Rob and Cheryl’s 2013 Ramblings

It is Christmas morning 2013. We are waiting to go over to Elaine and Alex’s for a family meal and sleepover. We are on the tail end of the worst ice storm in this area for decades. The temperature outside is -15 degrees Celsius and everything is covered in immovable ice. There’s certainly no reason I can think of to be outside. The full 3 hour Messiah is playing on CBC radio and we are getting very close to the Halleluiah chorus, so my day is about to peak.

It is Christmas, the Christ child is safely delivered, the world is at peace and our souls may find rest if we seek it. Praise God from whom all blessings flow for the Inestimable Gift of Jesus that we celebrate at this time of year.

Settling Down

 
 
 
 
This has been the year we have settled into our new home in the town of Port Perry as opposed to living on the lake. Our new home is about the same size as our previous one, but it is newer and the garden is much smaller. For a guy who is practically challenged this counts as a huge advantage. Some of the highlights of our new existence:

·        Lawn care – we had two men come by offering us the Holy Grail of lawn care - to mow our lawn and keep it weed free.  No brainer – done.

·        Someone offering to help us cover our home ownership costs – lo and behold we have a fully functional apartment in our basement which we don’t need to use, so we have had Tony and his three kids staying down there and being model tenants – phew, thank you Lord. So much so, in fact Tony will occasionally send his sons out to clear the snow on the driveway. Once again a no brainer – done.

·        Hammock time – this pretty much leaves me with some of the more challenging aspects of owning a hammock ie should I face into the sun or away? Should I swing it or just rest steady? Should I read or just rest? You get the picture.

Bottom line we are very happily ensconced in our new home and enjoying the freedom of less household responsibilities – a bit akin to being an Empty Nester for the first time, or when the ageing cat finally dies. Now if I can just find someone to chip off a couple of inches of solid ice off my driveway, life will be truly Sweet.

Seeking Adventure

This was the year of the RV. We had bought our Beautiful Baby back in November of 2012 and had pretty much had to park it for the winter. So it was with great fanfare that we launched out in April on our first inaugural trip of discovery. Our first major discovery was figuring out the plumbing system. This may sound rather basic, but believe me, one wants to get it right. For more of a blow by blow record of our trip to Myrtle Beach and back see my previous blogs. Suffice to say that we have seen the future and it is good… all good. Now if we can just figure out somewhere to buy gas at about a tenth of the price, we might be able to afford it.

 

 

 

Since then, we have taken Sammy and Esther, our two eldest grandchildren, for a weekend. It rained and they both had bad colds, but much fun was had all the same.

 Then we had a week at a Christian resort in the summer with the whole family, which was hot but good. We are looking forward to building those family memories and the Bucket List still has the Big Road Trip to Grand Canyon somewhere near the top, so we’ll have to see how that goes.

Our wrap up to the season was a too brief stay in the Fall at Algonquin Park to see the Colours. We had the most gorgeous campsite, directly on the Lake with moonlight glistening over it and the colours were glorious during the days. The Lord describes himself so majestically through His Creation. We are so thankful for these glimpses of Him and what lies ahead.

We are looking forward to a good year of RVing in 2014, but we are constantly challenged by some of the other pesky time consuming things in our lives, like work, ministry commitments and yes, even grandchildren. Hard to believe a Grandfather could say such a thing isn’t it? I mean I love them but….oops I’d better stop while I’m ahead.

Seeing the End in Sight

Since I had some major problems with my eyes a couple of years ago I have reached the conclusion that I would rather spend my remaining healthy days doing something more significant than just turning up at work every day. And if it wasn’t my eyes that got me to this point – I was shocked in May this year to find that I am now married to a 60 year old. I didn’t think things would ever get to this. Fortunately my 60 year old is still a hottie, only looks around 39 or so and hardly ever acts her age.

