Visited RoadAbode

Visited RoadAbode - ran her genset & fixed some small stuf - while listening 2 SuperChic(k)

Passing Muster

RoadAbode had a visit with the 'Doctor" - but it was just a checkup. Her State inspection was due (a week past-due actually) and we had to do the new ritual of taking her in. This is a little different than a car inspection, can't take RoadAbode to our favorite garage where our other 'workhorses' are treated (She won't fit in their place, we tried) . Her trip is to a Truck Center - 20 minutes above where RoadAbode is stored. This make the round trip about two hours to get to her, get to Bergey's Truck Center in Franconia - and then back to our domicile in Philly. And you need to be followed so you can be picked up and dropped off..... but at least Bergey's is open 24hours - so drop-off is relatively painless.

The good news is she passed with flying colors - no issues with her mechanical systems - and we also got done a oil/lube/filter to finish winterizing - Hoorarry!!!!

A Bad Day Camping is Still Better Than a Good Day @ Work....

That became our mantra as we took RoadAbode out to Winterize her.
Winterizing is basically draining out all the water from the Freshwater tank and Water Heater, putting Biodegradable Anti-freeze in all the waterlines, and flushing out the Black and Grey Tanks. We also condition the coach (house-part) battery.
It was a little work, but became much easier because we parked in one of the side-lots @ French Creek State Park in Elverson, Pa. Along side the one area was a beautiful playground the girls took advantage of while Amy & I worked on prepping things.
In the basement area of RoadAbode is a special connector that is tied into the fresh water system. We attach a short piece of hose and put this in a bottle of the "pink stuff" Under the bed are special valves that we turn that drain the fresh water tank. We also open the drain plug for the Hot Water Heater, and close the valve so that the water heater is bypassed. Once Both are Drained, we closed the main valve under the bed again, and started the waterpump. As we did this, we opened all the watervalves in RoadAbode one by one and let them run until we saw the pink antifreeze flowing out. We did this for the shower, the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and toilet.
After prepping the freshwater system, we then topped off the battery with distilled water.
Amy made the girls lunch, then they helped by taking out the rugs for a 'beating'.
To finish off our "workday" with RoadAbode, we drove over to the campground @ French Creek and paid $8 to dump our gray and black tanks.

RPC Annual HayRide & Bonfire

Short Little outing with RoadAbode - better than none!
Kimberly and I went after church to pickup RoadAbode, Taking RT 202 on the way, ran into a police roadblock and had to detour. Oh well, was a nice ride in suburbia.... Kimberly & I went to work scouring the special 'forks' Mr. Phy had especially made for bonfire cookouts.
Amy met us with Emily in the van at MerryMead. We setup at the HayRide Bonfire place - which is under powerlines, A few Acres from the Main Farm.
The Girls Helped Clean RoadAbode for a while, Then they played Frisbee and Card games.





















Soon, Some Friends arrived - Emily is here playing with Josh.








The Youth took a while to arrive, but as soon as they got there - they all piled in to the haywagons





























I stayed back to prep the hotdogs and S'mores fixings.
When they came back about and hour later - I was ready for them
The Tractor Driver Set us up a nice bonfire - and we had a great time cooking hotdogs (and eating) making S'mores (and eating)
And finally singing songs of Praise.
It was chilly - but a beautiful Night.
Soon the next group came in from their hayride - and it was time to go.
The ride home was cool too - first time I had RoadAbode on Country Roads - in the dark.

Mingling with the Locals....

Well, not exactly. We walked out to the famers market that is right on Route 30 outside of Country Acres. We bought some fruit, and cider, and checkedout some of their other wares. Thay had some cute lawn ornaments - Think I'll take the one in the middle:









They also had some intertesting haybales too. Had them in the shapes of horses, cows and even crocodiles.
After our walk, Amy and I took showers while the girls lounged around, then we settled down and enjoyed some hot soup, applecider and cookies for dessert. Did nothing really all evening - just watched some TV and looked out at the full moon. Starting to get chilly!

Our Gain Ministry Experience

We drove the "OpaMobile" to the new Gain Warehouse in Mount Joy outside Lancaster and met Sam, Sabrina, Jackie, Pam, Esther, Barb, and Vern. We signed in, and were put on 'Gospel Bracelet Duty' - making the bracelets given out to children that help them remember the Gospel message. The bracelets are explained this way First knot - our birth, black bead - original sin, red heart - Jesus shed His blood for our sins, White - forgiveness of our sins , blue - Holy Spirit, green - Spiritual Growth, yellow - The Gates of
Heaven, the last knot -Our bodily Death.
Other jobs at the warehouse included sorting and packing items like clothing, shoes, medical supplies and equipment, toys, school supplies.

