Still at the Gettysburg Farm

Here it is Wednesday and I'm back. 

We did go to Lynne and Rick's for dinner on Sunday, but we never did borrow a car from Lynne.  On Monday  I did go to dad's and spent the night there.  I left here about noon on Monday and when I got to his house, he wasn't there, but arrived shortly after I did.  We got ready and went to the Dr.s appt, and the shot he was to get in the eye, they didn't do.....yea.  So we stopped in Hershey at 'The Grill on Chocolate Avenue' and had dinner, very good.  From there we ran over to Kohl's, I was looking for a blouse to go with a pair of shorts, and I found one.  Back to his house and just hung out, and off to bed.

We got up the next morning and got ready to take my car to the garage.  After that pick up Brit and took her to work, then we finally had breakfast.  We stopped at Grumbines for some things we needed for the RV, nothing in stock so no luck there, then we headed over to the Casino.  We were there for about 2 hours, then back to pick up Brit.  Took her home, stopped at Dad's and picked up Aly, (she walked over and was reading while sitting on the swing), then they dropped me off at the garage and they headed to Aunt Lida's.  I got my car $300.00 later, then headed home.  Brad was on the computer when I got here, but we got ready and headed out for groceries but we had to stop at the 'Hog Wild' and have dinner first, my grocery bill was still over $100.00.  Back home and went for a walk, sat out side for a while then headed off to bed.

Today has been a planning day, we still have lots to do before we leave on Monday and we are almost out of time.  Let's see how tomorrow goes, hope we cover some of the list.  On another note, Pere has been in Africa for the last month for work and should be home today....yea for that.

Later,
Diane

Gettysburg Farm

Well, here is it Friday and Brad was back to the doctor, still not feeling the best, so lets hope  this helps.  Yesterday I missed Jubilee Day and today after Dr. appt., no shopping for me.  We had a quick lunch, stopped at the drug store for more meds and off to camp.  Brad to bed and me to hang out.  I did a bunch of walking around camp to entertain myself.  Finally, Lynne saved me, off to dinner at the VFW.  (hey, at least it got me out).  I got home about 10:30 and Brad was still up.  That didn't last long, off to bed with him, and me shortly thereafter. 



There is a duck sitting on her
nest in the barrel on the right!



Saturday he is feeling a little better, but I am off and running with Lynne.  Not so fast, Rick is on his way down here to find a camp site, plans on leaving his motorcycle at the site and will ride back home with me to get the RV.  Well it ended up, they are only two sites away from us  (behind us, but not that far away).  He was out of the house with the RV before Lynne and I got leaving for shopping.....he was on a mission.  He got set up and then went home to do some chores (9 mile drive) while Lynne and I shopped and Brad rested, getting ready for the evening of visitors.  Lynne and I are done shopping.....no Rick calls, two more stops to make.  We finally get back to the house, packed up and are leaving when I called to make sure they don't need anything.....my mistake, another stop to make. 

We finally get to camp about 6:15 and they have visitors....Drew (from guards) and his wife are visiting.  They are actually staying here and so is a family member of theirs.  Then Shane called, so he decided he is coming over for dinner as long Rick and Drew are going to be here (I'm not sure, but I guess that means I wasn't getting visited).   Drew and his wife would stop and say hi on there walks past our site, Shane was here until about 10:00 and Lynne, Rick and Bailey hung out until about 11:00.  We cleaned up and headed inside, put drops in Brads ears and headed to bed. 

We were up at 7:00, Brad out of bed, me I laid in  bed, drank my coffee and played a game, finally rolled out about 8:00.  We made breakfast, and called Lynne and Rick to come over about 9:15 (they had a rough night with Bailey).  They ate got packed up and were out of here about 11:00, I did a load of laundry and we talked with Earl (the representative from here) about the purchase into the resorts.  Back to the RV, had the last of the mango salsa for lunch. Sat around, talked with Drew as he wondered by again and again and again, now I'm off to shower and then to Lynne's for dinner and to borrow a car.  I take dad to the doctor tomorrow and then my car goes to the garage Tuesday morning.  Will let you know how that all turns out.

