Happy Fourth of July Anniversary

The 4th of July is Jim's and my anniversary.  We were married on a water taxi in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on a day that was every bit as hot as this one!  Luckily we saw no need to dress in the formal wedding gown / tuxedo.  I wore a sundress and Jim wore shorts and hawaiian shirt - our guests were in similar attire, and most of us jumped in either the ocean, or the hotel pool when the water taxi ride was over.  Click to see more wedding pictures.

Out to dinner in Philadelphia

Then and Now

Our wedding on a water taxi in Fort Lauderdale

Jim and I share so many things - and that is what makes our marriage such a wonderful partnership.  Computers is what brought us together, scuba diving brought fun and excitement, and our love of travel and learning is what continues to build our relationship.  We are a great team.  Together we have built each other's dream life.  Happy Anniversary Jim!  Marrying you is the best thing I've ever done! I Love You.

We are spending this week parked in the driveway of our good friend, Jimmy Lyon, on Long Beach Island New Jersey.  This is Jim's home town - he lived on Long Beach Island from 1963-85.  You might say he grew up here - but he says he never grew up!  We try to visit here each year.  We usually try to visit in September - better weather, less crowded - but this was the week that worked this year.

We're only an hour or so from Philadelphia, but once you're on the island, you tend to stay on the island.  So, in all our visits, we've never made it over for a sightseeing day in Philadelphia.  I had never seen the Liberty Bell - or anything else in Philly, so I've been known to complain that Jim never takes me to Philadelphia.  We fixed that this time!  July 4 seemed the perfect day to visit the Liberty Bell!

Philadelphia's skyline greets us as we drive over the Delaware river coming from New Jersey

A birthday cake for America, and cupcakes for all of us.

To see the city we took a trolley tour and sat on the upper deck.  It was very hot, but we caught an occasional breeze, and you do get the best views this way.

Wonderful murals all over the city.

New buildings

Very old buildings ... a prison

Proof that I did see the Liberty Bell

Another reason we wanted to go to Philadelphia is for Guld family history.  Jim's sister, Debbie has done some genealogy research and found that their grandfather met their grandmother at a bar here in Philadelphia.  The bar was owned by Jim's grandmother's father - Michael F. Dalton.  That bar still exists and it's called the Handle Bar.  After our trolley tour and Liberty Bell viewing we got our car out of hock at the parking lot ($18!) and drove over to Frankford street.
Oh No!  It was closed.

Jim in front of his Great-Grandfather's bar in Philadelphia

We took a few pictures of the building and the sign, then got back in the car.  I pulled my Droid smartphone out of my pocket, just to see what's new and noticed a Facebook message from our good friend and beer connoisseur, Phil May.  He said, if you're in Philadelphia you must go to Farmers' Cabinet - they have the most amazing selection of beer, and some good food too.
Well ALLRIGHTY then!

We went to the restaurant and had a memorable Anniversary dinner - I found a beer on the menu that was called an Anniversary beer and Jim found one called 'Streakin Roun the Campfire at Mignight'  The were both scrumptious.

Phil wasn't kidding that they had a selection of beers!

After dinner, we decided to try the Handle Bar again - and it was open!

Jim having a beer at the Handle Bar

All in all a VERY memorable 4th of July.  I hope you had a good one too!

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At the Shore

One of our favorite parking places in the country is at our friend, Jimmy Lyon's driveway on Long Beach Island - New Jersey Shore.

We're here for about a week.  It's Hot. We're right across the road from the beach where the chilly Atlantic Ocean is waiting to cool you off.  Jimmy has lived here for a looooong time, and he has lots of friends who come to visit.  Parties are a way of life. Old friends and new friends.  We have a good time.

Why is the Rum Gone?!

Posed picture of Mark and Mary

More natural picture of Mark

Ice Cream?  Where'd they get Ice cream?

Here's Jimmy!

We never tire of the sunset views here.

Harry and Renee go sailing the next morning.

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Record Setting Drive Today

And, we didn't even hit the road till 11am!  We said our goodbyes to Phil, Tracey, Ally, and all their wonderful family who were staying on for a while longer to be there for them.  They also were leaving today - from the campground where so much had happened over the last couple weeks.  We will probably return to this campground when we are in the Indianapolis area again later this summer.  The owners, Steve and Terry were so wonderful, and it really is a nice campground - check it out if you're in the area ... Timberline Campground.

Then we hit the road.  Destination - Long Beach Island, New Jersey - about 700 miles away.  We figure it will take us 2-3 days - we really don't have anything we want to see along the way, so we'll just drive till we get tired and sleep at a rest area, or a Walmart, or Truck stop.

We started in Indiana, then crossed into Ohio, West Virginia, and finally Pennsylvania:

It felt good to be on the road. I even took my turn at the wheel, driving a couple of hours - in three states! - while Jim rested.  Once we got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - we figured that a Turnpike Service Area would be a good place to stop and sleep a bit.  We pulled into the Sideling Hill service plaza, and were distressed to find that all the Truck/RV parking spaces were Back-In spaces.  HUH!?  I've never seen that, they've all been pull-thru in every other rest area I've seen.  When you're towing a car behind an RV, backing into a parking space is NOT an option!  So, we kept going.

By the time (9:45) we finally found a parking spot at the Cumberland Valley rest area, we had traveled over 500 miles for the day!  Definitely a record.  Now we only have 200 miles tomorrow to reach our destination - Jimmy Lyon's driveway!  This is our favorite spot to park in the whole country.  We will be there for Jimmy's Corned Ham Party.  Then we'll stay thru the week of July 4.  Looking forward to it.

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Define Family

It’s been a sad week.  As Jim wrote in the last post, our friends Phil and Tracey May lost their son Josh in a senseless accident.  Then, within days, we both had to go to a big RV rally in Louisville, KY and do our job.  Phil stayed with us in our motorhome while he worked the rally.  Tracey stayed home while her Dad, who had flown over from England took her place at the rally.  Tracey’s Mom stayed with her at the RV park.  Ally also went to the rally to work the booth and she stayed with another RVing friend (Jim with Blue Ox).  It was probably good to be busy – we actually had a nice time with our slumber parties with Phil and ‘Dad.’ 
Today is the day for Josh’s memorial.
It was a 3 hour drive after the rally to come back to the RV park.  When we got here the place was buzzing.  Several more family members have flown over from England to be here.  And friends from as far away as California have also come.  The park manager put his own 5th Wheel trailer in the site next to the May’s so that their visitors would have a place to stay.

The May's RV with family and friends. The park owner put their 5th Wheel on the lot next to them so family who flew in from England would have a place to stay.

And we aren’t the only RV Family here either.  RV’s have been arriving all day and filling the place.  People who don’t know about the RVing family might feel bad that the May’s (Phil, Tracey and Ally) are on the road and don’t have family and friends nearby in their community.  What they don’t know is that RV friends have wheels on their homes and can make a community wherever you are.

Other friends from the RV Rally have been arriving all day for Josh's memorial

Other friends from the RV Rally have been arriving all day for Josh's memorial

Gathering for Josh's Memorial

As you hear about in many tragedies, you find out some wonderful things about the people around you ..  how good and loving they are.  We are all family when someone we love is hurting.

In case you don't know Phil, Tracey, Ally, and Josh - here's a little video I did about them and their business TechnoRV.  This was taken a couple years ago.