After doing the bracelets for an hour or so - it was lunch time. Amy and I worked thru lunch since we had such a large breakfast. Then there was a special suprise, There was to be a dedication of the building, and one of the speakers was to be Josh McDowell - who has started the ministry some 14 or so years ago.

The speaking went on for an hour or so - with people relating their expereinces as both givers and recieves of aid. We made bracelets for another hour after that - and for us it was time to leave.

Morning @ Country Acres

After starting morning coffee percolating, Amy and I dressed & took a walk. The campground is small, but has farms all along it's one side. It's beautiful blue skies after the Stormy, rainy stuff yesterday.
Here are pictures of our site and view:
The sites on the upper area have 50amp cable - we have 30
Sites are a litte close - but it's pretty quiet - even being close to Route 30. We rustled up the girls, got ourselves going and went to breakfast @ Bob Evans.
After Bob Evans, we headed off to meet the RPC Youth at the Gain Warehouse.

Wonderful Rainy Weekend Away....

Sometimes its just nice to be in another environment, even if the weather is not the greatest. Left work early - 2pm - and drove to RoadAbode. Amy and the girls arrived with our weekend "stuff" loaded into RoadAbode with some basic comfort foods, and got on the road by 3:30pm. Traffic was heavy, and we got to our campsite by 6pm.
We are nestled in at Country Acres, located on Route 30 outside of Lancaster. We did things a little different this time - I drove Roadabode with Kimberly and Amy followed in the Honda with Emily. It's nice having a car to 'tool' around town in. We went out for Friday Night Pizza, and then drove to Rockvale Outlets to take a walk , pickup socks for Kimberly, and a little dessert, and just window shop.
Country Acres has free WiFi - but it is not secure (Wep) so I am having difficulty connecting thru the VPN. Able to connect and check mail via outlook Web access at least.
tomorrow we plan on meeting the RPC Youth @ Gain/Project Carelift late morning, helping out, and then heading back to relax at the campground. Maybe I'll be able to post some pics tomorrow too.

What the Girls were doing...

While Amy & I were learning, so were the girls - learning different ways to have fun that is!
Granny was along for the ride - and was a big help by just "being there" for the girls. Was an ease on our minds that the girls were occupied while we wee at the seminars.
Below are a few pics I took with the new Sony Ericsson z500a we just got.

Emily and Kimberly went to the maskmaking craft time

Granny brought beads craft for them to do next to RoadAbode. You can also see the Pumpkins they Decorated.

And Emily was the first to dive into the pool - she said the water was great!
We were homeward bound by Noon (After the free Pancake Breakfast of Course!) and Got RoadAbode to her Lair safely with no incidents. I'm currently writing this while sitting down at Opa's House doing the "NightWatch"

Learning at the RV Rally

Went to 3 seminars done by Hitcharama-were really imformative! Amy got 2 practice sealing a rip in a RV roof.

(Online Edit - Sunday@ Home) The Seminars were Electrical Systems, New Products, and Roof and roof repair. The First and last were well done - Amy actually was inpressed two ways - one - how much I had told her in the past that was correct, and how much she came away with when explained in a different manner.

The New Products was not as informative - geared toward Travel Trailers - but did have some good info on solar/electrical stuff.

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Quick fix for a chillly Issue

Waterheater is not on this chilly morning at Holly Shores
Went outside, heard slight clicking, pulled fuse, pushed back in, heater started right up! Furnace has been fine.

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Morning @ HollyShores

Morning @ HollyShores - forgot the powersupply 4 the laptop (doh!) - Last night got the important stuf checked @ work. Now Posting by cell. Temp is only 55f!

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Our First Rally

After a busy, busy day - doing everything from fixing a toilet to swapping tapes on a server, to getting Opa settled at home from the hospital, we finally got to HollyShores Campground - where Hitcharama is holding their annual Customer Appreciation Rally. Arrive @ 8:30PM - Nothing like setting up in the dark. Having a hard time leveling - since we are parked on sand.
No campfires because it's too dry - so no big group bonfire tonight. :-(
HollyShores does have LinkSpot and since we are "close to the Action" I have a pretty good Signal! :-)
Tried Posting with the new cameraphone - can post text - but can't post with mms (pictures).
We'll see what tomorrow brings.

