Friends and Family Tour 2017

Brookville, PA – After spending a couple days at Katie and Franks house in Cincinnati, we loaded Katie and Hudson in the RV and traveled to Clarion PA.  We were going to attend a surprise birthday party for my brother Dan who was turning 70.  (Frank followed later in the car) All the Tim Shaffer branch (formerly known as the Illinois Shaffers} were planning to attend.  Also, everyone wanted to visit my mother who will be 95 this fall.  It’s not often we can all be together so this was a special time for more than one reason.  Although we drove our RV, we decided to get a room so we could easily visit with everyone.  At this point, counting spouses and grandchildren, we total 13.  The timing was great and we all arrived within about 2 hours of each other.  While we were parking the RV, a couple stopped and asked if we traveled in the RV and stayed in hotels.  I should have said we decided to spend all this money so we could drive on the interstate and my wife could make me a sandwich without stopping. 

On Saturday morning Becky and I took Damion on a tour of the area since this was his first visit to Western PA.  It was fun driving around to see what the new owners of mom and dad’s house were doing, visiting Shannondale. the church, my high school, the college and some of the little towns.  Damion took several pictures of the area including some while Becky and I ate ice cream at the Dell at 10:30 in the morning. He also brought his drone and took some awesome video at the surprise party.

We arrived at the party at 6pm.  There were a lot of people there, about 70, and I knew all but a couple. It was good to catch up with everybody. As a coincidence, Steve and Yonna Barnett were in town so we arranged for them to come also.  Steve and I were best friends since the first grade and went into the Navy together.  My sister, and all my nieces and nephews were there as well as most all the cousins and many friends and family. The surprise party was a success in that Dan was surprised and didn’t clutch his chest or pass out and everyone had a good time and made it home safely.  I must admit I am a little out of practice driving western PA country roads late at night.

On Sunday, we parked the RV at Dan and Janes yard.  Andy and his family were there as well as Matt, Amanda, Gwen and Wendy.  We ate leftovers, shot guns, and Dan gave complementary rides on the 4-wheeler to the the kids.  Another fun time.

Monday and Tuesday were days to catch up on some housekeeping and Dan helped me fix a few things on the RV.  One of the highlights was the trip to Benezette, PA.  This is a small town in Elk County.  We ate at the Benezette Hotel then drove up the mountain to the overlook to see elk.  The timing was great because we saw about 30 different elk.  There was a bull, 3 cows and a calf grazing no more than 100 feet away from us.  It is a wild area and during the drive we saw a black bear and 2 cubs, a bobcat, several deer, a ground hog and a squirrel.  There is an RV park near-by and I am already formulating plans to go back and stay a day or two. It will take me that long to convince GA she won’t get eaten by a bear.

On Wednesday, we left for Andy and Yoko’s in Severn, MD to celebrate Ryan’s 6th birthday and Labor Day then it’s off for home. 

See Ya Out There!
That's a lot of candles!
Waiting at the Benezette Hotel
Sister Wendy and Mom




 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark Sky Riders 2018

June 27 th and 28 th We finally got on the road on the 27 th and spent an uneventful night at Cecil Bay RV Park where we stayed one year ago to the day.   From there we traveled to Cherokee, NC nestled at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.   We stayed at Cherokee Great Smokies KOA.   A large park with lots of amenities and full hook ups although we did not have a sewer hookup and had to use the dump station.   You would think for $61 you would get a sewer hookup.   The park as well as the town is located on the Cherokee reservation.  Signage is written both in English and Cherokee.  At the Park we paid a tribal fee and at the gas station we paid a service fee amounting to a couple dollars.  While we were there we met a couple that had a Trend, the same RV as ours only theirs was a year older.   We made contact and chatted quite a while, swapping war stories and exchanging ideas.   When we decided to stay in Ch...
Read more

Dark Sky Riders 2018

July 19 thru 21 We continued our travel from Beckley WV to Gatlinburg TN.   The RV park where we stayed was the nicest we have experienced yet.   And although nestled in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains, the sites were nice and level.   Just outside the entrance was a trolley stop you could use to get most anywhere including Dollywood in Pidgeon Forge, TN.   We had no interest in Dollywood, but we did use the trolley to go downtown a couple times.   Gatlinburg was more touristy than what I had imagined.   Plenty of eateries, wax museums, and fudge shops.   Lots of people too.   We walked the main street, ate a Cajun dinner looked at some shops but no wax museums or fudge. We went to a steak house one other night called The Alamo and had a very good dinner.   I suspect we will come back as there is a lot more to do in the area especially in the mountains.   When we left on Sunday morning, we paid a visit to Matt, our nephew wh...
Read more

Dark Sky Riders 2018

July 27, 28 At this point we are ready to go home but we had two more nights planned at Silver Springs State Park near Ocala, FL.   We decided to cancel the second night and arrive home a day early. We arrived at Silver Springs, a huge state Park with lots of activities.   We didn’t do much there but we will be back for a longer stay soon.   The next day, Saturday, we arrived home about 1pm.   Here are the stats of the trip. 3457 miles traveled at an average of 47 mph 249 gallons of gasoline at an average of 14.3 mpg $688 for gas at an average of $2.74/gal (We averaged $2.18/gal last year) $710 for campgrounds for 17 nights 9 days at Katie and Frank’s and 5 days at Dan and Jane’s It was a good trip.   Next trip this fall to see new grandbaby and a Trend rally in Arkansas.   See Ya Out There!
Read more