My annual checkup at the V.A. hospital here in Lexington, Kentucky was scheduled for 10 a.m. yesterday, but we arrived a half hour early, and within about 5 minutes I was in an exam room where a nurse took my vitals, and then she took me in to see my doctor.

He read over my file, we talked a little bit about some little problems I’ve been having, he entered an order for refills on a couple of prescriptions, and told me to have a nice winter. The next stop was the lab in the basement, where they drew blood, told me they were out of flu shots, and sent me on my way. We were back in the van and headed home by 10:30. They sure do work fast there!

It looks like I’ll be kicking around this old rock a few more years at least, and that’s good news, because there’s a lot I still have left to see and do.

I’m still not completely decided about switching to the Tucson V.A. hospital for my primary care, because the folks here in Lexington have taken very good care of me. It’s just not very convenient to get here at times.

I really wish Lexington had more than one RV park, because we really don’t care for Kentucky Horse Park. It’s always crowded, and at $28 a night for a back-in water and electric RV site, it’s certainly no bargain. There are other RV parks south of Lexington, down around Berea, but by the time you pay for gas to run back and forth, you don’t save any money. At least it’s a short drive from the Horse Park to the V.A. hospital.  

Back at the motorhome, I got the new digital issue uploaded and sent e-mails to our digital subscribers with a link to access it. For some reason, a couple of e-mails bounced back, so if you subscribe to the digital issue and didn’t get the e-mail, let me know and we’ll figure out what went wrong.

A few days ago I wrote about my first impressions of the new Droid Incredible phone, and somebody e-mailed to tell me that they had heard the battery life isn’t great. That’s true, compared to the Blackberry Storm I had before, the Droid’s battery goes down somewhat faster. Especially if you are using a lot of apps at once, such as the GPS, or the Bluetooth. I don’t use the Bluetooth at all, and I keep the GPS feature turned off if I’m not using it, and I can go about 24 hours between battery charges, unless I spend a lot of time talking on the telephone. When I got the phone, I also got the accessory 12 volt battery charger cord, and I have found it useful, especially when using the GPS in the van.

Somebody on the Escapees Forum posted some info about out a new app for both Droids and iPhones called Allstays Camp and RV, which lists all kinds of great information, including WalMart and Sam’s Club stores with RV parking, Cracker Barrel restaurants, truck stops, highway rest areas, private and public campgrounds, Camping World stores, RV service facilities, and so much more that I can’t list everything here.

The app uses Google maps to locate things in your immediate area, with filters so that you only see the things you want to see. All you do is select a location, and it navigates you right to it! At $3.99, it’s a heck of an investment. I downloaded it to my Droid and have used it already. 

Isn’t technology a wonderful thing!

Thought For A Day – Every path has some puddles.

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The Flying J at at Catlettsburg, Kentucky had several dedicated RV parking sites, but we were the only RV there Saturday night, which is a first for us. Usually Flying Js fill up with RVs early and they stay overnight, taking advantage of the company’s RV friendly hospitality.

I don’t drink coffee because it might stunt my growth, and I’ll be short when I grow up. But Miss Terry needs a cup or three to get her going for the day, so while she was “putting on her face” yesterday morning, I walked into the truck stop store and got her a large cup. Coming back, I snapped a couple of pictures of our Winnebago in the RV parking area.

By the way, what is this whole “putting on my face” thing with ladies about anyway? What’s wrong with the face she wore when we went to bed last night, and that I woke up to this morning? It looked darned beautiful to me. How come it’s not good enough for the rest of the world?

We pulled out of the Flying J about 9:30 and had an easy run west on Interstate 64, passing some nice farmland along the way. There were some rolling hills, but nothing like what we had in Virginia and West Virginia the day before.

We arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park campground about noon and the place was a madhouse, as weekend campers were pulling out in a hurry to get home, and new folks were coming in. At the dump station, a fellow in a motorhome in front of us almost backed into us after he was finished. All he had to do was drive forward and out, and I have no idea why he put it in reverse instead. I laid on the horn, and he woke up and stopped less than six inches from the front of our Winnebago. His wife got out and apologized to Terry, and said “ I don’t know why that man does the things he does sometimes!” Uh, maybe because he’s an idiot?   

