Where are we today? 

Cypress Camping Resort, Myrtle Beach, SC.

While in Maryland, in addition to the trips mentioned in our last post, we also did a trip through Annapolis over to Oxford, MD on the Eastern Seaboard, where we had a wonderful lunch at the Robert Morris Inn. Of course we had seafood. My bowl of Cream of Maryland Crab soup was just wonderful. We walked through the very quaint and very expensive town which is situated on a small bay off Chesapeake Bay.

The waterfront at Oxford, MD

The Robert Morris Inn

On the beach in Oxford, MD

After leaving my sister's house on Saturday 17th, we travelled around Washington DC to the I 95. I had found a Coast to Coast campground in Virginia called Wilderness Presidential Resort. It is situated on over 600 acres and, while there are a lot of old dilapidated seasonal trailers, it seems that the owners are trying to upgrade the place by putting in more modern trailers. There are 2 lakes, some great community buildings. We were booked in only 1 night, but enjoyed the peace and quiet there so much that we stayed for 2. This park is right next to the site of one of the major battles of the American Civil War, The Battle of Chancellorsville. It is a huge property with a big mix of accommodations. There are a lot of very dilapidated trailers in the section closest to the entrance. management have put in a lot of mobile homes for rent. There are several RV sites, lots of space for camping and an area which is RCI Timeshare cabins. In the summer there are a lot of Civil War re-enactments so they are able to accommodate all the participants. We will come back to this park if we pass this way. Cheapest laundromat ever at $1 a load

Our site at Wilderness Resort

The pool, closed for the season.

One of two lakes

Walking through the HUGE park

Timmy tried to catch the ducks

Marina

RCI Timeshare resort in the resort

Lovely log cabins

Lake front cabins

Monday morning we headed out again and arrived at Camping World in Hope Mills in NC. We were booked in for the installation of our new satellite dish, a Winegard Trav'ler 1000, on Tuesday. We have had this on our wish list for 2 years and have finally saved enough to actually get it installed. While I watch very little TV, Michael does enjoy his TV. We were given permission to park overnight in the yard, and in the morning we got up bright and early for our 8 o'clock appointment. While the dish was installed we went and had breakfast at Denny's in Hope Mills, NC. It turned out that the Denny's had just opened for the first time that morning. It was so busy, but the service was excellent as there were management people all over the restaurant. Back to Camping World to find the job complete and our new fully automatic satellite dish installed. A quick tutorial by the installer and we were off.

Michael is a happy boy!

Locked into the satellite at the touch of a button!

We got to Myrtle Beach in the early afternoon of November 20th and booked into a Christian campground called Cypress Camping Resort, another Coast to Coast Campground and brand new. We were only booked in for 3 nights, but managed to extend for another 5. The resort is very nice. Concrete pads for the RVs (not all are level) Sparkling clean bathrooms and laundry and a large community hall/worship center/conference center. It is right on the Intracoastal waterway and you can watch the water craft going past from a large wooden dock. We will go back there, without a doubt. Lovely staff.

Today is American Thanksgiving and the resort provided deep fried turkey, campers provided all the sides, trimmings and desserts. It was a wonderful meal and as usual I forgot to take photos. While at Cypress we toured Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach State Park, Huntington State Park and the cute seaside town of Georgetown.

Beach at Myrtle Beach State Park

The Intracoastal Waterway and the large dock

Looking South on the Intracoastal Waterway

The campground from the dock

Kayaks for rent

Nice concrete pads and all sites are pull throughs.

From Cypress Camping Resort we are moving on to The Oaks at Point South in Yemassee, SC. Our plan is to spend some time with my school friend (from Rhodesia in Africa). She lives in Hilton Head Island, so we have to just move slowly until we can get together on December 6th and 7th. We are unable to meet earlier as her youngest daughter is getting married on December 1st in Palm Beach, Florida.



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John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,

Where are we today? 

Keedysville, Maryland

We arrived at my sister's house on Saturday November 10th and pulled into her backyard and parked. We hooked into the electricity in the shed and filled up the water from the house supply. Our week has been very relaxing and very pleasant, spending time with my baby sister and her family.

A kayak that my brother-in-law is building

Parked next to the shed

Nice and level

Timmy approves of the nomadic lifestyle

 We went into Washington DC and visited the Air and Space Museum and saw a wonderful 3D documentary in the IMAX theater on the the Hubble telescope. Highly recommended.

The National Museum of the American Indian

My sister baby sat Timmy while we were in the museum.

The Capitol

 Yesterday we did a hike in Harpers Ferry. We walked along a section of the Appalachian Trail. The following pictures are of Harper's Ferry and the trail. These two links will tell you in far more detail and much more eloquently than I can.

Michael, Patricia and Timmy

Taking pictures of deer along the trail.

Deer

View over the Shenandoah River

Jefferson's Rock

View of the cathedral in Harper's Ferry

The Shenandoah River

The Potomac River in the distance

The ruin of St John's Episcopal Church

Catholic Church

We will be leaving here on Saturday, November 17th and heading for North Carolina where we will be getting a new Satellite dish installed onto the RV, then we head down to Myrtle Beach.

Camping World in Hamburg, New York

Hamburg, NY

Tonight we are overnighting in Hamburg, NY. A few years ago this was our closest Camping World then it closed down. Our closest store became the one in Churchville. I was thrilled to see that Hamburg had opened again and so we came by here today and are staying overnight with 50 amp hookup!! Of course we have spent some money inside. A new satellite cable and a cable reel, some black tank deodorant and an Oxygenics shower head. I was tempted to buy the brushed nickel to match the rest of the plumbing in the RV, but instead I opted for the white as it was less than half the price. There have been so many good reports on this shower head that I am looking forward to trying it out. Does anyone know what we must get to be able to shut off the water when taking navy showers?



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Boiler woes.

Where are we today? 

Whitby, Ontario

Our daughter, son-in-law and 2 grand babies moved into the house over the weekend. We had been concerned about the water dripping out of the boiler for the heating system. It seemed a bit more than what we expected so we called in a heating technician who turned up early on Saturday morning, opened the boiler and immediately red tagged it. This means that we have to replace the boiler within 45 days as there is a real danger of carbon monoxide poisoning due to the rusted innards. The tech told us it was going to cost in the region of $13,000! GULP!!

On Monday the owner of the heating business came around and quoted us for replacing the boiler, re-working the piping, installing a new pressure release tank, a new liner for the flue and a pump to take the released water over to the basement drain. $9200 for the entire job, parts, labour and taxes. We do not have much time left here in Ontario, so what could we do?? They did the installation on Tuesday. What a great job they did, too. The heating is now safe and a lot more economical. We can go away, in the knowledge that our children and grandies are warm and safe over the next 20+ winters.

So we are now preparing to leave on Friday, before the next round of rain and before this back yard turns into a quagmire. First stop will probably be at the Camping World in Syracuse where we can, most likely get an overnight spot with electricity, then down to my sister in Keedysville, Maryland, for a few days.

The old boiler

The new super, duper, high efficiency boiler

View from the side