Van in shop.

We are grounded for the moment.  The van is in the shop for the past two days.
waiting for the damages.  The transmission and the radiator have to be removed to
repair two plugs that rotted out.  This is why it was leaking.  If I had continued to drive it
would have  burned our engine.  This could change our plans on our travel. 


As you can tell I am not good with this blog thing.  I will do my best. Many days were uneventful and we forgot to take some pictures.  I will add more as time goes on but not everyday. Its too time consuming.

6 lb Meatloaf

Mark and Patty had Patty's family over for dinner.  Mark had made a 6 lb meatloaf in the smoker.

It came out great.   

Mark and Patty's dog Rock O.

Mark and John passing out after 2 days of cooking for us on the smoker.

Smoked Brisket

 This is Mark, Sandy's son and Mark's friend John.  They bough a 16 lbs briscet and cooked it in his smoker.  They started in the evening, cutting of the fat and seasoning. They were up all  night watching the temperature. 
we ate the brisket at 7 pm the next day.  It was delicious.

John and Mark with their chef's hats on getting ready to prepare the brisket. Sandy and I stayed overnight at Patty and Mark's house in Nashua N.H. until Monday morning.  We will spend weekdays at Diana's and weekends at Mark.  their sharing us. lol

Shooting practice in Massachusetts

 Sandy and I at the Rod and Gun Club in New Hampshire.
Ted took us for private shooting.  Later in the evening Ted took us out to the
Outback for steak dinners.

Ted showing Sandy how to shoot.  She did a great job.  Lots of rapid shooting.  She can

take care of herself for sure. 

 I didn't do so well.  I have a kickback that causes me pain on m hand.  I did hit the target once but needs lots of practice.  I think I may change to a 22 instead of a 38.

Rod and Gun Club

Ted took us to the Rod and Gun Club.  We went to the pond and enjoyed a beautiful day.

He bought us all subs and we enjoyed lunch.

This is a memorial Ted had made for his friend who passed two years ago. 

Its hard for you to read but it was beautiful by the pond.

 Diana, Sandy's daughter and Ted's love.

Here is Ted and his other half Diana.  Relaxing by the pond.

This is Sandys baby.  Her name is Emily.  She is one of the Traveling Girls in this blog.

This was her first trip and she did wonderful. We bought her a special car seat which she used

daily until one day she learned how to get out of it.  We let her roam now in front to Sandy

and when she is tired she goes back and sleeps into her carseat by herself.

 This is Billy, Ted's dog.  He is a retired service dog.  Ted will be getting a young service dog soon.  Billy is 12 and is tired. He is a sweet loving dog.  Ted will keep him as well as he is part of the family. Emily and him get along well.

Happy Birthday to me. I just turned 29. Ha Ha

 My beautiful birthday cake was a surprise to me.  It was chocolate and we had ice cream with it. There goes my diet.  It was so good.

 from left to right.  Patty Sandy's daughter in law.  Diana, Sandy's daughter. Ted Sandy's soon to be son in law and Mark, Sandys Son.  We had the party at Diana and Ted's home.

They even bought me flowers.  Look at the colors.

 Here's my best buddy Sandy.  My traveling partner. 

And here is the birthday girl next to the snake.

Snake traveling from Florida to Massachusetts

When John Legrow, Sandy's husband passed away three months ago away he had a snake he loved.

We promised to take him to Tyngsboro, Massachusetts to his new owner Ted.

The Snake named Molly did well.  Better than we did. We had to feed 

her once a week.  We had bought a special carry case and had put it in her 

glass tank.   

More than half way on our trip I took a turn a little too sharp and something

crashed down on the glass tank breaking it.  

We pulled over in a McDonalds and Sandy got the snake

into her special carry case. The snake was not hurt.  She then had to clean out the glass

and throw the tank in the McDonald Trash.  

Well the snake made the trip.  Ted and Diana had just got home with the

snakes new home when we arrived.  Below is the wonderful job that did. 

You notice the snake on the left hanging.

North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Driving through North Carolina.  We slept at a Loves Truck Stop.  Had a take out dinner at the restaurant.  We were very comfortable. 

We noticed water under the van so Sandy checked.  The radiator needed some water and we were on our way.


In Virginia on the highway the van heated up and the temper on the needle began to rise.  I was hoping to make it to a exit but did not.  I pulled way over off the road.  You could see the water flowing all over the road.  We just sat until the needle came to normal. When it was cooled to safe
temperature Sandy added water.  We pulled off the highway.  We drove to the nearest Cracker Barrel Restaurant and parked in the RV section and spent the night.  The night was comfortable and we slept well.  Checked the water again added a small amount and headed out towards New York.
We didn't take pictures.  We should have but we are new to this blogging thing.  I never drove over 50-55 checking the needle at all time.  The Van went through New York with no problem.  We stayed in another Cracker Barrel.  Heading to Massachusetts was exciting.  We were going to Sandy's daughter Diana and her partner Ted.    We arrived around one in the afternoon. 

