D day minus 2

Why is it that the week before setting off is always so hectic? You always find something that has been overlooked. This time it was the annual travel insurance that expires on 10th November that we had forgotten to renew. Terry phoned the insurance company two minutes before they close for the weekend!!! But we managed to get it sorted for the insurance to carry on in November and we can breathe again!!!!
We have been steadily working through a long list of things to do to get ready and it has shortened quite considerably. Terry has been very busy investigating what we can do and see in Georgia and the Carolinas and booking all the relevant things for us.
This week we have been showing our daughter, Helen's friend,Kim, who lives in Colorado, round our local area. She is over for a three week holiday, so we have been trying to take her to all our beauty spots and historical places before we leave. We have been to Durham to see the Norman Cathedral and Castle, Whitby, which is a lovely old fishing port, a tour round some of the most pretty Yorkshire villages and various other local places. One includes a church with the most complete medieval wall paintings in the country.Very cool - Kim's remark! She and Helen went on the overnight coach to London last night and are having two days there to see the sights. They will be back before we leave on Sunday. They plan to go to York and Edinburgh soon.
We set off from home on Sunday to travel to Manchester where we will stay overnight in a motel, before getting to the airport at 7 am for the 10.30 a.m. flight on Monday.
Getting excited. Can't wait to have some warm weather as we have had a diabolical summer with only 20 days of warmth over 70. Camping has been such fun in the cold and rain!!!!
We are looking forward to renewing our friendships with some of the lovely folk we have met on our travels.
USA here we come gain!! Yippee!!

We're On The Road Again

USA here we come.
Sally and I are ready to embark on our fourth adventure to the USA.
We have been carefully watching world events over the summer. First the rise in gas prices, then the fall in the pound. The horror of watching not one (Fay), not two (Hannah) not three (Gustav)but four hurricanes (Ike) rip through or threaten the Florida area. Then most recently the turmoil in world finances. All these things have been very unsettling when you are more 5000 mile away from your retirement dream.
But next week we will find out how our little home on wheels is, will there be any mold, ants, cockroaches, wasp nests or leaks. Will the engine start on the van, will the gas have turned to jelly with the heat (yes, we did put additive in. Will our guitar and mandolin have survived the heat.
We are so grateful to Connie and Jim for storing it in their pole barn, which should have protected it from the worst of the summer weather.
In our preparation we have rejoined Passport America. Booked the rental car (managed to get a priority 'fastcheck' card for Budget, hope it works). Booked the hotel the night before we fly. Booked the car park, we have the car collected from the departure drop off. The only thing left to d now is to book a campground for our first night going north.

Home Again

On Monday we made the final arrangements for storing the trailer and truck, which we hope are going to be safe and secure over the hot and humid Florida summer. Dear Paula very kindly took us to Orlando Airport, where we duly boarded our plane, flew back to Manchester overnight, picked up our car and were sadly back home by about midday, with many happy memories and a big pile of washing.
Oh, and some plans in our heads for our next trip in the Fall.

Hope you have enjoyed being with us on our journey. This blog will return ........

The Party - Day 3 Sunday

Sunday morning in the States is chill out time. No less so at the Harpers Hide-a-Way Party. A great breakfast buffet had been assembled by a great team of cooks. By now the numbers at the party were assessed as 69 Units and about 250 people. Connie had organised to feed them all brunch. The menu was almost endless. Sausage, bacon,fruit, pancakes, muffins, biscuits, hash browns, juice, coffee and the amzing DIY Omelet, organised by Jim! How do you cook omelets for 250 people? Well Jim can. I will reveal the secret now. A big bowl of egg, smaller bowls of whatever you want in the omelet. Ziploc bags. Ladle the egg in, add your fillings, seal the bag, write your name on the bag. Hand it to Jim. He places the bags into a large water boiler. The omelet cooks in the bag. Voila, a perfect omelet. Jim your a genius.
After a very liesurely breakfast we all sat round in a circle for a Gospel Hour (or two), this was a lovely time of sharing and singing.
Lunch followed, well it was really a continuation of the breakfast buffet, and then the inevitable, it was time to say goodbyes as people packed up to leave.
What a wonderful weekend we have had. Connie and Jim are the most amazing hosts and all round wonderful people.

