Off to the New Jersey Shore

The weather has just been fantastic. We decided that we would go to New Jersey for the first time, so tomorrow, October 16, we’re off to Cape May NJ. There’s nothing like wiggling your toes in the Atlantic Ocean. That’s exactly what we did!

We found a great campground with a pull-through and full hook-ups for the off-season rate of $20 a night! After downloading the trike the next day, we drove into Wildwood to the beach. We enjoyed the last warm day of the season, (77 degrees), by walking the whole length of the boardwalk, (5 miles…WHEW!). Ended the day at Sunset Beach in Cape May for a sunset that wasn’t. The predicted weather for the next day was already moving in so the clouds covered the sun. At least Lynn was able to collect some Cape May “Diamonds”.

A Cape May “diamond” is a unique stone that is made on the beach by the conditions of the water and the rocks and is only found in this area. They are really quartz stones that have been sanded smooth by the conditions mentioned and are clear or transparent. This shows up when they are wet, but they need to be polished, (or “tumbled” as the locals call it), to show off the clearness and diamond-like qualities. The jewelry is made and sold locally from $6 to $25+. Some have even been faceted like real diamonds.

We rested the next day inside, watched the chilly weather bring in the showers and more wind, and got out for a short walk around the park later when the “cabin fever” struck!

Saturday we braved the wind and partly cloudy 60+ degrees, and went back to Wildwood for the 50’s festival complete with a hula-hoop contest. Oh, “Those Wildwood Days”…(Bobby Rydell 1963) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5muryAawQfg,) We caught a short rain shower on the way home, but had a good time anyway. Loved the bands with that good old music of our past, (that would be the 60’s music they played).

Sunday, we went to the Seashore Community Nazarene Church, and afterward enjoyed the Naval Air Station Museum. It was pretty funny watching Bruce get in and out of T-33 and the Apache Helicopter. Then we went to a local restaurant and had an old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch “slippery chicken pot pie” for dinner. Different! Delicious! Lynn will probably try to duplicate that one! Not good for a diet, though.

Cape May is a large birding area with many migrating birds coming through this time of year so we headed back to Cape May State Park this time, for some bird watching. They have very nice boardwalks to the beaches and the coastal low lands, so we took our time and enjoyed the wonderful cool but sunny day. We even spotted an a few hawks and saw an Osprey carrying a large fish across the pond. We were too busy watching to get THAT picture! We ended a great stay by returning to Sunset Beach and this time there WAS a sunset! A nice one! Lynn gathered more Cape May “diamonds” while Bruce took sunset pictures. He missed the one when that wave caught the back of Lynn’s legs and filled her shoes with the ocean! It was a cold ride home!

Tuesday morning we got up and headed out to for breakfast in Cape May, took some pictures and picked up our mail. Cape May has some very interesting old vacation homes and has been a summer place to go for many years. Bet these places get the high dollar during the season!

Now all we had to do was pack up to go again but this time we were to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry the next day across the bay to Delaware, “lock, stock and barrel”. Saved us time and money!

The ferry ride was fun. The wind was brisk so it rock and rolled a bit. Lynn was surprised she didn’t get woozy, (like she did the time we crossed in 1976 on the ferry from Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan). We got some pictures and met a nice family from Tennessee, who are full timing for a couple of years with their young son, and home schooling. It’s always fun to share traveling tips and stories with fellow full-timers. When we reached the shores of Delaware, we looked for and found a Wal-Mart in Georgetown. Lynn shopped her “list”, (and then some). We spent a surprisingly quiet night, (for a Wal-Mart), got a great night’s sleep and set off for Maryland in the morning.

Lancaster Pennsylvania

When we left Watkins Glen our next destination was Lancaster County PA.(The locals pronounce it “Ling-c’ster”) Bruce as always setup our trip to see the country along the way. (In Pennsylvania this means up and down and round and round.) What fun…driving through small towns with houses built right next to the road and big climbs up mountains then down the other side with all the brakes you have!

We followed US 6 along the Susquehanna River then cut over to Wilkes Barre, then down over to Hamburg for a stop at Cabela’s and spent some money. Cabela’s is prepared for RV overnight stays. They have horse corrals, dog runs and a dump station, so if traveling that way, stop by, but if you want to stay for “free”, like all “free” over night places, stay out of the store. Who said this parking lot camping was cheap?

We discovered that they celebrate Columbus Day here in the east as a busy holiday, (Oct. 13th this year), so we had a tough time finding a campground with room for us over the weekend. Tuquan, (“Tuck-one”), Park Family Campground in Holtwood, PA had a spot for us, so after a “fun” trek through the backcountry roads we arrived at a nice campground with a lot of seasonal campers, and they had a nice pull-thru spot for us. We planned to stay for a week and go to Gettysburg, Hershey, and the Strasburg area. Since we were in the heart of Amish and Mennonite country, we didn’t have a good cell signal. Go figure!

