Red Bay - Again

Well, despite the fact that I had a confirmed appointment for Monday morning, there was no bay available. the body of work was taking longer than they anticipated. As a result, we sat on our hands all day Monday. Tuesday morning was the same story. Then at 9:30 am, I got the call to head over to Bay 10, which I did post haste! Our tech was Chad Young, and as it turns out, we won the lotto! He was terrific and finished all but the mechanical and cabinet work by Wednesday afternoon. Then they sent us off to mechanical to look at the air ride problem - which turned out to not be a problem after all (whew!). By Friday afternoon, the cabinet work was complete and we were checked out of the service bay, completely satisfied.

With all that having been said, we did other things in Red Bay while the coach was being worked on. First, we met a great couple parked next to us - John and Sheila Smart. They are dual citizens - Canada and the U.S. - are full-time RVers, and have been since 2007. We also made contact with Roger and Pat, friends we met in Florida. They were in Red Bay to watch the build of their new 43 foot Allegro Bus. There is a story here! Their Bus began construction a week or so ago, but when it got to the cabinet stage, they found that the wrong cabinets were being installed. The only solution was to make a trade with another Bus going onto the line later. A trade was made, and Roger and Pat sat on their hands for a week or so waiting for the new Bus to hit the line - which it did on Friday. They will now be here for another two weeks until the Bus is finished. We know how thrilled they are despite the foul-up!

On Tuesday, I stayed pretty close to the coach to make sure all the issues were being dealt with (which they were). After that, we took care of other issues. I went to the plant and checked out some details that I had been wondering about and picked up some longer tire valve extensions for the inner rear duals. As usual, no charge. We also went to HHH Electronics and had them come over and change out all our halogen lights and replace them with LEDs. This will result in a 90 percent reduction in power consumption for lighting purposes. And Chris Berry finished up our new cabinet addition, much to our liking. Chris, as usual, did a terrific job at a really good price.

Every day at lunch time, Suz and I would head over to Jack's for so Suzanne could have the hamburger that she loves. We would have Dixie with us, so we would go to the Water Park in town and eat at the picnic area. In the evenings, we went either to Mr. J's for pizza (with John and Sheila), the mexican restaurant, Swamp John's (only once) for catfish, and finally on Friday night we joined John, Sheila, Roger and Pat and headed out to the Rattlesnake Saloon for beer and burgers (the picture, starting with Suzanne is Roger, Pat, Sheila and John). The Rattlesnake Saloon is a unique place set in a cave at a dude ranch. As always, we had a great time with very nice people.

On Friday, we headed over the Russellville to the Super WalMart for supplies and a fresh infusion of cash (love the $100 cash back option). Today (Saturday) we took the coach out to Ricky Johnson's to get a wash and wax. Ricky is a warranty coordinator in the service area at Tiffin and runs an after hours wash and wax operation at his home outside Red Bay. He does a great job at a reasonable price. This afternoon, we will relax and watch some college football with the neighbors, and hope the wind does not pick up and give our newly polished coach a dust bath. We will probably all go out somewhere for dinner tonight.

I should add that the weather in Red Bay has been spectacular. Beautiful sunny days in the low 80s and clear nights in the mid to low 50s. They tell me that October and November are the two best months of the year in this part of the country. Tomorrow (Sunday) we break camp and head over to Pine Mountain, GA for the Tiffin RV Network rally. We are really looking forward to this as it will give us a chance to see many friends and share thoughts about our Tiffin motorhomes.

While social life in Red Bay is "limited" (so to speak), we have enjoyed our stay. All our problems were taken care of (at no charge) and we met some new friends. Red Bay is not so bad after you get use to the routine - I guess. Until the next posting, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog

Galax Week 3, then on to Red Bay

The wall building on the high side of the lot continued on Saturday with Rojas leading the way. Unfortunately, he decided to keep the wall level and not follow the down sloping contour of the driveway as I had wanted. Thus, early Sunday morning (in a heavy fog that could easily have passed for rain), I took a portion of the wall apart and rebuilt it the way I wanted, then I began the big wall on the low side of the lot. It is the most difficult as it has numerous curves and changes elevation several times. The wall building continued on Monday (again in the fog) and on Tuesday. Rojas finished the high side wall and I finally finished the low side wall.

