After LL Bean, Freeport, Maine...

On July 31 we bid farewell to LL Bean in Freeport, ME and began out trek west!

A night at Seven Maples Campground in Hancock, NH. aimed us to our destination near Albany, NY to visit our FL friend, Elsa Sakacs and prissy Katie in Colonie.  Both seemed glad to see us and we surely were delighted to be with them a few days.

From 2012 7 VT NY 

We also visited with HTR friends Perry and Lonnie Berkowitz who also live near Colonie, NY. Their Doxy Roxy and I held our semi annual meeting of the Roxie groupies.

Arrowhead campground, on the Mohawk River, put us within 12 miles of these friends.  The only downside was that our 50 amp power was unpredictable and too frequently low. This is our third visit to this park that twice flooded badly in August 2011.   It closed for that season.

We continued west stopping in Romulus, NY at Sampson State Park for 3 days.  Sampson had been a navy base during WWII with training possible on the expansive Senaca Lake.  Seneca is one of the Finger Lakes in NY.  During the Korean conflict it became an air force base.

This well inhabited park by New Yorkers was not level for a motor home.  We had to build up the front with blocks, levelers and our extra folding step.  The assent was too much for the Heidi and Daisy and Charles lifted them in and out for 3 days.  The walking was great and along the water, playground and marina.  However, the frequently white capping Seneca Lake discouraged us from unloading the kayak the entire time there.

Our trek west continued to Campbell, NY to another mom/pop campground, Camp Bell. This park is very active with locals who summer there.  The owner also provides space to various day camps and a Cub Scout Camp was completing their week.  Fun for us to watch. 

We then stopped in Cuba, NY at Maple Lane Campground which put us just ten plus miles from Keith and Stella Wood, HTR neighbors.  They no longer travel south for the winter so being with them was a must.  Woody is a Shriner and to our delight he was in a parade in his town of Portville, NY on Saturday.  Woody’s mischief popped out as he whizzed in formation with the Kart operators. 

From 2012 NY Woody Kart We spent the day with Stella and Woody enjoying Subways once back at their home.  Saturday evening Stella prepared a spaghetti dinner.  Sunday morning they came to us for brunch.  Sunday evening they took us to as favorite restaurant, Spragues which was also celebrating the town’s 175 years.

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From Collages Reluctantly parting from the Wood’s we did a load of laundry and headed west to Tionesta, PA to a Corp of Engineer park…Tionesta.  It has 124 sites with full hookups, including 50 amps, and is below the earthen dam.  The park provides us much walking and biking on paved and flat roads.  It does not provide us consistent cell or data strength!

We are less than 10 minutes from the town of Tionesta where the Tionesta Indian Festival is in progress this week.  We can bike to the town.  One evening we enjoyed a demonstration of Indian dancing and culture explanations by a family dressed in traditional attire.  We have been back most of the six days while here.  Folks are very friendly and love patting the greys. The girls do not resist.

From Collages  We have decided against a float on the rushing Allegheny River!

The end of this trip is in sight.  We should land at home at the end of August after a stop in Indianapolis, IN for the international convention of Family Motor Coaching Association and performances by the Frustrated Maestros. Charles will enjoy playing his trombone.  Since our last blog entry our immediate neighbor’s house has gone down and many wonderful trees ripped from the earth.  After all, mowing the now city owned land becomes more important.  We fought hard for those trees.  A picture of the barren land is helping prepare us for this horrible first look.  At least, we never have to worry about the impending neighbors.  The FEMA controlled land can never have a structure on it.

Greetings from Maine 2012

Greetings from Maine!  We left home July 6 with our immediate destination Essex Junction (Burlington), VT. 

Travel the first day was to East TN to Bluff City, TN.  TN was in the midst of 100+ days and this stop was no different.  Bluff City placed us close to Bristol, TN where we accomplished year 3 of wedded bliss.  It was also the home of the Marstons for over 25 years.  So..we toured Bristol to relive those memories.  Roxie taught 3^rd grade in 1963-64 and provided safe housing for our greatest accomplishment…son Kevin…over  47 years ago.  Charles drove to East TN State to acquire his teachers certificate.  Turns out he did make use of it for 34 years!
















We drove by the house where we had an apartment, by the church we attended with the Marstons, and by vacant lots where Pop Marston’s vocational schools once stood.

Roxie’s two story school, 1963-64, was replaced with a beautiful building.  She taught third grade while in Bristol durding the school year.

After several short stops we arrived in Shelburne, VT for 4 nights of preparing for a Frustrated Maestro week at the Expo Cnt. In Essex Junction, VT. 

While at Shelburne, VT we floated the kayak on Lake Champlain.  The nation’s heat wave followed us from TN and we had to wait until 6:00 PM to float on the beautiful lake.  We have floated Lake Champlain before.



While camped at Shelburne, VT we looked out to see 6 goats being led on leashes around the campground!  We visited with them while out walking.  They were going to Burlington, VT, to the Farmer’s Market to put on a demonstration.  They are service goats, we were told.  All were pretty and very much pets.

Our greys, Daisy and Heidi, wound up entangled on the floor when Heidi tumbled off the couch onto Daisy.

July 15-22, we were camped with the Frustrated Maestros for Charles to enjoy directing them at the Northeast Area Rally of FMCA. We completely enjoy these events and being with Maestro friends. During the week the Maestros presented an evening program “Dance Party-A Salute to Bob Allen.” The audience danced tunes from rock and roll, country-western, big band and polka. Roxie prepared a slide show of Bob Allen, the founder of that chapter, The Yankee Doodle Dandies in 1996. It was a fun evening.

Maestros also presented music for rally morning coffee hours, the ice cream social-chapter fair and a Sunday morning breakfast for the rally goers.

We left on July 23 and made it 3 hours before discovering that diesel was covering the car.  A call to Cummins, 1-800-DIESELS gave us phone numbers.  We were just 2 miles from help.  A fuel sensor had failed and was over-nighted to us.  We This was in Lancaster, NH spent that night outside the shop and Subway served us supper.  The local laundry got our business after a week of no laundry at the Maestsro rally in Essex Junction, VT.

Bar Harbor was our destination.  We can never get enough looks at the pier at Bar Harbor and made several trips into town.  We rode the free Islander Express bus from the campground one day.

We put the Kayak in the ocean adjacent to our campground. The miracles of the times allowed a picture sent via phone to our son.  He was waiting for our grandson to pass his driver’s license test.!  Success.  And we were completing a float in the Atlantic at Bar Harbor, ME.

One afternoon we drove the short distance to Mount Desert Island National Park and climbed to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  All five of us went!  This is the place the sun rises first in the USA.  We have been there before to witness this.

As we ride today we are headed to Freeport, ME to revisit LL Bean. LL Bean is celebrating 100 years in business.  They have constructed a Bean Boot Truck to drive to their stores to celebrate.

We will be back to our home at the end of August. In between we have several FL friends to visit, and camping at a NY State Park and a PA Corp park.  The third week in August we will be in Indianapolis, IN for Charles to enjoy playing with the Maestros for the International convention.  Then we fall south 350+ miles to our home. While we are gone we have heavy hearts at the results of our 2010 flood.  Two of the houses in the federal buy out crumbled  the week of July 15.  Our next door neighbor's house will also be removed the week of July 30.  We have lived by that house 45 years.  While we are glad to see the devastated homes leave we find ourselves remembering the neighbors we have also lost.

From Collages