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Got on the road, it is always a sad time to say goodbye. Drove over the Bay Bridge Tunnel to Virginia Beach, 26 bucks toll!! As we drove into the home stretch for Glou’ster and started to smell something burning, first thought was, “oh no, here we go again”. It seems that from all of the stop and go traffic that the brakes have over heated. As I let them cool I noticed that all the bearing grease had melted from the heat and run out of the wheel. So time for some more on-the-road repairs. I let the wheel cool with some help from the last of our bottled water and took it off. I re-packed the bearings with grease and we were on our way. The Thousand Trails Park was a nice surprise. It is very well-kept and on the Piankatank River. We just feel a tad out of place since we do not own a golf cart with over sized off road tires. Seems no one walks here, they all ride carts and everyone knows everyone. Quite a community. One that we are now going to be here for the full two weeks allowed due to needing to special order new brake pads online. As always we made the best of it. We are near alot of cool historic areas. We also found a mountain bike trail that we went and rode. Harwoods MTB Trail. Good trail, no hills, but fun. Just watch out for girls running x-country. They are quick little girls who seem to never stop (we got passed by several :) After the ride we headed to Yorktown to cool down with some local brew and grub. The Yorktown Pub seemed like a cool place to go, several locals told it was where they hang out. It was a quaint one room pub with above average bar food and a good waitress. It would have been a nicer evening except for the fact that the coast guard and local fire dept. were searching the water for a 20 year old young man who had gone missing after crashing into the pier in his boat just minutes before we parked! Nothing like a water view of that scene. Poor kid, apparently he and his buddies had been in the pub getting drunk just a bit before we arrived, left and got into their boat to cruise around, and… Somehow a drowning outside the window of the pub seemed to dampen a good day 🙁 God rest his soul. Decided to try and paint again. I did a skipjack impressionistic piece. At first I did not like it much, but kept working it, and began to really like what was going on in it. Well we are starting to feel out of place here, mainly because we do not have a golf cart. This TT park has some many golf carts running around this place it is hard to eve walk the dogs. It seems everyone is either too old or too lazy to walk anywhere in the park. And these are not just regular golf carts, but pimped out and souped up carts with big knobby tires and crazy paint jobs. I did learn a good tip. Use dog food in my minnow trap, works like a champ. Finally got out and went to an RV rally, the Winnebago rally over at BethPage RV resort. Prob the nicest resort we have been to. Well it was as we expected, we were out of place, too young plus we did not have matching shirts from an RV club. However we might do a rally as a vendor doing photos of people by their rigs and create postcards for them. Set out on mission to go se the Point Comfort lighthouse, had lunch in Urbanna at Shucker’s, really good steak sandwich and fish chowder. Took a while to find the lighthouse and to our disappointment, we could only view the lighthouse from a far distance :( The chili cookoff took place and we attended, met some nice people from Jersey, did a beer tasting also, who would have thought. Sampled San Miguel dark, awesome beer (visit our lists for our top ten beers) Drove to Colonial Williamsburg to find a dog park and a brewpub, how predictable huh? We found a great dog park (visit dog park top 5 list). Waller Mill dog park. They were very strict with rabies and the fee to use the park ($2 daily), But we stick to rules so we like it 🙂 It was a nice mulched park and the owners took alot of pride in their park and it was quite a community. Jack got humped alot by little dogs but had a great time in between. We did encounter another, slightly taller but cute puggle named guiness (great name!) After the park we went into the colonial area and had a great lunch at Aromas (good portabello wraps), dogs were allowed on the sidewalk tables. We walked for a long time looking for the brewpub to no avail 🙁 But we did find a place we could build our own six packs, cool. We tried the Spaten Optimator first, and made the list it was so good. The Dominian Octoberfest was second and it was alright, just not list worthy. The sun is actually shining for the second straight day. We went kayak fishing, caught a nice rockfish and perch while trolling with a silver spoon off the back of the kayak. Had two more of our beers in our varied six pack, Anchor Porter was really good, Ohara’s Irish stout tasted like it was burnt. You knew it was only a matter of time until we sought out a Thai restaurant. We located one about an hour from the RV park in Hampton. Erowan Thai. It was nice atmosphere, and food was satisfactory but did not make top 5, but we would return. Next morning on the regular walk with the dogs we came across a couple outside their coach. He was a typical older male who has put on a few pounds, mainly in the belly, had a short white beard and glasses. He came up to us to say hi to Jack and Jinjer. “So are those the infamous puggles?” he asked. And so it started. We started to speak