More Maine and Joining Our Tour...Lessons Learned

*National Parks are such a treasure and Arcadia Park is no exception. Grand beauty and vistas and nice surprises like Thunder Hold where the crashing wave into the hole delivers all the thrill of sound and water spray. Why is getting wet so much fun? It is always a surprise when it happens and yet we go there because we know it will happen. But like the axe man jumping out of the closet in a movie (we know he will yet we jump) the water crashes into the hole and we are still surprised when the water leaps out of the hole and spays us.

*Cadillac Mountain tip puts the world at your feet, beautiful views of sea and islands just like on the postcards.

*Fantasy RV Tours: Meeting up with 24 other RVs to start a new type of adventure with a “caravan tour” begins the process of forming community with rules and common goals:
+Rule: No Bad Days
+Rule:It is your vacation so personalize with side trips as you want
+Rule:Be at the assigned campground or let the Wagon Master know your other plans.
+Goal: Travel safe
+Goal: Share experiences and create memories.

*Group whole lobster dinner with others on the tour always makes for fun times as those who have never seen a whole lobster on their plate are a bit taken back by it “staring” at them. But soon enough those who know show those who do not know and the crackers are fast at work. There are of course those that just cannot, so they have alternative meal. I like those that have the alternative meal because it means their lobster is available…thank you Charlotte.

*A trip mascot (a stuffed lobster) was presented to the group and each couple was to host it for a day and enter into a diary the experiences of the mascot. We jumped on being first (let’s just get it out of the way). It was named Claude or Clawed depending on if you wanted him to be French Canadian or a Maine Rapper…we went with French Canadian.

*WE GET A DOG…ok so it is a black wooden lab dog sitting nicely  with a cute bandana around his neck we have named Band short for Bandana, but hey most everyone in our group has a dog or two or three and are out walking them, or making plans to have them walked if needed because we have several days with full day bus tours. We have a nice dog that needs no walking and funny as it is as when those other dogs are out walking they stop and look at Band and some have even barked at him. So far none have “marked” him. Then one morning we notice someone has put a leash on him? A nice like bike red bike wire with lobster clamps on either end and put around Band and the picnic table…well after all there are lease rules in the RV park, never did find out who did this nice touch.

Bar Harbor, Maine is a busy tourist town with shops, restaurants and the usual issue of too many cars and not enough parking. To solve this their is a nice lot outside town with a shuttle bus every 15 minutes to the downtown area. While so many wonderful small towns are fun to visit and offer nice ambiance they all have the small streets with too many cars and no parking syndrome. At least Bar Harbor is trying to find solutions.

More lessons later, off to eat more lobster…travel safe as school kids are now on the road.

Thunder Hole

Welcome dinner with tour group

Claude is on the road

Summer Fun on the Road Heading to Maine

Living in a Rectangle has many lessons the first being when you don’t write you might get behind and then it is a month later. But there has been lessons…

*Remember lessons of the past and plan your route back to Penn State to have ice cream at the Berkey Creamery. Yep just as good as two years ago.
*When driving down the road to Maine and one learns the roads can be very bumpy, very bumpy and that is when things can fall down…like the shade on the drivers side as one is going 60 miles and hour. Oh my it is a shock when a very heavy double shade comes down, the good news it fell straight down rested nicely and we continued down the road.
*Getting the shade back up was a fun game of how many toothpicks can you shove up a hole to create “new wood” that a screw can go into and hold up a shade?  Answer, not enough, so one goes to plan B…New hole, put in a sheetrock anchor into hole and a heavier screw. Ahhh, problem solved.
*Going into Thomas Point Beach campground in Brunswick, Maine and we see Band Camp signs everywhere for Band Camp Registration, Parking etc and we think how fun to see the high school band camp students but then one realizes it is not high school, it is a music festival for alternative rock. One must then adjust the expectation of what the music will be….it was however very good.
*We had a delightful camping site at Thomas Point Beach……. It was a rocky start with our neighbors. We pulled in and went to the electrical pole. Two 30amp plugs, so I picked one and put in the electrical upon which I hear this booming voice yell “That is not your plug, that is my plug.” and rushing at a fast pace was a man most intent in making sure I heard him so he said it a couple of more times. I stood silently until he stopped and I said, OK. This was a not what he expected and he began to explain how he camped here in the same spot  every year forever and he grew up in the area and last year only one of the plugs worked and on and on. I said OK as David looked on. David called the office upon which the man (Mike) began to talk about how he had known the owners forever and the new person in the office would not know anything and etc etc. Bottom line is the manager came over and explained all the electrical worked as they had done all the repairs from last year, so all was good. Mike came around to being pleasant and a good neighbor.
*Sounds of camping. Squirrels in the trees, Woodpeckers getting food, Leaves making music in the breeze and SILENCE, just silent. Peaceful
*We made it to Bar Harbor, Maine to meet up with our Fantasy Tour group in good time and then had our first Lobster Roll. Yes, as good as anyone can imagine. I love Lobster Rolls  Can one ever have a enough lobster?
*A local farmers market gave us the most tastefully fresh Romaine, so no worry from all the mayhem over the Romaine we were hearing on the news. It was sweet, crisp, and totally delightful.
*Sleeping with no AC widows open with fresh clean air makes leaving Texas not so bad.
*I like when Main Street is spelled Maine Street…so cute