That done, we began spreading the heavier soil in the beds, and ordered three and one-half loads of good topsoil for the top of the beds. By the time we were done on late Wednesday afternoon, my back was in spasms and I never wanted to see a shovel, or wall stone again! But the job was done and it looks pretty good (if I do say so myself!) As it turned out, we had about 100 wall stones left over, what a dilemma! But I called Lowe's and they said they had a truck in the area and would be glad to pick them up and give me a full refund. Now that's service! The truck arrived within a half hour and the extra stones were on their way back to Lowe's - no charge.

The last aspect of the landscaping was the arrival Tuesday evening of our landscaper, Charles Barnhardt and his wife Margaret. Charles and Margaret measured the beds and we discussed the types of plants that we wanted - then Charles told us which plants he would advise we use - a somewhat different list of plants. Oh well, Charles is the expert. Then he and his wife left to design the plan. It will take two weeks for Charles to finish the design, send us the final drawings and then get all the plant material together, so the final grade work and planting will have to be done after we leave. But Charles is very reliable and his workers are very meticulous. We have seen their work and it is impressive.

But enough about the wall and landscaping. We also had time to install a small trailer hitch on the HHR (thanks to our friend Jim Paschall) - it's sooo cute! - and visit our friends Holly and Rachael at Macado's on a few occasions. As we have said before, Macado's is a great place, with very reasonable bar prices and food (albeit mostly enormous sandwiches and a limited line of pasta and salads) is that is excellent!

On Saturday night we visited a small, out-of-the-way place called the Saddle Mountain Cafe (you could almost hear the music from Deliverance) for "barbecue," which in this neck of the woods means a plate full of pulled pork, macaroni salad and deep fried okra (or in Suzanne's case, a grilled cheese sandwich - no pulled pork and okra for her!). The price was right and the portions were large to say the least. And the "barbecue" was not bad. Unfortunately, I had to wash it all down with a diet Dr. Pepper - oh, well.

On Thursday evening, we joined our great neighbors for another round of bowling - 20 of us this time. With my back spasms, my game was slightly worse than awful, but we had fun. I have a (rather blurry) picture of Suzanne on the lane. You will notice her unique style - sometimes the ball goes backwards! But she loves it and we'll work on her technique back in Florida from time-to-time.

After bowling, we visited another "family" restaurant, Brown's in Sparta. I had chicken and dumplings and Suzanne had - you guessed it - a grilled cheese sandwich! The food was good, but with Dr. Pepper?

Friday, we cleaned up the site, went to Macado's for dinner and said goodbye to our new friends. We were sorry to leave, but have to get to Red Bay to have the coach serviced - lots of small issues. So, Saturday morning we headed West to Chattanooga on our way to Red Bay. We stopped for the night at the Chattanooga North KOA - not recommended - and had a good dinner - with drinks for a change - at The Outback Steakhouse! Sunday morning, we were on the road by 8:00 am (7:00 am central time) and rolled into Red Bay at noon (central time). we got one of the last open spots in the campground and gave them our list of issues to be dealt with. We got the coach situated, then it was off to Jack's -Suzanne's favorite burger joint - for lunch.

This afternoon, we will watch the football games and get ready to have the coach in the service bay by 7:00 am. As you can imagine, Suzanne will still be in bed! Until the next post, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog

Galax - Week 2

Will the rain ever stop? We started Monday with showers and with only a few exceptions, the rain has continued all week. But we, and our hardy work crews, have soldiered on! The landscaping project was delayed until Rojas returned on Wednesday from his holidays, and Jamie and his crew were delayed by the rain from changing the window in the cassita and building the outside bar. However, a couple of cloudy but rainless days changed all that and progress was made.

First the landscaping. As I write, we have finished all the excavation for the footings for the "Great Wall of Deer Creek," and have begun installing the stones. The whole process is arduous to say the least. First you have to excavate (and there is lots of rock in the mountains of Virginia)! Then, you have to install the french drains, with their heavy gravel base and cover, to ensure proper drainage. Then you have load light gravel on top to allow the stones to be set properly. Then you establish the level lines to ensure that the walls are even and consistent.

Then you set the stones - one-by-one in what seems to be a never ending process. The next step is to cover the back of the wall with filter cloth and back-fill with the heavy native soil. Finally you add the top soil and begin the process of locating all the plants. We are now at the stone laying stage and clearly have a lot of work to do between now and when we head to Red Bay next Saturday!

