Our Time In Warsaw, VA With Maggie, Galon, & Susannah
Tuesday 6/16/09 – We went to Fredricksburg, VA to view the Fredricksburg Civil War Battlefield. We took a self guided walking tour. It was amazing to us to see the bullet holes in the Carter House that is still standing on the property. This was probably the most natural military position the Southern forces held during the war. They occupied the high ground, and were protected by a waist high rock wall. The main Northern forces attacked on the left flank with the St. Mary Heights to be only a diversion. For many reasons this area developed into the primary battle of the day, and the Union army attacked repeatedly only to be beaten back each time. Several months later the Union Army was finally able to break through these defenses during another campaign and capture the area.
Wednesday 6/17/09 and Thursday 6/18/09 – Kept our grand-daughter Susannah. Had a blast!
Saturday 6/20/09 – Rivah Fest in Tappahannock, VA. An annual celebration of the Tappahannock community to celebrate their heritage, and association with the Rappahannock River. There were all kinds of booths containing crafts, selling food, and just about anything else available in the area. The even had an Antique car show. They had Camaro’s, Mustangs, Cobra sports cars, trucks, and many other cars from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. My favorite was a 1953 Mercury two door hard top with a flat head V8 that was really sharp. My second favorite was a 1963 Fairlane 500 two door hard top.
Sunday 6/21/09 – We went to church with Galon and Maggie at Menokin Baptist Church. It was very enjoyable to worship with our son and his family. Then we went to our daughter-in-law’s parents (Lou and Onna Grimm) home in Deltaville, VA for the afternoon. Dianne and Onna took our granddaughter to a neighborhood zoo, and Galon, Maggie, Lou and I went sailing on a 30’ Catalina sailboat for about two hours on the Chessapeake Bay. It was a lot of fun. Then we returned to Lou and Onna’s for a great hamburger supper. We had a fantastic day.
Monday 6/22/09 – Kept Susannah and went to the church playground, but she didn’t like it very well since she was the only child there.
Tuesday 6/2
3/09 – We visited President George Washington’s Birthplace at Pope’s Creek Plantation. He lived here until he was about three and a half years old when they moved further north to Hidden Creek which later became Mt. Vernon. George Washington’s forefathers settled in this area in the late 1600’s. His father was Augustine Washington who had five children by his first wife before George who was the 1st child of his fathers second marriage. George was a very imposing figure at 6’3.5” tall, and had a very commanding presence. I was also able to confirm that there was a connection between Robert E. Lee and George Washington. It seems that George Washington’s step grand-daughter or maybe his step great-grand-daughter married Robert E. Lee. That is how Arlington became Robert E. Lee’s home, and later Arlington National Cemetary.
Notice the cattle in Pope's Creek. This was right at the front of the Washington Birth Place National Park Entrance. I guess they are enjoying a little VA air conditioning for cattle.
Wednesday 6/24/09 – Kept Susannah.
Thursday 6/25/09 – Day of relaxation at our campground.
Friday 6/26/09 – Went over to Galon & Maggies this morning to help Galon with projects around the house and for Dianne and Maggie to go for a Pedicure. They enjoyed their time together. I enjoyed helping Galon install a pump in his basement sink so he could pump the water up into the waste system. After several trips to the hardware store in Montross and a visit across the road to Galon’s neighbor to borrow a vice to separate some of the old pipe for reuse we got most of it ruffed in. Posponed working on this project Saturday to go to Jameston, VA.
