Back Home - Wellsboro, PA

April 29th - Thursday Cool and windy, w/ lots of sunshine

We are home and I guess we are glad to be here; however, as I was handing bags to Lou from the RV there were snow flakes falling, as a special "welcome home".

We spent yesterday, going through "mountains" of mail, and we finally finished up late last evening and we were able to put the card table away.

When we reached home, we found we didn't have a land line telephone, despite the fact we had called from Florida to reaffirm the date of our return, so we made a quick trip to the closest place we could find cell service and reported that, and the phone was restored late yesterday. We are without the extras on the phone, but can accept phone calls and make calls.

The mail contained many things that needed immediate attention, so we both made a list of things to do and set out trying to wrap all of it up at one time. That was a joke....; however, I was able to get a claim filed regarding the second incident involving the RV, and that is being taken care of. Poor DH seemed to hit a brick wall with everything he tried to do, so I took over his list today and spend several hours on the telephone and think we have that under control.

I sorted out three months of receipts and got them filed with the statements as we paid all of them. Still have the checkbooks to balance, but that will be the easiest part. Lou is off taking care of the gentleman's check book that he takes care of.

DH is coming down with the same bug I had prior to coming home, so got him started on an antibiotic and hopefully, he won't be much worse than he is now. I know I had a hard time shaking mine and am still taking an antibiotic. We both have appointments for our annual physicals coming up.

I am off to the grocery and pick up the bedding from the RV and get that all washed up and tomorrow will work on getting the clothes sorted out on what stays and what comes home.

Lawn work awaits us also, that is the fun part for me. I did get a plant box of pansies planted yesterday afternoon. Our spring flowers are just beautiful with many blooms yet to come.

Day with Aunt Hettie - Gum Neck, Outer Banks, NC

April 25th - Sunday rainy last pm, cloudy today with a gentle breeze - a bit humid

Lou and I were up and ready for church which started at 1 0:35 am. The church is on the base here and another good speaker. The service was based on the Lutheran service and we did have communion this morning. The only bad part was, I have caught cold and can't talk out loud and they sang all songs that I like and I couldn't make a sound.

After church we came home and changed our clothes and Lou wanted to go shopping, so we spent the afternoon in the stores that he enjoys. The first stop was Ollie's and that is always good for new books. I found Jimmy Carter's new book which pleased me and several of my Christian authors that I enjoy. Found a wonderful book of The Footsteps of Paul and want to give that to Aunt Hettie, I had such a good conversation with her yesterday on of Bible and her studies throughout the years, I just know she will love this book, and it has many beautiful pictures that will bring the Holy Land to life for her.

Our next step was to Applebee's and Lou got to enjoy his favorite steak and I had a delightful chicken salad and we split a lava cake and ice cream for dessert After our tummies were full, we decided we needed to walk, so went to Walmart and we sure did walk. As I mentioned before we are going to do some redecorating in our RV so we made the first step today, we purchased new throw rugs to put throughout the RV, we chose a deep burgundy and we were very pleased with our purchases. That is the first step, and will finish our theme after we return home. We are going to do a Florida theme and that will be fun, as we both enjoy the shells and such. Lou's favorite color is blue so will get sheets that are blue and carry that color through to the bathroom as well.

Yesterday, we picked up Aunt Hettie at the Assisted Care Home in Elizabeth City and drove to Gum Neck, where she was raised, it was so interesting listening to she and Lou talk about what used to be and what is there now, what stories she had to tell. I was amazed at the huge fields of potatoes that were growing, and the farmers were all busy as work tilling the ground to plant corn, what I wouldn't have given to sat upon one of the seats of the huge tractors and gone across the field once. Some different from the fields we tended in northern PA. We went to a wildlife preserve and she got to see many birds, turtles and such, she kept saying, "Kathy get a picture of that". So I want to do up a picture album when we get home and send it to her.

We stopped at The Country Feed House for lunch and we all enjoyed sitting and awaiting our lunch, as the walls were decorated with old fashioned farm tools and we all talked about how we used each of the tools and discovered we could name all of them and what they were used for.

We all ordered old fashioned hamburgers and that is exactly what we got, not the frozen patties, but fresh meat hand pressed served on fresh sour dough bread, with cheese, lettuce and tomato, we all enjoyed our burgers along with some french fries.

