The Long Road Home

Sunday: (08/25) Up early and prepared to roll away by 0800. We headed South on I87 to Albany then West on 17, I81 then I86. We stopped about every 2 hours for a walk. About 1400 Lou was driving and hit a swarm of bees. What a mess. Almost couldn’t see out the windshield. We pulled into a rest stop and cleaned the bees and their honey off the windshield, somewhat. Some honey remained. We continued on and stopped for the night at another rest area near Owego, NY, about 1630. We completed 310 miles today. Leftovers for lunch. Toast and soup for dinner. (GPS: 42.0914202,-76.2718318)

 

Monday: (08/26) We got onto the road at 0430 this morning. W had to pull to the side of the road almost immediately because the heavy fog was frosting the windshield. I ran the windshield wipers which immediately made a minor visibility problem a major problem. Not all the honey was off the windshield or wipers. I wiped the windshield again as well as the wiper blades. I was afraid to run the wipers all day so we were lucky we didn’t have rain until later in the day. When we had a good shower later, I pulled off the freeway and ran the wipers which worked well and the windshield was clean. We stopped a couple of times for breaks and even a two hour break for lunch while I took a nap. 427 miles completed today. We stopped at a Walmart in Fremont, OH, for the night. Our microwave died before lunch today so we bought a cheap one at this Walmart. My 10# lifting limit delays and or changes lots of our activities. We had salads for lunch and some shrimp fettuccine for dinner. (GPS: 41.373863, -83.117782)

Tuesday: (08/27) Granola and banana for breakfast. I tried some almond milk with mine. We waited to leave until after 0800 so we could mail some things at the Post Office. We continued through Ohio on non toll roads. Highway 6, 24, 30, 49, I94, and I80. We stopped in Warsaw for lunch (German potato salad and chicken) and a nap in Plymouth. 356 miles today. We stopped for the night at Starved Rock State Park, North Utica, Il. Lou made some salmon rice for dinner.
(GPS: 41.306650, -88.976047)

 

Wednesday: (08/28) Two more states behind us. We were up at 0650 and rolling a little after 0800. Granola and banana for breakfast. We were back on I80 all day. We stopped for lunch and for me to attend my webinar. Leftover salmon and rice for lunch. Dinner at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Omaha, Ne. We continued on a few miles more to the Melia Hill Rest Stop West of Omaha in Gretna, NE where we stopped for the night. (GPS: 41.084003, -96.275537)

 

Thursday: (08/29) Fish with yellow squash and Brussels sprouts for breakfast. Lou and Dawn made chicken and vegetable stew which we dad over rice for dinner. We drove across Nebraska today. We stopped at Cabela's store #1 in Sydney, Nebraska for a stretch. We got to see the 2019 MVPA Transcontinental Motor Convoy, the 100th anniversary of the first motor Convoy across the US. Washington DC to San Francisco. In Cheyenne, we stopped to see my nephew and his wife and son. We then drove up the mountain on Hwy 80 and spent the night at the Lincoln Memorial rest stop. (GPS: 41.237640,-105.434919)

 

 

Friday: (08/30) We were up early before six and on the road shortly thereafter. About 0800 we stopped and had leftovers for breakfast and took showers at a reststop. In Evanston, Wy we had Chopped chicken salads for lunch. I took a nap at another rest stop. When i woke up, Lou sent me over to a couple with a dead battery on their 4Runner. i got out my little lithium battery jump starter and it started them up nicely. This was the second time I've used it  and neither was for our car, but it has tested out well and should be ready when/if needed. We made 521 miles today and stopped for the night at a KOA in Wendover, Nevada. Baked beans and bread for dinner. (GPS; 40.736380,-114.067450)

Saturday: (08/31) We enjoyed the showers in the KOA RV Park, had granola for breakfast then pulled out and headed back onto Hwy I80. We stopped in Elko to get some gas. I made a wrong turn heading to the station but saw a Burger King. Since I’ve had to modify my diet eliminating beef, I’ve been craving a hamburger. I got one of BQ’s Impossible Burgers, an all plant substitute for beef. I had it dry with a touch of sriracha sauce and it was excellent. We browsed the C.A.L Ranch Store next door. I found some of my western shirts there. Lou did most of the driving today. We stopped for lunch at The Pig BBQ in Winnemucca. We made it to Reno by 1600 and while Lou and Dawn browsed a thrift store, I got the RV filled with gas. Since it was over 90 degrees and a holiday weekend with all the RV parks filled, we headed for the cooler mountain elevations. We stopped for the night at the Donner Pass Rest Stop. Salads for dinner. (GPS: 39.342355, -120.3400319)