I also saw another jerk with a pickup and travel trailer pulling out of one of the camping loops way too fast, and he almost hit a kid on a bicycle. The boy fell off and yelled, and the guy gave him the finger and kept right on going. Another man jumped into his truck and took off after him, while the mother and I checked on the boy. He had a skinned up arm, and was scared, but it could have been a lot worse. What an idiot! I was glad to get backed into our RV site in one piece.

So what do you do if you’ve driven 560 miles in two days? If you’re us, you jump in your van and drive another 60 or 70 miles to visit a cemetery. My great grandparents are buried in Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, which is in the Covington metropolitan area, right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, and I wanted to find their graves.

The cemetery was huge, but we had the section and plot numbers, and managed to find it with just a little bit of searching. I don’t know much about my family history, but we learned that my great grandfather served in the U.S. Navy. Back at the motorhome, a search on Ancestry.com showed me that he also received a pension from the Navy. The time frame means he could have served during the Civil War, but it will take some more research to get the details of his service.

I also had the address where they lived, in the little Ohio River town of Ludlow, Kentucky, which was only a few miles away, so we drove over to check it out. We found the right street, but there was no house with the same number, though the houses and businesses in the neighborhood all date back to the time when my great grandparents lived there. It was pretty neat to drive around, looking at the old homes and businesses, and to think that that my great grandparents, who died before I was born, walked these same streets and saw these same buildings. Did they attend worship services at that church? Did they shop in the stores in this commercial block? Did they fish on the bank of the river where we stopped? It really gave me a connection to them.

By the time we got back to Lexington, we were famished. Last year when we were here, we discovered the Asian Royal Buffet in Georgetown, a couple of miles north of the Horse Park, and it was very good, so we stopped for dinner. As most readers know, we eat at a lot of Chinese buffets all over the country. If not the very best, this has to be in the very top two or three. The selection was huge and everything was hot and delicious. Our waitress was very efficient and attentive, and the total bill for two of us, with tea and a coke, was $23. We’ll go back every time we’re in the area.

Today I have my annual checkup at the VA hospital, and then we’ll pick up the envelopes from the mail service and start stuffing them with the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. Depending on how long that takes, and whatever follow up attention I need at the VA hospital, we hope to be out of here by the end of the week.

Thought For The Day -To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.

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Yesterday was another one of those marathon driving days that RVers are not supposed to do, but that we find ourselves doing quite often. We do this sometimes when we have to get from Point A to Point B, and don’t have time to stop and play along the way. It’s not our preferred mode of travel, but what can I say? I enjoy driving my motorhome.  If it’s a good day, and the Winnebago is running smooth, and we’re having a good time, why stop until we’re tired?

We left the Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails campground at Gloucester, Virginia a little after 9 a.m., headed west on State Route 33, crossed the York River, and got onto Interstate 64 about 25 miles outside of Richmond. Once on I-64, we pointed the nose of the coach west and just let her roll.

We had never been in this part of Virginia before, and as we climbed up into the mountains, we started to see some nice fall colors. Maybe not as dramatic as we’ve seen in northern Michigan, but pretty none the less.

We passed several very nice little farms along the way.

Looks like somebody needs a new roof on their barn.

Now that’s a steep bridge! I wonder what percent that is at? I sure wouldn’t want to come down it on an icy day!

And what’s a road trip without road construction?

Just before we crossed into West Virginia, we had five miles of 5%  downhill grade. We crossed the state line at 2 p.m., and Miss Terry got some pictures of the rocky hillsides alongside the highway.

West Virginia is pretty, but it’s not a place to do a lot of rubbernecking if you’re the driver. I don’t think there’s one mile of straight highway in the entire state. It’s either uphill or downhill, and you’re always winding around the side of a mountain. 

At one point, near the New River Gorge,  we had four miles of 7% downhill grade before we climbed back up the other side.

Interstate 64 joined the West Virginia Turnpike and followed it north to Charleston. Most of the way was winding roadway with a lot of potholes to keep us awake. Traffic in Charleston was light, and before we knew it we had passed the gold domed state capitol building and I-64 had turned back west again.