Saturday we took off for Gettysburg on the trike. We like to take the two lanes and avoid the freeways, it’s more fun and seems safer than running along side all those heavy trucks. The sun was shining and the fall colors where coming on strong.

Gettysburg is a small old town with limited streets and this afternoon there was more traffic than roads, everyone was out enjoying the holiday weekend and the warm sunny day. The Gettysburg Battlefield Park was very crowded; I’m sure not as crowded as some summer days, but enough for Bruce. We took the driving tour, met some re-enactors doing some educational encampments and decided if we wanted a more in-depth experience we needed to come back at a less busy time. The trip was nice 65 miles each way going through Amish and Mennonite farm country.

We attended the Bethesda United Methodist Church this Sunday, just a short distance from the campground. The church was very much alive and growing. It was very nice to worship in this country church.

Monday we took off for Hershey PA, the chocolate capital of the world, Lynn wanted to see how one of her favorite dark chocolates was made. They don’t have an actual factory tour but had an animated simulation ride that takes you through the process. It was fun, (and free), but you ended up in the gift shop and who can resist all that CHOCOLATE!?!

We took a trolley tour, (not free), of the “town” that Milton Hershey built, (technically there is no city of Hershey only the Township of Derry, PA, originally called Derry Church), very interesting history. (Loved those Hershey Kisses street lights!)

One of the best things we learned on this tour was the story of the Milton Hershey School for at-risk children. It is the largest residential school in the country and they receive no government funds of any kind. The whole school is funded by the Hershey Trust and private donations, it seem that Milton Hershey, having no heirs, set up all of his company into a trust with the one objective of funding the school. So remember every time you eat a Hershey product you’re helping the school. Lynn loves her Hershey’s Bliss dark chocolate even more now.

Being from an area where we have had opportunities visit with the Amish, (even have had the opportunity of eating in their homes), we set out Tuesday to enjoy the Strasburg area and its Amish and railroad history.

Bruce was like a little boy again when we took to the rails on the Strasburg Railroad for a ride to Paradise PA and back. The Baldwin steam engine put out lots of smoke and had a great whistle, the cars were very nicely restored and it was a very nice day.

Next stop was the National Toy Train Museum just down the road from the Strasburg RR. This museum has a very nice collection of toy trains from the all over the world and lots of working layouts. They had a lot of Lionel trains, again taking Bruce back to his childhood. Lynn enjoyed reverting back to her childhood by pushing all the buttons and working all the trains and accessories she could get her hands on. The scenes gave her a few ideas for making her own layouts, too. Bruce had to remind her that we only have so much space!

They have a Disney Diesel just like the one we gave our son, Eugene for Christmas in 1982. We let him have it back when we hit the road in 2005.

US 30 in this area is full of shopping and dining opportunities but not the kind of place we where looking for, (they seem to have gotten too “touristy” for our taste), so we ended up having supper at a little family restaurant in Quarryville, PA and headed home.

We took several walks through the park, met a few nice RVer’s, bought a bit of veggies at a roadside Amish farm and just enjoyed the beautiful warm Fall weather.

Watkins Glen New York

After leaving Ipperwash Beach we decided not to stop at Niagara Falls Canada so we pressed on to the Finger Lakes area of New York. Bruce had gotten the great idea that we should stay near Watkins Glen, his knowledge of the history of the racetrack there and wish to see the “Glen” drove us on. On Sept. 30, about 8:00 PM it was dark and lightly raining. We needed a place to stop and discovered that the local communities apparently have laws against camping at Wal-Mart so we pressed on to Sampson State Park. The park was closed for the night and very dark, but we found the park office parking lot. After a visit from night security we settled in for the night. We paid sixteen dollars the next morning for a non-electric site, (the parking lot), then headed on down the road.
Our campground of choice was Paradise Park in Reading Center, NY, (pronounced “RED”ing), about four miles up the hill from Watkins Glen. If you have a very large rig be aware… this park has a very awkward and hard to get into dump station and no full hookups, otherwise a nice park. Edible button mushrooms were growing right in the grass near our campsite, so Lynn would go out picking and we enjoyed fresh mushrooms for several meals!



Watkins Glen is situated on the very south end of Lake Seneca one of the largest of the Finger Lakes in NY. After downloading the trike, we rode into town and took a look around the area. We found a Friday Farmer’s market in the park so Lynn did some fresh veggie shopping. There was a lot of traffic coming into town as this was going to be a beautiful fall weekend. Oh yes, and the hills around Lake Seneca are loaded with vineyards and wineries, large dairy farms, and waterfalls; a very picture perfect area.