I have been on a journey over the last year of exploring how to turn my Wealth Management Practice into a Pension. It turns out that what should be a straightforward thing is actually fraught with a variety of practical difficulties which don’t necessarily resolve all that easily. My brother Alan and I are partners and we are both working together on this. With the Lord’s help we are hopefully nearing a solution. We have found another team of brothers who are looking to grow their own practice and are keen to buy ours. We need one or two more approvals from our employer and we hope by this time next year to be formally in the Ranks of the Retired. Roll on those Senior’s Discounts. Yiahhh!!

Ministry Matters

It sure does. Cher and I prayed for a few years some time back for an opportunity to be involved in a significant ministry. God used a Jewish man in my office to point us in the right direction about six years ago and we are now actively involved in reaching out to a segment of the population that needs to know the personal love and saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Typical of much ministry, our lives are filled with committees, meetings and not enough face time with our target group. Progress is slow, but we are trying to follow where God is going with this and so we are happy to work at His pace and besides we have other things in life which we also value like our kids and their kids…

Family Matters

They certainly do. It has been an eventful year – not all of it good.

Elaine and Alex - We were all shaken to the core in June of this year, when Elaine’s husband Alex suffered a seizure in a shopping mall parking lot. It turns out to be a brain tumor. Alex is now on to his second round of chemo after an initial six weeks of chemo and radiation. We are thankful that the tumor shows no signs of additional growth and Alex has been given approval to return to work and re-apply for his driver’s licence. This has been hugely challenging to put it mildly and we value your ongoing prayers. We have been very grateful for the army of family, friends and work colleagues who have supported Elaine and Alex in so many ways. Alex has borne this challenge with dignity and grace. Elaine has struggled with the wider challenge of the situation, but once again God has helped her. We have been privileged to have spent more time than usual with Sammy (4) and Esther (2) a result of Alex’ treatment regime. Sammy started school this Fall and Esther is enjoying being her own person with Mom and Dad to herself at times. We love them to bits.

Julia and Chris –

They are doing well. Julia blessed us this year by falling pregnant and then producing a beautiful baby boy, James Douglas, in mid-November. He is doing well but we are reminded afresh of how much work new babies are and amazed at the way Julia and Chris stay sane amidst all the challenges. Their eldest, John (2), has the most wonderful smile and sweet nature and he charms all who fall under his spell. Chris continues to work hard at his tech support job whilst also taking on a variety of private side jobs to keep the household running and the budget balanced.

 
 
 
 Cheryl – is Super Nanna. She is the first line of call when Elaine or Julia need help and she pours herself into this. So much so, that her weeks can be a whirl of moving between three households. Cher’s gift is to Help and she has a remarkable capacity to do just that. I know Elaine and Julia value her involvement and Cher of course thrives on it.

My role - is to be the cheerleader of all of this activity with the occasional chauffeuring role and a bit of story-telling. I also seize the opportunity to wrestle with my grandson’s while victory is still reasonably assured. It turns out all of my grandchildren like to sing and a recent highlight for me was belting out Christmas carols with little two year old Esther while we wrestled over a challenging puzzle together. Precious memories.  

South Africa Re-visited.

We recently spent almost a month in SA  visiting with family and friends. We loved being back in the Old Country. SA, as always, continues to delight and dismay. We were delighted to see so many signs of a country moving towards integration – many more middle class families of all colours visiting the beaches, malls and movies. We spent quite a bit of time with my brother Neville and his wife and spent some time with his kids and their kids. It was really special re-connecting with old friends in the Johannesburg area and also in Hilton in Kwa Zulu Natal. We travelled to the Wild Coast and despite too much rain and cold (it was summer) we had a good time. We then connected with Cher’s Mom and her sister at Morgan’s Bay near East London and spent about ten days with them in that area.

In our final week Madiba passed on and the country went crazy – in a nice way. It was so good to re-live the wonderful life of this man who served his country so well. He has earned his place in history. Rest in Peace Madiba.

I put on about ten pounds whilst away – I blame the bad weather. What else is there to do on vacation if the weather’s too bad to go to the beach?

