Jul 17, 2012 - ARRL Summer Board Meeting

Leaving on a jet plane we are heading for Hartford, CT for Tom to attend the ARRL the National Association for Amateur Radio. This is their Summer Board Meeting. Tom is the Vice Director for the Atlantic Division which covers, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Western and Northern New York. While there Debbie did some touring with Kathi Edgar (Bill Edgar's wife). Bill is the Director for the Atlantic Division. We attempted to go on a boat ride on the Connecticut River but the driving directions were so bad we missed the boat by about 15...

Jul 5, 2011 - Gillette Castle State Park

One of the reason Tom and I are fulltiming is there are so many things we have wanted to see and just wouldn't have the time any other way to see them. We have known about the attraction or whatever for years and visit a certain area so we can see that attraction. For example we came to Connecticut so we could visit Mystic Seaport....been on our bucket list for 20 plus years. But often time it is the "found" attraction, the one you knew nothing about when you arrived, that you enjoy the most. Such is the case of Gillette Castle. ...

Jul 5, 2011 - Mark Twain's Home

Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July. The RV Park had fireworks on Saturday night which we enjoyed. The rest of the weekend we just took it easy and let the vacationers and weekenders enjoy themselves. I think the only thing we actually did was go to the "Frosty Treat" for an ice cream cone. Yum it was so good. Last Tuesday we headed out to Hartford, the capital of Connecticut to visit the Mark Twain House. Twain and his family lived in Hartford from 1874 to 1891. The house is Victorian Gothic. While living here Twain wrote "The...

Jan 6, 2011 - Getting Ready to Go Exploring!

After cruising South America for 65 days in 2010 we promised ourselves to cut down on the number of suitcases that we would pack - no more than 2 each plus our carryons. Most of the cruise should see warm weather (expectation is 80s) in Hawaii, French Polynesia, New Zealand, and Australia. However, San Francisco and Beijing should be much cooler with temps in the 50's and 60's. Which means we need a lot of stuff! A separate duffle bag will house the shoes, drugs, and toiletries we will need for the 75 days we will be away from home. And the...

Jul 13, 2010 - Hartford, Capital of Connecticut

A nice, long hike did not turn out to be in the plan for today after all. We decided sometime last evening to drive over to Hartford to tour the capitol building. It’s been on our “to do” list since we got here. I’m not sure why we decided to ditch the hike and go touring instead. Maybe we just needed to do something different today. Maybe we just wanted to take advantage of the easy maneuverability of a small car while we had the opportunity. Our primary goal was the capitol, but within a mile were the homes of Harriet Beecher Stowe and...

Jun 21, 2010 - Mark Twain House and Museum...Hartford, CT

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Adventures of Huck Finn”, and many more, among them the well-known short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Who’s the author of these masterpieces of American Literature? If you said Mark Twain, you are right and if you said Samuel Clemens, you are also right. Today, we went to see the “Mark Twain House and Museum”. It is one of the original homes of this beloved author, celebrated humorist, lecturer, social critic and entrepreneur of his time. He adopted the pen name, Mark Twain...

Oct 10, 2009 - Hartford, CT - The Mark Twain House & Museum

(Ron Writing) This afternoon we toured The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, CT. Samuel Clemens (his real name) built a beautiful home in Hartford soon after marrying Olivia Langdon. It is a large beautiful home right next door to the mansion owned by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was at this home where he wrote most of his most famous books and where he and Olivia had four children. We had two guided tours; the first one took us through most of the living quarters of the home and the second took us through the portion of the house where...

Apr 20, 2009 - Our New Boat and The Begining

This is our new Dream. It is presently sitting in Andrews backyard and in June we will drive to Hartford Connecticut and launch it. We hope to do the Oswego, Champlain, and Erie Canals. Also do some of the finger lakes in southern New York. Other commitments are keeping us from starting today, but time will go by fast....

Sep 24, 2008 - Day 32

Steve had gone off to move the car closer to the capitol and Frances had gone looking for a Connecticut postcard, I was waiting by myself in front of the capitol building in Hartford, Connecticut with all of our props gathered around me. We were pushed for time so I it was suggested that I begin reading my portion of the proclamation and by the time the others got back I should be finished or close to it with the Jeremiah portion. As I was reading - out loud - the two chapters of Jeremiah I couldn't help but notice the people going by. Some...

Jul 24, 2008 - Hartford, CT

Thursday we woke to a torrential downpour which had been coming down most of the night. So bad were the storms that our electricity had gone out while we were sleeping. We were supposed to take our camper to an RV repair place to get our water heater fixed this morning, but the rain had slowed us down until the RV repair guy actually called us to find out if we were still coming. Thankfully the rain slowed enough for us to get the camper hooked up without getting too soaked. An hour later and we learned that the cause of our hot water...

May 7, 2007 - Getting Ready!

Wow - can't believe we will be on the road in less than 2 weeks! Lots to do and think about between now and then. Kevin has been working on the RV, Brenda has been organizing things and Shadow .... well, he's just ready to go. Our dreamtrip awaits. Can't wait!

Oct 28, 2006 - Driving in the rain

Heute hat uns das erste Mal das Wetter einen dicken Strich durch die Rechnung gemacht. Als wir losfuhren um zum Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire zu gelangen, regnete es nur. Als wir dann aber angekommen sind, lohnte es sich nicht mal auszusteigen... Orkanartige Böen bis zu 80 Stundenkilometer und dazu passender Regen erwarteten uns und machten die Wanderung die wir machen wollten ziemlich unrealistisch. Also trösteten wir uns mit Outlet - Shopping und der Weiterfahrt Richtung Philadelphia welches wir kurzfristig auf unsere Liste...