First week back on the road

We packed back up and left on Thursday the 17th for Hershey. There were 43 other Pleasure Way vans at the rally. We had such a great time seeing old friends and making new ones. It amazed us how many other PW owners have also been to Alaska  in their PW's.We had such fun talking about our trip with the other Alaska goers especially as we all did the trip a little differently and had different adventures. On Friday night about 25 of us drove our vehicles to a restaurant for dinner. What a sight we must have been to the other drivers on the road as we all come parading by one after the other. We saw a lot of heads swiveling in amazement. Funny.

Hershey Campground

4 of the 25 PW's at the restaurant.

We left Hershey on Sunday and drove to Ridgefield, Connecticut to visit old riends of mine from the days when I used to live there. (Past life) It was so nice to see Christine and Phillip again. It had been 6 years. they were so gracious. Christine is a fabulous cook and we both gained weight during the 2  days we spent there. Christine invited 3 of my old friends over for lunch on Monday and  I had a great reunion with them. Ridgefield has changed a lot. I can't believe all the  "Mansions" that have been built there.

Great friends!

Phil and Christine

We left there on Tuesday and drove to New London, CT. We stopped at the U.S.C.G. Academy as Garry wanted to get a few things at the bookstore. Then it was over to Groton, CT where we spent the night last night at the Naval Sub Training Station. We were plugged in at the Marina (Sound familiar Gail?) and had a great view out to the River. The leaves are starting to change up here. The weather is very cool at night but still in the 70's during the day and no rain.

Today we drove to Mystic and spent the day walking the Seaport. How nice it is to be "retired" as it was midweek during the school year and the Seaport was not busy at all. Garry and I saw things we hadn't seen on   our last visits years ago. No crowds or screaming children. Just old folks like us!!!! The Morgan is in drydock and we got to go aboard and see the work of restoring her in progress. We had a great time.

Mystic Seaport

Tonight we are in Newport, RI at the Navy base here. We are going to walk around that town tomorrow. In the afternoon we are going to Michaels  in S. Dartmouth, MA for a few days.  I want to get there before my grandson Alex  gets home on the bus so I can surprise him.

17 September, Hershey, PA

We are beaconing !!!

On the road again!!! We are on the last leg and month of our 6 month journey. We left at 0950 yesterday and headed the short 70 miles to Hershey, PA to attend the Pleasureway RV get together at the show. We have 47 Pleasureways here at the RV park and a lot of fun. We were greeted with rain as we got to the RV show, but it did not dampen our spirits, knowing that we need it badly.

We leave here on Monday, headed north to visit family and friends in New England and to attend the Coast Guard Tug reunion in Rockland the last weekend in September. From there, we will be heading north to Bar Harbor, ME to visit friends, from there home and to take in the fall foliage en route. Stay tuned for hopefully some great photos of fall coverage.

Brief Interlude

Once we left Gales camp we made a long, fast trip back into the states and towards home.  We arrived home without incident and because we had turned the water and gas  off and the house was as hot as an oven we opted to spend the first night with Sarah and her family. We got to her house before the boys were out of school. Sarah drove us first to Jake's school where she got him out of class @ 10 minutes early. When he first came down the hall he didn't see us and asked Sarah why she had come to get him. He then saw Garry and I. He got the most quizzical look on his face and said "Nana??" He couldn't believe we were actually standing there. Then he got the biggest grin and gave us both long hugs and scolded me for being gone too long. Then it was off to pick up Brandan where the same scenario was repeated.
I was so happy to see them. Jake has grown 3 inches I think.  We spent the night there and then got to our house the next morning. It was weird being in so much space again. We couldn't remember where some of the light switches were or how the coffee maker worked. I am trying to overlook thge weed infested, dead garden and lawn.  We off loaded a lot of stuff from the camper as we don't think we will need it for the next leg of our trip.  We had the boys over for a sleep over on Saturday night. Monday we started working on all the items we had on our list - oil change fror the camper, banking issues, registration for ALL our vehicles, etc. We then headed down to see my step mom in Virginia for a few days, We just got back today and the day after tomorrow we leave again for the last planned month of this adventure. 
Our first stop will be in Hershey, PA where we are meeting up with 30+ owners of other PleasureWays for a rally that also coincides with the Hershey RV show. Then on to Massachusetts to see Michael, Karen and the our other 2 grandsons.
We will update this as we go.

Home - Briefly

Gales camp on the lake.

Camp cabin

We had a wonderful and restful time at Gales. It had been 26 years since I had last been to the family camp. I was so pleased that it hadn't been changed much at all. Garry and I felt like WE were at camp albeit an adult one. No counselors blowing whistles at 6 AM! Peace and quiet and darkness at night! Wonderful. I don't know what it is but when Gale and I are together it is like we are indeed 5 years old again. Such laughter and carrying on and this time Garry got dragged into the middle of it all.

Gales' mother was there also. She looks great for 96!

We look GREAT for our age !!! (Which shall remain unspecified!)

I could live on that porch!

"Mom" Siegfried with her girls.



After we left gales we decided to push towards home. We had planned to do some sightseeing but after experiencing the prices in Canada the thought of having a few days at home sounded like a better idea. As it was also the beginning of Labor Day w/e we really pushed. We crossed the border for the 10th and last time at Thousand Islands. We did stop at their Observation Tower and I got some nice pictures.

Arrived home Friday afternoon and went over to Sarah's. We  hadn't turn on the A/C and the house was HOT and we didn't have any  food in the house so we are spending the night with them. Sarah took us to pick up the boys at their schools. Both of them came out of their classrooms and when they saw us they questioned "Nana??" It was as thought they were shocked that I was actually standing there after being away for so long. They both were tugging on me at once wanting to show me different things. I was exhausted when we finally got them into bed that night.

We are now back in the house. We have been away long enough that we can't remember som ethings like where is a certain light switch or the fact that we now have access to a dishwasher.  We are slowly doing much needed yard work. My gardens are a disaster and our lawn is nonexistence as there hasn't been any rain and the temps have been in the 90's - 100 this summer. We are cutting everything back and preparing for the winter.  I haven't even begun to clean the house yet.

We are leaving again for a month on the n15th of September. We still have a Pleasure-Way reunion to attend; a long visit with Michael, Karen and those grandsons; a Coast Guard Tug Reunion in Rockland, Me for Garry and a visit in bar Harbor with some friends. We are hoping to see a nice fall up in Maine. We should be back here again the iddle of October. The end of our trip in the camper. We hit 14,161 miles when we hit our driveway on Friday.