The End of an Era

How do you catch up on eighteen months of life?  Day by day, I guess.  When I last posted we were in Vermont doing some sightseeing and hiking.  I’ve finally updated the blog posts about our trip to the Northeast – thank goodness I had saved my posts plus having Google pictures help refresh my memory. I wanted though to bring our blog up to date so everyone wouldn’t think we dropped off the face of the earth.  While we were traveling, we got a call from home about some medical emergencies.  Without going into a lot of detail I’ll just mention brain surgery and amputation!  Of course, my first thought was how could I quickly get home.  Amusingly enough Trent later told me he would never ask me to come home unless it was an emergency.   Brain surgery and amputation is not emergency?  He laughed!  As it turned out, everything went well and there was no need for us to be home. 

However, it started us thinking and wondering if our RV days were going to slow down. The RV had been fraught with several issues over the trip which is not unusual but we were getting tired of dealing with the anxiety they caused not to mention the inconvenience.  When the motor started acting up, that seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

We finished our trip the last of August, 2021 ending up in Clemmons for our oldest granddaughter’s birthday.  Then in September we found out that our daughter-in-law Jane was diagnosed with breast cancer.  That sealed it since we knew it was time to be home for our family.  We had some issues to take care of with the RV so we took it to a dealership in Charlotte that made all of the repairs.

Soon after we discovered that the storage place where we had kept the coach for several years was being sold so we had to get the coach somewhere else.  We could find no place that would store it inside and believe me, we tried. 

In the meantime after selling our home in Kinston in 2019 and moving to our river house permanently we (I) decided that living on the river was not going to work for us permanently.  We love the river and summers and falls are wonderful – Winters are LONG and lonesome.  Our church was located in Bath, a small coastal town which incidentally is the oldest incorporated town in North Carolina and was once the capital of the state. Getting to choir practice and church meetings was a 20-25 drive and we couldn’t be actively involved with that distance.  Dark, curvy roads at night are fraught with deer and other scary things! Yes, there are bear in the area!  We put the river house on the market.

We also decided that it was time to sell the RV.  We tried selling it ourselves but we are not salesmen!  We finally decided to take it to Atlanta to NIRV for consignment sale thinking it would happen fairly quickly.  It didn’t despite the surge in RV sales due to the pandemic. Our last trip was to Atlanta. We had cleaned out the coach and cleaned it as well so we knew we couldn’t spend the night in it, We were able to find a Holiday Inn Express that not only let us park the RV in their lot but they put cones around it to protect it from being hit. It was a bitter sweet day when we left it at NIRV but we knew that it was the wise thing to do. Sometimes the wise thing is not fun!

In the midst of all of that, we got an offer on our house, found a perfect house in Bath on Back Creek and by May of 2022 we were located in Bath permanently.  The RV sold in July, 2022, of course not for the price we were asking but it sold.  We had sold the house in Kinston, the house on the river and the RV.  We were down to one house and a jet ski!  As my niece said to me “Aunt Gale, you are making a lot of life changes” and we were but they were all good.

The last few months have been interesting.  It’s the first time we have lived in a house that we did not build so we are still finding out things about this house.  We have settled in and finally feel that we “are home”.  There’s something to be said for convenience.  We are about 15 minutes from Washington, also known as Little Washington with grocery stores, shops and restaurants.  However, Bath has a Family Dollar for emergencies like bread or milk and two restaurants, not to mention five churches! 

We both are more involved in church now plus I have joined a handbell choir which is quite the challenge.  We have an enormous yard that keeps us busy as we learn about the various and many things seemingly planted in random places.  I’ve never been a “yard person” but Jerry just can’t do it all so I’ve jumped in only to discover that I’m the main yard person.  Hadn’t planned on that!