Diane

  

Family Visit

Keisha and Kaydence

We went out for a while on Tuesday evening and on the way home poor Keisha started texting...anxious about what time and who was meeting tomorrow.  As it ended up, Ben had a test to take and had to leave at lunch time, so he didn't make it here, but Keisha and Kaydence did....yea.  They got here by 2:00 and we hung out, had a lite lunch, sat in the AC....90 degrees today.  We even got outside and braved a walk to the pool and down to the creek.  It is hard to imagine my grand-daughter as a mom.....but it is a great feeling and only gives me more to love.

Monique and the cake she made

Mel and girls showed up about 6:00, tough working around all three of them working.  The group of us women walked up to the pool, Taylor swam and the rest of up put our feet in the kiddie pool.  It did cool us off a little (darn little)  and Kaydence enjoyed it.  We finally headed back to camp....pappy thought we all drowned, but we made it back.  We just had burgers, potato salad and cole slaw for dinner.  After that we had this awesome cake that Monique made.....the best, and then just hung out (in the heat) talking and listening to everyone bust on each other and even their dad, who wasn't there to protect himself.  We all visited until about 9:00 then they headed out.   I hope to have a day to spend with them next week before we leave.....I think I'll just make time, I miss them all so much.

We got up today, Thursday and Pappy is a mess.....achy ears and just looks miserable.  We finally go to the doctor and find out both ears are infected and all the drops we have been doing didn't even make it into the ear.  They did a painful thing and stuffed wicks into the ear so the drops would get into the ears.....ouch.  We stopped and had a quick lunch, stopped at the drug store and then home.  Brad to bed and me out to paint the rest of the base color on my buoy.  I did some walking and when I got back, the TV was turned up so loud (so Brad could hear) I ended up going outside again. 

All in all not a bad day for the heat.  Brad is sleeping and I am ready for bed.  Off to another experience tomorrow.

Diane

Dover Pa. A little catching up

Fri. 15 June, (Gettysburg Campground)

 We didn't do a lot, hung out around the campground. (Brad forgot we did clean the RV)  Diane went to the grocery store and drug store.  We had out first visitors, Lynn and Rick stopped in for dinner.  We had a great time. After a brief run in with the parking guard(had to pay to get them in the campground) we had, ham (grilled ) and corn on the cob.  They left around 11pm.  A late night for Brad.

Sat 16 June (Gettysburg Campground)

  Another day hanging by the campground.  It was a nice day we walked allot, checking out all the different camping rigs.  Anything from tents to big rigs.  We did manage to get in a round of mini golf.  And after all that exercise we felt we deserved an ice cream. We had leftovers for dinner and started packing up for the big move tomorrow.

Sun 17 June  (Fathers Day)Traveling to Dover

Gettysburg Farm Campground

  Diane was up early to go to church with her dad and spent most of the day with him and family.  I got to pack up the entire motorhome and drive the whole way to the new campground without any help.  Actually I moved  slow and I was still packed and moving by 12 noon. Then the long 30 mile drive to Dover(actually closer to East Berlin)  I was here by 1pm, I had the rig almost completely set up by the time Diane returned around 5pm.  We walked around the campground,  it is really nice, big wide lots, lots of trees and it is bordering the Conewago Creek.   We had sausages for dinner and called it a day.

Mon 18 June (Dover, PA)

   What a dark clouded rainy day. It was raining when we got up and rained most of morning.  We started with breakfast on the grill around 9:30(under the awning), then off for a day running around, bank, drugstore,  grocery store, lunch, and a after lunch coffee.  Back to camp unload and get ready for dinner at the Dillsburg VFW with Lynn and Rick.  We sure did miss the VFW food.

