Happy Halloween!

I know - I should have swept the pad before taking the picture.

Warmest Halloween we've had on the east coast in quite some time.  We here in Longs, SC at the Willow Tree RV Resort for the week & getting in some visiting time with Pete & Mary.  This is one of our many planned stops as we make a slow trip to Gulf State Park in Alabama for the winter.

Willow Tree is a really nice RV Resort.  But if your intention is to visit Myrtle Beach, you may want to consider other RV parks in the area that are closer in.  We're about 20 minutes away from North Myrtle Beach.  Willow Tree, itself, is nice with beach, swimming pool, paved roads, paved sites & patios, some sites with hot tubs, individual restrooms with showers, and some sites built to pull into so that your motor home's windshield faces the lake.

This photo is the main complex.   Hard to see behind the bridge, but there's a small dock for "non-fuel" powered boats (think electric trolling motor).  The path you see is a walk/bike path around the lake.  Depending on the route you take, it's almost a mile & a half around the place.

This picture gives you a better look at the RV sites that face the lake. Some back-in sites do exist.  There's no cable TV here, so view the park's map ahead of time & pick your site wisely if you plan to use your satellite antenna. (We got one of the last sites available - a handicapped site - & didn't.)  Local channels are pretty strong if you just want to use your over-the-air antenna.


Pete & Mary seem to be doing well.  They're volunteering at the local hospital two days a week and are thoroughly enjoying their life in South Carolina.  We'll go down later today and spend time with them plus watch the trick-or-treaters before heading back.  Oh, and we're getting a lot of dog time in, too, while there.

Next stop is Mt Pleasant, SC (just north of Charleston) for a week to visit Freeda and also visit the Slussers.  We're skipping the James Island County RV park because of the potential conflicts with our trailer's height and the low hanging limbs that decorated the roads in and around Charleston.

Anyway, that's the plan.  Later, David

High Point, NC

World's largest  set of Chester-drawers 

We're back in High Point, NC visiting Donna & Craig.  We're here for the weekend - trying to squeeze in a visit between Market Week and all the fall & Halloween festivals before heading further south.

We've had a great stay in Fredericksburg, VA.  We spent this past week making a run down to the BBQ Exchange in Gordonsville, VA on Saturday with Beth & Frank. Then it was a visit up to Alexandria, VA to visit Julio & Mike.  Then a last night out with Beth & Frank on Monday for dinner followed by a great visit from Buddy & Gaye (our church's co-pastors) for dinner Tuesday evening.  We missed seeing Frank's new truck.  Maybe we'll get lucky, and they'll send us a picture by email.

We slept in late Wednesday morning waiting for the showers to end.  Then moved down to the RV Resort at Carolina Cross Roads in Roanoke Rapids, NC to wait for a campsite to come available at Oak Hollow Family Campground in High Point.  High Point's Market Week packs the campground, so we're coming in just as people are leaving on the last day of Market Week.  As Oak Hollow is first-come, first-served, it can get a little "sporting", but we got a great spot.  We've had a great dinner & visit this evening with Donna & Craig.  And all I know is that more "girl" time is being planned.

Later, David

Section B of Oak Hollow Family Campground

Checking In from F'burg

...no longer closed

Just checking in from Fredericksburg.  Nothing really new to report. We're fine though either a bug or some bad food got to me.  Either that or I forgot I had a colonoscopy planned.

Donna still volunteering at the hospital and visiting friends (girl-time, I'm told).  Knitting seems to be going strong, too.  I think some new mittens are about done.

We got the truck and trailer detailed by Central Virginia Mobile Detailing over a couple of days this week.  Both clean and each got a new, slick coat of wax.  Boy, does the water bead up now. (Note that our ability to always plan to have our vehicles detailed in Fredericksburg by Central VA Mobile Detailing only to have it rain no matter what the weather channel prediction is, continues.  It's now about a decade long run.  Even the owner commented about how it always seems to rain when he cleans our vehicles.)  We're pleased with the results to say the least.

Our new, not-suppose-to-be-used-on 5th-wheel-trailers bicycle rack worked flawlessly.  Donna noted that even she can get the bicycles on & off the bike rack by herself.   And, without even trying, we actually positioned our roof-top satellite antenna in a slightly better spot on the campsite when we returned so that now we can get a few stations in HD.    But most surprising is that we got up before dawn, hitched in the dark (not recommended), took the trailer over to be detailed, and returned by early afternoon.  By the time we're set back up, it feels like we never left - sort of our theme for this year's visit to Fredericksburg.