We still want to travel but we’ll be doing it differently.  In fact, we are leaving for a trip to Kentucky to visit the Ark and the Creation Museum in just a couple of weeks.  Will we get another RV in the future?  Who knows?  We may but it will be smaller and something I can feel comfortable driving if necessary.  We used our two coaches for touring.  We rarely camped.  It may be time for that plus there are still some places I would like to see and perhaps return to some places we visited during our RV Days. I know without a doubt that the Lord was looking over us as we traveled over the past eight years. When I think about the wreck, the tow dolly fire and almost losing our car I just shiver and thank the Lord for His protection.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our new home. When I remember more about the ins and outs of blog posting I will probably change the name of the blog since we are no longer RVing – at least not right now but that’s a story for another day.

Visiting Wheatland

Boy, we must have been more tired than we realized as we both slept until after 8:00. I can’t remember the last time that happened. We have been going pretty steady though since we left home July 21 not to mention the preparation before we left. We have both decided that we should limit our trips to four weeks as any more seems to be too long for us. We are both ready to get back to North Carolina.

Obviously we got a late start today. Since we are 30 minutes or more from the places we wanted to see today we couldn’t quite decide what to do. We finally decided at my request to go out for a late breakfast and pack a picnic dinner for the evening. That decided we went to IHOP in Lancaster. We paid half as much for our meal as we did last night and we both thought it was twice as good. Sometimes you can’t beat a chain restaurant.

Afterward we headed to President Street for a tour of President James Buchannan’s home, Wheatland. It was probably the most bang for the buck we’ve gotten in a while. The tour began with a 22 minute video of President Buchannan’s life and then we went to his home which was nearby the museum. We were met at the front door by a period dressed tour guide who was very informative and able to answer any questions that were asked. There was only one other couple on our tour so we got a lot of personal attention.

Though a senator, a representative and an ambassador to Russia prior to his being elected president, he unfortunately left a legacy of being unsuccessful. He was a constitutionalist and a believer in slavery despite the fact that he never owned slaves. His tenure was marked by unrest that eventually led to the Civil War. He told Lincoln that he hoped he was a happy becoming president as he was to be leaving.

After visiting Wheatland we rode around the countryside some going to a goat store. Jerry was so excited – Not! In the first place the goat store was about as big as my closet and perhaps because it was owned by Amish it must not have had any electricity because when the door closed there wasn’t much light! Jerry made a hasty exit. I sampled some caramel topping that I thought was pretty good so I got a small jar leaving $5 on the table.

We headed on the town of Litiz and to Wilbur Chocolate. Since we got free parking, Jerry said we should buy something so I ended up with a ½ pound of Wilbur buds, something like Hershey kisses.

As we walked down the street, we saw a sign advertising kombucha. Since someone had mentioned it to us while we were in Acadia we decided to go in and see what it was. It apparently is a brewed tea with less than .5% alcohol. I sampled three of them but only liked one. I bought a small bottle to take home to Trent thinking we had found something he didn’t know about but would be interested in. (of course, he knew all about it.)  We left the store but returned later to buy a four pack so I could have some!

We walked around for a bit and then decided to head to Ronks to the Sight and Sound Theater since we were supposed to pick up our tickets by 6:15. I am glad we decided to go early because as we started traveling it started spitting rain and the wind started blowing. I was getting weather alerts on my phone also. The weather continued to deteriorate as we neared the theater. We pulled in the parking lot and waited out the storm and had our “fine cuisine!” 

The play was absolutely wonderful and I strongly urge anyone in the area to go see it.  Sight and Sound Theater offers different plays during the season and we have been fortunate to see several and still want to see more.

Back to the campground and some prep for leaving early in the morning headed to North Carolina!