Saturday we jumped on the trike and headed to Corning NY, the home of Corning Glass. The sun was shinning, the temp was in the low sixties and the highway to Corning went through some very colorful fall foliage. When we got to Corning we passed up the Glass Museum and went to the Rockwell Western Art Museum, (imagine that!) They had some very nice pieces including Russell’s and Remington’s. Lynn found out where the Corning Outlet store was so off we went to shop but remembered we had the trike, so she bought small. After a nice walk around town and an enjoyable ride back to Watkins Glen we drove by the “Glen”, (that’s the RACE track). All we could see from the outside was a little bit of the track. On the way back home, we had dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant overlooking Lake Seneca.


Sunday morning we rode into town to the United Methodist Church for morning worship. This church needs prayer.t's a large old historic church with some of the nicest stain glass windows we’ve seen, but the church is up for sale and the pastor is trying to find a way to hold the small and aging congregation together. We had reservations for the lunch cruise on Lake Seneca. The weather was partly cloudy and a little brisk but we enjoyed the nice buffet and tour around the lake. After the cruise we found the “Glen” souvenir shop they offered a $25 pass to take three laps behind a pace car, but, alas…no motorcycles allowed.


So on Monday we decided to take the Kenworth for those three laps around the “Glen”. (Yeah, it really took a lot to convince Bruce to do THAT!) After we watched the smaller cars do their laps it was our turn along with a big motorhome who went on ahead of us because “we were taller”. It was a lot of fun. They have a 55 MPH limit for these laps and after the first lap the pace car saw we weren’t in any danger of exceeding that limit, so he pulled over and let us go, shifting that Eaton 9 speed and hitting those air brakes in every turn. Lynn was trying to get pictures as we went around. Not the easiest thing she has ever done! Even got a movie of the last lap and she said, “I hope all this jiggling doesn’t hurt your eyes!” We even passed a Ferrari while we were on the track, (ok, so he was parked!). Had a tough time getting THAT picture…we were going Sooooo FAST! (Actually, it was the jiggling!) Great fun! Lynn said I didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day and the next time we see a race from the “Glen” we will have an idea of the conditions.



Our last day here in the Finger Lakes area we took off on the trike to drive around the lake. It was a little cool, (Lynn says “cold!), but when we got to Geneva we stopped for coffee to warm up. It was fun to see some of the places we spotted from the boat from a different angle, especially some of the vineyards. This whole area is very pretty especially with the fall colors, and will be one of those places that we will try to visit again in our travels.

Canada and Ipperwash Beach

We left home (Somerset Beach Campground) on Sept. 23. Our first planned stop was Ipperwash Beach Canada to visit friends, Weldon and Marie Johnston. We got to know the Johnston’s our first winter of retirement at Light and Life Park in Lakeland, FL. Their summer home is at Ipperwash Beach, Canada on the shores of Lake Huron.

Crossing over into Canada at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron we had no problems at all with customs. Bruce had a problem finding the RV line on the bridge, but all went well. The crossing into New York at Fort Erie went well also, the customs inspector took a look inside the 5^th wheel and said “extended trip?” and Bruce said “No, this is our house”, he replied “lucky you” laughed and let us go on.

We continued on to Weldon and Marie’s on the Indian Reservation at Ipperwash Beach, parking the whole rig in their driveway, much to the amazement of the neighbors. When Weldon came home, he had to drive across the yard to park his car. (We filled the whole driveway.)

The first evening, the ladies wanted to see the sunset on Lake Huron, so we went to Kettle Point, enjoyed a beautiful sunset and learned about the interesting kettle rocks that give the point it’s name. They are actually called concretions. There are only a few places in the world where these types of rock formations are found. They are commonly composed of a carbonate mineral such as calcite, but sometimes an iron oxide or hydroxide such as goethite or sometimes an amorphous or microcrystalline form of silica about a nucleus. But they can also be composed of other sedimentary minerals that include dolomite, ankerite, siderite, pyrite, barite and gypsum, to name a few. There is also plant material mixed in. (OK, so we gathered some information online.) When we found one split open, the insides really looked like the rings on the inside of a tree!

Over the next few days we visited Rock Glenn and spent a day up at Grand Bend shopping and having lunch. Bruce found a shirt with flames on it that comes close to matching the flames on the Kenworth; he thinks it’s “cool”.

