St Augustine

We spent the last month in Virginia. After spending all that time in Appalachia it was time to get some culture. So we spent the first night at the South of the Border campground in S. Carolina. Pedro says - You're always a weiner at South of the Border. We had Mexican that night but Nan didn't like it because they didn't give you a bottemless basket of chips.

The next day we arrived in St. Augustine, FL. We took a trolley tour today and then went to the beach. They had rip-tide warnings, so of course there were plenty of surfers out there. Nan then wanted her picture taken standing by the sculpture of David. What a smile she had on her face.

Richmond, VA

While in Gloucester, VA my brother and his wife came to visit for a couple of days. If crabs are around we generally try to get some. There was a guy that sold live crab nearby. We have a steamer so we thought about steaming our own. Then we found a grocery store that sells steamed crab for the same price so we went that route. We stayed at a Thousand Trails in Gloucester and it was very nice and right on a river.

We left Gloucester and drove a couple of hours because I had a job west of Richmond VA for two weeks. Since the campground was $41 per night we decided to stay the month and get a monthly rate of about $700. The two weeks I was working Nan rented a car and went visit family in D.C. and Cleveland. While she was gone she missed the 5.8 earthquake we had. The epicenter was only 30 miles from where I was working. We were working on the second floor of a bank and it started shaking. I knocked a couple of old ladies down and lead everyone to safety. The next week we had Hurricane Irene. Nan returned on Friday so she could be here on Saturday for the hurricane. She was so mad she missed the earthquake that she didn’t want to miss anymore excitement. We had steady rain for all of Saturday and lost power for about 1 hour. We were about 100 miles from the coast so not a big deal. The hurricane might have done some damage to the Gloucester Thousand Trails though. I’m sure we will find out through the grapevine.

Two things I miss from living in a house is my big screen TV with surround sound, and my Weber grill. We have surround sound in the RV but it’s kind of cheesy. I did just get a portable Weber grill though. We had it shipped to Nan’s Mom’s house and Nan brought it back with her. It hooks up to one of our RV propane tanks. I had grilled chicken and grilled asparagus for lunch. I feel civilized again.

Crabbing

I got up at 3:00 this morning to go crabbing. A guy at the campground told me when he did this he would come home with a 5 gallon bucket almost full of crabs. I crabbed until 11:00 and got 4 crabs. I set them free and stopped at Wendy's for a burger on the way home. Nan had considered going with me but luckily she changed her mind. I think it had something to do with the 3:00 wakey wakey time. There was another guy there crabbing. He told me he got about 20 of them. They are suppose to be at least 5 inches wide. After I talked to him the marine officer stopped by to check things out. I saw the guy throwing back little crabs when the officer wasn't looking.

Jamestown, VA

Nan and I left New Jersey and went to a campground in Gloucester, VA for 3 weeks. It not far from Williamsburg. It’s been really hot here - usually in the 90s. We are by a river so Roxy has a chance to go swimming. Unfortunately the river is like bath water so Roxy ends up panting even while swimming. We’ve used the AC more in a week than we’ve used it in the prior 2 years of living in the RV.

Nan and I went to visit Jamestown, VA. Below is a comparison of Jamestown and the Pilgrims so there’s no confusion as to who arrived first.

Jamestown was a settlement located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony. Founded as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607,[1] it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States of America, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It was founded by the London Company (later to become the Virginia Company), headquartered in England. Jamestown was the capital of the colony for 83 years (from 1616 until 1699).

The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, (which would become the capital of Plymouth Colony), in 1620.[1] There were 102 passengers and a crew of 25–30. The vessel left England on September 6, 1620, and after a grueling 66-day journey marked by disease, which claimed two lives, the ship dropped anchor inside the hook tip of Cape Cod (Provincetown Harbor) on November 11. The Mayflower was originally destined for the mouth of the Hudson River, near present-day New York City, at the northern edge of England's Virginia colony, which itself was established with the 1607 Jamestown Settlement.

