On the Road Again.................

Since Sal has somewhat "retired" from blogging, I guess that I'll try to take up the slack!  She's a tough act to follow--does such a great job, that I feel like a beginner compared to her blogging skills.  We are now officially headed off on our trip to Alaska.  We had a great time in Pine, Arizona at the 2nd Annual "McPine" campout this past weekend,

hosted by Betsy & Carl Porter.  Eight rigs attended and we all had a wonderful time.  Sally and I will be in San Francisco tomorrow for at least five nights visiting family and friends, then, "off to Alaska". 

Dear Readers of our Blog,

I guess I have more or less retired from blogging.  Thought I should let you know and thank you for visiting this from time to time.  Blogging has become more work than fun for me so retiring, well semi-retiring, seems like a good idea.  Call me anytime at 602-565-5860 if you would like to know where we are.  Or look for us on Facebook - we've both been pretty good at posting occasional pictures of our travels there.

I'll still post here on occasion.

Here's a little recap of where we've been the past few months:


Our trusty annual Rand McNally that's taped together and pretty worn by the end of each year.
(The little jog over to CA was by car, not RV)

By the time we reach Prescott on October 22nd, we will have been out on the road 173 nights since our May departure. 

* 80 camp locations, moving an average of every 2 days.

* Stayed at 19 different Walmarts/Sam's Clubs

* 27 states

* About 7,500 miles, moving an average of 43 miles per day

* Longest stretch - Columbus, NE to Tucson, AZ - 1,225 miles in about 28 hours.

* Longest stays - Lorton, VA for sightseeing Washington DC and Salem, MA just because we liked it there so well. 

8 nights in each.

* Best campsite - a city boat launch pier in Westfield, NY on Lake Ontario.  Free and beautiful.

* Best museum - hands down, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, OH.  We were there from opening to closing time and would have gone another day too if we'd had the time.

* Best bets - city tours, trolley tours.  We did at least 2 dozen.  Always well worth the money and time.

 

 

Still loving our RVing way of life!  Next trips are already being planned.  Time in Phoenix area this winter, maybe Quartzsite in Jan., Kartchner Caverns in Feb., then a big long trip north through Canada and all around Alaska for 2013 summer. 

 



Newport, Rhode Island

One of the tunnels along the Cliff Walk

Vanderbilt's cottage -
The Breakers

Newport, RI was a surprisingly nice stop.  RV park was in the next town over and within walking distance of downtown Newport.  Lots of opportunity for beautiful walks along the shore and harbor.  The Cliff Walk along the backyards of some of Newport's famous "cottages" of the likes of the Vanderbilts was a treat.  Gregg does NOT like house tours but Sally spent a day and a half on long tours of 5 of the monstrosities - fascinating!

Mystic, Connecticut

 

We definitely love seeing the contrasts between the places we visit while we are on the road.  And talk about contrast, from New York City to Mystic, CT within a day!  Mystic is a sleepy little place with waterfront views that are like those you see in travel brochures.  We took a schooner cruise and then ate seafood at a funky place called Abbott's Lobster-in-the-raw. No liquor sold there but you are welcome to bring your own!   

New York City - Manhattan

We LOVED our RV visit to New York City!  Sally was able to score reservations for two nights at the Liberty Harbor RV park in Jersey City, NJ.  What  it lacked in ambiance was more than offset by location.  We were parked on a marina a stone’s throw from the NYC Ferry terminal where we docked at the foot of Wall Street in the heart of the financial district in minutes and we could see the Statue of Liberty.  We had a fabulous tour of NYC on a double-decker bus where we saw everything from Times Square to Central Park.  New York City is unique in that the buildings and architecture provide visual “slices of time”  which our tour guide did an outstanding job of explaining.  When we left, we both were a little sad and wished that we had been able to stay longer—maybe another time!

Moving on...



Crossing Chesapeake Bay again.  I love bridge crossings and photos NEVER capture the grandness of the views or the bridges.  But I get a kick out of this photo.  Look closely for the teeny tiny workers on the scaffolding under the bridge.

