Saturday, September 18, and Sunday, September 19, 2010: Back to Dover, Pennsylvania
We have returned to Dover (a whole 40 miles from Lancaster) to get set to leave for Italy. We will leave our trailer in storage at the Gettysburg Farm RV Park while we are gone. For the two days we are here, we did very little. It's football season, of course, which means Saturday and Sunday were spent wearing our our eyeballs. On Monday, we will drop Daisy off at the nearby kennel and move our trailer to the storage lot. Then we will head for the Washington, D.C. area (the Best Western-Battlefield Inn, in Manassas, Virginia) to spend the night before we leave on Tuesday afternoon from the Dulles Airport.
Since I don't anticipate anything memorable happening before we leave, this will be my last entry before rerurning from Italy. Ciao! Arrivedercci!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, through Friday, September 17, 2010: At Lancaster, Pennsylvania:
We had a (mostly) easy 260-mile trip to the center of Amish country, to the Circle M RV park. It's a beautiful park with an unusual circular setup of many of the RV sites. At most sites, you are not next to someone. They may be nearby, but not right next to you. It's very different.
Thursday was spent taking Becky to the airport in Harrisburg to head for her 40th high school reunion in southern California, and buying parts to fix the drain that had some problems on our trip here. (The supporting metal strap broke again and the drain was dragging on the highway---getting rather beat-up in the process.) It will be no big deal to fix, which I will undertake on Friday.
The only things I accomplished on Friday were to fix the drain, replace the broken blade on our bathroom fan, and make reservations at two RV parks for dates after our trip to Italy. Otherwise, I rested and did crossword puzzles. Exhausting. Saturday was the official start of college football. Naturally, I watched four games and did little else. I was taking advantage of Becky's absence---she was not here to care what I was watching. Saturday night, I made a big mistake while eating dinner and had another of my esophagus-jamming experiences. This one required a trip to the local hospital (Lancaster Regional Medical Center) Sunday morning---just like last November. As usual, it took five hours to get the 45 minute procedure done. But I'm not complaining; I love our medical system. It rained all day Sunday so I was able to do little else but recuperate and drink my meals (no alcohol) so my throat would heal from the abuse it took on Sunday---getting the food out. The doctor determined that I had a "Schatzki's Ring" near the bottom of my esophagus that closed it down if too much food got there too quickly (which would always be my fault, of course), and that it could be repaired rather easily---with another trip to the hospital, which I scheduled for Thursday. For that procedure, they put me out (unlike on Sunday when I knew all that was going on), and I did not know or feel a thing during or after the procedure.
And I didn't have to restrict my diet afterward. Hurray! But, I do need to be careful to eat more deliberately nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Becky returned from southern California on Monday, and I picked her up at the Philadelphia airport. It was no fun geting there. Our GPS took me down every country road in Pennsylvania, including those on which the Amish ride in their horse-drawn carts, and even took me down a road that was suddenly closed for repair---requiring a half-hour detour. I had allowed myself a 2 1/2 hour window to make what was supposed to be a 1 1/2 hour trip, and, adding in rush hour traffic, barely got there in time. We returned by a different route that avoided the back roads, and made it easily. We used a map to plan that route.
Wednesday was spent mostly at Costco, stocking up on the wonderful things they offer, including a new living room TV set. The old one was having tube problems and we decided to get a new one while we still had a few days left in one location, in case there were any difficulties installing the new one. (After we return from Italy, we will be heading west in a quick series of sprints between RV parks, staying no more than two days at any park.)
On Wednesday, we all went to see Hershey, Pennsylvania ("The Sweetest Place on Earth"), the home of The Hershey Chocolate Company, of course. It's really an interesting, nice city. It's dominated, of course, by the company, and it seems that almost all civic improvements (of which there are many) were paid for by the company, or by Mr. Hershey personally. There is a wonderful football stadium (with seating for 12,000) that is used by two local high school football teams and for the state championship playoffs and occasionally the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, plus two indoor arenas for field hockey, ice hockey, soccer, etc., a beautiful botanical garden, an amusement park---with two roller coasters
for the free use of (mostly) company employees and their families, and a free K-12 boarding school for 1,800 underprivileged students from all 50 states. The street lights in the main part of Hershey are replicas of Hershey Kisses. It could be too corny, but it's not.
They don't give factory tours any longer, but they have built a replica which they take you through on an entertaining, Disneyland-type ride, and, SURPRISE, a huge store loaded with everything they make. Up the hill from the other "attractions" is the Hotel Hershey, which was built during the Depression. The hotel and its grounds are magnificent by any standard.
