2013-06-09

Today was another fun lighthouse day.  We stopped to see 3 of them on the Jersey Shore.

First up was Twin Lights in Highlands, NJ.  It was one of the first lighthouses to provide guidance for New York Harbor.  The ones you can visit today were built in 1862.  There are two lights with the keeper’s quarters in between.

 

I took a picture of one of the lights from the top of the other one, along with some wildlife.

 

We could see the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (connecting NJ to Staten Island) and the Manhattan Skyline looking from the Twin Lights across Sandy Hook, NJ.

 

Next was lunch at Bahr’s Landing, and it was delicious.  We started with soup (Marilyn had New England clam chowder, and I had New Jersey Corn and Crab chowder) cole slaw and biscuits.  Marilyn claims that her fried oyster Po’boy on and Kaiser role was delicious, and I know that my crab cake on a Kaiser role really was delicious.  The fries were good too.  If you are ever in Highlands, NJ, I would highly recommend eating at Bahr’s Landing.

 

After that delicious lunch, we headed toward the Sandy Hook Lighthouse.  It was built in 1764 about 500 yards from the shore.  Due to sand filling in, it is now a mile and a half from the sea shore.In the 1890’s, the Army built Fort Hancock to protect New York Harbor with huge coastal guns that are now silent.  Here is a nine gun battery.  The fort is now in disrepair, with only a portion used by the Coast Guard.

 

It was later in the day, so we had a better view of Manhattan, and we could even see the Parachute Jump at Coney Island.

Our final lighthouse for the day was in Sea Girt, NJ. 

 

Hugs, and Type at You Later

2013-06-07

Today, Andrea is supposed to bring her rain and wind up the East Coast to New Jersey and beyond.  So, we are planning to just stay here in the motorhome all day.

We made our tourist trip in to Trenton yesterday because it is supposed to rain today and tomorrow.  In Trenton, we took the 12:00 tour of the State Capitol.  We were lucky to join a 4th grade class on their tour, because the Lt. Governor of the State of New Jersey took time out of her busy schedule to talk to the class, pose for pictures and talk to Marilyn and I.  She said Chris Christie would have come out to talk to them but he had more pressing things on his plate (we later learned on the news that he was announcing a temporary US Senator).  This class was from one of the shore schools that had been damaged in last year’s hurricane.  They were finally able to return to class in their own school this past Monday.  Until then, they would be bused to their old school where they would be split up into three groups to be bused to separate locations for each day.

We parked in the Visitors’ underground garage, so our first pictures of the Capitol were inside of the dome and stained glass windows.

 

After the tour, we went outside for a picture of the front of the Capitol, and the WW II Memorial across the street.

 

Next we went to the New Jersey State Museum.

 

As we left the museum, one of the guards said he would show us how to get back to the garage.  As we were walking and talking, he asked if we had seen the barracks.  We said no, and he said we really should if we had time.  So we walked to Barracks Street and took pictures of the only surviving British Barracks from the Revolutionary War.  It was built in 1758 for the French and Indian War.  (We decided we did not want to pay the $8 each to go inside).

 

As we walked back to the State Library for an elevator to the garage, Marilyn found a better views of the Capitol Dome.  This Capitol was built piece-meal.  The first building was finished in 1792.  As time went on and larger accommodations were needed, extensions were added to the front, rear and sides.  In the first picture, the original capitol building can be seen on the right, and House Chamber addition on the left.  The Senate Chamber is on the other side, also in the front of the old capitol.

Hugs, and Type at You Later.

2013-06-05

We left Mercer, PA yesterday, and headed East on I-80.  We stopped for the night at a WalMart in Bloomsburg, PA.  Of course we went in to Customer Service to ask permission, and they said we would not probably be bothered if we parked way out of the way.  There were signs that said “No Tractor Trailer of RV Parking”, but we did stay anyway.  When we got out in the morning, we found a “Parking Ticket”, which cost $10 if paid within 10 days, otherwise it would be $15.  In defense of the police department, they did put tickets on all of the tractor trailers also.  We wrote a check for the $10, because if we paid it on line, it would cost the original $15 plus a fee of $0.76.  Beware when traveling on I-80 in Pennsylvania.

Today, we drove another 200 miles, and are parked at Timberland Lake Campground in Cream Ridge, New Jersey.  We will be here until we go to Philadelphia for our daughter’s graduation.

Hugs, and Type at You Later.

2013-06-01

On the 28th of May, we continued our drive east for about 200 miles, and spent the night in Indiana at Caboose Lake Campground.

