Author: Bill and Barb ... where to next

We arrived in Maine Saturday.  Had a great weekend (which actually began Friday evening).  We went out to meet my cousin for dinner and, upon arriving at the restaurant, was surprised by seeing my oldest son Ray from NC and his wife Pam sitting there.  He was in route to Maine for the weekend.

Saturday, we went out to dinner with them, Pams parents, my grandson and his fiancee and great granddaughter.

Sunday we went out to dinner with my youngest son Ben and his wife Heather and three granddaughters Serenity Grace, Athena Freedom and Olivia Patience.

We are at our summer destination finally.  Looking forward to visiting many family and friends.

Had a great Mother’s Day and hope you all did as well.

Enjoy your summer friends and thanks for following along with us.

We arrived in Connecticut April 28th and have been busy visiting family & friends.  We parked our RV in my cousin Patty & Dave’s yard.  We were welcomed with our own private pool, a picnic table & flowers!

Thanks for everything you’very done to make our stay comfortable and rewarding!

We went to the annual Meriden Daffodil Festival with my sister Jan and brother-in-law Greg.  We also went to the Gouveia Vineyards with them as well.

Bill’s sister had her 80th birthday brunch while we were here …

We spent some time with Bill’s sons, Jr & Kevin and families. . .

We visited a couple of Bill’s favorite childhood hotdog stands …

Frankie’s & Blackie’s …

We were also able to get together with our long-time camping buddies, Pete & Diana.  Great seeing you both!!!  We wish you luck in your future plans!!

Of course one of the highlights of our visit was seeing “Bruno” everyday.  Sure am going to miss you buddy.

So, again we hit the road tomorrow and head further north to Maine.  Looking forward to seeing family & friends there as well.

Thanks Connecticut!   It’s been fun …

 

We have enjoyed our stay in PA.  We never get tired of visiting this area and spending time with our friends Tracey & Fran.  Thanks for a great week!

It’s mowing and plowing time.  Alot of manure-scented air abounds!

Saw lots of different animals … camels? Really?

Quilts and candles everywhere . . .

Visited Lap Family Farm for freshly made ice cream.

Went to Funck’s for dinner.  They have 115 beers on tap!  The steak was awsome!

Saw Jonah at Sight and Sound Theater.  What a great production! Thanks Tracey!

Of course the highlight for me to visit are the MANY cows! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

We love you Fran . . . ♡

 

Short trip to Pennsylvania today…. nice trip with no issues again.  We even started the day with a ‘breakfast of champions’ … McD’s!

It was mostly overcast & foggy today and the temps kept dropping.  Brrrrr.  Going to wake up to low 40’s in the morning!!!!

Loving seeing Spring blooming in the north.  Been many years since we’ve experienced this.

We disconnected the car from the RV only to discover the battery was dead.  This device started us in minutes!  Thanks Bob Lewis for showing us this!

We are staying in Intercourse, PA for a week to visit dear friends Tracey & Fran.

(No! We’re not really going to school here!)  Looking forward to good friendship, amish, farms & COWS!

 

Today was our longest stretch … 7 hours … yet the most relaxing trip so far.  Very little road construction or congestion.

Getting through Richmond was “busy” to say the least, but no issues.

I really enjoyed seeing the dogwood and redbud trees in bloom as well as yellow flowers alongside the highway.  I loved seeing the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance and, the fresh smell of cut grass when we stopped for lunch at a rest area.

So we are in Winchester for the night and in no rush to leave in the morning as our next stretch is only 3 hours to PA.  Bill is doing well with his side-seat driver … jumping at every brake light I see 2 miles ahead … reminding him of the speed limit at every change … yelling when too close to the edge of the road … yup! I’m lucky he hasn’t dropped me off along the way in this trip!

Love you babe ♡

We made the 2nd leg of our trip north to Wade, NC today.

Waking up to the sun shining through our shade was a gentle reminder of the south.  And seeing this sign along I-95 was another reminder. . .