Early in the week, Suz and I took advantage of the rain to tour the area, but mostly made what seems to be endless trips to Lowe's and WallMart for landscaping and other materials. We also headed down to Mt. Airy to Acme Stone to pick out the granite for the counter top for our outside bar. The evenings were mostly spent at the coach, although we did hit Macado's a couple of times (our cell phones work in Galax, but not always at Deer Creek - thank you Verizon), and on Thursday we headed over to Sparta with 9 neighbors to bowl and have dinner in a local cafe. Bowling and dinner has become a regular Thursday event and we had a great time, although the bowling was pretty bad I must admit. We are really enjoying the neighbors, they are a great group of people, always helpful and a lot of fun to be around.

While it looks and feels like the work we have cut out for ourselves will never end (nor will the mounting expenses), there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and we hope to have most work done before we leave (assuming the rain lets up!) What doesn't get done will still be there when we return in late May. I'll let you know how we did in the post next weekend. Until then, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog

Galax - week one

We left Clarksboro, NJ in the rain on Friday morning at 0800. The trip followed I295 onto I95 and then cross country to I81 and down the Shenandoah Valley to Lexington, VA. As we proceeded South, the weather got better and better. When we stopped for the night at the Lee Hi Campground, where we had stayed before, the sky was clear and the sun was shining. Lee Hi is a large truck stop just off I81. Last year, the campground was in pretty rough shape. This year, many improvements had been made and it was much nicer. We signed in and fueled up - diesel at a low $3.699! - then got hooked up for the night.

We had happy hour at the coach followed by dinner. During all this we watched a group set up an obstacle course in the huge truck parking lot below the campground. It turned out that this weekend was the 35th annual two day truckers rally. Truckers come from all up and down the east coast to compete in the rally, going through the obstacle course in the shortest period of time and hitting the fewest cones in the process. All the proceeds go to the "Make-a-Wish Foundation."

Saturday morning we watched a bit of the competition, then hit the road on the way to Galax, VA, site of our new Summer home, some 150 miles down I81 and I77. We were hoping that Appalachian Electric Power had switched on our power. We stopped in Galax at the WalMart Superstore for supplies and received a call from the Appalachian Electric installer who was at the gate to Deer Creek. We gave him the code, and were assured that the power would be on by the time we arrived - and sure enough it was!

We arrived and got ourselves situated on our site - moving back and forth until we were in the perfect position relative to our "cassita" and the utilities. This will now be the permanent location for the coach when we are here. The site looks a bit rough at the moment, but there are great plans for the landscaping and the finishing of the cassita! During the day, as we got settled in, most of our neighbors came by to say hello and offer their assistance should we need anything. They are really a great bunch of people. That evening, we headed into Galax to Macados for happy hour and a light dinner. Unbeknownst to us, there was a party going on at the clubhouse that we could have attended (more on this below).

Sunday, I began the task of measuring the site - again - to make sure how many "stones" we would need to build our retaining walls, and about how much added fill would be required to build our beds. the same thing went on for most of the week along with discussion with the developer, Barry Poole and numerous workers who would be helping us with the heavy work.

By Thursday, and with the advice of our landscaper, we had decided to forego building a waterfall in one corner of the lot - too much trouble when we are not going to be here for more than a few months a year. Instead, we will rely on a small fountain to provided the sound of running water. We had also ordered 950 stones for the walls and acquired drain tile and other necessary materials.

Thursday was also the day I began the digging involved in putting in the french drains and and the footings for the retaining walls. Of course, my foot slipped off the shovel and I twisted my left knee again - the same one I twisted when fly fishing in Cherokee, NC. In the meantime, Rojas, one of our workers delivered a huge load of gravel from the quarry down the road before leaving for a few days holiday. Undaunted by the knee, I continued on digging and by Friday, had finished the site prep for the utilities area. However, I have decided that old men and heavy shovels do not mix. I am now resigned to playing more of a support role to Rojas and his workers when it comes to shovel work!! Later, we headed West to Sparta to see what this town had to offer - not much. Like so many of the towns in the mountains, it is a one street wonder so to speak.

On Saturday, it rained and my knee was still sore so we took a wider tour of area, heading Northwest to Galax, then East to Hillsville, then South to Fancy Gap where our landscaper's businesses are located. Charles Bernhardt and his wife Margaret are amazing people. They run a business called Treasure Potts in Fancy Gap (www.TreasurePotts.com), just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. They have an antique shop, that is filled with great treasures, a deli and a garden shop. Charles, who is no spring chicken, is a whirling dervish when it comes to work. I don't know how he does it. He has given us some great advice so far and I look forward to seeing the final results at our site.

