ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Jim & Sim's Great Adventure</title> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <center> <table width=750 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0> <tr> <td colspan=6> <center> <img src="header6.jpg" width=750 height=250 alt="Jim & Sim"> </center> </td></tr> <tr> <td> <a href="index.htm"><img src="1.gif" border=0></a> </td> <td> <a href="who.htm"><img src="2.gif" border=0></a> </td> <td> <a href="travelogue.htm"><img src="3.gif" border=0></a> </td> <td> <a href="photos.htm"><img src="4.gif" border=0></a> </td> <td> <a href="links.htm"><img src="5.gif" border=0></a> </td> <td> <a href="mailto:jimandsim@gmail.com"><img src="6.gif" border=0></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan=6> <font face="comic sans ms, arial, verdana" size=2> <br><br> <blockquote> <b><u>Jun 4</u></b><br> Jim came home from California tonight. Yea! The doctor said he was doing well and could continue to play outside. <P> <b><u>Jun 5</u></b><br> While in California, I stayed with Webmaster Dennis, and his wife Katherine. They were great hosts. Remember their Scotty dog McDuff and their 16 year old cat Tiki. Well McDuff is fully recovered from his leg surgery. Tiki is doing wonderful for cat her age. While I enjoyed beautiful weather in California, Sim did not have much fun with the tornadoes in Indianapolis. I was a bit concerned with what was going on in Indy, but not enough to really worry about Sim. <P> After returning back to Indy, I learned that the tornadoes were more serious than I thought. The night I came back, storms were coming on our way. There were warnings on every local channel urging people to stay inside their houses, and to seek shelter immediately if they were in the tornado zones. <img src="7950.jpg" width=190 height=250 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> I looked at Sim when I heard the sirens go off and she said with a calm voice that there was nothing to worry about  it was just a Storm alert. She definitely learned about the tornado system here in her short stay. Our coach was shaking pretty good when the storm passed by. It was quite an experience. <P> Today we went into downtown Indianapolis for the day. We found the Visitors Center and the Historical Society Center and spent some time looking for more Scudder relatives. No luck. We got some information on the downtown points of interest and headed off to see the sights. We found an indoor shopping mall with a food court and ate lunch. Next we went to the War Memorial and took the elevator up to the Observation Deck. The memorial is pretty old and the deck and widows are in bad shape. We then went to another War Museum and walked through the whole thing. It was pretty cool. The weather is hot and humid. This is how I envisioned the Mid West. <P> <b><u>Jun 6  8 (3 nights, Markland, IN USA  Follow the River Campground)</u></b><br> We are off to southern Indiana today. But first I want to get the oil changed in the coach. I noticed a Petro Lube Center on the way to Indianapolis, so we headed north first to Petro. We queued up in line and were finally ready to go around 1:00 p.m. I plan to use Petro from now on for oil changes. $187. What a deal. I think it was $400 at Transwest for the previous oil change. <P> <img src="7958.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> Finally we were off to Vevay. I had hoped that we might get to the County Courthouse before they closed. It was not to be. We had to take a lot of hilly and winding back roads, which by the way were full of pretty countryside. We had a small adventure as the country roads are a bit narrow with no center line. The road is not wide enough to be two lanes. On one section of the road, the mailman who was coming in the opposite direction waved us down and told us that we must prepare for a tractor who was 200 hundreds behind him. Sure enough the maybe-one-or-two-lane road could not fit both tractor and our coach at the same time. One must make room for the other and the courteous tractor driver stopped for us to go first. We did not get to Vevay until 6:00 p.m. The Courthouse closed at 3:30 and they are not open Saturday or Sunday. So it looks like we are staying here until Monday. We are here in Vevay to try to find out more about my Great-Grandfather who was born here in Switzerland County, Indiana. In fact, he was born in Markland, which is actually right where we are staying. <P> Sim and I get settled in the park. While Sim cleaned up inside, I washed the front of the coach as is my ritual when we get to a park. I find the front cleans up really good when I do it right after we arrive. The bugs come off very easily. <img src="7962.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> <P> On the drive through town, after we checked on the Courthouse, we found out they were having the First Friday Party in town tonight. We saw one vendor on Main street roasting a pig on the back of his truck. Yum! Sim said we are coming back to eat this delicious looking pig tonight. After we showered and got cleaned up, we headed off for town and the party. First we stopped at the roasted pig vendor for some bar-b-que pork and tenderloin along with cole slaw, pasta salad and corn on the cob, all for $11. There were two bands playing and a good time was being had by all the party participants. <P> <b><u>Jun 7</u></b><br> Our plan was to stay until Monday so we could go to the Courthouse and try to find birth /death records on any of my ancestors. While we were driving around, I spotted an open Museum which turned out to also be the Historical Society of Vevay. Sim was not interested so I went in by myself and paid the $5. for the tour. At the end of the tour I asked if they had any historical records for the Scudders. <img src="7997.jpg" width=200 height=260 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> The lady attending the place opened a file cabinet and pulled out a