At least we got to pay for them..

This is what John said when we came through Massachusetts on the way back from New England on our way to NY State to see John’s nephew and his family.  The roads were under construction and were some of the worst we’ve been on, considering also, that it was an interstate highway and at the end of the day, we had paid $26.50 in tolls!!  Also, we have two new chips in our windshield – much appreciated Massachusetts DOT!

As I said, we went to visit Erik, Karen and their two sons in NY State.  It was a really fun time and we got to join in on celebrating one of their son’s birthdays and also Karen’s mom’s retirement!  We thoroughly enjoyed visiting and spending time with them!

We then traveled to Grayson Highlands State Park in the Western part of Virginia to do some volunteer work, and see our buddies Bob and Judy who are working there as volunteers also.  Bicycled down the Virginia Creeper Trial, which we have done before, and have hauled our bikes thousands of miles to ride … it is one of the “rails to trails” and the really nice thing about it is that almost all of it is downhill!!  Really did enjoy the cooler weather since we have been in the North East, but have had quite a bit of rain that we wished we could send back to Central Texas!

Moving on East, we traveled to Chippokes Plantation State Park, another of Virginia’s parks.  This park is located on the James River across from Jamestown and Williamsburg.  Again, we do volunteer work.  John does computer work and Jane picks up trash on the roads!  She has found her calling at last!! ;- )  Unfortunately, the nice cool weather of the mountains of West VA is not here, but it is really HOT and HUMID!!  Reminds us of Florida during the summer!!  Most interesting park with a number of old historical buildings, and most nice folks work here who we really enjoy meeting!  Daniel, the Park Manager, who used to be at Grayson Highlands State Park, the staff and his family really made this an enjoyable stay (despite the weather)!

South to Gaffney, South Carolina to the Freightliner Factory to have our motorhome dash air repaired (it quit working a week after we left Texas), and to have a new fuel tank installed.  Ever since we have owned the RV, John has been unable to fill the tank completely full without having to trickle in the last 20 gallons, so this should alleviate that problem.  We had good service and were very happy that they completed the work in one day instead of the two that had been planned!  Both were wonderful successes!!

Travel then took us North to Bayboro, North Carolina, along Pamlico Sound to River’s Edge Family Campground.  Our purpose for this visit is to see our friends, Les and Karen who we sailed with back in FL and John had worked with at AT&T.  They now are the

Long-time friends Karen and Les

owners of a puppy, Pip, and she and Sassy, our Corgi, really had fun playing together!  We had fun watching them too!!  We had a great time renewing our friendship and catching up on each others lives.  Their new home in Oriental is quiet lovely and we really had a wonderful time with our friends!

Thanks for traveling along with us!…blessings,  Jane and John

PS:  The new fuel tank is a complete success!  We can now use the high-volume truck pumps and completely fill our 100 gallon fuel tank (we generally stop for fuel when we need 50-75 gallons) in ten minutes or less!  With the old fuel tank, we would usually take 20-25 minutes.  The fueling ordeal is finally over.  Many, many thanks to Freightliner Custom Chassis for stepping up to the problem and replacing our tank even though they had no obligation to do so.  We are thrilled to have that level of support in difficult economic times.