Sunday Blessing

Sunday, April 27th - The beautiful dogwood as seen in Virginia

Back Home in Pennsylvania

April 27th Sunday - 47 degrees and sunny

We arrived home on Thursday around 4:30 pm.  Thanking the good Lord for a safe trip this winter.  We did indeed have a good winter with  no mishaps and had good health.  Never had to use the antibiotics that our family doctor so graciously allowed us to take along with us.

The trip from Virginia to Carlisle was beautiful.  The redbud trees were in full bloom, along with the dogwood and forsythia.  We stopped at Western Village RV Park for the night, certainly not by choice, but out of necessity, as we needed to pick up our prescriptions at the base in the morning.  It was the most expensive camp ground that we had been on in all winter, did not have internet, that we could access, no cement pads, and the water leaked.  Plus, a charge of $3.00 per person to visit us.  Well, anyhow, we had dinner with Brion and Janet Thursday night and they came back to visit with us and then on Friday morning we picked up our medication and started home.

Field of daffodils along the road

We made several stops along the way to get a few things that we needed, one being a new electric blanket for the motor home.  Ours had died while on  trip and we knew that we would need it for the rest of the summer, we certainly missed it on the cold nights in Oceana.

We stopped at Pierces for pork barbecue f or our lunch and some to bring home with us.  They are known for their good food all over Virginia and we had to double back in order to get to their place, but it was worth the drive to do so.

We dropped our Chevy off at Cole and Burd to have it inspected and have the oil changed and a lube done and scheduled a time to  pick it up the next day.

It was good to get home, and we got a lot of things carried in before it was time to go to Krista's house for dinner.  It was so good to see Matthew and he certainly was happy to see us.  Krista and Michelle had fixed us Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti with salad and homemade bread.  Certainly tasted good to tired travelers.

We have finally gotten through all of the mail and magazines and gotten caught up on the paper work, still have some things to unload, but some of it will remain in the RV until after our SMART muster in May, then we  will be going to Ives Run for two weeks the last of June and first of July.  Krista and Steve will be camping with us in their tent during that time also.  We are all looking forward to that time of camping.

Our Week at Oceana Naval Air Station

April 21st - Monday - Cold 55 degrees  Windy

This has been a very cold and windy week here.  What we had hoped for and what we have experience have been two different things.  We have ended up having to put our slides in, as the wind has blown so severely that it has begun to fray out canopy over our slides.  We have run our furnace all of the time and I have used the quilt that my sister made me to cover up with while we have sat and watched television or read.

Sunday we did not go to Easter sunrise service as we had wanted to do, it was 36 degrees and warmed up to 48 degrees.  We did, however, go to church on the base and had a good sermon by the base chaplain.  After church we went to I-Hop for breakfast then back to the RV to change our clothes into something warmer and we read for a while then drove over to Fort Story and looked at the old lighthouse there.  It was complete in 1792 and it the third oldest lighthouse still standing in the US.  I didn’t have my camera with me, so didn’t get a picture of it this time.

We drove into Lynnhaven and tried to find the house that Lou lived in when he was growing up and think we may have located it.  Was an interesting afternoon for him to see how things have changed over the years, even the water ways.  We had dinner at Red Lobster last evening and had enough food left over to bring home for our dinner tonight.

Finally this afternoon the wind seemed to lessen a bit, gusts were down to only 20 miles per hour, and the sun finally come out, so we decided to go sight seeing a little closer to the RV.

We drove over to the Main Gate to the Aviation Historical Park.  They have 13 Naval aircraft from the past as well as the F/A-18 Hornet on display.  We enjoyed walking around all of them and looking at all of them.  Of course, Lou knew all of the information about them and several people there asked him questions about the planes and he was glad to answer all of their questions and add his own stories.  After that we went to the airstrip and watched the F-18 take off and land, that is always an experience.

One of the Blue Angels

One of the early bombers used by the Navy

All of these planes landed on ships at sea and these portable lights were used to guide them to the ships

We drove to the Flame of Hope Memorial/Jet Observation Park.  This is a park that is dedicated to the memory of prisoners of war, missing in action, and those killed the service of their country.  The Flame of Hope itself is lit at all times to light the way for those brave young service members to find their way home.  The park is situated in such a position that affords visitors an excellent advantage for photographing and viewing Oceana jet aircraft as they take off and land. It has picnic tables and open to the public.