Tue. 19 June  (Dover, Pa)

  Brad was up early around 6am(darn birds chirping).  Diane got up...a little later.  We did three loads of  laundry which took forever.  First trip machines were full, second trip the same but we waited, third trip put clothes in dryer, one dryer didn't work right, you get the picture.  As we walked back and forth we did scrounge up fire wood from campsites as people left.  Had a bunch of calls to make,  get the car serviced, rv parts,  registration for the car etc.   We are to meet the Shirk's  but I don't know where yet.

We do need to go to the grocery store today (skipped it yesterday), Keisha, Ben and the Kaydence are coming for lunch tomorrow and somewhere in the rest of the week, Mel and kids will be over and Shane probably another day.

And lastly, we will try to do updates regularly because catching up takes to long.

Brad and Diane

Gettysburg CG

Well as in most places in south central PA it rained and rained and rained  on Tuesday.  There is a creek at the back of the campground and it filled up pretty darn good. 

Tuesday we got up and couldn't decide what to do, rainy and gray...so we ended up going out for a late breakfast and in search for our next campground.  We need to be out of here by Sunday, 6/17 and are planning to head towards Dillsburg, closer to family and visiting.    We had one address plugged into the GPS and on the route, we passed all the CG that showed up on the internet.  Wellllllll...we are still looking, will let you all know what we decided on in the end. And then since we were sooooo close, I couldn't drive past Keisha's without stopping to meet Kaydence.  Oh how cute, I even got to feed her.  She never really fussed, but I did hold her the whole time we were there  :-) We stopped at the Blue and Gray dinner to eat, which was good and got home about 8:30.  Just loafed and headed off to bed, Brad about 9:30/10:00 and me at 11:00. 

Now on Wednesday morning, while making breakfast, we called about a couple of different camp grounds, rearranging plans and planning where were are staying, we now have that settled through 7/5.  After that we decided to rent a couple of scooters to use to see the Gettysburg Battlefield.  What a great idea, we had a blast. We got to the rental place about 10:30 and were on the road by 11:00.  Took a couple of practice trips around the parking  at the college then off we went.  We didn't go real fast, but rode around until about 2:00 when we stopped at the Visitors center.  We probably spent a couple of hours there, did the movie, cyclorama and the museum .  Headed back to camp and had grilled sausage by the camp fire and did a couple of walks around the park. 

Today we headed into town about 9:00, stopped for the scooters and then off to breakfast, we do need our energy.  We finally got headed to the battle field and rode all day.  We covered a lot of territory and read a lot of plaques.  I think at the end of the day we really weren't reading them any more, we just stared at the the appropriate amount of time :-)

We were headed out toward Culp Ridge and just kind of looked at each other, it was already 5:30 and we were tired.  We drove the loop and kind of checked out the place, but then headed back to town.  We returned the scooters and talked with the owner for a while then headed off to eat.  I decided it would take too long to cook dinner when we got back, so we ate out (my logic).  Well back to camp, Brad for a walk and me on the Blog. 

Solomons to Gettysburg

Wow, I am really behind.   Well here it is Monday and we have to back up to Saturday. 

Yes my key turns while I travel
down the road!!

Saturday we went to the St. Mary's County Crab Festival.  It was $5.00 to get in, small but interesting.  They had lots of food, a car show, and a minimal amount of crafts....doesn't if figure, but here I did find something to buy.  We had a BBQ pork sandwich and a crab cake sandwich.....the sad part is the pork was better.  On the way out we had an old fashioned snow cone...root beer flavored, it was wonderful. 90 degrees and that hit the spot.  From there we headed to Point Lookout State Park, lots of history and a light house we want to see, but it is already after 3:00 and they wanted $7.00 for each of us to go into the park.  Needless to say, we did not go in, if it was earlier we would have, but at that price, we wanted more than an hour or two too walk around.  From there we headed home, stopping at Wal-mart and the grocery store on the way, then we had some snacks for dinner and  started packing  to leave on Sunday. 

