Visiting with the Potts–Heading South-Repairs

 

Friday (Sep 30) to Thursday (Oct 13):

Friday afternoon we pulled into Belden Hill Campground which is located a few miles from Binghamton NY. We had spent one night in this campground earlier this year and knew it was a good place to spend a few days. We were assigned the same site as our last visit, a pull through site with a few of the mountains in the distance. We got set up for the week-end and then took it easy most of the time we were there. We did go into Binghamton one day over the week-end and it was depressing. Binghamton has been in decline over the last 30 years with over 60% of the jobs leaving town. This is the first time we have been in a city were we did not feel safe parking the Jeep and walking around the downtown area. We did stop and walk in the city park at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers.

On Monday morning left out and headed to Kinzers PA for the Roamers Retreat Campground to spend a few days with David and Cindy Potts. We arrived at the campground and were assigned to Site C-17 which is located across from the site we were in earlier this year. We got set up and then walked down to the Potts’ rig which is located on the other end of the park. All of us went out to a local Amish restaurant where we shared a large pizza.

The week with the Potts went by quickly. David last day at work was Friday, October 1st. We were with the Potts in June when they sold their house and now in October when David retired. We thoroughly enjoyed the few days we were able to spend with Cindy and David. Cindy is still working from “home” so her days are filled with computer/phone time with her office. We were able to share evening meals several days, spend time around a campfire and talked about our plans for the coming year. I helped David install a replacement televator for the TV in their living room. I also played golf with David and a couple of guys he had worked with at DuPont on Friday. Connie went with Cindy on Saturday to have a pedicure while Cindy had her hair cut.

On Tuesday Connie and I took a trip south to Assateague Island to see the wild mustangs that reside on the island. It was a drive of about 4 hours down and 4 hours back so it was a long day for us. We watch a brief movie at the Visitor’s Center and then drove over the the Island where we walked the trails within the Assateague Island National Park and Seashore. A one point there was development on the island all of the structures were destroyed in a hurricane that hit in the early 1960’s. The government took over the land later in the 1960’s with the state having a small park along side the national park. It was very windy while we were there and we did not see any horses while we were on the trails. We did see a few mustangs as we were leaving the park and stop to take a few pictures. The horses are very tame and we saw them grazing between the park road and the campground. It was not worth the 4 hour drive to see the “wild horses” that look like what we see all the time in Texas.

After leaving the park we drove over to Ocean City, Maryland where we walked along the boardwalk and ate lunch at one of the few restaurants open (most of them have closed for the season). We both had sandwiches and Connie had a locally brewed beer.

On Sunday we said our goodbyes to David and Cindy since we are leaving early on Monday morning. On Monday we headed south to another campground we have stayed out before, Endless Caverns RV Resort in New Market, Virginia. We got to the park and since we are only staying the night did not unhook the Jeep. After a quick night stay we headed to Amelia Family Campground near where we we have work done on the motorhome. We got our site at the campground which was more like a parking lot with utilities. Very narrow site with just enough room to put out our slides. The campground had a small music stage where they put on concerts during the summer.

Wednesday we arrived at Goodman’s Truck and Tractor to have the motorhome’s engine serviced and have the ABS warning light diagnosed. The ABS warning was solved by replacing the sensor on the rear dual wheel on the passenger side of the coach. We also had a seal replaced on the front passenger side wheel along with having them look at some issues we were having with our fuel tank. All of this took the entire day which was mainly spent in their waiting room. Waiting around makes for a “very long day”. At 5:00 PM we paid the bill and headed to Appomattox, Virginia to spend the night in another campground, Parkview RV and Mobile Home Campground, that we have stayed at earlier this year. Again since we were only spending one night we did not unhook the Jeep and had a quiet night in the rig.

Our original plans were to drive along the eastern coastline stopping at Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. However due to the damage that has occurred with Hurricane Matthew we have changed our plans and will go through Tennessee and Alabama before ending up in Milton, Florida to see Jessie and Cindy Mayes at the end of October. We had not made any reservations so we did not have to make calls and cancel.

On Thursday we started out south towards Knoxville, Tennessee without having a place for the night. Connie made several phone before finding a spot at the Dumplin Valley RV Park east of Knoxville where we will be spending the next week.