folder with Scudder-Gullion written on the tab. Eureka! My line of the Scudders. My father, his father, his grand father and so on, all the way back to Nathaniel Scudder, born in 1849 right here in Switzerland Co. With this information and a quick search on the Internet, I was able to trace my line all the way back to Matthias Scudder, born 1732 in New Jersey. I am still checking facts but I believe I can trace Matthias back to John Scudder, born about 1565. So with this new information, Sim and I headed to three local cemeteries to find my long gone relatives. We found Nathaniel, my great great grandfather, at Hastie Cemetery. We found William, my great great great grandfather, ( who fathered 23 children with two wives) and Abner, my great great great great grandfather, (Revolutionary War soldier) up at Bethel Cemetery. Irvin (my great grandfather), Florian ( died in Italy in WW II) and Ulysses were found at the Warsaw, KY Cemetery right across the Ohio River from Markland and Vevay, IN. This was a big cemetery and Sim and I walked it for several hours trying to find everyone. We never found Irvin's first wife Carrie, my great grandmother, and a couple of other Uncles that are supposed to be buried there as well. <P> <b><u>Jun 8 ( 1 night, Lebanon, OH USA  Cedar Brook Campground)</u></b><br> I got up early this morning. <img src="8016.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> I wanted to go back out to the Hastie Cemetery and the cemetery in Warsaw with cleaning supplies and clean up the headstones of some of the Scudders. I stopped and Hastie first and cleaned up Nathaniel and Jane, then went on into Warsaw and prettied up Irvin, Flora, Florian, and Ulysses. Over the years the headstones get black with lichens. Back at the coach, Sim was cooking up some meals in advance since were were going to boondock at Wal Mart tonight. <P> Driving to Cincinnati today. We planned to stay at a Wal Mart, but when we arrived at the Wal-Mart in West Chester we found out that they do not allow overnight parking. A guy in a tow truck came by to warn us, and we confirmed that warning with the manager inside the store. Seems the town passed an ordinance prohibiting overnighting in parking lots. We left that town without spending a dime. <P> We checked on nearby campgrounds and found Cedar Brook in Lebanon, and headed that way. Cedar Brook is nice and shady. Lots of permanents there, but we are only here one night so we are staying here. We normally prefer not to stay at campgrounds that have a lot of permanents. The campgrounds don't seem to be kept up as well as the  resort places. <P> After we set up camp, we jumped in the Jeep and headed to Cincinnati. <img src="8024.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> The purpose of our trip there was not to see the sights of downtown, but to go see the house where I lived in 1949. My sister Judy found the address on her birth certificate, so we punched it into the GPS and headed out for North College Hill, Ohio. I really don't remember much about the neighborhood since I was only 4 years old when our family lived there. We found the house, and walked all around it. The land sloped in the back yard just like I remembered. It brought back my memory of a good times one winter sitting on a sled while my father pushed me down the  hill in our backyard full of snow. I knocked on the door, but no one was home. The house looked in pretty good shape and appears to have been taken care of over the years. <P> <b><u>Jun 9  11 (3 nights, Westerville, OH USA  Tree Haven Campground)</u></b><br> Driving towards Columbus today. We will stage up somewhere near Columbus for a few days while we pick up a guest and see the sights. We have 3 possible parks picked out and the first one we are going to check out is the nearest one to the airport. We found the park, and it is kind of out in the boondocks just east of Hoover Lake <P> It is nice enough I guess. Rate is kind of steep at $32 night. But, like fuel, everything is going up! <P> We decided to do our laundry. The park has one washer and one dryer. You have to pay at the office first. $3.00 to wash and dry one load. It took hours to get two loads done. The dryer took 1.5 hours to get the clothes dry. We hung up the sheets on a clothes line outside the laundry room. They only took 30 minutes to dry hanging outside. <P> There is a big storm coming tonight according to the TV news. Got a few emails from friends asking if we were in the path of all the torrential rains and flooding they have been hearing about in this neck of the woods. <P> <b><u>Jun 10</u></b><br> It rained really hard last night. The lightning and thunder woke me up around 2:00 a.m. I started counting the seconds between the lightning flash and the clap of thunder and when the time started getting longer I finally went back to sleep. <P> We are picking up Chawin at Port Columbus International Airport at 7:15 p.m. Chawin is Sim's friend's son who came to the U.S for a one year as an exchange student. He finished his student program last week at a high school in El Paso and is flying to meet us today. He will be traveling with us for the next couple of weeks, then we will drop him off in Philadelphia where he is going to catch a train to Newark International airport in New Jersey and then fly to Los Angeles Int'l airport, then on to his final destination of Bangkok. The rain has stopped and it is a beautiful day here in Ohio. It is not too hot and there is a nice breeze blowing. Sim is cooking, cleaning and ironing. I am outside puttering around the coach and the Jeep. I need to make some room in the Jeep for Chawin's suitcases. We went shopping for supplies at Kroger so the pantry is stocked for the next week or so. Chawin is a teenager, so am I guessing he is a big eater. <P> We made it to the airport in time for Chawin's arrival. I sent Sim in to Baggage Claim to hunt him down and I only had to make the airport loop 3 times before he was