Boy Scouts

I did forget to mention that there was a very large boyscout troop at  the campground, starting Friday.  There must have been between 40-50 tents, and they were really quiet and you didn't even know they were there.  It was impressive to see.

Well, Sunday we got up, finished packing and finally left about 10:30.  We are heading to Gettysburg and taking route 97 up.  It was a little nervy here and there but we made it.  We tried stopping at a shopping center for lunch.....no room to park and not much room to turn around in, but we made it out of that lot and across 5 lanes of traffic to Home Depot.....we were there for a hour, eating lunch and enjoying the break.....aahhhhh.

Gettysburg Camp Ground

After that it we had a nice ride the rest of the way up, except when we got into Gettysburg, there are lots of people and they don't understand that they really don't want to walk in front of an RV trying to navigate small streets. We got to camp about 3:30 and got set up.  Walked around and checked things out....most of our neighbors are leaving tomorrow.....a quiet week.  We just hung out, burgers for dinner and then off to bed, Brad at 9:00 and me at 10:30.

OK, here it is Monday, cereal for breakfast and watching all the other campers packing up and getting ready to leave the grounds.  Well, here we go 3 leave and 2 more pull in, right into the spots by us....2 more leave and so do we, but not before we get the laundry finished and the car inspected (ran out in April).  Now we are headed into town to get supplies and see what sites we want to see.  We are here until Sunday and then heading to Dillsburg, so I am struggling with the visits.....I haven't even met my great-grand-daughter yet. 

Well we got back and had dinner, chicken and asparagus and chatted with the neighbors.  Now dishes are done, Brad is in bed and I am finishing the blog.  Thinking about renting scooters for a day or two and using them for the battlefield tour....that could be great.

Well I am off for the night,
Later all,
Diane

Solomons, MD

We just finished dinner on Friday night....but back to yesterday.

We had a lite breakfast Thursday and then got ready to head down to Solomons Island to do some touring and for lunch.  We walked around for a while then headed to the Solomon's Pier Restaurant for lunch.  We each had a cup of soup and a crab/seafood dip with nachos and bread.  While there we headed up to the second floor of the place and took a pic or two, one of the bridge we crossed in the motorhome......as long as I looked at Brad driving, I was fine.

 

We then headed out and walked around the island, which I think took us a total of hour and a half to cover the whole thing.  We stopped at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, which is part of the University of Maryland, was very interesting.  The volunteer that was there had to have been a professor or something originally.  He was very knowledgeable and had way too much info not to have been.

We headed back towards the car, past the Tiki bar......and then we found the farmers market.  There was one seller and he was very expensive....but yes we did get tomatoes, pumpkin bread and strawberries, all very, very good.  Back to camp...snacked and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Friday we decided to hang out here at camp and do nothing much for the day.  We had the banana nut bread for breakfast and did a lot of walking and bike riding.  We actually hit the beach today....no we did not get in the water, but walked at the edge of it. 

We checked out all the new people/rv pulling in for the weekend, the place has been filling up.  Shortly after that  Brad went for a walk and I for my bike ride....and we never ran into each other, and yes I looked for him.  Now I know this place is not small, but even that was kind of odd not running into each other.  It was nice being here all day....I talked with Mel, Dad and Lynne and then we had a nice steak dinner with a baked sweet potato. 

 

Solomons, Maryland

Piney Point Lighthouse

It was to be cool all day Tuesday so our goal was to do some site seeing.  After breakfast we headed to Leonardtown, MD (the lady at the Welcome center suggested it).  Well it was kind of disappointing, not much to see and a lot of the things were closed  (including the visitors center).  We walked around in town for a while then headed to the water front.  We were there for about an hour then headed out.  Time for my mapping skills, tee hee hee.  We are heading out Piney Point Road looking for another Lighthouse/Museum, and we actually found it.  We walked around there for about 2 hours and actually went up to the top of the lighthouse.

