Monday, August 21, 2023

 Day 26, August 18, 2023, Friday. Harrisburg, PA (343 miles)

Feeling well enough to drive and we began to head home. A little later start than usual, 10:30, as Rosemary finally claimed she got a good night’s sleep. Arrived at Harrisburg East Campground (50 amp FHU pull through) just after 6:00. Hooked up electric only.

Day 27, August 19, 2023, Saturday. Selma, NC (383 miles)

An early start at 9:20 did not result in an early arrival. Many slow downs around Washington and Richmond including a 25 minute slowdown for 6 lanes converting to 3 in short order. Arrived at North Point RV Resort about 6:00 (50 amp pull through). After dinner, Rosemary was feeling well enough for a walk around the campground.

Day 28, August 20, 2023. Sunday.  Brunswick, GA (379 miles)

Uneventful drive as traffic was moving well despite a brief rain. Checked into Coastal Georgia RV Resort (50 amp FHU pull through) around 4:30. Brief trip to the nearby grocery to pick up a few items for dinner. 

Day 29, August 21, 2023. Monday. Tampa, FL (253 miles)

Arrived home about 3:45. Good decision to come home as we both are still not feeling great.  

Thursday, August 17, 2023

 Day 18, August 10, 2023, Thursday. Jersey City, NJ (New York City) (69 miles)

An unusually early start for us (perhaps in anticipation of seeing our son and his family), we departed Crystal Springs Wilderness RV Resort and arrived at Liberty Harbor RV Park at 11:45.  We even arrived before the noon check time.  The first employee I encountered told me to wait 15 minutes but fortunately was overruled by an apparently senior employee.  After setup and lunch, we drove the car through the Lincoln Tunnel to our reserved parking garage at 290 W. 60th Street, about a 45 minute drive. This parking garage is a half block from Daniel’s apartment building. We met Daniel and toured his 40th floor apartment.  The beautiful view from his place includes the Hudson River and the Empire State Building. We walked to the bus stop where the grandkids are dropped off after their day at summer camp to await their arrival. Rebecca returned home from work and we had a good but spicy Thai dinner that was delivered to our door.  The drive back to the campground was through the Holland Tunnel and seemed like a better route.


Day 19, August 11, 2023, Friday. Jersey City, NJ (New York City)
We arrived at Daniel’s mid-morning and we went to Pick a Bagel West End to replenish Rosemary’s supply of sesame bagels.  A baker’s dozen at this place is 14 so that meant 13 sesame for Rosemary and one pumpernickel for me.  In the afternoon, we went with Daniel via subway to The Cloisters - The Gardens of the Met Cloisters, a part of the Metropolitan Museum.  A very unique museum of medieval art.  Atop a tall hill, the museum, built in 1933, has medieval European architecture incorporated into the modern building including gardens and works of art.  I found the pear tree in the garden especially interesting which they began forming in 1968 into what looks like to me a 6 branch candelabra. After the museum, we departed from Daniel on the subway to visit Rosemary’s sister Beth in Central Park.  We returned to Daniel’s place for a delicious delivered sushi dinner including a specialty roll with black cod, Rosemary’s favorite fish.  After dinner, I taught Adam how to play Cribbage. Cribbage is a game that is popular in my family and one that I played with my grandfather and his twin, my great uncle, among others.





















Day 20, August 12, 2023, Saturday. Jersey City, NJ (New York City)
At last a day with Rebecca and the grandkids, off from work and summer camp. The morning was spent teaching Cribbage to Ari, and then Adam and I playing a game of Cribbage which Adam won. After a little wrestling with Ari and Talia (Adam has gotten too big for me to wrestle as I don’t want to get hurt!), we ate lunch.  After lunch, we all drove in Daniel’s car to the Flat Rock Brook also known to us as the “Furb”.  We hiked the about one mile trail, mostly shaded and along a small brook.  Back at the apartment, Adam and I played several more games of Cribbage.  Adam learned the game well and won every game. That goes to show what a great teacher I am.   For dinner, we went out to The Greek Kitchen which was about a 10 minute walk.  The food was excellent and maybe the best Greek food I have ever had. The appetizers were delicious and my Mousaka was fantastic. For dessert, Daniel and I shared a Galaktoboureko which was out of this world.  One downside, Talia had developed a runny nose late in the afternoon and into the evening. 


Day 21, August 13, 2023, Sunday. Jersey City, NJ (New York City)
Our anticipation of another great day was soon quashed when Daniel called to tell us Talia had tested positive for Covid.  Another problem was we were supposed to meet our son Aaron in Montreal the next day and he was to spend a week traveling with us. We had made many plans and several campground reservations which now had to be canceled.  After much discussion of possibilities, it was decided Aaron would return home to San Diego.  Rosemary and I tested negative as did Daniel so we decided to visit Daniel in the afternoon outside.  Trying to enter NYC on Sunday afternoon turned our 35-45 minute drive into an hour and 20 minutes.  We visited with Daniel and walked along the Hudson for a bit. The rest of the family was watching a movie on the lawn and just before we departed, we all masked up and said goodbye.

Day 22, August 14, 2023, Monday. Gansevoort, NY (Saratoga Springs) (191 miles)
When we awoke this morning, Rosemary was not feeling well.  We had to vacate Liberty Harbor and we had a reservation at Saratoga RV Park (50 amp fhu) located between Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls. So we proceeded there. By the time of our arrival, both of us were not feeling well. Three and a half years since the pandemic began and our luck ran out.  We both tested positive for covid. The evening was spent at Saratoga Urgent Care where my fever spiked to 102.2 and I developed uncontrollable shakes.  We were not given a Rx for paxlovid but for another drug. A drive to the pharmacy and then back to the coach to isolate for days.

