KOA VIP!

Wow, do we feel special!

We pulled out of Delaware Water Gap, PA at 6:30 this morning - headed back west to Salem, PA to get a new gear box installed on the trailer, hoping it would solve our problem. (It didn't) Driving that 115 miles ended up taking us 4 hours, as we were detoured off the interstate due to an accident. It was about an 18 mile detour, which took us up and down a mountain and through a couple of pretty little towns. The only problem - we 'inched' along for most of those 18 miles, which took over an hour. They were having a town-wide garage sale and we were going so slow we 'window-shopped' from the truck! It was kinda neat to see everyone out walking the sidewalks and checking out each other's 'stuff'. A beautiful day.

After a much needed stop at the rest area - after that hour+ delay - we headed on to the RV dealer. Following some advice we had gotten while staying in the area, we took the 'back roads' to the RV dealership to avoid the Saturday traffic. Bad idea. I thing that 'detour' added another 30 to 45 minutes to our trip. Once we arrived, we found the RV service bays had been turned into a pick-up spot for 'pizza kits' - the result of a fundraiser for some local group. Brought back memories of our 'band parent' days.

The repairman jumped right on it, but turns out that wasn't the solution either. They worked on it about an hour and finally decided that it must be a 'power' problem - which means it's either electrical - or the motor. Having done all we could do at that point, we decided to roll on down the road, and headed toward Newburgh/NYC N KOA in Plattekill, NY. Pulled in about 4:00 and had a good visit with the staff, before being led to our site by the campground host - only to find our site decked out with the KOA VIP sign, a bright yellow tablecloth and a bundle of firewood! This is actually what they do for their KOA 'Gold' campers - which are 'frequent campers' - just like 'frequent fliers'. I even got a bit of a sample of the latest fudge flavor of the day "peanut butter white chocolate". (Shelly - you would have loved it!)

Our arrival brought us so much attention, I ended up chatting with the neighbors - who had all kinds of questions - until Roger had the trailer completely set up. (I ended up giving them my yellow table cloth & firewood, for we wouldn't use it). A bit later. we had left the trailer door open, as the weather was cool and Roger had kicked back watching the ball game, while I had started supper. A gentleman walked up to the trailer and said "knock, knock". Thinking it was 'George', the long-time swimming pool caretaker here, I said "Come in". (When he did, I thought, "Oh, he's wearing his hair longer!") Once he had stepped up in the trailer, I realized he wasn't who I thought he was! Thankfully he just stood in the door, (even though I had offered him a chair) but he was full of questions about our job - and had all kinds of stories about KOA's. I just kept cooking - thinking he was never going to leave! He was a very pleasant old man - but we normally don't make a habit of inviting campers in to our trailer!

Boy, every day is different!