Imagine sitting in a quiet room and a buzzing starts to sound. You think it is your cell phone hiding under a pile of papers, or, as in my case, perhaps it’s somewhere in the bottomless pit of my handbag. Searching, searching… Find the phone. It is not buzzing. What is that noise? (Insert here, California Girl not used to the sound of FROGS in wetlands!) It truly is a frog. And not just one frog, but many and various kinds. Tree frogs, bullfrogs, any kind of frogs…they are all making noise at the same time! It’s springtime lovin’ season! Ah, the cacophony! It kept me awake the first night we arrived at our current location at the Hartland RV Resort in Gasport, New York. Now I just laugh. They are everywhere and make noise all the time! And my cell phone sits idle (Why does no one call me?). My new number is…Seriously, I don’t hear crickets (they must be dry weather creatures). The bullfrogs singing bass remind me of the song “Bullfrogs and Butterflies”…”We’ve both been born again…” Can you hear me singing it? And the tree frogs sing tenor. It is quite the chorus! There is one right now that sounds like a duck! What a kick!
We have kept on truckin’ our way north with several stops since our last post. We spent a little over a week near Randleman, NC and then headed to Virginia to visit Dave’s maternal aunt and her husband. As life sometimes goes, Dave’s uncle was hospitalized and we went to the hospital the day we arrived. For the following days after that, we visited the relatives in the hospital, just being there, reminiscing, laughing, crying and getting to know one another all over again, for Dave, and for the first time, for me. It truly was a blessed time. We did take some time to go to the Farmer’s market in Roanoke as well as visit the new art museum and a bit of window shopping and gallery gazing thrown in. We were blessed to be present at Dave’s uncle’s passing, as he entered into God’s presence. It was very peaceful. We attended the viewing on Sunday afternoon after attending a wonderful little church where we heard a Holy Spirit breathed message. We left the next day and headed towards our next destination at the Cheatham Naval Weapons Station where we stayed long enough to do some laundry and some much needed grocery shopping. From there, we drove a few hours to Dave’s late wife’s brother’s restaurant in Pokomoke City, MD. We spent the night there in his back parking lot and were treated to some wonderful, delicious food. They have a new chef who does a fabulous job! Thank you, Brian and Toni. You were wonderful hosts! We took a ferry across the Chesapeake Bay to our next stop in Cape May for a New Jersey Heartland Owner’s Rally. This was our RV’s maiden voyage on the sea! Our journey this day was quite interesting. We passed through three states and through several underwater tunnels and over bridges! Intellectually, one knows that the Eastern states are small but until one actually drives through, it is just a blip on the brain. The states are all beautiful. I really enjoyed Cape May. It is a beautiful quaint old town on the Chesapeake Bay. I could have stayed there much longer. I guess I am finding that I really am a “beach girl” after all. I love the ocean and the seashells! Every time we get into a city, Dave, however, can’t wait to get out! Give him the country! We attended a Heartland Owner’s Rally there in Clermont, NJ and had a nice time making new friends, some of whom we will see again at the International Heartland Owner’s Rally in Nashville, TN later in July. We look forward to that. We were concerned that this rally may not even happen due to the flooding they experienced and the damage that was done to the campground as well as to the Grand Ol’ Opry facilities, but we have been assured that they are working overtime and making wonderful progress in cleaning up and repair work so we are excited to get there.