Day 23, August 15, 2023, Tuesday. Gansevoort, NY (Saratoga Springs) 
A bad day, both of us feeling awful. Daniel informed us he, Rebecca and Adam had all tested positive.  Aaron told us the drug we were prescribed was ineffective and dangerous. After some reading online, I agreed and we then obtained paxlovid which required another trip to the pharmacy.  I extended our stay at the campground for another day.

Day 24, August 16, 2023, Wednesday. Gansevoort, NY (Saratoga Springs) 
Another bad day. I extended our stay at the campground for another day.  We placed an order for groceries from Walmart to pick up as we were running low on a lot of things.

Day 25, August 17, 2023, Thursday. Gansevoort, NY (Saratoga Springs) 
I have improved quite a bit but Rosemary has not. Our primary goal of this trip was to see the kids and grandkids.  So we have decided it’s time to head home. I feel ok to drive so I did not extend our stay at the campground for another day and expect to hit the road toward home tomorrow. 


Wednesday, August 9, 2023

 Day 14, August 6, 2023, Sunday. Reston, VA 

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum has two centers.  One Center is downtown DC and is closed for renovations. The other is the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA, near Dulles Airport and which is about a 25 minute drive from the coach. We visited the Udvar-Hazy Center and excitedly started viewing the aircraft (well maybe Rosemary was not as excited as I was). There was a free tour which was lead by our docent, Leslie Taylor, a former engineer. The tour described many of the aircraft in detail including the manufacture and evolution of modifications to the aircraft, the features of each and the role of each in aviation. Among the aircraft described were the Lockheed SR-71 (the “Blackbird” with speed of mach 3), the F-14 Tomcat, F-18 Hornet, F-35, Bell UH-1H “Huey” helicopter, Bell AH-1F Cobra helicopter, Sikorsky JRS-1, Vought Corsair, Gruman Hellcat, Concorde (speed of mach 2), Boeing 367-80 (“Dash 80", basically the prototype for the 707 and the KC-135), the B-29 Superfortress  “Enola Gay” (which dropped the first A-bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima) and the space shuttle Discovery.  The tour was fantastic and lasted over 2 hours. Even Rosemary found it interesting and enjoyable. And there was even a Cessna 152 (a single engine two seater) which is the type of plane in which I took Rosemary for a ride out of Tampa International Airport when we were dating. It was during that flight that I found out Rosemary’s fear of flying (and no, it was not because of the pilot). (For aviation nuts like me, I suggest checking online for video of the Dash 80 roll by pilot Alvin “Tex” Johnston on 8-7-55).




















Day 15, August 7, 2023, Monday. Cream Ridge, NJ (Trenton) (195 miles)

Travel Day. Checked into the Crystal Springs Wilderness Lodges & RV Park (50 amp FHU). Toughest campground I have ever experienced requiring registration and proof of insurance for both vehicles including a special RV insurance endorsement plus signing a license agreement and completing a move in condition form for the campsite. Fortunately I had all the required items. We planned to visit Trenton the next two days and this was the closest place we could find to park the coach at 27 miles away.

Day 16, August 8, 2023, Tuesday. Cream Ridge, NJ (Trenton)

After a 30 minute drive we entered the free underground parking garage for the NJ State House. We had a guided tour of the Capitol (NJ refers to it as the State House) which lasted over an hour. We visited the General Assembly chambers where 80 representatives (2 from each district of about 223,000)  meet and the Senate chambers of 40 senators meet. The legislature meets from September through June which is a longer session than any other state that I can recall. Thankfully the Florida legislature only meets for two months a year and they do enough damage in that short period of time. The State House was built in 1792 and has been renovated 7 times with the 7th time still underway. It is the second longest continuously utilized state capitol after Annapolis, MD. Virginia’s Capitol was built a few years earlier but there was that 4 years in which it ceased being a United State. We spent the afternoon at the Grounds for Sculpture - Seward Johnson Center for the Arts. The collection of art focuses on many important sculptors of the last 60 years and was founded by Seward Johnson in 1992.  The exhibit featured 300 works and numerous works of Seward Johnson spread over 42 acres. Many works were life size three dimensional sculptures based on paintings of famous artists like Renoir and Monet in which one could place themselves among the figures for photos and we did.  We also walked across the Monet Bridge. Other works were colossal in size. We had so much fun it was like we were kids in a candy store. And the weather was not overly hot. There are 4 restaurants associated with the GFS but only one for dinner, Rats! restaurant which we made a reservation for shortly after the GFS closed.  The food was good but the service left a lot to be desired.  Clearly short staffed.  After dinner we drove to Princeton University to view the campus. The beautiful gothic buildings reminded us of Duke University. Another great fun day!

New Jersey State House








Grounds For Sculpture












































Day 17, August 9, 2023, Wednesday. Cream Ridge, NJ (Trenton)

Today we visited the Old Barracks Museum and joined a tour.  The barracks were constructed in 1758 and housed British soldiers during the French and Indian War. It is the only remaining military structure left in NJ associated with the Colonial Wars.  It is also the place George Washington authorized the Continental Army to be inoculated with smallpox. Suffice it to say, I will not restate the process described to us by our guide. Next we visited the NJ State Museum which had exhibits on the history of the area and artwork mostly with NJ connections.

Old Barracks Museum







NJ State Museum