with him about various things and he introduced us to his wife who was another stereotypical senior RV’er. She was sitting at her picnic table a few yards away grooming a little white bijon dog. (A very anti-social little creature we came to find out). Anyway the funniest thing, that seemed almost too scripted to be real, was the interaction of him and his wife, much like the Costanza’s on Seinfeld. It went a little like this… *Names have been changed to maintain anonymity* Bob: …Yeah we were up at an RV park somewhere in Oregon. [shouts] Hey Mildred where did we stay in oregon last month? [louder] MILDRED! Mildred: [stops grooming and turns off clippers and shouts] WHAT?! Bob: [barks out] Where did we stay in oregon last month? Mildred: [grouchy yell] At Forest River! [turns back on clippers and resumes grooming] Bob: [turns back to us] That’s right forest river. Well it was such a nice campground. I can’t remember the town it was by, Mildred’s sister lives there. hmmmm [scratches head and then turns toward mildred again and shouts] Hey Mildred what town is it your sister Ida lives in? [louder] MILDRED! Mildred: [stops grooming and turns off clippers and shouts] WHAT?! Bob: [barks again] What town is it your sister Ida lives in? Mildred: Lake Willowbird [turns back on clippers and resumes grooming] Bob: Yeah, Lake Willowbird, I can never remember that place, anyway where was I? Oh yeah so we went into town and found a great buffet there. [scratches head and then turns toward mildred again and shouts] Hey Mildred what was the name of that buffet in Willowbird? [louder] Hey MILDRED! Mildred: [does not hear him and keeps grooming, but I think she is more ignoring him at this point] Bob: [shouts] MILDRED! Mildred: [once again stops grooming turns off clippers and shouts] WHAT?! Bob: What was the name…. And I swear to you this went on for fifteen minutes. I had no idea what the point of his story was, but that didn’t matter. It was so entertaining. I just stood there like a member of a studio audience at the taping of a sitcom mesmerized. Good stuff. Well we did it again. We went to a timeshare presentation. Under the promise of $50 in gas and $50 shopping gift card we were once again lured in 🙂 I now find them highly entertaining. Well if you have never been to one, here is how they go… [We must note, our theory is that all timeshares share the same operating manual and never stray from it] CHAPTER 1: The Introduction You are first greeted by a receptionist and you wait for a salesperson to come pick you out. [Chapter 1: Introduction; Cue the salesperson]“Mr and Mrs Hamilton?” he calls out to the lobby. And for a second you feel lucky, like you just got your name called for a door prize. Well you get a prize actually, but you will work for it. And believe me, it is never just a 90 minute presentation. They escort you to a small round table in a large meeting room with a dozen or so other small round tables [I believe in the manual it states to have small round tables], where many other “victims” are seated speaking with their salesperson. With looks on their facers varying from excitement to boredom to irritated. You are then directed to the buffet to get a rock hard muffin, chewy bagel or stale donuts, and ALWAYS coffee, they like you to be all hyped up on caffeine that way you do not fall asleep and may be more vulnerable to do an impulse buy. You are told to take your time and load up and meet back at the table, which will be your prison without walls for the next hour. CHAPTER 2: Information Gathering Here is when the salesperson has been trained to gather as much about you as possible. Where do you live? What do you do for a living, do you like travel, how often do you travel, do you have trust fund or are you building ones for your kids? They actually go so far as to have a questionnaire they read off and fill in. They ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ask you these following questions. 1. Do you think vacations are important? 2. Would you like to take more vacations? 3. On average how much do you spend a night on a hotel room? 4. How much then in the next 10 years will you spend on just hotel rooms [this is where they show you a figure and point out “and that is before inflation”.] 5. If you could choose between a small hotel room with just a bed, a bathroom, and tv with nothing to show for your money -or- would you like to stay in a 2 bedroom luxury condo with separate living room, a kitchens and two bathrooms in a resort setting with on-site recreation included. And all the while building deeded equity that you can sell, will or give away? Chapter 3: Convincing the Victims The next thing the salesperson does now is try to connect with you and talk about traveling, they now use the information from earlier. They make you feel like you are part of the enlightened crowd who travel and do vacations. They try to make you convinced that the timeshare world is where you need to be. It provides freedom to live your life like you always wanted to. And blah blah blah. Using the earlier information again they go through “the book”, AKA the RCI Destinations Guide, and show you all the cool places you can go to if you buy. And somewhere the will say to you along these lines,[because they all go from the same manual remember] “If I did not think you were right for this lifestyle I would tell you, I sell so many of these promotions that I do not need to sell you something you would not