 

Sunday: (09/01) Up at 0600. Apple and peanut butter for breakfast. We showered and then continued on Highway 80 to Sacramento. We stopped at a Lowe’s store there to get cooler pads, which are difficult to find in our usually cool area. We arrived home just before noon and went to the Corner Bakery for chopped salads for lunch. I set up the RV and drained the tanks. Lou prepared our cooler for use. I relaxed in the afternoon looking over my mail.

Our trip since 1/19/19 was 10,031 miles in length, shorter than it would have been if we had stayed out through October.

Trip Interrupted

Friday: (08/23) We had sausage and eggs for breakfast. Lou made me go to the hospital to get my breathing problem checked. The Adirondack Medical Center in Lake Placid was just five miles away. They determined I had angina and sent me by ambulance to Champlain Valley (CVPH) Emergency Care Center in Plattsburgh for further checks. After the nice 70 minute ride I was rolled into the Cath Clinic and within 30 minutes they were doing the test and installed a stint in one artery that was 99% blocked. Must be why pushing Lou around in the wheelchair was so difficult. No symptoms except a pressure on my chest with exertion. I had a nice early dinner in my room. Meanwhile, Lou was busy locating a way to get our RV out of the park we were in. Our space was reserved by others tonight. She got a reference from KOA for a towing company that could drive it to the hospital parking lot.
(GPS: 44.70198, -73.47364)

Saturday: (08/24) Nice wake up visit at 0530 to draw blood and another EKG. Excellent breakfast at 0830, not at all like any previous hospital food. I was discharged at 1100 from the hospital. I have now, finally joined the everyday pill crowd. After receiving a lecture that will eliminate all pleasure from eating I was discharged. We went out to lunch at the Chopping Block Restaurant nearby that was recommended by my nurse. My next pleasure was a shower.  We spent the rest of the day camped in the hospital parking lot. We had dinner at the hospital cafe and spent the evening watching videos.

Lake Placid And The Adirondacks

Wednesday: (08/21) Lou made a nice sausage egg and potatoes breakfast. We prepared to roll after showers. We were off about 0920 on I93 heading North. Then onto I91, Hwy 58. After Lowel, Vt Hwy 58 dwindles into a gravel road. We saw a sign that said Your GPS is wrong, go back. We didn’t. We continued for a couple of miles until I pulled over to let a pickup pass. He stopped beside us and ask” You’re not taking that through the notch are you.” He explained that the road was very narrow and windy ahead. We disconnected the toad and turned around and reconnected and returned to Highway 100 turned North then onto 101 then 105. Highway 105 parallels the border with Canada. We then took Highway 78 crossing Lake Champlain and into New York state within spitting distance to the border at Rouses Point, NY. Vermont was a quick visit as we drove through today. About 1300 we stopped at a market to shop. Dawn was expecting a call then and I had a webinar. We were back on the road at 1400. We took I87, We stopped at 1600 to wait for another phone call then on to Hwy 384 then hwy 3 to our campsite at Meadowbrook State Campground. With the office closed, we found a vacant site for the night and reserved it for another night online. We went into Lake Placid for a Chinese dinner. (GPS: 44.298129, -74.075138)

Thursday: (08/22) Leftovers for breakfast. I visited the office and paid for our stay here last night. We went to the Old John Brown Farm near lake placid. He is the namesake of the song about him during the Civil War, a white abolitionist that led a raid to get arms for slaves so they could free other slaves. After that we visited the Visitor Bureau in Lake Placid for info about the area. Lunch at the Asian Buffet in Saranac Lake. I made reservations for us at Macomb Reservation, another New York State Park for Friday and Saturday. There were no spaces here at Meadowbrook. We went to downtown Lake Placid and walked the street. Very good. Leftovers for dinner.

