Heading to WV and points West

After getting lost in Queens, NY at 7:30 on Sunday morning...Actually not "lost", just unable to find a way across the Hudson River without ripping the top off of the unit!  Seems that we found ourselves in an area surrounded by 10' bridges and took an hour figuring out how to get out and get across the George Washington Bridge, where we came in....We were stuck thus delaying our arrival in Gainesville to see the Brown's...we arrived to a very relaxing 2 day stay.  But not without losing Philobertos credit card and the truck registration and insurance paper.  It was a very stressful few hours so the relaxation was much welcomed.  Oh, and the credit card and registration "showed up" the next day!

We left Gainesville Tuesday morning and made it two hours before stopping at the Cline Family Campground.  We figured we hadn't seen Trent since Saturday so we should pop in. 

Trent's two miniature horses

Sadie & Bonnie at Trent's House

 

This is Trent's Vet ... he's calls it "The Company Car".  Since Phil had never driven a Vet before the boys went out for a spin ... Phil at the wheel!   Yes, by the way, the car is FAST!

 

Beautiful Sunset at Stewart's Draft, VA

 

 

 

Sadie SCARED of the Horses

After a wonderful meal and lots of laughs we went to bed and continued West Wednesday morning.  We traveled through the blue ridge mountains (really just hills) of VA and WV, then through KY ... all were beautiful and the views were awesome.  We stayed at County campground near Louisville, KY ... this is a view from our back window.

Saw this bank in Louisville ... who wants to bank at the Fifth Third Bank?

Today we traveled through KY, IN, IL and MO.  Landed in Columbia, MO ... nice little State Park.  Tomorrow we plan to land in Ellis, KS then arrive in Thornton Saturday early afternoon.

Two last photos from the CG on Long Island ... colors were happening there!

 
Until later, peace & love & pray for storms!

Leaving NY

Philoberto's favorite shirt

We've been released from the gig on Long Island, so we decided to tour NYC for two days.  We're leaving NY bright and early Sunday morning.  Taking today to get everything organized and loaded for the 5AM departure.  We were asked to "Stand By" with several companies for Tropical Storm Karen (which has already fizzled out) so we can now meander across the country instead of racing somewhere. 

Our first stop will be to see Mike & Cherry Brown in VA for a day or two.  Then we'll head West and eventually land in CO to see the Fam ... YAY!

So, touring NYC ... it was very cool and we definitely have more to see next time we return.  On day one we took a "Hop on, hop off Water Taxi".  It was perfect ... it gave us an overview from the water and made it easier to get around on day two.  Our first stop was the 9/11 Memorial.



Reflecting pool where the South Tower once stood.

As we were "reflecting" at the pool, I looked across and spotted Aaron & Emily in the crowd.  Seriously?  Seriously!  I ran to them before they moved on and this is one of a few pics.  They are on a DC/NYC vacation with their friends Matt & Mindy;  we all happened to be at the same place at the same time.  I was thrilled; hope I didn't ruin their vaca!

Statute of Liberty was closed, dang it!

Phil here:  We got to see the 9/11 memorial because it is operated by the city of NY, not the Federal government!  Not so lucky for the Statute of Liberty or Ellis Island....  Our harbor cruise did take us very close to liberty island and we got a good close up view!  We got off in battery park and walked past Wall street and many "lower downtown" landmarks.  We really understand the talk about lower, midtown and upper Manhattan that we didn't really understand before. 

Brooklyn Bridge

Lady Liberty

Day two we trained into Penn station again and walked 5th Ave from 33rd street to 52nd street!  Saw the likes of Macy's (covers an entire block!, massive), Saks 5th Ave, NBC studios at Rockefeller center, St Patrick's Cathedral and many other landmarks that we had only read about or seen in the movies.  We ended our walking tour at Grand Central Station, WOW. 

Rockefeller Center

Grand Central Station

 

Philoberto eating a hot dog from a street vendor in front of the Public Library.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center

Our back yard on Long Island and of course, the beautiful tree.

This Bischon came to visit Sadie every day.  He is nine years old and reminds us of Laura's dog Benji.  Hope I spelled everything correctly!

I have more pics to share but I can't seem to find them, dang it!  So, until later,

Peace & Love & Pray for Storms!