waiting for me at curbside with Sim. We got him settled in back at the coach and Sim gave him the tour and showed him where the light switches were and how the bathroom works. Before we picked up Chawin, Sim had prepared a Thai dish she thought he might be craving. We had homemade chicken wontons, tenderloin pork bar-b-q, steamed bok choy with egg noodle for dinner. Delicious as usual. I went to bed at 11:30 and Sim and Chawin were catching up at each other until... I don't know when. <P> <b><u>Jun 11</u></b><br> We are off to downtown Columbus today. <img src="8045.jpg" width=300 height=130 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> I made a short list of stuff to see so we started at the top of the list and went to see CornHenge in Dublin, OH. A guy by the name of Franz was a pioneer in developing hybrid corn, and he donated some land for a park. A sculpture was commissioned to put some art in the park so the artist made over 100 8 foot tall pieces of shucked corn. We played in the park for a bit then headed off to downtown. First stop was the VC of course. We heard a brief story about the State Capitol and decided to go see that next. We walked the 10 or so blocks to get to the Capitol building in time for the 12:00 guided tour. Our tour guide, Sue was quite knowledgeable and told us some interesting stories about this building that took over 20 years to complete. Of particular interest was the fact that Abe Lincoln made 3 visits to the Capitol Building. The last visit, unfortunately, was after he was assassinated and they were taking him home to Illinois for burial. <img src="8058.jpg" width=190 height=250 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> <P> We were starving so we looked for some lunch. Sim and Chawin saw Vietnamese and Thai restaurants on the way we walked to Capitol building. They chose the Vietnamese restaurant as Chawin had never had Vietnamese dishes in the U.S. We walked a few blocks but could not find the restaurant, so we settled on Subway. After lunch we headed for Graeter's Ice Cream factory for a self-guided factory tour and, of course, some ice cream after the tour. Sim needed supplies so, after we finished our delicious Graeter's Ice Cream, we punched in the addresses of a couple of local Asian Markets into the GPS and drove to the closest one. Sim and Chawin shopped in the store and I found a Golf shop a couple of doors down and looked at new golf clubs that I cannot afford. Stocked with asian goodies for a week or so we headed back to the coach. <BR><BR><BR> <b><u>Jun 12  14 (3 nights, Newbury, OH USA  Punderson State Park)</u></b><br> We are driving up towards Cleveland today. On the agenda is the Rock and Roll Museum, the West Side Market, an Indians Baseball game at Jacobs Field and maybe the Money Museum. Chawin took a nap all the way to Cleveland. Our sofa is either very comfortable or cursed. It puts all of our guests to sleep while I am driving. We decided to stay at a Punderson State Park south of Cleveland. It is about 30 miles from downtown but will take us an hour to get into town. Nothing exciting to report about the drive north. It was I-70 most of the way. We found the park and after checking in drove to our site. They have a half dozen full service sites here but they are all booked. We are in a site with 20 amp, no water and no sewer. We are close to the restroom/shower building however. I had to trim the tree at our site because a branch was hanging down and would have scraped the top of the coach. I know it is against the rules to  trim' trees, but I did it anyway. Someone before me had just grabbed one branch and just ripped it off the tree. At least I got out my saw and ladder and did a good trim. <img src="8071.jpg" width=250 height=160 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> <P> We ate lunch and then took a walk down to the marina by the lake. They have rowboats, kayaks and canoes for rent. Apparently there are fish in the lake too as the sign at the marina says the Catfish limit is 6. On the way back to the coach we took one of the hiking trails in the park. Chawin almost stepped on a snake in the middle of the trail. I got a stick and picked up to take a closer look. He was an aggressive little guy, and I could not identify if it was poisonous or not so we took a quick picture and let it go on its way. <P> <b><u>Jun 13</u></b><br> Today we are heading into Cleveland for a day of tourist stuff. First on the agenda is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. <img src="8073.jpg" width=250 height=170 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> We got there about 9:45 a.m., found some $6.00 parking and walked to the Hall of Fame. They open at 10:00 so we checked out Johnny Cash's converted MCI bus that he toured in for about 10 years. It is a custom bus made from a shell that he spent $500,000. on in 1968. We ended up spending 6 hours in the place. We toured all 6 floors and watch HELP, the Beatles movie. They have a lot of really neat stuff to see and lots of music you can listen to on the self guided tours. Unfortunately, they DO NOT allow cameras inside any of the exhibits in the museum, so no pictures to show you here or in the Photos section of our website. <P> <img src="8081.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> After the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame we walked down to the water on Lake Erie and went aboard the USS Cod, a WW II submarine that is docked close by. I was on a sub-tender in the Navy, but Chawin had never been on a boat (submarine) so we went aboard and checked it out. Sim passed on the submarine and went back to the car and grabbed our computer and searched for an open network to check email while waiting for us. The tour through the boat brought back a flood of memories for me and Chawin seemed to enjoy the tour of the boat as well. It was getting late in the day and when we got back to the car. Chawin mentioned to Sim that he wanted to eat some Thai dish, so Sim suggested we find an Asian grocery store on the way home to get some ingredients we don't have. I managed to find an Asian Supermarket a mile or so away. We stopped and Sim and Chawin went inside and 30 minutes later came out with lots of Asian goodies. <P> Back at the coach Chawin and Sim cooked while I put away the awnings for the anticipated thunderstorms that are forecast for this evening. For dinner I had baked orange peel tenderloin pork with salad and corn on the cob, Sim and Chawin were had chicken in bitter melon soup with spicy fish paste. Mine was scrumptious. