Heading back to Houston

Wednesday, 9/17, we went out to Patriots Point to see the USS Yorktown CV10. This ship was built in 1943 and served in the active Navy until 1975.

She has been turned into a floating Museum. Almost all of the ship is tourable. There are 6 different tours to different parts of the ship. What a great experience for me as well as Brenda. She now has a general idea of what I'm talking about when I speak of the time I was in the Navy.

There were 3 other ships there, and they were open to the public.

There was a submarine, a destroyer, and a Coast Guard Cutter.

The submarine was commissioned just at the end of WWII, s she saw no combat. She was eventually replaced by a nuclear submarine navy. Going through her was very interesting. Everything is so cramped and small.

The Destroyer is the USS Laffey. She was built as a replacement to the original USS Laffey, which was sunk during the battle of Midway. It brought back some memories, not good and not bad, just memories.
I didn't reallize that CG Cutters were so large. They were doing some extensive reconstruction to her, so allot of the ship was closed. All in all a great day.

We left Charleston on Thursday and headed to Augusta, Ga.


Bela Humphries and his family live in a town nearby. He and I went to nursing school together. We haven't seen each other in over 15 years.


We stayed in a RV park fairly close to where they live. Bela called after he got home from work, and rode over on his motorcycle. We talked for a while then left for Valerie's (his wife) work.


After a tour of her church (she is an ordained minister), we left for downtown for dinner. We had an enjoyable evening, full of good food and good conversation. We went to another place for dessert. The tiramasu was very good.


Kaetlyn, there daughter, had soccer practice so she didn't join us for dinner.


While we were having dessert, she called with a crisis, so, Valerie went home to her, and Bela went back to the coach and left on his MC. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Kaetlyn.


We left the next morning and because it was freeway driving drove all the way to Meridian, MS. The next day we moved the coach over to Vicksburg, MS. We went to the casinos for several hours and Brenda won a few dollars. I didn't win at all, so I quit early & just watched Brenda.


We left Vicksburg this am and drove onto Livingston, TX. We haven't had mail for about 5 weeks, so while I parked the rig, Brenda went and got a ton of mail. We didn't have to pay the postage to have it mailed to us. We were not in one place long enough to get our mail sent to us.


During the drive in, we saw what IKE did to Livingston. There is quite a bit of damage, lots of trees down, rooves missing, lots of debris.


We have talked to several people who rode Ike out here. They said that amost all of the debris has been cleared away in the park. And all said that they will not ride out another hurricane. As all of us who have ridden hurricanes out, we know it is a very scary thing.


We plan to stay here until Wed am, then move onto Timber Ridge. We spoke with Gwen on Friday and she is expecting us.


Our road adventure is about to come to an end. We have had an enjoyable and educational time. We have met some very interesting people, have visited allot of historical places.


Next year our adventure continues, this time west again.


We will keep posting as things continue in our lives.



Ta ta till then

Here in Charleston

We arrived here in Charleston after an uneventful evening in New Bern, NC.


We stayed at a KOA, much to my chagrin. We were planning to stay at a Passport America park in New Bern, but after driving thru it, we decided to stay at the KOA that we had seen on our way. It appears that PA does not check out the parks in their system. This place was a grass parking lot with lots of people who appear to be there permanently. Didn't look good at all to us so we moved on.


We went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina before going to New Bern. We spent 3 days there on Hatteras Island. It was very nice in the campground in which we stayed. We went to the Cape Hatteras light house (the East coast light houses are so very different from the ones we saw in Oregon). We decided that we didn't want to make the climb to the top, so we stayed and took some pictures. We then went over to the place where the light house had been for 140 years. It was moved in 1999 to it's present location to more solid ground. It's old location was very close to the water and was surrounded by sand. There was a man made breakwater just a few yards from the site.


The next day we just kicked back at the house as we had been on the go for the last several days. We did go the beach on the windward side and watch the waves. There were several people on the beach and in the water. I didn't attempt to fish as I needed a license and I don't have any saltwater fishing gear.


We were going to take the ferry over to the mainland, but the ferries were all booked up for the next several days. So, we drove around. We surely would have liked to take the ferry, but oh well.


Gas prices here are totally outrageous. We paid $3.53/gal. in Newport News, on Thursday and $ 4.09/gal in New Bern. That is price gouging as far as I'm concerned. We did see one station charging $4.63/gal on highway 17 on our way to Charleston. I hope they close that guy down.

Yesterday, we went to the city center. Brenda wanted to take a carriage tour, so we did. We rode in a mule drawn carriage with 12 other people. Many of them oohed & awed. I had never been around people who actually do that sort of thing.

We definitely learned allot about this city. It is only 14 feet above see level at it highest point. It would definitely be a scary place during a hurricane.

It is also a very old city. It was very instrumental in both the revolutionary war and the "war of northern aggression".

We then went to a farmers market only open on Tuesdays after 3 pm. Lots of selections of veggies, but prices weren't all that great. We did get some tomatoes and cuc's at a fair price.

We are planning to go to Fort Sumter and to visit the USS Yorktown today if the weather holds.

It really rained here last night. Lots of thunder boomers, but nothing like what the people of Houston/Galveston got last weekend.

