Riley is a "Happy Camper"

Today (Wed) was a good day with a sad note. Riley and I pretty much chilled today. We played a bit and took a long walk. When we walk on country roads with wide shoulders I am able to let him have full range of his long retractable leash. He loves it; stopping to smell whatever interests him as I keep walking. When the leash nears its full length he scurries ahead until he finds another smell that must be investigated, actually jumping a bit in his strides. This run-stop routine happens very frequently and I think he has made a game of it. I do think Riley is “A Happy Camper.”

When we lived in the suburban sprawl, after about a mile or so on our daily boring walks he would just trod along with me until we finished our strolling exercise. Not so now! He is still full of energy all the way until we get back to Roz and reluctantly goes inside when I open the door.

There was a sad note though, at least for me, on today’s walk. At one point he got into a pile of bones along the side of the road. Quickly I pulled him back before he could grab one. Thinking it was the remains of a road kill deer, I looked to see if there were any antlers in the pile, and then I saw what upset me. There was a dog collar in the middle of the pile. Somebody’s pup didn’t make it home. I felt sad for the unknown Rover and wondered who missed their friend.

Later in the afternoon I did my third “photo op” walk around the site grounds. This farm is fascinating, especially to a city boy who is a country boy at heart. I have at least 400 images so far to weed through and see which I really like. I have a lot of fun time accumulating for those rainy days ahead when I will do my edits. I have done a couple comical images for posting here. I hope you like them.

Time to make supper. I think I will have homemade breaded chicken fingers, steamed broccoli and potatoes with butter. MMMmmm. Oh, and my last Yuengling Lager to wash it down. 

Thursday AM. Well it is raining today. First real rain since we left. So I guess I will be hard at it slaving over a hot computer selecting and editing images.

Last day in Cumberland, MD, and heading to North Carolina…

Levere, Steven and I had dinner at the local pub/restaurant Puccini’s. We had a great meal; my wood-fired meat lover pizza was excellent. We were treated to ghost stories from the waitress and barmaid — and it wasn’t a rehearsed spiel for the tourist. The restaurant is reputed to be haunted. In fact, it has been investigated by City Lights Paranormal Society of Easton, PA. Levere gave me this report on the investigation.

Personally, I am neither a believer nor a disbeliever. Ghosts can be real, even if they are just in your mind.

After dinner we said farewell but promised to meet again. Thanks Levere and Steven! You two definitely started me off right on this journey.

Friday was to be a travel day, heading to North Carolina. In an attempt to be ready to leave at first light, Roz (the name I have given my RV) was prepped and ready the night before. All that was left for the AM was to make coffee and hook Mack (my Jeep) to Roz’s bumper. Oh, and dump the holding tanks. I was a little hesitant about leaving this beautiful park but it was beginning to get cooler and we needed to head for warmer places.

The trip was pretty much uneventful. We traveled 300 plus miles (about as far as I want to go on a daily basis) on  interstate and US highways, with special effort to avoid the DC area of I-95. Anyone who has ever driven in the highways around the capital knows why. Halfway there I received e-mail confirmation that the RV camp I wanted to go to accepted my reservation. (Ya gotta love technology!) Great, now we have a place to stay. A friend from Cyclefish, “Carrie1957”, recommended this place to me. Thanks Carrie!

Tobacco Farm Camp, had to be tailor made for me. Quiet, rustic and very reasonable. It is an old tobacco farm where the main house is a bed and breakfast and the out buildings were converted to RV sites. I will take a lot of photos here you can bet. The place is run by a very nice lady who is not afraid of big dogs like Riley. She walked right up to him and gave him a pat on the head. He liked her too. Dogs can read people, I sincerely believe.

I am going to meet up with Carrie, and later hopefully with another Cyclefish member, Stephanie Britt, who is just 50 or so miles away. I think I’ll spend a week here. More to come…

Oops, I forgot to thank...