Last Word

When I’m feeling foolish or brave I will occasionally publish my New Year’s resolutions. I think I will keep it simple this year. My life is so much better on so many levels when I try to live each day in a way that pleases God and makes Him smile. I’m not very good at it, but nevertheless, I resolve to try in 2014 to make God smile every day. Anyone want to join me?

Cher and I wish you and yours all of God’s richest blessings in 2014. May you know Him in sweet and wonderful ways in the 12 months ahead.

God Bless,  

Rob & Cheryl Cornish

 

Last Lap - Long Faces

My Eureka Moment - at last

We left Myrtle Beach on Wednesday April 17th, heading north west for a little town called Martinsville in Virginia - a convenient stop off point about an hour short of the Blue Ridge Parkway which was our target.

We travelled through beautiful countryside but noticed the further in we got that the leaves on the trees were less developed and less lush than MB had been. We were struck by a feeling of foreboding. It's like the feeling I used to get when I was returning back to boarding school after a few weeks of the freedom of being at home. We were heading north and back to face the music of real life.
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We were a few miles short of Martinsville, when I had my Eureka moment..... I noticed a little dumpy gas station coming up and there it was ... the cheapest gas in North America. Eureka -  $3.15 a gallon. I had already heard that South Carolina has the cheapest gas in the USA, but here we were in Virginia and in all our driving I hadn't seen it cheaper than this.  I couldn't resist. Foot on the brake - screeching traffic behind me, while I lumbered in to claim my prize. I have bookmarked that stop for all future travels - it felt so good filling up with all of that cheap gas. My day was made, or so I thought....

Martinsville - Worth Missing

We dutifully followed that annoying lady in the GPS (we call her Susy) into Martinsville to an RV Park. The surroundings got dumpier and dumpier and then we arrived at it - the dump I mean. It also happened to be the RV Park.
It turns out that the owner is an old car collector and right in alongside the RV Park was his collection of rusted out old wrecks that he can't bear to part with. He clearly has a customer base that enjoy picking up spare parts for their vintage vehicles or he relies on unsuspecting types like us to roll in. So much for buying over the internet.

We were done for the day and decided to live with our choice. We were the only visitors it seems. The only other folks looked like permanents. We were starting to hear that Deliverance theme music again.

Once we were set up we decided to go for a walk and check out the area. Maybe we were being unfair. We passed a couple of young guys sitting outside a cabin on our way out. They were slugging back beers and greeted us enthusiastically. We reciprocated on the greeting and carried on. As we were walking away from them we noticed a groundhog, or something like it, scittering up the bank ahead of us - something else for our growing list of wildlife sightings.

The tour of the area was just plain depressing. We headed for home when we got to a dilapidated mobile home location - compared to that, we were staying in the Ritz. On our way back in, we noticed one of our young guys sporting a hunting bow, busy retrieving arrows from the bank we had seen the groundog on. We decided not to do the walk back that way and found a back route in to our RV. We'd had enough of the highlights of Martinsville and retired for the night.

Up Up and Away

The Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive has been highly recommended to us and for that reason we had researched it down to a T. It covers almost 500 miles of mountain top driving, reaching from Georgia in the south to Virginia in the north. Cher knew virtually every twitch and bend in the road.... and that's without having visited it. What we missed in our research was that most of the facilities and campsites along the way only open on Memorial Day weekend (it seems the same weekend as Canadian Victoria Day weekend). Once we discovered that we canned the idea, but we had now revised it and decided to come down off the parkway to find RV parks at the bottom of the mountains where facilities are currently open.

For one of the USA's premier touring highlights the Blue Ridge Parkway is not well promoted. In fact we struggled in figuring out how to get onto it, it was so faintly signposted. Once on it, it was great - very little traffic, but miles and miles of beautiful mountain top scenery. The speed limit is 45 mph which I was grateful for, but with lots of Outlook stops where one can let impatient people pass by. I was also thankful for my 2nd gear which saved me burning out my brakes on the downhill portions.
We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway at Roanoke in South Carolina and did about 40 miles and then came down the mountain near Natural Bridge, Virginia.