use, plus that is not how I like to do business. If this is something for you, you will buy it, if not there will be no hard feelings, we are just trying help you enjoy life instead of always working, after all noone ever says they wish they would have worked more.” Chapter 4: Getting the Tour Now it is time for show and tell. The salesperson now leads you out to show you a tour of the property on a golf cart. Here is where you get a lot of the travel stories, of how last week they were in snorkeling in Bermuda, and the week before that they were riding horseback in Australia, the week before that they spent a month in France exploring the Riveria and Alps, and the week before that…and so on. One thing I think is soo funny is when they get you into the model unit. They is alot of times someone in there cooking something, like brownies or cookies. And invariably [because of course it is in the manual to do this] they will take you into one of the bedrooms and close the door, and ask “Now looking around, what does this feel and look like to you?” The answer being a hotel room. Now they add [as they open the door so you can see the living room, the kitchen and balcony]”which would you rather stay in when you are away form home?” [this may vary to just being a floorplan if the property is a pre-construction, either way they compare the condos to small hotel rooms where you just throw your money away instead of building deeded equity] They proceed to show you where the clubhouse is, where the waterpark is or will go and finally they take you back to your “prison” Chapter 5: How it all works By this time you are curious to find out how you this new lifestyle they are speaking of works. [This is where the manual goes into two different sections, one for the points structure, the other for the weeks structure] Either way, what ever structure they are selling, it is the best plan on the market and there has never been one so flexible, convenient and easy to afford. I am not going to bore you with the details on how it works, you need to go to one to understand it all, but never really get any of the pitfalls that are involved. Chapter 6: How much can we get from you? Finally, the cost. Once again they show you how much you will spend over a lifetime staying at hotel rooms, with nothing to show for it. We now finally see what we are being offered. For 28,000 [These numbers are fictional and are not real in any way and available only during today’s presentation as if we were to offer this to you at a later date we would be shut down and sued for fraud] with yearly dues $500 [which of course will be waived if you con, I mean invite, a new member to a presentation and they join into the vacation anytime anywhere lifestyle] They will offer you so many different packages. For 14,000 and $2000 down you can get 2 weeks every other year, or for 25¢ down and 50¢ per month you can share a one-bedroom with two other couples for 2 days every ten years. They will try everything they can do to get you to buy. If you can make it through all that they then get a manager to ask if you were pressured and what you thought of the presentation and property. Here they try one final offer by giving you a 3 night free stay just to try out a property “no-strings attached”, except a short 90 minute presentation. SAY NO!!! Chapter 7: Escape from Prison The reward at last! FREEDOM and gifts! Not once have I been stiffed, but I always opt for in-hand gifts, and ask ahead of time if gifts will be vouchers mailed to you as they most likely will never get to you. Again, DO NOT leave without your gifts! After replacing the brakes pads, calipers and repacking the bearings we headed off for North Carolina

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Well Deal Island always has a way to melt away stress. Just coming over the harbor bridge you feel a deep breath inhale and exhale out the stress. It was no different this time. The dogs were ready to get out and explore the farm. They chased chickens, met Pony, Jack kissed a llama, and they eat deer poop, and just created chaos on the farm. I am excited to be here, I always manage to capture wonderful photos for my collection. I am happy to say Deal Island has proved to be a great setting for photos once again. I captured a great dragonfly and his majestic colors along with a great fiery sunset yielding vibrant orange and pink hues with an old crab shack operation with old crabbing boat in the foreground. We are now beginning to get our inventory for the upcoming Crisfield and Deal Island festivals. People anymore just seem angry. Like it is always just below the surface and they need very little for it to boil over. Now do not get me wrong I am guilty sometimes of getting mad also. But today a woman who was going fast through Wal Mart parking lot came up on my butt so close because I was not going like a bat of hell to the exit. I waved, half heartedly saying sorry and I noticed in my rear view mirror she was flipping me off and yelling at me. So what do i do… I go slower 🙂 She then got up next to me and starting yelling at me, I rolled down my window and asked, “Is it really worth getting this mad?”