bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We left Cherry Hill at 7:20 and took the beltway to Rt. 5 and went south. I drove the car behind the motor home to play interference for Bob on the beltway.  Bob had the “traffic light mojo”, only stopping one time at Smallwood Drive, the entire trip down Rt. 301 in Maryland. I stopped twice, as I was caught at the 227 light.

We arrived at the Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay at about 10:20. The guard was not in the booth, so we had to wait for her to arrive. Then she sent us to find a site. She would not even give us a map. At least we know this park so it was not an issue. I had asked her which site John and Linda Foote were staying in, and she told me, but without a map it was hard to find the site! We knew where they usually try to stay and found them quickly, then tried to find a site close to them. We found one in the same section, but on the other side. We are backed up to the main road, so it was not a site I would normally have chosen, but we felt lucky to find one, as it was Saturday on the holiday weekend.

We had been afraid that we would have to go to the other side of the park, where it gets really muddy. We were expecting rain all weekend and were afraid we would sink in the mud.

As we were setting up,  friends Joe Boswell and his mother Robin  showed up to welcome us to the park. It was nice seeing them. They have purchased a new 5th wheel, a Cougar by Keystone, which has a separate bedroom for Robin.

We walked over to visit with Linda and John, who we have not seen in two years. After sitting and talking with them, we returned to the motor home for lunch and took a much  needed nap.

At 5 we picked up John and Linda and went in search of crabs in Urbanna. We did not find any, so we came back towards the park and stopped at Anne’s Restaurant on Rt. 17, just past the turn off for TT. The food was very good, the price was nice, and the company was excellent!

We returned to TT, walked the dogs, and went to the TT Family Center Wine and Cheese get-together. We brought our own wine, and the resort served the cheese. We sat with our friends and had a great time talking and catching up

There was a DJ outside for the kids, but they were not playing music we were interested in and it was really hot and muggy, so we went home to bed.

Sunday- We slept in and went to breakfast at a little after 8 at the Family Center. I had pancakes and bacon, Bob had an omelet and sausage. Linda and John joined us for breakfast. Robin and Joe joined us later.

At 12:00 we went to meet with one of the TT representatives to talk with them about upgrading our contract. We listened and then went back to the motor home to think about it. It was a lot less expensive than we thought it was going to be and had more than we thought included.

We spent the evening in the motor home, since there were thunderstorms.

Monday- Happy Labor Day! We ate breakfast and at 10 we went back to meet with Mike as we had decided to upgrade our contract. This means that we have increased the number of TT resorts by adding Outdoor World and the Mid-Atlantic. Plus adding the Encore resorts for a small fee each visit, and upgraded our RPI. In addition, our dues will be frozen as soon as Bob turns 62, so that is a good thing.

LInda called while we were there and they had decided to leave today in stead of tomorrow. So we ran over to say good-bye. Here’s Linda and Bob.

Friends Linda and John:

Friend Barbara Rouse

 

arrived to visit with us as she had missed seeing us at Cherry Hill. She is spending the summer at Harbor View near Colonial Beach, so it was a ride here. We sat talking with Linda, John, and Barb until after 1 PM. Linda and John decided that they were going to stay until Tuesday.

We went with Barb to Urbanna to lunch at the Oyster House Restaurant which was good. Bob had a Ruben, Barb had a BLT and I had a soup and sandwich, BLT and Crab/Shrimp bisque.

We returned to the motor home and sat talking with Barb until she had to leave to get back to Harbor View. We had a great time chatting.

At 6, we went over to Linda and John’s, taking our dinner with us. We shared dinner with each other and talked until almost 9. We said good-bye, hoping we will see them again before another two years!

Tuesday-  I got up and completed an article update. That is number one of five I have to do. We left TT at about 8:30 and drove across Virginia on Rt. 33 to I-64 through Richmond  to I-85 heading south to my old town of Petersburg (where I went to Nursing School).  I have such great memories of Petersburg.

