Author: Wanda and John

Today we drove about 6 hours west to upper New York State near Honeoye lake.  We’ll be visiting family in this area for the next couple of days and will have more pictures and videos soon.  In the meantime here’s a short video of what John’s command center looks like when we’re traveling in the truck. Excuse the shaky camera…..New York roads haven’t gotten any better 😬

On Tuesday we drove north out of Pennsylvania and up to New York to a campsite near Poughkeepsie.   We had such a great time visiting our friends and family in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey area. Lots of barbecues and great food (thanks again Justin and all of the O’Niels) but no hotdogs for me!

This is me with Josh and Leah in Leah’s backyard in Matawan.

We are now camped near Sylvan Lake about an hour and a half north of New York City.  John’s daughter Tori lives near here with her boyfriend Matt and we were able to have dinner with them and catch up.

Yesterday we took the train down into New York City to visit with John’s daughter Kirsten (sorry that we missed seeing Rose though).  She lives just north of central park and south of Columbia University where she is finishing her PhD.   We are so proud of her and all of our kids who we firmly believe have now launched successfully into the adult world.   Good job kids and good job us!!!!!

It was wonderful to spend time with both of his girls and it was definitely an adventure going into the city.   This train was very different from our last train ride in North Carolina! Check out the video below of our trip into NYC and a little glimpse of Kirsten’s apartment at the very end of the video.

Tomorrow we pack up and head west to visit my mom in upstate New York near the finger Lakes in Honeoye NY.  We had such a good time here and we will miss everyone. But all you Northeast people should come down to Florida and visit us when it’s winter up here!  We would love to have you 😁

On Tuesday we moved from VA to PA.  We are parked in an RV park in Bangor PA which is situated between my son in Stroudsburg PA and my daughter in Aberdeen NJ so we’ve been able to spend time with both.  On Tuesday we will move north to NY to visit with John’s daughters and we can’t wait to see them!

Here’s my daughter with her new puppy named Rudy.  He’s a great addition to the family 🙂

We had a nice hike today through the forest. So quiet, calm and peaceful and a million miles away from everything.  Thankfully we didn’t run into any bears.  We did have our bear spray just in case.

When we checked in here on Saturday the park was full and every camping spot was taken. But yesterday everyone cleared out and now we have the whole place to ourselves.

Tomorrow we pack up and head north to Pennsylvania. I’m so excited to see our family and friends in the Northeast!!!

We packed up camp yesterday and said goodbye to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and to our friends and drove north to Virginia.  We’re staying a few days in the Shenandoah National Park and will be leaving here on Tuesday.  We had such a great time in NC and can’t wait to visit again.   Special thanks to Ang and Bob for everything especially the food! and to Billy and Lisa for hanging out and for dinner 🙂 Below are some memories from our last few days.

Today we took a ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.  It was a perfect day to ride through the mountains and over the lakes on the open air car of the train.  John’s photos below and a video.

I shot the raw footage for the video using a DJI Osmos stick which stabilizes the cell phone and makes the footage look smooth and professional.

John did the editing for the final cut so it’s a real team effort 🙂 Click HERE or on the photo below to view the video and ride along with us on the Smoky Mountains Railroad!

Today we took a ride up to the Nantahala National Forest to check out another beautiful waterfall.

We were able to walk directly behind the falls to the other side.

Such an amazing display of the power of mother nature.

We took a drive this afternoon up to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We saw these signs at a shop on the way up.  I thought they were funny!

In the National Park we visited a site with historical buildings on a farm setting.  It was situated in a valley that was so peaceful and beautiful.

While we were there Bob saw this sign 😁

And we took a moment to just relax and take in the view.

Tonight we had the pleasure of seeing a very good friend Billy and his lovely girlfriend Lisa who live in the area and they joined us for a cookout here in the RV park.   It’s so great to reconnect with old friends and to meet new ones.   We are very grateful to be surrounded by all the good people around us.

We made it through the rain yesterday back to NC.  We are camping on the Tuckasegee River between the Smoky Mountains to the north and the Nantahala National Forest to our south.  As soon as the weather clears we’ll have some pictures of the campground and river that is flowing right behind us.  Our friends Ang and Bob arrived here yesterday and they are camping in the spot right next to us with their RV! It’s going to be a fun week 🙂  We have a lot of catching up to do…

And Happy Mother’s Day to all, but especially to the best Mom ever….mine 🙂

Love you Mom.

We are packing up and heading out of Tennessee today back over to the other side of the mountain in NC to camp with our friends Angela and Bob who are expected to arrive later today.  And it’s moving day rain or shine.

Well maybe John is not having that much fun this morning 😁