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame trip got Chawin hooked on the Beatles. Back at the coach, we listened to the Beatles all day long. They were his favorite group out of all the groups we have on our iPod. <P> <b><u>Jun 14</u></b><br> We had Severe Thunderstorm Warnings all night. The wind picked up around 7:00 and it started raining cats and dogs. It rained hard for about an hour then just steady rain for the rest of the night. This morning was still drizzling but we could see some breaks in the clouds and it looked like it was going to be a great day. While Sim and Chawin planned meals for the day, I jumped in the car and went about 4 miles into Blufton to look for some free internet. I pulled up in front of the local coffee shop and viola, free internet. I download emails and checked again on a train ticket for Chawin from Philly to the New Jersey Airport. On the way back to the coach I stopped at the Golf Course that is in the park grounds and over at the Lodge to see if they had free internet. They did not, but the Golf Course looked nice and it is only $33. to play. But we are leaving tomorrow I think. We still need to discuss plans tonight. <P> Chawin got a bit bored being inside all morning. <img src="8083.jpg" width=300 height=160 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> By Noon the sun was coming out so we decided to put the kayaks in the water at Lake Punderson, just down the road. We drove to the lake, launched the kayaks and Sim and Chawin took the first rides. Twenty minutes later Chawin and Sim came back to the dock and said Chawin was done for today. It was Chawin first time kayaking so he managed to get himself pretty wet from the dripping paddle. Sim and I kayaked for another forty minutes or so. <img src="8099.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> After we finished kayaking, we came back to the coach and Sim made a blueberry smoothy for us. It was very refreshing after being out in the sun. Chawin seemed to be worn out from his twenty minutes of kayaking, so he took a nap while Sim prepared for dinner, and I polished a couple of wheels on the coach. We are having Sukiyaki tonight. Yum! Sim and Chawin, after he woke up, continued to work on dinner preparation for hours. It turned out really good. It was really nice outside still so we set up out there and had dinner on the picnic table at the campsite. <BR><BR><BR> <b><u>Jun 15 (1 night, Bedford, PA USA  Friendship Village RV Park)</u></b><br> Left Punderson State Park and headed for Bedford, PA. We picked Friendship Village Park as our overnight stop before heading to the Lancaster area. On the way to Bedford we stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial. The Memorial is off the freeway about 20 miles. We had to take some back country roads to get there. The roads kept getting smaller and narrower the closer we got. <img src="8106.jpg" width=250 height=160 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> Some of the roads had signs limiting the vehicle weight to 10 tons. I am over 10 ton by a bit but I was already committed and there was no where to turn around so we kept going. We got to the Memorial and there was no place to park the coach towing the Jeep. We were able to go past the parking lot to a wide spot in the road and managed to do a U-turn and come back and park at the what shoulder was there. We spent about an hour at the Memorial looking at all the tokens left by individuals and groups. The National Park Service is in charge and one of the rangers gave us a 20 minute history lesson on Flight 93 and the brave men and women on that flight. The current memorial is at the temporary side now, but they have big plans for a permanent memorial that is due to start construction in a year or so. Sim was moved by the site and the story. The more she thought about it, the more the tears flowed. It was very moving. We left the Memorial and continued on to Friendship Village Campground. <P> <b><u>Jun 16 (1 night, York, PA USA  Home Depot Parking Lot)</u></b><br> <img src="8120.jpg" width=250 height=150 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> Today we are going to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. We plugged in the address into the GPS and headed out. As we got close we had to go through a narrow railroad underpass that only had room for one vehicle at a time. There was a big rig on the other side but he waited for me to come through. I was thinking we are going to be in trouble if the roads get any narrower. I also did not know the parking situation at Hershey as far as parking the coach. We pulled into the parking lot with some trepidation, but it turned out they parked us right out front. We also did not have to pay for parking as the first two hours are free. <P> Inside we were expecting a tour of the real Hershey factory, but instead it turned out to be a Disneyland ride. <img src="8146.jpg" width=300 height=150 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> They load you into a  car like a ride at the happiest place on earth and through slide shows and animated cows, tell you how candy is made. Lots of branding going on with displays of kisses, KitKats, and other Hershey products. At the end of the ride they do give you a free sample just before you enter their humungous gift shop. Sim and Chawin roamed the gift shop for a bit then we went outside to look around. They have a museum on the grounds, that we did not do, and an amusement park that is separate from the factory tours and requires an admission charge. We passed on that as well. We did however sign up for a trolley ride. After boarding the trolley they take you on a one hour ride around the town of Hershey, give you a history lesson, and put on a two man show with a couple of student from the local drama school. It was fun, entertaining and we learned more about the man, Milton Hershey, who built the town of Hershey just for his employees. <P> <b><u>Jun 17  19 (3 nights, Strasburg, PA USA  White Oak Campground)</u></b><br> This morning we are heading for the Harley Davidson Factory. <img src="8162.