A little over an hour later, we crossed into Kentucky and pulled into the Flying J at Catlettsburg, a little after 5 p.m. We fueled up, and then pulled into one of their designated RV parking spaces.

We had not eaten all day and were famished, so we headed for the truck stop’s restaurant. Usually I’ll just order a burger at Flying J, but the buffet had a very good looking selection, so we both chose that instead. I’m not sure if it was because we were so hungry or what, but our dinner was outstanding. Much better than what we’ve come to expect for a truck stop buffet.

It was a long day, and I was ready to stop driving, so we spent the night at the Flying J, with 435 miles behind us. Yes, I know that’s a lot of miles for retired RVers. But we’re not retired, we’re still working folks who just happen to live the fulltime RV lifestyle as we run our business. We could had stopped sooner and had more miles to drive today, but as it is, we’re less than 120 miles from Kentucky Horse Park. So we can get in early today, get settled in, and then relax the rest of the day.

Thought For The Day – A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

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After a chilly night in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in Gallipolis, Ohio, we were up bright and early yesterday morning. There were several things we wanted to see locally, so I went inside the store and obtained permission to leave our motorhome there for a couple of hours while we went exploring in the van.

Gallipolis was settled in the late 1700s by French aristocrats who fled the old country to escape the guillotine. It is the hometown of Bob Evans, founder of the Bob Evans Restaurant chain, and the family farm is now a tourist attraction that includes an RV park offering water and electric hookups and a dump station for $15/night.

While exploring the friendly community, we noticed several back in RV sites with water and electric hookups at a Public Access boat launch on the bank of the Ohio River downtown. I stopped at City Hall to ask about the sites, and learned that RVers passing through the area can stay either for free, for $10 a night, or for $25 a night, depending on which secretary you want to believe. For free or $10 a night, I’d stay a while just to watch the riverboats going by, but for $25 a night, I’d pass.

This trip it didn’t matter, because we had a lot of miles to cover yet. We crossed the river on the Silver Memorial Bridge, and I think I may be getting over my bridge phobia, because I didn’t snivel once. The original Silver Bridge here collapsed in 1967, throwing 70 cars into the river below and claiming 46 lives. Maybe I’m not over my phobia after all, and I just figured lighting wouldn’t strike twice in the same place.

On the West Virginia side of the river, Point Pleasant is a charming little town with enough to see and do to keep visitors busy for several days. In 1774, a force of Virginia militia was ambushed here by Shawnee and Mingo Indians and the fierce battle lasted for hours. In the end, 75 militiamen were killed, along with an estimated 33 Indians. Many consider this to be the first battle of the American Revolution. Today a small park on the riverfront where the battle took place includes an 84 foot high granite obelisk honoring the men who fought and died here.

Point Pleasant also has a place in paranormal history. Here, in 1966, a strange winged man-like creature that became known as Mothman was reportedly sighted. Since then there have been several reported sightings of the creature, usually before disasters. Several people claimed to see Mothman perched high in the girders of the original Silver Bridge before it collapsed. Since then, Mothman has become a worldwide phenomenon, with mention in documentary films, movies and television specials.

Sure, it’s probably just the figment of imaginations gone wild, but the folks in Point Pleasant took it serious enough to erect a state of Mothman on Main Street downtown, and there is a Mothman Museum just across the street.

With our sightseeing over, we returned to Gallipolis, picked up the motorhome, and crossed the river again. On the Ohio side of the river, U.S. Highway 35 had been a very nice divided four lane, but  a couple of miles into West Virginia, it dropped down to a two lane road with no shoulders, and lots of curves for maybe 25 miles, and then it became divided four lane again.

Before long we joined Interstate 64 and followed it east a few miles into Charleston, where we picked up Interstate 77 south past the gold domed State Capitol building. Traffic was pretty heavy in Charleston, but before long we put the city behind us, and Interstate 77 became the West Virginia Turnpike.

For the next hundred miles we climbed up and around one mountain after another, the Winnebago doing just fine. I can’t believe the power this thing has! The constant climbing did affect our fuel mileage, though. The day before, we averaged 8.1 miles per gallon across relatively flat Indiana and Ohio, according to the Silverleaf, and yesterday our average was right at 7 miles per gallon.