It also has beautiful homes, of course.
We finished the Hershey trip with a very nice lunch at Houlihans, a fine local eatery near the factory.
Later in our stay we watched a nearby farmer harvest his corn. The machine is amazing! It picks the ear off the stalk, strips off the husk, cuts off the kernels and deposits them in the top of the machine, shreds the husks, cuts down the stalks, and feeds the corn into a waiting bin---all at once.
We had a (mostly) easy 260-mile trip to the center of Amish country, to the Circle M RV park. It's a beautiful park with an unusual circular setup of many of the RV sites. At most sites, you are not next to someone. They may be nearby, but not right next to you. It's very different.
Thursday was spent taking Becky to the airport in Harrisburg to head for her 40th high school reunion in southern California, and buying parts to fix the drain that had some problems on our trip here. (The supporting metal strap broke again and the drain was dragging on the highway---getting rather beat-up in the process.) It will be no big deal to fix, which I will undertake on Friday.
The only things I accomplished on Friday were to fix the drain, replace the broken blade on our bathroom fan, and make reservations at two RV parks for dates after our trip to Italy. Otherwise, I rested and did crossword puzzles. Exhausting. Saturday was the official start of college football. Naturally, I watched four games and did little else. I was taking advantage of Becky's absence---she was not here to care what I was watching. Saturday night, I made a big mistake while eating dinner and had another of my esophagus-jamming experiences. This one required a trip to the local hospital (Lancaster Regional Medical Center) Sunday morning---just like last November. As usual, it took five hours to get the 45 minute procedure done. But I'm not complaining; I love our medical system. It rained all day Sunday so I was able to do little else but recuperate and drink my meals (no alcohol) so my throat would heal from the abuse it took on Sunday---getting the food out. The doctor determined that I had a "Schatzki's Ring" near the bottom of my esophagus that closed it down if too much food got there too quickly (which would always be my fault, of course), and that it could be repaired rather easily---with another trip to the hospital, which I scheduled for Thursday. For that procedure, they put me out (unlike on Sunday when I knew all that was going on), and I did not know or feel a thing during or after the procedure.
And I didn't have to restrict my diet afterward. Hurray! But, I do need to be careful to eat more deliberately nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Becky returned from southern California on Monday, and I picked her up at the Philadelphia airport. It was no fun geting there. Our GPS took me down every country road in Pennsylvania, including those on which the Amish ride in their horse-drawn carts, and even took me down a road that was suddenly closed for repair---requiring a half-hour detour. I had allowed myself a 2 1/2 hour window to make what was supposed to be a 1 1/2 hour trip, and, adding in rush hour traffic, barely got there in time. We returned by a different route that avoided the back roads, and made it easily. We used a map to plan that route.
Wednesday was spent mostly at Costco, stocking up on the wonderful things they offer, including a new living room TV set. The old one was having tube problems and we decided to get a new one while we still had a few days left in one location, in case there were any difficulties installing the new one. (After we return from Italy, we will be heading west in a quick series of sprints between RV parks, staying no more than two days at any park.)
On Wednesday, we all went to see Hershey, Pennsylvania ("The Sweetest Place on Earth"), the home of The Hershey Chocolate Company, of course. It's really an interesting, nice city. It's dominated, of course, by the company, and it seems that almost all civic improvements (of which there are many) were paid for by the company, or by Mr. Hershey personally. There is a wonderful football stadium (with seating for 12,000) that is used by two local high school football teams and for the state championship playoffs and occasionally the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, plus two indoor arenas for field hockey, ice hockey, soccer, etc., a beautiful botanical garden, an amusement park---with two roller coasters
for the free use of (mostly) company employees and their families, and a free K-12 boarding school for 1,800 underprivileged students from all 50 states. The street lights in the main part of Hershey are replicas of Hershey Kisses. It could be too corny, but it's not.
They don't give factory tours any longer, but they have built a replica which they take you through on an entertaining, Disneyland-type ride, and, SURPRISE, a huge store loaded with everything they make. Up the hill from the other "attractions" is the Hotel Hershey, which was built during the Depression. The hotel and its grounds are magnificent by any standard.
It also has beautiful homes, of course.
We finished the Hershey trip with a very nice lunch at Houlihans, a fine local eatery near the factory.