Saturday 6/27/09 –
Today we visited Jamestown, VA. This was the first successful colonization effort by the English in the New Lands. It was very interesting to look at the museum exhibits, and read the captions for them. There were so many that we had to just look at most and read only the first part of the most interesting plaques. After viewing the 25 minute film on the settlement of Jamestown, and viewing the museum we went to the Café there to have lunch. After lunch we toured the outdoor exhibits. There was an Indian village, complete with volunteers in native dress demonstrating making arrow heads from flint, and the other was using a stone to shape and sharpen a bone int
o a knife. I noticed that one of the “natives” was a blond. Next we viewed the replicas of the ships used to bring the first settlers for Jamestown over. I would hate to have to live in the cramped, over populated ship that took four months to cross the Atlantic. The volunteer on the boat told us there were 54 sailors housed in the area we were touring. It wasn’t much bigger than our motor home and sure didn’t look big enough to house that many men. I am sure glad I was not on that voyage. I would have gone nuts under those conditions. After viewing the ships, we walked back up to go through the replica of the Fort built 
at Jamestown by the first settlers. I took a picture of the pews in the church. If you think the ones we have today are uncomfortable just imagine sitting in one of these I have in the picture.
Monday 6/29/09 – Left VA around 8:00 AM and drove to Salisbury. NC where we stayed at Dan Nicholas Park. This was a very nice campground, but it did not have sewer, Cable TV, or internet access.
Tuesday 6/30/09 – Today was very stressful. We departed NC at around 8:00 AM and were attempting to drive to Auburn/Opelika, AL . We made it to Newnan, GA where the RV decided it needed a rest. The leveling jacks malfunctioned, and the warning light for jack deployment would not turn off. We stopped at a Metro Petro to check it out, and as I was slowing down to enter the parking area the ABS light came on. So I got out to check the jacks and noticed a smell of hot rubber. This had happened previously when a brake caliper stuck back in January. I tried to lower the jacks thinking that I could reset them, but this did not work on the left front jack. It decided to stay down. This was when the real fun started. Since the jack was stuck in the down position I could not drive the coach. I called my roadside assistance company and they dispatched someone to deal with the jacks, and told me once this was done they would decide what to do about the ABS light. Since the only available roadside assistance was in Stockbridge, GA it took him about two hours to make it to Newnan. He diagnosed the problem as a broken wire, and was able to get the jack to retract. Then we found out that since the ABS light was on the RV was not considered safe to drive and would need to be towed to the nearest authorized Workhorse dealership. This turned out to be in Marietta, GA which was about 50 miles back north on the Northwest side of Atlanta. The tow truck would not be available until Wednesday morning, so we spent the night in the Metro Petro parking lot.
Wednesday 7/1/09
- Once the tow truck arrived this morning we were hooked up and on our way to Marietta. We followed the tow truck in our car, and it was very un-settling for Dianne to watch someone tow her home on wheels away. Once we arrived at the Georgia Commercial Truck Company they went to work on it immediately. It turned out that there was a notice of recall on this particular model of Workhorse chassis for brake problems, so Workhorse took care of most of the labor and parts for this repair. We were back on the road at around 4:00 PM Wednesday. Just in time to catch the rush hour traffic out of Atlanta. Since there was construction going on around exit 51 – 41 on I-85 with traffic going down to one lane and being backed up about 10 miles we decided to avoid the area and left out of Atlanta on I-20 West, the took the back roads down to LaGrange, GA and picked up I-85 again. We arrived in Auburn at the Chewacla State Park around 7:30. This is a very nice park with full hook-ups, but only 30 AMPS, and no Cable TV, or WiFi access. Here we had another problem with the left front leveling jack when we tried to move to another spot since the 15 AMP part of the hook up did not work, and it took about an hour or more to get it to finally retract. We decided not to use this front jack any more so I disconnected it.
Thursday 7/2/09 - We left out of Chewacla State Park around 10:00 AM this morning and finally arrived in Pensacola around 2:30 PM after approximately two months on the road. It was good to get back home.
THUS ENDS OUR FIRST EXTENDED ROAD TRIP. WHAT A TRIP IT WAS!
Wednesday 6/17/09 and Thursday 6/18/09 – Kept our grand-daughter Susannah. Had a blast!
Friday 6/19
/09 – Galon and Maggie took off work and we took a tour boat to Tangier Island. Tangier Island is only about one mile wide at the widest part, and approximately three miles long. The primary occupation is fishing, and the most popular product is the soft shell Blue Crab. It seems the Blue Crab comes to this area at a certain time each year to shed their outer shells and grow new ones. During this process they become the Soft Shell Blue Crab delicacy. I tired it and it was ok, but not something I would order.
