Where We Have Called Home in 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:  Ives Run COE, Tioga, Pennsylvania 

July 18, 2019

Temperature 85 Degrees

The Map Link is Active

Me and Mr. Clean

A Beautiful, Delightful, Lovely, Special Birthday

So I’ve put the map together and the link (above) is now active.  If you click on Where We Have Called Home in 2019 you’ll be taken to a map that shows all the places that we’ve called home so far this year.  Click on any of the dots on the map and you’ll be given the dates we stayed there and a picture of our home at that time.  After viewing the map, just click the back arrow in your browser and you’ll be brought back to the blog.  I must say looking at it myself I can honestly say we’ve covered a few miles since we left out winter dig’s in Florida.

Today I enlisted Mr. Clean to help me clean the outer side of the patio awning.  Once again it was so simple and easy to do.  No more scrub brush and buckets of detergent.  Dip, ring, mop and repeat.  The dirt just runs off.  What once took an hour or more has been reduced to less than an hour of time.  Sweet.

Thank you one and all for your birthday wishes.  This has truly been a A Beautiful, Delightful, Lovely, Special Day.  It began with a wonderful breakfast of peppermint pancakes and fried spam.  A couple of glasses of orange juice and coffee rounded it all off.  A great way to begin the day.

Later in the day we went to pick up my mom who had offered to take us out to a late lunch as a way to celebrate my birthday.  We went to

The dining room was closed so we ended up in the bar/lounge.

The food was delicious.  Barbara had a Reuben, Mom had Chicken Tenders and I had Steamers in a fantastic butter garlic sauce and then I had a Crab Cake Sandwich.  I was the only one to be admitted into the clean plate club.  The ladies ended up bringing a portion of their meals home to have again another day.

While at the hotel I discovered this very unique American Flag.  It was designed and constructed by employees of the Wellsboro Division of the Corning Glass Works (sold by Corning in the 70’s to GTE) in 1946 to honor its returning World War II veterans.

The flag is approximately seven by eleven feet and has over 1.000 ornamental lights.  The original design used silver for the white stripes and stars.  Photo flashlight bulbs lacquered in blue where used for the background field for the stars.  In 1959 the field of blue would have two additional silver ornaments added to include the new states of Alaska and Hawaii.

After being unfurled in the banquet room of the hotel it went on display in Corning, NY; then to NY City were it was displayed in the Kress Fifth Ave. Store to welcome the nation’s American Legion Convention.  In the early 70’s it was renovated and moved to the Penn Wells lobby where it remains today.

Lunch finished we went back to mom’s apartment

for homemade strawberry shortcake.  Oh yes, mom can still cook and she can still bake!

Mom even made sure she had an extra helping of whipped cream!

By the time the afternoon was over I could just about move.  We’re going back tomorrow for more cake you can be sure!

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  The time we’re spending with mom is oh so wonderful.  Both Barb and I are enjoying every minute with her and we will leave here with so many precious memories of these days.  Thank you Lord for these days you’ve given us and for the love of family.

Thanks again for coming along with us.  We always enjoy your company.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two human soul mates.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

Tour America 2019

Home Is Where We Park It:  Ives Run COE, Tioga, Pennsylvania 

July 16, 2019

Temperature 78 Degrees

Just Another Day in Paradise

Maintenance – A New Way to Clean with Mr. Clean

What would a day be without a bit of this.  Today is supposed to be the last of it.  Then the heat gets turned on.  Going to get interesting.

Not much happening today.  Mom had an appointment with the audiologist to pick up her repaired hearing aid.  Barbara willing played chauffeur once again.

While she was gone I continued to work my way through the maintenance list.  I got a few more items checked off, still have I bunch more to do.  Today, I removed the hitch, cleaned off the rust that was beginning to form, and repainted it with Rustoleum flat black.  I cleaned the front windshield and the top of the front cap.  I cleaned and waxed the shower.  I also scrubbed the rest of the bathroom.

Then there was the patio awning.  I needed to clean both sides of it.  The top side is easy.  Roll it out, pop the arms off the side of the rig and scrub away.  As for the underside of the awning I usually used a scrub brush and a bucket of water.  This time I decided to try something new, something I discovered on another blog.  It was a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Mop.  Believe me, it worked like a charm.  One, Two, Three and the underside of the patio awning was spiffy as could be.  Going to use it on the other side as well.

