Day 7 Black Bear CG/NY

Today was a rest day….I did a little cleaning of the RV; Ronnie did a little maintenance.  He cooked breakfast this morning (eggs, bacon, toast) and set off the smoke alarm…lol.  But it was great. 

 

I worked on the blog from yesterday….took FOREVER to get the pictures downloaded.  Verizon service is slow here; and their WIFI is slow, although it says the signal  is excellent. But finally got it done.

 

 We are at the very back on the upper level of the park.  The park is big but nice and quiet, but  kinda rustic…Out of 9 sites in this section lined up here backed up to the woods, they have crammed three RV’s in 3 side by side instead of spreading us out for privacy.  But it’s not too bad.  Wooded all behind us. (a 4^th just came in beside us)  Go figure.

 

We had to get more propane and diesel, so we went down to the little village of Florida.  It’s a beautiful day.  After the storms, like back home, the temps have got a hint of fall.  We slept with the windows open last night…a long time.  Got up at 8:30 a.m.  It was 70 degrees today and is supposed to be down in the high 40’s tonight.  Love it. 

 

The rest of the day we spent with the windows open enjoying the fresh air/sunshine and read.  And worked on the route for tomorrow.

 

I made reservations for Bar Harbor, ME and talked to the young man who worked at the resort reservation center that I called.  As we chatted, he commented on the weather where he was (raining) and I told him we were about an hour north of NYC and the weather was beautiful.  He said that he was from NYC ( Lower East Side).  When I told him we were just there yesterday to see the WTC, he said he had lived 5-6 blocks from the WTC and worked for a company who did carpentry work and had a contract with the WTC.  He and his co-workers always met in the lower level and ate breakfast together, then went upstairs to work.  That morning, he was late for work and called his supervisor and told him.  They all waited on him.  As he walked to work, listening to  his music through his ear buds, he said he heard this great roar that was louder than his music.  He looked up and saw the plane hit the tower.  His emotions were unbelief, chaos…He said he felt blessed because he was late and he felt he saved the lives of his co-workers (I agreed with him and told him God had His hands on him that morning).  He said one of his managers worked in the upper floors of the building and didn’t make it out but did have time to make one phone call to his family…told his mom he loved her.  So sad…It was so interesting talking to him and listening to his first-hand account of that horrible day.  He saw it all.  And as he talked to me about it, he said it still made chills up his spine to talk about it.   He now lives in Florida. 

 

Defrosted the last of the gumbo for tonight…Good again over brown rice.

 

Tomorrow we take I 84 East then up through Connecticut to Saco, Maine….will visit the Kennebunkport area where the Bush’s have one of their homes.

 

Day 6 NYC

 

 

Oh my…what a day.  Enjoyed a long visit to NYC and the neatest part was finding that our nephew, Brian Boyer, a FEDEX pilot from Collierville, TN was on a 2 day layover there.  We met up and, as he’s been there a few times, was a huge help in getting us to all the places we wanted to see…..I think we wore him out.

 

Inside the commuter train

We left the RV at 7:20 a.m.  (early for us) and drove about 20 minutes to the Harriman, NY commuter train station which left at 8:25.  It was about a 50 minute ride and was very relaxing and enjoyable.  Hard to believe we were that close to NYC and we went thru woods/rock cliffs/streams.  We went through several small towns and stopped for others.  The train was never crowded at all.  We stopped at the Seacaucus NJ Transfer station and had to change trains into Penn Station.  Now that train was full.  Many other trains from all over the area had connected there and now all those folks wanted to go into NYC.  We had to stand up on that train, but it was less than a 10 minute ride.

 

THEN, we got to Penn Station.  Huge underground station where the NJ Transit trains, the PATH trains, the Long Island trains and all the subway trains meet.  It’s located under several big buildings (including Madison Square Garden).  It was a monster to find your way around.

 

Freedom Tower

Our plan was to get off the train and then get on the subway and go straight to Lower Manhattan to the World Trade Center.  After looking at dozens of signs to dozens of trains, subways, and walking down stairs, through corridors, upstairs, we found the E Train to the WTC.  Whew.  The plan worked.  But I was beginning to feel like a mole.  We got on the subway and rode for about 10 minutes, got off, walked up to street level and there it was.  The Freedom Tower….just right there!  Beautiful.  It took your breath away to stand there in awe of all that happened there.  They are building  5 towers and are in various stages of completion, but Freedom Tower is just something to see.  The entire area is fenced because of all the massive construction going on so we weren’t able to see much on the ground.  The memorial now requires tickets and they were booked up until December, so we didn’t get to see that.  When they get finished with it all, I’m sure it will all be more accessible to the public.  We walked for several blocks around it  while we waited on Brian to meet us there.