We then headed out the road further mainly to see what was there and to look for a campground, that we did find, at least where it used to be!!.  Much to our surprise, the tide was coming in......and the roads were disappearing.  Now we headed to the shallow side and crawled, but the locals had no problems plowing right through the deep stuff, even the school buses barely slowed down.  OK, we've had enough, we turned around and left.....we didn't want to see what the end of the island looked like.

We then headed back towards camp, via Great Mills, and Lexington Park.  We came by the Patuxent (PAX) River NAS and then headed up the road looking for a place to eat.  We had dinner at Macmillans Irish Pub, not a bad place just not what I was looking for.  We finally headed back across the bridge to Solomons and Brad headed down to the Solomons Island point.  We traversed the back streets looking for restaurants (which we found) and at the very point we parked and walked a little.  Directly across Patuxent River from there you could see the NAS.  We did stop at a Tiki Hut on our way home, but it was to chilly to enjoy so we came back to camp.  Once back, I rode my bike and Brad walked, both of us covering a bit of territory and getting some exercise.  We got back to the RV shortly before dark, watched some TV then off to bed.

We here it is Wednesday and the weather men lied again.  It is still cool and overcast.....so we hung out here in the morning,  and waited until about noon to head out.  We just stopped had a little lunch then headed over to the base.  The commissary and PX were just inside the gate, so of course we had to go in and do some window shopping.  We left there and headed over to the PAX River Naval Air Station Museum.  It wasn't bad, but they are to be building a new one that we hope they can move some of the airplanes into.  We headed home....the long way, but we made it about 6:30.  Brad headed out for his evening walk, and I went for a little stroll, then came back to work on the blog.  Hopefully a nicer day tomorrow.

Diane and Brad

Fort A. P. Hill to Solomons, MD

We never left Fort A. P. Hill until about noon yesterday.  We were in no hurry to get here (70 mile -drive) and you couldn't check in until 2:00 PM and for some reason most of the people at Fort A. P. Hill were out and about Sunday Morning.  We talked with more of the people Sunday morning then we did the whole time we were here.  Some how, I do think we will be back, it was a beautiful place and very quiet with a lot more to see and do.

Solomon Island

We are now on Solomons, Maryland at the Patuxent River NAS Rec. Area.  It is in a beautiful area and close to a lot of places (including Washington DC).  We got the RV set up and went for a bike ride....what a shame, they really aren't doing much to maintain this place at all and it probably is wonderful when taken care of.  There is a swimming pool, beaches, pavilions, horse shoe pits, mini golf, a fishing pier, cabins (small to large), camp fire areas and much more here.  We just hung out, had dinner and did more bike riding and walking to check things out.

Four Winds Cafe on a very windy day!

We got up this morning and I made breakfast, then our only plan for the day was to drive around and see what was about.  We were in no hurry so never got out of here until 11:00 and drove down to the point of Solomon's Island, then up around Back Creek to the Calvert Marina area.  We were on the way back, about 12:30 and stopped at the Four Winds Cafe for lunch, very good food and a very small place. 

Cove Point Lighthouse and Keepers House

We then drove around some more and I had Brad heading to the Cove Point Lighthouse.  We finally found the road and drove back only to find this unwelcoming development with all kinds of signs saying, 'private roads, do not enter' etc.  Even the road where we thought the lighthouse was said, 'No Turn Around Ahead, Dead End', so we turned around and were leaving when Brad pulled over and asked someone about the lighthouse.  They said it was back the dead end road, but closed, but we could get close enough to get pics.  So off we went and not only could we get close, it was open for the viewing.  There were volunteers there and the place was open to go through, and guessing they don't get to many visitors, they talked and talked and talked......it was interesting, but they didn't seem to want us to leave.  And then right out from the light house was a Liquid Natural Gas Platform, it was huge and they told us it is used to bring Natural Gas to the US and they want to modify it to use for exporting as well.  It was an interesting day.