When I was creating a thank you posting I really feared I would miss someone. And I did...I assure all it is due to ravages of age and not thoughtlessness.
So a belated thank you to my daughter ('Sula and Wade's mom) for taking care of their home-front while Frank spent the entire day ensuring the old guy got out on time. THANKS AMY!

And to my daughter who is also my editor and technical adviser for all things oratory. Without her I would sound like, well me, instead of a semi-literate man. THANKS JEN!

And my favorite ex-camera store employee and her friend for clearing a large space in their garage where I could comfortably bed Rex for a few months. Without them I would have had to send Rex to the Harley pound for safe keeping and I didn't want to do that. THANKS EMILY and ERIN! Be sure to pet him every once in a while

A new sneaker for Mack

When we parked last night I discovered that Mack had a blown front sneaker (flat tire) and decided that I would get to it after my first cup. 

It was our second day on the road and Wayne Hancock’s “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs” was playing on the satellite radio. A good omen, I thought.

By morning Mack had a new sneaker and we were ready to roll again. The tire change was uneventful; there was no obvious sign of what was wrong. Here's hoping it is just the valve stem.

One lesson I surely learned was that Roz doesn’t do too well on country mountain roads. Switchbacks galore, narrow lanes, and steep upgrades and downgrades made for a harrowing 30 or so miles, especially the last five on a steep downgrade. Wow, did her brakes get hot and smell like they were on fire. She probably would have been fine by herself, but with Mack in tow, that's an additional few thousand pounds of push down the hill. And he doesn’t do any of the braking. How ungrateful he is.

We made it without incident, but I bet my blood pressure spiked a bit. I have made a resolution: NO MORE COUNTRY MOUNTAIN ROADS. Only highways and interstates through mountains. It's a hard resolution to keep for me because I do so love country mountain roads.

Another bit I need to remember: Check ALL cabinet doors and latches. The entire pantry and refrigerator contents ended up on the floor in one particularly tight turn. Fortunately the liquid container lids stayed on.

Today was the first of many rendezvous with CycleFish members. I was graciously invited to dinner at Levere and Steven's place and they served the absolute best pot roast I have eaten in a very long time. MMMmmmm, and pumpkin pie and homemade shortbread for dessert. Levere, you can COOK! Steven, you are a lucky guy! (Levere, I know he knows!) I was in culinary heaven. They sent me off with a care package and I didn’t argue. The shortbread will go great with coffee tomorrow morning and the roast will be tomorrow's dinner.

It was great to see them both and chat about all things bike and house construction. Steven, I still want to hear that train whistle on a bike. Wouldn’t that get the cage driver's attention!?

This well-kept Maryland state park features gorgeous mountain scenery and spacious sites. The restrooms and showers are impeccably clean and have plenty of hot water. Once we arrived, Riley took me for a walk and showed me all the sites that interested him. I lost track of how many times he stopped to sniff and I had to urge him to move on. So many new smells and only one nose.

On our second day here I saw some bear sign. Not much but they are around. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up from a funny but not so good dream. You see, there was this bear family at the door knocking and holding Riley’s food bowl. One was pointing to it as if to say, “Hey! We want more.” I forgetfully left it set on the ground outside the door. You can imagine how relieved I was to wake and realize it was just a dream. I immediately got up and brought Riley’s bowl inside. It is so weird how this thing (sometimes called a brain) I have in my head works. I had to fall asleep to remember that when in bear country leave no food out. Jen Sweeney I was remembering your bear story from Bushkill Falls.

Happy Trails to You…

 I have been blessed with some great family members and some great friends. My last four days in the previous residence were hectic and confusing. There were things to pack for storage, things to put in Roz, things to give to family and friends to use. Then my minimal amount of furniture and copious amount of boxes had to go to storage. To all that helped me achieve this dream I am now living I say THANKS!

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My sister and her husband came to my house and picked up about forty pieces of my framed fine art photographs for storage. No small task I assure you. Thanks Lisa and Ed!

