Shenandoah River State Park-Front Royal, VA.

K.-Fri.Nov. 22, 2013-   Happy birthday to my sister Suzanne.  I hope you are having a fun day.

The second day of the rest of our lives, vagabonds, gypsies, homeless, adventurers.  

What a trip getting here.  Didn't think we could pull it off.  But we did and it came down to the wire.  It started at 4 a.m. on Wed.(closing day) and we went to bed at midnight.  The day just kept going and going, and the piles seemed to keep growing as we would transfer STUFF to smaller surfaces as we moved stuff out.  

It was an emotional day, and long and thank goodness we had great weather throughout the whole moving process.  

My friend AnneMarie did a liquor run which was much appreciated and added a great bottle of champagne!.  Save that for Thanksgiving wherever that may be.

Thursday morning we were out of the yard by 4 a.m.  The house was so quiet and empty and echoey.  But we know we have left it in wonderful hands.  The girls will take great care of it and the land.

Easy driving I-91 to 84 to 81 and we ended up at Shenendoah River State Park in Front Royal, VA. 

The dogs have been wonderful.  I knew Yoda would have no problem as she grew up camping, but Gus on the other hand is a bit more of a handful, a tad wired for sound!  But she has been great and slept really well and never budged.  Traveling is tireing for them. 

Very pretty place but man is it expensive.  $32.00 plus $5.00 apiece for both dogs.  Now tell, what do dogs do that require that extra compensation to the state?  No one offered to walk them or feed them!!

Unfortunately we had to find a place with hook-ups as we were having some problems with the water system.  We couldn't test the pump prior to leaving because of the cold weather.  We couldn't drain out the antifreeze in the pipes because it had been pretty darn cold.  

This morning is was a little cloudy but warm. The birds were singing a way.  It sounded like early spring.   We saw some cardinals, bluebirds and a pileated woodpecker and 2 small deers, probably this years batch.  

It would have been a neat CG to stay at as there were some trails that followed the small creek that we are camped on.  lIt look like kayaking could be fun on it.  There were some companies near there that offered boats to rent.

Nice campground host, good Boston accent, Tom thought he was from "southie"!

Now we are on our way to No. Carolina and the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge. There is a State park, Merchants Mill Pond SP with more reasonable rates, no hookups, but that is ok, we have plenty of solar.  AND the best part is my sugar daddy(Tom) is 62 and he can get our campsite for cheaper.  There is something to be said to being married to an older man!!!

K-Nov. 3-Two weeks from tomorrow is d-day.  Has certainly been a trip up to this point.  Leaving friends and family has been harder than I thought it would be.  Getting rid of stuff has been pretty easy.  The pool table is leaving on Wed.  That is going to be hard saying bye to that friend.  Many many hours have been spent playing in the winter.  Lots of friends have shared numerous hours in the basement around the table.  Lots of laughs and many a late night.  More late nights than we care to admit to.

Tom remarked the other day at how the house is  loosing its personality.  As pictures come off the walls, and the "gee gaws" get packed up, the personality of the house is decreasing.

However, on a brighter note, we got looking at how we are going to get to FL. What stops we may want to make on the way down.  Maybe check out some beaches or Savannah.  We need to go to Green Cove Springs,FL to get our residency going and there looks to be all sorts of neat camping and some good kayaking. We are not too far from Payne's Prairie State Park we had checked out several years ago.  Really interesting place that is just like being in Kansas with topography.

Cold and windy today.  Looking forward to warmer weather!

It's October 22, 2013 and we're three weeks away from selling our home in NH, hoping to slide out of here before the first snowfall, and arrive in the Florida Panhandle after the end of hurricane season. Our plan is to winter over there, kayaking the numerous rivers, creeks and bays in the area and hiking in the Apalachicola National Forest. Come early April, our plan is to move over to Abbeville, LA for a few days of Cajun food and the Kaplan Cajun Fest, then work our way over to the Mississippi River and follow the Lewis and Clark trail west.