 

Services inside St. Paul's 9/9/12

St. Paul’s Chapel is immediately across the street from the WTC.    They were having church services there, so we went inside for a bit.  It was a very interesting and very informal service.  There were people from all over the US and Great Britain.  One couple was mentioned (I think their name was Clark) by the Priest as having come to the church fairly often and we saw later that they were the parents of a young man killed in the towers.

 

St. Paul’s was used extensively for rest and support for the workers of 9/11 recovery.  It was a haven for them.  There were many memorials around the perimeter of the sanctuary….pictures, a cot like they brought in for the workers to rest on instead of the pews, some of the boots/jackets that the firemen wore.  Then there were pictures….of the dead, missing….just like what we saw on TV of the huge wall of photos when so many were looking for their missing loved ones.  I am assuming that these particular pictures are of people who have St Paul connections.

 

The Chapel is so full of history…George Washington prayed there.  We saw pictures of the cemetery at the back of the church (which is the side that is across the street from the WTC) after the towers fell and was a foot deep in ash and debris.  There were sculptures that were made from some of the steel from the towers.   It was almost overwhelming.  I never expected to see such reminders of it.  I can’t begin to imagine how the people of NY felt that day and days after.  It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years.  They will never forget; nor will anyone who sees these things.  There was a Pre 9/11 Museum on the corner that supposedly contained other mementos from the Towers, but I just couldn’t handle any more.  The Chapel held so much.

 

Ronnie and Brian near WTC

We are watching a Fox News special on that day tonight.  It’s been interesting to see it now that we’ve walked the area.  The people were running down Church Street…right where we walked today.

 

After Brian met us, we walked down to Wall Street, had my picture made by the Bull, saw the NY Stock Exchange.  The Financial District is guarded pretty good.  Police were noticably around and some of the streets have huge barriers preventing cars from driving through.  Thin ribbons of blue sky were visible between the tall tall buildings.  Then we walked back up to the subway and went up to Midtown, exiting at 7^th avenue and 53^rd street right beside the Sheraton Hotel where Brian is staying.

 

It was so different from Lower Manhattan…bustling businesses, cafes, hotels.  Busy, busy.  We looked for a place to eat and sat down at an outside café, looked at the menu and the $22 roast beef sandwich and decided we could do better.  We were expecting high prices in NY, but that was a little over the top.  Walked a few doors down and found a nice deli with flatbread paninis for a lot less...  Including a bottle of water and chips.  Good deal and they were very, very good.  Sat at a bar facing the street and ate while we people watched.

 

Times Square

Then we walked down Broadway looking at the theaters, hotels, people.  Proceeded on to Times Square.  My goodness, it was alive.  Lots of people, lots of colorful signs, stores of every kind.  Saw where the ball drops on NYE every year.  As many people as were there today….can’t imagine being there on NYE. 

 

 Fifth Avenue….had to go into Saks.  Brian found a beautiful sweater for me (Made in Germany), but Ronnie didn’t seem inclined to buy it for me ($1800)….it

was pretty.  LOL. 

 

 

 



Stopped by and went inside St. Patrick’s Cathredral…wow.  So beautiful.  Many, many dignataries have been in there.  Awesome.

 



Fox News

On to Rockefeller Center, found Fox News, NBC News, Jewelry Row (blocks of jewelry stores (mostly diamonds)…amazing.  It was blocks and blocks of walking, seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, smelling the aromas, the diversity of the people….I’d bet 99.9 percent of all we saw were visitors from ALL over. 

Feet and legs were beginning to feel it so we went back to the Sheraton and sat in the bar area with some $5 cokes and visited a bit, up to Brian’s room for a bathroom break, then Ronnie and I took off walking to Penn Station to find our train back “home”.  We elected to walk so we could see more sights but had forgotten we had to walk back through Times Square.  More people, more noises…thick with people, but it was okay.  Everyone was nice, polite and not pushy.

