One year recap

Walmart
Staunton, VA

We had an uneventful drive from Saylorsburg, PA

to our overnight destination in Walmart parking lot here in Staunton, VA.

Tomorrow marks our 1 year anniversary of pulling out of our property in Plains, PA!

In that time a few stats:

We've driven 22789 miles

We've slept in 24 states.

Some of those states we've even seen! :-)

Fuel spent $7661.70

Campground Fees $3064.89

Repairs & Maintenance $3685.28

Cell phones/Internet/TV $3782.15

Groceries & Dining Out $10,888.37

Truck insurance & Roadside plan $1,286.40

There are other categories, money we put in savings, 

Onstar, Sirius, etc.

The ones listed above are the bigger budget amounts.

Overall, we did terrific in campground fees since we workamped 8.5 months

and saved money by overnighting in Walmarts and Flying J's.

Our grocery and dining out is best when we're working too.
Not as much socializing!

People ask what has been our favorite place so far.

Both of us really like Fort Pickens on the Gulf in Florida.

The state park in Tucson was beautiful with the mountains out our back window.

We are enjoying our time seeing the USA. There is so much more to see...

and slowly!

Final weekend in PA

Silver Valley Campsites
Saylorsburg, PA

I have to say we've had some fun since I posted last~

Thursday we did some running around.

Stopped by and saw the granddaughters again..

and sat and discussed our future with our financial planner.

Friday I had a recheck of my blood pressure, and it's looking much better.
He gave me a 'tsk tsk' about my cholesterol, and put me on meds to lower that.
I fought it kicking and screaming, I HATE taking meds,
but when I told him I wasn't pleased with the side effects from statins,
he said 'the side effects from a stroke are much worse' :-)

That evening we headed down to Hazleton, where I used to live,
and got a haircut from my favorite hairdresser..

She did notice that I have salt & pepper hair now :-)

I also went to dinner with my friend, Karen.
We had so much fun, that I forgot to take a picture!
George dropped us off at the restaurant,
and went to Subway to give us time to chat.
How thoughtful!

Saturday we again drove to Wilkes-Barre.
We finally got the offer on the flooded house!
George had to sign some documents.
Woo hoo!

Back at the campground,
some friends of ours decided to book the weekend in their trailer.
I worked with Chris at the water company.
It was fun to spend time with his wife Gayle, and daughter Baylee!

Baylee enjoyed the playground..

and the game room..

 We enjoyed the early fall weather..nice and warm still!

We got together later, and had some dinner..
barbecued burgers & dogs..
Mr. Gnome enjoyed it!

Heather made a surprise visit too!

 After dinner, we strolled over to the clubhouse where there was an ice cream social..

and later that evening there was a 'Blink Parade'

With the sum total of 2 golf carts and 1 hay wagon,
all lit up.
Was funny :-)

This morning before Chris & family left,
we walked over and had breakfast in the clubhouse.
Pumpkin pancakes for $4.00,
and breakfast casserole for $5.00.
Was good!

 Today we're getting ready to pack up and go.
Tomorrow we'll be driving south, making our way to the RV-Dreams rally!

Jim Thorpe, PA

Silver Valley Campsites
Saylorsburg, PA

Was a beautiful afternoon,

so we took a ride down to Jim Thorpe.

When I lived in Hazleton, I loved to go there and walk around.

Officially, the town is called Mauch Chunk.

It was named by the Lenape Indians, meaning 'bear mountain'.

The town is also famous for the Molly Maguires,

and is deep in coal mining history.

In 1953, when athlete Jim Thorpe died,

his widow was mad that Oklahoma would do nothing to

memorialize him. She offered his remains and name to the town for a sum :-)

It's a long story, but his sons who remain are suing to have his remains shipped back to Oklahoma

onto tribal burial lands.

There is a nice memorial to him..

We went down into town, and walked around, enjoying the area.

 We were surprised that the colors aren't as bright as in Saylorsburg.

In a couple of weeks, it will be full of orange leaves!

We stopped in one of our favorite Irish pubs, Maguires,

and had a local brew.

