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So true! Before we left Tropical Palms on May 20th, we had our final coffee clatch. The numbers have dwindled significantly. Art, Theresa, Lou, Lulu, Cory and I gathered on Sam and Sandy’s site for our final beverage. Because Cory had taken down our canopy & TOSSED IT, we had to seek shade elsewhere. We savored each sip and each moment we could spend together. Months will pass before we do this again. We find the older you get, the faster time flies so we will resume our morning gatherings quicker than we think. Hooray!
While you are still in the mindset of being at Tropical Palms, let’s review some of our goings on while we were still there. You know you want to so please, no whining. Cory and I took a couple jaunts around the area. We stopped at a really neat thrift shop in Winter Haven. It was called Country Primitives. Cory reluctantly posed by the mural on their outside wall. A beautiful butterfly guy, for sure! Cart Zone came and took our golf cart away for its seasonal storage. Goodbye trusty cart…..we’ll miss you! Our neighbor, Steve, warned us about a swarm of bees in a
decaying tree located on the site behind us. First, the workers just sprayed cans of wasp killer into the long, dead trunk of the tree where their nest was located. That only made the bees really mad! Zoom….watch out! They’re coming at us! Duck!! After a week, a bee exterminator came and did his deadly deed…..and the bees have never buzzed again. Several storms came and went at TP. They left behind beautiful and intriguing skies! ??Somewhere Over the Rainbow?? ….but I never saw a rainbow. Thus, no pot of gold for us!! This is the end of my stories. But there’s more information to share. Happy???
Departure day is always bittersweet. Sad to leave our TP friends and familiar areas behind but anxious to see our family and other friends back North. Dear, sweet Art gifted us with his homemade banana bread to enjoy on the road. Oh, thank you! It became our supper meal at our first stop for the night! We were so grateful for his tasty donation. As we left the park, Art stood watch and photographed us as we pulled out. We don’t normally see ourselves from that vantage point. Everything was a go…..whew!
We watched the weather and the skies. Storms were here, there and yonder. We ran into a brief rain shortly after leaving TP but it didn’t last so we journeyed onto a KOA in Yemassee, S.C. We have stayed here before. They had a pull-in site but you had to back out of it! Poor Cory had to unhook our car and hook it back up in the morning. We prefer a pull thru site where we don’t have to unhook but sometimes, life gives you lemons! Rats! And double Rats! Our first mishap of the journey. Oh, no….what can it be, you ask. As I walked around the RV, my little eye spied something out of the norm. We were missing a hub cap on the passenger side back wheel. Oh, brother! Well, we weren’t going to retrace our steps (miles) in hopes of finding it. We just chocked it up to our “too bad” list and carried on. Cory would order a new one off of Amazon.
Our next day (Saturday) was decision day. We had hoped to visit our good friends, Les and DeAnne, in Smithfield, NC. This would keep us on I-95. Alas, the
best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Les and DeAnne were just heading out to Nashville to attend their granddaughter’s graduation. So…until next time, friends. Cory turned the steering wheel of our RV onto Rt.26. We normally take this route because I-95 is really rough in spots. Our RV sounds like a Clanging Pots and Pans Factory when it hits these mean, huge, destructive holes in the road. No wonder we lost a hubcap during the time we were on it! It can get wicked, especially in SC. We are just lucky we didn’t lose a wheel!! Luckeeeeee!
The weather report predicted heavy rain ahead @ 3:00 PM. We made our way to the Carolwinds Wilderness Campground right on the SC/NC border on I-77, arriving at 12:30 pm. We have stayed here before and remembered a wonderful Italian restaurant that delivered to the campground. Whoop-t-do! Our site was all dirt and Cory had to run 2 miles of sewer hose to reach the connection. Any port in the storm though. It rained about 2:30 but lasted only a short while. Fortunately, our dirt site that turned to mud turned back to dirt again fairly quickly. We relaxed
and waited for our Italian food to be delivered. Just as we remembered……Dee-Lish-Us!! Cory loved his meatballs!
Sunday took us up to Chambersburg, PA. Diesel gas averaged @ $5.79. Cory tried stopping at Pilot Truck stops where his Pilot card gives him a discount. I’m sure you all have been commenting about Driver Cory’s little, fingerless gloves he has been wearing as he drives our RV. Inquiring minds want to know and now you will. No….his hands aren’t cold. No…..he doesn’t think he’s a ski instructor. No….he’s not getting ready for high tea with the Queen. He read somewhere that if you wore these little gloves, it would help to prevent muscle soreness in your shoulders when you drive! He would give it a try. He said they helped! OMG! Don’t ask me how or why. I think it’s like the soap in your bed to prevent leg cramps……how or why?? ……but for some, it works! Plus, he thought they made him look more like a truck driver when he stopped for gas. He got his coffee for free so must be they worked for that, too! Guenter: the Gloved Guy!