Returning to Deer Creek down a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway (which passes within a few hundred yards of the the Resort), we found that (another) "spontaneous" wine and cheese party had been announced. This time, Barry (the developer) and his wife laura provided the wine and cheese and everyone else provided snacks - some quite elaborate. We have learned that these parties erupt on a regular basis whenever someone decides to announce one. There is even a formal sign that is put up next to the clubhouse near to gate on such occasions. Most of the couples in residence attended, and Suz and I had a ball.

After much food and drink, we all retired to the outside fireplace and continued conversations. The party broke up are around 8:30 or so with Suz and I having gotten to know many of our neighbors much better. We headed back to the coach even more firmly convinced of the wisdom of our purchase decision. And Dixie feels the same way as you can see!

Sunday, I headed into Galax to Lowe's and WalMart to get supplies and to take a really close look at the shops along Main Street. There are many that we had overlooked and, thanks to our neighbors, now have a better feel for the variety Galax has to offer. We will be exploring the area more in the coming days and weeks. Until the next posting, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the (contented) Wonderdog

New Jersey/Philadelphia and on to Galax

We left Bellingham, MA at 7:00 am - that's right, 7:00 am - in a steady rain. We traveled North on 495, then West on I90 until we hit I84 and finally I684 as we approached New York. The rain was relentless. Our GPS told us to take the the Hutchinson River Parkway, then the Cross County Parkway, the Sawmill Parkway and the Mosholu Parkway to I87 and finally across the George Washington Bridge and on to I95.

Unfortunately, it didn't tell us that all the parkways into New York City are for "passenger cars only"! So here we are, in the rain, continuing on I684 feeling more and more anxious. Luckily, I had driven this before and knew that we could continue on I87/I287 and cross the Tappen Zee bridge then connect with the Garden City Parkway (motorhomes OK!) and head South to I95 then to I295 and reach our destination in Clarksboro, NJ.

With the rain still pelting down and the windshield wipers leaving gobs of rubber at each end of their sweep, we headed down the Garden City Parkway, and wouldn't you know it, had our right mirror clipped at one of the overly narrow toll booths. the damage was mostly cosmetic - two gashes in the chrome - but probably can't be repaired and will mean the replacement of the mirror assembly. Moving on down I95 to I295, we hit some stop-and-go traffic but finally arrived at Timberlane Campground in Clarksboro with over 350 miles under our belt.

This particular site was selected since it is the closest campground to Philadelphia, and we wanted to visit the historic sites in the city. We were assigned a nice campsite and got settled in with too much trouble. Everything worked fine and we happily headed off - in the rain - to a local Italian restaurant for drinks and dinner. The food was good and we headed back to the coach - in the rain.

It rained all night and when I awoke, I found that the carpet under the driver's side slide was wet from side-to-side. I am not sure whether it got wet from the heavy rain, from the fact that I put the slide in at the campground the morning before with lots of water on the slide topper, or whether there was a leak from the wheel well that allowed water to infiltrate during our long drive. Whatever, another item on the growing list of things to be corrected at Red Bay in October!

To our relief, the rain stopped for most of Wednesday and we were able to head into Philadelphia - a mere 12 miles - and visit Independence Square, a very impressive center where the Liberty Bell and drafts of our national historic documents - Declaration of Independence and Constitution, are housed. The Square is also home to the Independence Hall and the other buildings where all the documents were drafted, debated and signed, and where the first three presidents presided over the new nation. I had never seen these things before and was quite moved by the experience. With great difficulty, thanks to the traffic, I was able to get a picture of the statue of George Washington in front of Independence Hall, which is undergoing extensive renovation.

Suz and I then had lunch at a little Philly deli - very good I might add - and then headed back to the coach before the rian began again. Later in the day, we found a nice spot to relax for happy hour and then settled in for the night. About 2:00 am, a major thunderstorm hit the campground and of course Dixie went nuts - no more sleep. The rain continued until morning, then proceeded off and on for most of the day. Glad we toured Philadelphia on Wednesday!

