Our Wander Years

Jett’s funeral

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Sparky

Some of you were probably wondering whether this blog would continue. It will. But, as you might imagine, I have been rather busy these past two weeks. I want to document it all, as much for my own therapy as to inform you.

Immediately following Jett’s death I contacted a funeral home in Rockport MA (where she would be buried) and they contacted a funeral home in Fort Myers to arrange transport of the body. Her body would be embalmed in Fort Myers, then flown to Massachusetts.

The local funeral home arrived promptly and removed her body by 6pm, well befor Jett’s twin sons arrived at 9pm. They were too late to be there when she passed, but were able to view her body the next day, Friday, after she had been embalmed. I am glad that they did not see her in her bed; she looked much better in the funeral home. It was a very sad few moments, seeing her lifeless body in the company of her grieving sons.

I decided that I wanted to drive the truck to Massachusetts, to clean out the storage unit after the funeral. Her sons agreed to accompany me. Rusty, too. I was grateful for the company. And with three drivers we were able to drive straight through. We left at 9am Saturday and arrived in Alexandria VA at 1am – a 16-hour drive, of which I drove maybe 5 hours. Her sons handled the rest.

Devin at the wheel, waiting on the train

It would have been a 15-hour drive had it not been for a wrong turn and getting stuck at a railroad crossing of the world’s longest train. I estimated it to be over 200 cars long.

I stayed in Alexandria two nights, to get “some pins back in my box” as Jett would say. Rusty stayed in Alexandria when I drove to Worcester MA on Monday, to spend the night with Jett’s brother Ray and his wife Kim, an ordained Methodist minister who married us and who agreed to officiate at the grave.

Tuesday was spent making final arrangements. I drove to the Greely Funeral Home in Gloucester MA to pick out a casket (a very nice solid pecan one) and a crypt, select mass cards, approve the obituary and pay for the whole thing (just over $12K – very reasonable, I think, given that the body had to be flown up from Florida).

I then went to the cemetery in Rockport to take a photo of Jett’s headstone, took that to the monument office to arrange for engraving, then back to Gloucester to find a venue for the after-burial luncheon. My first choice was booked, but I found an acceptable alternative, at Oliver’s Harbor Restaurant. I wanted an outdoor space, for increased safety during the pandemic. What they had was a patio area that had been enclosed with plastic, with plexiglass partitions between the tables. Having the luncheon would be a risk, but I felt it was a risk I had to take.

I stayed with Jett’s sister Christine Tuesday through Friday. Wednesday was devoted to shopping (I needed a better shirt) and working on the eulogy. She and I drove together to the viewing Thursday night. It was my first view of Jett in her funeral dress, with makeup applied and I have to say that she looked wonderful. Jett would have approved. She didn’t look gaunt and seemed at peace. Lovely, really. Kudos to Greely’s.

One concern I had about the viewing was grandson Zachary. He was very close to Jett and had never seen a dead person in an open casket. I thought he might freak out but he was very comfortable. He had no qualms about holding Jett’s hand. It was very touching.

Zachary giving his grandmother a final goodbye

Besides family and a few close friends that I had called, we were visited by several people from the Rockport area who knew Jett from long ago. Several others showed up the following day, at the graveside, in response to the published obituary.

One detail that I settled on Monday was the set of pallbearers. The obvious choices were her sons in front and her brother Raymond and I at the back. But who in the middle? As I was driving, the answer struck me like a slap on the face: her sister Christine and her niece Allison. Allison and Jett were very close. Allison said Jett was a “second mother” to her.

As it turns out, a seventh pallbearer was added at the last moment: my son Frank. I was grateful that he wanted to participate, as a sign of respect.

The hour before the procession was devoted to eulogies and remembrances, all of which were very touching. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. In addition to the roughly 20 people there, two of Jett’s nephews – Christine’s sons – were able to see the event remotely via Zoom.