. As she flipped me off and said something about going too @#$!ing slow I noticed she had her kids with her in the back seat and husband in the passenger. All I could say is, “Classy lady, real classy” as I chuckled, she got irrate at that point, I thought her head would pop off, now the husband was flipping me off. So to fuel the fire more. I replied once again. “you both are a class act, way to set an example”. This time she sat looking for a response, something that would get to me and cut me to the bone and all she could think of in that sophisticated mind was “you are a $@#*ing loser buddy.” Rrrright, I am the loser 🙂 This was now entertaining, but the light now turned green and as I laughed and started to move on, all i could say was “nice” in the usual sarcastic tone. I am just amazed at the way Americans are acting these days to fellow americans. Why is it again that this is the best country in the world? Well I went crabbing with Sharon’s father AKA “pops” today. There is nothing like it, it is both exhilarating and excruciating at times. The day went like this… The alarm from the cell phone begins beeping at a ripe early 3:00 a.m., still dark but not really night nor morning. I walk into the house where Dave, a.k.a. “Pops”, sits at the table with a look of barely awakeness on his face drinking a fresh cup of coffee, the first drink of an endless cup throughout his day. We pack up the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that my mother-in-law Diane made the night before, two for each of us, with water and sodas. He pours the rest of his third pot into his thermos and we then head to the truck to go to the marina. The air is totally calm and still moist from the humid day before, it has a feel that stirs memories of fishing trips back in Florida. It feels comforting. The stars are so numerous and bright, almost too much to look real. The water is so glassy that it actually reflects those stars on its surface which gives you a sense of being in outer space drifting through the milky way. We chug very slowly out of the marina and into the darkness of the bay. The only light is the stars and the glow of the instrument panel on Dave’s face. I watch as hee sips his coffee and focuses on the channel markers and the task at hand. The water is a minefield in a sense, there are literally hundreds of crab pots with floating buoys out there waiting to get snagged on the prop and put us out of commission so he has to be very alert driving out to Monie Bay. We just chug along for over an hour at a very slow methodical pace. The marine radio crackles awake now. The other watermen of Deal Island are beginning to chatter. About what? I have no idea. I barely understand every tenth word they say. “eydare danksbuns fo resippee ah tellya wut you go outen chainshole be en sader where Terry sunken his boat findum bumo sooks…” [silent pause] “I got-cha.” Between the thick accents and static of the speaker it is almost incoherent. But none the less I like the sound, I can hear the comraderie in their tone. It makes you feel not so alone in the darkness of being on the water before the sun rises. I remember Sharon packed me my favorite granola bar and I grabbed the O.J. I sealed in a mason jar. I lean my head out and watch the wake from the boat and the phosphorescents glowing, shooting back through the water like a meteor shower. I kick back and enjoy the cruise on this glorious morning. We arrive at our destination. Dave begins putting down the trot lines. I put on the thick rubber gloves and begin readying to sort crabs. If you have do not know how trot lining works I can try to explain the best I can. The lines you set out, baited with chicken necks every 3 feet or so through the braids of the rope, are attached to lead weights of some sort. Dave happens to have a couple of old car crank shafts on his that seem to work perfect. A bouy is also attached near the ends to keep the rope on the surface there so when you motor up to it you grab the line with a hook and set it up on a pulley type contraption jutting from the side of the boat. Work boats have secondary controls mounted on along the back right side so that the captain, Dave, can steer the boat along the line. All the while holding a net out to catch the crabs that are clinging to the chicken necks on the line and riding to the surface. As each neck comes to the surface there is an unsuspecting crab for the netting. Some big and some very small. This is where my job happens. Dave then empties the net into my holding bin, The crabs fall in and scramble in the chaos of trying to figure out what happened. One minute they are enjoying a delicious chicken neck breakfast and then next thing they know there are being picked up and measured, if they are lucky and small, or have their points broken they are tossed back overboard. Where I am sure a few go back to enjoying their chicken neck breakfast for a bit until it all happens again. Picking the crabs up by the way is no easy task. Blue crabs are very pissed off when disturbed while eating it seems and have very strong claws, hence why I wear the big rubber gloves :) This process of running the lines goes on for hours, hopefully filling the bushels we have with us quickly. For us on this day we ran the lines for six hours yielding a modest 2 and 8/10s bushels of 1’s, half bushel of 2’s and half bushel of sooks. We also nabbed 27 peelers. What I thought was amazing is how the 2’s grew into 1’s after sitting in the bushel for a bit 🙂 The day was highlighted with a few breaks to eat our sandwiches and throw the crusts to the ever present seagulls. I think they know Dave and follow him just to get the crusts. Finally we start to pick up the lines and get ready to call it a day. I grab my