May 29, 2013 - Linda (My Blind Friend)

Today I had an enjoyable visit with my friend from where I use to work. Her name is Linda and she is blind. She has a seeing eye dog named Teddy. We had a great lunch of Chinese Food. One of my very favorite flowering plants is the Azaleas. When driving over to Linda's when I made the turn to her street I saw this house with the most beautiful Azaleas in their yard. I said I am going to have to take a picture of that yard before going into Linda's house. Well low and behold my GPS said you have arrived and I was parked right in front of...

May 14, 2013 - Staunton, VA (Blue Ridge)

5/14/13, Tuesday We traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway from Roanoke almost to Staunton, VA. What an awesome trip!! The beauty of the Blue Ridge is just so amazing that it is impossible to describe adequately. You just have to make the trip to experience it to understand. There are turnouts and overlooks all along the way with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. There are limited places to get on and off the parkway so you can leisurely drive (45 mph speed limit, although 35 is better). Because of all our stops, it took...

May 10, 2013 - Roanoke, VA

5/10/13, Sunday. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! We headed into Virginia today. It is quite different than the Carolina's. The forests are very different and it is much more mountainous. Just before Roanoke, we crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway. We are dry camping in the parking lot of Camping World here so we will be here early for our appointment tomorrow for the recall service on our rig. (Some minor hose issue.) Then we will take the Blue Ridge Parkway to the end and on to Washington DC. We are looking forward to the Parkway and have two days to drive...

May 9, 2013 - Charlottesville VA

We started the day under a light sprinkle and gray skies but within a couple hours a strange orange orb popped over the trees in front of a bright azure background. Since we hadn’t seen the pair together in a few days we were a little confused, but we asked around and the locals assured us that it was OK, but to not get too used to it – they say more rain is coming this weekend. We left the bus around 10:15 for the 15 minute trip to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We watched a short movie about the property and strolled through a...

May 8, 2013 - Somewhere in the mountains of Virginia

Rained all night...cable in the campground didn't work....the data signal is so slow you can't internet...rain so heavy the satellite dish won't work...we can't figure out Windows 8 on Pat's new computer...the roof leaked...we couldn't find the "freebie" coupon we had for the campground...we are down to 3 cans of beer and 1 bottle of wine (unless we go outside and open a bay). Pathfinder: GRRRrrrrrrr Pat:GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr The adventure continues. Pictures tomorrow. Pathfinder

May 8, 2013 - Charlottesville VA

Rain, rain, go away…and it finally did about 6:00. Of course, we got home about 6:30 which – for those of you that are good at details – means we spent most of the day in it. We left here about 10:30 and had planned to head to Staunton VA to wander around but on the way we figured that since we were only a couple miles from Shenandoah National Park - and since we try to hit as many national parks as possible - we detoured into the park. While it was a good idea, it turned sour pretty quickly. We stopped at the gate and renewed our Annual...

May 7, 2013 - Charlottesville VA

It was not a pleasant drive across the Commonwealth of Virginia today. Well, part of it was, but the afternoon was not. We left the Rifrafters Campground in Fayetteville just a bit after 9:00 and headed back south on US 19, then east on I-64 till it merged with I-77 which we took into Wytheville VA, then NE on I-81 till we caught back up with I-64 which we took east for a bit to VA 20 and down to our current spot in the woods just SW of Charlottesville VA. We could have made it in a straight shot on I-64 to Charlottesville, but we detoured...

May 7, 2013 - More of the Past

So we are once again on the road. From Appamattox we headed to the shore and Gloucester, VA to see Jamestown and Yorktown. Appamattox was the final battle of the Civil War after which General Lee surrendered to General Grant, and Yorktown was the final battle of the Revolutionary War after which the British surrendered to the Americans. So for now we have put an end to the 2 major wars fought on US soil, which is fine with me. I know that when we get to New England (hopefully this fall) we will see more of the Revolution, but at least we...

May 5, 2013 - Traveling through North Carolina

I didn't feel inclined to get up very early to start traveling again, since I can't see the sun. I had a good breakfast at Denny's and got on the road after 9:30. It rained on and off on I-77 but I did start seeing the change in the trees and felt the rise in elevation as I went along. It was cloudy at the border so I saw the Blue Ridge mountains of the Appalachians and a bit of the valley to the east. I am at a true resort that I am glad is a member of Passport, so that I pay half price and can stay 2 nights. I get cable and wi-fi in the...

May 4, 2013 - Williamsburg- Newport News- Jamestown - Yorktown

We've been at American Heritage RV Park, just outside Williamsburg, VA, since last Tuesday evening. Wednesday we visited Newport News, VA and bought combo tickets to see a variety of Civil War and Revolutionary War era homes. Also visited a Maritime Museum and a nature museum. That took most of the day and part of another. At the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA, one of the exhibits was a group of highly detailed, hand crafted ship models. They were all about three feet long and made to look exactly like their full scale counterpart....

May 4, 2013 - Spring 2013

Bet you thought we had driven the motorhome off a cliff somewhere by now. Not quite, but we have certainly had some ups and downs that did not involve the motorhome. I am going to make short work of the downs as we are both tired of dealing with them and ready to move on. Basically what happened is that the doctor took Buzz off the antiviral medication after his eye surgery. Everything I had read online (and evidently that he had seen also) indicated this was the proper procedure, but it turned out to be absolutely wrong in his case. On...

May 2, 2013 - Revisiting the Land of Jefferson

We started our trip today by heading back toward Danville to stop at the American Armored Foundation Tank Museum that we passed yesterday. It turns out that it is the largest collection of Tank and Cavalry artifacts found anywhere in the world (self-proclaimed). The museum was founded in 1981 by William Gasser on Long Island. In 1999 the contents were moved to the prsent location, a 330,000 sq. ft. former maufacturing plant. The foundation that runs it was certified by the U.S. Government and the Center of Military History to receive...