Sunday we went with the Johnston’s to worship at the Forest Baptist Church. The church has just built a 2 million dollar, (Canadian), sanctuary on their school-converted-to-church building, then added an addition. It is a very lovely addition, too. After worship we drove to London Ontario, had a quick lunch and went to watch the Johnston’s grandson, Warren play hockey. He’s an excellent player and his team won! We left the hockey game and headed to “The Old Vic” a neighborhood pub where Greg, Weldon and Marie’s son, was playing in a band. We ate dinner, celebrated Greg birthday, enjoyed his band, had cake (with candles) and watched Greg open his presents. We then went to Steve and Cheryl’s, (Warren’s parents and the Johnston’s daughter), and enjoyed a soak in their hot tub. What a nice treat, THANKS Steve and Cheryl! We have always said the thing we miss most about our house in Dearborn Heights was the hot tub on the deck.

Monday night we returned to Forest Baptist to attend their new sanctuary Dedication Service. The praise team and special music were excellent. The speaker for this special event was Alistar Begg from Parkside Community Church of Greater Cleveland, an excellent speaker and biblical scholar, (also the Pastor to our friends, Carl and Kathy). It was a very nice night and we were glad we could share it with the members of the Forest Baptist Church.

Tuesday morning we packed up and headed down the road to New York. Now, Weldon could have his driveway back! We had a great visit and hope to see the Johnston’s in Lakeland, FL sometime this winter.

What We Did Last Summer 2008

We completed our spring trip by arriving at Somerset Beach Campground, a camping ministry of the Free Methodist Church, on May 29th. Here is where we spent our summer as volunteer campground hosts, and helping out wherever needed. Bruce is good working with people and helping out those who need extra help, so the host job is good for him. Lynn has a talent for cooking and working with kids so she worked with the Equestrian Outreach Center with their campfire snack time. Horseback riding was an extra perk to that job. She also enjoys painting and managed to paint several picnic tables during the summer.

Our reason for being here includes our love for the ministry here at SBC but also to be close to family. Enoch, our brother-in-law is still fighting brain cancer and God is still blessing him and Lynn’s sister, Deanne with the strength to go on. He has so far accomplished what many considered a miracle by walking his daughter Kelly down the aisle of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on 8/08/08 to be given in marriage to Wayne and then enjoying a lively evening at the reception. He is still moving forward; with a couple of setbacks thrown in to keep them on their toes, the family continues to share quality time with each new day.

The big event at the campground was the purchase, setup and finishing of two camping cabins. The idea came from the folks at the Spring Senior Work Week at SBC. They decided that the summer female counselors needed better housing so they put up money to get it started and many others have joined in. Bruce enjoyed helping with the work led by Chuck Smith and Marv Fisher. He’s not a carpenter but he can hold the other end of a board. Lynn even pitched in for a few days when the insulation went in. The cabins looked great when we left.

We enjoyed great times with family and friends: going to Mio MI for the Jarrett reunion and visiting with cousins and family of Grandpa Jarrett, catching up with the Brooks’ side of the family at a graduation, and then the weddings, bridal and baby showers, and nice visits with Lynn’s family, too. Bruce’s Mom celebrated her 85th birthday this summer and all of her kids and most of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were there. Those who weren’t there were missed: our son Don and Cliff’s son Todd and his family, who at least were able to call and wish her well.

We consider SBC as our “home base” and whenever we are there it means fellowship with friends and getting our soul fed with our church family of SBC Fellowship Church. We always look forward to the busy and uplifting week of Family Camp. When we left, we were both anxious to be on our way but also reluctant to leave our friends and family again.









The predicted winter weather is a great motivator!

Alma Highland Games 2008

After arriving back in Michigan we headed to Alma Mi. for the annual Highland Games held over Memorial Day weekend. It has been 33 years since we’ve attended the Games and we had two young sons to take around with us so we didn’t “see it all” then. We still enjoyed the games, but it is different with kids.

This time we did it all, the games, dancing, bands and evening entertainment. We enjoyed Colin Grant-Adams a Scottish folk singer and balladeer, Celtic rock band Mother Grove, and a beautiful sister group The Maidens IV singing classic Celtic songs. The thing that Bruce absolutely thought was the best, was when the massed bands played Amazing Grace, one band started and 200 plus pipers drum rolled in on the second verse, Great! Of course, it was always fun to hear Scotland the Brave…(many times).

Lynn enjoyed the Celtic dancing competition. Sunday we attended a Presbyterian Church for a ceremony of the “Kirking of the Tartans”. Each clan brought in their tartan flag or sash to be honored for a fairly formal service. A beautiful red-haired young woman played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes as she “piped in” the tartans. It was very interesting and both men and women wore many different kilts. All in all it was a fun and busy weekend.