Am sitting at a Panera restaurant, posting this, as we got evacuated from the campground this afternoon. We've been staying at the Newport News campground all week and have really loved it. Ranger came around while I was up at the office doing laundry and said we needed to be out by 6:00 p.m. Luckily we had already hooked the truck up to the rig in case this same scenario would happen tomorrow while Linda is at work and I'd need to move on my own....just came a day early.
Within an hour we had everything loaded, tanks dumped and were headed down the road. We need to stick close by as Linda is supposed to work Saturday and Sunday at Busch Gardens (although a friend of mine called me and said that they will be closed tomorrow due to the storm).
We have parked in a plaza parking lot and will stay there tonight unless we get the dreaded knock on the door, from a security guard, in the middle of the night. If that happens we'll move over to the Wal-Mart nearby. That area was really busy when we arrived here earlier (couldn't be that "run out for the much needed milk and bread thing, could it ?"). The winds have intensified a bit with this storm and they are saying that winds will be 65 - 80 m.p.h. Glad our rig is really heavy !! Might be alot of rock and rolling going on tonight. So far it's only starting to rain and that comes in waves....
Just wanted to give folks an update since we've been without internet all week. We'll let you know what it was like to weather a tropical storm, in an RV, once I get access again. Till then we'll be playing lots of Skippo.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Packing up to go....
Today is Linda's last day in the office here at the campground. I will continue to clean the pool through the weekend but on Monday (Sept 1) we will be leaving. It took us about two days to figure out what our next month was going to consist of since there are so many variables to take care of (dr. appts, last days of work at Busch Garden, wedding in NJ,etc.) After sifting through all the dates, we came up with a departure date of Sept. 8...last day of work at campground of Sept. 7. Upon telling the mgmt here, they proceed to tell Linda that her last day will be Friday and if we stay past Sept 1 we will need to pay site rent. Back to the drawing board....
So, after scrambling to make arrangements at another campground, here's the plan:
* Leaving here Monday Sept 1 (once Linda gets out of work) and moving to campground in Newport News. Will be there till Sept. 8. WILL NOT have internet so this may be last update for a little while.
* Sept 8 will be checking into campground in Pomona, NJ for Linda's niece's wedding. Will stay until at least Monday, the 15th. May possibly stay till the 18th.
* Return to VA for doctor appts on Sept 19.
Will update more once we firm up our travel plans.
So, after scrambling to make arrangements at another campground, here's the plan:
* Leaving here Monday Sept 1 (once Linda gets out of work) and moving to campground in Newport News. Will be there till Sept. 8. WILL NOT have internet so this may be last update for a little while.
* Sept 8 will be checking into campground in Pomona, NJ for Linda's niece's wedding. Will stay until at least Monday, the 15th. May possibly stay till the 18th.
* Return to VA for doctor appts on Sept 19.
Will update more once we firm up our travel plans.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
National Conventions.......
History was made tonight with the nomination of an African American man for the highest office in the United States ! Linda and I watched the process on CNN and it was a very moving event and one that many people did not feel would come in our lifetime. When you think about how far we've come in the last 50 years....from the back of the bus to the possibility of an African American man serving in the Oval Office. Wow !!
Linda and I have watched the convention proceedings this year but typically I don't like to watch the conventions. Convention time is a reminder to me of a dark time in my life.
In June of 1972, my grandfather went to the hospital to have an operation for a hernia that he had lived with most of this life. He had put it off because he did not like hospitals and so he had suffered for many years with it. Finally he decided to have it taken care of. He had the surgery and was recovering from it but died when a blood clot dislodged and moved to his heart, killing him. I was 12 and can still remember the disbelief my grandmother, mother and I felt when we arrived at the hospital and were given the news.
My grandmother had a very hard time with his death and my mother told me that I needed to go and stay with my grandmother for the summer. My grandparents farm was close to my house.....just a few miles away. But it might as well have been hours away, as I felt very isolated there....staying day after day when I wanted to be home. My grandparents slept in separate twin beds within one big bedroom and I slept in my grandfather's bed each night. My grandmother would cry herself to sleep most nights; grief stricken by the loss of my grandfather. My grandparents were a team, loving spouses and a dynamic couple who worked hard on the farm. His sudden death was almost more than she could bear.
I remember enduring the 1972 conventions that long, hard summer. As a twelve year old, it wasn't my choice to watch the electoral process unfold. When you live in a rural area, as we did, you got very limited TV reception. Such was the case at my grandparents farm. They got one station and lo and behold, it was covering the conventions. How lucky for me.....I would spend evenings watching TV to pass the time, until I eventually had to go to bed. George McGovern and Richard Nixon....we know how that all turned out. I haven't been a fan of conventions since then.....until NOW.
