We Survived IRENE!!!

All last week we listened to the reports of Hurricane Irene. Where would she go, how strong would she be when she made landfall? We figured being in the Poconos that we were far enough from the eye of the storm to be safe. As Irene grew bigger we still thought we would just get the edge which shouldn’t be too bad. Then it looked like she was making a right turn and would make landfall closer to the middle of Long Island and not New York City. A fickle woman she was and kept changing her mind. All day Saturday our eyes were on Irene. At 2pm we got a notice from the campground that they were closing and we were being told to evacuate to a safer place. At this point it would take us too long to pack up and be out by 4pm, let alone drive a high profile vehicle in high winds on a highway in the dark! So we opted to stay and stick it out…but with friends. We have made some real nice friends at this campground and one who used to work here lives a block away. They invited us to stay at their house and pets were no problem. We put the cats in their crates and got the dog leashed up and drove the block away to stay with Tina and Rob. Rob’s family owns a funeral home back in New Jersey so when we got there I just had to ask him if the spare bedroom had caskets to sleep in? His reply was right in step…“No, but I have two in the shed I use for Halloween if you feel more comfortable sleeping in them.” Our pets have been living in the RV with us since January so it took awhile for them to get re-adjusted to a large home. Shiloh was great, giving the kids kisses. Sammy, our older cat didn’t want to come out of his cage. Eventually he did and went under their hutch. Munchkin, our little girl, well, let’s just say she went exploring. That night when we were all in our beds, Len and I heard a sound that didn’t sound good. Oh, it wasn’t Hurricane Irene…it was MUNCHKIN!!! It seems she found the FISH TANK! Yikes. Poor Haley (Rob and Tina’s 3yr old) would be crushed if she woke up and found her pet fish eaten by guests. So there was Len at 1am building a fortress out of pizza boxes from dinner and stuffed animals to keep the cat away from Fred and Bob. Yes, they survived the night and Munchkin went hungry. Sunday morning, Rob cooked up a delicious breakfast of bacon, sausage and French toast. It was wonderful. Len rode up to the campground to check things out before we packed up the pets and came home. He came back with the all clear to return. The rest of the day our camper rocked with each gust of wind that blew. It was kind of freaky, but after dinner, things finally began to settle down with gusts only in the 30 mph range. We drove around our campground and the one a mile up the road. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The one we stay in had a few small branches and limbs down, a couple of folks lost their screen rooms and a few satellite dishes were blown over, but at the other campground, WOW. We saw numerous trees down, some just missing trailers and cabins, one was not so lucky. The tree went right thru the cabin, rendering it unlivable. Thankfully, no one was inside. Both campgrounds are closed until the end of the week to give them time to clean up the mess. We lost electricity for about 24 hours, but we have a generator, so we didn’t suffer too much. The road going down the mountain was cleared by Monday morning, so we’re once again able to get to the store although it was a drive before we found one with electric that was open. All in all, it was an exciting weekend and I’m glad we are all ok. We are here until Labor Day weekend when we start traveling west. Thanks for traveling along with us on…The Thomas’ Trails. Until next time.

 

29 AGAIN!!!

Yup, 18 years ago I turned 29 and I haven't aged a bit since? OK, maybe I have aged somewhat, but I don't worry about the numbers. I gave that job to my doctor. What a beautiful day I have had. My dear husband, Lenny, knows how much I love bagels so he was up and out early and brought home fresh bagels and cream cheese. Then we drove up Rt 402 to Lake Wallenpaupack in Northeast PA. We've never been there and saw that they offered boat tours of the lake. Now, I've been on boats before and NEVER had a problem. This is a lake, how choppy can it get? VERY!!! With all the other boats and wave runners creating wakes everywhere, I was getting sick. Thankfully it was only a one hour tour. We saw a campground right on the lake and they only charge $26 a night, so we decided that next year we're going to spend a few days there and explore the area further. Down the road on Historic Rt 6 we found the Antler Ridge Winery. I just had to stop. I love going to area wineries and tasting the local wines. I found two that I liked so I bought a bottle of white and a bottle of red. Well, ok, that was present three from Lenny. From there we continued on a drive through the country along Rt. 6 west to 191 south. A lumber yard in the town of Hawley had a large sign on the side of the hill that said HAWLEYWOOD. How clever is that. I "wood" have taken a picture but as usual, Lenny thought he was qualifying for NASCAR. Before long we were back on I-84 heading east back to Rt 402 south. We enjoyed an early dinner at Pub 570 on Rt 209 in Marshalls Creek. When we got home, one of our camping neighbors gave me a red velvet cupcake from "The Cake Boss". After Lenny sang Happy Birthday, I cut the cupcake in half and shared with him. It was a beautiful day in the Pocono Mountains of PA...now it's raining with thunder and lightening. I LOVE STORMS so I guess this is God's present to me. Thank you to all my family and friends who called me and who left messages on facebook. I am truly blessed to live the life I live and share it with so many people. Thanks for travelling along with us on The Thomas' Trails...till next time.