I gave the final eulogy. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I choked up many times and had a hard time reading my notes through my tears. I will publish the eulogy tomorrow.

The procession went very smoothly, led by our big brown diesel dually. I had originally considered riding with someone else, but then realized how totally appropriate it would be to have our big truck leading the way. This is the vehicle in which Jett rode over 40,000 miles, visiting all “lower 48” states.

It was a lovely day. The graveside ceremony was brief and solemn. 18 of us then proceeded to the restaurant. I was originally planning on providing wine and beer for a toast, but when the time came I decided that the only appropriate toast had been given, by me, at dinner Thursday night after the viewing: “I wish you were here.”

I was also originally planning on having only appetizers, but Christine insisted on a full luncheon with her picking up the tab. The food was good, the service was excellent and there was even some laughter. It was a fine end to a very sad couple of days. Thank you, Christine.

I stayed with Christine Friday night, then traveled to the storage unit on Saturday, cleaned it out and terminated the contract, then stayed with Ray and Kim Saturday night. I departed early Sunday and took a long, slow trip to Alexandria (4 accident delays!) where I had an excellent homecooked meal.

On Monday Rusty and I departed and traveled to Knoxville TN where I stayed two nights with my old college roommate and his wife. On Wednesday we departed Knoxville, intending to travel to Atlanta. But I encountered torrential rain, thanks to Hurricane Zeta, and stopped in Chattanooga TN for the night. By Thursday morning the storm had passed and I decided to push through to Fort Myers – a 10-hour drive. We arrived around 6pm Thursday night.

Over 3,500 truck miles and no problems. A minor miracle. I am grateful because I really was not emotionally ready to deal with a truck breakdown.

Now I begin my Jett-free life. I am not eager.

Categories: Family, FL, MA, Places, VA | 4 Comments

Jett, 1951-2020

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Sparky

We met at a Parents Without Partners dance on June 21 (the summer solstice and the longest day of the year) in 1997. She had come at the request of another PWP member, though she was reluctant to do so, thinking it would be a waste of time. So she sat in the corner, talking to the president of the chapter. As luck would have it, I was treasurer and had to get the president to sign the check to pay the DJ. I sat down at the table, Jett on one side of the president, me on the other. We greeted each other, then began chatting in a very flirtatious way (and why not? Jett was thin, blond, vivacious). The president soon said “I think I had better get out of the line of fire” and left. We moved closer, chatted a bit more, then began to dance. She told me later that she never would have dated me if I had been a lousy dancer. Fortunately for an old white guy I could dance pretty well (Test #1). I had a similar standard, but the way she moved her hips convinced me that this was a woman that I would like to know better.

After the dance we joined some other members for a 1am breakfast at Bickford’s. Jett had brought no money (she knew that, being thin and blond, men would buy her drinks and she really didn’t expect to meet anyone). I paid for her muffin and coffee and she picked home fries off of my plate. This meal intimacy absolutely infuriated a female member of the party who had been trying to get some dates with me and she stomped off. Not everyone was happy that we met that night.

After breakfast we found a place to park – in her car (no way was she going to get into a strange car with a strange man). We talked until sunrise. Then she had to leave because she had to do a Sunday shift at the department store where she worked. I could go home to sleep. But before we parted ways she asked to see my chest hair – she couldn’t date a man who had no chest hair. Fortunately, I had plenty and showed her (Test #2). I asked her if she shaved her legs. I knew she did, but that was a damn good excuse to put my hand on her leg.

She also asked me if I would be her date to her brother’s wedding, 2 weeks hence. I said I would. Then I suggested a date for the intervening week (no moss grows on this stone). She suggested a road trip to Rockport MA, about an hour away. I said fine.

Rockport, which I have featured several times in this blog, is a lovely town. It is also where she spent many summers of her youth and was her “go to” place to find serenity. It was also where her headstone was located, next to her mother’s, in the Beech Grove Cemetery. So, yes, on our first date we visited her grave.