Travel Day to Pennyslvania

We didn’t rush to leave this morning as we thought we had less than 200 miles to go to reach our destination. Of course, when I put it into the two GPS’s they were very different. We asked Mike, the owner of Hidden Pastures and he suggested we head away from New York where the Garmin was taking us. Instead of taking a right at the gas station down the road he said take a left. I don’t know what happen to the GPS’s. They are both supposed to be for motor homes but today they were not. We traveled down a two lane road and Jerry got ready to turn right as directed and I yelled stop! We can’t go there. There was an eleven-foot bridge straight ahead. We continued down as we had been heading finding nowhere to turn around. We finally saw a fruit stand on the right and Jerry said he thought he could make it. He couldn’t. There we were half in the parking lot of the fruit stand and the car was in the middle of the road! Yikes! Of course, we had to quickly unhitch and move the car hoping that no traffic would appear. Jerry got it done quickly and I moved it off the road. Jerry backed up and took off down the highway where we had come from. In the meantime, a gentleman walking down the road approached and I told we were just lost. He made a suggestion that we return through Milford and then hit the Interstate. That sounded good to me so I called Jerry and advised him of our new route. I caught up with him and he finally found a place where he could pull off the road and we could hook the car up – again!

That was not the end of our adventures today. We quickly entered Pennsylvania and Northern Pennsylvania must have the worst roads in America. I will say there was a lot of construction and it was sorely needed. We bumped along.

Our gas was getting low but Jerry wanted to wait until we could reach a Flying J where we have a discount card. He thought we could make it but he was watching the gas gauge carefully. Suddenly and emphatically he said “find me a gas station now” so I started frantically looking. It’s difficult when you’re under pressure!! Finding a gas station that we can get into is difficult at best but we fortunately found one. The gas was $3.25! Jerry only got 10 gallons and then we knew we could get to the Flying J. Whew. The low fuel light has never come on but once before and that was the Thursday night before the Super Bowl in Houston! We don’t know how many gallons are left when the low fuel light comes on and we don’t want to find out. Generally, we try to fill up when the gauge reads half full because we know of potential problems locating a station. Flying J has a dedicated gas RV line so that is another reason we try to use them. Unfortunately, there are not any in the Northeast so it felt good to see one again.

Both GPS’s directed us the same way to the campground right through downtown Elizabethtown. It was tight but we made it to Elizabethtown / Hershey KOA Holiday Campground. We found an alternate route to use when we made our travel departure.

After setting up we headed out to “get the lay of the land” and boy did we. We didn’t know where we were going and of course the Jeep GPS was lost. We wandered around the countryside a bit, found the Sight and Sound Theater where we had plans to see Esther tomorrow night  and then tried to decide where to get a good Amish meal. We decided on Hershey Family Inn where we had eaten many years ago. Since it was so early though we made a run to Walmart to pick up some things we needed. By the time we got back it was time for dinner. Jerry had on his Neuse Sports Shop, Kinston t-shirt and wouldn’t you know as soon as we sat down the people in the booth next to us asked if we were from Kinston. They were and we had a mutual friend. Small world. I always told our children that they better behave because they never knew who they might run into who report what they were doing! Still applies today.

After dinner we headed by to the campground and took a walk around the pretty campground. Elizabethtown is about 45 minutes from the areas we were planning to visit but it was close to the Interstate and I knew we would be leaving early headed home in a couple of days.

Another Great Harvest Host Stay

Today was a day for making miles. We left Queeche/Pine Valley KOA by 8:00 as planned. The first hundred miles though a little foggy, had little traffic. On through Connecticut and Massachusetts we traveled to New York where there was a lot of road construction and a lot of it on bridges that badly needed it!

Surprisingly we swung into Pennsylvania just before we made a left into New Jersey. Our home for the night was Hidden Pastures Fine Yarns and indeed it was hidden. We rode right by it and as we were trying to read the numbers on the mailboxes a black bear crossed in front of us. I finally called and got some directions and we headed down the tree lined driveway. We didn’t have enough room to turn the coach around so we unhooked the car and then parked the coach. We immediately opened all the windows for some ventilation and maybe cool air.

The other side of the tree lined driveway!