It was a perfect day!

Nice to relax!

Silver Valley Campsites
Saylorsburg, PA

We've had a nice few days!

Sunday we drove down to Drums, PA to visit my home church.

They've gotten a new pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church,

and he's very nice.

We missed his ordination AND installation by one Sunday.

Yesterday we drove into 'town' again.

George needed some things at the hardware store,

and I stopped by the old job to help out..but only for an hour :-)

We stopped at Verizon as my phone has been freezing up a lot.

They did a factory reset, and now it seems to be working ok.

Today has been beautiful!

George helped me clean Harvey this morning,

then after lunch, we took a walk around

the campground.

There is a small pond at the entrance,

and there are some ducks that are just begging for something to eat..

It's been very chilly in the morning here,

enough to make the colors start to pop..

There are a lot more colors on the highway,

I think we need to take a ride and see!

Dinner with fellow RVrs!

Silver Valley Campsites
Saylorsburg, PA

Since we had a nice relaxing nothing day yesterday..

we took a ride into town today.

We had a special reason, however..

George's granddaughter, Jillian, had a soccer game.

Her little sister, Jaelyn was enjoying it too!

We enjoyed watching the game, then took a ride around a  bit.

George dropped me off at my favorite salon to get a pedicure.

It was nice to see them again :-)

What we really enjoyed, though,

is the fact that Jim & Dee Walter (Tumbleweed)

are staying in the area on their way south.

We met up with them for dinner,

and to celebrate Jim's birthday, which is tomorrow.

It was nice to see them again!

We'll be seeing them in October at the Carolina Clan reunion..

we can't wait!

A day of down time

Silver Valley Campsites
Saylorsburg, PA

Ahhh...breathe deeply...

Today we have absolutely nothing to do.

We are being lazy (well I am!), and sticking to the campground.

George is going to wash Harvey a bit,

and I think I might catch up on my reading.

Yesterday we did some visiting.

I dropped by the ole job again,

while George got an oil change in the truck.

We dropped by George's old boss's house to say hi.

George also is looking into getting something called

a 'performance programmer'

called the Edge Evolution.

Apparently it reprograms the engine via the computer,

giving it more towing power.

It's a bit pricey, coming in around $400,

so we'll have to think about it :-)

We stopped by several auto parts stores to look into it.

At the end of the day, we were waiting for a call from

Jim & Dee (of Tumbleweed fame)..

they are staying in the area on their way south.

We were going to meet them for dinner, 

but they were tired from their travel day.

We've taken a rain-check for Saturday!

Since our plans changed, we got ahold of George's daughter Heather.

We had a nice meal at TGIF's..

It was nice to reconnect!

Two weeks in our old territory

Silver Valley Campsites
Saylorsburg, PA

We are finally settled in for two weeks at

Silver Valley Campsites in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

There are not a whole lot of options in the Wilkes-Barre area for us to stay.

This place is Passport America, only $22/night.

It's nothing special, lots of permanents, but it works.

The unfortunate part is that it is about 45 minutes from where we need to be to visit!

Yesterday we got up early and headed into 'town'.

George dropped me off at the plant (my OLD job) while he went to a scheduled doctor's appointment.

I'm helping the new owner with some things in exchange for health insurance and wifi. Sweet!

It was nice to see my old cohorts again :-)

After George's appointment (he's healthy!),

we took a ride to see our house - the one that was flooded 2 years ago on September 9, 2011.

Not much has changed in the neighborhood. Someone kept the front mowed,

but the rest is all grown up with lots of weeds.

We're still waiting on our offer from FEMA, we keep hearing it's imminent.

Our next visit was to George's son & DIL's house..

and his cutie pie granddaughters..

 Today, it was my turn for a doctor's appointment.

Looks like it is also my turn for blood pressure meds.

Not good that I have put on some weight, and I need to get more active!!

No excuse :-(

Tomorrow the truck's turn...

he's getting an oil change.

Rumor also has it that some fellow RVrs are in the area..

so we will be having dinner with them we hope!