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.

From Collages 

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

Home in Tennessee

We rolled into our driveway in Franklin, TN and turned the engine off April 14, 2012.  We did not turn it on until July 6, 2012. That is a record.

“Home chores” always fill our lists.  We had a yard to reclaim after the wild foliage  nearly consumed the beagle upon our arrival.  Now at the beginning of July our pretty green yard is parched from the over 10 days of 100+ temperatures.  Like the rest of the USA we dealt with the intense heat most mornings by 9:30 AM.

From 2012 A Spring

From Collages Roxie pursued some of the 2010 flood restoration projects placed on a back burner.  She found an upholsterer and the family heirloom platform rocker finally got a new do.  More pictures made it to the walls leaving just a few to do when we return to TN at the end of August. Sorry…no picture of the finished chair.  It is beautiful.

From Collages On July 2 likely straight line winds slammed a tree from the neighbor’s property behind our yard on our fence.  Luckily only 2 sections of the boards were split.  The owner had it taken off our fence and Charles repaired our “new” since the 2010 flood fence. 

From 2012 A Spring Our greyhounds, Heidi and Daisy, have spent much time racing in the backyard.  Of course, a brief spurt is a race and back into Charles’s shop they settle on comfortable beds in the air conditioning!  Tough life!  Heidi and Daisy are Therapy Dogs through Therapy Dogs, Inc of Cheyenne, WY. They take us visiting to an adult special needs day facility, assisted and memory care units while spreading their love.

Lucky beagle has encountered difficulty a few times from the amount of “stuff” she scarfs from the floor and ground.  Without us realizing it she was making quite a compaction under her tongue until it made her physically ill.  Convinced that more bad teeth were the culprit the vet put her to sleep to explore. Once he encountered and removed Lucky’s collection she became a perky beagle.   About a week later she stepped on a bee and got stung.  One antihistamine tablet stopped her pain. She happily rolled along in "her" bike cart when she did not feel good.  In this picture she felt good.

Still we did not learn our lesson about the quick beagle tongue just under the nose.  About 2 weeks ago she got very sick and returned much junk.  This time we got plastic and wood and stuff.  After X-rays and meds our Vet has suggested we were seeing too much of  him.  He commissioned us to be diligent in keeping her nose out of trouble.  So…Lucky now has to wear her little muzzle when out of the MH or house.  That includes Charles’s less than well kept shop!  We are hoping to not get turned in to the pet patrols for abusive parenting. 

Four flooded homes on our street are either in the federal buyout or in the process of getting in. This two year process has made our pretty neighborhood less than pretty.  July 11 or 12 are the target dates to remove them and start the regrading.  Many of the beautiful trees will removed on the now city owned property.  This made many of us heart sick and we mounted a petition campaign to make a plea to save as many as possible.  To keep neighbors informed I started a blog   http://www.ewingvillenews.blogspot.com/ The house next door to us will also go eventually.  We are very sad at the result of the flood, the devastation and the loss of friends in those houses.

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Grandboys are 10-13- and almost 18..within days!  Our oldest is employed by McDonalds and delighted to have a paying job.  Middle grandson has begun trombone and continues art lessons.  Our  youngest has enjoyed many activities of cub scouts.  Son and wife continue their preacher-teacher pursuits.

July 6, 2012 we left our driveway for Essex Junction, VT and another Frustrated Maestro Rally.  Essex J is 40 miles from Canada close to Burlington, VT.  Charles will be directing.  This area rally is celebrating twenty years and the Maestro Chapter found, Bob Allen, will be remembered.  Maestros will present evening entertainment July 19 with “Dance Party-A Salute to Bob Allen.”  The audience will be invited to dance to the variety of tunes including big band, polkas, western and 50s rock.  Charles has written a narration which a Maestro emcee will deliver and Roxie has built a slide show remembering the founder and acknowledging the music. We will stay north and “do” Bar Harbor, LL Bean and visit FL friends near Albany, NY and in central NY.  After a few days at Sampson State Park in NY and Tionesta COE park in PA we will wind out way to Indianapolis in mid August for the International FMCA convention.  Charles will enjoy playing his trombone.  At the conclusion we will fall 350 miles south to our own driveway by August 31.

You are right!  It has been since September 2011 that I updated our ExTeachersAt Recess blog. My blogging has been steady for the Frustrated Maestros, Holiday Travel Resort Computer Club and Holiday Travel Volley Ball.  Our own blog became a stepchild.  

October 2011
We spent most of October doing Frustrated Maestro music in Galax, VA and Winston-Salem, NC.  Charles loves directing the Maestros. 

