Off course; off schedule, but having a great time.
Friday - October 23, 2015: Starting Month Three today. We left Holmes Beach on August 23, 61 days ago. We planned to be in Savannah GA by now. We're having fun following the colors and not the calendar. Re-learning adaptability and embracing a high tolerance for ambiguity.
Headed to the beach today. When Patti was growing up in the Philadelphia area her family would vacation on The Jersey Shore. She has such fond memories of The Shore. Her family moved to Kansas when she was 13, so more than 50 years since she'd been on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. She was excited to see it again.
Today, there are wall to wall casinos and beach reclamation has done away with the space "Under the Boardwalk." But, it is a lot like she remembered. The Steel Pier is still there; although the diving horse is history. Of course, we are here "out of season," so many of the concessions are closed for the season. Never the less, we found a sandwich shop that makes a great Shore Hoagie. We shared an Italian Hoagie and french fries. Dale had never eaten an authentic Hoagie before. He's sold.
Some advertising literature we came across indicated that the game Monopoly was fashioned after the streets in Atlantic City. We wondered about that as we drove toward the beach and Boardwalk. Very interesting. The Atlantic Ocean is very different that the Gulf of Mexico and the farther north we've been, it is a whole lot more like the Pacific Ocean. Different; but, beautiful.
Great day; being all bundled up at the beach - different; but, beautiful.
Saturday - October 24, 2015: Time to visit Patti's homeland - Philadelphia PA. While she never actually lived in Philadelphia, she did live on the south east side of the City: Swedesboro NJ; Trainer PA; and, Chester PA. We were able to find her house in Swedesboro; well maintained after 50 more years of family living. Trainer and Chester, not so much. Lots of area businesses closed. The Delaware River Ferry system has been largely replaced with bridges that also replaced business and residential areas. The Polish Catholic Church she attended with her grandparents was still there. No sign of the houses they lived in, although there was evidence of the style of house (northeastern city row-houses). Great to reminisce.
After checking out the old neighborhoods, we decided that it was time for lunch - authentic Philly Cheesesteak. We headed to downtown Philadelphia and Independence Hall. A bit chilly (by Florida standards), but bright sunshine. We found a street vendor making great Cheesesteak sandwiches. And, as good as we hoped they'd be. Awesome.
We got back before dark and ahead of the rain. Tomorrow is a planned domestic day; laundry, window washing, vacuuming, etc. Getting ready for a Travel Day on Monday. Then we'll hook-up for dinner with one of Patti's cousins. More fun time ahead.
Sunday - October 25, 2015: Domestic Day aboard the Schumacher RV (We still haven't come up with a name for our RV. Any suggestions?). Cleaning from stem to stern, including the inside of the windshield. Note that the windshield is big enough for Dale to sit on the dashboard and clean. He has worked hard to keep those skills well hidden over the years.
After cleaning and laundry came a trip to replenish the RV stores - Cherry Coke Zero, milk and TP; in that order.
Had dinner tonight with Patti's cousin Ellen Schuler and her husband Mark. Ellen and Mark visited us at our Carrollwood home in about 1994 (or so). Ellen's parents (Patti's Aunt and Uncle) lived in St. Petersburg at the time. Other members of the family still live in the area. We hadn't seen them for those 21 years. Yesterday, Patti posted that we were at Starbucks; May's Landing NJ. Ellen noted that they only live 25 minutes away and contacted Patti to determine if we'd meet them for dinner at the nearby Applebee's. It was great catching up with them after so many years. That makes at least three friends (separated by time and distance), following this BLOG, that have reached out to us for an opportunity to get reacquainted. Awesome!
Monday - October 26, 2015: Travel Day is always interesting. Our original plan was to arrive at Holmes Beach today. We decided along the way that we were going to see color and not miss it by a week. So, we'll probably not arrive home for another ten days or so. As was said above, we're following the color; not the calendar.
We've learned so much these past two months. For example, the tow dolly has electronic brakes. The "backup light" also triggers the breaks - preventing us from backing up. We've backed up in the past at our storage lot, but not since we began to tow. Over the weekend we learned that if we disconnect the electrical cable, we can back up - in a pinch. So, Dale decided to test it this morning. Hooray, it worked. We can now back into sites. We prefer a pull thru site; but not all RV Parks have pull thrus. We can now stay where we want; or, better yet, we can stay based on availability. No pull thru, no problem. Well, as you must know, no good deed goes unpunished. The electrical cable was installed by U-Haul, when we rented the first "test tow dolly." We had a difficult time plugging it back in. After several choice words from Dale, looking for the correct expletive to make it work, Patti stepped in and connected it on the first try. Dale sheltered his wounded ego and we headed for Starbucks.
While the day started with cloudy skies, the sun came out soon. Spectacular. What a difference a day or two can make. We traveled much the same path on Saturday to visit Philadelphia and the color was noticeably more vibrant today. We've concluded that we have hit peak in this area. Time to move a little further south. That's the plan. Ellen and Mark told us that I-81 goes through the Shenandoah Valley. That's our next stop. First, a visit to Mount Vernon, Monticello, Gettysburg and Amish Country (Lancaster PA).
Stay tuned.
171 miles today.