Finally...an update

I apologize for being neglectful in writing this blog, sharing our adventures with you. Let me bring you up to speed. We left Florida in late March because Lenny got a job working at campgrounds. We now move every two weeks. The end of March and all of April were spent in Virginia. First Williamsburg, then Richmond. We were able to do some sightseeing on his days off which was fun. We went to Norfolk and toured the USS Wisconsin museum. They had a boat tour of the naval yard that we sort of enjoyed. It was a very windy day and the boat was bouncing around alot! Len was outside at one point and almost fell overboard. That's when the captain made the announcement to hold onto the rails when walking around outside. He got some great pictures, but it would have been a shame if he had gone over the side with my Cannon Rebel DSLR!

In Richmond, we toured the Holocaust Museum. That was a sobering experience. We went on a canal ride and toured the Aviation Museum. We also went to the Federal Reserve building to see an exhibit on money. Too bad they were not giving any away. The campground we stayed at there was right across from a Bass Pro Shop which was fun to shop in.

I am very thankful we took the advice of friends and purchased a weather alert radio. It is a godsend and a curse! Especially when it goes off at 2:30 in the morning with tornado watches. We were able to monitor the storms that came thru and while we were safe, just miles away a tornado did touch down and created massive damage.

The end of April, our friends Dave and Crystal joined us for a weekend, Dave and Len always attend at least one NASCAR race a year and this year was the Richmond race.After not having seen any friends in over a month, it was nice to get together. While the boys were at the track, us girls went shopping and out to dinner.

Currently, we are parked back in New Jersey at Mahlon Dickerson County Reservation. We are spending our time visiting with friends and family and of course doctor appointments.While I did not miss the traffic and congestion here, I am really enjoying my daughter's company. For Mother's Day, Chrissy, her boyfriend, Don, and Lenny took me to the Atlantic Manor for dinner. It was wonderful. We are here for a few more days, then it is off again for about 7-8 weeks before we are back in the area for another visit. I won't promise I'll write often, but I'll try not to let it go so long next time. Thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas' Trails...till next time.

Webster Flea Market

While we didn't get as early a start as we wanted to, we decided to go to the Webster flea market in, where else, Webster, FL. It was about a half hour from our campground. When we got there I felt like I was in the parking lot of Willowbrook Mall at Christmas time. There was no where to park and people were rude. We found a gentleman who was leaving as soon as his wife finished her shopping, so we waited patiently in that aisle. While we were waiting, another couple came along and said they were leaving and we could have their space. Great! On went the blinker. A FL car then pulled up from the opposite direction and put their blinker on for the same spot. So much for "southern hospitality", it was more like southern hostility. (Must be a transplant from the north. LOL) She was not about to let us have the spot, so I graciously got out of my car to insure we would get it. We had been there for almost 45 minutes looking for a parking space. After spewing some vulgarities from her car, she decided to leave and look for another spot, which she found in the next row.

Now onto the good part...this flea market is HUGE! It is the largest and oldest flea market in Florida. So big that it is impossible to see everything in one day. It sits on 40 acres of land. There were vendors everywhere. Fresh fruits, vegetables and baked goods. New items of every kind and old "junk". T-shirts, hand painted dresses, you name it, they had it. The good part about getting there later is that prices were dropping. We didn't buy anything at first, just walked and looked around. Around noon time, we decided to take a break and have some lunch. We got some huge hamburgers and a couple of drinks. Sat down at a picnic table and enjoyed our burgers. It was fun discussing the weather up north with some people who were from upstate NY.

Continuing on our quest to conquer this flea market, we found an orchid stand. He had just dropped the price from $3 an orchid plant to $2. I told Len, we should really get one for his mom. She loves orchids. The only problem is so do our cats. Where would we keep them. Would they make the trip back north, knowing that we wouldn't see her until Mother's Day. My arguement was it's only $2, so we bought two of them. If they die, we buy her another gift. So far they are still alive. While we're in Florida, I'm keeping them outside. At this point we were both getting tired, so we started to head back toward our car. On the way back is where the money started to get spent. After all, I just couldn't pass up fresh canteloupe, string beans, broccolli tops, Florida sweet onions for one dollar each. And let's not forget the croissants and baked goods either. All in all, it was a good day for walking around and taking in the sweet aromas of the food vendors.

Thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas' Trails...until next time.

My Fill of Frogs Legs

It’s been a great week. Last weekend we stayed at our friends, Donna and Pete, again. Saturday, Donna took us to Homosassa Springs State Park. What a beautiful place. We took the courtesy tram to the entrance and returned via the boat ride. It was a nice boardwalk trail peppered with park benches. As we walked thru, we saw all sorts of animals native to Florida. All, except Lu the hippo. He was “grandfathered in” because he’s been there so long. It was a cool day, so the animals were very active which was nice to see. The pink flamingo’s even put on a parade for us, walking single file along the stream.



Monday, we left Donna’s and made the short trip to Wildwood, Fl to stay for a few weeks at Three Flags RV Resort. It is one of the resort parks in our contract where we can stay for three weeks for free. They have about 200 sites, a nice pool, game room, laundry facilities (for Len to use). A nice quiet park which we like. The sites are large, level and mostly pull-thru’s so we don’t have to worry about backing into a site.



While we were here, we drove up to “The Villages”. The best I can describe this place is an all-in-one place to live. There are numerous “villages” all connected. They have food stores, banks, clothing stores, restaurants, fast food, churches, medical facilities, etc. all via roads specifically for golf carts. When driving around, you are sharing the road with cars, golf carts (decked out nicer than some cars I’ve seen), and tri-cycles. At major intersections where golf carts are not allowed, they have tunnels. It’s pretty cool if you ask me. We stopped at a self- serve frozen yogurt place there called High Five Your Life. When you go inside they have cups or waffle cones to choose from, then you choose which flavor or flavors of frozen yogurt you want. The nice part is if you’re not a big fan of ice cream/frozen yogurt you only add a little to your cup. Then you have toppings of all sorts. And they had outdoor seating. We made our sundae’s and went outside to enjoy them.



Friday night, we went to an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at The Speckled Butter Bean. Like I’ve said before, we left the “diner state” and are enjoying the “buffet state”. While in Orlando, we went to a lot of buffets but really enjoyed The Golden Coral the most. Well, we found a better buffet. This place has excellent home made food, even the mashed potatoes. I especially enjoyed the frogs legs and baked striped bass. Yes, frogs legs do taste like chicken with a lot less meat on the legs. On Wednesday’s their breakfast buffet is buy one, get one half price, so for about $7.50, guess where we’re going?





Enjoy the slide show and thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas’ Trails…until next time.

Chrissys visit

It’s been awhile since my last post, so let me bring you up to speed. While Lenny and I are fully enjoying our new lifestyle, it has had its adjustments. One major adjustment has been missing our daughter. I think I have had more of an issue with this than Lenny, or maybe he just doesn’t express it as much. Well, anyway, it got to the point that we called her to find out when she could get off of work and then bought her a train ticket so she could spend a week with us. That week went way too fast, but we did a lot and enjoyed her company immensely. She arrived last Monday shortly after noon. We were all hungry so we took her to Cici’s Pizza for $2.99/per person all you can eat lunch. While their pizza does not compare with Bruno’s back in Clifton, the price was right and they have a dessert pizza to die for. It has a custard topping with a white drizzle. You would think you were eating a Boston Crème donut without the chocolate.

Tuesday, we drove into Orlando to enjoy the Titanic Experience. If you ever have the opportunity to see this display, DO IT! Chrissy loved the movie Titanic and we thought she would enjoy this. She did. The tour lasted about an hour and our guide was very funny, until we got to the serious part. He was a very good actor. We were given two tickets, one to give to our guide and one with the name of a passenger/worker written on it. At the end of the tour, the names of everyone on the ship was written on the walls. You could then check your ticket to see if you survived. The two tickets Lenny and I had both perished that fateful night. The name on Chrissys ticket however had survived, Mrs. John Jacob Astor.



Wednesday, we just hung around the campground and at the pool.





Chrissy waving hi



I think Thursday was the highlight of Chrissys week. We were able to purchase discount tickets to Seaworld thru the NJEA. We got there around noon time and closed the park at 7pm. The killer whale show was pretty tame. The trainers were dressed in black and white wet suits and they never entered the water. It was more slide shows on the screen than whales doing tricks. The cutest part was seeing the baby orca, born in Oct., swimming with her mother. Our daredevil daughter had to go on at least one roller coaster and she chose Kraken. It was an hour wait, but we finally saw her pulling out of the station and riding that thrill coaster. We were able to see the Dolphin show which was spectacular. Lots of interaction between the dolphins and trainers. It was a long day and on the way home we stopped at the Fiesta Mexican Buffet on Rt. 192. In my opinion, it was not worth the price. The selection was not that great especially for the price.

