The Nutmeg State 2014

 

If you see this fellow in your travels, you are in the North West Corner of Connecticut.  Some times referred to as ‘The Quiet Corner’  Never quiet during March when the UCONN Boys and Girls teach the other states how to play round ball. http://www.ctmuseumquest.com/?page_id=1520

We’ve settled several of our schedule issues after consulting Anne-Marie’s Ophthalmologist here in Connecticut.  They have scheduled cataract removal on both of her eyes. To accommodate our schedule, he is compressing the schedules required for 2 surgery’s as much as possible.  We will be staying in the general area until August 23rd which is her final release date..

We will being attending 2 of the upcoming National Camping Travelers Events;

The National Rally in Center Hall Pennsylvania on July 19-25th.

Vermont Rally on Aug. 15-17th.

Congratulations are due to our Granddaughter Amelia who graduated last week from Portland, CT.  Her reward for all the hard work she has done for the last 4 years is acceptance in Worcester Polytechnic Institute where she will study engineering.  Did you notice that she is a stunning, statuesque blond also?

About 3 weeks ago she helped her Dad R&R the engine is Herbie, one of her daily drivers.

We are presently at Travelers Woods where we celebrated the 30th anniversary of this small campground on Rt I91 on the MA & VT border.  We bought our ‘share’ about 25 years ago and are very proud of the campground’s growth and achievements.

 

Remember to drive carefully and don’t text while behind the wheel!

Boondocking in Bristol, CT 2014

 

We arrived in Bristol after 2 long uneventful road days.  Happy with the coach, it’s doing 7mpg.  This appears to be a result of our relativity low weight <30,000 pounds and the old syle 5.9 Cummings Diesel.  We are shown here where we Boon-docked at St. Andrews Church in Bristol, CT.

Big Thanks to Ursala & Richard Kaminski who hosted us, giving laundry and shower facilities.  We went to dinner at George’s in Unionville, CT.

I lost my computer for a few days, my former co-worker Ray Konopka was kind enough to scrub the harddrive and restore it’s youth.  Works great Ray!  If you need IT work in Northern CT or Western Mass.  You should get him on board.  Contact me for referral.

We moved to Rick & Connie Knowles’ property on Saturday, here we are shown parked next to their Garage/Barn.  Nice to have electricity!

We attended Anne-Marie’s 50 year H.S. Reunion.  It was held at the Marriott in Windsor and was great fun.  Don’t ask about the fish ;-(

Lot’s of old folks there I’m thinking my Gal aged better than most.

Road To Connecticut 2014

Closing thoughts on GLAMA/Fleetwood Rally.  It was well done; 545 rigs, very few issues getting in and out of a very wet field.

About 100 vendors, one of the custom shops brought this wonderful 21′ 1974 Winny modified with 2 slides, re-powered and 1st class interior and paint.

The entertainment (3 Nights) was well done.  The shows on night number 2 & 3 pales in comparison to the concert presented by The New Odyssey.  Hard to believe that 3 guys with 30 instruments can supply 90 minutes of such energy packed entertainment.

 

 

 

 

Food, We Had Food!  The most spectacular was the roast pig enjoyed by all with the possible exception of the ‘Guest of Honor’  All the food presented was fresh & hot.

Thanks to the Fleetwood factory techs who spent about 2 hours on our rig doing minor repairs and explaining several maintenance procedures to me.

 

 

Time for Fun! 2014

We have had intermittent deluges of rain, 1.5″ per hour at times. The grounds were very wet, the water has no place to go. Hopefully the last 3 days of sunshine will dry the field allowing us to move out on Sunday afternoon as planned..

On Wednesday night we had a nice dinner of beef brisket and Chicken Surprise. This was followed by outrageously good musical.comedy entertainment.

The New Odyssey Band is a 3 man group with 30 instruments. In one song the played them all!

GLAMA Rally 2014

 We left Noblesville with high anticipation of replacing our early card game funature {We had donated our good stuff}.  Custom Amish made lounge chairs at the home of Lambright Comfort Chair in Elkhart, In.  They are Amish, it isn’t really possible to call ahead.  Oh, they have a phone in a litle shed in front of the business which will hold you voice mail until the check it.  Not a great system.As our luck would have it our chairs were about 24 hours from completion.  We would return on Wednesday {as originally scheduled} to get them.

We were not to be disappointed!  The color match and their multifunction design fit right in with our lifestyle.  Lambright’s showroom (below) has a nice selection of their product.  Their nitch market is upscale RV community, they ship to Tiffen and Newmar almost daily.

Back at the Fairground, we had no sooner gotten parked but the sky opened up again.  A good evening to stay in and enjoy comfort food that Anne-Marie had prepared.

The next 3 day will be very busy according to the schedule, we will than have a 1,000 mile hard run to make Grand Daughter’s HS Graduation.

Back to Elkhart area Tomorrow

After 2 weeks with our friends Charlie & Sue Schaffer in Noblesville, IN. we are hitching up to return to Elkhart for a rally cosponsored by Fleetwood Mfg. and the Family Motorcoach Association.  We have had a good time here, more than our share of rain as Charlie can attest while checking the river level.  It is only about 6″ below flooding our rigs, I keep the key in the ignition!

 

 

Not all fun, changing the wiper motor was one of those jobs that can be done about 5 ways, It took me 3 shots to get it right. 

Note that the assembly is much bigger than the Access Hole.

The fellows back in town were busy with their weekly car show, I found this hippy babe sitting in a ’63 VW Camper.

Our built in Microwave did not meet the exacting standards set out by the cook, finding one that did gave me an excuse to juggle those 78 pound monsters.  She was a little slow with the camera, you missed me carrying across the room yelling, ‘Of Crap!’

Finally, there is the story of the 2 not so bright old fellows who rigged this furniture thru the 24″ wide door of our motorhome to make room for new stuff tomorrow in Elkhart.

 

Pouring Rain Here, time to tell you what we’ve been doing. 2014

 

We’ve been camped at Riverbend campground in Noblesville, IN next to our friends Sue & Charlie Schaffer.  Charlie is quite the fisherman, he enjoys the river hear and it is near his family & friends.  One favorite stop is the local Farmer’s Market held each Saturday morning.  From Honey to Homemade baked good, they have it all.

Anne-Marie had her annual Memorial Paint Job done

 

 

 

• We’ve been catching up with more minor repairs and some upgrades.  I spent about a week playing with my reluctant windshield wipers.  I broke down and bought a new motor that I sourced out of Oregon for $150.  I destroyed an el-cheapo bearing puller trying to remove 1 of the 2 wipers, Autozone supplied me with a $14 tool that removed it in 1 minute with much less cussing.

My apprentice is shown here making ready to smite it a mighty blow with her B.F.H..  We have the motor removed, now waiting for U.P.S. to do it’s share of the job.

Bethal Lutheran Church her has a band complete with a choral group to help celebrate the 11:00 service.  Drums in church do seem to add a nice touch.

Note the small pup tent left of center in this picture.  It seems that the camper in it was smoking too many left handed cigarettes to ignore.  The local constabulary came out with 3 cars an about mid day.  They pulled one right up to the tent and serenaded him with full volume on the sirens and air horn.  Details as reported on 11:00 news after our regular programing!