, if coming from the south.  This route avoids Philadelphia, Washington, DC and New York City.  So we have explored the National Park several times.  However, walking into the Dingmans Falls trail, I was struck by how beautiful it is.  They have done a wonderful job of creating a half-mile  boardwalk out to the falls.  You also pass by Silver Thread Falls at the  beginning, then follow the stream to the falls.  Another boardwalk, with 247 stairs takes you up to the top of the waterfalls.  The view from the top and the bottom are wonderful.  As are the bridges over the stream.  All of the senses get activated, and even though it was only 48 degrees out, we had a great time.   The last time we were here was on the way home at the height of Covid, in May of 2020.  So, the 1 mile entry road to the visitor center and parking lot for the falls was closed to car traffic.  So everyone walked the mile to get to the beginning of the falls trails.  And then walked the half-mile to get to the falls.  As I remember, it was a beautiful spring day, so was a nice hike.

  Back at the RV,  we showered, filled up all of our water bottles, and our fresh water tank.  We then drained our black and grey water tanks, flushed out our sewer hoses, and turned off the water.  Put away all of the hoses, so nothing will freeze tonight.  Our fresh water tank has a heater in it, so we don't worry about that.  And, we are now ready to head out tomorrow, without having to deal with frozen hoses.  

Delaware Water Gap Dingmans Falls photos:

Silver Thread Falls

Dingmans Falls

247 steps up

Delaware River separating NJ from PA photos:

   

Nov 3 - last stop is East Stroudsburg, PA

   We had an easy route of 3 hours to our KOA campground in East Stroudsburg, PA.  We have stayed here before, as it is open all year.  While our Thousand Trails, and many other campgrounds, have already closed for the winter.  KOA's are more expensive, but as we were walking around the campground, after setting up, we do understand why.  This one is very large, and all of the sites and cabins are on spacious sites that are well maintained.  We are very near the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and will probably explore some tomorrow.  The Pocono Mountains are in our view from our RV.  Lots of winter ski resorts abound around us.  The northern end of the Delaware Water Gap is where three States join -- New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York.  

   As this is our last stop before heading home, we need to figure out how to ready some of the systems for storage.  Like cleaning out the black and grey water tanks, emptying the fresh water tank, etc.  We are also starting to look at the calendar for November, as we needed to schedule various doctor and dental visits for when we returned.  Just needing to change our mental track from sightseeing/traveling to home again.

   Delaware Water Gap KOA campground photos:

Special "cabins" for rent

Our site

Nov 2 - Carlisle, Pennsylvania

   Peter was interested in visiting the Army Heritage Museum in nearby Carlisle, PA.  It has well done exhibits of the Army's participation in the many wars America has been involved with over the years.  This is NOT my kind of attraction.  War in any of its forms is not my thing.  However, Peter appreciated the museum.  They did have a quite nice café, where we ate lunch.  One of the best tasting home made tomato basil soup I've had.  

   After, we stopped for a few needed items at the large local grocery store, as Carlisle is a much bigger town than Dillsburg.  Then, we even stopped at Kohl's department store to buy Peter a new pair of shoes, as his has a big hole in the toe.  

   Back to the RV.  Getting psyched to be home.  Starting to think of the list of things we need to do when we get there.  Tuesday night family Zoom call.  How nice.

Army Heritage Museum photos:

Nov 1 - on thru a portion of eastern West Virginia, and to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

   Our drive today was long, but uneventful.  Our new campground is part of a "Manufactured Home" community.  I call it a mobile home park, although it is a fairly nice one.  It has several areas, with large yards between the mobile homes, for the most part.  It has a pool, rec center etc.  It is not, however, a place I'd like to live in full time.  

  The "camping" part of the campground overlooks a mountain range.  Our site was newly paved, so is very level and conveniently laid out.  The laundromat is right across the road, so I took this opportunity to do a couple of loads.  We ended up deciding of going in to Dillsburg to have dinner at a local restaurant.  Nice restaurant, just OK food (for me, at least).

The WiFi at this campground is decent, so we came back and watched a movie.  Only one more stop before we get home on Nov 5th.  The nights are getting colder, and we now need to be aware of how cold it will get overnight.  We have a heater for the fresh water tank, to help keep it from freezing.  But, the temps shouldn't get too cold yet, hopefully.

WalMar Manor campground photo:

Oct 31 - Happy Halloween, from Greenville, Virginia

 We spent the morning at the event center, working on our computers.  After lunch, we drove over to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway, and did a loop drive. The Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway goes 470 miles, starting in the south in North Carolina and going up to the Shenandoah National Park/Skyline Drive in Virginia.  We just drove about 20 miles.  However, in order to get to the access point at the Humpback Rocks visitor center, we took a nice road, Route 610, on Google maps, that directed us right to it.  But, as it turns out, this road became a one lane, gravel road, really quickly.  The Parkway is at about 3,700 feet, so this road ascended, twisted and turned, with drop offs on one side, and no shoulders on either side.  Thankfully, there were no cars coming in the other direction.  

  The Parkway had many overlooks and turnouts, with incredible vistas of the valleys below.  The visitor center had an exhibit of a reconstructed family mountain farm, from the late 1800's.  What a hard life it must have been.  With all of the stops at the overlooks, it took us several hours to go the 20 miles.  It definitely gave us a good feel for the Parkway and the Blue Ridge Mountain portion of the Appalachian Mountain Range.  These mountains are definitely different than the Rockies in Colorado.  At only 3,700 feet, they are all tree covered, and have no big jagged peaks.  These are older, more sedate mountains than the younger ones in the West.  They still give amazing views.  And, the fall colors were at their peak, making for a beautiful drive.

   Our ride back down from the Parkway ridge top was on a two lane paved road, but it also twisted and turned through a forest, all the way down.  What amazed me was that there houses built into the side of the slopes, hidden away in the woods, with very steep driveways up or down.  And, there was a Bus Stop sign.  I can't imagine a bus driving that road, especially in the winter.  Oh well. Different strokes . . .

Blue Ridge Parkway photos:

Humpback Rock farm

Halloween grandkids and Adelle photos:

Siena and Savannah

Quinn

Owen

Cheyenne

Shilah and Hudson

Serena

Adelle, on the left.