So we entered South Carolina …

… and then

             ROAD CONSTRUCTION !!!

Ugh!!!  Sure does destroy a nice drive.

So, we pull off to get some gas and to clean the bugs off the windshield for a change of scenery.

What else do we do to distract us from traffic???  We sing!

We pass South of the Border ….

… and finally make it into North Carolina!

We are actually having a good trip so far.  We like to complain about traffic, trucks and construction; but, we do enjoy each other’s company and do a little “RV karaoke” along the way.   Tomorrow’s destination … Winchester, VA.

Blessings come in many ways …

Well, it’s been a good winter in Palmetto, FL.  It’s always hard to part from the many friends we have as snowbirds; however, we are looking forward to reuniting with family and friends in the northern states for the summer.

Despite protestors blocking us, we managed to get on the road with some fond hugs & kisses.

So far we have only transported one lizard (hiding under our license plate).  He now lives at a Flying J in Dade, FL.

This fellow wanted to hop along but we told him no and that he needed to repopulate the Park.

Destination tomorrow is in Wade, NC for one night.  As Bill says . . .

 

 

We left Malabar and the east coast of Florida earlier than expected due to Hurricane Matthew bearing down upon us.  We cut our journey short and returned back to our point of departure and completed our journey.

Our journey took us 5,510 miles in 148 days.  We drove through 18 states as well as Canada as planned.  It was a trip of a lifetime and we have so many memories of the places we visited and the folks we met along the way!

Some of our favorite memories …

• Disney

• North Carolina (seeing son Ray & Pam, All Star Race, Coldstone Creamery, Ride of Pride on the Harley, Bill’s cracked head)

• Virginia Seeing Aunt Helen (95 years young)

• Connecticut (seeing son Jr, Mary & grandson Chris; seeing son Kevin; seeing sister Jan & Greg; seeing friends Dave, Patty, Pete & Diana; seeing Bills family Mary, Cathy, Bill & Kim; camping at Hammonasset)

• Pennsylvania (seeing friends Tracey & Fran; being among the Amish)

• Maine (seeing son Ben & Heather & grandkids Serenity, Athena & Olivia; sleepovers with the girls; seeing grandson Nate & Heather and meeting great grandaughter Natalie; seeing my brother Bill & Kelly & families; seeing my cousin Gracie & Dave; 41st Annual Family reunion; seeing nieces Amanda & Katrina and their families; visiting with friends Pat & Leslie on Long Island)

• New York (Lake George; Saratoga Race Track)

• Niagara Falls both Canada side as well as US side; Skylon Tower

• Ontario Canada (spending time with froggers Rick, Barb, Crackers & Bree; seeing froggers Lorne & Connie; Liftlock Boat Cruise; watching Bill & Barb zipline)

• Ohio (seeing froggers Ron & Karen as well as meeting up with other froggers Judy, Ray, Bob, Marguerite, Deb & Rick; 3-way chili)

• Indiana (Shipshewana and the Amish; Moonshine cocktails in Nashville)

• Michigan (seeing friends Beth & Peter; Mackinac Island; Strolling the Streets in Boyne City; Petosky stones; driving car on golf course)

• Kentucky (Lexington & Horse Park; beautiful scenery; seeing froggers Ed, Laura, Carol & Larry; BOURBON BALLS; Bourbon Cream)

 

Tennessee (Smoky Mountains, Cades Cove, moonshine; meeting up with son Ray on Broadway Street in Nashville)

Thank you for following along with our journey.  We hope you enjoyed what little we shared on this blog.  It will be a trip we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Signing off for now …. until we hit the road again!

We arrived at Malabar, FL last Saturday.  Camelot RV Park is a great place to stay.  It’s midway between Cape Canaveral and Fort Pierce.  We are right on the Indian River with great views of the water.

Yesterday we drove north to Cocoa Beach.

