On the Road to Alaska

On the Road to Alaska
Denali from the Air

Sunday, January 22, 2012

2011-2012 Winter Update

     We arrived home on September 19th, about five months from the time we left home to travel to Alaska. It was great to be home, but sad to see all of the devastation that had taken place because of the storm and flooding. Keith and Shannon lost two vehicles, but that was mild in comparison to the disaster that hit some families. Many homes and businesses were totally wiped out and roads and bridges were washed away in many places. The nursing home that Shannon worked for in Owego was flooded and the residents were moved to Ithaca NY. She ended up driving there to work for a while.
   We spent September, October and part of November at home. In November both Craig and family as well as Bryan and family came home to visit. It was wonderful to see them. The grandchildren are all growing so fast. Here are:
Bryan and Janine’s ~ Matthew and Emily
Matthew 2Emily
Craig and Denise’s ~ Samantha and Zachary
Samantha 2011Zach 2011

and Brooke. Keith and Shannon’s ~ Brandon (with his Homecoming date)
Brooke School pic 2011Brandon Homecoming
and Tyler:
Tyler

We made a trip to Maine to touch base with the Devonshire side of the family, thankfully the weather was great for traveling.
   Phil and Keith managed to get the living room windows installed in the Warren Center house. There had been so much rain in during the spring and summer that it was really a challenge to get much done. Shannon also acquired a hutch for the dining room, boy did that dress up the room!
2011 007
   Phil was busy working on the RV getting it ready to travel for the winter. We had planned for a long time to replace the rug in the living room area and the tile in the kitchen area, and Phil decided this was the time to do it. We went to Home Depot and picked out the Pergo wood laminate that we liked and he set to work. First he had to remove everything that he could from the living area. Then he pulled up the rug. Following that was the removal of the kitchen tile. This proved to be quite a job. We finally rented a power chisel to help remove the tile. They did not have a wide tip on the drill, so Phil did the best he could with a smaller tip. What a job!
IMG_3840IMG_3845
IMG_3849IMG_3850
With all of that done, it was time to reinstall the floor. After he removed all of the underlayment, new plywood was installed and then the laminate floor.
IMG_3851IMG_3859
There was a lot of fitting around the seats, steering wheel and up on the fire wall. He added insulation wherever he could. He used oak stair treads on the stairs and laminate on the risers and on the front panel of the firewall. It is really beautiful and easy to maintain.
So, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving that we were all packed and ready to head south again. Thankfully, the winter weather waited for us to leave! We had pretty good weather right up until the day of departure. It was late afternoon before we were totally packed and on the road. We only traveled to the Flying J in Carlisle PA that day. We fueled up and then found a good spot in the lot to spend the night. The lot was full, but not as bad as it was several years ago when we made this our first stop.
We were up and back on the road early the next day. All went well until we ran into very heavy traffic and rain in Knoxville TN. It took over an hour for us to get through the city and on toward Athens. I called the campground and was given a site number. It was after dark and rainy by the time we arrived. Phil decided then that something needed to be done with the headlights. (More on that later) We pulled in and had a quick supper. It had been a long day and we were really tired, so we headed to bed early.The next morning we went to visit Pat Martin,Patour good friend. We had a great time visiting with her and catching up with family news. On Thursday we headed south again. We made one overnight stop on our way to South Carolina. Poor Cathy and Larry were stuck with us until my new computer arrived. I had ordered it the Monday after Thanksgiving and had it shipped to SC, but Microsoft was pretty slow in sending out the orders!! We left on Thursday and traveled to Kingsland GA where we have spent a lot of time camping in the past. However, this time there were very few residents that we knew. Everyone has found someplace else to be…
On December 10th we packed up and traveled to the Escapee Park in Bushnell, FL. We plan to be here for a while. We have several friends here and have made many more.  I’ll let you know what we have been up to in the next post.