First Annual Bike Trek

We Did the First Annual BikeTrek for RPC Youth after church today.
We had only a handful - but it was a good test for a first time out. We dropped of the youth @ the Conchy Train Staion - Kevin drove the church van with some in it - and pulled the trailer full of bikes. Diane was the 'female liason" to ride with the girls. We had a few in RoadAbode and Dropped them off - then headed to Betzwood Park and waited for them to arrive. Kevin estimated it would take 1 to maybe 2 hours for them to show. We no sooner setup camp at the Park when the first two raced in - Sam and Mindy
We got them watered and snacked and started the grill for the hotdogs.

Eventually, everyone showed in about 90 minutes.
We ate, had some time for prayer, and then they headed back - and so did we.

Ice-Cream, Ponies, and the Pool DO Mix....

Yep - for the past few days - the hardest decision is what flavor ice-cream you want to eat. Emily goes for an old favorite- soft serve swirl (chocolate and vanilla) but is "test-driving " regular and pretzel cones. Jury is out on which she likes best.
Kimberly is trying the weird flavors, with names like moose tracks. Hey, it's ice-cream, how bad can it be?
Amy is staying conservative too - with a changeup of milk-shakes.
Me - I'm torn between "vacation mode" and watching my weight, so I go with the soft Serve "kiddie cones" - they are really big enough for me.
Here's some pix of the girls enjoying some cold delights

Yesterday the big event (Next to the Ice-cream Stand) was the pony rides. Kimberly was not interested, but Emiy took 3 Rides. Even stood in line by herself!
Right now we are all by the pool (as I type this!)
It's a little cool for Amy and I, so the girls are playing together in the water, while Amy reads, and I edit pictures and write.

Sunday Morning

Just Getting Ready - Leaving Seashore Campsites
Last night we went to the Gospel Sing - was great, but we left early (9:30pm)
This morning getting Ready to go to church service.
Granny would love the down-home, "twangy" feel to the singers both last night & today - we got her a CD "The Cash Family Singers" who led worship music today.

Also Ran into Brenda Anglin - was camping here with friends - small world we live in.
We are truly thankful for the RoadAbode & the experiences God has given us this long weekend.

Playing at SeaShore Campsites

Kimberly Emily Amy & I have had a great time checking out the pool and Playgrounds. Here's a pick of Emily "Hanging Out" at the Poolside Playground.
Had problems adding to the previous Post - But worked fine when creating this new one.
This morning Amy, Emiy and I checked out the flea market at the Pavillion, we bought a Cape May Shirt for Kimberly and raffle tickets. The raffle is for the Relief Effort after Hurricane Katrina

Laid Back at Seashore Campsites

The day started off with me having to access the network, answer some emails and walk someone thru logging onto one of our new scheduling servers - no biggie.
We went on an 'explore' of the campground, and walked to the swimming lake and lake playground. The day was pretty laidback with swimming - in the pool, mini-golf, and ice cream - and an afternoon nap for me.
Everyone has their own way of relaxing - the picture below is of Kimberly cross-stitching, her latest hobby. Emily enjoyes reading in her bunk, and Amy is planning our upcoming adventures

Below is RoadAbode in her home for the next few days, Cardinal Row, Site 8

As I write this , the girls are on the nightly haywagon ride around the campground.

On the Way to Cape May.....

We are currently at SeaShore Campsites in Cape May New Jersey. Nice, Clean Quiet campground (at least until the weekenders start coming) and I'm posting this Signed on to LinkSpot. First time I've paid for the service - and a bit pricey, ($6 a day) but I'm using it to check Servers @ Work. Sites are on the Small side, But the hookups and site itself are very clean - and look like it was recently upgraded. pool is great, they have a snack bar and camp store - and staff have been very friendly

FrontierTown & Friends - Perfect Together!

