RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, July 9, 2023

This is a longer than usual post. We have combined the last three days in this post so we will now be current.

2023 Summer Road Trip – Day 3, History Day

Today began with a great breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  We cracker-docked last night for a good reason.  Antietam National Battlefield is just a short distance down the road and that’s where we start our road trip this morning. But first, since Maryland is a new state for us, we stopped to find a couple of geocaches along the way.  Then it was on to the national battlefield.  Visiting battlefields always leave us with so many mixed emotions.  Antietam and Gettysburg (which we visited later in the day) were both very important battles of the Civil War.  We visited the visitors center, got our passport stamped, attended a ranger presentation that gave us the details of the day of the Antietam battle, hour by hour and then did a driving tour of the park.  We did the same at Gettysburg, minus the ranger presentation.  At the battle of Antietam after just twelve hours of intense fighting 23,000 men had been killed, wounded or listed as missing.  It was the single bloodiest day in the history of the United States.  Wow.  23,000 men lost in 12 hours, on our own soil.  Our own people fighting each other.  Also remember that before that battle began, there were just ordinary people, living their ordinary lives, raising their families and livestock and crops, leading peaceful lives on that land turned battlefield. After the battle they had to return, rebuild/repair their homes and barns and replant crops. Some of those same families still own and farm the land around the battlefield.  At our visit today, the entire area of the battle was so beautiful and peaceful much like it must have been a few days before the battle yet 23,000 men never made it back home.  Lord, please help us avoid making the same mistakes again. Please heal our country.

After our Antietam visit, we headed a little further north to Gettysburg, PA. (New state #2)  After pretty much the same schedule and feelings at Gettysburg National Military Park as at Antietam, we drove on to Charlise, PA. where we stayed in our first RV park of this trip.  We got a good night’s rest, dumped and filled and excitedly prepared our plans for the coming day.

2023 Summer Road Trip – Day 4 – Friends

We had been looking forward to today because we were meeting a dear friend for breakfast.  This visit was the primary reason we took the route we did instead of a more direct route up to Maine, and the Canadian Maritimes.  Today we met Janet for breakfast at a delightful local eatery, Sunrise Café Sandwich Shop.  The owner/chef greeted us as we entered and then started preparing our orders.  A delightful lady who really knows how to cook.

We had not seen Janet since before covid and before her wonderful husband, Harry, died of pancreatic cancer.  It was a bittersweet visit with Janet.  Memories shared and a few tears were shed.  After breakfast Janet invited us to her house – a beautiful place out in the country.  So many memories there too.  Janet shared some pictures of Harry and the family.  We especially enjoyed the ones of Harry and the family sailing.  Harry and Janet had shared stories of their sailing with us on one of our projects together.   She also showed us Harry’s antique Model A and panel truck that he had told us all about while working on NOMADS projects.  He was so proud of those vehicles.  Soon it was time for us to leave, but it was hard to do.  Before we left we gave Janet a banner, featuring Harry’s picture, that was used at last year’s NOMADS annual meeting.  Janet we love you and we will see you again.

We left Carlise enroute to Perkasie, PA to visit with some other friends.  We had planned to spend the night at a Harvest Host alpaca farm. However, our friends Phil and Mary invited us to dinner and driveway surf at their home in Perkasie.  We stopped by the farm for a tour and a few purchases, informed the hosts what had happened and moved on.  Phil and Mary are such wonderful hosts and great friends.  We picked up like we had just seen them yesterday rather than several months ago on a project in Florida. They just arrived back, Tuesday, from a trip to Nova Scotia, so they shared lots of valuable information with us. We went on a walking tour of their lovely community and later they served us a wonderful dinner and most importantly we just continued to enjoy our time together.  Too soon, it was time to say good night.

2023 Summer Road Trip – Day 5 (Sunday 7/9/2023)– Travel

This gray Sunday morning, we awoke to some heavy clouds and predictions of rain for most of the day and night.  It was time to say goodbye to our dear friends Phil and Mary so they could go to mass and we could get on the road.  We are so thankful to have had the opportunity of a quick visit.  Thank you so much, Phil and Mary.  Hopefully it will not be very long before we meet again.

We left Perkasie enroute to a Boondockers Welcome site in Bainbridge, NY.  New York is our third new state to RV in (and geocache in) on this trip.  We made a quick stop for gas and goodies at a WaWa station and were on our way.  Thankfully, even though we did not entirely escape the rain, our drive was uneventful.  We arrived at our host’s site about 1:30, pulled into the parking area and were set up in about 5 minutes. Love our little BB.  Then the rain started and hasn’t stopped.  It’s mostly light rain with spurts of heavier. It’s all good though.  The crops need the rain and we planned a short day so we would get caught up on some of our work.  It’s very quiet here and with the light rain we should get a good night of sleep and tomorrow will be another travel day.

Friday, July 7, 2023

After a great night of sleep at the farm, we headed back to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We spent very little time on the BRP that day because of the areas of road closures.  So, at one of the closures, rather than turning back onto the parkway, we decided to head over the mountains to visit Mount Airy, NC. (We really love the freedom to be spontaneous that the little RV give us.)  Another gorgeous drive!  We had wonderful sunshine but again while in the mountains the temperature was delightful.  In addition to some similar scenery to day 1, we also saw acres upon acres of Christmas tree farms.  Don’t know where they ship those NC trees but would love to have one. There was also a lot of nice looking corn fields up on those mountain sides.