We were going on down to Savannah tomorrow, but we have decided to start our way back to Houston, going on I20. I can't seem to find out any info on the condition of I10. It will take several days to get there, and if there is still no power in the area we will stay in Livingston for the time being. We are leaving here tomorrow.

We are planning to stop and see an old nursing school chum, who lives near Augusta, GA We will only be there over night as it is in the middle of the week and he is still working. (poor guy)

Will add more as our travels continue.



Ta ta for now.

Newport News & Williamsburg

We arrived in Newport News on Monday and we are staying in a city park. It is nice and a good central place for day trips.


We went to Colonial Williamsburg yesterday and had a very enjoyable and informative day. The whole area was purchased and returned to 17th century condition due to a grant and endowment from John D. Rockefeller during the 1930's. The whole project is ongoing, with buildings and furnishings being completed in the same way as it was done in the 17th century, using the same type tools. It was very interesting to see the building going on, the wood framing the brick making, all done in the old ways.


We were told that along with the endowment, costs are covered by admission fees. It was pretty expensive and there was allot of people there. I felt that it was worth the cost as we learned so very much.


Today, we went to the Mariner's Museum. We spent about 5 hours there. It is a huge, well organized and very educational museum. If any of you are in the area, we highly recommend this stop.


The USS Monitor was found about 16 miles off of Cape Hatteras, and parts of the ship were recovered by the US Navy and the NOAA. The turret and a cannon, that was in the turret, and the engine. Also many personal artifacts. The turret, gun and engine are all in a chemical bath with electrolysis to stop the decay and make the artifacts stable for display. We were told the whole process could take up to 15 more yrs. In the mean time they have constructed replicas of the turret, gun and engine as it was found.


There is a lot of interaction between the displays and the visitor. The exhibits are out without too many barriers. There are signs at most displays asking they they not be touched, and it appears that this request is being honored by most visitors. All in all a very enjoyable day.


Tomorrow we leave for the outer banks of NC, Nags Head, Avon and Hatteras Island. There are 5 or 6 lighthouses we wish to see. We then plan on moving more inland, then onto Charleston, SC.


We will report as things progress.


Ta ta until then.

Tropical Storm Hannah

We are sitting here in the rain in a park not far from Lynchburg, Va.

We didn't think Hannah would come this far inland, but she did. Lots of rain, which they need, but not too much wind. We decided to stay here just in case Hanna fooled us, and she did. We are going to Newport News, Va. then on down the coast before heading west back to the Houston area.

Monnie, Barbara, Brenda & I went to Poplar Forrest Yesterday. This was the summer home of Thomas Jefferson. We have not seen Monticello as of yet, but after seeing this house we really want to see it. This house is a small version of Monticello. Jefferson liked symmetry and octagonal shaped homes.

The house was privately owned up until 1984 when a foundation got it and began the restoration back to Jefferson's time. It is a work in progress.

We had dinner with our friends, and they had invited Ken & Pat, their neighbors from down the street, to have desert with us. Ken & Pat were kind enough to allow us to park our travel trailer in their driveway when we were here 2 years ago. It was so nice to see them again.

Well, it looks like we are socked in for the day with rain. The radar shows the eye of the storm is still in NC. So it looks like we will just sit inside, enjoy the much needed rain and read.

Ta ta for now

Friends & Family

The Friday before Labor Day, we left Intercourse, Pa and went to Fredericksburg, Va. We stayed there over LD weekend. We were only 50 miles from David & Beth's home. We went up Saturday and spent the day & night with them. David is directing a play for a community theater group that they belong to, and we got to sit in on some of the rehearsal. It looks like it is going to be a very funny play. Afterwards, Beth took us and the kids to the NRA museum. It is free, and they have many weapons on display. An informative afternoon. Next morning we all went to church, then to breakfast. Mid afternoon we said our goodbye's, as they had a full afternoon. They are a very busy family.

Tues. we left for Lynchburg, Va. We are staying at a campground several miles from our friends Monnie & Barbara Coleman. They are the epitome of Southern Hospitality.

We have not seen them in two years and a very pleasant evening was had.

We really enjoyed visiting and the dinner was excellent. They had also invited his sister, Fay and her husband Gene, for dinner. It was great to see them again. We returned to their home early yesterday, for breakfast and a day out.

We went to the D-Day Memorial. It is a work in progress and is not complete as yet. It is privately owned & funded.

We went on a walking tour around the memorial. We had a guide and she was very informed and enthusiastic. She was also a non-paid volunteer. It was very hot on all of that concrete. Welcome back to the south.

We then went up to the Peaks of Otter. (Two mountain peaks with a park on the Blue Ridge Parkway) We had lunch (hamburgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill). It was 15 degrees cooler up there. The whole area was beautiful. Just another example of what a beautiful and diverse country that we have.

On the way up, we stopped at an orchard. They also had veggies. We picked up some peaches as well as some cuc's and tomatoes. The price was really good, compared to the grocery stores. This was the first fruit and vegetable stand, that we have found, where the prices actually beat the grocery stores.

When we got back to Monnie & Barbara's home, we sat and visited some more, but we were so tired that we called it a night early. We got back home just before dark. What a great day.

Ta ta for now.