I will visit it again next week, to put her body beneath her headstone.

After Rockport we went “over the bridge” to Gloucester MA where there was a carnival. We rode the ferris wheel and she ate onion rings. Or, to be precise, she ate the breading of the rings – she didn’t actually like onions, so she pulled the onion out of the breading first. Strange woman. I liked that.

Then we had a drink at a Gloucester pub and had a lively and erotic chat that at some point involved the bartender. We actually got him to blush. He said that was a first. We were very proud. We made a good team.

I will draw a curtain on the rest of the evening. Suffice it to say that from the moment we met at the PWP dance until 2:53pm yesterday, we were an “item.” Barb – the woman who had invited Jett to the dance – had known both of us for several years. She had been trying to fix me up, but not with Jett – with a librarian she knew. She never thought that Jett and I would be a match. She was very mistaken. We were a great match.

We dated for a while, then lived together for several years. We married in 2003 – a French-themed wedding in an Italian restaurant with Irish music. We were nothing if not eclectic.

We went “on the road” in 2012. Our RV life is documented in this blog.

Is was a good life. Because she was a good woman.

I can’t even start to imagine how much I am going to miss her. But I guess I am going to find out.

Categories: Adventures, Family | Leave a comment

Jett has died

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Sparky

It was sudden and it was gentle. We signed up for hospice at 6pm yesterday, primarily because I thought hospice care would have a better chance of dealing with her malnutrition (I had been unable to get her to consume more than 500 calories for any day in the previous 2 weeks). But this morning, before I even had a chance to get the new meds, I was unable to wake her to take her regular pain medicine. I called hospice, a nurse arrived and confirmed what I already knew – that she had slipped into a coma. The nurse made her comfortable. Another nurse arrived at 2pm to monitor her condition. At 2:45 she urged me to come into the bedroom because she thought death was near. It was. At 2:53pm her loving heart stopped beating.

21 hours in hospice. Must be some kind of record.

I will write an appropriate tribute tomorrow. Tonight I will sleep. Alone. Well. Rusty will be with me. But it will feel very lonely.

Categories: Family, Health | 6 Comments

TS6 wrapup

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Sparky

The 6th trip south (TS6) started 5 days later than planned due to fuel line failures in the truck. It was initially planned to consist of 8 hops and 17 nights but ended up being 9 hops and 16 nights.

The numbers:

1703 tow miles and 2075 truck miles
Campground costs: $1027 ($64.17 per night)
242 gal of diesel fuel (9.4 mpg)

Highlights:

No truck failures. The oil pressure was high throughout but didn’t affect the truck’s performance.
Seeing Jett’s sons, spouses and grandson in VA. Getting together with family is always a joy.
Trip planning and navigation. Jett was not up to providing any navigation support so it was all on me. The GPS handled the route well (except as noted below) and I didn’t get lost except in minor ways.

Lowlights:

Jett’s health. Despite getting an upbeat assessment of her cancer battle before we left Massachusetts, she continues to deteriorate physically. She had to ride in the back seat of the truck, so there was no joy in the travel, just tolerance. And because she needed so much care it reduced my ability to tour the areas where we stayed. This was particularly evident in Chesapeake VA where I had hoped to see both Jamestown and Yorktown, but saw neither. I had also hoped for two nights either in Savannah or Silver Springs but both became one-night stops as we just wanted to get her to Florida ASAP.
The nail in the RV tire, necessitating a switch to the spare before Hop 8.
The weather. From Pennsylvania to Florida the weather was rainy and dreary and, until we got to Georgia, cool. Not great weather for seeing any sights.
The GPS failure north of Charleston. Despite having the latest maps loaded, the GPS totally lost its mind in South Carolina and forced me into a 3-mile detour.

So, all-in-all, a successful trip but not a joyful trip. I hate to say it but if Jett’s health doesn’t improve this may have been our last RV trip.