We were in good time to have a nice long walk around this natural phenomenon. It was massive and very interesting. A couple of points of interest; at one point George Washington climbed up a rock face and carved his initials on the rock. We verified that. The walk in total was about 1.5 miles and ended with a waterfall. We finally gave up on reaching the waterfall as it seemed to be the longest 1.5 miles we had ever walked. We turned around and bumped into a Mom and her whining son. The Mom said cheerfully " how much further is the waterfall?". Not wanting to be a discouragement we replied "not too far - just around the corner and up the hill a bit more". You need to understand that this kind of direction giving we learnt in Africa where one doesn't want to discourage people needlessly. Nevertheless we did go on our way rather quickly, not looking back. I have this picture in my mind of a young boy laboring onwards and upwards for another hour or two, cursing that apparently friendly couple.

We finished our day tripping and came to the RV Park a few miles away where we had booked. The receptionist there will rank as one of the least helpful we have dealt with. We finally found a beautiful site, but discovered too late that our site's Wi-Fi signal didn't work too well. Our friendly lady had sadly neglected to mention that detail in a largely empty campsite. The weather report had predicted a lot of rain on Friday so we had decided to hunker down at our campsite and sit it out. It did rain hard, so we were glad to be snugged up in our cosy HAFH and managed to watch the Boston Reality Drama in full minute by minute detail - we are very thankful to see the two brothers brought to justice, but of course sad to hear of such needless loss of life which they caused.

Lured by Luray

Somewhere in our travels, someone had mentioned the Luray Caverns as a must see. We decided to do a half day of the Skyline Drive and then come down the mountain again and do Luray for a couple of days. The Skyline Drive was at least as nice as the Blue Ridge, and maybe more so because we had a spectacular day weatherwise.

We got into our KOA campsite around 4pm and were very impressed. It is perched atop a hill in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley with mountains on either side and more or less a 360 degree view all around. We were backed onto a site overlooking a small farm complete with sheep, lambs and a brand new llama, the other campers tell us. We have been endlessly amused by the bleating of the lambs and the antics of the farmer as he has tried to bring them into the shed for the night. It gives the phrase " we all like sheep have gone astray" a whole new meaning. A couple of ladies came by and told us that they have stayed in RV parks all across North America and this is the most beautiful one. It is beautiful, but oh my the wind cuts right through one at the top of the hill.

This morning we decided to take our chances with a "contemporary service" at a Southern Baptist church in town. We duly arrived and were warmly welcomed to the downstairs hall where the meeting was happening. Coffee, cake and choruses were the order of the day. It was a simple but nice service. I was a bit distracted by the little girl next to me who kept going back for extra doses of purple cake. Judging by the size of the mother, the little one is destined to be not too far behind her if she keeps that up.




The highlight of the day for us was our visit to the Luray Caverns. It was discovered in apprx 1878, or thereabouts, and oh my goodness have they done a beautiful job of dressing it up with excellent lighting, imaginative names for the various formations and an excellently produced script by our young tour guide. We walked 1.25 miles underground without retracing our steps and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

Snippets from Along the Way 

A couple of people we have enjoyed meeting in the last few days:

Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia - there we were parked off at an Overlook viewpoint. There was a cyclist stopping to catch his breath when out of the woods appeared a tall man carrying a large back pack. We all got chatting. The back packer was doing a big chunk of the Appalachian Trail He had left home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania the day after Easter and had been walking the trail ever since. He was shooting to be in Georgia by the end of the summer where the Trail ends. I pointed out that I had noticed his wife wasn't with him. He smiled and said "she doesnt' do bugs and dirt". As we all split up I asked the cyclist where he was from. He replied in  perfect English "Quebec". I asked him if he is French or English and his reply as he waved goodbye was "French of course, what else?".

