16,155 miles, 6 months We Are Home!!!!!

We are home ending a 16,155 mile and 6 months on the road in YRMOBIL. It sure feels good to bet back into our bed, take showers and putter around the house. The lawn needs some tender loving care and some trees need trimming, but all is well here. Our last 1000  miles to Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut , New York Delaware, Rhode Island, was one with family, friends and a Goast Guard Tug Reunion in Rockland, Maine.

Above is where Carol and I stayed while in Rockland. Beverly as been a long time friend (since 1962) and we met in Rockland.

Onward to Maine

After our last post we spent 3 days with Michael, Karen and the boys. We had a nice visit and I had  a great time with the boys. Alex and Luke had never spent time with me in the camper. Unfortunately with school, soccer, etc. I wasn't able to take either one on a camping trip but I did have a movie night out in the camperone evening. Alex put all the curatins down, I had a snack for them and we watched a video for an hour and a half. They really seemed to have fun out there with me. watched Alex play soccor on saturday and then we all went into downtown New Bedford  for their  Fishing Fleet openhouse (boat) festival. It was fun walking around and touring all the fishing boats. the boys had a blast.

Garry and I left on Sunday and drove to Taunton, MA where we had lunch with some friends of Garry's. We then continued North and spent Sunday night at a military campground. We were glad to be able to plug in as it POURED rain all night. Beautiful spot right on the Ocean although we had fog so our view was not great. Then it was on to Kennebunkport, Maine.  Toured  the landing boat building school and then went into town to get real New England fried clams for dinner. Delicious!!! Unable to find a place to park so we went to a Walmart for the night. It was at least off teh highway but all the 18 wheeler trucks that came in all night  long woke us up all night long. We remembered why we don't like to stay there. In the morning it was still rainy and foggy as we drove  on to Rockland, Maine where Garry had his Coast Guard tug reunion. We clicked over 15,000  miles when we got into Rockland.

We spent 5  nights visiting with an old girlfriend of Garry's. I had met Beverly several years ago and we have become very good friends also.

Bev and I

I was glad to have her to visit and explore with while Garry was off doing things with his USCG reunion. We had a few days of great weather with a few days of rain and fog. Garry enjoyed the reunion. Friday night was the Big Dinner and Garry put his Coast Guard uniform on again! It fit!!!

I love a man in uniform!

 On Saturday Bev and I toured along the maine coast attending Craft shows, having lunch at a pig roast and ending with a wonderful performance of the Penobscot Bay hand Bell Ringers before she dropped me off to meet Garry for the tug assoc. lobster dinner. On Sunday we left rockland and drove up to bar harbor to visit with some other friends, Kevin and Teresa, and their 2 darling kids. We had a wonderful visit with them and I was able to get a "grandmother fix" as I played with them. They had work and school on Monday so we left and drove through Acadia National Park. The leaves are changing and were pretty but we are sightly early for the full blown vivid leaf colors. We then went back to Rockland for 1 more  night with Bev  so that garry could finally catch up with some other friends he knew who had been under te weather and not up for a visit earlier in the week.

Last  night we stopped by another friend of Garrys in Milford, NH. We had a delightful visit with them. Dick is a retired  Fire Chief and has a beautifully restored fire engine in his garage. His wife barbara is a fabulous quilter who quilts by hand rather than machine. She put me to shame.

Chief Dick and Barbara and the Fire Engine! 

After breakfast with them this morning we headed for Boston/ Quincy, Mass where we toured  the Adams Nation Historic park which is run by the NPS. It has been poring rain all day but we enjoyed the tour. Garry is particularly awed by John Adams. Tonight we will be staying with Michael and his family agian before we  head back to Connecticut tomorrow.

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.

Ontario, Canada - August 29

We are Beaconing again in Canada. Check out where we are!!!


This part of our trip has been very uninteresting and boring. FLAT and lots of wind. We crossed into Minnesota and were able to see Lake Superior. Very blue. We crossed over the Mississippi River again and again found a casino with electric to stay overnight at. This time I lost $ 2.00. I should have gone for dessert again. We were so glad to have electric because it has gotten very hot and we were glad to be plugged in with A/C.
Saturday we pushed on another 350+ miles. We did see 5 Turkeys on the side of the road.  Wildlife again. Lots of lakes and every time we pass one I am still looking for Moose or Bears. At 8:26 AM we crossed into Michigan.  At 2:45 PM we hit 13,000 miles. At 4:15 we crossed the border into Canada again at Sault Sant Marie. Then we went to get gas and it was $ 4.16 / gal as opposed to the $ 2.80/gal  we paid the day before in Wisconsin.  We spent last night in a Community Park in Bruce Mines. Pretty rinky dink and the showers were gross so we didn't even use them.

But today we had a tail wind and made it to Huntsville, Ontario. Tomorrow we are meeting with another friend of mine who I have known since kindergarden at the age of 5. I haven't seen Gale in 6 - 7 years and the last time I was at her family's camp  was 26 years ago. We are only about 30 miles away so we will be there mid morning tomorrow. We plan on staying until Friday when we will head back down to the states.  We also look forward to NOT driving  for 4 days. Hopefully we will have some photos to share  shortly.