Categories: TS6 | 2 Comments

TS6 Hop 9: Silver Springs FL to Fort Myers FL

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Sparky

197 miles via FL 40, FL 35, US 301, FL 471, US 98, FL 31 and FL 80. 211 truck miles. 1703 cumulative tow miles. 2075 cumulative truck miles.

This was not the fastest route – that would have been via I-75. But that route would have tested the limit of the gas tank. So I opted for a safer, shorter but slower route. There were no problems, just a lot of traffic, especially through Lakeland. The latter half of the trip, on US 17 and FL 31, was a familiar route which I like a lot, so I could relax a bit as I cruised those last 2 hours.

My greatest concern when we arrived at our site at 4:30pm – certainty, really – was that the Toyota, which had been sitting idle since May 22nd (4.5 months) would not start. I was planning, in my head, what to do: park the rig in the street, unhitch, use the truck to jump start the Toyota, move it out of the way, hitch up again. I figured it would take about 30 minutes before I could even attempt to park the rig. But it started! Barely – turned over slowly a couple of times and then, unexpectedly, started! I was able to simple back it onto the street and let it run, recharging the battery, while I maneuvered the RV into its winter home.

The back-in – always a challenge – went pretty well. I had to make minor adjustments to get it perfectly positioned, but it took less than 20 minutes to get it just where it needed to be. And another 20 minutes to get it open and ready for occupancy. We were home and Jett was in bed by 5:15pm.

Our final one-night stop on the TS6 was at the Wilderness RV Resort. This resort was interesting to me because it is, like our resort, a place where snowbirds can own a site. It also offers seasonal and yearly leases. It is near Ocala which probably makes it too cool for Jett, but it was worth looking at.

It is nice – well maintained and nicely landscaped. But the roads and the concrete pads are short and very narrow. In fact, I was assigned *2* sites because no pull-thru site could hold both the RV and the truck. Also, the grounds were very wet so it was impossible to get the RV onto the pad without digging deep ruts in the grass. And even when the RV was positioned close to one edge of the pad the steps descended onto wet grass. Probably not a place we could stay for a season.

But others might be interested. I will say that the seasonal rental rates are very attractive: about $700 per month (plus electric) for a one-month stay and about $650 per month for a 6-month season (under $4000 for the season!). Many resorts farther south have rates in excess of $2000 per month during season.

So we are safely (until the next hurricane hits) at home in Fort Myers. Tomorrow I will do a wrapup of the TS6.

Categories: FL, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS6 | Leave a comment

TS6 Hop 8: Savannah GA to Silver Springs FL

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Sparky

222 miles via GA 204, I-95, I-295 (west of Jacksonville), US 17, FL 19, FL CR 314 and FL 40. 229 truck miles. 1506 cumulative tow miles, 1864 cumulative truck miles.

We made a short stop in a rest area in Georgia just to rearrange Jett’s pillows. Then on to Florida.

We encountered heavy traffic on US 17 in Jacksonville, a jerk who refused to give me the right of way at a merge a bit later on US 17 and a heavy rainstorm just before we arrived in Silver Springs. No truck problems and no low tire pressure thanks to our spare.

Yeah, I had to change the tire on the RV. Or try to, anyway. When I checked the tire pressure on the problem tire it was 15 psi – nearly flat. I started pumping it up again, thinking I could make it 90 miles to a planned rest area stop, but gave up that plan when I found the nail in the tire and could hear the air escaping.

So I tried to remove the lug nuts but found that anyone not named Superman would be unable to do so. So I called AAA but they wouldn’t help as I didn’t have trailer coverage. Then I called Good Sam and they sent a guy out who, ironically, arrived in an AAA vehicle. He got the tire changed in about 20 minutes. I will have to either get the tire fixed or replaced in Ft Myers. More likely replaced as all of the RV tires are showing wear after towing it over 20K miles.

We didn’t leave the campground until 1pm – about 2 hours after the official check-out time. But the park wasn’t anywhere near full and the office had no problem giving us a late check-out.