Went to FrontierTown in OC Maryland. What an Awesome Campground! It was even more special because we were joined by "Uncle" Kevin & "Aunt" Leeann.
The campground was easy to get to, we never even got near to being lost. Everything was clean and tidy, and they had a great campstore - stocked with everything you could need.
The campground is situated right on the bay, so it was another treat to watch the boats and people crabbing off the pier. Next year maybe we'll try it ourselves! There was a luau party Sat. Night, and both girls won out over the other kids on the hula-hoop contest!
Frontiertown has a great added attraction as a campground - a waterpark out front. I really enjoyed the lazy river, just floating around and enjoying time with family and friends.
We only hit OC for half a day, and really that was to go to dinner @ Seacrets What a great restaurant! Food was great, with a Jamacian Theme. You really felt like you were in the carribean! We took the two pictures there.
Definetly worth another Trip!
(Oh - and Kev and Leeann are expecting too!!!)

When Duty Calls - missing all the Fun....

The biggest camping trip of the year - and I have to miss it! Amy plans the RPC Family Camping trip each year, and as time went on it fell on the Hardware Week Rollout for ImageRight @ work. I had to be at work, so I missed out on this one. Here's what I heard about (I'm a little jealous)
This was the biggest year - over 30 people went camping. This years locale was closer than previous years. Took most people 1 hour (or less) to get to Lake-in-Woods Campground in Lancaster.
This campground has a great pool (part indoor/outdoor) nice sites and we got a pavillion to use. Thankfully, Jack McDavid volunteered as cook again. From what I heard, he loved the pavillion setup with stainless steel sheves and sink for us to use - Oh - and water! Not like the group camping area from last year at Ricketts Glen.
There was a great area to play volleyball, and golf carts to rent. They had daily morning and evening Devotionals, and crafts to make.




Amy did great (as usual) with setting up RoadAbode. Leveling, getting connected with electrtric, water and sewer, and getting the LP gas set.
A few people asked her about setup and using the Stinky slinky, and she answered them all like the expert she has become.
Granny was the copilot, and sleepover guests included Miss Theresa and Miss Lizzy.
On the way home some stopped at Shady Maple! Now I'm really Jealous!!!

Thousand Trails - If it sounds too good to be true.....

We were invited to a free weekend to check out the grounds at Thousand Trails in Hershey PA. Thousand Trails is a 'camping club' that spans across the country. Most are located on the West coast, but we grew interested because there were ones on the Chesapeake, New York, and other areas around us. We decided to take the bait and check it out.
Oh - did I mention we also had to sit through a 90 min sales presentation? We found the "Preserve" (That's what they call their campgrounds) pretty easy, and then we stopped at the gate and waited for our escort. He sized up our "rig" (RVer term for RoadAbode) and found us a open spot near the clubhouse, 'lake' and pool. He handed Amy some papers - about the activities, rules, and our expected time for the presentation, and then left us alone. Looking around, we thought, "Not bad, on par with a nicer state park" We started the procedure to level and hook up. Noticed that the fire ring was full of half burnt wood - and trash. Hmmm. No fire tonight.
Girls wanted to check out the pool and lake and clubhouse and mini-golf and paddle boats and... Well, you get the picture. So we did the essentials to set up and started exploring.
First impression? Man, is there a lot of "goose goo" around here or what?! Everywhere around the lake and pool there's turd of goose piles.
Amy decides to take Emily on a paddleboat while Kimberly & I decide to drop a line in.
It took Amy 20 minutes to clean out the swamped paddleboat (Emily thought it was fun). Kimberly & I fished off a peninsula covered in Goose Goo, - but we did catch 3 fish!
The water had tons of algae and duckweed growing in it though.
Did we have fun? Yes the weekend was a good time to be with family.
The presentation - $9000 dollars buys you the ability to camp in all their parks, plus others for half price, plus bargains in their vacation club (all your friends and family can use it too) plus it's for a lifetime.

But what if all the places look like this one, covered in goose goo? Think we'll pass.

Washington DC - One Hot Town....

Washington DC is hot for many reasons - For us it was REALLY hot - and it's a great place to visit.
We stayed at Cherry Hill Park, in College Park Md. This is THE place to stay if you want to see DC and come by Motorhome, Fifth-wheel, Travel-trailer, or any other type camper. The campground is nice, A well equiped camp store, landscaped nicely, 2 good sized pools, and a small cafe - with really good food!
This is not a 'great' camping experience in the woods somewhere. Rather, it's a great place to park your RV, get to DC convienently, and have some not-to-shabby ammenites to come back to and relax after a day of sightseeing.
It is convienent to get to Washington D.C. A Metro bus stop is right by the office, and it takes you to the Metro subway. Now some of you may say, "Eewww - a SubWay..." but the Washington Metro is like no other underground you have rode on. Clean and secure, it is a great way to get around DC on the cheap. The ride from Cherry Hill, transfers to CollegePark Metro, and into DC takes about 40 minutes. We took the time to get to know a few other RVers, and talk (or brag) about our favorite places to go.

