Evacuating Connecticut, Sandy is on the Way and She’s Not Nice

We left ‘Camp Knowles’ on 10/23/2012, Storm Sandy was South of Cuba and she had our casual attention.  Anne-Marie had a 10:00 doc’s appointment, her meds were adjusted and we were given to clearance to take off.  We were hooked up and left Suffield at noon.  Conventional wisdom is that you should not tow across the George Washington Bridge in NY.  We did and never dropped below 40mph right up to the bridge where we had about a 10 minute hold up due to construction.  This was at 2:00pm, youo are advised not to try is during commuting hours as it would take 3 hours.

Can anyone help me justify Connecticut’s fuel price being $.75 higher than New Jersey’s?  And New Jersey pumps it for you.  BTW, I am writing from Georgia where we just paid $3.77 for motion lotion!

It’s sad to think of the effect on New England’s up coming heating oil prices.  This when the inventory level is at and all time high!

 

 

 

At about 6:00pm we stopped at the Casino in Dover Delaware.  Many casinos supply free parking inside secured areas for their high rolling cliental.  After minimal set-up {slide the walls, aim satellite and turn on the inverter we went in.  Anne-Marie squandered $5 when she couldn’t figure out how to retrieve her winnings on a nickel machine.  I had better luck, my $3 got me a wonderful cold Sam Adams from a serving wench with all the right assets.  So, $8 to stay the evening!

 

Next stop is Virginia Beach State Park which was built by ‘African American’ corps of the CCC in the 20’s.  Great care is used to protect the fragile ecosystem.  This walkway was access to beach, about 200 feet from our site.  The 200 site are in the trees, great in the summer, not satellite TV happy.

 

After 3 days, it is time to move on as there is weather coming up the coast.  We will move to Dillion SC home of South of the Border.  It is about 100 miles inland which should keep us safe.

National Camping Travelers {NCT} Annual Turkey Roast at Mineral Spring Campground

 

We have been members of NCT for about 25 years.  It is a Family camping club which requires that there be a Masonic Affiliation to join.  Connecticut’s Chapter is one of the founding chapters.  They have been doing a turkey roast at Mineral Springs for as long as I can remember.  This year we served about 75 dinners, in years past we jammed the dining room with 125 folks.

Last year we were driven off the property by the infamous Ice Storm of 2011.  All made it home safely but there was great concern.  Friday this year we were meet with a deluge of rain.  As you can see in the photo, Saturday was sunny and pleasant.  The group shown is gathered around the grill where we cook the turkeys all day.

Every 15 minutes our dedicated staff of volunteers rotate the turkeys to see that they are evenly roasted.  Clock Wise or Counter Clock Wise you ask?  It is a closely held Masonic Secret.  While this is transpiring, other folks are busy peeling spuds and veggies.  A huge quantity of deserts also start to appear.

At the appointed hour, our leader gathers a group of carvers in the kitchen in an attempt to carve the birds.  This is not easy as they have not only been roasting for about 8 hours, they have been rolled over 4 times an hour.  The meat does fall off the bones!  Photos are not available as there may be young children viewing this, it is not a pretty operation!

 

After an appropriate blessing, the starving masses are called forward for the feast.  There is plenty for all and leftovers will be shared or go into tomorrows farewell ‘MustGo’ soup pot at the campfire.

We were very please to have R.W. Brother Donald Dean and his wife Christiana as our guests for dinner.  Don is the grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut and as such has a very busy schedule.  He stands on the right below after being presented a check for $525 to go to MasoniCare’s Quality of Life program. Don is on the right, standing very close to the desert table!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 10:00 on Sunday Morning we have a non denominational church service we give thanks for our bounty and remember those who cannot be with us due to distance or distress.

The finally is saved for noon time on Sunday when we have our famous and well known ‘MustGo’ Turkey soup.  This culinary delight was formulated by the late Brother Walt Polwaka about 25 years ago.  The recipe started out as Turkey soup cooked over the campfire with the previous days leftovers.  Realizing that this was the last campout for most of us , Walt declared that the ladies empty their kitchen and that all of their suplus canned veggies, pasta, beans, etc MustGo into the soup/stew.  Cold weather drove us inside, several folks eat in small groups at their rig.

Dignitaries present were:

Flat Monty, a likeness of the GWP from our friends in Pennsylvania.

Master of Travel, Bill Geer.  The Geer’s own a Cedar Creek which makes them F.R.O.G.s {Forest River Owners Group}.  He is shown holding our Frog.

Happy Birthday Kelly, Wayne and Cortland

On October 18th, Grace hosted a wonderful 75th Birthday party at Joey Garlics.