The campground where this drama played out was the Creekfire Motor Ranch – a fancy name for a very nice and very new campground in Savannah. This campground is so new that buildings and recreational facilities were still under construction. Most notable of the nascent recreational facilities was a water park(!) with a lazy river. That is something I have never seen before in an RV park.

I did a little more experimentation with the “Nightscape” setting on my phone. I continue to be impressed by both the sharpness of the image and the vividness of the colors in a photo taken in the dark.

Categories: Adventures, FL, GA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS6 | 2 Comments

TS6 Hop 7: Myrtle Beach SC to Savannah GA

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Sparky

203 miles via US 17 and I-95. 219 truck miles. 1284 cumulative tow miles. 1635 cumulative truck miles. The extra truck miles were mostly due to the trip to the ER the evening of our arrival in Myrtle Beach.

This was an easy trip to navigate: follow US 17 until it meets I-95, then head south. The traffic on US 17, however, was heavy so it was not a carefree jaunt. Plus the original plan, courtesy of Google, was to dodge the section of US 17 that cuts through Charleston and go around, on I-526. The GPS, however, begged to differ and I missed the Google-suggested turn that would have cut off some miles so by the time I reached I-526 I felt it was wiser to just do the Charleston route. I have driven it before and it isn’t horrible.

While the truck’s oil pressure continues to run a bit high – though not so high as on Hop 1 – the concern this time was tire pressure on the RV. I try to keep those tires inflated to between 90 and 95 psi cold (max pressure is 105 psi) and in the 5 years we have traveled with it these pressures have held steady. Until yesterday morning when I noticed that the right rear tire was looking underinflated. Sure enough, it was at about 40 psi which was pretty shocking. I hadn’t tested the pressure since we left Massachusetts, over 1000 miles back, so I had to wonder how long air had been slowly leaking. I pumped it back up to about 90 and crossed my fingers. It didn’t look underinflated when we reached Savannah but I will check it again this morning. And tomorrow morning.

I guess I had better mention the ER. This was done at the recommendation of Jett’s oncologist who was a bit alarmed at Jett’s description of her bedsore (or “pressure ulcer” as the medical folks refer to it). So after we arrived in Myrtle Beach we went to the local hospital’s ER to have it checked out. The visit was blessedly brief – about 90 minutes – and blessedly successful – the doctor said that it not only wasn’t infected but looked to be healing. After some instruction from the nurse on how to change the dressing (and waiting while another patient in the ER died) we were on our way.

Our 3 nights in Myrtle Beach were at the Ocean Lakes Family Campground, an RV resort that we first visited in 2015. We were very impressed then. The facilities are undeniably first-rate and the beach is spectacular. But we were less enamoured this time, largely because with Jett’s illness we could not appreciate the facilities or the beach. And the sites are quite cramped for a rig our size. Add in some very cloudy and cool weather and a trip to the ER and it was basically 3 days of hanging out so that we didn’t have to travel on the weekend.

We were also unable to book a site there for 3 consecutive nights, so we had one night in one site and two nights in another. Which meant that I had to maneuver my big rig into two tight sites rather than one. A bitter cherry on a sour sundae?

Rusty and I did walk to the beach on the second day. It was cloudy and cool, but the beach is still lovely.

Categories: GA, Places, Routes, RV Parks, SC, TS6 | 2 Comments

TS6 Hop 6: Cove City NC to Myrtle Beach SC

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Sparky

188 miles via US 17, NC 55, I-140 (north of Carolina Beach) and SC 31 with two brief rest area stops. 214 truck miles. 1081 cumulative tow miles. 1416 cumulative truck miles. The extra truck miles were entirely due to a refueling trip into New Bern NC where I got diesel for $1.88 per gallon (I love NC fuel prices!) and some groceries.