Saturday 6/20/09 – Rivah Fest in Tappahannock, VA. An annual celebration of the Tappahannock community to celebrate their heritage, and association with the Rappahannock River. There were all kinds of booths containing crafts, selling food, and just about anything else available in the area. The even had an Antique car show. They had Camaro’s, Mustangs, Cobra sports cars, trucks, and many other cars from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. My favorite was a 1953 Mercury two door hard top with a flat head V8 that was really sharp. My second favorite was a 1963 Fairlane 500 two door hard top.
Sunday 6/21/09 – We went to church with Galon and Maggie at Menokin Baptist Church. It was very enjoyable to worship with our son and his family. Then we went to our daughter-in-law’s parents (Lou and Onna Grimm) home in Deltaville, VA for the afternoon. Dianne and Onna took our granddaughter to a neighborhood zoo, and Galon, Maggie, Lou and I went sailing on a 30’ Catalina sailboat for about two hours on the Chessapeake Bay. It was a lot of fun. Then we returned to Lou and Onna’s for a great hamburger supper. We had a fantastic day.
Monday 6/22/09 – Kept Susannah and went to the church playground, but she didn’t like it very well since she was the only child there.
Tuesday 6/2
3/09 – We visited President George Washington’s Birthplace at Pope’s Creek Plantation. He lived here until he was about three and a half years old when they moved further north to Hidden Creek which later became Mt. Vernon. George Washington’s forefathers settled in this area in the late 1600’s. His father was Augustine Washington who had five children by his first wife before George who was the 1st child of his fathers second marriage. George was a very imposing figure at 6’3.5” tall, and had a very commanding presence. I was also able to confirm that there was a connection between Robert E. Lee and George Washington. It seems that George Washington’s step grand-daughter or maybe his step great-grand-daughter married Robert E. Lee. That is how Arlington became Robert E. Lee’s home, and later Arlington National Cemetary.
Notice the cattle in Pope's Creek. This was right at the front of the Washington Birth Place National Park Entrance. I guess they are enjoying a little VA air conditioning for cattle.
Wednesday 6/24/09 – Kept Susannah.
Thursday 6/25/09 – Day of relaxation at our campground.
Friday 6/26/09 – Went over to Galon & Maggies this morning to help Galon with projects around the house and for Dianne and Maggie to go for a Pedicure. They enjoyed their time together. I enjoyed helping Galon install a pump in his basement sink so he could pump the water up into the waste system. After several trips to the hardware store in Montross and a visit across the road to Galon’s neighbor to borrow a vice to separate some of the old pipe for reuse we got most of it ruffed in. Posponed working on this project Saturday to go to Jameston, VA.
Saturday 6/27/09 –
Today we visited Jamestown, VA. This was the first successful colonization effort by the English in the New Lands. It was very interesting to look at the museum exhibits, and read the captions for them. There were so many that we had to just look at most and read only the first part of the most interesting plaques. After viewing the 25 minute film on the settlement of Jamestown, and viewing the museum we went to the Café there to have lunch. After lunch we toured the outdoor exhibits. There was an Indian village, complete with volunteers in native dress demonstrating making arrow heads from flint, and the other was using a stone to shape and sharpen a bone int
o a knife. I noticed that one of the “natives” was a blond. Next we viewed the replicas of the ships used to bring the first settlers for Jamestown over. I would hate to have to live in the cramped, over populated ship that took four months to cross the Atlantic. The volunteer on the boat told us there were 54 sailors housed in the area we were touring. It wasn’t much bigger than our motor home and sure didn’t look big enough to house that many men. I am sure glad I was not on that voyage. I would have gone nuts under those conditions. After viewing the ships, we walked back up to go through the replica of the Fort built 
at Jamestown by the first settlers. I took a picture of the pews in the church. If you think the ones we have today are uncomfortable just imagine sitting in one of these I have in the picture.Sunday 6/28/09 – We went to church with Galon & Maggie again, and enjoyed a Breakfast on the grounds to kick off the mornings celebration of VBS Commencement. Everyone brought a covered dish, and Galon put in a special request for Breakfast Pizza that I used to make for our Brotherhood meetings when he was younger and living at home. Of course we went out and procured the ingredients to honor the request. I had never cooked it in a Convection oven before, but it turned out excellent. After the VBS Commencement service we returned to the RV for lunch, and to change clothes so I could return to help Galon finish the basement sink and install some left over cabinets from their kitchen remodeling project so that he could better organize the basement. We decided to install the cabinets first in case we ran out of time, because Galon felt he could finish the sink project alone, but he could not handle the cabinets and they were to big for Maggie to help him with. We mounted the cabinets, and had time to complete the installation of the sink pump. Galon let it set up over night and tried it out the next day. He did not call and let me know of any problems so I believe the installation was successful. After completing this project we said our goodbyes and left for our last night in the campground, and departure from VA the next morning.