My son and daughter-in-law spent a day clearing a room in the unused apartment above their garage so I would have a safe, dry and free place to put my keepsakes and such. Thanks Joe and Gretchen! 

And I cannot forget my daughter who helped so much with the party a few weeks ago. It wouldn’t have happened without her. Thanks Jen!

Then there was my almost lifelong friend (known him since fourth grade) who came to my rescue with his pick-up truck and back for the 'moving experience.' Two old dudes wheezing and chugging up and down stairs. Story fodder for Laurel and Hardy for sure. Thanks John! (and Lynne you are welcome for me getting him out of your hair for a day.)

Final house clearing and packing day for Roz arrived. There was at least 12 hours of work to do and only 8 to get it done. Once again a family member came to my rescue. My son-in-law (‘Sula’s Dad) showed up unannounced and unasked but certainly not unappreciated. What a great help he was. We got it all done and I was ready to leave on time. Thanks Frank!

I was spending the weekend at my friends’ house, camping in their driveway so to speak. Roz still needed a few options and repairs before we could leave and the plan was to get those things done on Sunday morning. The biggest problem we had to solve was an electrical problem in the trailer wiring harness. I would not be able to tow Mack unless that was fixed. We worked on it for a couple hours crawling around on the ground, banging heads on frame members and blowing fuses but were ultimately successful. Lights are working as designed! HOORAH! There were also some minor mods that were accomplished. Through all of this my friend spent his day off helping me, and this guy doesn’t get a lot of time off. We were never in want of snacks or drinks during this shade tree maintenance seminar. Thanks Alien and Jonnie!

The rest of Sunday was spent watching some football, having a few drinks, and talking about the old days with several of my long time friends. Then came the farewell dinner, WOW! Roast pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatos, and baked apples. This followed by coffee, cheesecake and carrot cake on the veranda. A better meal you could not find! Then these guys and girls gave me some surprise (to me) care packages. There were all kind of goodies for the trip. Everything from laundry detergent to snacks to my favorite, bottles of Jack. I can live for two weeks on the food they gave me. Oh and dog cookies and other things for Riley. They topped that off with a rendition of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song “Happy Trails to You.” It was touching so Thanks Alien, Arlene, Jacky, Jonnie and Stump!

Shown here are Me, Jacky, Arlene, Stump, Alien's hands and no Jonnie. She took the photo (and she better give it back.)

I think it was Lao-tzu who said “The longest journey begins with a single step.”In homage to that I have included a photo of the first official yard of the trip. We are now underway. Roz, Mack, Riley and me left Phoenixville, PA this morning. Before we left there were a few loose ends to tie. It amazes me how easy it is to sign up to spend your money with utility and cable companies but when you want to terminate your service they are not so helpful and do not make it easy. That ardor complete we headed west towards Gettysburg, PA. We arrived mostly well. It seems Mack has a flat tire. It is dark and raining a bit so that will wait till morning...

Thanks for visiting and feel free to comment.

Shake-Down Cruise.

Being very new to the RV life I felt it necessary to try things out before we actually commence the trip. I considered parking in the back yard but decided that wouldn't be a true test. Cape May, NJ is great in the fall, and only 90 miles away, so that is where we are. Roz, Riley and me. We found an old-timey RV park. You know the ones without all the extras. No pool, hell I don't swim anyway. No spa, game-room, shuffle board court, just peace and quiet. But of course we are not camping so the electric hook-up, water and sewer are still necessary.The park owner / manager, Doug, is a Harley rider too. He has an 06 Road King. We chatted bikes for quite a while. It still amazes me how we riders tend to ratchet-jaw so easily.
Pop! Bang!, another acorn hits the roof and rolls off. The one annoyance in this park. Oaks dropping their acorns, and they don't stop after 'quiet hours.' How rude is that?