I’m also working on creating a map of the all the campgrounds, state parks, etc. that we have stayed at to date.  I’ll then include that map as a link in my blogs.   I’ll continue to update it as we travel.  Then everyone can see the places we’ve called home throughout 2019.

A couple of other computer projects.  I’m working on creating a master blog list so that I can quickly and easily find any and all attractions, museums, etc. that we have visited.  I’m also continuing to sort through last years pictures and putting them in order.

One final must do and that is reserving campgrounds for the summer of 2020.  I’m finding that in some cases I’ve already waited until it’s too late.  Trying to find places to stay is going to take some serious research.  I guess we could try BLM but neither of us are real, die-hard boondockers.  A few days off the grid is OK but not for days, or weeks on end.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was a day with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  No sense in trying to do everything in one day since there is always tomorrow.

Thanks for coming along with us.  We always enjoy your company.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two soul mates.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It:  Ives Run COE, Tioga, Pennsylvania 

July 16, 2019

Temperature 73 Degrees

Barry Has Arrived

New Additions to Graybeard

Mom Came for Supper

It appears that what is left of Barry has come calling.  The weatherman tells us that this is what we can expect for the next two days.  After that it is going to get hot, hot, hot!  Must say so far this year it is been really wacky in terms of the weather.  Thankfully, we have escaped a good deal of the really nasty stuff.  Hope our luck continues to hold for the rest of the year

Now about our current home.  It is a FHU site, paved and reasonably level.  All utilities are convenient to the wet bay.  We are partially shaded but have a clear shot of the southern sky so Gertrude is very happy.  It is one of the better places we have called home.  Come to think of it, so far I don’t believe we’ve had a really bad home yet.

We made another change to Graybeard this week.  Almost a year ago we removed our  dinette table setup with a free standing table.  It was a great move, but over time we realized an issue with the table we had chosen.  The table had four legs, one at each corner.  With limited space in the dinette area this made getting in and out from the table somewhat awkward and difficult.  What we needed was a center pedestal table.  We discovered and purchased such a table which, however, was unfinished.  My sister stepped up to the plate and agreed to finish it for us and have it ready when we arrived at Ives Run.  What a beautiful job she did, it matches perfectly with our current cabinets and blinds.  We absolutely love it.  Thanks sis!  Take a look.

We also added a few more odds and ends that Amanda brought with her.  They are really neat and we found a place for all of them.  We also found a place for Benny the Bison.

Finally, for our bathroom.

Today we had a very distinguished guest come for dinner.  She brought supper for all of us.  Hi Mom!

About that supper, it was a ham casserole with noodles and vegetables added.  I must say she can still cook up a fantastic meal.  I for one ate until I thought they would have to roll me away from the table.

Mom did justice to her plate as well.  Thanks mom for one delicious meal.

After supper and before the skies opened up we decided to sit outside and catch some fresh air.  She looks happy to be out and relaxing wouldn’t you say?  We had a wonderful afternoon visit and look forward to a few more before we leave here the end of next week.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was a banner day all around.  A day of special memories for sure.  Tomorrow, well tomorrow who knows what we’ll find to do.  I know I have some maintenance to catch up on.  Barbara is taking mom for her repaired hearing aid.  She took her shopping today.  Thanks Lord for another fantastic day in every way.

Thanks again for joining us on our journey.  We always enjoy your company.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two soul mates.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

Home Is Where We Park It:  Ives Run COE, Tioga, Pennsylvania 

July 15, 2019

Temperature 59 Degrees

Amanda

Marti

Flight 93 Memorial

Travel Day

My goodness I didn’t realize it’s been so long since I last did a blog.  Time to get caught up.

Last Friday while we were still at Shawnee State Park our daughter Amanda came to visit us.  She came with the equivalent of a steamer trunk and enough odds and ends to fill up half of the couch.  This was just for two days!

Of course the long journey was exhausting so she managed to clean off the couch and take a nap.

We always love her visits and this time was no different.  She is one of the reasons we also haven’t replaced the couch with two theater chairs.  One never knows when she is going to pop in for a visit.

While she was here she decided that Marti was long over due for a grooming.  She took him outside, put him on the picnic table and went to work.

Speaking about our Marti he has gone to his retirement home.  When Amanda left she took him home with her.  He was getting worse and worse about traveling.  Any time I started the engine or moved a slide he would freak out and begin shaking and barking and carrying on.  It had been getting progressively worse over the last several months.  So we made the difficult decision to end his traveling days.  We know Amanda will shower him with love.  The only question is Will he adjust?  Amanda says he has been sitting by the front window and just howls.  We know he is looking for us and it breaks our hearts but we believe we made the right decision.