MP3 player and a plastic chair to sit back at the rear of the boat, kick up my feet and lean back for the hour ride back. It was a gorgeous day on the water, light breeze, sunny blue skies and warm sunshine on my face. I think I dozed off once in a while. Feeling I deserved it after the long day of crabbing. I could almost taste the steamed crabs already. That evening out on the porch we picked crabs, Aimie, Pops, Sharon and I, to our hearts content. There is nothing better than fresh steamed Maryland “Jimmys” and a beer after a very long day. Except if Pops would have come out and played his guitar and sang for us. It was one of those days that gets burned into your memory as if it were always just yesterday. We went looking for some mountain bike trails in Salisbury but ended up riding a gravel path along a nice flowing river. It eventually ended up going through the Salisbury zoo. We saw two Jaguars feuding over turf, saw monkeys, otters and more. It was a nice zoo, very clean, and well landscaped. It is a donation-based zoo so please donate if you go. It was time explore things on the water a bit, we grabbed the 15 foot boat from the farm and headed into the marsh, literally. After wandering through the thick reeds and grasses in the marsh around Deal Island and coming to dead end after dead end we gave up finding the ditch we have been told exists. The beach at Sandy Point became our destination. We played with Jack and Jinjer on the beach for a while and then had an uneventful ride home. Jinny had a bladder infection we thought. After going to the vet, him sticking his finger in her butt, testing urine we had to collect and shooting her with antibiotics we are now $114.00 poorer. What a rip off! Continued on Baltimore entry Back to the island now. Amy came back down and we went out to Mcgurdys (or something like that) to play pool, drunken pool that is. but that is another story. Drove to Chincoteague Island. Found a place to eat, Bustin Britches. Decent food. Took some nice photos of the old ship out back. Finally we checked out Assateague National Seashore, saw some ponies, biked a bit and headed back to home. Tropical Storm Ernesto had its sights on the Chesapeake Bay which was very bad since we had bought alot of inventory for our Festivals on Labor Day weekend and it is now threatened to be canceled. Ernesto came in with a roar on the eastern shore. Trees snapped and were uprooted, the tide rose to engulf roads and marinas, it was worse than I expected. The winds roared and rain poured for around 8 hours. And of course, the power went out. Not good at all since the Crab festival was the next day. Well power was still out the next morning, but i decided to go to Crisfield and do the show anyway, full beard and all 🙂 I was disorganized to say the least. Met some really nice people at Crisfield and did well in sales also. It was now saturday night, and still, no power. Please note that without power the water pump on the well does not work. so therefore…no showers. If it was not for the generator on the motorhome all would be lost. We would not get power until 11 p.m. that night. Right after my mom and sister arrived. It was now monday, time for the Deal Island festival. I managed to get my mom and sister on pops workboat for the skipjack race. We once again did well at the festival. Sold alot of photos. Seems dragonflys are hot items. Met fellow photographer E.Hayden Hastings, nice stuff. I was exhausted, with a capital E! We are now off to Virginia

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We arrived into Baltimore incident free, had a nice lunch with Nanny and Glenda. We secured all loose objects around the coach for the night in Brooklyn Park in Mikey and Aimee’s side yard. Hope we still have a satellite dish when we wake up 🙂 Went to the “tooth” for a bit, whooped up on Amy in some pool and called it a night. Went out with Glenda, Aimee, Mikey, Tammy and the boys to Glanycki’s crab house. Had some nice food, little pricey. Next day we left to go to the eastern shore. We had so much trouble finding a gas station. And bing so large towing the car we really have to be careful because we canot back up. Seemed like everyone was working against us. At one point when waiting right behind a car, just as it left and we were going to move forward a young girl whipped right in front of us almost clipping us. The young guy with her got out of the car to go into the building when I jumped out and confronted him. He pissed me off so bad, I have not come so close to clocking someone in 15 years! He finally got back into the car and moved to another pump. Wow was I angry. Just glad I did not end up in jail. The rest of the drive was uneventful. Jinjer seems just fine. We are back in B-more. We are going out to dinner to a Thai restaurant down in Federal Hill, Thai Arroy. Well it was the best red curry I have had yet. They made it PERECT! We will return here again. And as usual when in Federal Hill we went to get a beer at The Thirsty Dog brew pub. This is almost the ultimate brewpub since dogs are allowed into the bar. It is pretty much a brew pub combined with a dog park, something we like to call heaven :) Speaking of dog parks, we found one in Canton. It was a little small, parking could be scarce, but there were plenty of playful dogs and very nice owners. You can tell the dog owners in the community are proud of their dog park, which by the way is the only off-leash park in Baltimore.