Across from the memorial there was a John Deere working the fields and it caught my eye, with its huge disc and I had to take a picture of it.

Our site has been a great place to get a  picture of the sailors and the marines as they march past on their way to class.  I love to sit and eat breakfast and watch them pass.

Some Marines walking to class

The day  before we were to leave here, the temperatures did get up to where we could put our coats on and walk to the beach so we took advantage of it.  Was strange that we did not find any shells on the beach.

We leave here on Wednesday and should be in Carlisle on Wednesday night and home on Thursday, the Lord willing.  Should have internet on Wednesday, so I can get caught up on my posting.

Sea Mist RV Park - NAS Oceana/Dam Neck - Virginia Beach, VA

April 16th -  Sea Mist RV Park - NAS Oceana/Dam Neck - Virginia Beach, VA  42 degrees, sunny and very windy.

We arrived here from Elizabeth City this afternoon.  It was a two hour drive north.  We have reservation to stay here for a week.  We thought we would enjoy a week on the ocean; however, last night we had a cold front move in and did it ever get cold.  We had a Coast Guard Policeman come to the door and warn us of impending wind and the upcoming storm, winds up to 60 miles per hour.

We thought it best to put the slides in, as we were on the bay and the wind was direct at our side and it certainly did blow and rain and the motor home certainly did shake.  It was 80 degrees yesterday, and was 36 degrees when we got up this morning.  The news showed ships that were blown from the ocean (bay area) up on the sand last evening and we saw many electric lines down as we drove this morning and trees down.  Once again the good Lord has seen us through to safety.  We were going to take the ferry this morning to cut down on time and driving, but with the swell in the water, thought it better to pass the ferry up this time.

We have a nice site here at Sea Mist; however, we were in hopes we could see the ocean, and were also disappointed to find that we do not have any internet here, so will type up the blog posts and hopefully will get someplace where I can post them with pictures.

We felt fortunate to be able to watch the Marines at Camp Lejeune train with the all-terrain vehicles and were able to speak to one of the young troops and he was from Scranton, PA.  They were doing a lot of different training in different areas this time and so much construction going on.  Definitely a growing base.

Our campsite at the Coast Guard Station was  wonderful, we could see the ocean and watch the Coast Guard helicopters with their training.  The boys were doing a 3K run Monday morning and that was interesting to watch.  Lou and I both got our hair cut while we were there and the gal that cut my hair was a delight, and her grandmother was from Sayre, PA.  She and her husband were being transferred to Michigan, she was from a Marine family and grew up in Havelock, NC, so we had lots to talk about, as that is where Travis and Noell lived.  She has read all of Nicholas Sparks books also.

We visited Aunt Hettie each day, and found her at her new nursing home and she was delighted to see us and hated to see us leave her.  She will be 94 in June.  She is now is a secured area and not able to go out for a ride with us, and she was disappointed about that, as she always liked to ride around her home town.  We enjoyed talking about “the old times”.  Lou and I were very thankful that we had taken her when she was able.  I had always taken lots of pictures of our visits and then made a book of our visits and sent it to her so she could remember our visits together and she told us she still looks at them, along with the adult picture book of the Bible that we got for her.  Her short term memory is not good.  Such a sweet person and a sweet personality.

Lou and I plan of doing our daily walks in the mornings here before we get started on something.  We have seen a lot of sailors walking past our RV,  so must be a good place to hoof it along!!

Camp Lejeune - Onslow Beach - North Carolina

April 13th - Sunday 80 degrees - Beautiful - Palm Sunday

We arrived here yesterday about 4:30 pm.  It is a difficult drive on route 17 through Myrtle Beach and all of the folks complain about the drive.  We  try to take the by-pass (route 31) around Myrtle Beach; however, we got a phone call at about the time we were to get onto it and we missed it, so had to pick up the next entrance, so was a bit trying.  Had a good trip otherwise and did have reservations, so didn't have to worry about that.