Train from SEC to Harriman NY

Empire State Bldg

We got back to the Penn Station area/Madison Square Gardens and looked to the left and there was the Empire State Building in all its old glory.  Found our train station, bought our tickets and sat to wait for 30-40 minutes on the train back.  None were crowded and it was a pleasant trip back.  Got to Harriman at 7:20 p.m.   Showered, had a BLT and many glasses of lemonade for dinner…almost ready to hit the bed and I’ve already warned that it’s a sleep in day tomorrow!!

 

The only other thing we had on the list was a Staten Island Ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.  But we were warned of long lines on weekends and we only had the one day.  So that means we have to come back.  I’d love to come back, stay a week and see more sights (Central Park, Upper East Side, Brooklyn, a Broadway show, etc)

 

It was a great day.  For two hillbillies from Arkansas, the sights of Manhattan were amazing.  The city is so ALIVE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5 Black Bear CG, Florida NY

Not much to blog about today for sure.  Freeway, Freeway, Freeway.  Some good, some really, really bad.  We left New Stanton after a thunderstorm came earlier in the morning.  It rained lightly on us most of the morning.  But we stayed in front of that line of really, really bad thunderstorms all the afternoon.  It followed us all the way here and hit about 15 minutes after we got everything set up (including the satellite dish on top of the RV)  It got really black, blew and rained really hard.  But then it passed and ESPNU is on and we're waiting on the Razorbacks to play NLU. 

Had pork chops (forgot this was HOG day), broccoli, sauted new potatoes w/Tony's Creole seasoning, tomatoes for dinner.  Laid back in the recliners now.  We are tired from all the driving.  And I just sat there. 

Last night we went over our route again and just couldn't understand where the GPS was taking us...through a bunch of small towns when there was a bypass a block away.  It was a 13 mile toll road and we couldn't find how much the toll would be (with an RV and 4 axles), but we gathered up a lot of dollars and change and chose to go that way.  GPS kept trying to get us to exit but we kept on and paid the $2.45 (!) toll....then realized we had told him:  NO TOLL ROADS, NO FERRIES, etc.  So he was doing his job.  But going that way saved us probably an hour. 

We stopped only for diesel and a lot of it.  Pennsylvania is beautiful, with rolling hills (big ones) and lots of trees.  Porcupine was the road kill of the day, it appears.  The hills were steep, long grades and really sucked the diesel.  The freeways were good, some really good, until we got to the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton area.  Oh my goodness,  we had to slow to nearly 40 mph or slower to keep from bouncing all over...bone jarring.  Ridiculous. 

No pictures tonight.  It's nearly 7 p.m. here and time for the ballgame. 

Tomorrow, we plan a visit to NYC.  We hope we can get there and get back.  We have lots of apps on our phones to help.  LOL.

A

Day 4 New Stanton, PA

Nothing really to blog about today.  We are at the Fox Den Campground in New Stanton, PA...decent...very nice guy running it.  Great WiFi. 

We left Little Farm RV in Rising Sun, IN about 9:20 and got here at 4:00 p.m.  Just stopping for diesel and bathroom break.  (I LOVE having my bathroom right behind me!)  We went north around Cincinnati and I 71 towards Columbus.....the worst road we've ever been on.  I can't believe everything is still attached to the walls ...haven't opened the fridge yet...it may all fall on the floor.  From Columbus, we took I70 .  West Virginia and Pennsylvania roads are a bit better.  Very pretty countryside.  Traffic has been fairly heavy, but no congestion.  Just LOTS of big trucks and unfortunately, we use truck  stops often for gas stops (easy in and easy out) .  These truckers have an annoying habit of filling up their tanks and then pulling up just far enough for the next person to fill up, but not far enough to get by them .  So we had to back up between two other truckers getting gas and get out. 

The only pictures I've taken are of the State border signs...So far, we've gone through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. 

Tomorrow we leave for Black Bear Campground in Florida, NY for three nights.  We will be watching the ballgame Saturday night, visiting NYC on Sunday and then just resting up and looking around the area on Monday...getting off the road for a bit. 

I am including a couple of videos from the Creation Museum that I wasn't able to upload last night...Just more proof of how fun it was. The sound isn't really good ( better with my original video), but you get the idea...the dinosaur is really roaring...with a half eaten animal beneath his feet...