Anderson South Carolina

The drive to Anderson South Carolina was so nice.  Lots of beautiful forest.  We were going to 

visit Sandy's grand daughter and her family.  We were so excited with the visit we totally

forgot to take pictures.  Their little boy is about 2 and she is expecting her second child another boy.

We are all excited for her.  The grandmother who lives in the house is 89.  She is a lovely

God loving woman.  She sang two songs that she had written herself.  It will stay in 

our hearts forever.  

We had stopped in Georgia to buy a bag for peaches for her.  She loved the peaches.  We bought a bag for ourselves and they were beyond delicious. 

Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park.

We found this State Park from a sign off the road in Georgia.  It turned out to be beautiful.  Has boating, its own restaurant, place to have your boat on the water.  When we stayed it was buggy.  Nats and flies kept us inside which was a disappointment.  We stayed two nights before we headed to South Carolina. 

If you notice they had a display of old airplanes and cannons and tanks. 

It is  expensive but well worth it. 

7/21/18 Saturday. Tallahassee Florida

Stayed at Three Rivers State Park for 3 nights.  Left Saturday around 3.  Drove to Walmart where we decided to go shopping. I stayed in the van with Emily while Sandy shopped for things we needed. We decided to sleep in Walmart but as the night went on we decided to continue. We went to  Cracker Barrel where they have spots for RV for overnight.  We had a nice quiet night.
We left Walmart because we saw three different people begging for money.  We didn't want to stay in that location.

 

Carnival and Walmart. 

Day 2. Driving to Sneads Florida.

Three Rivers State Park
Sneads, Florida.


I thought we were about 3 hours from our next stop but I was wrong.  We were expected to be at
our campground by 3.  Well we did not get there until after 7.  It was starting to get dark and I began to panic.  I had called ahead and told them we were arriving late.  I knew it would be hard to find in the dark. The gate was open but no one was there to direct us so we ended up finding it ourselves. By
that time it was dark. After attempting to back in 5 or 6 times I gave up and drove in.  We slept great and was exhausted. It was great to plug in and have air conditioning.

We had a beautiful view of the beautiful lake.  We had a nice set up.  We had a fire.  Cooked
chicken breast, pork shish kabob's, and cheeseburgers.  Figured we would cook up ahead because
it was calling for rain.  We did get some hard pelting rain. 

Another view of the Lake.  Alligator signs say not to get too near so we did not.

Picture from the Lake View.

Emily meets our neighbors

 I don't remember the dogs name but she was beautiful and Emily and her got along great.

More views from our campground. It was so nice here.  We stayed for 3 nights.  We would go back
in a minute.  The people were friendly, the camp host was great and very helpful, the bath house was
spotless.   I had a problem backing in at night so I gave up and just drove in.  I am much better backing out.

 Another beautiful view from our camp.  There we many boats and even a air boat.

Doesn't this look like some where you would like to go???

Our Adventure started Tuesday July 17, 2018..

I should have started this blog a week ago but we have been so busy packing and getting the
Runaway and Camper prepared. This is our first trip in our 1990 Dodge Ram 350 Roadtrek Rv.
It's 19 ft long and the Runaway is 4 x 8 ft.  We are using the Runaway as a closet.  We also have 3 100 Watts Solar on its roof.  This is charging our 4.0 cubic ft. freezer. 

Bought the camper for $5,500.  I took it to my mechanic and he put on new tires, air conditioning,
brakes and many more things adding to another $2.000.  Its still not completely repaired yet but we are working on it.

This is our Runaway.  I bought it in 2015. I have traveled in this many years and enjoyed it.  I would
refer the Runaway Campers in Ocala Floridqa.  They are a family based company, very reasonable and great
people to know.  We're like a family.  I called Runaway and ordered the wings to match my Runaway.
They were wonderful and sent them to me. As you can see it matches wonderful.

After filling up with gas and filling up with Lp we stopped at a rest area for a stretch.

Sandy with her dog Emily.  She is joining us on our adventure. 

Our first night we stayed at the Flying J. We slept great and were comfortable. When we woke we found a note on our windshield.  They said we were not allowed
to park overnight. I could not believe it.  Truckers are allowed to park everywhere but we can't park.
They have no place for overnight travelers.  I had taken two spots and fit well and was not hurting
anyone.  The parking lot was far from full.  They lost my business for sure from now on.