Camp Lejeune is a beautiful military site, the majority of the buildings are brick, with the typical southern architecture and it is a huge complex with a lot of new construction going on.  We went to church on base this morning and heard a wonderful sermon delivered by Chaplin Stewart.  He did the last part of the "fruits of the spirits" Self-Control from Galatians 5:22.  He gave us seven points to use to develop our self control.  We all made notes to use in the future.  Lou and I feel very fortunate, we have heard some wonderful sermons through out the winter in our travels, feel like we have grown spiritually.

The Church on base that we attended

After church we returned to our campsite and changed our clothes and headed for the beach, it is a beautiful beach and it was full of  people.  It is spring break here and there are children all around us.  I was able to find pieces of sand dollars, but no whole ones.

The Beach

I have taken a lot of pictures here, but the internet is so bad here it takes forever for them to load, that I just won't post them.  

We went out for dinner last evening to The Riverside Inn, it was recommended by our neighbors and it was a good meal, but we always compare our seafood meals to the Sanitary near Cherry Point, NC and it came up short.  Another interesting point, we have heard that Cherry Point has made a new Fam-Camp, has 50 camp sites, we always enjoyed going there when Travis was stationed there.  We need to make reservations for the remainder of our trip and will do that this morning after the offices open.  We plan to head for Elizabeth City for several days.

Charleston, South Carolina

April 10th  - Thursday - Sunny 77 degrees

Lou and I went through our travel folders that they gave us when we registered here at Charleston Air Force Base and decided that we would visit the Charleston Tea Plantation today.  Little did we know that this was the only tea plantation in the United States.  Neither of us knew exactly how tea really grew, and now we know how it grows, how it is harvested and how it is harvested and packaged and we already knew how it is enjoyed, and we also know why we prefer to drink our with the caffeine in ours.

Our Plantation was located Wadmalaw Island, about 30 miles from our location.  There we observed hundreds of thousands of tea bushes in their fields that are bordered by huge Live Oak trees, in fact they own the second largest Live Oak in the state and host many weddings under the tree.

Fields of tea bushes

They harvest their tea leaves starting in May and ending in October and repeat the harvest every 20 days.  They only harvest the top leaves, using the green monster, the only machine in existence.  Once the leaves are gathered they are loaded into a truck and brought into processing area.  If you want green tea, nothing is done to the leaves, other than cleaning the leaves and drying them and shredding, for Ooling tea, that is Oxidized for five minutes and for black tea, that is oxidized for up to 15 minutes.

All of the leaves are cleaned, dried and debris is removed, prior to packaging.  If flavors are to be added that is done just prior to packaging and the flavor is added to the tea leaves and then left in the barrel for 24 hours  prior to be packaged.
We were taken to their green house where they propagate all of their own seedlings for months prior to planting them all by hand.  They had many that will be planted in October of this year.

Fertilizing the fields

Machine used to harvest the leaves

One of the three irrigation ponds that are used. 

It was a very unique experience, today while we were there the men were in the fields fertilizing.  They do not use any chemicals for insects and all weed control is done by hand.  They have many deer, fox and turkeys on their land; however, the deer to do eat the leaves.

The green house where the new seedlings are started

The gift shoppe was inviting, with samples of all their teas, hot or cold as much as you wanted to drink.  The place was swarming with people, many tour buses; however, each person was made to feel welcomed and invited to partake of the refreshments available.

Lou and I came away saying that we were so glad that we had chosen that as our day’s excursion as it was so interesting.  On our way home we stopped at Red Lobster for dinner, as we had left right after breakfast and had not had lunch.

We do not have internet at our site, so am planning on going to the office to post this.

Touring Savannah and Going to Charleston Air Force Base

April 9th - Party Cloudy 70 degrees

After another night of rain, it started to clear up Lou and I decided we would take a chance and drive down town Savannah and take a tour of the city.  We were in luck, we got tickets on the Gray Line which gave us a continuous 90 minute tour of the city.

We started at the Savannah Museum of History which was a wonder and across the street was the Railroad Museum, which we didn’t get a chance to see, but will do the next time we are there.

