TRAVELING

Sunday we left Lake Park and started our trip north to Pennsylvania. We spent Sunday and Monday nights in Anderson, South Carolina. Tuesday we left Anderson and drove to Stuarts Draft, Virginia. We will spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights here and leave Thursday for PA. We'll stay there until the end of April. We need to be at the Ledges by May 1st. We spent a lot of time driving in the mountains today and the scenery was great. We are camped at the base of the Shenandoah Mountains.

RUNNING

Vern has been doing a lot of biking and running this winter. This morning he ran a 10K (6 miles) race in Valdosta. He said there were around 200 runners and he finished 41st over all. He was 1st in his age group, 60 - 69. Way to go Vern!!!!!!!



He has already been checking out races for when we're in Pennsylvania. I think he found one for every weekend we're there but he's only planning on doing one race while we're there and that's on April 10th. I think he has also found a couple of bike rides. We also have Jordan's and Devon's soccer games. Busy Saturday mornings, but what fun with the family. I hope they still have the warm temps they've been having. It always seems to be cool and rainy when we're there in the Spring.

PRODUCE FARM

We went for a couple a drives this week to check out the produce farms. We had seen them planted earlier, so we wanted to see if things were coming up. Some fields didn't show any sign of plants coming up, but others were turning green. We weren't sure what was coming up, to far
away to tell. Some fields had a short stalk that had been there all winter and they had new green shoots coming out.



The field of cabbages we had seen several times has disappeared. In the last week or so they have been picked. We almost drove by the field, before we realized it was the cabbage patch. It would have been neat to see how they harvested the cabbage.



We were in Wal-Mart yesterday getting a few groceries. We were checking out the produce when I saw some packaging from a Lake Park produce farm. There were mustard greens, collard greens, and some others. Not something I would buy.

SMOKEN-PIG

Friday night we went out to eat at a restaurant we had driven by a few times and the parking lot was always full of cars. I told Vern that must be a good sign that the food was good. The restaurant was called Smoken-Pig Bar-B-Q. We went early to beat the crowd. We got there just after 4:30 and got right in, but by 5:00 there was a steady stream of people coming in. The meal I got was a combo, you had a choice of two meats (chicken, pork, beef, ribs), two sides, (baked potato, sweet potato casserole, sweet corn, corn on the cob, other veggies), salad bar, and dessert bar, all for $12.99. I only ate about a 1/3 of the meat, but it was so good. It is definitely a place we would go back to.

LEAVES

I woke up this morning listening to rain drops on the motor home. Wrong! I was listening to leaves drop. It's not the first time this has happened. It is so strange to see leaves changing colors and falling in the spring.



We went by a church today that had at least 30 trees that were flowering. All the flowers were white, but it was really pretty. Because so many trees are leafing out and the flowers coming out the pollen count is high. I can tell, my eyes have been irritated and the sneezes. I don't think it is going to get any better for awhile. We'll probably get the same thing when we get to Pennsylvania. Maybe by the time we get to Iowa it will be better. :-)

SIGNS OF SPRING

For the last 3 or 4 weeks we have been watching the signs of Spring. Some of the trees have red buds on them and some have green buds. In the last week the leaves have been popping out. One tree has green leaves and the next one have red leaves. Then the next tree the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. I told Vern it looked like it was snowing leaves. The magnolia trees are blooming and some other trees are in bloom. Those trees are so pretty. Last year we went through spring 3 times -- in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Iowa. We'll see how it goes this year.



Another sign of Spring here is the sports here. The high schools and colleges are playing soccer and baseball and softball. We went and picked up a few groceries the other night and a couple of boys were in the store in their baseball uniforms. February and March and they're playing baseball!!!! On the news they said one team had all ready played 22 games.



Its starting to warm up to normal temps. 60s and low 70s for highs and upper40s and 50s for lows. Not soon enough for me. Someone told Vern you wanted to be gone by the first of May, because it is starting to get hot. Good thing we are leaving for Pennsylvania the end of March. Will be in PA until the end of April and at the Ledges by the first of May.

SATURDAY BIKE RIDE

We woke up to 32 degrees and sunshine with a high forecast to be in the low 60s and no wind. We hoped it turned out that way because, Vern had a LONG bike ride planned for the day. -- 77 miles -- It started at 8:00 a.m., so Vern left the motorhome a little after 7:00am. The ride was through two county's on county roads and a little on major highways and is part of the Azalea spring festival in Valdosta, GA. There were about 120 riders. There were sag wagons and several aid stations, with fruit, water, gatorade, PBJ sandwiches, and energy bars. Vern was able to refill his water bottles and get snacks.



Vern said it would take him about 6 hours to ride the route. That gave me 6 hours to myself. I had a lazy couple of hours and then got a box of material out that needed pressing. I spent the next 3 hours ironing. Not a lot of fun, but it needed to be done and is easier to do when Vern isn't around. I have material all over the table and counter. I got a lot done, but still have a little more to do.



Vern was back before I expected him. He said he pushed it a little harder than he had planned on. He said his ride time was 5 hours and 20 minutes. He was tired when he got back. I can't quit figure out why. :-) Vern said the total was actually 79 miles by his bike computer. He said he wouldn't be doing that long of a ride for awhile. Maybe RAGBRAI?

SHIPS

Friday morning when I got up and checked for ships, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were 3 cargo ships sailing. Before we went to breakfast the ships were just entering the water way. When we got back we couldn't see them. We finished packing and decided to drive by the harbor to see if one of the ships was getting ready to unload. No luck. They hadn't even gotten into the harbor area yet. We talked about waiting for awhile, but decided not to. Who knew how long it would be before the ships were brought into the harbor.



On the drive home we went by a campground that has a lot of potential. It had a good sized lake and most of the sites were around the lake or within viewing of the lake. It also had an on site restaurant. The negative was it was next to the interstate. We'll do more research before next winter. You never know where we'll end up next winter.



Back at the motor home the first thing we noticed was the tree that dropped it's branch on the car was gone. KOA had trimmed and cut down 10 trees. I guess having a branch fall on a car got them moving on the problem.



Vern went for a bike ride this mooring. He's training for a 77 mile bike ride this Saturday. More on this later. Next weekend he's going to run a 5K race during the Azalea Festival. It's sunny today and the temps are to get in the mid 60s so Vern is going to golf this afternoon. It has been rainy and cold, so he hasn't been able to golf much. I'll have the afternoon to myself. :-)