Penn State Ice Cream is Perfection

Get your funk on

More lessons to come

Week One 2018

One week into our 2018 adventure

*A number bed mattress that does not work and is stuck on 100 can be a challenge but guess it is better than 0. We have it on our list to fix after all we have a new motor we ordered before we left. 
*Why do wasps always build their nest in the electrical box at parks. We stayed at the Corps of Engineer park in North Little Rock,Arkansas and yep a wasp was a building nest. I swatted it away and popped off the nest, a very small one, the wasp then dived at me but I expected that so dodged the dive. Then I hear a voice say “I have spray to kill them, do you want it?” The lady across from us was watching and offered her spray, I declined as I thought the wasp should live, after all I was the one who interrupted the home building. She was insistent with “Kill it, it will just build a nest somewhere else”. I declined again and she gave up.
*Don’t you just love how a farmer in a large tractor moves over to let a large Motorcoach pass on a two lane road.
*There are churches and then there is the over the top larger than life church mansion First Pentecostal Little Rock, wow quite a site.
 *Arkansas grows A LOT of rice. Who knew?
*Hoosier comfort food — pork tenderloin fried sandwich — is perfection.
*Sitting on a veranda with a family friend grieving the loss of his wife of over 50 yrs;  sipping wine and throwing the frisbee for the dog while the cool breeze blows helps ease grieve if only for a while
*Spending time with youngest son in Columbus hearing him play a couple of nights with a couple of bands makes the trip super nice.
*When leaving the RV Park in Columbus and a terrible noise coming from TJ(Tow Jeep) going to hook up with RV is a bit unnerving. But gee it was only the cone that had been next to The Rectangle I ran over being drug under the car. Quick jump out, a few tugs and all is good but the thought crossed my mind that someone saw it all and was laughing a lot.
*While at an RV park in Pennsylvania about 6am a very loud siren begins to screech….for about 3 minutes this goes on. Never did find out why…it was very unnerving had been raining all night and the river behind us was swollen
*We read the Star Telegram newspaper on line each morning and the article on using genetic genealogy to solve cold cases brought a word neither of us had encountered before :”He was whipsawed by the speed with which genetic genealogy led to an arrest.”  Whipsawed?
So, I am whipsawed by how fast time has already led us into our 2018 adventure.
AND 70 degree weather is really great!!

Columbus Ohio Jazz and BarBQue Festival

Our youngest son Matthew doing what he loves on percussion

A great German deli in Columbus

Saturday worship at the 150 yr old church Trinity Evangelical "German" Lutheran (ELCA) Coumbus, Ohio 

always special

7 Days Till We Roll

Living in a Rectangle countdown continues
7 Days till 2018 Trip


*Make an appointment to take The Rectangle in to have the front end alignment checked (wear on tires not even?) and cruise control not working (a long trip without cruise control is not good), and propane shut off for refrigerator reset or whatever it needs (safety first).

As always, they get in The Rectangle and the cruise control works just fine
As always, they totally try to get refrigerator to duplicate the shut off issue and everything works just fine.
I love how with many mechanical things they play with us. I imaging a laughing universe saying “got another one”.


*Check all those tires to make sure they will make the next big trip in good shape.

  Tires have a way to tell those who know where to look the year the tire was made (who knew?) So when the tire guy doing the front end alignment tells us they are 2013 tires on our 2015 Newmar it set off a hunt for the question of why or what that does to the longevity of the tire. With RVs tires are very important and there is some guy rule or thing rule that tires at between 5 and 7 years they need to be replaced. Our question then is if we got the tires already two years old on our new RV does that mean we will only get 3 more years till the 5 year mark? or how does that work? Newmar says it is a Ford issue as they get of course the chassis from them, and Ford says well we only give a one year warranty on that so it is now not their issue. So Ford builds a chassis and calls the tire people and they send tires and that is that. BUT then, another look at the tires and well really they are 2014…ok so we picked up a year. Bottom line, the tires are the tires and we are in alignment.  Whew, too much information re tires, sometimes I rather not know.


