Crisis
(May 29, 2007 to July 21, 2007)
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Our plans for the roughly six weeks after our granddaughter's
graduation and the time we would start a three week vacation in Europe
was to go up to New York to visit family and friends and then do some
touring in Virginia on the way back south to the Atlanta area. Things
changed
dramatically when we were contacted about a crisis situation involving
my mother in Florida.
May 29: Bristol, Virginia (326 miles)
Road
conditions: I-285; I-75; I-81
Campground: Wal-Mart
Fuel: Flying
J (Wytheville) - $2.519 per gallon.
An
overnight stop.
May 30: Winchester,
Virginia (310 miles)
Road
conditions: I-81
Campground:
Wal-Mart
Fuel:
Flying
J (Clear Brook) - $2.589 per gallon.
An overnight stop.
May 31 to June 2:
Intercourse, Pennsylvania (166 miles)
Road
conditions: I-81; SR 581;
I-83; I-283; SR 283; US 30; SR 340; SR 772
Campground: Beacon Hill Camping This
is
a small rural campground with a minimum age of 16 years. We got a free
three night stay coupon at the Tampa RV Show and decided to use it on
our way up to New York. I checked it out on the web and some of the
reviews said the campground was very nice, but a bit tight. That is an
appropriate description. There were two tiers to the campground with
the
smaller rigs up top and larger rigs up to 45' on the lower level. We
had no problem backing into our site even with the feeling of
tightness. Although some sites may be very level, ours wasn't and we
had to raise the front of the motorhome quite a bit to get it level,
although we did not have to lift the wheels off the ground. A positive
for Beacon Hill is the free WiFi. It worked pretty well, but did have
some times where it had delays in the connection. When it worked, it
worked very fast, and one can't really complain when it's free.
Our main purpose in stopping in Pennsylvania on the way to New York was
to visit with Dennis and Cindy Henderson who are fulltime RVers
workamping in New Holland over the summer.
While we were there, we were told it would be
worth our while to visit the National Christmas Center, so we decided
to give it a look. We thought it was a worthwhile attraction.
It is in Holland that the story of Santa Claus as we know him today
began. Legend is that Nicholas was born about 270 years after Christ.
As a very young man he was consecrated archbishop of Myra. He led a
good and charitable life and many miracles were attributed to him. His
works benefited the needy from all walks of life but is most closely
associated with poor children and orphans. He is now recognized by
Christians around the world as the patron saint of children.
Here is some trivia we learned at the Christmas Center, some of which
we already knew:
* St. Nicholas as a Santa figure became widely known in America with
the publication of Clement Moore's classic "A Visit From St. Nicholas"
better known today as "The Night Before Christmas."
* St. Nicholas Day is celebrated annually on December 6th which marks
the date of his passing in the year 343.
* The tradition of tannenbaum, or Christmas Tree, originated in Germany.
* Wassail means "what hail" or "to your health" as well as a hot drink.
The popular custom of displaying a Nativity scene at Christmas dates
back to St. Francis of Assisi of Italy in 1224. One evening he saw
shepherds asleep in the fields near Greccio and it reminded him of the
shepherds in the Christmas story. He was inspired to create a nativity
scene that ordinary peasant folks could more fully understand the
beauty and simplicity of the birth of Jesus, so he built his creche in
a forest grotto. He placed a wax figure of the Christ Child in a hay
filled manger and brought in a live ox and donkey. Real people were
dressed as Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, much like what some towns
and churches do today.
The Mennonite Visitor Center was one of our stops in the area to learn
more about the Mennonites. The Mennonite Church traces its origin to
1525 in Zurich, Switzerland
where the first Reformation Church free from state control was born. An
important early leader of this first free church was Conrad Grebel who
was convinced that government should have nothing to do with the
theology and practices of the church. He also believed other reformers
of the day, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, weren't going far
enough with their reforms.
The problem at the time was that the state church baptized infants soon
after birth, which not only made them part of the church, but also
citizens of the state. Grebel and his contemporary reformers believed
in "believer's baptism." They believed one needed to knowingly repent
sins and pledge loyalty to Christ prior to receiving baptism. Such
believers came to be known as Anabaptists, meaning "those who baptize
again." The state objected to this because such a practice meant
considerable delay in getting people on the tax roles. On January 21,
1525, Grebel, Felix Manz, and Georg Blaurock rebaptized each other for
the first free church. By Palm Sunday they had 500 converts in
Zurich. Conrad Grebel was persecuted and arrested for his beliefs.
Early in
1526 he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of
visitors. He managed to escape from prison but soon died of the plague
in Maienfeld, Switzerland.
We heard about the Amish Experience where we could watch a very
good movie about the Amish, as well as take a tour of an Amish home.
The movie was titled "Jacob's Choice" and showed the choice faced by an
Amish teenager, Jacob. The movie was well done and informative. We
learned that the Amish choose to follow the religion and customs when
they are old enough to understand. Amish youngsters often dress in
non Amish style clothing and can even own a car and participate in
non Amish activities. However, once they choose to follow Amish
teachings they can't leave. If they do, they are shunned by the
community. The movie showed how Jacob was faced with making his choice
and the conflicts he had in making a choice to follow Amish teaching or
to go off into the secular world.