The Party - Day 2

Today was a time for everyone to sit around and talk, or get out instruments and play. Connie provided lunch and a large number of deserts. In the evening we had a 'Pot Luck Supper' where everyone brought a 'covered dish' to share, this was a great time for people to join together. Unexpectedly, Marilee had approached me at lunchtime and asked if I would play guitar for her band, which was performing at the evening concert!! The Saturday Evening Concert was when the proper bands got the chance to play for everyone. Now I was happier doing this than the Band Scramble, as I could stand on the back row, and wouldn't have to sing. I could probably fake the guitar playing bit and we had time to practice. So in the afternoon we had a bit of a practice. Marilee had assembled some really good musicians and we were called The Front Porch Pickers, as we were an offshoot from her band The Back Porch Pickers. Unfortunaely Marilee's idea was that I would sing with this band and even have a guitar break. I was intent on helping make this band sound as good as it could be, so having played around with Amazing Grace in practice, Marilee and I started our performance off with a slow harmony version of Amazing Grace. At the end of the first verse the mandolin and banjo came in over the top with a double time rendition and Fred's great voice really raising the tempo for the rest of the song. That went down really well. At the end of the song Marilee and I returned to the original tempo to really hang out a harmonious repeat of the last line. It sounded great and brought the house down (I kid you not, though the great banjo, mandolin and fiddle may have had a lot to do with it). We followed this with a great version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown - always a favourite with audiences. In all we played a set of 20 minutes. I really enjoyed it, as I felt compfortable in that setting with such good players around me. When we had finished we got many compliments many of which said we were as good as anything they had heard at Sertoma. I think that being in vited to play with the Front Porch Pickers was one of the highlights of our time in Florida this Spring. (I still keep thinking "We really did fool them this time").
The concert was a great success, helped in no small measure by Connie's Strawbery Shortcake at half time.
After the concert some of us again assembled on the porch to have a bit of a jam. Another great day at the party.

Friday - The party starts

Friday - Today the party starts. People rolled in all day, until by the evening there were about 50 units on Connie and Jim's fields. After a meal the first event started. This was to be a Band Scramble. Six pots have been put out. One for each instrument in a bluegrass band - Bass, gitar, mandolin, fiddle, dobro and banjo. Put you name into whichever pot you want. Names are drawn out - this makes the band line up. OFtn you have tie to practice, but not at Connie's. Its straight onto the stage and play together. This was a nerve racking experience. Terry was in a band with onother six people. The only problem was tahat none of us had much experience of bluegrass performance!!!!!! Still we did our best. Dorothy sang tall pines, Jim sang. I can't remember what I sang, it was a crazy blur, I think it was 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken'. Then we ran from the stage. People very kindly said they enjoyed it. I think they enjoyed seeing us squirm and suffer on the stage! On reflection the scramble was a great success as many other bands sounded really good. Following this we sat on Connie and Jim's porch and played into the night. That was fun.

The Day of the Party draws near

Today is Thursday and activity has hit manic proportions. There are a number of peopl who have turned up early to help. Some are preparing meals, others setting out the pole barn. We are working hard to clean the trailer and make it ready for storage. I didn't see Gandalf, so I figured that there would not be firewaorks at this party.

Monday: we reach the Peaceful Shore

Today dawned fine and clear and warm. So we packed up and drove south to Connie and Jim’s house, where we will spend our final week of this trip to Florida. It almost seemed like coming home just to drive up their driveway. We have been parked round the back of the pole barn and have electric, water and sewage.
We are preparing to pack up and come home. I have drawn up a Gant Chart of our preparations, so hopefully we will have time to enjoy ourselves as well as clean the Trailer and Van

Sunday: A wedding in the Spring, in the Spring

We should have got a quick getaway from Yellowjacket, it was the first time we had left the car hitched to the trailer also our first one night stop. However the clocks went forward last night, so we were an hour behind ourselves. We are now only four hours behind the U.K. We did have a web cam link to Andy, Marie and Ben, which was very nice. We moved on to Manatee Spring State Park, while we were waiting for our campsite to be made ready we went down to the spring to have our picnic lunch. There we found a group of 16 manatees and a wedding taking place, in the water of the spring. Lots of good allegory there, but quite chilly. My observation was that they bride and groom were up to their waists in water, but the groom was very soon going to be in it up to his neck. Still it was a very pretty site and gave a whole new meaning to ‘A Spring Wedding’.
While having our lunch we got talking to a couple from Bournemouth who had previously bought an RV in Canada and toured the States for a year. We had a pleasant conversation swapping tips and anecdotes.
Once on our site we relaxed in the sunshine, then in the evening we went back to the spring to watch the sun set, it was very beautiful and peaceful.

Saturday: Moving Faster

Our return home is now looming larger. There is almost a feeling that we are just sitting around waiting to go home. This is not true as there are still tings that we want and need to do. Today we are going to travel on to Yellowjacket Campground, near Old Town. We hope to meet up with the friends we made in November. The drive takes a couple of hours, on arrival we find that our friends left on the previous Wednesday, so that was a little disappointing. Still it gave us time to catch up on the washing. The weather is sunny, but cool as soon as you move into the shade. We notice that the Suwannee is about 4 feet above normal, which seems to be the only evidence left by the storm of Friday, which is now moving northward to Canada, causing snow in Atlanta and havoc in the North East States.