Day 3 Creation Museum

Tug w/10 barges

Today ended better than it started….in the morning we will be leaving Little Farm RV Resort never to return again….lol.  As I mentioned, no one was in the office when we got here Wednesday night so we picked a spot.  There were 8 empty sites altogether on the river side of the park with 15-20 other empty sites along the drive.  We chose 164, sorta in the middle of the 8.  When we stopped to pay this morning for two nights, she informed us that site 164 was already reserved for tonight….we’d have to move.  She put us in 166.  I politely asked her if she couldn’t relocate the people coming in to another site and she said no, they were with others.  Ronnie then requested another site further up the road (with no trees…satellite, you know) She put us in 152…So…we went back (already dressed for the Museum visit) and broke camp as they say and moved up 6 sites.  So, tonight when we are back, there’s someone in site 166 (the one she originally moved us to) but no one in site 164—our original site.  We’ll see….but I think she was just being ornery.  It is a beautiful view of the river with barges going up and down it all day and all night, so I won’t complain too much.  Enough of that.

 

The Creation Museum

 

What can I say?  It was awesome, wonderful, really cool, great, extraordinary should do it.  I highly recommend a visit.  It took you through the Seven ‘C”s in God’s Eternal Plan….Creation, Corruption, Castastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation.  The Museum is on two levels.  There are also many side “venues” with different short movies and musical performances (at least for today’s events) .  Some of the venues are extra $$, but we took advantage of the freebies.  We spent all day in the museum, but there is a huge botanical garden on the grounds, petting zoo, camel rides, ….much to do and see. 

 



Adam and Eve with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden

The graphics in the museum are really, really good.  The characters are so lifelike..they look right at you while they talk or roar, whatever the case may be. The theme throughout, of course, was salvation through Jesus.  But a lot was also directed at the Creationism versus Evolutionism.  Dinosaurs were prominent with the explanations of how they are included with the Creationism view.  They aren’t the pre-historic creatures that are so popular….they were on the ark and lived with humans after the Flood.  The fossils that have been found and labeled millions of years old…..found in the sediment left from the flood….not more than 6000 years old.  Very interesting.  And so easy to believe.  There are lots of replicas of many dinosaurs whose bones have been found.  Kids would love it.  Lots of interaction for them.  I pressed a button on a moniter in front of “Noah” for a question of how all the animals were gathered up and put on the ark and he looked up and said, “Oh, you want to know…..”  and he proceeded to explain to me that God brought the animals to the ark, they didn’t go get them.  “It was hard enough”, he said,”to get them through the door.”

I have videos that I can't seem to get posted....not much of a signal here.  So, I will try again tomorrow night to post them.  They are pretty cool.

 

One of the most interesting things I saw on display in the exhibits was a scroll of the Torah that was confiscated from Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War.  It was the entire story of Noah.

 

As we were leaving, Ken Ham, the Australian who built the Museum (first in Australia then here) happened by and signed autographs and we had our picture taken with him.  He’s going to be building an exact replica of the Ark near the site of the Museum, using the same techniques and methods that Noah and his sons used.  They are starting on it next year.  You can read about it at ArkEncounter.com.   

 

 Noah’s Café is a great place to eat..reasonable prices..and an outdoor patio overlooking the pond/gardens.  At the end of the day, we could text them and they would text us back with a coupon for a free drink.

 

This was great.  I encourage everyone to consider visiting it in the future.  And plan to spend the entire day.

 

We leave tomorrow towards the East.  I think our destination is somewhere in Pennsylvania. 

 

 



I 64 Indiana

Ok…not a good day.  At all.  Started off with rain, which wouldn’t be so bad, but we were trying to get things unhooked, etc.  Ronnie got pretty wet.  It was about 10 a.m. before we got on the road.  I 64 East to Louisville was a good interstate…at least the Illinois part.  Great road, in fact.  Indiana was not so good, but okay.  Pretty countryside. 

 

Now comes the stress which lasted for most of the afternoon.  We chose to go off the interstate and follow a Scenic Byway along the Ohio River.  Would lead right to our destination.  And I thought our GPS had the route on it.  But it ended up taking us along another scenic route (not along the river, but through the center of the state).  Okay, not really a problem until the rain, thunderstorms came through and the road became a corkscrew of narrow country roads up and down hills.  It was very stressful (and we’ve pulled this RV in some pretty tight situations and up through the Rocky Mountains).  The heavy rain made the limbs, already hanging over the road, dangerously low (visions of replacing the roof again)  Finally found another road to meander on to get to a decent highway.  Still raining.  Got to Rising Sun, Indiana and the GPS took us down to the center of the town to a mobile home park and said “you have arrived at your destination”….NOT.  Finally found the RV Park…no one was in the office.  They had instructions for sites to take for late arrivals for YESTERDAY……We just took a spot and hope no one throws us out before morning.  That is the simplified version of this afternoon.