The time spent on the phone on this issue was a lot and the number of people who passed us on with the that is not my expertise was fun. Hearing Hmmmm after your questions always makes you know you are about to be passed along.

The true story about any vehicle is only time and travel will tell the rest of the story.

30 Days Till We Roll

Living with The  Rectangle when not Living in The Rectangle

UPDATE ON THE GETTING READY TO TAKE TO THE ROAD:
*There are now things that have to be done like wash sheets/towels/an anything else just to put it back into The Rectangle    check it off  all clean and ready to roll
*Let Miss Kitty snoop around inside The Rectangle  check it off Miss Kitty has done the inside check
*Redust everything and vacuum again  check it off nice and clean
*Unload all the food and check for those spices that are out of date. Not sure why I have all those spices except all the big cooking plans that are in my head and never make it out of my head.  check it off and the many many spices not good were spread over the ground and some in the compost
*Give The Rectangle a really good bath!  check it off  BUT it still needs a nice wax before we roll
*Check all those tires to make sure they will make the next big trip in good shape.  Interesting story here
*Make an appointment to take The Rectangle in to have the front end alignment checked (wear on tires not even?) and cruise control not working (a long trip without cruise control is not good), and propane shut off for refrigerator reset or whatever it needs (safety first). Interesting story here too
*Design and make a holder for the front car safety guard for TJ (our Tow Jeep Cherokee) so when The Rectangle is at rest and TJ is in action the safety guard can be on hold till needed again to protect TJ from road rocks, bugs etc. when trailing behind The Rectangle. This entails welding and luckily our neighbor can do that.  check it off  nice job of design by David and welding by our neighbor perfect  picture soon
*Buy a waffle maker -- need a waffle maker. Could take the one from home but it is a rather large one and storage is always a consideration in The Rectangle, so maybe a smaller one?  check it off  thanks to my BFF who had one she was not using The Rectangle now can make waffles.
*Check out the number bed mattress for a leak? or a pump issue? Small white caps were sent from Number Bed people so now to get on phone with them and figure out how to run "the test" on that...will keep you posted on this.  check if sort of off  Test done and they sent us a new pump (for a small handling fee) and story to follow as we try to install before we roll.

30 Days before we leave….time still to get some things done like we both got new eye glasses so we can see all the beauty on our trip.

R & R for The Rectangle

Living with The  Rectangle when not Living in The Rectangle
*There are now things that have to be done like wash sheets/towels/an anything else just to put it back into The Rectangle
*Let Miss Kitty snoop around inside The Rectangle
*Redust everything and vacuum again
*Unload all the food and check for those spices that are out of date. Not sure why I have all those spices except all the big cooking plans that are in my head and never make it out of my head.
*Give The Rectangle a really good bath!
*Check all those tires to make sure they will make the next big trip in good shape.
*Make an appointment to take The Rectangle in to have the front end alignment checked (wear on tires not even?) and cruise control not working (a long trip without cruise control is not good), and propane shut off for refrigerator reset or whatever it needs (safety first).
*Design and make a holder for the front car safety guard for TJ (our Tow Jeep Cherokee) so when The Rectangle is at rest and TJ is in action the safety guard can be on hold till needed again to protect TJ from road rocks, bugs etc. when trailing behind The Rectangle. This entails welding and luckily our neighbor can do that.
*Buy a waffle maker -- need a waffle maker. Could take the one from home but it is a rather large one and storage is always a consideration in The Rectangle, so maybe a smaller one?
*Check out the number bed mattress for a leak? or a pump issue? Small white caps were sent from Number Bed people so now to get on phone with them and figure out how to run "the test" on that...will keep you posted on this.

Only 68 days till The Rectangle leaves for the next fun trip...Nova Scotia is waiting.

Martin Accordion -- Louisana Music

Accordion tour was so fab. Learned all about them, heard great music and history of the music in the Cajun world. Martin Accordion family owned and only the family members working making them. Family is Junior Martin who started the business his dtr, son and grand son who is a musician (26 yrs old) and plays world wide with his Zydeco music (he can play any accordion handed to him). Order your accordion today.  Martin Accordion  web site link

Our Pirate group having fun

April 2019 Rally in Port Aransas with our Kountry Klub Lone Star Newmar group had our "small group" getting into the fun of a pirate themed weekend. First photo we boarded a stangers RV for a group pic and the second our group had its flag and selfie to prove it.