The first rest area stop was just a few miles into the trip when I took an unplanned detour to avoid a bridge with a 6-ton weight limit (it turns out that it was a 6-ton-per-axle limit so the detour was unnecessary), saw the rest area and decided to double-check that the TV antenna was down (it was). The second was at the SC Welcome Center on US 17 where I adjusted Jett’s pillows and blankets. She has made this trip in the back seat of the truck, which is more tolerable to her frail body. Rusty doesn’t mind riding up front with me.

This stretch of US 17 was not fun. It had a lot of traffic and a lot of stoplights. The “future I-87” is truly a distant dream here. To make matters worse, the GPS seemed to be unaware that some sections of US 17 had been rebuilt and rerouted. It took me several miles down the old route before connecting me with the new route. Worse, it told me to take a left where none was allowed and forced me into a 3-mile loop to get that corrected. The same thing happened when we reached I-140 – it told me to continue on US 17 even though both the signage and my knowledge of the route (from studying the map before we started the hop) suggested that I-140 was the better route. For about 5 miles on I-140 the GPS had no clue where I was. Not a proud day for the GPS.

The one night in NC was spent at the Turkey Quarter Campground and RV Park. This campground has only a Facebook page, not a complete website. You should take a look at their page to get a sense of just how unusual this place is. For starters, when I called the number to book a site I talked to a man who simply answered “Hello” – no campground greeting. He informed me that he takes messages for James, the campground owner and gave me James’ number. I called James who was at the garage getting his truck fixed. He told me that, yes, he had a space for me – number 3 – full hookup, pull-thru, then launched into a long, incomprehensible series of directions and informed me that it was cash or check only – no credit cards. I got off the phone unconvinced that this was a real business or that we could even get there. But Google knew of the place and an aerial view showed that there was, indeed, a small campground at that location. I could even make out where site 3 was located.

Later, having second thoughts about this weird place, I noticed that there was a KOA not far away. However, the KOA was charging $80 per night versus Turkey Quarter’s $35 cash. Ever frugal, I couldn’t see spending an extra $45 for a night of sleep in my own RV. So I crossed my fingers and hoped that the place would not be a mess.

It was not a mess. Far from it. The entrance, rather than a scene from “Deliverance” was more like the opening shot of an episode of “Dallas” – sprawling exurbian plots with nice homes along a winding gravel drive. The site we were given was a long, level, shaded pull-thru, very clean with – and this is a first in our 8 years of travel – a firering with free firewood. We didn’t use it but I had to note it because it was truly remarkable.

Cheese biscuit, country sausage and molasses

Also remarkable was James, the owner, a salty backwoods guy with the appropriate North Carolina drawl. He made sure I got into the site and didn’t need any other assistance. Then he told me he would be by in the morning with breakfast. I thought he was kidding, but he was very serious. Around 10am he came by with a pan of cheese biscuits, country sausage and molasses. The cheese biscuits were good but the country sausage with molasses was outstanding. Free. Delivered to the site. Another first.

All for $35. Amazing.

I have to comment on the landscaping too. Someone put some serious money into this place to prep the sites, construct the fishing pond and add all the little designer details, like the artistic display of old farm implements. Imaginative and highly unusual.

I have to say that this campground is nicer than all but a few I have seen. And one of the cheapest. Good and cheap – a great combination.

Categories: NC, Places, Routes, RV Parks, SC, TS6 | 4 Comments

TS6 Hop 5: Chesapeake VA to Cove City NC

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Sparky

149 miles, almost entirely on US 17, but on NC 43 and NC 55 near the destination. 224 truck miles. 893 cumulative tow miles. 1202 cumulative truck miles.

Again, no truck problems and we are now more than halfway to our destination.

US 17 (or, as we were reminded by signs all along the route, “The Future I-87”) is 4-lane divided highway along most of this route and goes through no towns, so it is not much different than an interstate. It even has a rest area, which we used (and which accounts for the extra mile on the route) because Jett said she was hungry. When Jett says she is hungry, I find food. A snack of cheese crackers isn’t much, but every little bit helps.