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Got to Hershey Thousand Trails at night, tough to find a good spot but we lucked out and got a great spot with room for the dogs to play. Got internet and satellite tv so all was good. First day in Hershey, headed out to explore. Came across chocolate world! Went on the tour and got awesome extra dark chocolate. Gotta love the hershey kiss street lamps. Lunch at houlihans, very good fish tacos. What a beautiful area this is, so green and natural. Today we went on a 3 mile hike in the Governor Dick State Park to the top of Mt. Gretna with the dogs. At the top was a great observation tower overlooking the surrounding hills and farms. Mt. Gretna was a cool little art community with a crazy packed lakeside beach. Went to ride the Strasburg wine and cheese train but was full so we found Lancaster Brewing Company, great Milk Stout Beer! Drove to a dog park outside Harrisburg. Not a great park but met a few nice people, Jinjy almost got attacked, found a creek to swim in and got “mommy” muddy. Went and hung out with Monica and her family. The “kids” met Gideon, a puggle puppy. Jacknormous was too much of a oaf to play but Jinjer taught him to run and wrestle, she was great with him. Found a great tavern in Quentin to have dinner at. Nice back patio, large menu and draft beer selection. Met Jake our server, a fellow mountain biker and plan to bike together. Mt Gretna was the goal today. I went on an 8 mile ride to the top and back down some of the bumpiest fun singletrack ever. Very technical and fast. The trail route was 2 to 3 to 10 to 12 to 13 to 14 to 5. Afterward went to have ice cream at Jiggerspot. A great place in the hills, great ice cream, such a nice evening! Sharon and I started the day off going for a Mt gretna ride. Weird car running with someone in it. Possibly sleeping?? Sharon climbed the mountain like a champ, we sped down rode through some singletrack back to the jeep. What a nice cool sunny summer day. Had an excellent lunch in a cute little lunch spot, great food. Such a nice atmosphere. Another good day. Well today I went for another ride at Mt Gretna, same car still running, maybe someone is dead?? Went to the Appalacian Brewing Company (via the ghetto) with Monica and Ray and had a wonderful evening. Beer cheese soup was more like nacho cheese but the rest of the food was great and the beer was good. The stout was alright but the Kipona was the best beer in my opinion. Sharon had the barley wine which she really enjoyed, but was too small. MANY THANKS for the dinner to Ray and Monica, sorry we overindulged, we owe you :) Well we went to Hershey Park to do a power tour of the roller coasters. We started on the Comet, not bad kinda fun actually, but tame as far as roller coaster standards go. Next we rode SuperDuperLooper, oldie but goodie, then Big Bear, getting better, then we hit jackpot. The Storm Runner. Being hurtled at 75 mph from a standstill was a rush, the straight up then down also a rush, but most fun were the loops and twists afterwards, the 0G , lifting you outta your seat fun! The Wild Mouse was, well Sharon said it best, “Did not like that at all”. The Wild Cat was a rough, fast and amousing wooden coaster, a great way to end the day with a mild concussion. will be revisiting in a few days with Glenda and the kids Finally got to ride the Strasburg train, of course in our usual style after zipping through all back roads we arrived 3 minutes before the train was to depart. The train was gorgeous, we rode in the first class parlor car. But the ride…was a let down. We rode 4 miles (approx 15 minutes) down the tracks, then stopped and the engine changed ends and took us back to the station over the same track 🙁 We do want to make a note to visit the cornfield maze next time we are in Strasburg. Dinner was at Lemon Grass Thai restaurant, pretty good, rate it a 7, small portions, no red curry, but a nice variety of other menu items. We stopped at the Quentin Tavern on the way home for a beer. Great atmosphere on the deck, 15 or so beers on tap. We tried Troegalator (dark beer) very good, Mocha Lager (dark) also good. Met some older RVers who were great people, nice to talk with. Were amazed the we are full-timing at such a young age. The one guy told me of a story of how him and his wife took a year off to motorhome around US at age 47 and got snubbed because they did not earn the right to do it. Told us to never worry about those people because they are really just jealous they could not do it. An interesting day today. We took the dogs for a hike on the Rail Trail. They were getting thirsty so we led them down to a pond. But to my misfortune it was a boggy marsh with the soupest softest mud I have come across. How do I know you ask? Because as I went to grab Jinjer who got stuck in it I sank to my thighs in an instant. And when i tried to lift my leg my flip flop remained in there. I tried to no avail for quite sometime to locate it by submerging my arm to my shoulder in the muck, eventually finding it and fishing it out. I was covered in mud 🙁 Smelly nasty mud! But you have to laugh at that point, it was quite funny according to Sharon. Back to Hershey Park, Glenda, Nanny, Keith, Nathan, Tammy, Micheal and Daniel came from Baltimore to go to the park with us, we got them a cabin at our campground. We had a great day with all of them, highlighted by a campfire sitting with Glenda and Nanny exchanging stories, which I will keep secret except to say that Glenda is the “equalizer” 🙂 Now we are off to Baltimore. PS. The compass is in the bag!