I think the shadow has been lifted on my opinion of conventions. At least I have a sense of hope.....we'll see what happens over the course of the next 69 or so days. Will we emerge from the darkness that has overtaken our country or will we fall deeper into the shadows ? It's up to us to make that determination.
Linda and I have watched the convention proceedings this year but typically I don't like to watch the conventions. Convention time is a reminder to me of a dark time in my life.
In June of 1972, my grandfather went to the hospital to have an operation for a hernia that he had lived with most of this life. He had put it off because he did not like hospitals and so he had suffered for many years with it. Finally he decided to have it taken care of. He had the surgery and was recovering from it but died when a blood clot dislodged and moved to his heart, killing him. I was 12 and can still remember the disbelief my grandmother, mother and I felt when we arrived at the hospital and were given the news.
My grandmother had a very hard time with his death and my mother told me that I needed to go and stay with my grandmother for the summer. My grandparents farm was close to my house.....just a few miles away. But it might as well have been hours away, as I felt very isolated there....staying day after day when I wanted to be home. My grandparents slept in separate twin beds within one big bedroom and I slept in my grandfather's bed each night. My grandmother would cry herself to sleep most nights; grief stricken by the loss of my grandfather. My grandparents were a team, loving spouses and a dynamic couple who worked hard on the farm. His sudden death was almost more than she could bear.
I remember enduring the 1972 conventions that long, hard summer. As a twelve year old, it wasn't my choice to watch the electoral process unfold. When you live in a rural area, as we did, you got very limited TV reception. Such was the case at my grandparents farm. They got one station and lo and behold, it was covering the conventions. How lucky for me.....I would spend evenings watching TV to pass the time, until I eventually had to go to bed. George McGovern and Richard Nixon....we know how that all turned out. I haven't been a fan of conventions since then.....until NOW.
I think the shadow has been lifted on my opinion of conventions. At least I have a sense of hope.....we'll see what happens over the course of the next 69 or so days. Will we emerge from the darkness that has overtaken our country or will we fall deeper into the shadows ? It's up to us to make that determination.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
By the light of the silvery moon....
Last night I had a dose of insomnia. Woke at 12:47 with "busy brain", as Linda and I like to call it. Went out on the couch and laid there for an hour, tossing and turning and then went back to bed. After laying there for a few minutes...wide awake, with no sleepiness in sight, I decided that I might as well get up and go clean the pool. If I continued to lay there, tossing and turning...then finally fall asleep and the alarm goes off at 6:00, I'll be a zombie for my drive down to see Becky. So I got up, dressed, grabbed the pool key and off I went.
The campground looks a lot different at 2:15 a.m. then it does in the daylight. And the pool looks even weirder. There are a couple of lights on surrounding buildings and two underwater lights in the pool itself so there are lots of shadows that are cast.The sky was full of stars and there was a half moon; very pretty and comfortably cool.
The water was very clear and not dirty at all so it only took me an hour to finish up everything. No frogs to rescue from the skimmer baskets (or the pool itself)so nothing out of the ordinary to take extra time.
I like working when it's quiet...no distractions....no one looking over my shoulder. Just get in there and get the job done.As I pushed the long pole through the water, with the vacuum attached on the end, weird shadows were playing off the edge of the pool on my side and the opposite side of the pool. Kind of creepy !
When I finished, I locked the pool up and walked back to the rig. The exercise of cleaning the pool was just what I needed. I crawled into bed, curled up with my pillow and slept till 6 (when I heard Linda getting up for work), then resumed sleep till 8:30.
Getting ready to leave now to go visit my daughter, who has gone to Cape Charles with a friend for the weekend. It is supposed to take me about an hour, forty minutes to get there but I have to cross the Chesapeake bridge, which I'm not looking forward to. 17 miles of bridge over open water !! Eeekkk !!!! One of the very few things I really have a fear of. But with the thoughts of seeing my daughter on the other side....I can do this !
Friday, August 8, 2008
Relaxing Morning
What a perfect morning ! Temp is in the 70's....nice breeze blowing...it's not quite 8:30 and no one is moving around much in the campground. All you hear are the birds chirping and the faint sounds of morning rush hour starting on nearby I-64. The dogs are chillin' outside with me (see Boomer there on the patio). Schroeder is laying next to me at the back of the patio. They are taking in all the sounds and smells of being outdoors. I don't go in till noon today which is a shift I don't think I've ever had before. Still needed to get up at 6 to clean the pool but now I have time to relax and enjoy the morning. Just wanted to share the view with you all....