The strangers did not know what hit them before we boarded their "ship" and you can see we recruited a few young ones for the pirate life.

red spider flag for the fabulous crew...we are all smiles at the fun we are having.

April 2018 Aransas Pass

Living in a Rectangle
*It is off to Aransas Pass to get some coastal fun with our RV Newmar group.
*Wish we could stop quicker along the road to grab a pic—like when we saw a pink VW Bug on a trailer with a big white metal crown on it. (note: It was a bit rusty, been there a while) OR
like the big painted “waving” American flag done in muted but beautiful colors. OR of course all the brilliant wildflowers. (note:does anyone else think of the warning about snakes and ants in the wildflowers re picture taking when you see all that beauty?) Alas it is not a thang The Rectangle does on a two lane Texas farm to market road.
*The “cornies” are on the road moving all those fun rides and food booths to the next small town so when one of those trailers loaded with a ride has a flat it takes a village to get it changed. Luckily there is “a village” going down the road to do that.
*When putting TJ (note: Tow Jeep) into neutral don’t do it till it is connected to The Rectangle or until you know for sure  the master of the hookup has told you - it is close enough or too close or to the left or to the right or whatever…
*Pilot filling stations now have Cinnabon Bon Bon Bites, 4 same great petite buns that don’t make you feel so guilty.
*Next saga on TJ. TJ towed perfect except at some point the check engine light comes on and an urgent email from Jeep U Connect (big brother of the Jeep world) comes to tell us…Action needed on your 2018 Jeep Cherokee! Your Jeep Cherokee has detected issues that require your attention on Engine and Transmission System, Oil and Fluids, Brakes and Suspension. Hmmm that’s a lot for an engine that as not been running? Called dealer in Aransas Pass, cannot see us till maybe next Tuesday and no don’t come in because they are so over booked and slammed with work they have closed their service dept to catch up!! OK, so next stop in Rosenberg they can see us on Monday….our dealer calls us back and says so go to Auto Zone and have them do a diagnostic at least to see what it says. OK off to Auto Zone with check engine light on, Jeep runs perfect, we turn off car,  AZ puts in diagnostic stick then starts car and poof no check engine light and readout shows everything is fine. We leave and will have  to see if the light comes back on after our next towing on Sunday…stay tuned for more TJ light adventures (or not).
*Nice and warm on the coast, but whatever the wind is blowing in or out wish it would get it done. (note: but don’t need Beyonce wind machine for hair blowing great pics)

TJ = Tow Jeep/The Jeep

2018 RV Season is On the Road

LIVING IN A RECTANGLE 2018

RV Season is getting underway and that means what?

*First trip is RV Rally with Lone Star Kountry Klub staying at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma…3/8-3/11 2018

*unwinterize The Rectangle water system and remember to shut off the water to the washer hookup so water does not come shooting out (like last year, see we do learn)

*Start off with clean sheets, towels and new My Pillows.
in The Rectangle..

*Restock wine in The Rectangle…Put other alcohol on board.

*Take out of The Rectangle anything no longer needed from last year…like how many mugs can a person use?

*Reestablish where things will go in the cargo bins. Really just see what is in the cargo bins after all no-one has looked in them since December.

*Start list of who can feed Miss Kitty (and Daisy the outdoor cat across the street we feed since her owner passed) and establish calendar for this.

*Double check all the electronic charger cords are still where they should be in The Rectangle.

*Make sure all the remote apps are working to monitor house when we are on the road.

*Buy the latest road atlas…paper sometimes is the only “go to” when phone signal is a no bars area.

*Make sure phone plan is international for Canada still.

*Then the worst and most frustrating thing EVER…2018 Jeep Cherokee we just bought  that should be tow ready? Well it would take me more words then I currently have room for to tell this on going saga about the “harness” for the 2018s and the mess it puts us in. On the count down as we leave in July for months…Did I say most frustrating thing EVER!!!  (note: alternate plans are available but have not floated them out till we just have too.) URGGGG

*OK this did not just happen…well yes it did. Not towing the Jeep so pulled up behind The Rectangle since he had it in park and well one would think it was parked…but NO NO the reverse lights come on and OH NO…yep into the Jeep. Really? The Jeep now has a cracked in the bumper. (sad face) It is not terrible and hopefully it will be not a catastrophic fix. I of course think Jeep should pay for the fix, since after all if they were not having the problem with this harness thingy part so we could tow the Jeep this would not have happened (just my rant). The “Kit” has been on order for over 3 months, David is on a first name basis with a few folks at Jeep Corp.

Of course there is more fun and times to come this season of The Rectangle, after all we are going to Nova Scotia and the Canadian Maritime in July and August.