Well we are back in Pcola for the Country for a Cause benefit concert with Randy Bonner. Where to start…okay first night in it was just us and the dogs at Hank’s house on Panferio. Next day Kevin and Sean arrive, we throw a party for the band and people involved, what starts out as a sober night ends with Sean, Kevin and I each doing two $2 diesel fuels, numerous Jack shots, swimming off the dock and staring at the phosphorescents(sp?) for hours as they glowed with every wave of our drunken arms. We needed help from getting out of the water, too bad none of us were coordinated enough to help another out. Eventually we did scramble onto the dock, bleeding from the oyster slashes, where we passed out in our wet clothes to awaken later to a blazing hot morning sun. Wow, what a crazy night with a hangover to match. Sean cures his with a “bloody”. I opt for water and ibuprofen, but eventually switch to the hair of the dog thought and drink a beer. It worked, thank god. Well it is the night of the VIP concert at the Imogene Theatre. Sean and I photographer the event, had a good time and got some nice stuff. Randy had some technical difficulties with sound so the night was a little rocky, but overall a success. We did get a drunk woman to charge the stage to get Randy to tke his shirt off, good times. The highlight of the evening was listening to Henry Botts. He is a legend in Pcola area. Mona brought him to the show to introduce Randy Bonner. Henry Botts was the youngest person to ever play at the Grand ol Opry and was introduced by Roy Acuff after hiding his true age. Henry Botts recited a poem he wrote himself about how much Country Music has changed. It was a very emotional moment when he brought up the point that this may be the last time he ever sets foot on a stage before his life fades out of him. I will always remember his signature tip of the hat when the audience stood and applauded, he is a true living icon of an era gone by. Jason came in town that night and Kevin and him went out to have funs on the boardwalk. Jason got hammered, walked home, cooked pizza, but passed out before he got to eat it. Finally the main event that I had been working for over the past month. The Country for a Cause benefit concert and picnic. It started off a little bad because the rain was coming down in buckets but really let up before the event was to begin and gave way to oppressive humidity and heat. Well it started off with so much energy, Randy was stoked, I had a good feeling. And that feeling proved to be correct! The harleys rolled and rumbled in kicking the show off with a roar. Randy was on fire. He did an incredible job, like he has been doing it his whole life. I was so proud of how he performed, he kicked ass!!

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We pulled into Thousand Trails Wilmington quite late after the drive from Bowling Green. Got to see Gaffa, Dink and Big Randy at BW3s, had a nice time. Ended up back at BW3s the next night where I had the wild wing sauce for the first time, not that bad, hot but tasty. Found a great dog park in Loveland at Symmes Park, very wooded and good size but no dogs to play with. Good Thai on Montgomery road and Union Cemetery, then had to head down to Pcola for Country for a Cause concert…(see Country for a Cause entry) …and we are back. After staying in a Super 8 in the heart of “billy” country we made it back to Cincinnati and hiked through Eden Park with the dogs. We put them up with Trish’s dog Abby so we could go to dinner with Gaffa, Big Randy, Skippy and Trish and all the rugrats. Spicy is becoming an obsession now that I can handle more and more of it. I had the napalm chicken strips and tore through them. Sharon and I fumed over getting screamed at by the manager of the park from her golf cart “get’em on a leash!”. I then I found her while cruising for her on my bike and was soo wanting to ripe her face off, but I’ll be damned if she did not apologize to me,. Spent the day with mom in the Moho, and by the pool. And we are off the the Sweetest Place on Earth”

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Bowling Green, Kentucky was our destination. We stayed on Bump and Mary’s farms. The farm was beautiful, the weather cooled off finally and the dogs loved the open space to run and run and run. Mary took us for a tour of the farmlands in a golf cart, the puggles went with us. It was much more enjoyable than I thought it was going to be. They have a beautiful piece of green land tucked into the rolling hills of Kentucky. This area is home to a large population of Mennonites, that being said there was great produce stands. We came across the most awesome tomato relish at one, not to mention the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I swear I saw a tractor and a lawn mover out back of the mennonites barn, I suspect they are cheating 🙂 Bump made us a fantastic dinner that evening using the veggies we just bought. We did try to hit one of our favorite Thai Restaurants but it was closed that day 🙁 And the Camping World factory outlet yielded no hidden treasures. We bid goodbye to Bump and Mary and headed off to Cincy

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We arrived at Hot Springs and somehow, which we did not think was possible, it was hotter than it was in Houston! We stayed at Cloud Nine RV Park. It was a nice park except there was no grass anywhere in the park. We came to find out the owner had a phobia of sorts about grass, she killed any grass that ever tried to grow. She believed grass contains chiggers which contain lots of diseases. Yeah, okay, sure thing :) And leave it to us to decide to ignore the heat warnings and go ahead and plan a 4 mile hike in 100º heat through the hills with the dogs at Lake Ouchita. It was a beautiful hike around a peninsula extending out to the lake like a finger. We traversed the entire length of it. The dogs had a great time, stopping for a swim and a drink every mile. We even took a dip at the two mile mark. The lake was very clear and cool. Jack and Jinjer were so good on the trail today off leash and had a blast. Headed to Bowling Green now.