After the movie we toured an Amish home on the property. We learned
that the Amish go to school up to the eighth grade and then must farm
or
learn a trade. Their belief is that they learn all they need, such as
reading, writing, and arithmetic, by the eighth grade to function and
carry on day to day activities. Our tour guide was not Amish, but she
was very knowledgeable and gave a great tour.
June 3 to June 6:
New Holland, Pennsylvania (9 miles)
Road
conditions: RS 772; SR 340;
SR 897
Campground: Spring
Gulch Resort Campground
Spring Gulch is a very large campground. We don't usually like to stay
in campgrounds that are wooded as it prevents us from using our dish,
but we do occasionally do that when cable is available as it was at
Spring Gulch. The sites were very large and level, and the trees made
it very cozy. It wasn't crowded when we were there, but it did seem
like a very family friendly campground. Knowing Denny & Cindy
Henderson also helped us feel right at home while we were there. We
always enjoy visiting with them.
We last saw Dennis and Cindy Henderson during the winter when we were
in the Orlando area. After our free days at the Beacon Hill Campground
we moved over to
Spring Gulch where they were working. We timed it to coincide with
their days off so we could spend some time together. We had a great
time and Dennis and Cindy were great hosts.
They used to live in the area and when they found out that Diane had
never been to Hershey, they offered to take us there one day to tour
the area. I had been there once back in 1976, but it has changed since
I was there. It was no longer possible to tour the actual
chocolate factory, but the visitor center had a very good display
showing how the chocolate was made.
Dennis and Cindy own kayaks and invited us to go with them to visit
Al and Val Funari, friends of the Hendersons who were working in
another
campground and to go
canoeing. We had a great time on the river for a few hours. Afterwards,
the Funaris put some food on the grill along with salads and we spent
another few hours eating and socializing at
their motorhome. A great day.
One of the guys, Gene Newcomer, who I played golf with in Orlando over
the winter lives in the Lancaster County area and we were hoping to get
together to play a round of golf as we passed through. After breakfast
one morning, Diane and I were walking around the campground and thought
we heard a call from someone, but couldn't place it. So we continued
walking until we heard someone honk an air horn. We backtracked and saw
that it was Ron and Carol Cells. I also played golf with Ron in
Orlando. They live there, but were traveling in their motorhome for the
summer. Small world. Ron, Gene, and I did get in a round of golf. It
was nice to see
them again and get out on a golf course together.
A very well known restaurant in the area is the Shady Maple
Smorgasbord. It has one
of the best buffets we've ever seen. They have a specialty item every
day of the week and it was prime rib when we were there. It turned out
that we were there
on Dennis' birthday so he got to eat free. A group of ten went to the
Shady Maple for a wonderful evening of eating and camaraderie.
June 7 to June 10:
Accord, New York (184 miles)
Road
conditions: I-75
Campground:
Rondout Valley Resort We
have been to this campground several times and have always loved
staying here. The last time we were here was in 2003. It's still a nice
campground, but a few things were different for us. Although they
offered WiFi, it wasn't free, but was offered via TengoInternet, a
provider we aren't too fond of due to very poor service in other places
we've been. The WiFi wasn't offered to the entire campground, but only
available up near the office. So you have to pay to use the service and
then have to drive up to the office to actually access the internet.
The other problem we had was no Verizon cell signal in the
campground. Other than that, the campground is still fine.
Fuel: Flying
J - $2.419 per gallon.
We had planned to be in the Hudson Valley for about 10 days. The first
week would be at Rondout Valley so we could visit with our son, Curt,
and grandson, Talisian. Then we planned to move over to an Elks Lodge
in Poughkeepsie to visit with Diane's sister, Marge. However, that
wasn't to be.
I was at the office using the internet when a 911 note came in from
Jill. Having no cell signal I wasn't able to call her, but we were able
to use instant messaging. We had a crisis brewing with my mom down in
Ocala. We knew she was starting to get very forgetful and that night
she was walking in the neighborhood looking for my father who died in
1996. The sheriff came to make sure she got home safely and he called
Adult Protective Services. Someone came over to her house and started
trying to find a family member to call. They found my number and left a
message, but I had no cell signal, so I didn't get the message until
days later. They found my brother's number, but he and his wife were
out for the evening and hadn't yet returned. Then they found Jill's
number and got hold of her. That's when Jill sent me the 911 note. It
was a good thing I went up to the office to use the internet or I
wouldn't have learned about the problem until sometime the next day. It
was obvious it was now time to intervene and get my mother to a place
where
she would be safe and secure. However, we knew it would not be easy as
she was very resistant to leaving her house. Diane
and I made plans to pack up and head out the next morning and get down
to Ocala as fast as we could.
Before this crisis arose we had a chance to visit with Tom and Mary
McInerny and had a great lunch with them at their home. Tom was a high
school buddy of mine and we hadn't seen them in four years. It was
great to see them again and get caught up.
It was
disappointing that we only got to see Curt and
Talisian a couple of times. However, we did get to visit with them when
they came to Atlanta for April's graduation. We never did get to visit
with Marge and some of our
friends in the area.
