FYI – This post is partially for those interested in our planning changes, and for us so that we can remember for later on.
So, just to review the original plan.
- Get to Indiana and spend 3 weeks at Horseshoe Lakes.
- Move to Indianapolis so I could do a quick trip to Atlanta for a couple days.
- Move to Hershey, PA, and spend 3 weeks, with David traveling 2 weeks during this time.
- Move to hotel in Meadowlands, NJ, and spend 5 days.
- Then the schedule got loose again, where we’d move to DC for some number of days, then Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, then Florida by Dec. 2.
So, while we were at Horseshoe Lakes, we had some flies that invaded. Lot’s of little gnat flies. They really liked the bathroom. I still have no idea where they were coming from. I know about the famous RV “toilet flies”, but these weren’t coming from the toilet. Covered the drains with clear cups, but still no flies. There’s a BIG opening at the bottom of the sink, that goes to the water/waste/elec connection area, but they still kept coming even after closing that off. I think some came through the vent and window screens, but there’s still some other place where they came in, and I’ve still not found it.
Anyway, the girls were none too happy about the situation. Then, Diane saw on the Thousand Trails Facebook page, some posts regarding stink bugs. Now, we’d heard about the possibility of this happening, so we’d purchased some bug spray that was supposed to take care of these and other bugs, and you just spray the outside of the RV. Problem solved, I thought. But, it seemed most of the posts on the matter were saying things like “nothing kills them”, “if they die, more come”, and “they find any small space and get in your RV”. And, as you may recall from my earlier comment on our planned schedule, I was basically going to be getting the RV to Pennsylvania, getting the girls settled, then taking off for two weeks of work travel out west.
After several discussions, and checking on all kinds of options, we decided to extend our stay at Horseshoe Lakes for 3 weeks, and skip the stop in Indianapolis, and skip Pennsylvania. There were some planned Halloween activities in Hershey, PA, so there was a little bit of disappointment at missing this. Also, there were some plans to travel to Gettysburg while there, and extend the Lincoln History theme this trip has taken. BUT…It also meant that Molly would get to hang out at Pumpkin Works for a few more days of helping with the horses, and Diane and Molly would get to be around for the Covered Bridge Festival. They both enjoyed these, and Molly especially was fine, for the most part, with staying a bit longer.
So, I went off on my trip and we all carried on as best as possible. There was one incident where I had to help Diane figure out how to use the bug sprayer thing we’d gotten for the stink bugs. It seems that there were some distant cousins to the PA stink bugs that were hanging in Indiana. One is an Asian lady bug of some sort, and the other is a small black beetle with some orange-ish markings. Based on how this went, I think everyone was glad we’d not moved to the stink bug capital.
As I was wrapping up the last couple days of my work trip, we all started hearing about a hurricane in the Caribbean area, that was projected to head north. Then, the predictions started showing it make a weird left turn, right into NJ/NY. This is early in the week of October 22, there were several days before it should turn, and we decided to wait till the end of the week, and decide what to do. We had book at Horseshoe Lakes till October 28, but had planned on heading to NJ the day before, spending the weekend traveling east. I kinda thought the projections would change, and it would head north or east.
Well, as we got to the end of the week, and even up to our goodbye get together on the 27th, we were still thinking of moving to NJ, but just trying to figure out the best way to do it. Should we board Francie, leave the RV at a relatives in OH/WV area, and just drive our car? Should we take the RV as planned? My first big concern, without investigating, was flooding. It would have been catastrophic for us to take the RV there, and have it flood. A quick Google search, and I found there was a history of flooding for that area, even with less severe storms. The idea of going without the RV then made a bit of sense. That is, until my Mom mentioned the power outage predictions she’d been hearing. If that happened, I would rather have the RV with us, but there was still the flooding. After several discussions, it became obvious to me that we’d not be able to safely and securely go, and that the girls were not willing to make that decision. So, I got to make it, and be the potential bad guy if it all blew over.
So, the next thing to figure out, was out next step. We had to leave Horseshoe Lakes, as they were closing, and we still wanted to go to DC, if possible, after the storm. We also didn’t want to get into Pennsylvania, as there were heavy wind, rain, and snow predictions for that area, should the storm go as expected.
Luckily for us, my sister had put in the electrical outlet last year, and they were open to having us come over for the week, and to even participate in some trick-or-treating with them in the area. So, on Sunday the 28th, we moved to my sister’s place, out in the woods, south of Indianapolis.
While there, Molly got to play in some big piles of leaves. Seems that is something she’d yet to do, and had on her “I’ve never done _____” list. We also went trick-or-freezing… I mean treating… with the cousin crew. Lot’s of candy to be had, but it was COLD and a bit windy. We decided a coffee cart could have made a killing that evening. I believe the cold and wind were all part of the now super-storm Sandy.
Well, we watched the reports starting Wednesday morning, then Thursday, and into Friday, and most of us came to the conclusion that we’d made the right choice by not heading to NJ. We also watched, and checked up on Washington DC, and the roads to get there, and found we were good for travel. We made some reservations for an RV park that is really close to DC, and came with great recommendations, and headed out on the morning of November 3rd.
We also did some checking regarding the hotel we were supposed to stay with in NJ. It turns out, the storm knocked out power right away, and they closed and evacuated the hotel. Not sure what we’d have done at that point, as the storm had already caused most of its damage and flooding by that point. Also, power didn’t come back for a whole week for them.
We’re happy to have been able to avoid the devastation, and our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to those that were unable to avoid it. We’ve made a few donations for victims of the storm, and would encourage anyone reading this to do the same. www.redcross.org.
Better posts coming!
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