For this area rally, Greater Eastern Area, he wrote and the Maestros produced a show, “Back to Your Senior Year in High School.”  The 1.5 hour show took the audience through The Football Game,The Sock Hop, Field Trip, Holiday Concert, The Musical, The Prom, Music We Listened To, and Graduation. 

Please look at www.frustratedmaestros.blogspot.com .  Look on the right side for Blog Archives, and open October 2011 to see this event.  Also in the TABS on the home page you will see GEAR video and 19 You Tube events have been posted for your listening pleasure.  Please don’t miss this highlight in our lives.

November 2011 November is a stay at home month.  We complete the yearly medical check ups and watch leaves fall.  Charles still mulches our leaves and Roxie uses them as mulch.  This year son Kevin and family spent Thanksgiving night with us.  Kevin’s church sold smoked turkeys and they brought one for our meal.  It was just delicious.  Our grandboys are growing older!  Not us!  Daniel is 17 and a junior in high school.  He has a lucky job at McDonalds flipping burgers.  Michael is now 13 and continues to do very well in art.  Likely this ability will pave the way to employment someday. Michael is showing good promise as a beginning trombone player.   John, age 9, loves Cub Scouts.  Recently his pinewood derby car placed 4th in their race.  He was delighted.

From Collages

December 2011 November 28, 2011 we were loaded and headed south to our winter home in Leesburg, FL.  A short jaunt to I-65 2 miles from home spelled trouble for an uneven motor.  Thanks to phones and Internet on the road we made contacts at Cummins in Birmingham, AL.  The travel day was wet and miserable.  The diagnosis was an expensive sensor valve. We granted permission and on the test drive the bucking continued. Finally they followed Charles’s suggestion of checking for water in the fuel and he stood there while it drained out.  Expensive mid-diagnosis but after a night there we were on our way to Holiday Travel Resort in Leesburg. We had left Franklin with only one greyhound, Daisy who came to live with us in December 2010.  In our September post you will find that our Libby had crossed the rainbow bridge.  See blog archives: September Again we contacted God’s Greyts Greys in Orlando and put in our request for another girl.  Heidi was found and we went to get her on December 1, 2011.  She is just delightful and easy to live with us.  At the end of March she was tested for Therapy Dogs, INC and did three observed visits.  She joins Daisy in our “work” with them to many facilities.

From Collages

December through March in our park   ( www.holidaytravelresort.com)

continue much the same.  This was the 9^th year on our site. Charles manages the active volley ball season.  www.htrvolleyball.blogspot.com  Please take a look to see the extent of these activities.

From Collages Concurrently Roxie helps manage the computers for the park along with a super TEAM.  The four of us set up and manage the bank of public computers, teach classes and provide Help Time each Monday morning.  This year there were many unfortunate hurdles with wifi but once the phone company was convinced of their inadequate service and corrected it we had smooth sailing for the last two weeks of the season. Please look at www.htrcomputerclub.blogspot.com

From Collages This year Charles started a small wind ensemble in our park.  Word spreads very slowly in our non-Wi-Fi park but the group shows promise of growing next year. 

From We are very busy for the four months in Florida and we enjoy every minute of it. In February we traveled 50 miles towards Tampa for another Frustrated Maestro event at the Southeastern Area Rally of FMCA in Brooksville.  This was the 25th year celebration of Maestros there and we embellished this with a slideshow and appropriate music. Roxie has gotten a projector and loves making power point slide shows.  The week is filled with music in rehearsals and performances.  Charles loves directing the Frustrated Maestros.

We will spend April – June at home and enjoy our flood refurbished home.  We survived our May 2010 flood and are mostly complete.  We do look forward to going home, “playing with the house” and digging in the yard.  We will enjoy our neighbor’s cat Lulu who lives in our shop-garage in AC-heat, lights, and radio…and comes and goes through the kitty window Charles installed.

From Collages In July we will travel to Essex Junction, VT for a Frustrated Maestro week at the Northeastern Area Rally.  Charles will be directing once again. 

From Collages  We will return to TN in September.  Again in October Charles will direct the Greater Eastern Area Rally Maestros this time in York, PA.  We will return via Indianapolis, IN and a Maestro performance at the international convention.  This time Charles will enjoy playing trombone.

From Collages I do promise to NEVER get this far behind again.  Hope you have had the patience to pursue to these words.  We love hearing from each of you through our E mail address. 

Our Libby succumbed to a mysterious illness on September 10, 2011.  We were at home. 