 

We spent the night of the 29th in Ohio after about another 200 miles at a WalMart in Upper Sandusky

 

On Thursday the 30th, we arrived in Pennsylvania.  We are staying at RV Village near Mercer, PA.  Plugging in, we had no electricity.  The Park’s electrician was able to get us sufficient electric to run the rear AC, but the quality of the electric on site 182 is only sufficient to run one appliance at a time.  Once my coffee is made, I turn it off so I can use the toaster.  The access to the internet by cell phone did get better the following day.  Friday was shop for groceries in the afternoon.

Saturday we were able to visit the one person we stopped here for – Mary Ellen Banks.  She is in an independent living facility – her husband Tom passed away last year.  Mary Ellen and Tom were long time members of Escapees chapters 15 and 27.  We had a wonderful afternoon lunch and visit.  Mary Ellen looks great.

Hugs, and Type At You Later.

2013-05-27, East of the Mississippi

The last time I posted was on the 21st, so, I guess it is time to do it again.  We stayed in the Blue Ox Campground until Sunday, the 26th.  During that time, we had one nice day, and one sort of nice.  Both times we walked in to town for 3 miles each time.  Besides the normal cows and donkeys, we found this little guy.  At least he is wildlife.  I enjoyed the time at Blue Ox because the wifi was pretty good, so I could work with Ancestry.com looking for some of our ancestors.  I also checked the air in the motorhome tires, as well as checking the batteries.  Marilyn got some reading and cleaning time in.

 

The weather reports indicated that Sunday would be stormy and windy.  Of course Monday through Friday were not going to be any different, so we decided to leave Sunday morning.  We drove across the Missouri River, but the weather did not cooperate with Marilyn’s picture taking.  That cold, misty, breezy made it difficult.  We were able to continue into Iowa on US-30, stopping for the night at WalMart in Ames, IA.  My windshield wiper had started to pull apart, so I shopped for new ones.  Of coursed WM does not carry the 32 or 34 inch models that I needed, so I bought the largest ones – 28 inch.  New ones mount with a J-hook that does not work on our 2006 Phaeton.  Since the Phaeton’s mount with a spacer, nut and bolt, I broke the J-hook off, and sawed part of the rivet out.  The 28 inch ones work, although Marilyn loses a little more clean area.

 

This morning, we left about nine after the extreme wind and rain had died off.  About an hour later, we caught back up with the wind.  I put on the flashers, slowed to 35 or 40, and pulled over for the occasional vehicle to pass.  As we approached Cedar Rapids, the wind slacked off so I could drive at the speed limit again.  We drove a little south to pick up I-80 again so we could stop at Speedco in Walcott, IA to get the motorhome lubed.

 

Speedco finished in about a half hour, so we decided to move on – it was only 2:30.  We crossed the Mississippi River, but the sign was missed.  However, we did make it into Illinois.  We decided to stop in Geneseo, IL for another WalMart night.

 

Tomorrow’s weather is not supposed to be much better, so we will have to wait and see if we can drive on to who knows where.

Type at you later.

2013-05-21

Yesterday, we left Elm Creek, NE and drove to Pender, NE where we are staying in the Blue Ox Campground.

This morning, our new Blue Ox tow bar, that we had purchased in Quartzsite, AZ, was taken in to the factory to be serviced. 

About 10:30AM we went in to the office to take a factory tour.  We found out that Blue Ox started out making agricultural equipment some 80 years ago.  It is still a family owned company.  They still make rollers for the grain agricultural industry, but have grown to making tractor cabs as well as products for the towing of vehicles etc.  My father worked in a machine shop, so I recognized some of the manufacturing equipment.  They press, cut, mold, and paint all of their products from start to finish. 

They no longer service their products for free.  They charge the same $25 at the factory as they do at RV shows, etc.  However, we thought it would be good to get the tow bar serviced.  We probably not get it serviced again until Escapade next May. 

We have had a rainy, breezy day.  However, there has been no severe weather.

Hugs, and Type at You Later.

2013-05-19

Yesterday, the 18th, we spent the morning in the house.  After lunch, we went to Walmart, so, nothing much to write about.

 

This morning, the 19th, I checked the air in the tires, and Marilyn did wash.  In the afternoon, we drove to the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument.  The Arch is a museum about trails and roads west, and actually crosses over I-80.  The trails passing through were the Oregon, Mormon, and San Francisco trails  US 30 followed the same trail west, and was originally named the Lincoln Highway.  The interstate route I-80 then followed US 30.  The museum exhibits were created by Disney, and you use earphones to listen to different people describe the trials and tribulations of the wagon trails.  The museum and the arch are one and the same.  As you progress through the museum you walk across I-80.  Overall, we enjoyed the museum which cost $10 per senior.  We thought the sound could be improved by telling you to move to the next exhibit. 

Hugs, and Type at You Later.