It took us past some beautiful homes in the historical part of the city, many of which we had seen when we were walking with Casey and Ali on Sunday; however, it was nice to hear the narration that went along with the tour, but he gave us so much information, I can’t remember all of it.  The Telfair home was interesting and beautiful.  It also had a museum that went along with it.

Many movies have been made in Savannah.  Six Pence Inn -
Savannah is the  birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, which is the founder of the Girl Scouts.

I was doing great taking pictures, when all of a sudden my battery went dead, so that was the end of my picture taking.

That evening  we met Casey at The Pirates House, which is located at the end of Casey’s block.  It was opened in 1753 as an Inn for seafarers and fast became a meeting point for bloodthirsty pirates and sailors from the Seven Seas.  Stories still persist of a tunnel extending from the old rum cellar beneath the Captain’s Room that led to the river through which men were carried unconscious, to ships waiting in the harbor.  Indeed many a sailor drinking in carefree abandon awoke to find himself at sea on a strange ship bound for a port half a world away.

The food was fantastic and we were careful not to drink anything in our iced tea!!

The next morning we left for Charleston Air Force Base arriving there about three hours later.  This is the only base that we come into that our RV must be x-rayed prior to passage into the gate.   Once again we were able to get a site and this is a new Fam-Camp as of three years ago and we looked forward to being here and have decided that we will not return to PA as soon as we thought, have heard that the ground is still frozen at home.

We leave here on Saturday and go to Onslow Beach on the Atlantic.  Great beach to find sand dollars.  We always liked to take Estee there, as they had a doggie beach and you can hang your laundry outside!!

Our Day with Casey - Savannah, GA

April 6th - Sunday - Rainy - Cooler 59 degrees

We have spent the day with Lou's grandson, Casey and his girlfriend, Ali.  This is a picture of the outside of his apartment located in downtown Savannah.  It is a darling apartment, that has so many homey touches.  He has made treasures from his home in Pennsylvania and from both of his grandparents homes.  His parents have just brought him treasures from his home town school and Lou and I helped him get a book case in place.  His mother had gotten him some Ole English Polish and I went over the book case and when we finished it looked pretty good.  Casey and Ali put books in it and decided a few objects that Casey had not placed in his living room would look good over the book case.  All in all a pretty neat apartment.  Lou and I were pretty impressed.

The views from his windows were wonderful.  The court yard is wonderfully maintained.

The Courtyard

Even in the rain today, the Courtyard looked inviting; along the side of the circle there were flowers in bloom.

 Azaleas 

Going up the steps to Casey's apartment are beautiful red roses in full bloom.  The fragrance was delightful.

The beautiful red rose

Up the stairs and into Casey's apartment.

Combination dining/living room

You can see the bookcase to the left prior to the placement and the cleaning and polishing.

This is just one end of his huge kitchen

The kitchen is huge and I found it interesting that all of his appliances are gas, even his A/C unit is powered by natural gas.  He has three huge windows in the kitchen with mini blinds that he really doesn't need to use, as he is surrounded by beautiful trees and birds.  His  parents have given him feeders that he is going to mount outside of his windows.  We brought bird feed with us so I told him when he comes over tomorrow night I would send some home with him.

After we chatted for a while we walked over town and had breakfast and took a look at Savannah, but did it quickly as it was raining!!   Tonight we ate at Fiddler's Crab House and enjoyed some southern sea food.

Tomorrow Ali and Casey have to work and Lou and I are going to look around.  We are next to a Bass Pro Shop and I want to visit that and see the Museum, as usual the time will go quickly and once again, it is supposed to rain.

We certainly enjoyed our day today and look forward to another day with Casey and Ali.

 

Hunter Army Airfield - Lott's Island - Savannah, GA

April 5th - Saturday - 89 degrees -

We left King's Bay this morning at 10:30 am.  It was a beautiful day yesterday, we hurried and got the laundry caught up, which took us until 3:00.  I fixed us a barbecued pork sandwich and a strawberry daiquiri and we went outside in our sand chairs and enjoyed our books and the sunshine and the view of the lake and the birds.

Wood storks

These Wood Storks stayed all afternoon while we enjoyed watching them.  There was also an alligator that came up a little later in the late afternoon, but I didn't get a picture of him.  After we had enough of the sunshine, we visited with the folks next door that were from New Jersey then we went for a walk.