 

 

 

 

Hartford, Connecticut at Cabela's

Thursday: (07/11) Granola with bacon jerky for breakfast. We prepared to roll. We were on the road by 0900. We headed up Hwy 209 and stopped at Walmart in Milford to refill our drinking water. We then go on I84 going all the way to East Hartford, Connecticut after crossing through New York. We arrived at Cabela's about 1500 and confirmed we can spend the night. We looked around the store then relaxed and watched TV until 1900. We then took the Jeep over to a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant for dinner. Lunch was a hummus and cheese sandwich. Nice weather today. We did have some minor sprinkles in the evening. Nice to be camped in a place with a good cell signal and TV.
(GPS: 41.754960, -72.623006)

Friday: (07/12) Granola for breakfast. We toured the Mark Twain House and Museum downtown Hartford. Lunch at the Museum Cafe. Dinner at the Far East Chinese Buffet.

 

New York Exploration

Monday: (04/29) We prepared to roll. After breakfast, we checked out and got onto Highway I95. We had to divert onto surface roads through Baltimore to avoid a tunnel where LPG tanks are prohibited. Eventually we got back to I95 past the tunnel. We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant near the delaware state line. We took the New Jersey Turnpike most of the rest of the way. Our bill at  the exit was $42, Wow! We arrived at our new home, the Liberty Harbor RV Park in Jersey City about 1500. We relaxed the rest of the day. Lou made gnocchi for dinner.

Tuesday: (04/30) Granola and diced apple for breakfast. Lou decided to rest today so Dawn and I were off by ourselves. We walked over to the PATH train station and rode the train to the World Trade Center station. We looked around the memorial site and shared some pizza bread for lunch. It turns out I bought the wrong transit passes. The Translink cards I bought for Dawn and I are not good for New York’s MTA. We needed Metro cards that would have worked for PATH. I tried using several vending machines to get the correct cards and all went through many screens and ended up telling me they couldn't issue the cards. I tried both my usual credit card and my ATM card, all the same. Finally, I tried a different credit card and it finally worked. With our new Metro Cards we were able to finally catch the subway train uptown. We visited the Jewish Braille Institute where Dawn has an account to audio books and she had problems with the account. The librarian was able to get everything working. We walked the streets nearby including walking past the Empire State Building. We then caught a train back to the WTC for dinner before catching the train back to jersey City where our RV park is located.

 

 WTC One on the left. Empire State Building on the right.

 

 WTC Memorial

 

 The survivor tree that fell with the WTC tower and stayed alive. Our lunch from Eataly restaurant.

 

Old wooden escalator on the 7th floor of Macy's. And on the right one of the many street flower planters.

Wednesday: (05/01) Leftovers for breakfast. We weren’t in a hurry today. About 1000 we walked off to the PATH train station and headed over to the World Trade Center. Lou hadn’t seen it so we showed her the memorial pools, the view of the Statue Of Liberty and such. About 1130, we had lunch at the Eataly market again. After lunch we caught the train up to the New York City Library near Grand Central Station. Interesting place, beautiful building. We got to see all the original stuffed animals that the Winnie The Pooh stories are based on. About 1700 we left the library and went to a nearby Panera Bread restaurant for dinner. We then caught a train toward home. We manage to go past our station and had to return to the WTC station, We caught a PATH train, but it was the wrong one and didn’t stop at our station so we got off a station earlier and planned to take the Light Rail train to our neighborhood. We caught a train and we missed our stop. Either it passed by our station, we didn’t hear the announcement or the name announced was the proper name? We caught a return train and the doors closed before we could get to the door to get off. So, we got off a taion past ours the other direction. We walked back home from there. Enough fun. We were home about 2100. The day was colder with occasional mist.

 

 Eataly market and Library reading room.

 

 Liberty Harbor Marina and lobby of NYC Library.

 

 NYC Main Library.

The Winnie The Pooh inspirational stuffed toys.

Thursday: (05/02) Lou made bacon and eggs with fried potatoes for breakfast.  We headed to to lunch in uptown Manhattan about 1100. We caught the light rail train about two blocks from our RV park. It took us across Jersey City where we caught a PATH train into New York to the 23rd Street station. It was only a couple of blocks from there to the Eataly where we met our friends Egino, Annette and their daughter Joana. Lou used to be the daughters teachers aide. The restaurant is across from the Flatiron building, the odd triangular building at 5th and 23rd street. After lunch we caught the train home for a short day. Lou takes care of me when I’m sick. Back home we took the jeep back to the post office and picked up our mail package. We had peaches and cottage cheese for dinner and Lou and Dawn kept my hot toddy glass full.