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> They give free tours starting at 8:30 a.m. We got on the road about 8:30 and arrived at the factory at 9:00. They have a visitors parking lot and a couple of spots for buses that our coach and tow fit in nicely. There were lots of Visitor Harleys in the lot too. Inside they have a big gift shop and lots of bikes to look at and sit on. The have examples of bike sub assemblies and bike parts. The tour includes a short movie on the history of Harley Davidson and a 30 minute walking tour of the factory. We got to see the metal stamping operations and the bike assembly stations. The tour was OK, not as good as the Corvette factory tour. It may have been the tour guide we had. I think he has been there for 30 years, and although he was very knowledgeable, he wasn't very excited to tell us about the processes. <P> We left Harley Davidson and headed for Lancaster County, the heart of Amish country in PA. We are staying a few days in Strasburg, which is just south of Lancaster. <P> No issues getting to the campground and we got a good spot back in the trees. Water, sewer and 30 amp for $32./night. Good deal. As much as Sim loves this area, the Amish and their lifestyle, we can only stay a few days in Strasburg because Chawin's #1 destination is Philadelphia. <P> <b><u>Jun 18</u></b><br> Today we are off to see Amish stuff. First we went to the Mennonite Information Center. This was to get Chawin some basic knowledge about the Amish and Mennonite people. <img src="8171.jpg" width=250 height=170 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> We toured the small museum and watched a short film. Next we went to the Old Amish House and Farm. This house and farm has been owned and worked by several Amish families over the last hundred years and is now a museum and tourist attraction. We signed up for the guided tour and a buggy ride around the farm. We wandered around the farm for the 30 minutes before our tour started, then met our tour guide back inside the house at the appointed time. We were taken through the inside of the house and given a history lesson. We learned more than we knew before and Chawin got a good overall lesson on the Amish. <P> It was lunch time so we headed off for the place that at least two people had recommended for true Amish food. Now I thought the Amish eat regular food like the rest of us, but apparently there are some Amish unique dishes. We arrived at Dienans Buffet and decided on the buffet. It was good, but nothing really special; Fried chicken, roasted beef, ham, vegetables, other regular food, and fifteen different cakes and pies. Sim, however, discovered she liked sauerkraut. Chawin bought us lunch today. <P> After lunch, on the was back to the campground, we stubbled on the Strasburg Railroad Museum. They have a bunch of old trains and railroad memorabilia in a museum and outside. They have a  Thomas train as well and the kids really seemed to be enjoying that. <P> <b><u>Jun 19</u></b><br> Today we are going out again and just drive around the countryside looking at farms and homes. I never get tired of watching the Amish go about their daily lives. We checked our map and since it was near lunch so we decided to have Dutch food. We saw a Dutch Buffet Restaurant and drove to about 15 miles to Morgantown and the Shady Maple Buffet. <img src="8217.jpg" width=300 height=160 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> The place is huge. They have seating for hundreds and the buffet table is 50 yards long. We ate for a couple of hours and then went to the country store next to the restaurant. The store is owned and run by the Amish so they have all kinds of produce and bulk foods. We stocked up on produce and staples and drove back to the campground. There was Amish Auction going on next door to our park. It was Auction day, so while Chawin opted out for napping and/or computing, Sim and I walked over there after putting the perishable foods in refrigerator. It was fun to see the items they put for auction. Some bidder amazed us with the amount of money they spent on items that didn't look very valuable to us. Well, as they say,  ones man's junk is another man's treasure. <P> <b><u>Jun 20  23 (4 nights, Clarksboro, NJ USA  Timberlane Campground)</u></b><br> Today we are pulling up and moving closer to Philadelphia. The closet campground in Pennsylvania is 45 minutes from downtown, so we are going to New Jersey to a campground that is only 20 minutes away. We had called for a reservation, something we rarely do, but we are finding that since Summer arrived more and more campgrounds are filling up especially on the weekends. We do have a spot but it is in an overflow spot. We are backed onto the grass beside the driveway to the storage shed. We do have 30 amps and water, but no sewer and no shade. We can make it the 4 nights we are going to be here if we take a few showers at the bath house. <P> <b><u>Jun 21</u></b><br> OK. Today we are off to Philadelphia, birthplace of American democracy. We had Chawin read all the brochures we picked up in the campground office and make a list of all the things he wanted to see. Then we checked his list to make sure our desired sites were on there as well. We had directions furnished by the campground to a preferred parking lot near the historical area in town. We followed the directions, but never found the parking lot and settled on a lot with an on duty attendant. Paid $12 for all day. <P> First we headed for the Visitors Information building. We got sidetracked when we saw an old Post Office and went inside to tour a museum they had there. The Postal worker told us that we had to have tickets to get into Independence Hall and sometimes they run out early, so we hustled over to the VC to get tickets. We got the free tickets and our tour time was 1:30 so we had 3 hours to wander the historic district before we had to be back to Independence Hall for our tour. <P> <img src="8234.