Welcome to our Adventure!

Al and I are thrilled that you have found your way to our blog. We hope you enjoy reading our journal and viewing our photographs of the natural wonder of our United States of America. Let's hit the road together!
Homer, Alaska

Friday, November 1, 2013

Back at Amazon

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, we've been pretty much on the move during that time. We departed Mount Desert Narrows October 15, and traveled down to Connecticut for the night. We had decided to use the Cross Sound Ferry to reach our destination on Long Island, rather than drive through New York City; always a dicey prospect, especially with a large RV! We stayed at Ross Hill Park Family Campground for the night, about twenty minutes from the ferry terminal. I had thought about staying at Mohegan Sun Casino for free, but there are no hookups there and with Al using a CPAP machine, I didn't want to chance it. The campground was quiet, and looked nice enough, but we had a devil of a time trying to figure out how the site was laid out, and it was not very level at all. We got set up ok, though, and headed out fairly early for our 1 1/2 hour ferry ride across the Sound.

Our destination for the week was Camp Driveway at my sister Amy's house in Aquebogue NY. It was a busy week of birthday parties, a lobster bake (yes, we brought lobsters down with us!), golf and fishing for Al, and lots of visiting with family and friends. Why is it that those weeks are always the most tiring?

All too soon it was time to head towards Campbellsville Kentucky. Our start date was October 28, so we left NY on the 24th, and headed towards our first stop, Ronks, PA, in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Back in the 80's, in our pop-up camping days, we would go there every spring for a little golf, shopping and a lot of eating! Nowadays, if we're ever close to the area, it's just about mandatory to make a stop there. We stayed at a small campground called Flory's Cottages and Camping for two night, which provides a convenient base for us to visit our favorite haunts: Miller's SmorgasboardKitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, as well as Stoltzfus Meats and all the other shops in town. Our pantry and refrigerator were pretty bare after our week of visiting, so it seemed a good place to re-stock! We also did a bit of geocaching while there, and reached a milestone of 250 caches found since we started August 2012.

From Ronks, we headed southwest to Kentucky, splitting the 685 miles into two nights. I had researched the maps, gps and Mountain Directory East for the most gentle ride through the mountains. We are trying a new procedure this fall, and now I am driving our Trailblazer behind Al and the rig. We want to see if the convenience of having a smaller vehicle for day to day driving as well as significantly less fuel consumption makes up for the added fuel expense of a second vehicle. We'll be keeping track of that. It is also quite handy to have a second vehicle while working at Amazon, as we don't always work on the same schedule.

The route I ended up choosing was I76 through PA, exiting in Bedford to a very nice small highway US220. The scenery going through small farms and towns dressed in fall foliage colors was quite nice. Then we picked up I68 in Maryland, and this section of the drive had the most grades. It wasn't too bad, though, and I managed just fine for my first time driving mountain grades :-). We then switched to I79 in West Virginia, and stopped for the night at Huntington/Foxfire KOA. I hadn't even thought about it being the Saturday before Halloween, and we were lucky to find their last site long enough for us! After 440 miles of driving in one day, I sure was glad as I didn't want to keep going on down the road! The campground was packed with trick or treaters, but quieted down nicely and sleeping was not an issue.

Our last push took us down I64 into Lexington KY, and I marveled at what a beautiful city it is as we drove through. It has definitely gone on my list of "must return to" and visit the sights. I hear the Kentucky Horse Park is THE place to go. Our roads led us down the Blue Grass Parkway and then onto 55 into Campbellsville. We arrived at Green River State Park mid-afternoon, and got set up in our regular site, 87. It was great seeing the folks running the park, and some of our Amazon friends who are already here!

Monday was our "meet and greet" afternoon, where Camperforce HR folks, Kelley, Jen and Stephanie, go through introductions and go over paperwork. It also gives you a chance to meet your fellow shift workers, and people staying at your park. There's quite a few more folks staying at the State Park this year, and we've got dog walking and car pooling in the works. Al and I are both on the same shift this year for the first time, Wednesday through Saturday, overtime night is Monday. He started right in with 10 hour nights down in AmCare, and I am going through "work-hardening" five hours a night this week, 7 1/2 hours next week, then 10 hours. It does help your body (feet) get adjusted to the work.

So that's where we're at now. Busy working for the next eight weeks. We may get some fun stuff in, but I'm mostly concerned at keeping the budget on track and saving some funds towards our travel out to Wyoming next spring. We're thinking about making a couple of stops along the way in San Antonio, Santa Fe and Moab as we work our way up there. It all takes dollars, so its time to make the donuts :-)! Suggestions for things to see and do in those areas are always appreciated.



11 comments:

  1. You'll love Moab! Too bad it's so hot in the summer. That would be a great place to spend time exploring. Weather here in Nevada is great! The back roads are fun. Hope your time flies by.

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  2. Ya have to do the River Walk and Alamo in San Antonio. Let us know when you may be there and we'll try to meet up with you. We had a blast when we went!!!
    Sue

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  3. We are going to try to do Amazon in Campbellsville next year. Gotta get in shape! Got a few RV friends working there now!

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  4. Lets try to get together when you are back in Florida and we can give you suggestions on Santa Fe and San Antonio.

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  5. Last fall we stocked up in Intercourse too, loved the meat market and Kitchen Kettle Village. Definitely the Riverwalk & Alamo in San Antonio, Arches & Canyonlands NP of course in Moab, also a little south near Mexican Hat is Valley of the Gods drive and Natural Bridge National Monument.

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  6. Always good to hear from you two. Glad you had some family time and made it to Amazon without a hitch. Time will fly and you'll be back in Florida before you know it. Hope we can work out a visit or kayak trip while you are there!!

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  7. Traveling with 2 vehicles is working out great for us. We use walkie talkies. I've done some posts on Santa Fe and recently Moab. Loved both places.

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  8. Always nice to read what you are doing. One of these days I will get blogging again. Don't work to hard...but that never seems possible at Amazon.

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  9. Glad you had safe travels to your family and then to Amazon. Hope to see you in California and that folks post their suggestions for you so I can write them down. We "may" be going west in the spring.

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    1. Now why in the world did I write California? I meant Florida and have no intention of going to California any time soon or maybe I am and just don't know it. too funny!!

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  10. Good to hear from you. Maybe we will see you at DIsney. :)

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