 

 Flatiron Building on left, Lou, Joana, Egino, and Anette at our lunch at Eataly.

 

 Madison Square Park.

 

Interesting to look over a Home Depot in the city.

Friday: (05/03) Lou and I headed off to our closest Walmart in Bayonne, NJ, about 5.5 miles away. We did our grocery shopping and got drinking water. In our RV, we used filtered water for cooking and drinking. We carry 10 gallons. We usually refill the bottles in Walmart or other vending machines. This Walmart had no refill machine and we haven’t seen any so we got new bottles. Seems like they would have lots of machines available because the water here is lousy. We returned with our supplies and had breakfast of leftovers. We then drove to the other side of the water inlet here at the marina to Liberty State Park. We caught the ferry over to Ellis Island and then to the Statue Of Liberty. We caught the 1240 ferry out and returned on the next to the last ferry at 1640, nowhere near enough time to see things. Since my cold is worst, I’ll be staying hoe tomorrow while Lou and Dawn return to the islands again for more looking. We had lunch on Ellis Island in the cafe. On the way home Lou stopped to pick up my dinner, some hot and sour soup which I use medicinally when I have a cold. A misty foggy cool day.

 

 The old railroad station near Ellis Island. A back view of the statue.

 

 The Statue Of Liberty and view of the cities.

 

 Ellis Island entrance station.

Nice to see my family fort.

Saturday: (05/04) Soft boiled eggs for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were off to the islands again. Lou wanted be to take the day off at home. So I relaxed and uploaded photos to the blog, a long delayed task. I had leftover casserole and hot and sour soup for lunch.

 

Our campsite here at Liberty Harbor RV Park and the moving boat crane.

Lou and Dawn spent the day at Ellis Island. Lots of displays to read and rooms to see. Their lunch was at the cafe, immigrants lunch. Leftover casserole and asparagus for dinner.


Sunday: (05/05) We had heavy rain all day. We also decided to spend the day at home. My cold is mostly gone now. Lou made a nice sausage hash and eggs for breakfast. We relaxed and watched TV much of the day. We started the recent season of Bosch on Amazon. Leftover casserole with asparagus for lunch. After we finally took showers during a lull in the storm, I dumped the RV tanks while Lou did the wash. About 1900 we dashed off to the Zeppelin Hall Beer Garden about 4 blocks away. We drove over due to the rain. I had a great roast beef nacho and Lou and Dawn shared some BBQ meats. We had plenty of leftovers. I admit I’ve never had a German nacho before. It was only today on Cinco De Mayo. We have extended our stay here another two days.

Monday: (05/06) Leftovers for breakfast. We caught the light rail train to Newport Station to catch the PATH train into New York to the 33rd Street Station then the #1 NY Subway trail to 66th Street. A short walk to Our Destination the American Folk Art Museum. However we decide to have lunch first. Lou and Dane got coffee, Lou bought a gyro from a street truck, I got Pizza at a shop, and Dawn got an eggplant roll. Then we returned to the museum to discover they are closed don Monday’s. We then took a walk in Central Park and the nearby area. About 1630 we started our return trip home. We still don’t get back until about 1830. Nicely crowded trains during the rush hour. Lou made Chili baked potatoes for dinner.

 

 

Tuesday: (05/07) Granola and banana for breakfast. We were off for our last day in New York. We caught the PATH train to the WTC and visited the Farmers Market in the Oculus at the WTC. We then caught the “C” train to Brooklyn. We walked around the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. We had lunch at the Peas and Pickles Market/Deli. We then walked downtown to the Fulton Mall. We then caught the “F” train out to Coney Island. We walked the boardwalk and looked around the area. Most everything was closed but a movie crew seemed to be setting up to film at several locations. We had dinner at Applebees before catching the “F” and “R” trains back to the WTC and home on PATH arrived around 2130. When we arrived in Jersey City and came out of the subway we found it raining. The rest of the day was perfect.