75 Years?  Yes, Wayne is 50 and Cortland is 25.  Does that add up to you?  Kelly also had a Birthday but refused to disclose what her adder would be to the total.  They almost had to evacuate the restaurant when we sang the Arnold version of Happy Birthday.  You see, we take great pride in our ability to sing off tune to that song!

This was a great affair, about 16 folks enjoyed HUGE amounts of Italian delicacies.  The crowd favorite is French Fried Eggplant sticks.  A meatball grinder here would easily feed a family of four.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hosted a Sunday Dinner at the Lodge in Windsor {Thanks Guys}, it was a great success.  Anne-Marie did her world famous Pot Roast with all the side dishes.  The ladies brought deserts and I supplied to Oktoberfest adult beverage.  No one was available to take photos while we were eating, this is to protect the innocent.

A seasonal cold snap into the high 20 required me to rig up for cold, this involves using tank heaters to prevent freezing and setting up our gas space heater which works fine and requires no electricity.

We also posted our ballots for the upcoming election.

Minor Medical issues will keep us here until 10/24.  When we have closure on them, we will continue south to Daytona.

Connecticut Fall Visit 2012

We left Reading, PA on 10/7/2012 for a whirlwind tour of Family and Friends in Connecticut.  We need to catch up with medical appointments, financial consulting, Fraternal visits and vehicle preventive maintenance.

Harry Chapin taught us in song: 

Old friends, they mean much more to me than the new friends,
Cause they can see where you are,
and they know where you've been.

Our ‘Old Friends’, Rick & Connie Knowles again hosted our traveling road show into their back yard.  Their hospitality allowed us a huge conveniance as campgrounds in this are are pretty much shut down at this time of the year.

I visited my 2 Masonic Lodges, Washington #70 and Hartford Evergreen #88.  I was pleased to be with the Brothers.  Both Lodges are busy  planning for state wide open houses and officer elections in December.

We also attended a meeting of Temple Chapter #53, Order of The Eastern Star.  A great time with this group that we have been members of for 25+ years.

 

This diner is typical to the one that sold $.59 breakfast to me ‘Back in the Day’.  If I was down on cash, I could also get Breakfast at W.T. Grants for $.39!

On the other hand, this is a cross section of a grinder commonly available in this area.  When I was in High School, I would eat a whole one at 3:00pm after school.  Cost?  $.50 for a half and $.90 for a whole.  Add a 10 cent Coke and I had a good after school snack!  Mom put dinner on at 6:00.

I now buy a half and split it with Anne-Marie, feeling guilty…

 

Our new furniture finally caught up to us!  We bought it in Elkhart only to find out that the Amish workshop was not able to meet our delivery.  The folks at RV Nation stepped to the plate and absorbed the cost of shipping the sofa to Connecticut.   My friends at UltraCast  received the shipment of our sofa over their dock.  Than, several of the younger {And much stronger} fellows helped uncrate and moved it into our unit.

 

 

 

 

Oktoberfest and Chevy 409’s

 

We spent 4 days in Reading, PA visiting friends. The most productive thing I did was to install the new stained glass insert on our door.  This pleased Anne-Marie which naturally resulted in my food trough being full on all accounts.

I also swapped the faucet set out in the vanity for a good quality unit.  It is amazing the poor quality of the fittings and accessories used in these units.

We made a stop at the Reading Liederkrantz to enjoy the great German food and cold adult beverages, about 20 different taps!  This is all accompanied with Folk Dancing, Arts and Crafts and general warm hospitality every year.  A great event that we look forward to.

The main draw into this area for me more than 25 years ago was our friend Ron Shurkas who told me about the wonderful Fuel Drag Racing event held at Maple Grove at this time of the year.  Ron went to his reward a few years ago, his memory is with us yet as a travel here about 22 of the last 25 events.  As usual, this was a record setting event due to the cool weather and excellent atmospheric conditions. 

Lendary Stock car tuner Bill ‘Grumpy’ Jenkins passed away this year, he was a native of this area.  He gained fame and fortune tuning and racing primarily Chevrolet racing cars on the NHRA tours.  Several of his cars were on display, my favorites being the mid-60’s Chevy 409’s.

We now will push on to Suffield, Connecticut to visit friends and family.

Gettysburg 2012 4 Days of Rain

 

September went out with a torrent of rain here.  We were lucky to have one beautiful day to tour the Battlefield.  We were staying in one of the Coast to Coast resorts which was a great stop given the poor weather.

Look who Anne-Marie bumped into on the way to dinner.

 

 

Abe wasn’t a Freemason, perhaps he was going to an O.E.S. Dinner!

We are on to Reading, PA where we will attend Maple Grove Fuel Meet and Liederkrantz’s Oktoberfest.