    It is hard to imagine but some essentials were forgotten. A can opener, coffee filters just to mention two. My trusty, ever on my belt Leatherman Super Tool came to the rescue. Never leave home without one. Paper towels make suitable coffee filters also. Oh and only enough dog food for Riley for one meal. So he had Cheerios with me for our first road breakfast. Don't fret they are the standard Cheerios without added sugar. He enjoyed having his own bowl and then was begging for some of mine.
My computer systems worked fine with one exception (detailed later). Systems? Did he say systems? Yes he did. Since I am heavy into digital photography and I will be living in Roz for at least a year I needed my graphics PC and big monitor. I also brought the laptop for backup. The one thing I can not bring is my awesome printer. It is just too large to bring. A somewhat smaller but equal in quality replacement is in the planning stages. Oh, and since I have the PC and stuff I also needed my surround sound. I am very pleased with how it all is working. As I type this I am listening to sixties music from my PC music library. Just like home! Even better, I can reach the fridge for a beer without getting out of my office chair. Shades of Homer Simpson. Mmmmmm Beer...Mmmmm! The Jack locker is a bit further, two whole steps.
The one thing that didn't work is, my graphics PC can not connect to the internet through my smart-phone. A software problem that will be solved. I need a computer geek. So for now smart-phone internet is only available to my laptop. Now aren't you glad you brought it as a back-up, Mike!

To sum it up the shake-down is serving it's purpose. I have a short list of things to modify and or purchase. We have eaten well and are generally pleased.

There is one funny Riley story that I have to pass on. This afternoon I was relaxing inside (power-nap style) and thought I heard some squirrels making a heck of a racket out by the picnic table. All off a sudden I hear Riley's attack growl followed immediately by  BAM! SLAM!  That was the screen door flying open and slamming against the outside wall. Startled from my semi-comatose state by this noise I spotted Riley's butt heading out the door at full speed. By the time I got out the door he was in the next camp-site (glad no one was there) sniffing all around under the trailer. Quickly I caught up to him and you could see by his expression that he knew he was in trouble. Maybe it was all my screaming and arm waving that clued him in. Ushering him unceremoniously back to Roz and pushing him rudely into a corner and yelling one of the most dreaded words in his people-speak dictionary, STAY!  And even worse BAD DOG! His look said “I'm sorry Dad.” but I wasn't giving in, for at least a couple minutes anyway. The next item on my to-do list is a more secure screen latch and lower screen protector.


OK, Little Eva's "Locomotion" is playing so it is time to go outside and watch the sun go down, have a good cigar and another beer.

There's gonna be (was) a Party...

I have been blessed with a great family and many good friends. A twinge of guilt intermingled with some sadness resides in me. For I will be leaving all of them behind while I (somewhat selfishly) Scratch this Itch. I will miss everyone immensely, especially the shining stars in my sky, 'Sula, Sophie, Wade, Henry and Isabelle, and the newest yet to be named. Please know my grand-children, when I gaze in wonderment at the night sky, far from cities light pollution, I will be seeing you. Whenever I see Mars and the moon I will see dear Sophie. If I chance to see a shooting star I will surely be reminded of all of you running and laughing. Not forgetting the parents who brought these joys to my life, Amy and Frank, Jeff, Lauren, Jen and Austin, Joe and Gretchen, Jen and Joe,. And my other family members and good friends, I will miss them too. There will be no further naming for fear of omitting someone whom I dearly love. You know who you are and how important your friendship is to me. Separation from all of you is the only negative feeling I have, and it is a large negative, in a very positive experience soon to commence. Riley and I will return to a semi-rooted lifestyle after this journey, but we will probably begin plans for the next one.. This urge I have to travel must be genetic. It is becoming a desire I am unable control and it must be sated. Quoting Skynyrd, “ I was born a travelin' man .”

So, to ease the goodbyes and the keep-in-touches we are getting together to celebrate this friendship. There will be a party, a camp out, cook out, beer wine and whiskey drinking extravaganza. Hopefully no local constables. Mother Nature's weather makers are cooperating and it is going to be great. It was a GREAT NIGHT!