We continued south all day on I-85, stopping for lunch at a truck stop. We called the RV Park we had selected for the evening, Cross Winds, and the kind lady gave us directions. The state is working on I-85 in this area and the exit right outside the campground was closed. So we had to get off at exit 86, instead of 84 and drive the two miles on a country road. The park was worth it though! We had full hook ups, 50 amp with cable, for $17 with our Passport America card. This was a new park.

We set up and it started to rain. There was a break in the rain, so we tried to take the dogs for a walk. Bob had looked at the radar, and there was a break. Too bad the radar was wrong, and on our walk the skies broke, dumping on us. We were all soaked when we returned to the motor home. So we dried off the dogs, had turned on the hydro-hot, and took showers.

We ate a quick dinner of frozen chicken with rice. Watched some TV and went to bed.

Here is a sight that you don’t see every day. A South Carolina peach( a painted water tower)..

Wednesday-  We continued south on I-85. The GPS wanted us to turn onto I-77,  in Charlotte, then take back roads to I-20. We decided to let the GPS recalculate, and take I-85 to I-26 in Spartansburg, to Rt. 72. Then it was back roads to Lake Greenwood State Park. We arrived at the park and there was no one at the gate. So we drove into the campground, unhooked the car from the motor home and went in search of the Camp Host. We found her sitting our in front of her RV. She told us she did not know which sites were reserved, so she sent us to the Park Ranger at the office. Before we went to see the ranger, we rode around the park, looking for sites we wanted. Our first choice was #120, but it was reserved, so we were assigned #119, our third choice. # 118 was our second choice. #116 which had some one in it would have been a second choice, for future reference!

We had not made reservations, as we were staying during the week, after Labor Day. Most of the state and federal parks use Reserve America for their reservations. We have found that to be very expensive, as you do all the work, and they charge a $15 reservation fee. For two nights, it makes the site very expensive, as that is on top of all the other fees. South Carolina is different. The Reserve America fee was $1.26 per night. Next time we will make reservations! Our total cost, with the fee and taxes was $52.40. A bargain. We were staying in a paved, 50 amp site, lake front. What a little slice of heaven this was! This was our view.

We sat our enjoying the lake, reading our books and just enjoying the ducks and the water.

At 4:30 ,we took the dogs and drove to Greenwood to visit friend Sandra Johnston.

As she describes herself, she is a ‘surviving spouse” not a widow. It was so great to see her after about 6 years! We have been friends for years. Sandra and I were Directors of Nursing in PG county at the same time. We had started a DON group, for the DON’s in PG county, to support each other, oh so many years ago. We became friends and visited with her and husband Chuck, many times over the years.

The dogs had a great time. Sandra has a beautiful home, in a gated community, on a nice lake. We let the dogs run in her yard, and they ran off a lot of energy. She fed us an awesome dinner of Frog( something)  Stew. This tasted as good as it looks! We took home leftovers for another meal!

We spent the evening talking and laughing before returning to the motor home at about 9:45.

Thursday-   The view was too nice at the park! At around 9:15 we left to drive into Greenwood. I had made a Chiropractor appointment for 10 AM with , Dr. Chuck Weston, for an adjustment. Sandra described him as a free spirit! He was exactly that! He was a Ron Paul lover and anti-government. An interesting free spirit! He did a good job though, and I have been feeling better. While in Maryland, I just did not have the time to go to a Chiropractor, and have been feeling neck, back, and shoulder pain.

We left there and went to Sandra’s house. I tried to start some laundry, but could not figure out her super computer machines. She had gone to the dentist, so we waited until she arrived home.

We started a load of laundry, and Sandra drove us to her  club house for lunch. What a delightful place. The food was good, and she has to pay a monthly food charge, so this worked out for all of us.

After lunch, we stopped back at the house and moved clothes to the dryer, put in a second load to wash, then went on a tour of Greenwood in Sandra’s new Murano. I miss my Murano!