Monday 6/29/09 – Left VA around 8:00 AM and drove to Salisbury. NC where we stayed at Dan Nicholas Park. This was a very nice campground, but it did not have sewer, Cable TV, or internet access.
Tuesday 6/30/09 – Today was very stressful. We departed NC at around 8:00 AM and were attempting to drive to Auburn/Opelika, AL . We made it to Newnan, GA where the RV decided it needed a rest. The leveling jacks malfunctioned, and the warning light for jack deployment would not turn off. We stopped at a Metro Petro to check it out, and as I was slowing down to enter the parking area the ABS light came on. So I got out to check the jacks and noticed a smell of hot rubber. This had happened previously when a brake caliper stuck back in January. I tried to lower the jacks thinking that I could reset them, but this did not work on the left front jack. It decided to stay down. This was when the real fun started. Since the jack was stuck in the down position I could not drive the coach. I called my roadside assistance company and they dispatched someone to deal with the jacks, and told me once this was done they would decide what to do about the ABS light. Since the only available roadside assistance was in Stockbridge, GA it took him about two hours to make it to Newnan. He diagnosed the problem as a broken wire, and was able to get the jack to retract. Then we found out that since the ABS light was on the RV was not considered safe to drive and would need to be towed to the nearest authorized Workhorse dealership. This turned out to be in Marietta, GA which was about 50 miles back north on the Northwest side of Atlanta. The tow truck would not be available until Wednesday morning, so we spent the night in the Metro Petro parking lot.
Wednesday 7/1/09
- Once the tow truck arrived this morning we were hooked up and on our way to Marietta. We followed the tow truck in our car, and it was very un-settling for Dianne to watch someone tow her home on wheels away. Once we arrived at the Georgia Commercial Truck Company they went to work on it immediately. It turned out that there was a notice of recall on this particular model of Workhorse chassis for brake problems, so Workhorse took care of most of the labor and parts for this repair. We were back on the road at around 4:00 PM Wednesday. Just in time to catch the rush hour traffic out of Atlanta. Since there was construction going on around exit 51 – 41 on I-85 with traffic going down to one lane and being backed up about 10 miles we decided to avoid the area and left out of Atlanta on I-20 West, the took the back roads down to LaGrange, GA and picked up I-85 again. We arrived in Auburn at the Chewacla State Park around 7:30. This is a very nice park with full hook-ups, but only 30 AMPS, and no Cable TV, or WiFi access. Here we had another problem with the left front leveling jack when we tried to move to another spot since the 15 AMP part of the hook up did not work, and it took about an hour or more to get it to finally retract. We decided not to use this front jack any more so I disconnected it.Thursday 7/2/09 - We left out of Chewacla State Park around 10:00 AM this morning and finally arrived in Pensacola around 2:30 PM after approximately two months on the road. It was good to get back home.
THUS ENDS OUR FIRST EXTENDED ROAD TRIP. WHAT A TRIP IT WAS!
Labels: Warsaw to Pensacola
posted by Dianne and Galon Hall at 8:54 PM
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