Given the iffy weather, we decided to forego our trip to Charleston, SC and head straight to our lot in Galax, VA. The pad is finished, as is the small cabin and I can spend the next couple of weeks getting started on the landscaping. It will be nice to get back to doing some work around the yard! Our trip to Galax will take two days and cover about 485 miles. We plan to stop in Lexington, VA tomorrow night, then be in Galax on Saturday morning. Looking forward to it. Until the next posting, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog

Our last days in Maine and on to Mass.

Thursday, Suz and I got a call from Bob Leach, telling us about the Sail, Power and Steam Museum in Rockland. We had heard of it, but had not planned on going to see it. Bob insisted that it not be missed. We grabbed lunch and met Bob at the museum, was he ever right. It is a small museum, created and funded by Capt. Jim Sharp, long-time schooner captain in the Penobscot Sound area, and the current owner of four schooners.

The museum has limited hours due to the lack of qualified volunteers, but we were lucky enough to be there when Capt. Sharp himself was giving guided tours. He is a fascinating man of 76 who has sailed the Maine waters for nearly 50 years. He has gathered a broad array of maritime memorabilia that has great historic significance to the Penobscot Bay area, and has rescued numerous sailing and power vessels from the scrap yard. If you happen to be in the area, this museum is a must see.To learn more about Capt. Sharp and his life, go to www.sharpspointsouth.com and click on the link for the Sail, Power and Steam Museum. Even better, get a copy of his book With Reckless Abandon, by Captain Jim Sharp, published by Down East. After visiting the museum, Suz and I dropped by Bob and Sheila's for happy hour and to say our goodbyes. Both of us were leaving on Saturday and this would be the last visit before our return to Palm City in October.

Saturday, we left Saltwater Farm around 9:45 and headed down US1 to Portland, ME. The trip was relatively slow, but scenic as we passed through numerous small towns and villages along the way. From Portland, we got on I95 and headed through New Hampshire and into Mass. The we picked up I495 and headed South. We exited I495 at Bellingham, MA. and found our way to Circle CG Farm Campground, not the nicest spot we've been, and only 30 amp, but we had lots of space and the people were nice. We got set up and then headed up the road to the local Outback Steakhouse for dinner.

On Sunday, we relaxed and I read a large chunk of Captain Jim Sharp's book - fascinating and very entertaining. Around 3, we headed off down I495 to US44 East and into Plymouth, MA. to meet Rock and Mercine Adinolfi for dinner. I had researched the restaurants in Plymouth and chose The Cabby Shack. It is a casual spot with two decks overlooking the harbor. We had a few drinks and a wonderful dinner of stuffed Haddock. It was good to see Rock and Mercine one more time before Florida, and the setting and weather were great. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and headed back up to the campground - a 50 minute drive.

This morning, I was walking Dixie and noticed that the campground was having a country breakfast. So with Dixie back at the coach, I wandered over and for $8 got a sumptuous breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, pancakes, coffee and juice - all you can eat! What a great breakfast, and I got to meet some of the other guest at the campground at the same time.

this afternoon, I plan to finish Captain Jim's book and then we will find a place to have dinner. Later I will get the coach set for the trip tomorrow to Timber Lane Campground in Clarksboro, NJ. The trip will be a little over 300 miles through some of the worst traffic we will experience during the trip. Not looking forward to it at all. Take it slow and be patient I guess. Until the next post, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog

The hurricane and beyond

By Saturday afternoon, it appeared as though hurricane Irene was going to make a mess out of much of the northern east coast and then move inland into New Hampshire, Vermont and eastern New York, leaving coastal Maine largely alone. As such we decided that rather than run West, right into the storm, we would move to or new campground - Saltwater Campground - about 14 miles to the South in Cushing, Me. Saltwater Campground is largely treeless, which reduces the chance of damage to the coach. We arrived at Saltwater Campground around 12:30 pm and got set up in our new site. There were about 15 other coaches and 5th wheels in the park and everyone was preparing for the storm. With everything done that could be done, we headed into town to relax on the Rockland harbor at a new place we found called Archer's.

Sunday morning arrived with the storm still heading our way, but with a much reduced intensity. We were getting bursts of rain, sometimes heavy, most of Saturday night, but not accompanied by a lot of wind. As the day progressed, we continue to watch The Weather Channel and receive their sensationalistic reports with growing disdain. By the end of this ordeal I had decided to avoid television coverage of future storms and rely instead on the Internet coverage provided by NOAA. Their coverage is concise and to the point and as time would tell, very accurate.