After a very long, LONG, previous day, we awoke to a very bright day outside, sweating and very thirsty. It felt as if we had landed on the surface of mars. The sun heated up the coach so much and so quickly the we just knew we were on another planet. Since it was pitch black when we arrived, our first look outside almost confirmed it. There we no trees anywhere and the landscape was flat as a pancake. We were far way from any town and the buildings that were around us were picnic shelters and campground bathrooms that were constructed with triangular geometry, an alien looking architecture (or what Hollywood tells us it looks like 🙂 But thank god we were just in a foreign state, Texas. I do not want to offend anyone from Galveston, as it is a great little beach town, just not blessed with great beaches. In fact that were pretty disgusting in my opinion. They were loaded with washed-up red algae on dirty muck-like silt mixed with brown sand, with brown muddy water washing up, which at the time, was unsuitable for swimming due to the very high bacterial and fecal content (AKA, too much raw sewage, AKA, too much human shit in the water). We wanted to leave that day! But we decided to go explore the town. As bad as the beaches were, the town was that good. Moody Gardens was alot of fun, although too expensive. The downtown was really nice, good shopping (got Sharon a cowboy hat), great food and good pubs. We hit a very small quaint Irish pub, O’Malley’s. And the next day had lunch at The Spot, they let dogs sit at the outside deck tables so Jack and Jinjer could eat with us. The next night we had dinner at Fish Tales, and the next night dinner at the Original Mexican Cafe which had really good food, different menu items that were a great change. The Texas pageant took place outside Houston, in Sugarland. We stayed at the All-star resort nearby. The pageant went smoothly other than I made a little girl cry because I was at lunch when she wanted to get a picture taken. I really did not care, I had been working 16 hour days to accommodate parents. And after all, life is full of things we have to deal with and she needs to face it someday, right? :) Jack and Jinjer got to visit a great dogpark. The Millie Brk Park is located in George Bush Park. It is HUGE for an off-leash park, 15 acres with three ponds, if you ever travel to Houston with your dog, it is a must-see. Since it is such a big park though, people act as if they are in a big city and are stand-offish. One lady lit my anger when she told us that she was “against mixed breeds, that breeds should stay ‘pure’.” I had to walk away before I ripped into her pompous @$$! Oh well, next destination…Hot Springs, Arkansas.

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Well we made a quick pit stop in Pensacola before heading off to Galveston. Styx River RV Resort to be exact, which is actually in Alabama, 30 minutes from Pcola. And as always there was fun to be found. We met up one night with Belinda and her sister Angela [AKA Oodie] It started slow, we had dinner (great quesadillas by Belinda) and then penned up the Puggles and headed out. First stop was the Islander on Pensacola Beach, followed by the Break, and finally to the Tiki bar at The Hampton Inn. Our buddy Anthony was tending bar that night and he always hooks us up, and he did not disappoint. Whatever rum drink he gave us was STRONG! And got us, well, let’s say “loopy”. So that was my last for the night. He was closing so we waited for him and went to Flounder’s and to Bamboo Willies. Shots and beer were in abundance, every time I turned around the girls were doing another shot. So finally we headed home after getting a jump to start Belinda’s car. Allegedly I left the headlights on [whoops]. We made it back to Angela’s but not after someone, who will remain nameless, threw up outside and inside the car. While I packed up the dog’s I heard someone laughing, apparently Jinjer escaped her pen and went into Belinda’s room on her bed and pooped. I felt so bad and cleaned it up quickly. We apologized and then headed back to the coach. It was 4:30 a.m. when we finally got to bed. The next morning we had to check out by noon, which would seem no problem normally but we were tired from the night before and it was almost 100º outside. I got up at 9:00 and by 1:00 I got us ready to head out to Galveston. But it was no even 5 miles down the road when I had to stop the coach at a rest area and sleep for a few hours, 3 hours to be exact. At which point I felt much better and we were off for great state of Texas. Sharon got a phone call from Angela (aka Oudie) and Sharon listened for a bit and then started uncontrollably, she finally stopped enought o start apologizing for something that happened the night before, she put her on hold for a second and turned to tell what happened: Angela stated that “I woke up this morning to a nasty smell in my room, I looked around. ‘What is that smell’ I asked. Then I found it. Apparently Jinjer may have pooped on Belinda’s bed, but she wiped her butt on my PILLOW!!”. We burst out laughing together hysterically, the image of her discovering that was hilarious. I felt bad, but come on, that is funny stuff! We arrived at 1:30 in the morning at our destination of Galveston and it was so dark we had no idea what it looked like on the island but there we lots of mosquitoes, and I mean tons. This place did not get off to a good start. And it seemed warm hot still, even in the middle of the night. I could not wait to go to sleep and see what this island will have in store for us…