June 11: Roanoke,
Virginia (509 miles)
Road
conditions: I-75
Campground:
Wal-Mart
An
overnight stop.
June 12 to 13:
Douglasville, Georgia (465 miles)
Road
conditions: I-75 to US 44 to
US 27 to FL 192
Campground:
Jill's
driveway.
We stayed here long enough to pick up Jill, April, and Richard to head
to Ocala.
June 14 to June 28:
Ocala, Florida (396 miles)
Road
conditions: I-75
Campground: Mom's
driveway
Charlie
and I always knew we would be faced with this situation and that it
wouldn't be easy. Our mom was struggling to maintain her independence
and not have to leave her house. However, it was time. She didn't drive
and was starting to become more and more forgetful. Adult Protective
Services got involved and
explained to her that she could no longer live alone. The only solution
was assisted living, which she has always resisted. This was
intervention big time and it wasn't easy. However, we got her to agree
to talk to her doctor, her priest, and the church nurse, all of whom
told her she would be much better off and safer in assisted living. So
now it was time to look for the right facility. After many discussions,
she decided it would be best if she moved to Port St. Lucie to be near
my brother. That was a good choice as there was no one in Ocala for her
other than a couple of neighbors.
While we were in Ocala we got to drive over to visit with Charlie's
step-son, Terry, and his wife, Ann, who prepared a great meal for us as
we were dealing with this crisis. It was greatly appreciated.
June 29 to July 3:
Port St. Lucie (190 miles)
Road
conditions: FL Turnpike
Campground: Charlie's
house
On
June 29 the movers came to load some furniture to take to the assisted
living facility (ALF) and my mom walked out of her house for the last
time. It was a very sad time for her, but she took it much better than
we expected. Diane
reminded
me that she broke down and cried when we pulled away from our house in
Marietta to start our RV fulltiming lifestyle, and she WANTED to leave,
so this had to be extremely difficult
for my mother who did not want to leave. A
couple of neighbors came to say good-bye to my mom and wish her well.
She road
down with Charlie while Diane and I took our CR-V. The motorhome stayed
in Ocala in the driveway. We beat the truck to the ALF, but not by
much. As they unloaded everything and we got the small apartment set
up, she stayed in the dining room meeting some of the other folks. Then
it was time to bring her up to her new home. She had seen it before
without furniture on an overnight trip to scout out some ALFs in the
Port St. Lucie area. There was so much stuff to unpack that we knew it
would keep her busy for quite a while.
Diane and I stayed in the area for five days to visit her and help her
get situated. While we were there, Charlie's step-son, Greg, had us
over for a wonderful dinner and a breakfast. That helped to relieve
some of the pressure and it was greatly appreciated. After things
seemed to have settled down a bit, Diane and I headed back to Ocala to
start getting the
house cleaned up and ready to put on the market.
July 4 to July 12:
Ocala, Florida (190 miles)
Road
conditions: Florida Turnpike
Campground: Mom's
driveway
It was absolutely amazing how much stuff my mother had in her
house. Diane and I worked all day, every day, to get stuff packed
up for Goodwill or the church or the dump or the garbage. Plus there
was paperwork to get done and carpets to be cleaned and painting to get
done (that was done by a neighbor who does handy work in the area).
Finally, on Friday, July 13, we had a maid service come in to do a
final cleaning and a guy with a truck to haul away the last of the
stuff to the dump, and then we moved the motorhome to the Wal-Mart up
the road to spend our last night in Ocala.
Whew. As we looked back on the almost five weeks from the time we first
got the word we needed to head to Florida, we accomplished an amazing
amount of stuff. We had to travel from New York to Florida; convince my
mom she had to move out of her house which, although traumatic, went
well; find a suitable ALF; hire a mover; move her to Port St. Lucie;
and empty out the house and get it ready to sell.
As of this writing, my mom seems to be adjusting to her new home. My
brother is close enough to visit her and take her shopping or to a
movie. We plan to be down there for six to eight weeks starting
sometime in October.
July 13:
Ocala, Florida
Road
conditions: NA
Campground: Wal-Mart
parking lot
Last night in Ocala.
July 14 to July 21: Douglasville, Georgia (396 miles)
Road
conditions: I-75
Campground: Jill's
driveway
We now had a week to get ready for our planned vacation to Europe
starting on July 22. The week went fast as we had to tend to some
dentist appointments and do some shopping. As the week went on, Diane
and I were getting more and more excited about our trip. When I was
working and traveling 100% we always got excited about a trip abroad.
Although it had been 7 1/2 years since we took a trip abroad, all the
juices came back to us and we were very excited about getting on that
plane and heading out for another adventure.
Our vacation plans were to spend a week in Paris, then take the TGV
(France's high speed train) to Zurich to visit friends, and then fly to
Prague for a week. We actually made all the travel plans last fall and
now the time was here to depart. We
are actually back from vacation and I will work on those travelogs and
photos next.
Until next time, safe
travels.....
Copyright © 2007,
Roaming America with Rich &
Diane Emond -
All Rights Reserved