This morning we left Lake Placid, New York in the Adirondacks and headed east to Green Mountain, VT to check out a few more ski resorts for the winter. It finally looks like we will make it to Maine for lobster this time!
It has been an amazing couple of months with lots to see and do. Plus we have met so many wonderful people who all seem to want to do what we do. Why don’t they?
I could try to explain what we have seen but pictures seem to tell the story better. Niagara Falls was awesome. Get out and see our beautiful country!
We have also particularly enjoyed driving back roads across Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. In a way it is sad to see how many of the farms and towns seem to be fading away – but at the same time there is lots of activity. And the barns and houses are wonderful to see, as well as the architecture of the old towns. We look forward to more of this as we travel east to the coast of Maine and south to Philadelphia for some meetings in late September.
What an amazing summer! We have been very blessed to be able to move at a snail’s crawl from Pikeville, KY (where we left you last) up along the Ohio river through more of Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley as we were headed for Maine and lobsters…
Well – plans do change.
We are members of a site workampers.com that sends out a daily post with work opportunities all over the country and all kinds of jobs. From working the sugar beet harvest in North Dakota to bear watching guides in Alaska to Yellowstone and Maine and Florida and – you get the picture.
Just about the time we had Pittsburgh PA in our sights there was an ad for a couple to run the RV park for the Indianapolis State Fair for the month of August for what we thought was a lot of money. We called and they gave us the job! So we turned around, headed back through the mountains again, and meandered towards Nashville before turning north towards Michigan.
The gig in Indianapolis is in August. I imagine it will be very hot!
We are looking for a certain fifth wheel to upgrade to a bit more room. There is one outside Asheville, and one in New Carlisle, Indiana which is where we are headed now.
Isn’t is fun to be able to turn on a dime and change your whole plans? We really still want to go to Maine!
If you know of anyone who might be looking for a great fifth wheel RV we have to sell ours first. It is a little embarrassing but we have a for sale sign on the back so people on the road can see it! Since the RV campground for the fair has 240 spots and there is a fairly good turnover for the three weeks we will be there, we hope to sell it then…
Here is a compilation video of what we are seeing as we travel. Hope you enjoy it!
Summer thunderstorms fly down the Kentucky mountains where generations have taken coal from deep within while I work on another video of our travels. Please let us know if you like these!
Did you see this video of Shelly swimming with the dolphins in Islamorada?
We are in Pikeville, Kentucky – home to the Hatfield and McCoy clans and feuds from not that long ago. It is interesting how we end up in places like this as we have no preconceived ideas or plans – we just go where we go! Another fascinating thing about Pikeville is how they cut through a mountain to move the river and the railroad away from town – and in the process became the second largest earth moving project in the country while saving the town from the repeated, disastrous floods from the river! I love stuff like that! We are staying up on that cut on the right of the image…
We have our RV up for sale as we have finally found one a little newer and just a little bigger. If we sell fine – if not that is fine too. Every move we make north takes us further away from the one we like but we go with what comes!
We are loving the mountains, the hiking, the scenery and the pace after working hard for most of the last 6 months. And we intend to keep this pace up as long as possible! We do not like the ticks. Period.
One of the questions we get the most often is “What is the place you like the best?” And the answer is “all of them”.
Easter Sunrise Service
Every single place we have been to had something about it. (Well except for cities – we really are not fond of cities!) What makes these places so great is the ability to leave them. Islamorada in the Florida Keys is a magical place. Our RV spot was on nice thick green grass, surrounded by palm trees, a banana tree on one side, the ocean and a beach area on the water 200 feet away. Temperatures range from 60 – 90 with warm, balmy breezes almost all the time. It was almost perfect.
But then we started thinking about mountains, and cooler weather, and green trees… and decided it was time to move on. Now we are excited to be on the road, seeing more great places with another awesome place to compare. How cool is that?
Isn’t everything relevant? If you can’t compare where you are to somewhere else – would it not become just ‘normal’? Maybe this is why we travel so much. Every place is new. Every place is different with new sites, sounds, weather, people and things to do.
Today we are in western North Carolina in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains just east of Asheville and it is glorious. And different.
Shelly’s Mom is nice enough to put up with us while we have the fifth wheel in for some needed repairs to slide-outs and waste valves covered by an extended warranty so I don’t have to do it! The truck transmission is getting a new, deeper pan and a going over and the rear brakes on the truck gets new pads before we head up through the mountains towards Maine.
The very rough plan is to slowly make our way through the Blue Ridge up into Tennessee, on into West Virginia, Virginia, western PA, western New York and then on up to New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Looking at a map it looks like it might be cool to check out the Canadian Maritimes, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. All new to us. We have no deadlines and no commitments from here on out so we are free to make whatever stops, turns or changes present themselves!
We have less room than before on the RV with the addition of a 1 year old American Chocolate Lab Shelly is training to service. Her goal is to train Daisy to be a scent dog of some kind – peanuts, bed bugs, who knows? Daisy is cute but she sure is a handful of energy!
There has only been a small travelling break since last July. We worked in Grove, Oklahoma, then renovated and sold the boat in Texas for ExceptionalWarriors.org, on to Ft Pierce, Fl to rebuild the 58 Hatteras, and finally four months in Islamorada renovating a 52′ Bluewater yacht from hurricane damage.
Although it helps to build the cruising kitty, there is a cost. I seemed to have had a run of accidents in the last year or so – starting with a knee issue from teaching snow skiing in New Mexico, to blowing myself out of a dingy with a gas explosion and a skilsaw accident in Islamorada. We both could use a rest period. We don’t heal as fast as we used to!
While in Islamorada, Shelly got the opportunity to swim with dolphins in Theater By The Sea. This park was right next to where we were staying (we walked or bicycled around it at least twice day!) and it turned out to be one of the most rewarding things she has been able to do. It was very interesting spending time with the sea lion trainers and comparing training notes!
As May turns into June and temperatures in western North Carolina climb into the mid 90’s, we find ourselves waiting for parts for the RV over a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. As we remember those whose died fighting, and those families left behind, we are even more grateful for what we have.
Today the RV is in the shop being repaired. We hope to be on the road to Tennessee later today and on our way again. In the meantime, we took the opportunity to wash, compound and wax all 35 feet of the RV. It looks nice but the arms sure feel it!
Goodbye beaches and hello cooler weather and mountain hiking!