After lunch, we were off to points unknown to me, Lou and Aunt Hettie knew where we were going, but they told me it was going to be a surprise and indeed it was, we went to the Outer Banks and that came with mixed joy, as my granddaughter has always wanted to go their with her father's family and when she was asked to go, my deceased husband was bad, and she hesitated in going and he told her to go and have a good time. She got about three hours away from home and he kept asking for her and finally said he wanted her with him, so our grandson, Shawn went after her and brought her back home to her Pa. We all expected he would die that evening, but he hung on for a little longer, and Michelle gave up her vacation at the Outer Banks for her Pa and I know she did it very willingly. I didn't get out to walk to the beach, couldn't bring myself to do that, but did take several pictures for her.

We then went on to Kitty Hawk and I did have to get out and see that, it was very interesting and similar to what the kids and I had seen in Dayton, Ohio, but this was the actual spot in which the Wright Brothers flew their plane. Lou has been wonderful showing me all the things that he thinks I would enjoy and this certainly has been a winter to remember and cherish for both of us.

We delivered Aunt Hettie back to her home with what she said were good feelings and she was so thankful to us f or taking the time to take her and spend time with her. We left her with a promise to stop back next year on our way home from Florida.

Lou and I arrived back at the RV with Estee and we were all tired but fulfilled with a good day of memories for all of us. Aunt Hettie loved Estee and remembered her from October and she really looked out for her all the time we were riding.

Tomorrow we are setting out for the journey back north. We are to meet friends for lunch on our way out of North Carolina and will meet other friends in Virginia tomorrow night. Lou talked with one of our friends in PA tonight and he is anxious for us to return and Lou told him he would call him the minute he hit Catlin Hollow.

Lou and I were delighted to hear that kids on both of our sides of the family have taken care of our lawns, so that will be one job we won't have to tackle the minute we get home. I know Lou is anxious to get our garden rototilled and some things into the ground, so that will probably be number one and I have the landscaper coming to get my yard ready for summer, a lot of things were neglected last year that will need to be done this spring and summer,so sounds like we will be busy once again. Lou wants to enlarge the garden this year, so will let him do his thing and we will both enjoy working together in it.

If all goes as we plan, we should arrive in PA on Wednesday.

Elizabeth City United Coast Guard Station - North Carolina

April 23rd Friday - Sunny Beautiful Weather - 78 degrees

We left Cherry Point at 10:00 am, we were surprised to hear a familiar voice as we were putting the jacks up and it was Trav, he was a work, and on his way to the Vet, and saw us still in our spot, so he stopped to see if he could help us in any way. Very typical of this guy, so we got to say goodbye to him again and we were off.

We traveled up route 17 through rural North Carolina. The huge fields of winter wheat are about to head out. We also saw crop duster planes flying around taking care of their duties for this time of the year. The huge fields of cotton that we saw last October are now dormant awaiting the hum of tractors that will till the ground once again. We saw many huge tractors out in the fields tilling them up making them ready to accept the seed.

The Azaleas are just beautiful everywhere along with the dogwood and we even saw iris bloomed along with creeping phlox in beautiful lavender and blue. As Lou told me we would be able to enjoy spring for the majority of the month of April.

We went through Hertford, NC, kids do you remember, that is the hometown of Cat Fish Hunter, the great ball player.

We arrived on the Coast Guard Base and found it just beautiful, and we are in the midst of a small forest and it seems nice to see grass and trees and the water isn't very far away. I have tired to include some of the pictures that Lou and I took this afternoon as we drove around the base. Many many planes and helicopters here also, along with the ships.

We drove out to the Assisted Living Home where Aunt Hettie is and talked with her this afternoon, and she is so excited that we are coming back tomorrow and taking her to her home town to visit with family and friends, she named off many folks that she wants to see. She was so glad to see Estee and told us she had her picture on her dresser from last October. We told her goodbye and promised to see her at 10:00 tomorrow even if it rained and we would tour Gumneck.

Sunday we are going to attend church here on the base then meet friends for lunch and site see again in the afternoon, then Monday morning we will start north, again taking our time coming home, as we know we are going to be busy when we hit home.

Cherry Point Marine Base - North Carolina

April 22nd Thursday - Clear - Sunny - low 56 degrees

We are at Cherry Point Marine Base - Which is part of the Crystal Coast - North Carolina’s southern outer banks.

We are parked in a RV park provided by the base, which is in view of Travis and Noell’s home. (Shawn, we are two sites down from where you and Maegan were parked) This is really convenient for all of us, we can walk down to the kids house and just leave our car parked.