It cost $10.50 in tolls to travel from Charleston to the state line, but I don’t think they spend much of that money on highway improvements, because that was one rough road in many places!

We crossed into Virginia, stopped for fuel at the T/A truck stop in Wytheville, and in less than an hour we arrived at Mayberry Campground in Mount Airy, North Carolina.  

Mount Airy is the hometown of television star Andy Griffith, and the picturesque town was the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry in the old Andy Griffith show.

Andy and his trusty deputy Barney Fife probably wouldn’t recognize the old town these days. It has a Wal-Mart Super Center, Staples Office Supply, Golden Corral Buffet, Lowes, and other major stores and restaurants.  Unfortunately, crime has come to Mayberry. The day before we arrived, a gunman killed four men in a shooting a few blocks from Main Street.

This is a beautiful area, with a lot to see and do, and we’ll be here a few days before we head on down the road. I’ll have a lot to share with you in tomorrow’s blog, so stay tuned. 

Thought For The Day – Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

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After waiting way too long, due to last minute details we needed to get done, and then bad weather, yesterday we finally hit the road and gave our bad case of hitch itch a mighty scratch!

After a week of gloomy sky, wind, and rain, Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, with no wind. A perfect day for traveling! Miss Terry stowed away the things inside the motorhome that needed to be secured so they didn’t become a deadly missile in the event of an accident, while I unhooked our water, electric, and sewer connection from the campground’s utility pedestal. Then we hooked up our Blue Ox tow bar, I disengaged the van’s driveshaft disconnect, and turned on the SMI auxiliary brake.

While we were doing that, Gypsy Journal subscriber Herb Staffenski came by to purchase several of our books. It was nice to meet Herb and his wife Anke, and they hope to join us at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering in Yuma, in March.

After running the slides in and pulling up our HWH leveling jacks, we said our goodbyes to Greg and Jan White, and I thanked Greg again for all of his help over the last couple of weeks. It was nice to have the time to get to know this fun couple better, and we look forward to many more good times together in the future.

After a quick scan of our PressurePro tire monitoring system, we pulled out of Elkhart Campground a little after 11:00 a.m., got on the Indiana Toll Road and headed east about 50 miles to the junction with Interstate 69, which we followed south to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then got on U.S. Highway 30 eastbound, a nice divided four lane highway with little traffic.

We crossed into Ohio and continued east past Van Wert, and eventually came to Interstate 75, and took it south to Dayton. There was a lot more traffic on the superslab, and in Dayton we ran into a long stretch of road construction, with narrow lanes and concrete barriers instead of shoulders. I was glad to leave the interstate again and get onto U. S. Highway 35, another nice four lane limited access road that carried us 140 miles southeast through farmlands and rolling hills to Gallipolis, on the Ohio River.

I said in the blog a few days ago that an ideal driving day in an RV is 250 to 300 miles, but that sometimes when the traveling is good, we find ourselves going past that. And so it was yesterday. By the time we pulled into the Wal-Mart Super Center in Gallipolis and tucked ourselves into the far edge of the parking lot for the night, it was twilight and we had covered 387 miles. We had a bad case of hitch itch, and it just needed to be scratched!

After I wrote about their diesel engine monitoring systems for PC based computers a while back, and included a link to Norm Payne’s excellent article  on the Silverleaf Electronics moitoring system, the nice folks at Silverleaf loaned me one of their VMSpc cables to evaluate and review, and I had hooked it up to a small Acer netbook computer before we hit the road for this trip. The cable plugs into the data port under our RV’s dash, and the Silverleaf program monitors dozens of engine functions with digital displays that you can customize for your own needs.

According to the Silverleaf, we averaged 8.1 miles per gallon yesterday, most of it with the cruise control set at 63 miles per hour, though there were a few times when I was up around 66 or 67 MPH to keep up with the traffic flow.

The more I drive our Winnebago, the more I like it. Even towing our ¾ ton Ford van, the Cummins 350 horsepower engine had no problems coming up a few rather steep hills, down here in southern Ohio, at 60 or 65 miles per hour. I’m impressed!   

Today we’ll cross into West Virginia and continue our trek into new territory to explore and new adventures to discover. 

Thought For The Day – If you do what you enjoy and don’t harm other people, you’re living a beautiful life.

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