A boring blog tonight, I'm afraid. We left Black Bear CG in NY around 9 this morning and stayed on I 84 nearly all the way. We went through Connecticut, Massachusetts, a portion of New Hampshire and then arrived in Maine. Got to the RV ? park around 3:30.
We chose Silver Springs RV park in Saco, Maine to stop for two nights. It's near Kennebunkport and we wanted to see Bush's home. So we plan to drive down the coast tomorrow. I do not like this place....it's more like a glorified mobile home park. I saw only 3 or 4 sites for people like us; the rest are mobile home/manufactured home or "seasonal" campers. But it will do for our purposes. It is quiet and there is a really nice bicycle trail right next to us that we intend to try out tomorrow.
We stopped somewhere in Massachusetts for diesel and decided to fix a PB&J sandwich. While eating at the table, I noticed a couple parked near us. She was straightening up the trunk of their car and he was lying on the grass...stretching...and relaxing. She took pictures, etc. When we walked out the door, he was walking towards us...my first thought: uh oh...he's out of gas and out of money. But, no, he wanted her to take his picture standing by the RV....with his arm raised out as if it was his. We all laughed and visited with them for a bit. He is from India and she's from "all over" with relatives in Boston.
We went out tonight and grabbed a hamburger (I know, right here in lobster country) but I am so tired, wiped out, I just didn't feel like going inside a restaurant. The roads up here are so bad, they will beat you to death. And we did toll roads all the way and PAID for the beating. Here in Maine, we did get a stretch of pretty good road.
Weather is cool. It's nearly 6 here and getting dark already.
Thursday we will be in Bar Harbor, ME for 4 nights. Looking forward to getting off the roads for a change. Highway noise really gets to me...had to put paper in my ears.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Just a comment
Some have emailed that they have not been able to make a comment on the blog. I've gone to the settings and made some changes that should permit anyone to comment---and you shouldn't need any kind of ID. This is the first time I've used this Blog Site, so am not real familiar with it. So.....somebody try it out...would love to hear your comments. Hopefully, I've made it easier.
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 4th
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
7th avenue and 53rd 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 |
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.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
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
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
Friday, September 7, 2012
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...
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...
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Day 3 Creation Museum
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| 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.
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.
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