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Williamsburg
On Saturday, once Linda finished her shift at Water Country, we decided to walk around Colonial Williamsburg. We haven't had the time yet to visit there but when my kids were down here we drove around it a bit so was anxious to check it out. Here are some pics of our visit. More pics under the link to the right....
I found this one interesting since we're now full-time travelers. Back then, we would have been looking at the same scenery for a really long time at this rate of travel.
See....T.Boone Pickens isn't that far off base....Had windmills back in Colonial days....
And we think that today's "Buy Local" campaigns are big news.....
Lots of formal gardens, complete with beautiful old arbors...alleyways...tucked away areas to explore...
And no day is complete without barnyard animals just lazing in the hot, summer sun...
I found this one interesting since we're now full-time travelers. Back then, we would have been looking at the same scenery for a really long time at this rate of travel.
See....T.Boone Pickens isn't that far off base....Had windmills back in Colonial days....
And we think that today's "Buy Local" campaigns are big news.....
Lots of formal gardens, complete with beautiful old arbors...alleyways...tucked away areas to explore...
And no day is complete without barnyard animals just lazing in the hot, summer sun...
Friday, July 25, 2008
What's your "ability"?
It was really great to see all of my colleagues at Penn College when I visited on Wednesday. Since joining the management staff in the culinary dept at Busch Gardens, it has become very apparent that, at least in the area where I work, that we have a lot of problems with our employees. Tardiness, call offs, disappearing during their shift, texting on their cell phones, failure to clean up properly at the end of the night and leaving early are things that I've had to deal with. Boils down to reli-"ability"...account-"ability", respons "ability" and depend-"ability". Webster's dictionary says the definition of "ability" is - competence in doing. Clearly there is a lack in competence for these young people and it is rather disheartening and frustrating to deal with. Disciplinary write-ups don't have any affect on them. I haven't found anything that motivates them. There is a large margin allowed for tardiness in our area. When someone is scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. start time, to me, that doesn't mean arriving at 11:30. When I ask my supervisors around 10:30 if the person scheduled for 10 has called off, they say it's too early."Might have been traffic" is the response.....What happened to leaving home a few minutes early to account for traffic ? Linda's area doesn't abide by the same rules that my dept does nor does another dept within culinary. Seems that I picked the country where they don't hold people accountable and allow such behavior. And it's not all of the young 'uns that do this. There are several employees that are 16 and 18 in age that are great to work with. I can count on them to be there when scheduled and they do their work. The "problem" employees are all college age. I've come to realize that this is the age where "everything is negotiable". I encountered this a lot during my 18 years at the college. It became more pervasive in the last 8 years or so. They don't take "no" for an answer....there has to be some way that they can negotiate things to get their way. In a customer service oriented business like food service, people with this mentality work this for all its worth.When I was a kid, sometimes the answer from my mom was "because I said so" and that was good enough for me. I didn't challenge her....didn't negotiate for a better answer. I knew that the "board of education" awaited me if I pushed my luck or I'd be told to "go sit in THE chair" until I was told to move. Good enough for me....not today, folks.
The more I work at other food businesses, the prouder I am of what we created at Penn College in the Food Service dept. Penn College has a team of competent, trustworthy, customer service oriented individuals who provide an awesome service to their customers. The other thing that has been amazing to me is how a large organization such as BG is so lacking in training for their employees. No staff meetings, no orientation for new hires, nothing to put a new employee into that oh so important "comfort zone" of what the job entails, where do you report to work, how do you resolve problems or questions, etc. Another area that makes me proud to have been part of the Penn College team.....an extensive training program to guide new employees through the early phases of starting a new job. When I saw the faces of my former colleagues, on Wednesday, it made me very proud. I know there are days when they get discouraged if they have a lot of absences and they are short handed but believe me, you have it much better than other places. The food service employees, at Penn College, have a lot of heart and are a very talented group of individuals. Although it felt really strange to go back there, after having been gone for 8 months, it was really good to see everyone and say hello. It made me very proud of what we created and what they are continuing. Their success rests in their "ability" to provide outstanding service to their customers. Competence in doing......