KOA Campground, Luray, Virginia

We were sitting out at our site in the late afternoon and another couple came by carrying matching coffee travel mugs - and we had thought we were the perfect couple. We got chatting. My goodness what an interesting couple. Robert and Stacey Meacham. They are travelling around, living actually, in their 46 foot Class A (the big bus) motorhome. We asked where home was and their reply is "site 49". They have lived for five years on a 34 foot trawler in the southern tip of Alaska and now count home as their motorhome. We popped by this evening to have a snack with them. Robert is a retired aircraft engineer and Stacey does consulting and training on certain types of software which does some amazing stuff.. We sat in their gorgeous Class A motorhome with a 180 degree window view of the mountain backdrop and we yacked non stop. Robert demonstrated how to make a pop up bird feeder, which they set up when they stop for awhile. That got my wife's juices going. Robert and Stacey "dated" for fifteen years and have been married for 10. Robert said he moved from being a confirmed bachelor to marriage and cannot imagine now why he had waited so long. Nice.


And now sadly, our vacation is ending. From here on we are mainly intent on heading home. Nevertheless it has been good time and our objective of getting to know our RV and how it all hangs together is largely achieved. Having said that we keep discovering new things, so life is an adventure.

Until the next time,

Rob and Cher, reporting from our Big Baby :0).

 

Home at Last.....

Goodbye George, Morning Myrtle

Thursday 11th April, we left the little town of Washington in North Carolina, having had a good evening the day before. We had gone down to the picturesque waterfront and passed a few hours sitting cosily in our Home Away From Home, filling up four or five parking spots. Eventually a friendly policeman came by to check we weren't intent on mischief and mayhem. We assured him we weren't but decided that was our cue to head for our friendly Walmart and claim our spot for the night. It's fun to stay with friends.

The next day we headed out in good time, headed for the delights of Myrtle - Beach that is. Once again a beautiful drive through ever thickening fields and forests. What a pleasure to be somewhere green and beginning to look increasingly lush. I filled up with cheap North Carolina gas in case prices went up in South Carolina.

We entered South Carolina a few k's short of MB and were wonderfully welcomed at the Visitor Centre where we got all the maps and ideas we could ever want. The nice lady there even found us a selection of churches to visit when in the Big Smoke.

A quick lunch in our HAFH and we were back on the road, destined for the delights of the big hub. I knew we wouldn't be staying for long. Cher doesn't like bright lights, noisy people and glitz in general. For her, its peaceful forests and chirping birds that turn her crank. A short stay in MB had been a hard negotiated compromise.

Myrtle Beach - first Impressions....

My first impression was "Drat - gas is about 10c a gallon cheaper here". I keep getting that wrong. Oh well....

Our campsite we had booked was on the far south side of MB. We decided to take the slow drive down the beach front to get a quick look. It didn't take long for the action to get going. Multitudes of seafood buffets featuring 150 - 200 buffet choices, garish mini golf games by the dozen, cheap food joints by the gross and so on. My good wife who is normally not the silent type, got quieter and quieter. I sensed she was maybe regretting having given in to my insistence on checking the place out. I prayed... Lord help me out here - I'm in deep doodoo.

After 20 miles of dubious beachfront entertainments we officially departed MB on the South Side. Next stop was our home for a few days, Myrtle Beach State Park.

 

 

 

Myrtle Beach State Park - Home at Last...

We turned off the busy road and into a haven of peace and quiet....the road was lined with beautiful red and pink azaleas. The forest wrapped its arms around us and a sense of quiet contentment began to seep in and soothe our nerves and suddenly my good wife unaccountably began to cheer up. We checked in, found our campsite and were very impressed with the shadiness and size of the sites. We spent a nice quiet evening getting set up and settling in. We thought we had died and gone to heaven...."Thank you Lord".

We were nicely tucked up in bed, about to fall asleep when we both sensed a familiar sensation -  Jumbo Jet in The Room Syndrome otherwise known as JJITRS. Sure enough, there was a low flying plane right overhead. We figured out that our campsite was directly under the flight path of the MB International Airport which we had subliminally not noticed on the map until then. It seems that God is happy for us to have a nice holiday, but somehow the message is - don't get too relaxed - there's still lot's to be done. Ah well - God is good and and such is life. We hardly hear those Jumbos anymore.