We then went in the Hidden Pastures shop and oh my word, what pretty things she had. Her yarn is beautiful. I had bought a pair of alpaca socks when we were in Colorado and found them to be very warm, so I was looking for another pair and I found them. I had seen a couple of vegetable stands along the way so we decided to take the car and see if we could find one. It was further than I thought but we did find it. We only got some fresh tomatoes though. As we were returning to the campground we decided to ride through the little town of Branchville. It is a small town and since we had no idea where we were going, we headed back. We stopped for gas on the way as it is much cheaper in New Jersey than in Pennsylvania and we knew we’d be riding around a lot tomorrow when we arrived in Elizabethtown, PA.

Back to the campground and it didn’t take us long to decided we needed to turn the generator on and then the AC. I had asked if they minded if we used the generator and they said it was fine. It would have been awfully hot with no AC. We read for a while and then heard a knock on the door. It was the owner’s granddaughter who lives with them. Their daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident in 2019 and apparently both the daughter and the grand live with them. She was a cute little first grader and said she often visited with the campers. She left as suddenly as she came. I had prepared a potato casserole the night before and Jerry had grilled ribs earlier in the week so we pulled them out and had a nice dinner.

I don’t usually sleep well when we are using the generator but I surely didn’t have any problem falling asleep tonight!

Rambling Around Vermont

Today was a busy day as we had several places we wanted to get to.  First on the agenda was a visit to the Marsh – Billings – Rockefeller National Historical Park. The gardens are beautiful and there is indeed a lot of history there.  In fact, the park is the “first national park to focus on conservation history and the changing nature of land stewardship in America.”  It was designated a national park by President George Bush in 1992 and remains the only national park that focuses on conservation history. It was quite interesting to read about the Billings and Rockefeller family.  We toured the house and read many interesting facts however we elected not to stop at the dairy!

On to the next stop, Calvin Coolidge Historic Site in Plymouth Notch and yes, I checked.  It was open today!  It’s really a village with the entrance starting at the Visitor’s Center.  We watched a short video on the life of President Coolidge and then started our walk through the village.  The family home was opened to the public and we were able to see just how life was during that time.  Possibly the most interesting fact was the family home was where President Coolidge took the Oath of Office.  While there, President Coolidge learned of the death of President Harding.  It was determined that President Coolidge’s father was a notary and thus could administer the oath so there in the parlor of his family home he took the Oath of Office by the light of a kerosene lamp.

We spent a good while rambling around the village visiting the general store and the hall above the store which he used as an office. There were several houses of relative on the grounds plus a cheese shop as well the beautiful Union Christian Church.

Union Christian Church

Next on our agenda was a visit to The Vermont Country Store in Weston.  I had ordered some gowns and robes from them over the years so I was interested in a visit to the store.  My opinion – if it isn’t in the store, you don’t need it!  They have everything from clothes to food to kitchen wares to toys and more.  It was quite interesting.  Unfortunately the one thing I wanted was not available in my size.  Oh well, I can always order!

What’s a visit to Quechee Gorge without a visit to the gorge itself?  The gorge also known as Vermont’s “Grand Canyon” is a 165 foot gorge that cuts through the Ottauquechee River which runs under a bridge right in the middle of the town.  We parked along the side of the road in some designated parking and hiked to the trail that took us down to the gorge.  It was an easy hike, more like a stroll down the wide paths that took us all the way to the bottom.  There were a number of people there, some in the water and some sitting on the large rocks in the water.  Jerry elected to stay on the sidelines but of course, I headed to the water, took off my shoes and socks and made it to one of the large rocks.  Getting there was easy.  Getting back, not so much but I made it without falling in.

It was a good day and a good visit to Vermont.  The countryside is beautiful, filled with many small villages and lots of covered bridges.  We didn’t stop at every covered bridge, but we visited several much to Jerry’s dismay.  Now on to Pennsylvania via New Jersey and a Harvest Host overnight.

View of the gorge from the bridge

On the Road to Quichee Gorge

Today was a good day!  Jerry and I had both been anxious about leaving today but for different reasons.  I was worried that once we started, the engine would start acting up again.  He was worried that the RV wouldn’t start!  I didn’t even know that.  If the slides are out the coach will not start and he was worried that because our kitchen slide was not completely closed the coach wouldn’t start.  He didn’t tell me because he said one worrying about that was enough!  What a relief on his face when the RV started right up!