The more I work at other food businesses, the prouder I am of what we created at Penn College in the Food Service dept. Penn College has a team of competent, trustworthy, customer service oriented individuals who provide an awesome service to their customers. The other thing that has been amazing to me is how a large organization such as BG is so lacking in training for their employees. No staff meetings, no orientation for new hires, nothing to put a new employee into that oh so important "comfort zone" of what the job entails, where do you report to work, how do you resolve problems or questions, etc. Another area that makes me proud to have been part of the Penn College team.....an extensive training program to guide new employees through the early phases of starting a new job. When I saw the faces of my former colleagues, on Wednesday, it made me very proud. I know there are days when they get discouraged if they have a lot of absences and they are short handed but believe me, you have it much better than other places. The food service employees, at Penn College, have a lot of heart and are a very talented group of individuals. Although it felt really strange to go back there, after having been gone for 8 months, it was really good to see everyone and say hello. It made me very proud of what we created and what they are continuing. Their success rests in their "ability" to provide outstanding service to their customers. Competence in doing......
Quick Trip
Linda had a drastic change made to her work schedule here at the campground that has cut her hours from 32 down to 10. When this played out last week, it became apparent that she and I would have Tuesday and Wednesday off this week so we started to figure out what we'd do with two whole days off. This hasn't happened in many months so we wanted to make the best use of our time.
We decided to visit both of our families so we left Monday night after work and went as far as Linda's brother's house in Vienna, VA. We had a nice time there...spent the evening and had breakfast there before heading out for Chambersburg, PA....where Linda spent her childhood and where some of her relatives still live. We arrived at noon and had lunch with her brother,sister and niece. A short visit but a nice one ! We got back on the road and headed for my mom's house, in Mansfield, PA. Last weekend, after deciding that we'd go visit family I had called my sister and brother to see if they could get together with us, at my mom's house. My mom's birthday is tomorrow....she'll be 83 so it was good timing for our trip north. We wanted it to be a surprise for my mom, as she'd never suspect us coming to see her. It had been arranged that they would arrive at mom's house around 5:30 and then we'd get there between 5:30 and 6:00. Our timing worked out well, as we arrived about 5:45. She was surprised, to say the least ! We stayed at mom's house Tuesday night and had breakfast with her the next morning before hitting the road again. We went to Williamsport and Linda visited with her son, daughter in law and grandkids while I visited with folks at Penn College, where I worked for 18 years. It was great to see everyone and chat for a bit.
Upon leaving Williamsport, for the trip home, we ran into rain and in some areas it was pretty heavy. Down through the Washington, DC area it was raining really hard and we had to slow way down, put on the four way flashers and take our time. Once we got past D.C. we ran out of the rain, the sun came out and the rest of the trip went smoothly. We arrived home, safe and sound around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday night after two days of visiting with family. We wanted to get this trip in as we probably won't get home again until Christmas, due to our next job taking us to Kansas from October through Christmas. Quality time spent with all during our quick trip.
We decided to visit both of our families so we left Monday night after work and went as far as Linda's brother's house in Vienna, VA. We had a nice time there...spent the evening and had breakfast there before heading out for Chambersburg, PA....where Linda spent her childhood and where some of her relatives still live. We arrived at noon and had lunch with her brother,sister and niece. A short visit but a nice one ! We got back on the road and headed for my mom's house, in Mansfield, PA. Last weekend, after deciding that we'd go visit family I had called my sister and brother to see if they could get together with us, at my mom's house. My mom's birthday is tomorrow....she'll be 83 so it was good timing for our trip north. We wanted it to be a surprise for my mom, as she'd never suspect us coming to see her. It had been arranged that they would arrive at mom's house around 5:30 and then we'd get there between 5:30 and 6:00. Our timing worked out well, as we arrived about 5:45. She was surprised, to say the least ! We stayed at mom's house Tuesday night and had breakfast with her the next morning before hitting the road again. We went to Williamsport and Linda visited with her son, daughter in law and grandkids while I visited with folks at Penn College, where I worked for 18 years. It was great to see everyone and chat for a bit.
Upon leaving Williamsport, for the trip home, we ran into rain and in some areas it was pretty heavy. Down through the Washington, DC area it was raining really hard and we had to slow way down, put on the four way flashers and take our time. Once we got past D.C. we ran out of the rain, the sun came out and the rest of the trip went smoothly. We arrived home, safe and sound around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday night after two days of visiting with family. We wanted to get this trip in as we probably won't get home again until Christmas, due to our next job taking us to Kansas from October through Christmas. Quality time spent with all during our quick trip.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Good Times...
Becky and Jay (my kids) came down for the weekend and we went to Busch Gardens on Friday. We took in some of the historical sites and went to the beach at Yorktown. Was fun to hang out with them for a few days. They headed back home on Monday morning. Today (Tuesday), we're getting some wicked thunderstorms. Boomer and Schroeder aren't likin' them at all. Warning out till 9 p.m. tonight...should be an interesting night.
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