So much to do... so little time. Uh Duh

We listed all the things we wanted to get done while in MB, checked out the weather in our next planned destination and realised that what the heck - we were wearing shorts, the beach was beautiful and MB area had a lot to do and explore, we would stay here for a few more days than planned.

 So we have spent six days in MB instead of three. What have we done? Hard to say - walked on the beach, rode our bikes, checked out 20 - 30 new bird species (for us). We attended a rather big church, which felt a bit like going to a show. Impressive but somehow rather impersonal. We went to a fantastic variety show, ate way too much at a 170 item seafood buffet and much much more. We visited MB's waterfront boardwalk area and a rather overdone giganitc tourist shopping trap surrounding a lake - a bit much even for me who does not mind the glitzy things of life.

 

 

 

 

A House Shaken..

 Somewhere in our recent travels someone said to us "owning an RV is like owning a second home, excepting that one shakes it for a few hours every day when one drives it. Things come loose".

 

And so it is. We keep discovering loose screws, bits of cupboard coming unglued and much much more. I decided to spend one morning doing some catch up jobs - very thankful that I had decided to bring a full set of tools with me. I haven't quite used all of them but am getting there fast. I now carry a note book around with me to keep track of what needs doing.

I mentioned this to one of our fellow campers a day or two ago. He looked at me sadly and said these wise words "Get used to it". What more can be said?

 

 

What is that Strange Sensation ... and More?

Today we sat on the front deck of our HAFH reading our books, watching the birds go by and
became aware of a strange sensation. It seemed to impact every limb and muscle. Even my eye lids seemed to be unaccountably droopy. What is that sensation?? Can't quite place it. We'd better move on - we've probably been here too long. Perhaps it's something in the air. There must be other horizons; new adventures to explore and conquer. We must.... get... going....Again.

Cher has been working on a revised travel plan. It involves heading north west towards the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Shenandoah Valley. It involves cooler temperatures. We are strangely reluctant to implement it. For some reason any direction with the word North in it, is a bit offputting. But we have to start heading towards home and these are places we would like to see. Drat - despite all misgivings, we have enjoyed Myrtle Beach. One of God's blessings along the way.

Snippets from along the Way

Life is full of interesting encounters. A couple to reflect on

Tappahannock, Virginia  - We've gone out of our way to visit this little town en route. It turns out to be a dump. Rough. Shacks. Broken down. The Deliverance theme song is starting up in the background. Cheap gas beckons - we stop to fill up.  I'm standing at the pump. Opposite me at the pump is a short young black guy with a very heavy limp and perhaps a squint. He smiles at me. "Hey Man". I smile back cautiously. "Where you from Man?" "Canada" I reply suspiciously. "How be it there in Canada Man?" "Fine" I reply tensely. "Can you lend me a couple of bucks Man?" He smiles meaningfully. I shake my head nervously and contemplate a quick retreat in my honking great 31 foot giant. He laughs as if I had just cracked a really good joke. I notice he has a crowd of friends BBQing just over the road. I finish up fast, and head for the exit. I'm blocked off by his girlfriend in her car. The pace of the Deliverance music picks up. Help!!! The girlfriend smiles at me and backs up. We're free to go. So much for visiting out of the way places not on the recommended route.

Myrtle Beach State Park, South Carolina - We're on the beach. I look back and stop to take a photo of the pier. A hippyish rough looking guy, tatoos all over, shirtless, in his 50s walks by and comments "Beautiful isn't it?" What does this guy want from me I wonder. "It sure is" I reply. He notices the starfish in Cher's hand and stops to chat. "I have never seen anything like that" he says. Come on I think - have you never been to the beach? We chat a bit. I notice one of his tattoos says "Faith in Jesus". Cher asks him straight - are you a Believer. "Oh yes" he says. "Jesus saved me a few years back. I was on drugs and alcohol and He has rescued me. I couldn't live without Him". He has just driven down with his wife overnight as her father's body is filling up with fluid and is on the edge of death. Overnight a miracle has happened. One injection and he is well again. I find myself thinking "Father you are good and gracious. We were all on the edge of death and you rescue us. Thank you Lord. Forgive me for judging people by their appearances. I love you Lord".