While Amanda was with us, Saturday we went to the Flight 93 National Memorial.  The Memorial Site starts with a turn-off from a busy highway onto an approach road that passes reforestation projects to reclaim land that was once a strip mine.  The healing of the scarred mining landscape is meant to prepare visitors for the emotional healing of the Memorial Site itself.

As you enter the Memorial site the first thing you come to is The Tower of Voices.  The Tower is 95 feet high and when completed it will have 40 wind chimes representing the 40 who were on-board flight 93.  The tower is set apart from the actual visitor’s center and is meant to serve as a welcoming beacon to all who enter the memorial site.

It is illuminated at night.

Currently only 8 chimes have been installed and as of now they hang silently.  The 8 were hung for the dedication of the tower so that family and friends could see what they would look like.  The chimes each have an internal striker that is activated by a sail panel that hangs below the chime.  When the wind moves the sail panel the striker comes in contact with the chime.  Until further testing and the remainder of the chimes are installed the current 8 will remain silent.

Looking down the hill from the Tower.

Leaving here we next made our way toward the Visitor’s Center.  But before you actually arrive there you find yourself on a black granite walkway that lays out the final flight path of Flight 93.  This is looking back at the direction from which Flight 93 came.

 

Along the walkway are time lines of when the other planes struck their targets.

 

The walk way terminates in an overlook from which you can see off in the distance the Wall of Names and a Sandstone Boulder that marks the approximate location where Flight 93 impacted the ground.

 

Moving down to Memorial Plaza you discover that the depiction of the flight path continues and is represented by a black granite walkway that aligns with the flight path walkway at the Visitor’s Center above.  Along the walkway, 40 marble panels are aligned in a row each with a name of one of the 40 passengers on Flight 93.

This is a closer look at the sandstone boulder which sits behind a locked Ceremonial Gate which is made of eight hemlock beams and steel framing.  The gate is opened each year on September 11th to allow family and friends of the 40 passengers to walk through the final resting place of their loved ones.

The crash site is located at the edge of a hemlock grove.  To reflect the location of the crash site near a hemlock grove, all the exposed concrete on the various walls near the visitor’s center are textured with castings of hemlock barn beams.

To the left of the Sandstone Boulder is the actual debris field and the final resting place of all 40 of the passengers on Flight 93.  A four foot high sloped black wall separates the walkway from the field which surrounds the crash site.

The wall contains a space for visitors to leave their tributes.

Back at the Visitor’s Center are many displays and exhibits.

A reminder of the type of day it was

For many it was

All of this changed as America comes under attack.

There was a number of displays regarding Flight 93.  The type of plane and the seating.

There was an exhibit that allowed you to listen to actual calls made from those onboard to loved ones.  Listening to the conversations was heartbreaking and extremely difficult to do.

Flight 93 is hijacked.

A time line of events

The passengers decide to fight back.

The resulting crater was 15 wide and 30 feet deep.

There was a display dedicated to the passengers and crew of Flight 93.

The investigation to determine those responsible.

Identification of the remains until everyone is identified.

Almost immediately residents of the surrounding area constructed a memorial of their own,.

 

The care takers of this memorial banded together in a group called the Ambassadors.  Day after day there was always someone at the fence even during the worse days of winter weather.

 

On September 24, 2002 the bill was signed by then President George W Bush to create a permanent memorial to Flight 93.

In closing let me say, if you’ve never been to the Memorial put it on your bucket list of must see places.  We’re grateful that we had the opportunity to visit this memorial site.

That was Saturday.  Sunday was travel day.  We left Shawnee State park for Ives Run COE in Tioga.  It felt so strange to be just the two of us traveling.  It’s going to take some adjustment before we’re used to not having Marti with us that’s for sure.

It was a beautiful day, traffic was light and within 4 hours we were there.  Oh but the mountains we had to climb.  More and more I’m impressed with the performance of Ford’s V10.  It may not be the first or the fastest over the mountains but it gets the job done.  We are here to visit with family and friends and so will be here for the next two weeks.

That brings us up to date on The Road of Retirement.  We had a wonderful visit with our daughter Amanda.  We crossed another site off our bucket list.  We moved again and have another wonderful new home.  Thank you again Lord for the wonders of this world you created and for granting us safe passage once again.

Thanks for joining us on our journey, catch you again tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!