Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Why am I parked here, of all places?

We moved to Pennsylvania last week for a couple of months until we get ready to head to Texas for the winter.  We are in Shady Grove in Lancaster County which is a nice campground rebuilding with a new owner.  The last owner let it run down a little, now there are about 20 full timers here with another 80 filling in on weekends.  It is open ALL year.

Our big adventure last week was to make the Hershey RV Show.  Having lived in Hershey we knew it was a great event.  Last year there were about 650 units on display, down from the high number of 900+ a few years ago.  This year they had around 1200 on display.  Now most of the units were smaller TT's, more toy haulers, but still the big class A's, high end 5th and other units we have come to expect.  And every dealer I talked to said they were selling units.  Who says this is a down economy for the RV industry?  At least for the units that are selling - mostly lower cost ones.  We did buy some items for our 5th wheel: a folding step, a patio rug for outside and some other small items.  See we did our part for  the economy.

We got the folding step because our site rolled off drastically on the door side.  Our new neighbors, Tim and Cindy loaned us there step so we didn't have a 15" first step.  Whew!  I get a nose bleed going up and down those steps.  Also the hydraulic lifts were at their extreme which caused the RV to sway every time someone walked or the washing machine runs.  Also no playing, if you get my meaning.  Wife doesn't like the rocking!

When we pulled into the site I tried to get the satellite pulled in but couldn't peak any of them.  Looked outside and there were two trees in the way!  So off I went to the office as there were three other sites around me that were free, wanted to see if I could move.  The owner Don talked with me and told me he had planned to get them down this fall but hadn't done it yet.  Could we move for a couple of days and he would get them down?  Very accommodating in my book!  So on Monday of this week we moved two sites over.  That afternoon the crew came in with a tree digger to take down 5 of the trees along the fence.  Ours were the first out and today they finished up with number 5.  In addition they are going to be putting more stone down and leveling the site to help eliminate the drop off it had before.


This is a video of what the unit looked like taking out the first tree.  All gone in about 30 minutes.

Tomorrow we have friends coming in from Chicago who haven't seen our RV yet.  Added bonus - they will get to see us pack it up and move two spaces  - JUST SO WE COULD GET SATELLITE TV!!!

We'll be back here next year for sure.  Until later....

Monday, September 5, 2011

It takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' - - -

Here it is a whole week after Irene.  We've moved from the hiding hole in Maine where our DRV Mobile Suites sat out the storm.  After all the hype we felt that it was a rather windy but still a non-event.  Those west of us got it much worse than what we experienced.

We were in Meadowbrook Campground just outside of Bath, Me. for 4 days before and 1 day after the hurricane came through.  The day before we went around the campground and turned pick nick tables over, picked up  lawn chairs and placed them under tables to keep them from becoming air-borne.

All the RV's that were up in the treed area moved down to the open area where we were.  Several got up early on Monday morning before Irene made to far north and headed out.  I don't know where they were going, they did have Maine plates.  But even at that, why would you want to move and then drop off you rig at home when the winds is blowing 50 + mph!

Our thoughts led us to put the sides in on the 5th wheel, take the dog, food, drinks, the Kindle and our rain coats; we hooked the truck to the 5th and then sat in it until early evening.  The rain had quit by this time and the wind was not howling too bad.  So we went into the rig, put the living room slides out and read in there.  When it was time to go to bed we ran that slide out and crawled into bed.  I fell asleep almost immediately but Bonnie was up until 3AM listening to the wind howl.    

At Meadowbrooke they have a couple of things going on I need to mention.  First is their Lobster Pound (a place you can buy lobsters - live or cooked).  They have fresh lobsters going for $6.99/lb. either fresh or cooked.  Ummm... we filled up on lobster, let me tell you.  They take 20 minutes to cook so yo have time to get the corn done and coleslaw ready.

Second is the little restaurant found in the club house.  It's called the Drifter's Reef.  They have great meals every evening and during the summer they use produce that they grow.  We had fantastic spaghetti with squash, corn and home made cookies! 

For the last several days we have been back in Wolfeboro, N.H.  They had some trees down but no RV's damaged.  We Love being in this quiet campground, enjoy the people here and you never know what will turn up.  Yesterday I walked past Bob's 5th wheel and on the pick nick table there was one of the plastic containers we all use for items packed in the basement.  But this one was different - it had a heat lamp blasting the interior and inside were about two dozen guinea chicks!  Seems the daughter was visiting and had brought them along because no one would be at home to take care of them.  

So keep your eyes open  - you don't know what you'll see!