And so tomorrow we hit the road again. New horizons to aspire to. New adventures to be experienced. Blue Ridge Parkway - here we come. Yiaaa!!
Rob & Cheryl



USA - Warming up

 

We arrived in Williamsburg, Virginia on Saturday, April 26th at The Anvil RV campsite, conveniently close to about a gazillion outlet stores "in case we get tired of sightseeing". Not a chance - the sightseeing was excellent and who would want to exchange that for a shopathon?

 

Our Campsite- more than we could imagine in our wildest dreams!!

When we checked in at the campsite we had great expectations. Bernice was the lady checking us in - a nice lady. Quite relaxed, very friendly and as it turns out a master (or is it mistress or Ms. these days?) of deception. We had noticed a rail line backing on to the campsite. I asked Bernice how often the train comes through. "Oh 2 - 3 times a night" she says with a straight face. “Most folks don't even notice them after the first night”. We took her at (straight) face value and dutifully parked our Baby backing onto the railroad line, about ten feet away, as directed. Something you probably don't know is that our bedroom is in the back of the RV. Well we were still hooking up our water and hydro when the first train roared through. It was like a Jumbo touching down in our living room. The first night was awful and it got worse from there. We stopped counting at about 25 trains and needless to say cut our stay down by a day there as our peace of mind was suffering to say the least.

 

Despite that minor deception, we enjoyed our stay. I have figured why everyone at the campsite, including guests, looked so laid back and dozy - because they were. I choose to forgive Bernice. I mean she has a business to run and it would cease to exist if she gave full disclosure. And now I have a good story to tell.

 

Lock the Doors and Preach till they surrender

Now that we had established a trusting relationship with Bernice we asked her to recommend a good church to go to on Sunday morning. “We had noticed a nice looking Bible Church on the way in. Was that worth trying?” we asked. Bernice looked us in the eye and told us with a straight face that the last she heard they lock the doors of that church once everyone’s in and nobody leaves until they have reached their giving target for that day. We knew we could trust her, so we went to a nice little Charismatic church which played beautiful, restful, melodious music and the preacher preached about how to wash the feet of the needy in this world. We left straightaway as we had filled about a quarter of their parking lot with our Beautiful Baby and I didn’t feel like being parked in for the second service.

Williamsburg’s Historic Triangle

I love history so had a ball getting a better grip on the Historic Triangle which covered the first 150 years of modern day USA history.

Jamestown – The Mayflower with a third rate Marketing Manager

The first 100 or so settlers arrived in Jamestown in 1607, thirteen years before the Mayflower touched down (in Massachusets?). They suffered incredible hardship, with only 20 of the original party left standing within a year. They had a patchy relationship with the local Powhatin Indians which improved a bit when one of the party married Pocahontas ( remember her from the school of Disney?) the main chief’s daughter, but the relationship soon went south again. Bottom line, by the mid 1620’s the little colony was finding its feet and the local farmers had discovered “Brown Gold” ie  Virginia tobacco which formed the basis of an increasingly successful economy and they were all set to go. The Mayflower Mob were still trying to figure out which way the bathwater goes down the hole in the western hemisphere, when the Virginians were sitting on their decks with a good cigar in hand, watching the sun go down.

 

Colonial Williamsburg in 1870 -  Wealth and talk of War

Oh my goodness the Americans do know how to tell a good story and do it all on a grand scale. We discovered we could park our Baby in the massive parking lot and bus it from there to all the major attractions. We noticed one family with four kids dragging themselves home (to the parking lot) late one night and all hopping into their long camper trailer and sleeping over in the parking lot for a night of free accommodation. They were still there when we got back the next morning – a nice idea but we wouldn’t have missed our night of train spotting at our campsite for anything.

