October 29, 2015
Our early departure from Geneva Point Center on September 8
created a block of time which we had no definite plans for, except a
family wedding on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts scheduled for
October 10
th. We were planning on ending our year with a
stint at an Amazon.com warehouse as part of their Camperforce for
the holiday rush. In between we wanted to spend time with family and
just catch our breath after a hectic summer. First stop was a
grand-daughter fix in Maryland. That same week I took my Mom to her
70
th and Final high school reunion. I had a reunion there
with my Aunt Ruth and cousin Gary whom I hadn't seen in decades. We
were the designated drivers for our Moms!
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| Mom and Aunt Ruth |
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| Shopping for Adventure |
I spent the rest of the week getting my 86 year old Mom settled in
a new assisted living apartment, while catching up on other chores
and visiting family. At that point we decided we needed a small
vacation and took off for Confluence, PA and an Army Corps campground
below the Youghiogheny Dam. It was situated along the Great Allegheny
Passage rail trail, so Greg did lots of biking, and I did a little!
Mostly we just sat still and enjoyed having no job and no agenda.
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| The Army Corps knows how to build nice RV sites! |
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| The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) bike trail |
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| The Youghiogheny River near Confluence, PA |
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| Rail Trailside mural |
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| The bike bridge to greater metropolitan Confluence |
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| Kathleen and her faithful steed... |
We found that we were close to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
house, so we took a tour of this amazing architectural treasure.
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| The most famous house in the US |
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| There must be 10 million photos of Fallingwater from this exact spot. |
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| The creek flowing under the house - during low water |
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| The main floor |
After a week we returned to Maryland our daughter's house to host
my summer assistant at Geneva Point Center, Ollie. He was rolling
through Washington, DC on his month-long journey around the country.
We toured him through Baltimore and put him on the train bound for
Philadelphia. We were hoping to take our daughter and grand-daughter
to the beach for a few days after that, but a tropical storm rolled
in and canceled our plans. We rode out the weather, did more visiting
and eventually relocated to my cousin's house in the countryside. The
wedding was coming up and we needed to leave the RV in Maryland while
we drove north.
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| Greg and Ollie looking over Baltimore's Inner Harbor |
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| At Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore |
Rich was a great host, and we had a few cool evenings to sit
outside in his lovely yard and enjoy dinner. Then we packed up the
silver egg and drove to Connecticut. We had planned to spend a few
days at Greg's brother Rob's house, but they wound up leaving the
next morning to arrive early on Nantucket to help prepare for the
wedding. We had arranged a rendezvous with Ollie who was coming out
on the train from New York and two days later flying back home to
Scotland.
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| Enjoying one of the last warmish evenings at Rich's |
In the meantime we had been hatching plans for the next few work
camping experiences and putting in applications. Our phone interview
with Amazon took place at Rob's and the next day we were offered jobs
in Jeffersonville, Indiana to start either 10/27 or 11/10. Our start
date was contingent on how soon they received our drug tests and
background checks. We hauled Ollie off with us to get our testing
done, (first time experience for me!), then toured Greg's childhood
neighborhood, and had a celebratory lunch.
The next day we said a sad goodbye to our Scottish “cousin”
Ollie, and dropped him off for his flight home from JFK Airport. We
are planning a happy reunion with him some future day in Glasgow. It
was enjoyable to have a few last days with him to unwind and discuss
our Geneva Point experiences after a month away from there.
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| One last selfie with Ollie |
Friday we packed up for the wedding and drove the 4 ½ hours to
the Hyannis ferry. We opted for the one-hour fast ferry to be sure to
arrive for the 5:30 rehearsal dinner. After checking into our cute
Safe Harbor Guesthouse, we started the whirlwind of activities. The
weekend went fast, the weather cooperated, even if it was rather cold
and windy for the beach ceremony, and we enjoyed wandering around
Nantucket. Sunday found us heading back to Cape Cod on a jam-packed
slow ferry with all the customers from two sailings of the fast ferry
piled on with us. The fast ferry had broken down and there were many
people needing to leave the island that day. We lucked into seats
with two nephews and their families, so we had enjoyable company for
the crossing. We were lucky to see a humpback whale surface right
next to the ferry as we crossed! Greg's sharp eyes noticed a spout
ahead of us and alerted us in time to rush to the railing.
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| Safe Harbor Guest House - a very comfortable retreat |
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| The "Fast" Ferry - when it runs |
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| A few modest yachts docked at Straight Wharf |
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| A bamboo bike - if you park it all day, it takes root! |
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| Quaint Nantucket street scene |
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| Niece Katie's wedding on Wauwinet Beach |
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| Looking back at Brant Point on the slow ferry |
We spent a night to ourselves at Rob's and then drove back to
Rich's for two more nights before we drove back with the RV for a few
more days visit with family. A couple nights with the daughter, a few
nights at Greenbelt National Park (our respite so we don't take
advantage of everyone's hospitality and have some time to ourselves),
a few nights dry camping in my Mother's retirement community parking
lot, and then a few nights in Northern Virginia with my best friend
and her husband, and we finally decided to start west to prepare for
our Amazon adventure.
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| Meatballs at Ikea after we got chased out of Greenbelt National Park due to a suspicious package! Not as good as fish & chips... |
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| Heading to the park for a stroller hike... |
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| Kathleen and Sue pretending not to be at a winery |
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| Sue and Kathleen went to Disney on Ice. Free tickets! |
Our paperwork came through Amazon corporate too late to start on
10/27, so we begin 11/10. That meant taking another vacation before
starting, but not wanting to travel too far afield. We left Northern
Virginia on Sunday, October 25 and started driving due west through
West Virginia with the intent of trying to stay north of the remnants
of Hurricane Patricia. After two dry days on the road, our second and
third nights found us holed up at a Flying J Truck Stop just south of
Cincinnati, Ohio. We traveled along the Ohio River from Parkersburg,
West Virginia, a lovely scenic drive, and chose this truck stop on
top of a ridge in case of flooding.
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| US 50 in West Virginia - The colors varied with elevation as we crossed the Appalachians |
Yesterday the rain slowed down and we were able to drive the 200+
miles south through Kentucky and just over the Tennessee border. Last
night we spent in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation
Area., in a lovely quiet, treed campground. We'll stay here until we
feel the urge to move on and start to head north and a little west to
reach Jeffersonville, IN by the 8
th. It is located just
across the river from Louisville, KY. In the meantime, hiking, biking
and exploring this beautiful Cumberland Plateau area of Appalachia
should keep us busy and give us some exercise to prepare us for
Amazon, (I hope!). Then it will be time to finally settle down and do
some work!