New for the Fredericksburg/Washington DC South KOA is the upgraded, pull-thru site.  Apparently, to meet a new definition for an "upscale" KOA, they have to have at least one large pull-thru with paved area, gas BBQ grill, upgraded outdoor furniture (vice the standard wooden picnic table), etc.  It's not done, yet.  But when the chosen site became empty, down came the trees, excavation started, and today they started laying the brick pavers.  Be a nice site when it's done.

So that's it from here.  I know.  We're boring.  Later, David

It's as if we never left...continued

before

after

Continuing with our "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same" theme:  

We've really enjoyed our stay this past week, and continue to compare how things have changed since retiring. But before I bore you with that:  We've gotten out to our home church.  We got to see our home church's service live vice a corner on our laptop screen.  (Hey, there really is full size people up on that stage!)  We've had dinner with Paul & Tricia.  Donna 's gotten to go nuts helping Terry with presentations at the hospital.  She's also gotten in a lot of "girl time" and some knitting classes.  Donna's travel time up to Baltimore, MD to visit Coco was measured in several hours vice the way too optimistic 92 minutes predicted by the Garmin.  And a new memory-foam mattress is on it's way.

We've gotten our Doc appointments done.  Since we do our doc appointments one after the other, it always helps to get our story straight before we go in to see the Docs.  I think we were successful this time.  Dr Church even let us in the same exam room at the same time.  Brave soul that Dr Church.

Really liking our new bicycle rack.  Unfortunately, we continue to buy things that, apparently, aren't suppose to be used on an RV.  Lippert Components Inc's Level-up system, Swagman bicycle racks, Yakima bicycle racks, etc.  We're gonna use the new Yakima bike rack, anyway.  Until it breaks.   (Actually, I understand the issue.  I'm just a little surprised that it's OK on the back of a Ford F450 pickup, but not on the back of a 5th wheel trailer that has an air-ride suspension.)  Along the same line, we're going to swap our 40 lb propane tanks to 30 lb propane tanks over the winter after we arrive in Gulf Shores.   The 40 pounders are just gettin' too heavy to carry around and lifting to install on the trailer when full.  I love the endurance, but man are those things heavy when full!

What else...road work on Route 3 appears to be done.  Nice job there.  Now Route 17 is a disaster.  I guess that's the "no pain, no gain" cliche' rule there.  At least they're tearing down the eyesores - which means we're now missing some landmarks.  We've lost our "situation awareness" a couple of times because of this.  They've moved the Navy Federal Credit Union branch.  Nice, nice job with the new branch, NFCU!

Anyway, we've noted as we cross the country that non-east coast people perceive the east coast folks as a little "weird".  I've decided the problem with east coast people is the time zone they live in.  East coast time zone stinks.  Where else will people stay up past midnight to watch their favorite TV show or sports game and then get up at 4:00 AM and ride a train an hour and a half to work.  No wonder things don't get done over here.  Their brains are mush.  It's the only reason I can come up with for the National Park Service trying to block pull-offs with orange cones on public-funded highways.  I mean, it just takes an idiot...  

And, yes, we're missing our corvette.  Later, David

It's as if we never left...

Fire and breakfast by Mathew

We had a great stay at Big Meadows this past weekend.  Some eleven people made it up to visit.  It was a cold, cloudy weekend, but having all your friends around kept you warm.  Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the sunshine on their way back home on Sunday.

On Monday, we made our way down the Skyline Drive to Fredericksburg.  Since being here, we've gotten our physicals & Donna's gotten her hair cut. She's back volunteering at the hospital and found a Curves.

The truck's gotten it's 100,000 mile service and a new, lower-profile tonneau cover to help offset the loss of bed rail clearance from adding the MOR/ryde hitch pin to the trailer. (Trailer still rides a little "nose" high.)  We've had a couple of dinners with Beth & Frank.  And Dona's got her weekend booked.  Verizon Wireless still poor at the Fredericksburg, VA KOA and the KOA's Tengo internet is as unreliable as ever. It's as if we never left...

David