The last few months have been packed with activities and "driving days" -- typical for us this time of year. Avoiding the big cities on the east, we dodged across Virginia to get on i81 and connect to i84 in Pennsylvania on our way to Newburgh, NY for an RV event.
Forty rigs containing 80 "Escapees" (the name of the RV club that organized the event) met at the local KOA for 3 days of sightseeing in New York City and the Hudson Valley area. We left the rigs in the campground and boarded tour buses to visit NYC's Liberty Island, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the 911 Memorial and Museum, and catch a Jersey Boys performance on Broadway. Even spread over 2 days, it was tough to squeeze all of this in.
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| Us with Lady Liberty |
After waving a temporary goodbye to new RV friends, we drove north to the Adirondaks to connect with friends and former Austin neighbors, Chris and Sheila Blaicher. It was wonderful to see their beautiful property and their adorable log cabin home. They spoiled us with their fabulous cooking and shared the wonders of the area they live in -- Lake Placid, Whiteface Mountain, Fort Ticonderoga, and on and on. Lots to see in this area so we'll just have to come back!
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| Us with our friends Chris and Sheila Blaicher |
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| The fabulous view from Mount Defiance looking at Fort Ticonderoga |
Our next destination was in Essex Junction, Vermont, so Max braved his first ferry ride to cross Lake Champlain. We then spent a week at our first "Escapade", the annual RV Rally for us "Escapees". Our weather was lovely and we really enjoyed the days of educational seminars, entertainment, happy hours, and visiting with other like-minded full- and part-time RVers. Though we have lived this lifestyle for over 4 years now, we continue to learn new things. We also both enjoyed sightseeing in the area -- especially the Ben & Jerry's factory tour :-)
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| Max's first ferry ride |
With summer travel time growing short, we opted to adjust our "return to Texas" plan and swing south through Gainesville, FL on the way. This gave us a chance to get another visit with Jeffrey's dad as well as pig out on the Olympic coverage (and Sonny's BBQ). We also got to tag along on a tour of the University of Florida's new state-of-the art academic facility for its athletes. VERY impressive indeed. If I were a parent sending my athlete kid off to college, I would certainly cast my vote for UF as they certainly are working hard to help these kids get an education and graduate.
The time finally came to bolt back across the gulf states to Texas and we had to swing a bit more north than usual because of all the Louisiana flooding. With food and fuel shortages as well as power outages and closed roads, we figured the last thing they needed was transient RVers poking our way through it all. This did give us a chance to see a few new towns, including Monroe, LA, where we greatly enjoyed the Chennault Aviation and Military museum, mostly dedicated to their town hero, General Claire Chennault. His contribution to history is really interesting: www.chennaultmuseum.org
We made it back to Texas late August and were surprised the temperatures were staying under 100 degrees. Having gotten the Gator Club activities launched and other "while in Austin" projects kicked off, I'm finally finding time to post to this blog! For those of you who know about my Dad's recent health scare, I am happy to report he is finally out of the hospital and getting back to his very happy home life with his bride of over 40 years Sheila. The doctors are still telling him to take it easy and heal for awhile, but his recovery is really a miracle to them and us too.
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We made it back to Texas late August and were surprised the temperatures were staying under 100 degrees. Having gotten the Gator Club activities launched and other "while in Austin" projects kicked off, I'm finally finding time to post to this blog! For those of you who know about my Dad's recent health scare, I am happy to report he is finally out of the hospital and getting back to his very happy home life with his bride of over 40 years Sheila. The doctors are still telling him to take it easy and heal for awhile, but his recovery is really a miracle to them and us too.
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