What’s Cocoa Beach without a trip to Ron Jon’s Surf Shop.  Going to Cocoa and visiting Ron Jon’s is sort of like visiting Paris and going to the Eiffel Tower.  Just something you have to do.

From there, we continued north and went to Cape Canaveral & Port Canaveral.  We saw the Kennedy Space Center; however, did not have time to do the tour.  Maybe tomorrow…

We then headed to Port Canaveral!  OMGosh!  Cruise Ships !!!  That was the closest I’ve ever been to one!  Beautiful!  We saw the “Carnival Victory” as well as the “Freedom of the Seas”.  Someday we may get to cruise.

We also went to the “Canaveral Lock”, the largest navigation lock in Florida.  It was constructed in 1965 to secure the safe passage of vessels from the Banana River to Port Canaveral and the Atlantic Ocean.

On our way back from Cape Canaveral, we encountered a problem with one of our windshield wipers!  A piece had come off….. repair was urgent as rain was all around us.

FORTUNATELY, we found a Discount Auto Parts store and a great employee who put us back on the road with repairs!  We continued on our way and did a quick trip to Merritt Island and saw some beautiful homes.

Today we decided to take a journey south and traveled as far as Fort Pierce.  We traveled mostly on A1A and stopped at many beaches along the way.

Our end destination was Fort Pierce.  We saw the “National Navy UDT Seal Museum” which is dedicated to the Navy SEALS and features exhibits of equipment & historical artifacts.

Fort Pierce is known as the “Sunrise City”, sister to San Francisco, the “Sunset City”.

So, on our way back to Malabar, we had to stop at Wally World (aka Walmart) to pick up a few items… groceries, an inexpensive watch for me and a new belt for Bill …

Knowing the Woodruffs, you know that anything and everything is possible with us.  Bill decides to try a “ratchet” belt versus the belt that has holes.  He tried it on to see how it fit as well as to see how it worked.  HE COULDN’T GET IT TO WORK NOR COULD HE GET THE BELT OFF.  The more he and I tried to remove this belt,,,,, the more we laughed.  I was just about to call customer service over to have them cut the dang belt off; however, Bill finally got it to release and removed it!  WAY TOO FUNNY!  And, yes he did purchase the belt.

We are watching the weather and direction of Hurricane Matthew almost hourly as we are currently on the east coast of Florida and in its path.  Hopefully we will be able to avoid it by driving away from its path.  Bill practiced his “hurricane stance” at one of the windy beaches today.

We explored the city of St. Augustine which is the oldest city in the U.S., and is known for its Spanish colonial architecture.

Our first stop was the “Castillo de San Marcos”, a 17th-century Spanish stone fortress that overlooks the St. Augustine inlet.

The “Lion’s Bridge” crosses over to St. Augustine Beach as well as the St. Augustine Lighthouse.

There are many cobblestone roads and shops and history in the Historic Preservation Districts.

One of the historic sights is the “Oldest Wooden School House” which was built prior to 1763.

There were many churches  … The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, the Memorial Presbyterian Church as well as the Grace United Methodist Church.

We stopped at the Saint Photios Shrine.  It is dedicated to the first colony of Greek people who came to America in 1768.

Unfortunately, we found (and very often do) that a lot of the attractions and museums and historical buildings all cost money to enter or view; therefore, we did not see as much as we would have liked to.

We took another drive to St. Mary’s Waterfront today.

We found the “Sunken boat” a short way off shore …

Basically what is visible is just the mast of the boat.

In leaving the area of St. Mary’s, we came across this Maine Central Railroad caboose!!  Who knew!  It was there as part of a train museum being built in the area!  My Dad was an engineer for the MCRR.

Lastly, we let Speckles & Mel get an up close view of the tee-pees in the KOA we are staying in.

We have enjoyed our stay in the St. Mary’s area and look forward to traveling down the east coast of Florida to explore more.  Hopefully Hurricane Matthew will not deter our plans!