All of the staff in Colonial Williamsburg (CW) were dressed the part and could not have been more helpful. We started our day in the garden of the Governor of the Colony and were addressed by the not quite yet President, George Washington. Such a good way to get into the thinking of the day and the part so well played and researched by the actors – also an excellent insight into the reasons for the Colonists throwing off the yoke of Britain. We then ambled through the town and made our way to listen to Martha Washington give her Devotions in which we heard from a woman’s perspective how the war days were. It was inspiring to hear how her faith in God carried her through the death of four children, two husbands, and all of her siblings.

In the afternoon we watched various street scenes including a black preacher who was celebrating the additional freedom he was finding, and celebrating being the first black church to be accepted into the Baptist association and then a very excited French General, Lafayette, announcing the victory at Yorktown against the Brits, which turned out to be one of the War of Independence’s major turning points. Who would have thought that the French played a significant role in helping the Colonists defeat the British?

We ended with an evening show depicting a typical theatre show. It’s amazing how much fun and evening of simple entertainment can be minus all of the modern day gadgetry.

 

Yorktown 1781 – third leg of the Triangle

That morning we decided to cut our losses at our campsite, having been exposed to enough trains for a lifetime, so we packed up and did a quick run through the Yorktown Battlefield site and Yorktown Victory Centre. Once again everything is presented so well and on such a large scale – no wonder the Americans have done so well in this world – they tell their story so much better than the rest of us.

We watched a mock firing of a mortar, which impressed me enough not to want to be on the receiving end of one. Probably my abiding memory of Yorktown though was the demonstration of the best medical techniques and treatments for the soldiers of the day. Oh my goodness – how did anyone ever survive? Apparently George Washington died from having the blood letting go a little far when something ailed him. Give me OHIP and our lines up any day. I’ll never complain again.

 

Virginia Beach – Long Bridges and Wet Tunnels

Having gained a day by easing up on the hammering a day early, we reinstated our original plan to visit Kitty Hawk, on the North Carolina Outerbanks, the sight of the first powered flight in 2003.

We swung by Virginia Beach on our way down. It’s pretty much a huge city with a very long waterfront.  In crossing over to it we were on a bridge over water which then became a tunnel and we never got wet. We are still wondering how they ever built that without the tunnel filling up with water. Something for the engineers to enlighten me on.

We were doing fine at Virginia Beach until we tried to navigate our way out at rush hour. My problem is that I had two women telling me to do different things simultaneously. Cher one the one hand and that ever so patient and yet, very frustrating lady on the other hand who lives inside my GPS. She is patient and never gives up, even when she is clearly wrong. We made it through eventually, an hour later than planned, our marriage barely intact and only one bump on the RV from an overactive school bus. The less said about that the better.

 

Kitty Hawk – and Naked in the Parking Lot!!!

How’s that for an attention grabber? When we got to KH we had the choice of a very grubby looking RV campsite for $50 or staying for free in the clean and quiet Walmart parking lot. We had heard this was an option so decided to try it. No sooner had we parked than we were joined by two beautiful big buses complete with matching trailers and another guy in a camping trailer. We felt a bit less conspicuous.

We slept well but it was this morning that Cheryl commented, after coming out of the shower (inside the RV) that was the first time she had had a shower in the middle of a parking lot. We’re never too old to try new things I reckon.

This morning we had an easy start – we picked up a coffee on the way to the beach and then spent an hour or so looking for shells for the grandchildren. Mind you sea shells don’t have batteries, sing or flash lights, so they may not be that appealing. We’ll have to see what the reaction is. Elaine and Julia you have two weeks to coach your kids in how to respond to such a gift.

Then we went on down to the Kitty Hawk museum. It was very impressive.

All I can say is that the State Park guy who gave us the demonstration was almost as entertaining as the Kitty Hawk itself. He said he loves to tell grade 8 students that the Wright brothers conquered the mysteries of flight by doing high school math.

We ended our drive today with a 3 hour drive through beautiful countryside and are now parked in our second Walmart parking lot – hey it’s hard to beat free. Tomorrow it’s Myrtle Beach – Yiaaaa!