LATE APRIL – HEADING HOME

We left Marion NC and headed north into Virginia fairly soon. We needed diesel fuel and it was considerably cheaper in Virginia than in North Carolina. We had a long day of travel and found a nice Army Corps of Engineers Park to spend the night. Monday was a short drive over to Chesapeake. Of course, traffic gets heavier when you approach an urban area like Chesapeake. We found the campground and set up easily in a pull-thru site. We are fortunate that there is a campground very near the development where Craig and Denise live.
After setting up, we headed over to see Craig and the kids. We had a very nice visit with them. Around 7:30 PM Denise got home from work and we had a lovely dinner with them. We left for the evening pretty soon after that, we were tired and we could see that Denise was really tired after a 12 hour shift. We spent the day on Tuesday visiting with Craig and then the kids. I needed to get some pictures of the kids with Fat Emily. A few years ago we did a similar project with Flat Matthew. This is a kindergarten project that Bryan’s kids need to do. Their shadow, or flat person is sent to a family member and asked to take pictures and write a journal before sending it back to school. So, I had printed a picture of Emily’s face and dressed her in a Barbie dress so that she was ready to have her picture taken with her cousins.

                                             
On Wednesday Denise had the day off. So the four of us went out for lunch. That was a treat for all of us. Later in the day we all went out to dinner at Friendly’s. The kids ate really well and a fun time was had by all. Before we headed home for the night we played a game of Five Crowns. Craig beat us all, hands down.
                               
It was a two day trip from Chesapeake VA to home in the RV. Traffic on the beltway around Washington DC was not a pleasant experience, but we made it through with no problems. We stopped at the PA border to spend the night before finishing our journey on Friday. It has been over five months since we left home and it is good to be home again.
There is much to do at first, getting the telephone, internet, mail, Direct TV and such all back up and working. We spent our first night home still in the RV as it takes time to get the water system up and running again and the tubes for the water bed filled. Keith and Shannon came over Friday evening and we were glad to see them again and catch up on news.
Flat Emily made her trip over to her Warren Center cousins and visited.

 

                                               Look how tall the boys are!!

The next weekend we headed out again, this time by truck. Matthew was making his first communion on Saturday. So we drove down on Friday and spent most of the weekend in King of Prussia. The kids are really growing very fast!

Emily was excited to see Flat Emily again and we got to take some pictures of Flat Emily with her other cousins.

Then Janine dug out Flat Matthew and we were able to take a picture of the two of them together! Neat way to end that story.

So, Sunday morning we headed home again. We don’t have any more travel plans set until we travel to Hancock NH in early June to VCR a Chapter 3 rally. We’ll post some pictures and information after that trip.

SKP ACRE APRIL 12-22 2012

 

The third annual SKP ACRE was a resounding success. We had a 161 Rigs attending with a

total of 261 people. Everyone had a great time. The rally took place at Tom Johnson's Rally Park in Marion NC from April 15-22, 2012. The SOLOS had a pre-rally from April 15-17 with between 20-25 rigs attending. Chapters 16, 20 and 29 combined their Spring Rally with ours, and the Heavy Haulers BOF were there for a Roundup.

Daily social hours were well attended as were the catered dinners and pot lucks. We had great breakfasts with Betty Bear serving her famous biscuits and gravy and we had omelets in a bag another morning. No one went away hungry!

Participants were treated to great entertainment. Terry McKinney and his band returned for a second year and Tom Sparks provided some great Appalachian Music. Overmountain Victory from the National Park Service presented their program about the American Revolution moving south. It certainly got our attention when they started demonstrating their black powder rifles!! Tom Johnson again provided with a great bonfire. The closing ceremony was an encore presentation of 'The Many Faces of Old Glory', which is always a moving experience.

Mark Nemeth was there with the Escapee's Smart Weigh program. Mark and his crew were busy weighing rigs before and after the rally. Mark also presented seminars on RV weight, as well as RV water and electrical systems. Quilters, crafters, DOVES, genealogy, computers, and solar technology were also popular seminars. Whew! We had a busy week!

Chapter 29 hosted auctions for CARE that netted $2,000+. $145 was donated from the Solo’s, and a $1,000 from the SKP ACRE committee.

So, make your plans now and mark your calendars. The next SKP ACRE event will take place in 2013 from April 21st through April 30th. Advance people can arrive on Sunday the 21st and the official arrival day will be Monday the 22nd. The rally will end on Sunday April 28th. See ya there!

 

April to May ` Going Toward Home Again

After the Chapter 26 Rally in Biloxi Mississippi, we headed to Natchez, one of our favorite cities. Since it has been such a mild winter, most of their beautiful azalea had already bloomed.

However, we still enjoyed driving around this beautiful city. We did take a trip to the Stanton House Restaurant for lunch one day.

The lunch was unexceptional, but the surroundings were great. I did walk through The Silver Chest, which is a store filled with antique silverware and jewelry. My husband only allowed a very quick walk through.

Some pretty alarming winds and thunder and lightning storms passed through. Luckily there was no damage, but we were cautious enough to bring in all the awnings and to keep a sharp eye out….

The people in the site next to us were towed in on Sunday and were repaired very early on Monday morning. We discovered that they were fellow Escapees and own a lot in Hondo TX. Peggy and Mike Koehler also have a blog of their RV travels, check it out at http://koehlerskaravan.blogspot.com/. We enjoyed a Social Hour with them one evening.

From Natchez we headed north up the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is also one of our favorite drives. We stopped for two nights at the free campground that is about half way up the trace. We did not have any problem finding room at the Jeff Busby State Park. We stayed for two nights, boondocking. This gave us time to rest, relax and get our 2011 taxes done and mailed. We had prepaid our Pennsylvania taxes, and overpaid. We needed to pay the Federal Government. Between the two, it came out about even. Done for another year.

This was a rig that was sharing the park with us. What a sight to behold!

We finished the Trace and stopped one night before getting to Tennessee. We arrived safely at the Overnighter Campground in Athens to spend a few days with our friend Pat Martin. We had a nice visit with her. On Wednesday we traveled up the mountain to Crossville TN. This is a town that was created in the depression era. FDR spearheaded this project. People were chosen to help build their home from native materials and then to move in and work the farm. They slowly paid of their debt with the profits from their farm. Many of these 250+ homes are still owned by descendants of the original owners.

We toured the museum and Phil walked to the top of the water tower to take  pictures.

                               

Unfortunately, when we attempted to leave Thursday morning, the RV would start but the started would not disengage. After fighting with it for a while, Phil went in search of an RV Tech. Well, he couldn’t fix it or repair it. When the starter did finally disengage, the consensus was that we should travel to our next destination and NOT shut the engine off until we arrived. This worked for us, we only needed to travel about four hours away to Marion NC, to the SKP ACRE rally. The rally was being held at Tom Johnson’s Rally Park and they have a large repair facility. So, off we went. We arrived without mishap.

It was great to be at SKP ACRE and see many of our Escapee friends. Phil was busy with the parking. I helped with registration and presented two computer seminars. It was a very busy ten days. I will post the Rally Report that I wrote for the Escapees Magazine as my next post.