We decided since we had had some problems and since we were not going very far that we wouldn’t tow.  He headed out first with me following in the Jeep.  He pulled into Evan’s business and I thought “oh no, here we go” but he only stopped to tell Evan that everything was working fine.  I guess transmission fluid and fuel cleaner worked.  Thank you Jesus.  I had prayed hard over this!

The ride to Quechee/Pine Valley KOA was quick.  In fact, we were quite early for our 1:00 check-in.  I called and talked with Susan and told her our dilemma.  We had left early because we thought we might be getting work done on the coach.  Since we had no problem, we were quite early.  The people who were in our site had not left yet so we couldn’t get in.  We found somewhere to park the coach and then went to find the campground.  Of course, the GPS had sent Jerry the wrong way!  We found it and I went in just to let them know we were in the area.  Susan told me that the space was vacant and we could come on in.  She was a pleasure to work with and made checking in so easy!  Kudos to Quechee/Pine Valley KOA!

We decided to go out to lunch for a change.  I had a brochure on the Skinny Pancake and saw that they served crepes.  I love crepes and seldom have them so off we went.  I had a vegetable crepe and Jerry had his usual burger.

Afterward we headed toward the Calvin Coolidge Birthplace.  Contrary to what the web indicated it was not open.  After a more than 30 minute drive in the country side we had nothing.  We turned around and headed for SugarBush Farms.  By the time we traveled over several dirt roads once again it was pouring down rain.  We just sat in the car and waited for it to slack down.  Jerry actually took a little nap!

We went in and tasted samples of cheese and maple syrup.  We ended up buying a small jar of maple syrup plus I got some cheese.  Jerry got some warm socks with a wolf on them.  Go Wolfpack! 

We headed back toward the campground with a stop at the Queeche General Store.  It is a pretty large store consisting of several rooms.  We stayed until they locked the doors at 5:00 but we didn’t buy anything.

Quechee General Store

I googled a nearby grocery store and found that Hannaford was in nearby New Hampshire!  Who knew? We were only about 15 minutes from there so we made a grocery run.

When we got back to the campground it was still raining pretty hard so we stayed in for the evening.  We made a FaceTime call to our grandson Britt who turned nine today.  I hated that we couldn’t see him but he got our gift.  I’m pretty sure that was most important to him!

Wandering Around Vermont

Today was a drive around to look briefly at several things. We started off with Moss Glen Falls which were powerful and beautiful. We parked just off the road at a small turn out and then walked a very short distance to the viewing stand. It is a bit out of the way for sure but well worth the drive.

Our next step was going to be Jericho but the GPS said it was 60 miles away. I knew my map guide had said 38 so we had a conundrum. What to do? We had no cell service, no use of the Waze app, we didn’t exactly know where we were and we were not sure where we were going. The solution was to turn around and go back the way we had been.

I had seen a road named Covered Bridge Road on our way to the falls so as we passed it again we turned around and went to look for the covered bridge. It was right there and is still in use.

We got back on I89 which seems to be the road to everywhere we’ve been to since we’ve been in Vermont and I realized we were not far from Jericho. Go figure!

We headed there and the Snowflake Museum. Yes, a museum dedicated to snowflakes. William “Snowflake” Bentley was an American meteorologist and photographer and was the first known person to take detail pictures of snowflakes and record their features. He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet in a way that they could be photographed before they melted. Mr. Bentley surmised that no two snowflakes, like people, were alike. There were many pictures of snowflakes in the museum plus a quilt made in the 1840’s. Some of the pictures had underneath them some of Mr. Bentley’s quotes “My mother taught me at home. All that I ever shall be I owe to her” “… I have found no duplicates. In this inexhaustible storehouse of crystal treasures, what a delight is in store for all future lovers of snowflakes and of the beautiful in nature. ”   “I became possessed with a great desire to show people some wonderful loveliness, an ambition to become, in some measure its preserver.”