From Libby-Trixie

While away in Madison,WI for another Frustrated Maestro event at FMCA International Libby got sick and we sought a vet. All tests were passed. We traveled on to a Corp of Engineer Campground outside of Iowa City, IA. Again we had to find a vet and were most pleased with a 24 hour emergency clinic, Bright Eyes and Bushy Tails. http://www.bebt.com/



Again, many test showed nothing. Two days later, in Amana, IA we noticed the result of internal bleeding. Aug. 22 we headed for TN arriving in our driveway on Aug. 23.


Little by little Libby lost ground as our vet tried with us to look for causes and find treatments. We all agreed that this 11 year old greyhound would not be subjected to an exploratory.


Libby was a TDI dog, a therapy dog. http://www.therapydogs.com/


She loved this work and got just goofy when we got our red shirts out to get ready. She wore her therapy dog vest with pride. She did not get to go with us on a last visits. Daisy upheld the therapy dog reputation.


We had Libby 7 years after getting her from foster mom Lynnae. Lynnae always said that Libby was the one that got away. Her innocent eyes and love of life lifted many spirits.


Libby lost her companion Trixie just nine months prior. Finding pictures of just Libby was impossible.

My intentions on August 19 were to post a blog update.  We ended our trip on Aug. 21, 2011 when greyhound Libby began to bleed internally.  The bus landed in the driveway in Franklin on Aug. 23 so we could be in touch with Libby’s vet.  We feel the internal bleeding has ceased but she is not well.  She is on medicine and a special venison-potato diet.  She has up and down days but we still have her. Our vet is looking at an ulcer, irritable bowel, or cancer.  We all agree that there will be no exploratory for this 11 year old gal. 

From Libby-Daisy

We went to Madison, WI  in early August for another Frustrated Maestro performance at the International Convention of FMCA…Family Motor Coach Association.  www.fmca.com  Charles enjoyed playing and some directing.  There were over a hundred Maestros from all over the USA rehearing and performing during the week of August 8-13, 2011.

From Collages

Roxie enjoyed her camera and posting to the nationwide Frustrated Maestro Blog.  www.frustratedmaestros.blogspot.com    Here you will see many slideshows of the Maestros performing.  At the end of the Madison posting you will find a slideshow with Maestro Music.  The mic pic up lacks a little, however.

After the Madison, WI FMCA convention we landed at the Rustic Barn Campground and RV Park in Kieler, WI for two days of recuperation from the intense Maestro rehearsal and performance schedule. http://rusticbarnrvpark.com/

Our site looked out and into a valley filled with a dairy farm. Just across from us was a chapel with a full window at the end allowing us to see the landscape. It made a nice practice hall for Charles.

We were then on our way to Sugar Bottom, Corp of Engineers Park, in Solon, IA on August 19, 2011.  We were just outside Iowa City, IA.  The great distance to the lake in the park required some ingenious effort to get the boat to the water.

From Recently Updated

PeeDee, our wonderful Canadian born cat, always surveys the sites to his contentment!

From Recently Updated

Our Daisy turned 3 on August 20, 2011

From Libby-Daisy

On Sunday, August 21, 2011 we had reservations for a week at The Seven Amana Colonies, Amana, IA  http://www.amana.com/.  We have spent much time there through the years and never tire of its history.  But Libby’s illness determined that we would drive home getting the 600+ miles in two days.

We were away two months.  The week early return just helped us launch into the continued flood restoration of our home and yard. 

Charles is directing the Maestros again in October in Winston Salem, NC.  He has written a show for an evening performance, “Back to Your Senior Year in High School.”   In a capsule the promo on the Internet and in the rally book best states his efforts.

Wednesday, Oct. 19, evening entertainment for the Greater Eastern Area Rally:

The “Back to High School” musical program promises to be a fun trip down memory lane. The Maestros’ music will have you reminiscing about football games, homecoming, prom, field-trip bus rides, graduation and the tunes of your formative years.

The “Back to High School” musical program promises to be a fun trip down memory lane. The Maestros’ music will have you reminiscing about football games, homecoming, prom, field-trip bus rides, graduation and the tunes of your formative years.

Our little beagle, Lucky, adopted us 5 years ago!  When we arrive at our winter home, Holiday Travel Resort in Leesburg, FL Lucky will be infatuated with her beau Rusty and mom Lisa.  Lucky takes many steps to the greyhound and daddy steps but she is still stepping along.  She is likely between 14 and 16 years of age.  She is not telling.

From Collages

We leave Oct. 7 for Music Camp in Galax, VA.  This is followed by the Greater Eastern Area Rally…GEAR…in Winston-Salem, NC the third week in October.  We will spend the last week of October leisurely returning home through East TN and visit Marston relatives and friends in Dandridge, TN.

Leaves will finally fall in November and we will prepare for our departure to FL on Thanksgiving Day.  We will stop first at our son and family’s home in Decherd, TN over Thanksgiving.