Our next stop was Andrews Air Force Base where we stayed for 17 days. We drove to the Metro station every day and took it in to Washington D.C. where we visited the Naval Memorial, the National Gallery of Art, the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the American Indian Museum, the Holocaust Museum, the various memorials, the National Archives, various Starbucks to refresh ourselves in the heat and general walking and Metro trips one does in our Nation’s capital. The second day we were there we took a Segway tour which gave us an overview that was helpful in deciding where to go when. That was wonderful fun! Dave has now designed his own personal off-road hunting Segway which will cost only $8000 or so. Save your shekels, dear! Maybe you can get them to give you the prototype to test… On Memorial Day, we went to Arlington National Cemetery where we sat in the sweltering heat and heard the Naval Choir sing, which was fabulously good and then listened as Vice President Biden gave a very thoughtful and honoring speech. One evening we went to the Capitol steps and heard the first summer concert of the season by the “President’s Band”, the Marine Corps Band. Wonderful! We have decided that we will come back and spend at least a month as there is so much that we did not see. I found, especially, that I wanted to read everything. We were told, for instance, that the Holocaust Museum would take three days to visit. We spent eight hours there the first day and two hours another day and they had to kick us out. This museum, by the way, is very moving and draining emotionally. But it is beautifully put together. I was in tears when I left. Another museum which is unique is the National Museum of the American Indian. Each tribe is responsible for its own displays and they are wonderful! We were not able to visit everything in that museum, either. We had been told that the food served in the cafeteria there was wonderful so when we met some friends, we ate there with them. The food was unique and good! Just my kind of thing! Yipee! Finally, some food that was not greasy, fried or overcooked!
As we left D.C. and traveled through Pennsylvania, I kept looking for the horse and buggies I have heard and read about. I never did see any, even though we were driving through the countryside. I love the rolling hills and farmland, though. It is beautiful and much of it was very pastoral. Once again, we spent the night in a Wal Mart parking lot. Gotta love it. Also gotta love the Red Box movies they have there. We rented two and watched both that night and early morning! Our next stop was a short day for us so we drove leisurely to the Niagara Hartland RV Resort in Gasport, NY. We had a nice time there listening to the frogs I described in the beginning of this missive. Niagara Falls is amazing and awe-inspiring. We took the “Maid of the Mist” boat tour and got right down into the spray of the Horseshoe and the American Falls. I have pictures of a loon fishing for his dinner right in the middle of the roaring water! Incredible! One evening we drove to the shore of Lake Ontario and I got pictures of a beautiful sunset which I posted on Facebook. One day we visited the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. It is a gorgeous place with nice, easy hikes through swampland and forests. It does, however, have a drawback. It has poison Sumac, which Dave tells me about after the fact. I had to, as they say, go to the little girl’s room on the trail, so I went a short ways off-road to “take care of business” and the next day, I started itching and noticing red splotches all over my body. I have not had anything this severe since I had poison oak in the 7th grade which was so bad it prevented my competing in a speech contest! I look like a “reverse raccoon”. It is all over my neck and face. People give me weird looks but what can you do? I have been itching and scratching for about a week now but it is finally drying up but the redness is still evident.
Back on the road, we headed for my sister-in-law’s brother’s home in Elizabethtown, NY. We are currently parked in George and Sharon Gold’s 4 acre “yard”. We are enjoying our stay. The weather has been rainy at times, with huge thunderheads rolling through. Lake Placid is beautiful. We were surprised at the height of the Olympic jumps they used. Wow! When it is seen on TV it just does not come across as being higher than high! As all of the people we have visited along the way, George and Sharon are wonderful hosts. We have been enjoying Sharon’s storytelling and George’s dry New Jersey/New York humor. We have already posted pictures of our trip this week up to AuSable Chasm. This was formed thousands of years ago by water and earthquakes. As we rode down the river in a raft, we told the guide we hoped we didn’t bring any earthquakes from California with us. He told us they had them every five or so years and that they were due for one. Wouldn’t you know, the next day was the earthquake in Canada which we felt quite distinctly here! As we were leaving after our nice hike and picture taking expedition, the general manager stopped to talk to us. When he found out Dave was retired military, he asked if Dave wanted to put up the flag on the brand new, locally crafted, oak flagpole. I took pictures as Dave was honored to do this. So cool! Tomorrow, if Dave is up early enough, he will go to a Men’s Bible Study group with George. Later, we will visit another local sight and tomorrow evening after Sharon gets off work, we will go to a pizza place that makes my mouth drool when Sharon describes it! Fun times and blessed fellowship and new friendships! Can’t be beat!
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