New England/Canada Trip, Sept. 16-17, 2019

 Amish Country Pennsylvania

On day one of visiting Amish County we drove through the towns of Intercourse, New Holland, and Bird in Hand.   I know the Amish do not want their pictures taken, and I want to respect their privacy.  I try to be non-intrusive in my picture taking.  I admire them so much it's just hard not to capture such simplicity and beauty when I can.  

                                

An Amish school just letting out.

Amish women off to work, shopping, or visiting.

At work in the fields.

I love to see the wash on the line. 

We did a little shopping and ate lunch at Good & Plenty.  We also drove the countryside a little and saw some Amish farmers hard at work.  We saw lots of clothes on the lines.  Everything is just so beautiful.  The Amish take such pride in their homes and farms. When we arrived back at our RV park it was time for us to sit outside and enjoy the canopy of trees and for me to do a little knitting.  Soon, I saw a lady coming from across the park towards me.  As she got closer she said with an accent, "I saw you knitting, and I just had to come over."  I found out during our visit that she was originally from Germany and had been knitting for many many years.  Knitters just always have something in common and are such kindred spirits.  We chatted and knitted and soon her husband came over and joined us.  Paul and he instantly hit it off.  He was also a cable technician with the phone company in New Jersey where the couple was from.  He had also been drafted into the military during the last draft for the Viet Nam war, just like Paul.  So, they had a lot to talk about, too.  It always amazes me how God can bring like-minded people together anywhere and anytime.  She was so interesting to talk to.  She also tried to convince me that I needed to start knitting socks. (She was an expert sock-knitter.)  I politely listened to all the advice she gave me about how to go about this task.  I do admire people who knit socks.  But I just don't think that's on my bucket list of things to do. LOL

Day two of our time in Amish Country started with the Sight and Sound Theatre.  We've been here before, and it's always a good performance.  But this year's play was exceptionally wonderful!  It was titled, "JESUS".  Absolutely brilliant!!!  We enjoyed it immensely!  We even saw some people there from Martin County! 

The remainder of the day was spent riding through the countryside.  We pulled over in a church parking lot in Paradise, PA, to heat up our lunch in the RV.  We also did a little more shopping since I had not quite bought enough fabric from Zook's the day before. Paul is such a good man.  He never says a word about how much fabric or yarn or knitting needles, etc, that I buy.  Well, almost never.  He did ask me once if I felt like I had to rescue every stray knitting needle that I found in thrift stores. Lol.  I told him, "No, only the ones that come in pairs." LOL!!!

Such a picturesque place.  That's one of the reasons we keep coming back time and time again.  And I'm sure this won't be our last. 

New England/Canada Trip, Sept. 13-15, 2019

 Day One:  From home to Beacon Hill RV Resort in Pennsylvania.

Leaving home today for a fall New England and Eastern Canada road trip.  Not a lot happens when we're just on the road, but I always like to mark the route we take with state welcome signs.

Our first night out we stayed at Shenandoah River State Park in Bentonville, VA.  

 

Our second night we camped at Greenbrier State Park in Boonesboro, MD.

Our home for a few days in Amish Country:  Beacon Hill RV Resort, Intercourse, PA.

I just LOVE trees!  And this is such a beautiful canopy of lush, green Oak tree limbs hanging overhead.   And, of course, with Oak trees you get acorns!  Some of them sounded like gun shots hitting the top of Little House (my name for our motorhome). Lol  Amish Country is one of our favorite places. It's always so beautiful. The leaves haven't turned a lot, though, but that's ok.  There is always so much beauty here no matter what the season. 

Crossville, TN, to Bear Grass, NC (Post # 55)

August 29

 This morning as we were leaving Bean Pot Campground, Autumn texted me and asked if we'd seen the Headless Horseman.  I didn't get it at first, and then I realized the road heading into the campground was Sleepy Hollow Lane.  Funny, Autumn!  We have Find Friends on my iPhone, so the kids can keep track of our whereabouts.  Boy, how the tables have turned!


  

Our last Cracker Barrel meal for this trip--an early breakfast.  Fortunately, there weren't too many people here this early in the morning, so it didn't take us long to get back on the road.

 And such a beautiful section of road it is!  The mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina are always such a welcomed sight.

 Now this was scary!  There were about four sections of this modular home, and we had to follow them for many miles up and down the mountains and through the tunnels.  If you look at the picture above closely you'll see that the pilot car gets over in the left lane so no one can try to pass in the tunnel. Sometimes it moves over so quickly in front of another car without much warning and everyone has to put on brakes quickly! Paul is trying to get past one of the sections in the picture below.  I'm so thankful that Paul is such a good driver.

 The first tobacco we've seen on this trip.  The closer to home we got we saw lots more, but most of it looked like it had drowned and burned up in the field.  Oh, how I used to hate to have to work in this stuff!

                   Beautiful Crepe Myrtles.  We haven't seen many of these either.

I happened to see this truck about two lanes over as we came up on it.  I quickly snapped a picture, but I knew I couldn't have gotten it.  The truck was too far over with traffic between us, and we were going too fast.  How surprised I was when we looked back at the pictures.  Jesus is Lord!  I'm so glad He is!

We had to have one last storm before we got home.  But I can't complain because we have had some absolutely beautiful weather on this three month trip, especially in Alaska!

The sun is setting in the west so the camera couldn't quite capture the reading on the sign as we slipped across the Martin County Line.  Paul said we could look back at our other trips and get the same picture from one of those, but this one will do.  We know what it says!

 Almost home.

 I cannot say enough about this man.  He is such a pleasure to be with.  He is a good driver, and puts up with my "Honey, don't get too close," after he's just driven over 15,000 miles without incident.  He puts up with my silliness and hysteria when I get too tired.  He loves me unconditionally.  We have such a good time together, wherever we are.  I am so thankful God chose to put us together so many years ago.  And I'm looking forward to many more years and miles together.

Our home without wheels.

Today's stats:  544 miles and 9 hours on the road.

Final statistics:

Miles: 15,162

Months: 3--From May 29 through August 29, 2018

Days: 93

Pictures Taken: 12,714

Pictures Paul has posted: 1,529

Pictures I have posted on the blog:  I have no idea!

I hope you have enjoyed following along with us on our journey this summer.  We have certainly enjoyed our time on the road, being with each other, seeing beautiful country, camping, hiking, visiting family, and all the other things we've done. We are so appreciative of being allowed to do all these things and go to all these places.  We give God all the glory!  We thank Him for His protection, and we thank you for all your prayers.  

Much love to you all.  

Paul and Jackie