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> First we queued up for the Liberty Bell. You have to go through a security check to get to the Bell, but it was just a bag check. Lots of people doing the tourist thing today so we had to wait a bit to get our shot a pictures with the Bell. Next we are off to Carpenters Hall. This hall was built by the tradesmen of the time for meetings and other functions. It was also used by the founding fathers when they were planning a course of action prior to declaring independence from England. The Military Museum was closed. It is only open a couple of hours a day. Odd. Next we went to Franklin Square which is where the old Post Office is, along with 3 homes built by Ben Franklin as rental units. It was lunch time so we walked up the street decided on a place called Cosi that looked interesting. They had a good selection of sandwiches and soups. Lunch was good. <P> <img src="8285.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> It was getting close to 1:00 so we headed over to Independence Hall. Again we had to go through a bag check. They also have armed security guards around the entire perimeter of the buildings and do not allow anyone in unless they go through security. We found a nice shady bench in the square outside of the Hall and waited about 15 minutes until our tour started. First we were escorted into a small hall for a short history lesson from National Park Ranger Larry. He was quite the character and really entertained us. Sim said he was her favorite tour guide of all time. Next we walked over to and inside Independence Hall itself. First we saw the courtroom side and then the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution was signed. <img src="8253.jpg" width=270 height=230 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> They have the actual chair that George Washington sat in as he presided over the gathering. <P> Next we got in line for the tour of Congress Hall. This is where the first Congress met. The House of Representatives met on the ground floor and the Senate met upstairs. We got to see both areas. Philadelphia was the first capitol of the US and was for 10 years while building in Washington DC were being built. We were impressed by both the Independence Hall and Congress Hall tours. Another fun thing about the historical area of downtown Philadelphia is the people that are walking around in period costumes. We stopped Ben Franklin on the street and Sim posed with him. <P> <b><u>Jun 22</u></b><br> We are back in Philadelphia again today to finish off the list of things Chawin wants to see. City Hall and Love Park are still on the list, but first we are heading up toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Water Works. We got the Museum and there were lots of people outside taking pictures and running up the stairs. For those of you who did not see the  Rocky pictures, this is where Sylvester Stallone ran up the stairs and danced around in his <img src="8342.jpg" width=190 height=250 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10>movie. <P> We went inside the museum and found out that today is the day where you decide how much you want to pay to go inside. We payed a fair amount and spent the next 3 hours wandering around inside. We really liked everything they had but particularly liked the medieval armor display. They had full suits of armor, and all kinds of period weaponry. <P> Sim and I were done, and we went outside to sit on the steps and waited for Chawin. He finally came out an hour after we finished. I guess he REALLY liked the museum. We walked over to the Water Works which is right behind the museum and checked that out. Not really sure what the Water Works are or were but there were some old building to look at that were kind of interesting. From there we continued to walk around the park and happened upon some guys and girls on skates that had a boom box going and they were doing some pretty cool dance routines to the music. <img src="8349.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> We watched them for a bit then continued our walk through the park. It was getting late and we had planned to have dinner down by the waterfront so we headed back to the car. We got to the car and one of the bicycles was half off the rack at the back of the Jeep. It looked like someone tried to steal the bike but realized after they had it half off the rack that it was cabled to the car. <P> We jumped in the car and headed down to the waterfront. We found a place to park and walked down towards the water to find a restaurant. There was a celebration going on and we found out it was an Irish Festival. There was lots of drinking and music but we were hungary so we kept walking to find somewhere to eat. We ended up at a restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel and had a nice dinner at a table overlooking the water. After dinner we wandered back over the Irish Festival and listened to the music for a bit before heading back to the car. <P> <b><u>Jun 23</u></b><br> We stayed at the coach today as we had a few things needed to be taken care of back in California. We were aware