LNG Platform

Then grocery shopping, bike ride, mini golf game, dinner, and the normal everyday things.  Oh well, more tomorrow.

Diane and Brad.

Fort A. P. Hill, VA

It is Saturday and has been a beautiful day.  We just had Yogurt for breakfast and did a load of laundry.  Then about noon we headed out to get supplies for our move tomorrow to Solomons Island Rec. Facility in Maryland.  Sounds nice, but then again you never know until you get there. 

We found a back road into Bowling Green and once there stopped and had breakfast (we are finally learning not to grocery shop when hungry).  Went to the plaza and hit the dollar store and only found one or 2 items on my list and then off to Food Lion.  We did our grocery shopping and then headed back to camp, stopping at a butcher shop on the way to get some nice looking steaks, chops and some lunch meat.  While there Brad headed over and got this picture.....it is just soooooo wrong.

The sign says 'Countryside Childrens Daycare Center'.  But there are no buildings, just the fenced in yard.  We both had to laugh at this one.

We got back and threw in more laundry then went for a walk around this field, with these cement pads in them.  I headed back to swap laundry and Brad kept going away from camp.  We met back at camp and Brad was telling me that about 1000 reservists will be coming in on Tuesday and in that field area their tents will be set up.  He was talking with the camp host and this base is now mainly used as a training facility now for all branches of the service and most government agencies.  Pretty interesting!  Almost wish we were going to be here on Tuesday to see the 1000 people move in.   

We had left over pizza for dinner and talked with a couple of the neighbors and did nothing to get ready for our move tomorrow.  Oh well tomorrow is another day.  We will keep you posted on our next adventure.

Diane and Brad

Fort A.P. Hill, Va.

The weather finally cleared up about 4:00 Wednesday night, to late to leave, but early enough to do a couple of laps and meet anybody else that came out for a view of the clearing sky.

Fort A. P. Hill

Thursday - We got up and left about 10:00 and headed up US 301 (to Fort A.P.Hill, VA) ...we had planned to go 301 the whole way, but that made the arrival time 4:45.....no way.  We headed out to 95 and stayed on that until just above Richmond, then we picked up 301 again, got here and were set up by 3:30.  We headed out to explore the base, drove an hour and found out there is nothing....nothing here.

We checked in at the "Game Check Station",  after hour check in is at 'Tucker"s Taveren',  that pretty much says it all.   Now, I remember Paul not liking AP Hill but our camp site is nice and we are here until at least Sunday then off to........????????

Bowling Green, VA

We headed out this morning to Bowling Green and had breakfast at the Main Street Cafe.   The food was good and it really was just like a small town restaurant (which it is).  It had the locals table, where  one by one they came and went, and then people like us, who just wondered in off the street.  We walked though town and read a bunch of the historical plaques.  The old Court House and Prison were close by, but it all seems to be deteriorating (kind of a shame).

We drove to an RV dealer and looked at a bunch of RV's then from there drove to Port Royal, VA.  We decided to stop and have a drink at a 'Buster's Place' (on the map from Fort A.P. Hill)   We drove through Port Royal twice and couldn't find it so we stopped at the River Haven and asked. Turns out Buster's closed in December and reopened as River Haven in Jan.  We had one drink, a micro brew recommended by the bar barkeep($12) and left, maybe we'll go back for dinner tomorrow.  They are calling for bad storms and there are tornado warnings in the area, back to camp to make sure nothing will blow away.

Now it is Friday evening...
'Here we sit with the ground shaking beneath our feet, while the sky above rumbles!!',   pretty bad storms rolling around, but at least the tornadoes have steered clear.  We had dinner and want to walk, but the rain drops just keep falling.  Tomorrow is to be nice, so we'll let you know what we decide to do.

Diane and Brad