Sandra has become very involved in the Greenwood community, working with the Ladies Club, the VFW Auxiliary, and as a volunteer in the Genealogy room at the new public library. While volunteering one day, she found a book about the VFW Axillary

While reading this history, she found that the Axillary had given and dedicated a memorial to the Textile Workers and Management in town, exactly twenty-five years ago, on Friday September 7 ( tomorrow).  Since this happened awhile ago, she started working on setting up a re-dedication. First, she had to find the memorial. Turns out it was near another memorial to Veterans in the town square. So she had a lot of people phoning her with last minute details during the day.

After the tour of town, we stopped at MickyD’s for some ice cream. Sandra was unaware that you can get a nice, low fat, low sugar, great tasting ice cream cone for $1 at McDonalds. Learn something every day!

Then we went to Lake Greenwood to show her the motor home and to pick up the dogs.

We returned to her home, where Bob grilled steaks and Sandra served a nice salad and baked potato. Another surviving spouse, Mary, joined us for dinner. She brought her dog, Hank, a mixed breed, golden retriever etc… the dogs became buddies and had a nice time romping. Roxie disappeared on us for a short time, but Bob found her in a neighbors yard.

We talked until after 9, and bid farewell to our friend.

Friday- I woke up a little past 5 and got up at 5:30. On my way to the bathroom I stepped in something. Uh oh! Unusual, as they do whatever in the living room. So I hobbled into the bathroom grabbed a paper towel, and quickly determined it was not a real problem. I finished, and went into the living room to a major issue. Roxie had been violently ill, with vomiting, diarrhea and frank bloody stool.

I immediately woke up Bob, we cleaned up the mess, including using our little hand held carpet cleaner. Bob used that, while I went online to find an emergency 24 hour Vet. Clinic. I found Greenwood Emergency Vet Hospital, so after a quick bowl of cereal, and taking our coffee with us, we headed to Greenwood, about a 1/2 hour ride.

We could not find the vet clinic. But we found another vet office , who opened early for us. The Vet, who was at least in his 70’s if not 80’s said he thought it was a doggy virus, as they had seen quite a lot of this all summer. So he gave Roxie a shot for the nausea and a different shot for the diarrhea. Told us to not feed her until this evening, push fluids, and let her rest. We had to move from our site anyway, so we decided to stick with our plans and drive to Statesboro GA.

So at 10, we left Lake Greenwood and drove east on 720, to to I-20. Just before we were entering I-20, we hit a huge bump. The motor home saw air, as well as the car. We were really shaken up. Fortunately there was a BP station about 1/2 mile down the road. We stopped and looked at everything. We determined that we were okay. Walked the dog and continued on our trip. Unfortunately, something up front had loosed. We did not know what, so while driving down the road, I was trying to determine what it was. The sound was a high pitch squeal, which was as annoying as nails on a chalk board. I finally figured out it was the handicap bar to the right of our door. Pulling on it got rid of the noise and Bob is planning to tighten the screws.

We could not find a place to pull over to eat our lunch. After about an hour of looking, we finally found a wide spot on the side of the road. Not our first choice, but it worked. About an hour later we arrived at Parkwood RV Park in Statesboro GA.

We set up and took a much needed nap. Roxie was glassy eyed due to the meds, but the bloody diarrhea had slowed down, with no more accidents.

At 4:45 we drove over to Bob and Jackie Hoell’s for dinner. Bob and Jackie are professors at Georgia Southern University, here is Statesboro. Statesboro is a college town.  The plan had been to go to Tybee Island for a seafood dinner, but with Roxie so sick, we did not want to leave her.

So the dogs went with us. We were trying to watch Roxie carefully, but she still managed to sneak away and do her business. We were able to get it up and it did not stain the carpet.

We kept her on our laps most of the time we were there, and she continued to sleep off the drugs.

Since we had changed plans, we just ordered pizza. Dr. Bob picked them up on his way home from campus. We had a nice meal, and great company.

We left a little before 9, took the dogs home, and opened our mail. We had items delivered to Bob and Jackie’s home.  More medical bills and EOB( explanation of benefit forms).

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