that Chawin might get bored. Chawin did laundry in the morning while we were corresponding with the folks in CA. In the afternoon, I went to ask the park staff if there were any attractions in town. Nope! the attraction of this town is the proximity to Philadelphia. So, we played a couple of games of Mille Bornes and then tossed the frisbee disc for another one hour. We had to call it quits as there were too many bugs. Then came dinner, Sim made Pad Se Ew. It was meat, vegetable, thin noodles, and sweet soy sauce (there were other spices too, but the main ingredient is sweet soy sauce called se ew) Chawin said Sim could open a Pad Se Ew and Fried Rice restaurant. <P> <b><u>Jun 24</u></b><br> It is Chawin's last day in the U.S. today. We hope we have helped him fulfill some of his dreams about things he wanted to see and do in the U.S. this past two weeks. He is a bright and ambitious young man who is hungry to explore the world. He is taking the Amtrak train from downtown Philadelphia, PA to Newark, NJ. The train runs right to the airport in Newark so it was a lot easier to put him on the train in Philadelphia, than drive him a couple of hours to Newark. He was in bed early last night and up early in the morning. I think he was anxious to get back home. We got the car packed with his two suitcases and headed off to the 30th Street Station around 7:45 a.m. His train was scheduled to leave at 9:18 a.m. so we thought we had plenty of time since it is only about 20 minutes to downtown. Well I missed the 30th St. turnoff and then got kind of lost trying to backtrack. I finally found the station on the GPS and got headed in the right direction. When we got close we saw two buildings the both looked like train stations. I parked in a No Parking zone as there was no parking anywhere to be seen and jumped out and asked the first person I saw where the train station was. Hoping they were right I sent Sim and Chawin across the street and into the building the woman I asked pointed to. I stayed with the car and worked on the excuse I was going to tell the parking cop about why I was parked where I was. Sim was gone about 30 minutes and about 9:20 she came strolling out to the car. The cops never came so it all worked out. <P> <img src="8372.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> We headed back to the coach but before we left Philadelphia we had to have a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich. We headed for Geno's and Pat's. These two places are right across the street from each other. Both are famous for their cheesesteak sandwiches. Both claim to be the best. Both claim to be the original. <img src="8374.jpg" width=250 height=190 align=left vspace=5 hspace=10> <P> After checking out both places, we opted for Geno's. I just liked the look of the place. It had more character than Pat's. And Geno himself was working the grill so I knew we would get a good steak. It was only 10:00 and we just had breakfast 3 hours ago. Sim thought we should save the one sandwich, we were going to share, until lunch time, but I did not want the bread to get soggy, so we went to the car and ate the whole thing. It was outstanding. $7.50 for provolone with onions. Back at the campground we re-organized the coach back to the way it was pre-Chawin. <P> <b><u>Jun 24  26 (3 nights, Wading River, NJ USA  Turtle Run Campground)</u></b><br> Drove to Wading River today. It is only a couple of hours away. Even though we still had half a tank of fuel, we stopped to fill up with diesel first as I thought the price would get higher as we got closer to the coast. There was a BP station just down the road and we took on 85 gals at (cash price) $4.53/gal. After we filled up we tried to head towards Wading River. Our GPS kept confusing me and we had to go through the same freeway interchange 3 times before we were finally heading East towards our destination. <P> We did not know exactly where the campground was as they had no physical address listed. So as we got close to where we thought it should be I slowed way down so I would not miss it. Sure enough the small sign on the side of the road was seen too late and we drove on by. Since we where out in the country, there were no places to turn around so we had to stop and un-hook the Jeep, make a 3 point U-turn on at a wide spot in the road. Sim followed me back the campground in the Jeep. <P> <b><u>Jun 25</u></b><br> Drove to the Atlantic Ocean. There is a long strip of land off the coast called Long Beach, so we drove out there to see the ocean. <img src="8375.jpg" width=190 height=250 align=right vspace=5 hspace=10> We stopped at a small town called Ship Bottom Beach, found a place to park and walked out to the beach. You have to buy a Beach Badge if you wear a swimsuit to/on the beach. A Beach Badge costs from $5-$8 a day, depending on the particular beach or town along the New Jersey shoreline. The badge is required to be displayed while on the beach between 10 am and 5 p.m. Apparently this charge is to fund the cost of lifeguards and beach maintenance. They also do not allow picnics on the beach. No alcohol, No beverages, No ball playing and No dogs. We did not stay long. The water looked pretty good. It was clear and green. There were a number of kids in water and even a few surfers catching some small waves. <P> We were hungary so we started looking for somewhere to eat. The first place we stopped was Lobster Claws. It was open but there was no one inside when we walked in; no customers, no wait staff, no one, so we left. Then we found a place called Scojo's that looked like the place the locals ate because it was packed with people, so we parked and went inside. Lunch was good. Sim had fish that she did not like very much for it had too much butter and I had a grilled chicken sandwich with mango salsa that was delicious. <P> Back at the campground, Sim and I took a long walk up the road from the campground. We were kind of out in the countryside