The Lake

Isn't it a beautiful lake?  When we were here in February, we didn't walk all around the lake.  This time we walked around the side of the lake that we didn't before.  It truly is a beautiful area and we did hate to leave to move on this morning.  Next year we will book this spot for a longer length of time.

Our site for tonight and for four days

This is our site here at Lott's Island at Hunter Army Airfield.  We were delighted to get a site, as when we stopped here on our way south, there was nothing available and we dry camped one night and like I told Lou, God was looking our for us then also, as if we had stayed we would have been caught in the ice and snow.  As it was we left and escaped the storm.

We are going to a Museum here that is in memory to the B-17 Bombers and the 8th Air Force.  I have been reading the series written by Sarah Sundin of Wings of Glory that pays great tribute to the great bombers and the pilots and crews that flew them.  I have read six of the books and have loved everyone of them, so really want to see the museum again.

Our neighbor, is a sweet gal that works on the base, greeted us as soon as we pulled in and gave us a map and told us some need to know facts; has her car parked at the rear of her 5th wheel and I noted cardinals attacking her mirror.

I remember my mother telling us that she used to have a pair of Cardinals that kept pecking at her kitchen window.

Female Cardinal

We are looking forward to our time here, we are supposed to have thundershowers this evening and tomorrow and to be truthful, our RV and our car need to have the pollen washed off of them.

 

On Our Way Home - Stop at Jean's, Daisy's and at King's Bay

April 3rd - Thursday - King's Bay, Georgia - 88 degrees

We arrived here at 3:30 today, and it was hot all of the way along from my sister's in Live Oak.  When it starts getting close to 90 degrees, I know it is time to head North, but from what we are hearing, it isn't time to be back in Wellsboro yet!

The picture above is from our campsite in Leesburg, FL, this is the park we decided on from our Passport America Book.  A club we belong to that we can get our fee for 50% off, knowing that we would be there just to stay overnight, we knew that our friend had moved so we didn't know how close this would be to her new home, as it turned out when we put her address into the GPS, we were only three minutes from her home.  Was perfect and our campsite was beautiful, this was the view from our window only three RVs there and so quiet, would have loved to have stayed longer, but my sister was expecting us the next day so we moved along on schedule.

Jean and Lou and her dog (Angel)

After we left Footloose Marina and RV Park we drove to my sister's house near Live Oak, I was dreading this trip, as last year we got lost and had a very difficult time finding her, so once again, I put her address in our GPS and this time we drove right to her door.  I am always amazed at the huge fields of hay, peanuts and pines that grow around her and huge herds of Holsteins cows.

Just a few of the large herds of Holsteins cows

Daisy's yard is just full of flowers and flowering bushes and so many birds.  Yesterday we all sat of the back deck and just enjoyed the flowers, birds and her dog, Lacy and enjoyed talking the day away.  Made Lou and I realize just how much we missed Estee, as Lacy is so much like our late Estee.

Lacy

Some of the side yard

Lou and Daisy always enjoy getting old school pictures out and looking through them.  They went to school together and had many of the same friends and always want to catch up of their where abouts.  There aren't a lot of them still alive.

Daisy and Lou

There had been a new addition to Daisy's family since we were there last, she has a new cat and the mama cat has two new kittens and that was a new experience for me, I haven't been around kittens in a long time, so had to  have pictures of them also.

Baby kittens

The mama was outside when I took this picture.

Mama Cat

We left Daisy's house around 11:00 this morning with a new quilt in our arms, such a beauty that has been hand quilted with her tiny neat stitches that she is know for, promising to see each other next winter and call often.  Times always passes quickly, but is always so good to spend time with her and have a home cooked meal with her.  She and I share books with each other also, so had to bring more home with me that will be delighted to jump into!!

We have a Lake Front site here at King's Bay and are enjoying the view and tranquility of the peaceful site.  Tomorrow will get caught up on laundry and hopefully some time to soak up some rays of sunshine.

Our GPS quit at Daisy's and I called them on our way to King's Bay and they told me we will have to mail it back for new soft ware, so the rest of our journey will be Lou's way with maps!!

Our View from our front windshield x two days