 

Now, we got this new GPS this summer.  Only used it once when we went to Branson, so this is really the first test.  It’s a Rand McNalley…made especially for Rvers.  Until he had earned his trust, I kept the atlas in my lap.  He has a decent voice and DOES NOT RECALCULATE!!  When we decide we know best, he nicely tries to get us to do a U-turn, but quietly gives up after 2 or 3 tries.  Then he realizes that he doesn’t know everything and accepts our way.  However, just as we entered Louisville KY and there were 5 Interstates to choose from, he freezes.  Just sits there…nothing.  Thank goodness, I had the paper map in my lap and we knew where we were going.  I stuck a ballpoint pen into his Reset and he jumped into action.  Then, when we ended up in the mobile home park trying to reach an RV park…..ummmm…he’s on borrowed time.    We do have the little Nuvi with us just in case, but she’s limited and she does RECALCULATE.  Except for those two times, it functioned perfectly and we “think” we like him.  But the Atlas stays in my lap. 

 

Just a few pictures today…but will have some tomorrow.  We are backed up to the Ohio River and there are barges going up and down it…makes for a nice Kodak moment…but it was raining when we got here and didn’t take pictures.

 

The Courtyard, Rising Sun, IN

Rising Sun Indiana is the cutest, quaintest town.  I’m sure there’s lots of history and will try to look into it tomorrow.  We went into town to find something to eat and ran upon the Courtyard Inn right on the banks of the river.  It was an old house/inn built in 1827 and has been turned into a restaurant/inn.  After asking a few questions about it, our waitress brought us a scrapbook with pictures and proceeded to give us a little background on this HAUNTED house.  In 2008, the Indiana Paranormal Society did a study there and commented, “there is definitely something going on here.”  Room 12 in the upstairs Inn had the most activity, when noises and voices were recorded.  Our waitress said she’s seen a little girl dressed in white while she was in the restaurant working. And has heard voices in the upstairs.   Made chills up my spine!    We just ate…have no intention of spending the night there. 

 

Tomorrow we go to the Creation Museum….pictures tomorrow night.

 

After months of anticipation and preparation, we have FINALLY left for our vacation.  Destination:  Nova Scotia.  But, who knows if we’ll really get that far.  We plan to enjoy the journey no matter where we end up.  We’ve got our bank loan for the diesel we will be burning through for these next six weeks and are ready!  LOL.

 

It’s been a nice, leisurely day.  We left around 9ish and with one fleeting thought of what have I forgotten, decided it didn’t matter; there was no more room.  Closet and fridge can hold no more.  So, I’m sure Walmart will be in my future.

 

We did mostly two-laners up through Northeast Arkansas on the Rock ‘N Roll Highway. In the 1950’s, clubs and joints along this stretch of highway from Newport to Pocohontas played host to Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Sonny Burgess and Billy Lee Riley.  Bob King’s in Swifton still stands. We’ve actually danced to Sonny Burgess-live and in person-great rock ‘n roll music.  Stopped at the Missouri State line for diesel, lunch, and bathroom break—how efficient is that! 

 

About all we  saw through Arkansas was cropdusters and farmers cutting their fields.  Missouri and Illinois was fairly non-eventful.  The roads were good most of the way, with construction only on I-57 and one-lane of traffic, but not too bad…we were moving. 

 

We got to the Gun Creek Rec Area on Rend Lake near Benton, IL around 3:30 for our overnight.  It’s still hot (91*) so that willl give the A/C time to cool down the RV before bedtime.  It’s a beautiful park with very spacious sites. Drove into town to get diesel so we won’t have to find a place tomorrow while the RV is attached.  Then we took a quick, steamy walk around the park.  Dinner was chicken/sausage gumbo over brown rice.  That stuff is good.  Tonight will be w/o satellite because of so many trees, but we do pick up a lot on the antenna; however, we’ll probably do a movie or read….

 

Tomorrow morning we leave via I 64 towards Louisville then north to Rising Sun, Indiana where we plan to stay for a couple of nights and visit the Creation Museum near Cincinnati.  Have heard good things about it and we’re anxious to see it.   

 

Until then…..