The three nights in Chesapeake were at the Chesapeake Campground. This is a moderate-size campground on a huge plot of land, with lots of open space and a massive RV storage operation (possibly over 1000 stored RVs – I think it is possible that RV storage is their main revenue generator). There is also, oddly, a horse stable on the premises.

The facilities are rather rustic, but sufficient. I used the laundromat (2 washers, 2 dryers – pretty small for a campground where most RVers were long-term residents) and saw the tiny church, the shed of a gym, the pool (8 feet deep at the deep end – unusual for campgrounds now) and the public restrooms, but didn’t use any of them. The one facility I did use, besides the laundromat, was the dump station because the sewer at our site was sealed shut. Don’t know why as every other site on the row had full hookups. But I think I was warned when I booked the stay and in any case it wasn’t a huge problem as I don’t dump my tanks until the morning of departure, so it just meant one short extra stop on our way out of the park.

The most memorable feature of the park, though, was the mud. They clearly had had a lot of rain in the days before our arrival and we suffered through a deluge on the first full day there. Because the roads and blacktop pads were very narrow, it was impossible to drive anywhere without getting some of my tires in the muck. And it was impossible to enter or leave the RV without getting mud on my shoes. Not really the campground’s fault (except for the narrow roads and pads) but not pleasant at all.

I did some experimentation with my phone camera on a dog walk one night. I wanted to check out the “Nightscape” setting so I took a photo of the RV under the nearly full moon. Pretty impressive, I think. I didn’t expect to get this kind of definition of both the sky and the RV at night.

My hope, for the stay in Chesapeake, was to do some genealogical research on my colonial relatives. I didn’t really expect to find any headstones, but I did want to visit Jamestown and other nearby areas where they lived. My secondary goal was to visit the battlefield at Yorktown, where Washington put an end to the British restistance to the American revolution. But Yorktown was an hour away, Jamestown was 30 minutes beyond Yorktown, it rained heavily and much of the second day there was spent dealing with some medical issues for Jett – uncomfortable infections. So a visit to an urgent care facility replaced Yorktown in my travel plans.

If we visit again I will try to find a campground closer to Jamestown and Yorktown. I underestimated the size of the region.

Categories: NC, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS6, VA | Leave a comment

TS6 Hop 4: College Park MD to Chesapeake VA

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Sparky

226 miles via I-495 (east of Washington DC), I-95, I-295 (east of Richmond), I-64, I-664 (west of Norfolk) and US 17. 412 truck miles. 774 cumulative tow miles. 979 cumulative truck mile. Most of the extra truck miles were due to two trips from College Park to Alexandria, to attend family events.

Again (and, again, knock on wood), no truck problem. It was the longest hop so far – just over 4 hours. The last hop will be a similar length.

This route was almost entirely on interstate highway. There were two interruption to what would otherwise have been a non-stop trip: (1) we had to take a brief detour in Alexandria to drop off the swimming gear that the grandson left in our RV on Sunday and (2) a stop before the tunnel on I-664 to confirm that our propane tanks were turned off (a first in our travels).

The weather during our 4 days at Cherry Hill Park was far from perfect, but it was certainly warm. Jett’s sons and grandson came up Thursday night to visit us and we returned the favor on Saturday to attend a family dinner (great Chinese food!). On Sunday I traveled to Woodbridge to watch the grandson play a double-header (one win, one tie) and then the sons and grandson came to MD again, to let the kid take a dip in the pool and to say goodbye. They could have saved the goodbyes as we had to drop the swimming gear off on Monday, which gave them yet another chance to say goodbye.

Friday was a day of rest.

I have reviewed Cherry Hill Park before and it is the same as always (though with facilities limited due to COVID-19): beautiful, efficient and expensive. It certainly still hold a place in our Top 10 Campgrounds list.

Categories: Family, MD, Places, Routes, RV Parks, TS6, VA | 1 Comment