Soon, we were driving into the little town of Mt Airy, or to us Andy Griffith fans, Mayberry, NC.  And yes, we still watch the old shows even though we know most of the lines.  As usual, our first stop was the visitor center where we were given all the options of seeing the town in a police car, trolly or on foot.  You all know we chose to walk.  Got to get our steps. Equipped with maps, pamphlets and lots of suggestions from the docent, we set out walking the little town.  You can get all things Andy Griffith in Mt Airy.  There are all the usual gift shops, or you can visit the diner, the courthouse, the barber shop, the gas station, Andy’s home place, etc.  We thought the large mural of Andy was quite good.  There were other murals all over town.  We spent a couple of hours walking around town and then decided it was time to head on north.  Mt Airy is not up in the mountains and it was HOT. We want to find some lower temperatures.

Shortly after pulling out of Mt Airy, we crossed the state line into Virginia.  It’s a little more north but not much.  We have spent some time in Virginia on other trips so this time we decided to just keep driving.  Before we stopped for the night at a Cracker Barrel, we had cross into Maryland – our first new state on the 2023 Road Trip.  We are hoping to get many more this summer.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

It’s been a busy week.  We spent last weekend and the first part of the week helping Jen, David and the littles move into their beautiful new-to-them home.  They didn’t move very far so that made things easier and Randy and Debra will still get to see the littles often.  Moving is always hard work but it’s a lot more fun when you are spending time with family.  We pray for many happy years in their new home.

After getting the last few items moved Tuesday, we completed our packing of Beyond Blessed (BB) our 22 foot Coachman Beyond van. Wednesday morning we pulled out of Johnston, SC to begin our Summer 2023 Road Trip.  We plan to visit several east coast and New England states as well as the Canadian Maritimes.  We don’t have many definite plans or reservations because we can be very flexible in BB.  We hope to take a lot of back roads and explore areas we have never visited.

For starters, we headed north on the Blue Ridge Parkway beginning in Ashville, NC at the 388.3 mile post.   We have done the section from Ashville to Smokey Mtn NP previously. First stop was at the Visitor’s Center where we got an update on the sections of the parkway closed due to construction, stamped our passport and picked up the current maps, etc.  The rest of the day we spent enjoying the beautiful and peaceful drive.  The spring foliage is still pretty with lots of flowers still blooming, especially at the higher elevations.  Occasional beautiful vistas mixed in with fog and rain – and it was so much cooler!  Morning temps in Johnston were already in the 80’s and on the parkway we were at 64.  We drove to the first road closure which was at about the 280 mile post.

About 7 miles off the parkway from the closure, we parked at the Land of Milk and Honey Farm, a Harvest Host site. The farm was so much fun.  They have cows, sheep, chickens, quail, ducks, alpaca, fish ponds, pigs, and probably other animals we have forgotten.  Made us remember our years growing up on a farm.  With the cooler temperatures we were able to sleep with the windows open and listen to the creek and animals.  We slept so well.  The Harvest Host store had lots of choices but since this was day one of our trip, our pantry and refrigerator were pretty full.  We purchased some home-made caramels, homemade marshmallows, granola, and Amish made ice cream – all very good.  They also had beef, pork, eggs, honey, and more.  Great HH overnight stay.  Hope you will travel with us for the next few months.  Enjoy the pics.

Wednesday, June 29, 2023

Wow, time flies.  It’s been over a month since we last wrote a blog entry and a lot has happened.  Thankfully all good!  When we last posted, we were on our last day of our REGI 2023 project.  We left Antigo on Saturday morning early and had an uneventful but long drive back to Camp Sumatanga arriving before dark on Sunday.  We actually returned to Sumatanga so that we could meet our dear friend Melody for dinner Monday evening.  Melody was in Birmingham doing some research at the Women’s Missionary Union library and we are so glad our paths finally crossed again.  So very good to meet up with old friends.  We have been trying to go to Nova Scotia to see Melody since before Covid closed the border but more about that in our next blog post.  Promise it will be soon. After spending as long as we could with Melody on Monday evening, we headed back to South Carolina on Tuesday.   Over the next two weeks, we visited with Randy and Debra, rested some, and made some modifications to our Beyond Blessed (BB) class B motor home.  Yes, we still love it but just haven’t made any trips in it lately.

On June 12, we headed out, again in Fred.  We made a side trip back to The Ridge Outdoor Resort in Sevierville, TN.  We won a $250 gift certificate from them on our last visit there for the TN Switch It Up Huddle. We spent 3 nights at the Ridge enjoying Cades Cove, Roaring Fork Nature Trail and a visit to the Bush’s Bean factory

After that we drove on to Bremen, KY where we spent a week helping to rebuild the Bethlehem Baptist Church’s sanctuary.  The church was destroyed by the December 2021 tornadoes that wiped out a wide swath across several states.  Some of you may recall that we worked at this same church last year but worked on building them a family life center.  We were excited to see that building completed this year.  Wow, it looked better than we could have dreamed since we only saw it roughed in.  The kitchen is one of the prettiest church kitchens we have seen.  We were blessed with below normal temperatures for the week we worked and we got the project off to a good start.  We will look forward to seeing pictures of the finished project.  It sure was great seeing friends we only see once a year.

As usual for Constructors for Christ projects the team members take the time to write scripture verses and words of encouragement on the framing – knowing it will be covered over when the building is finished.

We finished working at noon on Friday and that afternoon visited Christian Way Farm and Mini Golf with Randy and Debra.  It was a relaxing afternoon playing mini golf and visiting. We are now back in South Carolina, transitioning from Fred back to BB.  We will spend the next couple of days helping our nephew and his wife move into a new house and then we will be on the road again.  Until then … stay safe, hug your family, and thank God for all his blessings.