Lou and I ate lunch at the Japanese restaurant on base at lunch time and then went to the Commissary to restock our shelves and

By the time we finished putting all away, it was time to go over and see the baby and his family. Wyatt has grown so much since we saw him last. Noell is so good to keep up a blog of his activities with videos and such, so the family can stay connected with all of them. Doing blog also, I can appreciate the time and efforts she puts into this project and I try to view it daily, as I do with each of my girls. I look forward to seeing them everyday, even when we are at home, but especially when we are traveling.

Lou and I spent time taking with Noell and Wyatt until it was time for Trav to return home from work, then we caught up on things and went out to dinner at the Sanitary. A favorite for all of us, we all had seafood and wonderful desserts. Lou and Wyatt were our entertainment for the evening. After dinner we returned to their house and enjoyed looking at all of the pictures Maegan and Noell had taken over Easter of their visit here. What a pleasure to see first hand that the little girls had a great time at the ocean enjoying the sand and the water. Girls, look at the sandcastle that Lou and I found at the beach on Monday. No one around so have no idea who made it, but a lot of time went into it. Maybe an idea for your next visit to the ocean.

Thursday pm

Will add a PS to the original and get it posted. Lou and I sorta wasted the day, we had made a phone call to our road assistance to check about the towing company that towed us the first time, and they asked us to wait and they wanted to contact the company first and see how they made out and they would be back with us. So therefore, we didn’t dare leave the phone and the file of info to go site seeing.

At 3:30 we decided we would get out and we drove over to the airfield and watched the harrier fly around.

We went out to eat tonight and had something I had never had, fried dill pickles, pretty good.

The picture of Travis’ house is taken from their side yard, and then I turned around and pointed the camera to the RV Park, so you can see how close to their house we are.

Also, pictures of Travis’ uniform and all of his medals, truly a grandson and his family that we are very proud of.

We are off Elizabeth City at the Coast Guard Station.

Leaving Camp Lejeune, NC

April 21st - Wednesday - rainy

We have been without internet coverage since we left Fort Fisher, therefore, have not posted to our blog. Our cell phone coverage has also been very poor also.

Today we left Camp Lejeune and drove to Cherry Point Marine Base where my grandson is stationed. We will be here for two days, then traveling on to Elizabeth City.

Our stay in Camp Lejeune, which is the largest Marine Base on the east coast. It is always a very interesting place to visit and we enjoy it immensely as it is always busy with activity.

Our camp site bordered the intercostals’ waterway, and the ocean on the other side, so lots of breeze and boat and ship traffic.

Yesterday Lou and I spent the day doing odds and end jobs, getting ready for the trip back north. He built a new wire harness for the lighting system from the RV to the car. I cleaned and caught up on all of the laundry, as we were parked very close to the laundry, finished my ironing, cleaned out the drawers and regular weekly cleaning.

As we were doing our duties we watched troops and equipment come across the bridge and go down to the barge to be loaded and taken out to the ship to be sent on to Afghanistan. We saw four buses of troops and all night last night we heard the helicopters going over our RV. We were told they were transporting troops to fly out this morning. You can note in the pictures of some of the equipment that was loaded. This went on all afternoon, so that will give you an idea of what all was entailed. Makes one remember to continue to pray for our troops that are still involved in active combat and those in training.

Here at Cherry Point, the home of the Harrier , is a much smaller base; however, a favorite of mine, suppose it is because I have a grandson and his family here. This base is not a deployment base, so these boys know they are pretty much safe for the time being. Travis is in the K-Nine division and loves the work and the dogs that he has the pleasure of working with.

We do not have internet coverage here either, but will take my computer to Trav’s house and try to post a blog each day while we are here and have a chance to check our e-mail.

We are off to the commissary to get some groceries and be ready to be at Trav’s when he gets home and then we are all going out to dinner

Leaving Fort Fisher

April 18th - Sunday Cold and windy, low 57

We pulled out the long pants and jackets this am and walked over to the Museum to take a look at the equipment they had sitting outside. All was rather interesting.

This will be real quick as DH is ready to go, and we have made reservations at Camp Lejuene for three nights and will leave there on Wednesday and journey up to Travis and Noell's home. Will post more later.

Had a phone call from a friend that is traveling in the south and he said that his home town of Troy was to have an inch of snow,so guys we aren't in any hurry.

More later