The London Company sent people to Jamestown because they thought there was gold there. They didn’t find gold, but they did find that it was a good place to grow tobacco. The rest is history.

Atlantic City

I working for 3 weeks by New York City. We parked the RV in a campground by Atlantic City since there aren't many by NYC. Nan is staying there for the 3 weeks, and I come "home" to Atlantic City on weekends. Working in NYC is different than I'm used to. All the women sound like Marissa Tomei, and all the men sound like they want to have me whacked.

I attached a picture of a shoe on Nan's foot. The pair costs $2,500. The store ordered 10 pairs and they only have 2 pairs left. They have a picture of Kim Kardashian wearing one pair. I told Nan if she buys a pair she will be wearing them while she's walking the streets earning money to pay for them. Who knows how long that would take.

Wisconsin

Nan and are are in Wisconsin for a couple of weeks since I have a job in the area. We arrived last Saturday. They have a gravity hill in the area so we checked it out. You drive down to the bottom of a country road hill, put your car in neutral, and take your foot off the brake. The car then starts rolling in reverse up the hill. It’s freaky man.

A few days ago I took Roxy for a nice walk around the lake they have in the campground. The lake is about 1/2 mile long and 1/4 mile wide. They have a golf cart path that goes around the lake with tall weeds on either side of the path. Roxy enjoyed sniffing in the weeds for rabbits. After the walk I noticed a couple of ticks walking on me. We combed Roxy and got 3 ticks off from her. Before I went to bed I stripped down and Nan had to do a close inspection on me to make sure I was tickless. The next morning about 3:00 I woke up from another one walking on me. That day I went to work and Nan found about 10 more on her, Roxy, and on furniture. This morning I gave her a flea and tick shampoo (Roxy - Not Nan). Hopefully that will be the end of it.

This is Memorial Day weekend. I had a reservation in the campground for this week and next, but they were booked for the weekend. We thought we might have to go somewhere else, but the owners were able to squeeze us by the bathroom. We have electric hookup, so it’s working out OK. I was hoping it would start raining on Thursday and not stop so no one would show up. It rained a little but unfortunately the weather has been pretty nice. The campground owners figure they have about 1,000 people here for the weekend.

Today we went to see the House on the Rock. In the 1960’s this artsy guy bought property in the country that had some big rock formations. He started building a house in and around these formations. While building the house people would stop buy and ask for a tour. It didn’t take long for him to start charging money for the tours. He died in 1989, but the tours live on. The one video is of the Infinity Room. He built a hall that extends out over a gorge about 150 feet. There is a glass floor near the end of the room that you can look down as see a drop of about 250 feet.

Black Tank Valve Replacement

I have a job in Wisconsin so Nan and I are heading north. We were camped in Indiana a couple of nights ago and we noticed something was dripping under our trailer. I was hoping it was our drinking hose connection since that would be the easiest and cleanest thing to fix. No such luck. It turned out to be the black tank dump valve. For those not familiar with RV lingo, the black tank holds your pee and poop. When the black tank gets full you pull a lever to the dump valve, and the contents empty from the tank, through a sewer hose, and into the sewer connection at the campground. The next morning we were continuing north, so we stopped at a Camping World and picked up a new valve. We planned on staying at a real campground last night, but because it was Friday they were full. So we stayed at a Shell Gas Station that had 6 RV sites right by the Burger King drive-through. Luckily it was all cement which made it easier to work on the RV. I had to drop the belly pan which is a piece of material (now soaked with pee and poop) that protects wiring and hoses under the RV from debris in the road. Then I had to remove the old valve and put the new one in. This sounds easy, but it took about 3 hours since nothing ever goes as smoothly as you hope. Keep in mind that about 2 hours were spent working with, lying in, and trying to avoid pee and poop. Nan came out to see how thing were going but almost threw up so she had to go back inside. While working I kept thinking about those hundreds of times I’ve used hand sanitizer in restaurants because I was afraid of germs, and now look at me.