here and there were just a few houses sitting on great big lots. We saw wild turkeys and peacocks on our walk. <P> <b><u>Jun 26</u></b><br> Today we are just hanging out at the park. I did a couple of loads of laundry and Sim responded to emails. I spent a few hours writing in the travelogue. It is easier to write if you stay on top of it and write at least every couple of days. I kind of forget what the heck we did a week ago, and am constantly asking Sim to remind me of what we did and where we were. She is good about jotting down notes in a calendar book we keep so we know what the date and day of the week it is. When you are retired, every day is Saturday. <P> <b><u>Jun 27  Jul 3 (6 nights, West Creek, NJ USA  Sea Pirate Campground)</u></b><br> We don't have very far to go today. We are moving north about 20 miles or so to the Sea Pirate Campground where we are going to stay for 6 days. We were trying to stay longer but they are booked for the 4th of July weekend so we have to leave next Friday. I have no idea where we are going to stay over the 4th. I think all the campgrounds are going to be booked so we may be Wal-Mart camping for the weekend. <P> We took off from Wading River around 11:00 and by noon we were in our new spot up the road in West Creek. After I got us all hooked up, I took the Jeep up the road a bit to an Auto Service Center and got the oil changed. On the way back to the campground, I spotted nice looking Dental building so I stopped and made an appointment for Sim and I to get our teeth cleaned on Wednesday next week. I have a bunch of maintenance stuff I want to get done while we are sitting in one place for a week and teeth cleaning is on the list. <P> <b><u>Jun 28</u></b><br> Today I started on my maintenance list. First I took the Aqua-Hot apart to change out the starting coil. I have been having a problem with the unit starting every time. It will work for a day then it won't start without a reset. So I bought a new starting coil a couple of months ago and I am finally getting around to installation. I got the bay emptied out where the Aqua-Hot resides and checked out the task at hand. I immediately realized I needed a 10 inch extension for my socket set so off to the parts store I went. I found the tool I needed at a Lowes, so I was back on the job shortly. The change out went pretty easily. So far the Aqua-Hot is working properly. Next I need to clean out the back of the Jeep and store all the stuff there in the coach. David and Piyanute (Sim's niece) and their two kids and one kid's friend are going to need that space for their suitcases when they travel with us in a couple of weeks. Since I had the Aqua-Hot coach bay cleared for the repair there is was just a matter of re-arranging all the stuff in that bay to accommodate the stuff from the Jeep. That done, I decided to tackle the leaky toilet. Actually there are two issues with the toilet. One, there is a small drip on one of the water connections that fills up a tupperware container in about a week. I have been dumping the container weekly, but vowing to find that leak and fix it. Second, a piece of grit has gotten into the shutoff mechanism and the water does not fully shut off after filling the bowl after a flush. So the water kept running into the bowl. If you did not catch it, the water could overflow and flood the bathroom. So I attacked both those issues and I will know in a few days if the leak is stopped. The shut off valve seems to be working as designed now, but as a safeguard I will be turning off the water to the coach every time we leave to go somewhere for any length of time. <P> Next I want to clean up the water manifold bay. There is some brown staining on the floor and I believe I have a leak somewhere in there. I took out all the panels and checked all the water connections but could not find any leaks. I cleaned up the floor and all the brown water stains then put back all the panels. I will check the floor again in a week or so to see if the brown stains return. I am done for the day. <P> <b><u>Jun 29</u></b><br> It is Sunday so most of the campers are packing up and going home. By noon the campground was half empty. Today I am working on more coach maintenance. The AC shrouds on the roof need to be taken off, the AC units cleaned and checked for any maintenance that needs to be done. The shrouds have some cracks where the mounting screws are located. I think the boys at Extreme forgot to put on some washers or spacers when they were re-installed. I made some spacers out of duct tape and got the units cleaned and the shrouds put back on. I think they will be fine now. Next I decided to do some inside stuff so I cleaned and polished the Microwave. It is all stainless steel inside so it shined up really nice. I cleaned and polished the Gaggenau cooktop as well. Next I got out the furniture oil and oiled up, and rubbed down all of the cabinets in the kitchen. <P> <b><u>Jun 30</u></b><br> I took the day off today. I was going to clean up the roof of the coach and I actually got out the ladder and climbed up there and took a look at the job, but I changed my mind and decided to put it off to another day. <P> Four states visited in June; Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Only a half dozen more to go before we will have visited 49 of the 50 U.S. states. <P> We are just hanging out in New Jersey until July 11 when we have reservations at Liberty Harbor RV Park in Jersey City. <br><br> <center><a href="travelogue.htm">Back To Travelogue Page</a></center> </font> </blockquote> </font> <br><br> <center> <font face="arial, verdana" size=1> <a href="index.htm">Home</a> | <a href="who.htm">Who We Are</a> | <a href="travelogue.htm">Travelogue</a> | <a href="photos.htm">Photos</a> | <a href="links.htm">Links</a> | <a href="mailto:mr.scudder@gmail.com">Contact Us</a> <br> Copyright &COPY; 2007. All Rights Reserved </font> </center> </font> <br><br><br> </td></tr></table> </body> </html>