Maryland to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey

 5/26 - 5/29/24

On Sunday we headed inland with western West Virginia as a destination. We decided to stop at Antietam as we were passing it. We had enough time to watch the movie but not enough to really do the place justice. Such a heartbreaking place. 

From there we stopped in to visit my friend Cindy and her daughters, Angela and Mandy, in Uniontown, PA. Cindy and I worked together at Bergum Group Homes and she was the wonderful seamstress who made my wedding dress all those many years ago. I loved catching up with her and the girls. 

We continued our travels and, after some heavy rain on twisty roads and downed trees, we made it to Sisterville, WV, the childhood home of my nephew, AJ’s girlfriend. We got to meet Heather and her two adorable children, as well as her parents, sister, and nephews. Because of all the rain we camped out on the road in front of her folks’ home rather than risk getting stuck in mud on their property. The next morning we participated in the small town remembrance for Memorial Day. Heather’s dad is the Commander of their VFW post so he was the Master of Ceremonies and Heather was the featured service member speaker. She did a great job. 

We said our goodbyes following the ceremonial laying of the wreath in the Ohio and headed back towards the coast. We had more horrendous rain before reaching our night’s destination, the Midnight Oil Brewery in Delaware.

From here on out I got forgetful regarding taking photos! We stopped to visit Uncle Bruce and Aunt Janet in south Jersey, and were fortunate enough to get to see my cousins Michael also. We then drove to north Jersey to visit Tim and Alyce Kavanaugh. We love Tim’s new home and it was so nice to see them both.

Because we are nerds and we stayed in the guest room at his house we drove a short distance away and stayed at a Boondocker’s Welcome host’s driveway so we could put our New Jersey sticker on the van (our rules are that we have to spend the night together in the van in order to “earn” the sticker). We were warned and were fortunate enough to see the black bear wander past our van during the night on its way down the driveway.

Georgia to Maryland

 5/23-5/25/24

We left in the morning to drive a short distance to Hardeeville, SC to visit Lyla and Rory Perrodin. Rory and Matthew worked together at Longview and Mieke calls him Uncle Rory because he was such a frequent help to her as she worked on her various vehicles. They now live in the Latitudes, a Margaritaville community. 

They are renting while their home is being built. We first went off to get some lunch at Cahill’s, a working farm and restaurant. The food was great and the we picked up some of their tomatoes, peaches, and a basil plant.

Later we went for a golf cart tour of the community. Rory is a mentor at the woodworking shop.

The outdoor amphitheater where live music is played in the weekends, with the movie theater and pools behind. Lots of activities offered for those who are interested.

After a yummy breakfast we said goodbye and headed north. In remembrance of my dad, who loved the kitsch of this place back in the early 70’s, we stopped in the oh so racist South of the Border at the border of South and North Carolina.

We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with my cousin Jennifer for a drink after she got out of workin Fayetteville, NC. It was nice to catch up.

We made it to Virginia and spent the night in the parking lot of a Bass Pro Shop. Next morning we drove to metro DC to visit with Roger Worthington. Matthew and Roger were in post grad classes together at Cal State Fullerton and it’s been too many years since we’ve visited. It was nice to catch up and to see his lovely home.

Views on our way

We stopped at the Swain Lockhouse 21 site on the C&O Canal (Chesapeake and Ohio)and after a lovely walk along the canal we decided to spend the night there

 

2024 Journey Begins

5/13 - 5/22/24

We hit the road with Ben and headed towards St Louis around 10:30. We were outside of StL when the van began to act weird. We pulled off and checked the tires, and the back driver’s side was super low. We got it pumped up and drove on to Aunt Marie’s. It was good to see her looking better than she did last time we visited. Carolyn and Marian were there and KC came by to show us photos of her trip to Japan. As we left we realized the tire was low again. We tried several shops but weren’t able to get an appointment until the next morning, so we spent the night at Carolyn’s. After replacing the two back tires (there was a nail in the one and the tread was beginning to separate) we were back on the road. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating and the rains were so heavy that driving was difficult at times. Since we lost a night we decided not to go to the spot we intended to camp at along the Ohio River, which probably was a good idea anyway because the river was very high and the place we intended was probably very muddy. We ended up just boondocking at a Bass Pro shop outside of Chattanooga.

We arrived at my mother’s in the afternoon. We just hung out on Thursday and picked up Cam and Derek at 1 am from the Jacksonville Airport. We kept looking for them and they said they were there, but we couldn’t find them. Turns out they were on the Departure level rather than the Arrival one. Friday mom and I got pedicures and then we packed up to drive to Skidaway State Park for a mini family reunion. Mom, Al and Stephanie stayed in a yurt, as did Jennifer, Mia and Daniel. Jimmy, Mona, Tatiana, and Laylynn stayed in a cabin. Alan, Rachel and Luke stayed in a hotel nearby, Matthew and I stayed in the van and our boys stayed in a tent that Jimmy and Mona brought for them. Unfortunately their cat had peed on the tent and it smelled awful. We went out for dinner to a delightful restaurant I found called Sweet Potatoes Cafe - the food was amazing and the staff was so friendly.

It rained hard all the next day and the tent the boys were in leaked like a sieve. Cam stayed in the van with us Sat night and Ben and Derek stayed in Jimmy’s cabin. The rain prevented us from going to Tybee Island so we hung out and played games instead. 

Peekaboo across from our campsite

We celebrated Cameron’s 32 and Derek’s 23 birthdays

Luke wished us Peace Out as we all left with plans to do this this again sometime

We managed to get back to Woodbine in time to see Karrionna perform as a turtle in Finding Nemo

On Monday we said goodbye to Cam and Derek

On Tuesday we met up with Larry and Betsy for some delicious Mexican food

Al was wiped out from all the activity - and so were at least 3 of the cats

Ben wanted to spend his last day beachcombing so we went to Fernadina Beach for the day and the weather was perfect

This good sized gopher turtle was leaving as we were

We dropped Ben off at the airport and went back to Mom and Al’s for one last night.