His gloves were no help at our
last campground on this trip. Nothing was any help! First, we traveled off I-81 for miles….and miles! Through the narrow streets of the town and then over the narrow, winding, hilly, back roads. Eventually, we arrived at the Twin River Campground. When I made the reservations, the office girl said they would be closed (4:00 pm) but gave us instructions where to receive our directions. Yeah….right! Obviously, she hadn’t heard correctly the spelling of our last name. She had on the pamphlet: Cory BEUTNER! Nice!! Must be she thought we would be real “Beauts”. After checking in, we were and more so! If he followed her instructions, Cory would have to drive our RV & car up a dirt driveway that went straight up to a barn! Instead, he turned down onto a dirt pathway where four other campers were scattered. Where were we? In some God -Forsaken place….that was for sure. Cory had to hike across the road and up the dirt driveway to the area of the barn. He found an “office” where an envelope was left for us. Fortunately, the owner man was there and Cory asked him about our site. He looked at where we were
parked and said to stay right where we were!!?? Was it even a site?? Our assigned site was located at their furthest field out in no-man’s land. There was no one even close to where we would be …..we would be like lepers! There was water and electric somewhat close to where Cory had tentatively parked us…..so we stayed there. Oh, great! No electric coming on! Cory put on his hiking boots again and journeyed up to the barn area again. No one around….just cows! He made his way to the farmhouse and knocked….no one answered. He walked to the back of the house and found an open window. No….he didn’t crawl through it but he hollered into it. Finally, the owner man came to the door with a polite “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!!” Cory, using his equally polite voice, told him we had no electric. As poor Cory hiked all the way down to our back forty, the owner man drove his golf cart and turned on the main electric breaker that was locked up in the public restrooms. Let there be light! We had light! Whew! It was a quiet place except for the mooing of the cows.
A family had been swimming in the creek/river that flowed in front of us….when it looked like rain, they headed to their camper at the far end of our area. It never rained!! We were glad when morning came and we could leave this “one time only” campground. The pamphlet gave directions on how to get back to I-81. Only problem, it started from their “office” and not the so called campground. Obviously, we went to wrong way…for many miles! Many miles! All on narrow, winding, hilly back roads. Cory was using his polite, swearing voice. His little gloves didn’t help a bit! We were so far away from civilization….our GPS was blank! Finally, we got a hit and could make our way back to I-81……an hour later. So much for the Twin Rivers Campground…..we do not recommend it!
At least now we were heading to our final destination: home=our polebarn. Everything went well. Price of gas kept climbing, though. We reached our pole barn at 2:45 PM. What a welcome relief. Weather was sunny but cooler than what we were used to. Lulu got out of RV and took her place on our RV site…..she likes to be
known as “The Leader of the Pack.”
We slowly started to set up and settle in. Levelers worked great (thank you, Dave!). I went to the back to put out our bedroom slides……CRUNCH!! STOP! WAIT! YIKES! Our second mishap! On the passenger side, under the washer and dryer, there is a small, cubbyhole that has a door on it. I only keep extra clothes hangers in it. Well, obviously, this little door had become ajar (probably while on I-95) and when the slide started going out, it caught it! And broke it in half! Noooooo. Oh, well…..it could have been something so much worse. Cory has since repaired the little door and we are back in business. He is so handy now that he has his little gloves to wear.
We have been home one week today…..Happy Memorial Day! We have seen almost all our family…..there are still some we haven’t seen yet but hope to do very soon. Lory, Sara, and Cory have all stopped down at the RV. Lory and Jay invited us to their house for a yummy steak dinner. So good to be with them again. Lory knows how to make my macaroni salad
now so that added to the scrumptious meal. Our grandchildren, Al and Brittany, invited us to see them at their new house they are busy remodeling. Of course, our adorable great-grandson, Luke was there! Oh, how he has grown since we saw him last September! He is just the cutest little guy ever. It was perfect being with them again. Yesterday, we drove to Geneseo, NY to celebrate our son, Tim’s 45th birthday. He and his son, Conner, Kim, Penny & Cory met us at Applebee’s. It was so nice to be with all of them again. This is what we look forward to upon returning….being with our wonderful family. More gatherings are on our agenda.
We have enjoyed some of our favorite delicacies since our return. Our first meal was from the Texas Hot: Texas hots and French fries with gravy. Oh, yummers! We made our way just a few hops, skips and jumps from our RV in Shongo to a local restaurant. We ate a meal at Mama’s Smokin’ B B Q. Cory enjoyed his Beef on Weck and a beer. Today, per tradition, Cory drove to a nearby town, Whitesville, and got us two chicken barbeques
from their fire department. It’s not barbeque chicken……it’s a chicken bar-b-que. There is a difference and what a delicious difference there is…..to die for difference. Cory likes the white meat and I like the dark so it works out great when I split them and we get both sides that we like.
We have even been to two Walmart’s. Remember: my favorite store. Oh, joyous day. Yesterday, besides celebrating Tim’s birthday, “doing the graves” for Memorial Day…..we also stopped at a Walmart! Life is good!
And now, here we are…..back at our polebarn in Shongo, NY. Cory has kept himself very busy. He hooked up our water system. Remember, he…aka: Gunga Din, has to haul water from our daughter’s house to put in our holding tank. He also uses a rain barrel. He has mowed the grass around our barn and finished it off with the weed eater. He takes our garbage to the dump in Wellsville (8 miles away). He stops at a friendly spot in town called “The Gathering Place”. Friends go here for Jean’s delicacies and coffee. He has done a great deal of puttering inside our polebarn. My turn is coming up….I’ll help him
sort out some of the stuff we have stored in it. We don’t work this hard at TP but it’s still nice to be home. There is one thing that is quite different from being at TP vs being here in Shongo. When we look out our RV windshield at TP, we see all our friends riding by on their golf carts. What do we see when we look out the same windshield but here in Shongo? We see the Amish going by in their horse drawn buggies. They live in our area. We like both the sights that we see: buggies and golf carts!
We hope you all made the trip home with us okay. We didn’t give you much notice. If you are still behind at TP, hold the fort down until we return. See you sooner than later. 16 photos to check out. Scroll way down! Remember, if you hit on one of my “picture collages”, it will open up in another screen and be much larger.
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Betsey Stout
non-member comment
Back in Shongo
Glad you made it back in Shongo to partake of the famous eats in Wellsvile and enjoy cooler weather. It is hot here today, though.