We've moved on from a wonderful week in DC and a stop in Annapolis, MD, across Delaware into New Jersey.  We'll spend a few days here, then a couple of days in NYC before heading into New England.

Washington, DC

Enjoying Washington DC despite record setting heat and humidity.  We do what Arizonans do - find things to do inside when it's unbearable outside.  Museums galore here!  and most are FREE - right up our alley.

Outdoor stuff - get out at daybreak and back inside by 9am.

Beautiful 9 mile bike ride all around the National Mall. 

Virginia

We've been so busy since getting into Virginia, there's been no time for blogging.

Sunset over Chesapeake Bay at First Landing State Park - Virginia Beach, VA

In a nutshell - we are having a GREAT time!

Went into sensory overload today!  We visited the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum today near Dulles airport in Chantilly, VA.  One HUGE hangar houses the Space Shuttle Discovery, SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, and an Air France Concorde along with 300 aircraft of every description.  I have never in my life seen such an exhibit of aircraft.  This even beats the EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Goodbye to North Carolina

We've had such a good time in NC - almost hate to leave but our route is northward and we've about run out the northern border of NC.

Keith & Sandy stopped by our last campground where we happened to be parked next to an RV that had burned the provious day, before we got there.  Disastrous and thankfully no one was in it, no one injured.  Apparently an electrical fire. 

That's Keith & Sandy's RV & Jeep right in front of us on our ferry ride to the very farthest NE corner of NC, Knott's Island.

This is our last NC campground and a favorite so far, right on the water of Currituck sound.

On storm watch.  We had a great thunderstorm there.

Learned all about crab fishing from a young local family on the beach and dock for the day.

Goodbye North Carolina.  We are ranking you among the most beautiful and interesting states.

Another New Experience!

Had a double header today! Got two flights in a Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly experimental light sport aircraft (E-LSA) and then a flight in a tandem Moyes hang glider. This was my first time up on a hang glider and I loved it. Flying from Currituck County Airport (ONX) the views of Currituck Sound, the ocean, and the surrounding countryside were breathtaking. Never too old to try something new!

Seeing friends...

We "ran into" Jon & Ellen on our morning bike ride in Ocracoke.  They were on their way to Maine.

We run into Sandy & Keith every few days or so, kind of leap-frogging each other in our travels.  It's Great!

Ferries

We both LOVE taking ferries!

Our first ferry ride, this trip, from Cedar Island to Ocracoke, 23 miles, took 2 1/4 hours.  Only $15 per car and $30 for the motorhome - what a bargain!

View out our front window through the boat parked in front of us.  Coming into Hatteras from Ocracoke.  Best yet, this ferry is completely FREE!

Light houses

Ocracoke Lighthouse, the oldest operating lighthouse in NC.

Beautiful Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, 208 ft, the tallest brick beacon in the U.S.
Due to the shifting beaches, this was moved 1/2 mile in 1999 so it is now the same distance from the ocean as it was in 1870.  Took 23 days to move. 

Atop Hatteras, behind us is Diamond Shoals, treacherous area for ships due to ocean currents meeting there and shifting sandbars extending 20 miles out in the ocean. 

Called Graveyard of the Atlantic, there are over 600 shipwrecks off the Outer Banks due to the shoals, storms and war.  German U boats sunk many merchant and war ships off this coast in WWII.

Beaches

Ahhh...finally on the Outer Banks, starting at Ocracoke, NC.  Miles and miles and miles of beaches, both Atlantic Ocean side and Pamlico Sound side.  Sometimes from the highway you can see the water on both sides at the same time - it's that narrow. 

That's our RV viewed from the ocean side beach, over the beautiful dunes.  Ocracoke campground - Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

                                       

sunrise

So THAT'S how you surf fish...

Our campground at Frisco, another National Park campground in the dunes.

Looks like they are moving...

The weather here is really hard on beach houses...

Fishing pier at Rodanthe

Beach houses at Rodanthe

Aerial picture of what storms can do to these islands - drill a new inlet right through them.  This was 2003.



Beach at Waves, NC   I love all the colored umbrellas.