After the museum we went into the craft shop and looked around at all of their goodies. There were many things in there that were “made in Vermont” but we elected not to make a purchase. The mill was closed for reconstruction so we didn’t get to see that. There was a walk to a park and when we asked someone what was down there her reply was “mud”. We wisely decided not to go further!

Our next stop was the covered bridge at River Side Park. Fortunately, we went today because the bridge is slated to be closed soon for some needed reconstruction as it is very slanted!

We headed to Burlington not knowing for sure where we were going other than the Ulta store for me to get some makeup. You know some things are essential!  After that we went to the local Walmart to pick up a few groceries. It wasn’t a super store and it was not a neighborhood Walmart, somewhere in between with a lot of bare shelves. Obviously we did not get everything on our list!

We decided then to head back. It was hot, 88 degrees so we were not interested in walking around Burlington. Jerry suggested we go back to Hope Cemetery at Barre and get some pictures of the more interesting monuments so that’s what we did. On our way back he listened to his audio book and I listened to our home church service.

Homage to the sculpturer, a showing of love and a little whimsey at Hope Cemetery.

Back to the campground and preparations to leave tomorrow. Jerry put the bikes back on the car – they  are certainly well traveled bikes though not well pedaled!

A Covered Bridge and a Mountain

After our frustrating day yesterday, we tried to go all out today and we did!  Our first stop was the Gold Brook Covered Bridge outside of Waterbury.  We should have gone there yesterday when we went to Cold Hollow Cider as it was very close by but I hadn’t figured that out yet.

In 1849 a young man, Abial Slayton from Stowe went to California to join the gold rushers.  After striking it rich he returned to Stowe and then became aware of the presence of gold in what was then called Hull Brook.  He set up a sluicing operation and got about $200 in gold before the gold ran dry.  The name stuck though and people have been known to try their hand at panning for gold since then.

We drove over the bridge and then I walked over it.  The plank boards are wearing and there was even a hole in one place where I could see the brook beneath Yikes, and we traveled over it in a car! 

We then continued on to Mt. Mansfield. The fee to get in was $25 for the car and one person and then $9.50 for each subsequent person.  Kind of pricey!  The road up to the trailhead was 4 ½ miles of curvy, twisty, narrow graveled road.  Meeting another car was a little scary as we were on far side of the road, meaning it was a long way down!  

We made it to the top parking lot and then walked up to the Visitor’s Center. The center is owned by the University of Vermont and apparently not well kept.  It was closed and the only attendant was a young woman who worked with a hiking organization.  She said the building was mostly empty and smelled of mold and mildew.  

We left on our ten minute walk to see the panoramic view.  I’m not sure where the ten minutes was supposed to take us but we went on – and on – and on!  We were ill prepared for a hike.  We had no boots on, no water, no candy (in case Jerry’s sugar dropped), no Kleenex for my constantly drippy nose and alas, no lip gloss plus no jacket!  As we began, I saw a sign that said we were only 3.4 miles from Canada! 

Are we having fun yet?

However, on we went climbing over rocks.  There was hardly a section where we were not climbing over rocks, big rocks.  At times we were pretty close to the edge of the mountain.  After a while I had to stop but Jerry wanted to go on to the summit.  I sent him ahead and sat down on a fairly comfortable rock with my phone and his camera.  Suddenly the wind blew up and the temperature cooled.  Then it began to rain.  I had his camera stuck under my very soiled white t-shirt trying to keep it dry.  The wind was blowing so hard that I knew I had to find a shelter from it so up I went.  I really was getting uneasy as I didn’t know exactly where Jerry was, I was cold and wet and then my imagination began to go wild.  There were no other people around.  Were there any wild animals around?  I sent Jerry a text that failed to send (he got it tonight) and then I called him.  Oddly enough the call went through although it was breaking up.  He was almost to the summit and said he should be down in a few minutes.  Yeah, right!  