Later in our stay we watched a nearby farmer harvest his corn. The machine is amazing! It picks the ear off the stalk, strips off the husk, cuts off the kernels and deposits them in the top of the machine, shreds the husks, cuts down the stalks, and feeds the corn into a waiting bin---all at once.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Thursday, September 2, through Tuesday, September 7, 2010: At Accord, New York:
We returned to the Rondout Vallet RV Resort in Accord, New York on Thursday. It was another four-state day: From New Hampshire, through Vermont and Massachusetts and into New York, all in 244 miles. We were in Accord several weeks ago and enjoyed it. We arrived just in time to get the last available full-hookup site. It's Labor Day weekend, of course, and most RV parks are full---for the last hurrah of the summer season. (New Hampshire schools actually re-opened last week.) To celebrate our return, we went back to the Chinese buffet restaurant in Kingston for dinner. Yum.
It's fun to return to a place we've been before. We know where the stores and restaurants are, and we're comfortable with the RV park facilities. At this park, we know we can rig up a pickle ball court easily, and we did. The mobs started arriving on Friday. Arrrrgh! I didn't know there were this many children in the entire world. They seem to drop candy wrappers and other trash everywhere. I talked with a park employee about it and he said the maintenance people are supposed to take care of ir, but with this big a crowd they can't keep up.
We traveled to nearby Rhinebeck, where Chelsea Clinton got married recently. It's a very nice little community. Among other things, it houses the Beekman Arms Inn ("The Oldest Inn In America") where the "swells" who attended the wedding stayed.
It also has a bunch of old, magnificent estates---reflecting the days of opulent wealth.
We had lunch at one of the seventeen restaurants that are located within a block of the town center. The food was good but there were some production problems that resulted in the Wheelers' meals being comped.
On Tuesday, the mobs had abandoned the park to return to real life, and it was grand. We made a field trip to New Paltz, an old town settled by the Huguenots, and the home of a number of historic stone buildings.
We went to New Paltz so the jocks could ride bikes on a rail trail there. I sat it out (because I was simply tired) at a nice nearby Italian restaurant ("La Stazione" is located next to what used to be the railroad tracks) where we eventually had lunch (Isn't retirement fun?). Our waiter ("Rocky" whose real name is Glen) was a lot of fun. Like virtually all southern California waiters, he is an actor (but based in New York City). He was a regular on "The Sopranos" and has appeared in many other shows, as well. Not surprising, he invariably plays a Mafia member.
We returned to the Rondout Vallet RV Resort in Accord, New York on Thursday. It was another four-state day: From New Hampshire, through Vermont and Massachusetts and into New York, all in 244 miles. We were in Accord several weeks ago and enjoyed it. We arrived just in time to get the last available full-hookup site. It's Labor Day weekend, of course, and most RV parks are full---for the last hurrah of the summer season. (New Hampshire schools actually re-opened last week.) To celebrate our return, we went back to the Chinese buffet restaurant in Kingston for dinner. Yum.
It's fun to return to a place we've been before. We know where the stores and restaurants are, and we're comfortable with the RV park facilities. At this park, we know we can rig up a pickle ball court easily, and we did. The mobs started arriving on Friday. Arrrrgh! I didn't know there were this many children in the entire world. They seem to drop candy wrappers and other trash everywhere. I talked with a park employee about it and he said the maintenance people are supposed to take care of ir, but with this big a crowd they can't keep up.
We traveled to nearby Rhinebeck, where Chelsea Clinton got married recently. It's a very nice little community. Among other things, it houses the Beekman Arms Inn ("The Oldest Inn In America") where the "swells" who attended the wedding stayed.
It also has a bunch of old, magnificent estates---reflecting the days of opulent wealth.
We had lunch at one of the seventeen restaurants that are located within a block of the town center. The food was good but there were some production problems that resulted in the Wheelers' meals being comped.
On Tuesday, the mobs had abandoned the park to return to real life, and it was grand. We made a field trip to New Paltz, an old town settled by the Huguenots, and the home of a number of historic stone buildings.
We went to New Paltz so the jocks could ride bikes on a rail trail there. I sat it out (because I was simply tired) at a nice nearby Italian restaurant ("La Stazione" is located next to what used to be the railroad tracks) where we eventually had lunch (Isn't retirement fun?). Our waiter ("Rocky" whose real name is Glen) was a lot of fun. Like virtually all southern California waiters, he is an actor (but based in New York City). He was a regular on "The Sopranos" and has appeared in many other shows, as well. Not surprising, he invariably plays a Mafia member.
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