Friday was recouping day. It was a beautiful day to just hang out…but then we got bored so after dinner we went to play mini-golf. That was a lot of fun.

Saturday, we had company. My niece and her husband live in Northern Florida and they decided to come down and visit with Chrissy on her last day here. It was great to finally meet Carl and it was good to see Brittany again. The “kids” decided to drive to Orlando and do some shopping. When they came back they enjoyed some time in the pool and hot tub. Before long, it was time for them to drive home.



Sunday was the worst day of all. First, we had to say farewell to our daughter as she boarded her train home. The week had gone by way too fast. I told her I wouldn’t cry, but I lied. I wish I could have that week back, but I know that time marches on and she wanted to go back home just as much as she wanted to stay and be spoiled by mom and dad. Second, I received a phone call later that day from my girl friends husband. Karen and I have been friends for over 30 years. She had been battling cancer for many years and was in the final stages. I was able to visit with her before we left and told her I would see her next time I was in NJ, around May. Next time now will be when we are walking streets of gold. Steve told me that on Friday she told him she was tired of fighting and wanted to go home. On Saturday, around 9pm with family and friends surrounding her, she was ushered into heaven, free of pain and finally healed. She has crossed that river and fought the good fight.



It was a bittersweet week, but thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas’ Trails…until next time.

Friends, Stuckys, and Discovery

“Mabel, put the coffee on, company’s coming.” We were on our way back from getting some groceries when Lenny’s cell phone rang. He was driving so I answered it. It was friends from NC. We knew they were visiting her daughter in the Orlando area and we were planning on getting together with them in the next two weeks when we were back in that area. What we didn’t know was that they were passing right by the campground we are currently at on their way to Venice, Fl. Not having seen any of our “northern” friends for six weeks, it was a pleasant surprise to visit with Barb and Jim. Barb and Lenny go way back to when they both worked at Burger King, long before I had met him. They live on the coast in NC during the winter and have a summer place in Maine where we have been invited to spend some time. On their way back and forth, they usually spend a day or two at my mother-in-laws house back in Clifton. We chatted about the weather, bugs, our kids, and how Lenny is adjusting to his “retirement”. I say it that way because, while he is retired from the Board of Education, he is much too young to never work again. I told Barb it was a good thing they stopped by on Wednesday, because the following day  we had plans to go see the Discovery lift off for the last time.

Thursday was a long day. Most of those who know us, know that we get up with the roosters still. I’ve been getting better, some days sleeping in till 7, but for the most part we’re up at 6am or earlier. We were both excited to be in Florida during a shuttle launch. Never having seen a live launch, we made plans to get as close to Cocoa Beach as possible. I plugged in the GPS and we headed east. Do you know how much I greatly dislike my GPS! Today was no different. First it wanted to take us on some toll road, then I blocked that option so we ended up on Rt 60. Now, to give you an idea of this highway, we traveled on it for well over 100 miles. At least it seemed like it. Along the way we saw farm land, orange groves, more farms, more orange groves. Good thing we started out with a full tank of gas! We finally came to a town called Yeehaw Junction. Lenny was beginning to wonder if we were near Petticoat Junction. It is located near the Florida Turnpike. They have a Pilot gas station and a Stuckeys. Len had not seen a Stuckeys in a long time, so we pulled in and looked around. He just had to get a pecan roll. We still had another 30 miles to drive, so back on this two lane highway that has absolutely nothing except farms and oranges, at least until we got closer to Vero Beach. Finally civilization.

We found a State Recreation Area to park in and walked out to the beach. There were a few people there with their chairs facing north. We started talking to one couple and found out they moved here from New Jersey about 20 years ago. As the time got closer to the launch, the beach really started filling up. There were people everywhere with video cameras and regular cameras. All of sudden everyone started counting down and then a minute later we saw it. The flame from the rocket booster. What an awesome sight. There were a lot of clouds, so we didn’t get to see too much, but it was still an exciting afternoon. We’ll still be in the area when it lands, so I’ve put it on my phone as a reminder. If we’re not too busy, we just might drive over to the east coast again to see it land. Only this time, we’ll take a different highway.

Friday was an easy drive from Wauchula back to Clermont where we will spend the next two weeks. Our daughter, Chrissy, will arrive on Monday to spend a week with us. It will be good to see her again. I can’t believe we’ve already been on the road for six weeks. Thanks for traveling along with us on The Thomas’ Trails…until next time.