I saw some people come down and I asked if they had seen a man in a blue shirt and a cap.  Wouldn’t you know out of all the people that I could have asked I asked the one who spoke no English!  I don’t know if it was fear, a little rest or Adrenalin but up I went to meet him.  I wasn’t too far from the summit when I finally saw him.  Relief!  Except as I had said earlier it was not a loop trail.  We had to hike all the way back to the Visitor’s Center.  It was a long arduous hike and we were tired.  The rain had caused some of the rocks to be more slippery plus there were more puddles.  I noticed as we went up that we were both very careful to avoid the puddles.  On the way down we just did the best we could to get around them and sometimes we didn’t. The red Jeep in the parking lot was a pretty sight to behold and the bottle of water was delicious!  We were one of only two cars left.  Everyone including the young guide had left for the day.

See that little blue speck? He made it!

The ride down the mountain was not as scary as coming up.  We were next to the mountain, not looking down at where we could land if we made a mistake plus we met no cars.  The station was closed when we got down and the entrance was gated.  What?  Jerry got out and read the instructions for leaving.  Unpin the gate and drive forward over the spikes.  Do not back up as it will ruin your tires!  Oh, my goodness.  Not a soul around so we did what it said to do and off we went.

As we were returning to the campground Jerry saw a sign about the Von Trapp Inn and asked if I wanted to go by.  He said he surely didn’t want to return that way tomorrow so we rode on up.  It is a lovely place but I’m not sure it is reminiscent of Austria!

 Today’s hike was my most difficult hike but Jerry said his most difficult was the Gorham Trail in Acadia. We surely had a lot more rocks to climb today!  When we returned to the campground I I hit the sofa with an ice pack for my knee,  Oh, I slid down one of the rocks landing on my left knee.  Ouch.  We were two very exhausted people but glad we had survived the trek up Mt. Mansfield.

By the way, what’s the difference in a hike and a walk?  Not sure!

Some Days are Just …

We had a 10:00 appointment with Evan to come look at the motor home engine this morning.  It was not raining so we felt that he would come and he did – at noon!  We pulled in the slides and unhooked everything and Jerry along with Evan took it for a short ride.  It actually started making the same noise before they got to the highway.  After they got back Evan said he really didn’t know what was wrong with the engine but said that it was low on transmission fluid so it could be that.  He said he would come back later to address that. 

We set back up and began to put the slides out and the kitchen slide started making a thumping noise.  I quickly pulled it back in but it wouldn’t go in all of the way.  The side near the door was not flush with the coach.  Several men tried to help push it in but it was just catawampus and no amount of pushing made a difference.  Oh well.  We were already scheduled to take it in September 20 for the bedroom slide.  Guess they will have two slides to work on now. We still have plenty of room to navigate in the motor home so it’s not a huge problem. Well, other than worrying about it that is.

Since it was after 1:00 we ate a quick lunch and then headed to Waterbury to Cold Hollow Cider Mill.  We walked into the store where there was everything “apple”.  We watched a short video on the making of cider and then wandered around the store.  Jerry asked if I wanted a Vermont sweatshirt and I replied not yet as I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember our trip thus far.  A day of heavy rain, an engine problem and a slide problem all within two days.  Geesh!

I went in the tasting room and bought a flight of their hard cider but didn’t find any that I really liked.  Guess I’m not an apple cider person.

We left the mill and decided to try to find an auto store to buy some fuel cleaner.  Our GPS sent us the wrong way and we ended up on yet another of Vermont’s muddy roads!  We finally found the store, made our purchase and then felt we needed to head back to the campground in case Evan came early.

He did come and put the transmission fluid in.  He didn’t know if that would make any difference but he told us that if it was still acting up when we left Monday morning to just stop by his place.  It’s only a few miles from here and on our way.  He thinks it could possibly be a fuel filter or a fuel pump.  Oh joy!

