Counting the Days!

Only two more days till Roger gets a GREAT Father's Day gift - the arrival of our granddaughter, Hunter! Another BIG adventure for us as we make our way into Newark, New Jersey to meet her flight Sunday at 11:45 a.m. She will then be traveling with us for the next 5 weeks, until we bring her back to Newark for her flight home on July 21st. Thankfully she arrives on a Sunday - and will fly back on a Saturday - so the traffic should be manageable.

We took time the other evening to make a trip to WalMart in Herkimer, NY to buy a bicycle for her to use while she is here. She has one at home, but bikes just don't fit in a suitcase! It will come in handy when we get home, for now she'll have an extra when she has a friend over. One of the employees asked why we were traveling with a girls bike in the back of our yellow truck. Roger assured them there was a 'method to our madness' and that we hadn't 'borrowed' it from a neighboring camper. Guess it looks a bit strange, when there was no evidence of a child around. :>)

We've decided to make her the official "playground & pool" inspector. She'll be traveling with us for our loop north into the Maritime & Quebec Canadian provinces, so we'll get the pleasure of showing her 'the world'! We always slow down a bit when we visit those parks, for we only get to make one visit a season. We also time it so it gets us out of the U.S. during the 4th of July holiday - for none of our U.S. parks really want us around during that time.

Our first planned stop with her will be to check out the new company-property KOA recently acquired in Mystic, Connecticut. We're told it is a very famous old seaport with a great aquarium. We've scheduled 3 nights there to get acquainted with the park, the area and the management team. She loves fish (trying to catch it, and eating it) so it should be right down her alley. Grandpa Roger has already made a 'list' of parks with fishing ponds or rivers - and is adamant that we find a whale watching & iceberg boat tour when we get to Newfoundland. I think he's as excited about this as Hunter is!

We are currently in Saugerties, New York, a nice park nestled among the pine trees. I always 'suffer' with my allergies to cedar & pine, but I love making our temporary home among them. As we started our walk-about here, Roger spied a watermelon sitting all alone at a vacant campsite. As we finished our first tour of the park, I headed back to the trailer and Roger went to return kabin keys. Sure enough, he came carrying in that poor lonely watermelon. Guess you could say that was one of the 'perks' of the job. He definitely has 'plans' for it.

For me, one of the 'perks' at this park is their excellent WiFi. Haven't had a lot of luck this season so far with getting on the individual parks systems. I must be 'typhoid Twylah' for it seems we pull into a park - and their WiFi systems start acting up. Really, I know it's just the nature of the beast - these computers & wireless systems - but it's definitely a love/hate relationship for me. They frustrate me to no end, but without my 'connectivity' I feel lost and lonely!

For two days in Herkimer, NY (I call it the Herkimer Hole) - our cell phones would not work - and their WiFi had just crashed - so I really felt 'disconnected'. The Herkimer KOA is part of a large family-owned group of businesses, and we always enjoy a lunch or dinner at their restaurant that sits right on the Mohawk River, which is part of the Erie Canal. Such a pleasant place to sit and waste an evening, while dining on some excellent Italian food. (Isn't everyone in New York Italian - or Amish?) No matter, we love it all.

I survived two days without connectivity, and even though our cell phones still don't work here in Saugerties, at least I have WiFi! Doing some 'catch up' now, trying to get my reports and pictures filed on the web for our last three reviews. For the next week, though, we take a break from doing annual reviews and switch to consulting work for the next three visits.