R and R

Recap and recovery. The trusty Iphone found us a tire store in Elkin, NC, about an hour from where we stayed and getting the tire replaced only cost us an hour and not a lot of moola either. But the day was long and hard, the anticipation of arrival is not there as on the outbound journey. Gene had predicted early in the day that we would arrive at 6:20 PM and he was on the money. The house looked fine, no disasters. The yard, not so much! All the grass appears to be dead and the bushes and dogwoods are wilted to the max. The exception is the area around the fish pond which neighbor Kathy has been caring for. We left a large tank of water for that purpose. We turned on the water and water heaters, got the car out and went off to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Upon return Gene immediately began watering and I emptied the camper fridge and got our essentials out. There is always tomorrow.
Well, today is that tomorrow and there is a lot of unloading, sorting and cleaning. But easier to tackle after a good night's sleep, surprisingly not as good as I was getting in the camper.
The northeastern part of our wonderful country is certainly lovely. I will miss the mountains, streams, lakes and rivers. Those magnificent forests resplendent with fir trees. The inns, the country stores with fresh produce and baked goods. The green pastures with horses, cows and sheep. The wonderful barns, wish I could have photographed more of them. The lack of big box stores, strip malls and real malls. We were blessed with blue skies and puffy clouds. Only lost one day due to rain. This was a dream we had and we brought it to reality. Thanks for coming along with us and check in every now and then for further adventures.

Homeward Bound

The campground in Tobyhanna was nicely appointed and probably the most wooded of those we've stayed in. As we drove into this narrow passage into deep woods for some reason I started thinking about Hansel and Gretel. Our site was adjacent to the bathhouse so not hooking up the water was no problem, we just popped over there to the very nice showers. Without the stabilizers, there was some sway when we moved around and we noticed a tap, tap on the left side. Upon inspection Gene found the window by the dinette was loose at the bottom. This is an emergency exit and fastens with red handles inside. It has never felt secure and we never open it as it is difficult and flimsy. It would not fall out as it is hinged at the top, but could break if banged excessively.
We were up and at 'em early this morning, but Pennsylvania is a big state. Lovely, but big! And after seeing almost no big rigs in New England, 80% of the vehicles today are tractor trailers. And there is still a lot of construction. Needed construction, as some of the roads are in very bad repair.
I spent a good part of the morning on the iPhone and computer (love that Verizon hot spot!) researching a place to stay tonight. Gene said perhaps we should stay at a motel if we could get one cheap. Well, we couldn't fine one cheap that had room to park a trailer. There was a nice campground right at the area where we decided to overnight so we are staying there. We are at Ft. Chiswell Campground, one exit from where I-77 splits off to Charlotte from I-81. The state of Virginia. It is just one step up from a parking lot in that each site has a tree, but neat and clean with nice bathhouse and level sites. We are only here overnight, and still let out just one bed but we did let down the stabilizers and did the full hook up. About three hours from here some people honked and gestured and upon inspection, the rear left tire was shredded. It was 99 degrees and Gene thought perhaps it just blew out from the heat. Fortunately we found a suitable spot nearby to change it. Gene is just so good at this sort of thing and all went smoothly. However, we are nervous to be without a spare and will likely look into getting another one tomorrow. Hopefully, we will also get home tomorrow.