Thus ended a not very good day. Most RV blogs just relate the highs of RV Life but few tell of the problems that we encounter on the road. Today was our problem day but hey, God is still good and all will be well!

Granite in Barre, Vermont

It was a very rainy day in Vermont today.  Jerry had talked with someone about the engine and he was supposed to come this morning at 10:00 but we knew that he probably couldn’t come due to the pouring rain.  Jerry finally called about 10:30 and the fellow arranged to come tomorrow barring rain.  Thus we had a short day in the rain.  What to do?

We decided to stay in Barre for the day and our first stop was the Vermont Granite Museum.  Policy indicates that not only must masks be worn but our temperature our was checked before we could pay our admission of $6.  That is the first time other than doctor’s offices that our temperatures have been taken.

The museum is located in the former Jones Brothers Manufacturing plant and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Part of the museum is a “workshop” used by artisans creating sculptures from granite. It was fascinating to follow the process beginning with the waxed figure and then the steps to the final granite sculpture.  There are many beginning sculptures around the plant in different stages of finishing. There are twelve sculptures around the town of Barre and it would have been fun to try to locate them but it was raining too hard for that.

Our next stop was Hope Cemetery which is described as a haunting work of art and indeed it is. We rode around amazed at the originality and intricacy of the monuments.  Although many were the usual block with name, dates of birth and death there were many that told a story of the person’s life including their hobbies. One had a car on top of it.  Another was a large soccer ball.  Perhaps the strangest one we saw was of two apparent granite beds with a husband and wife holding hands looking over beds.  Hard to describe! The monument was built by William Halvosa for his first wife who died in middle age.  Apparently, they were both readers and enjoyed reading in bed in the evening.  Halvosa was heartbroken after her death and he could often be seen at dusk sitting on “his side of the bed” reading to her.

When we were at the Vermont Granite Museum earlier we saw the model for the Elia Corti memorial He was a Italian stone carver who worked in Barre at the turn of the century. Coindcidetally we saw his memorial at the cemetery. We did notice as we rode through the cemetery that there were what appeared to be a lot of Italian surnames and wondered if maybe they had been granite workers.

Carver Louis Brusa carved some of the memorials out there but sadly died of silicosis or “stone cutter’s disease”.  His memorial is of a dying man slipping away, held by his wife.

Believe it or not we shared our picnic lunch in the cemetery!  Jerry asked a friend if he should be checking to see if I had bought life insurance for him.  Food and a cemetery didn’t sound good! I guess saying it was a peaceful lunch is a bit of an understatement.

We continued our rainy day adventure at the Rock of Ages Quarry.  The Craftsman Center is closed but they have a small museum and tours during the day rain or shine.  As we were signing up we were asked where we were from.  When we replied North Carolina, we were told that Rock of Ages has a quarry in Salisbury, North Carolina where they get the pink quarry.  We watched a short video about the quarrying and manufacturing process.  We still had a few minutes before the tour began so we were able to walk around the museum.  Included in the history of granite were replicas of monuments they had created.  Again, there were some odd ones!

Our tour guide had worked in the quarry for 30 years, retired and a few years later came back as a guide to share his experiences.  He was very knowledgeable. After an interesting talk which lasted longer due to the rain, we drove to the E.L. Smith Quarry.  At nearly 600 feet deep, it is the largest operating deep-hole granite quarry in the world.  Our tour guide related that he worked as a driller in the very bottom for years. Now nearly 300 feet of the quarry is covered by water which is used in the granite process. We learned that only 15% of the harvested granite is suitable for use.  The other 85% is called grout.

Smith Quarry

As we were leaving the quarry I entered the campground address in my Waze app and then the car GPS.  As usual, the car navigation was lost and Waze who usually takes us a pretty good route took us over the muddy roads of Vermont!  We did pass a maple syrup production area.  There were many maple trees all tied together by green tubing.  We could also see the clear tubing on the trees which would eventually tie into the green tubing.  Apparently someone is getting ready for the season.

Just a little wet!