We have been to DC before, so this time we wanted to see specific monuments. First stop was the Jefferson Memorial. We took time to read the inscriptions within the memorial. Anyone who trys to point to Sepparation of Church and State, had better first read the writings of this Giant among men.
We continued our walk around the Tidal Basin to the Franklin Delanor Roosevelt Memorial. His life really shows that whatever trys to hold you back, you can still accomplish great things
We then checked out the World War II Memorial. Maybe not as moving as the Vietnam Memorial Wall, but you should never again take your freedoms for granted after visiting here.
We stopped and had sandwiches at a stand near the Washington Monument. Tastless and expensive - and we had to help the counter girls figure out the change (my 12 year old counts better) Our usual place was closed because of the major restoration project going on at the base of the Washingtom Monument.
We were hot and tired and decided to call it quits after a half day. (This was my first outing after having my cast taken off) We got back to the campground and the girls enjoyed the pools, and I sat back and did some reading.
Next day we visited the New American Indian Museum.
the collections were amazing to look at, but might be boring for really wee ones. Our girls did ok. If going to DC - make sure this is one of your stops for lunch. All the meals are inspired by various regions of Native American cooking. Not Cheap, but very tasty! Amy had the best deal, some Buffalo Chili - Smelled real good, and she didn't share much! It was a Buffalo Burger for me!
After lunch, we walked off some of the calories at the Botanical Garden, and near the base of the Capitol refecting Pool. We also walked down the Mall just looking at the buildings and the people.

We love visiting Washington DC - and plan on staying at Cherry Hill Park!

Camping with the Jersey Devil

The problem with planning ahead is that sometimes the unplanned happens. Like breaking my ankle and tearing my ACL while playing ball at RPC youthgroup.

This month's planned trip was to Wading Pines, in the middle of the Jersey Pine Barrens.
It got a little interesting since I broke my 'driving ankle'. Amy was now driver, and me co-pilot. Could we survive the role-reversal? Turns out we did pretty well.

Amy made it thru the tollbooths easily - especially using a 'grabber' tool to get the tollbooth tickets. We almost got lost - the directions were good - signage in the Pine Barrens (Highway signs) not so good.
What's cool about Wading Pines Campground was that they also run canoe trips, since the campground is right next to the Wading River. Unfortunately because of my cast, we couldn't take advantage of that.
We didn't yet purchase LynxLeveler blocks, so we were leaning a little to 'port', but we still survived.
The Italian Feast was really good - I really enjoyed the sausage.
Lots of golf-carts around - have to watch your step.
Girls enjoyed the playground, and a ride on the "PineBarrens (Jersey Devil) Express"

We had rain overnight, but it didn't hamper our weekend.
Oh - and Kimberly caught a fish, and we saw some HUGE painted turtles @ their pond.
We want to return when we can paddle down the Wading River.

Shakedown Cruise

Our shakedown cruise went pretty much without a hitch, except when I tried to put some freshwater in the tank @ home - to flush it out and have some for the toilet and washing hands. When I tried filling - per the procedure we were told - water would come gushing out from underneath, in the vicinity of the spare tire. I couldn't figure it out - but Amy - during the day made a few calls to Hitcharama and found there were more valves that were under the bed for winterization. (I guess that is actually a good thing!) She called me excited - and a little embarrassed, because when she was able to fill the tank, she gave out a shout and was doing a dance - in the middle of the street. When I got home, we packed RoadAbode up and headed out.

The First "Official" Trip of RoadAbode was to Spring Gulch. This campground has Great sites in it's upper level, each site is surrounded by trees on three sides. There was plenty to do - besides learning about how to operate the systems of RoadAbode. Mini Golf, Hikes, Eating icecream, Campfires - Lots of Fun. Also since we don't have it @ home, Cable TV was a treat before bedtime for there girls.
On the way home we saw Amish buggies leaving Sunday Services. Amy got a nice pic

We also checked out Lake-in-Wood Campground - for the upcoming Church Camping Trip Amy organizes every year.

We all feel really blessed to be able to have RoadAbode.

Here's Emily Posing with her new "friend"