Sunday evening arrived with little change - a few rain squalls and light wind gusts - so we headed into town to Archer's to join the Leaches and a sizeable number of others. We had a great evening, and Archer's provided free appetizers in the form of Haddock bites and Haddock cakes - delicious! The weather continued to remain benign and the locals assured us that this event would be no worse than the Nor'easters they put up with every year. We were not so sure, but their assurances were helpful to settle Suzanne's jangled nerves.

Back at the coach, the NOAA forecast was telling us that overnight, Irene would bring us winds of 30 to 45 MPH with gusts to 55 mph. I pulled in the big driver's side slide and the bedroom slide that were facing the likely source of the winds, and we hunkered down for the night. The wind and rain continued all night, but never became as intense as even NOAA predicted, let alone what The Weather Channel lead everyone to expect.

Monday morning arrived to relatively light winds and rain, but the promise that the worst was over. But unfortunately the worst was just starting for those in New Hampshire, Vermont and eastern New York. There, as you have seen and heard, the heavy rains produced massive flooding and destruction. Thank goodness we decided to stay in Maine and not run for Vermont or New York!

With the worst over and the sun shining, we set out all the outside furniture and barbecue and got the coach in "ship-shape." Then we headed back to Camden Hills Campground to see how our friends had fared. As it tuned out, they had a few fallen branches, but no damage to their rigs, much to our relief. From there we went back to Graffam's, this time for a haddock roll - excellent!

After lunch, we met Bob and Sheila at the Jameson Point. Suz and Sheila went shopping in town and Bob and I took the 1 mile (each way) walk on the Rockland breakwater to the Rockland light house. The breakwater took 18 years to complete between 1881 and 1899 and is constructed of huge granite blocks, which were quarried right outside of town. The Bodwell Granite Company used around 700,000 tons of granite for the project, which cost more than three quarters of a million dollars.

As the work progressed, a small moveable beacon was moved farther out each time the breakwater was extended. The light was relocated four times between 1888 and 1895. Charles Ames served as the light's attendant for some years at $25 per month. He also struck a metal triangle when a fog signal was called for. Finally, in 1902, a permanent lighthouse was built at the breakwater's end by the W.H. Glover Company of Rockland after a Congressional appropriation of $30,000 (about the cost of a mid-size car today!).

When we finished the walk, Bob and I toured the beautiful Samoset Resort, which lies on the hill just above the breakwater. It is a very nice resort with a beautiful 18 hole golf course with some holes on the cliffs above the ocean.

Later, we met Suz and Sheila and headed back to our coach to relax and enjoy the great view of the St. George penisula and the St. George River from our campsite. Around 4, we headed into Thomaston (about 2 miles) to find Billy's, an Irish pub of some renown in the area. Of course we succeeded and enjoyed a great afternoon talking to Billy and learning of his history and stories of the area.The pub is located in the old Grange hall in Thomaston, where Bob Leach use to go for Thursday night dances as a youth. Billy's has been open for five years now and appears to be going over quite well.

Tuesday, I worked on this posting for the blog, then we went to lunch at the Thomaston Cafe, then headed over to the Owls Head Transportation Museum to look at the great collection of antique cars and planes. I have lots of pictures, but can't put them all in the blog, so I have selected a few to give you an idea of how great this little museum is. For one, there is a private collection of 23 MGs and micro cars. The MGs range from a 1931 M University Foursome Folding Head Coupe, to a 1950s MG TD Mark II. But the best, in my view, was a 1938 MG SA Touring. Another of my favorites was the 1938 Duesenberg Model J. For those not familiar with the Duesenberg, it is still considered, if not the, then one of the greatest cars ever built. In the 1930s it set the world land speed record of 156 mph on the salt flats.

The museum also has quite a few airplanes ranging from a replica of the Wright brothers plane that flew at Kittyhawk, NC, to an early Curtiss plane, to bi-planes and one tri-plane.

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Archers on the Rockland harbor for happy hour, then home. All-in-all a great day!

On Wednesday, we did some shopping and worked around the coach. Later in the evening, the Leaches came over and we cooked up some burgers and enjoyed a relaxing evening looking at the St. George River and the beautiful sunset. Until, that is, the mosquitoes arrived en masse. Voracious little buggers! Not the end to a perfect day we had hoped for, but great nonetheless. Until the next time, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog