Preparing for California

There are 14 days and 2 hours before I embark on my adventure to California and visit my son and family. All sorts of thoughts have been whirling around in my brain as I separate the trivial from the important, the drama from the reality and things practical from things anal. I must keep in step and move on. Guess this is something we all must do. It's called "Living in the moment" and at no time has it ever be more relevant for me. This "moment" has been on my mind from the day I purchased Winnie on June 9th, 2014. It's a reality I'd come to doubt; one that would remain just beyond my reach of accomplishing. But, in the end, it became a "just do it" situation. It's quickly approaching and I look forward to it with confidence, anticipation, enthusiasm and excitement.

To begin, I decided I wanted a new format; a new theme for my blog. I changed the background theme/color and made the text portion of the blog wider to better accommodate the photos I plan to share.

My first day

Next, my itinerary has been laid out such that I will spend just one night in each campground in each state. That's ten overnights traveling west and sixteen returning east. I'll combine comments and photos and post just once a week. Each stop will show the route taken, photos and impressions of campgrounds and, best of all, something about the folks I hope to meet.

In addition, I'm going to try and incorporate the impressions and photos I took and documented eighteen years ago in 1999 when, in my other life, we traveled from Croton-Harmon to California via Amtrak. The original document covers the four day, three night trip in sixteen pages. I'll include portions as installments that I hope to coincide with my locations in 2017.

Let me know how you like the new format and tell me some other things you'd like me to include in my California Adventure.

Croton Point RV Park 6/02 --> 6/16/2017

Well, the two weeks at Croton's RV Park, CPP, have flown by as rapidly as anyone who's been on vacation can attest to when the final day arrives. The amazing thing is that I haven't written anything to document the whirlwind activities I've experienced. It's been non-stop. I'll have to pick highlights and spare my reader the boring details...details that I, of course, will savor. I was able to get my Caddy to CPP thus giving me the flexibility. I thought a picture was worth a thousand words and will caption some of the photos I've taken:

Visited my 98 year-old mother and played her
favorite word game. I let her play alone to make
words and she beat her own record with 41 words.
She used all 149 letters drawn one at a time after
being faced down.

Continuing my twice a week
ritual of sushi down in Hastings
at  Sakura, I took friend, Lynn,
for an  artistic culinary treat....

...she loves Sashimi and was
not disappointed.

On two other different
nights, neighbors
Diane F. and...

...Jack C. joined me for sushi
at nearby Samurai Japanese
Steakhouse in Croton Village.

What started off as a home 
cooked dinner in their RV here

at CPP turned out to be dinner at

their home when they discovered

the AC in the RV stopped working;

Yup, it was the 90°+ day.

Daughter, Marybeth and Carlo were in New York City and because Carlo knows the Director of Operations in the Freedom Tower, he 'made arrangements' for what will probably be the very first and very last marriage proposal at the top of the building still under construction. Overwhelmed MB momentarily pushed her fear of heights aside, thrilled beyond belief but very happy to descend and admire her ring. 

Having Craig/Trish and Ray/Kathy as CPP neighbors enriched my experience. However, each had their own agenda. They provided a friendly wave and a "see you later" as they departed and went their separate ways. Being both from Florida, their objective, as you would expect, was to cram as many visits to friends, relatives and celebrations during their short two-week stay. For Ray, the "Daddy-Do" list and Evan and daughter, Amy's new house kept him busy. After our morning coffee, off he'd go to the next project.

Ray/Kathy's planned two week stay also coincided with his annual RV Club's Rally held here at CPP. He arranges for the event here at CPP each year and I've been his guest each of those three years I've owned Winnie.  Known as the "Hudson Islanders," these folks get together for rallies five or six times a year. This year was my year to join. When I return from my Cross Country trip to San Jose and my trip to South Carolina to see the total eclipse of the sun in August, I will join them for their September Rally at the Catskill Adventure Resort in Wurtsboro, NY. My blog at that time will detail the members and the food that accompanies the event. They're a well traveled group from all walks of life most of whom are retired with some full-timers and some part-timers (me).

John & Martine honored
Winnie with a visit and became
members of my Wall of Fame.

Noreen & Jack celebrated
50 years of marriage

Pets everywhere.

Carli enjoyed herself; she never
barked and would not accept the
treat I offered each time I saw her.
She would wait till I dropped it
before she'd eat it.

Gunner. Tracy's 8 month 70
pound Old English Sheepdog
after its puppy cut.

Granddaughter, Sara, will soon welcome this yet to be
named cutie into her life in Rhode Island.

And then there's ye ol' campfire; well
constructed and maintained by veteran
fire builder and bacon expert, Jack.

With very little smoke making us play musical chairs and along with the warmth and comfort of a campfire, we enjoyed an added attraction. Steve, nephew of Tony, entertained us. Take a look and enjoy.

Finally, at the conclusion of my two week stay at CPP), I'm home and back to the reality of life in a different lane--not the fast lane, a different lane. For RVers, the most time consuming activities involve the setting up and the breaking down and stowing everything. As I write this, 3 days later, there are 19 days, 10 hours and 14 minutes until my next adventure, a cross country trek to San Jose, CA to visit my son, Chuck, Silvia and grandson, Aaron. 

Silvia Chuck Aaron

To view the itinerary, I invite you to click on the tab above labeled Summer 2017  Thanks for sticking through these thoughts and I look forward to sharing with you my first stop in Bellefonte, PA on July 8th, 2017

We've only just begun.

Croton Point RV Park (CPP) 6/02 --> 6/16/2017

Croton Point RV Park (CPP)

Cross River to CPP - 20 miles 30 min.

Well, I've finally made it. Four one-week long trips are behind me. Solitary journeys, short though they may have been, afforded me the opportunity to get back into the groove. Now, here at CPP, I can set roots so to speak.

Site #35 - Well shaded and quiet.

Awning is extended and anchored, more than one gravity chair set up awaiting a visitor or two. The rug is laid out to lessen the discomfort of walking on rocks and lessen the dirt tracked inside. The bird feeder and bamboo wind chime are set up and eagerly await birds, breezes or both. My pulsating lighted spheres are hung and will add a bit of atmosphere and conversation to the campsite. I've timed them to turn on at sunset and turn off five hours later. Sunset this evening will be at 8:22 p.m. with the longest day of the year a mere nineteen days away, the first day of summer. So that's the setting.

I posted the following on my Facebook "check-in" here at CPP:  "Picture a 'perfect day': 

More work to be done before it's really set up.

Temperature at 72°, a sunny, cloudless, blue sky, a constant gentle breeze, all is quiet except for the birds singing, robins by the dozens running around pecking for food and the air perfumed with the scent of blossoming flowers. My first dinner consisted of slices of fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers on homemade Italian bread and drizzled with olive oil. Chilled KJ to finish it off. Yup, that's what I've got...I'll have to live with it. Cheers!!

Speaking of bird songs, does the robin's song at dusk take you back to your childhood playing outdoors and, thanks to the song of the robin, remind you that street lights are on and it's time to be indoors at home rather than enjoying the preferred experience of being "out late." To those who pay attention and appreciate such things, that very same robin's song is what you'll hear before the crack of dawn, usually around 4:30 am. Tomorrow, sunrise will be 5:24 a.m. here in New York. From the numbers of paired robins I've seen this year here at CPP, I'm looking forward to being awaken by that never changing, always punctual and delightful marvel of Mother Nature who's been given the task to wake all others in its vicinity.

I received a most pleasant surprise about ten minutes after I set up Winnie at site #35. The huge fifth wheel belonging to friends Trish and Craig pulled in and will be setting up almost directly behind me on the next road on site #13. And I believe friends, Kathy and Ray, will be pulling in right next to me at site #33 on Monday with their huge Class A. Now that will make for a most cozy group of friends. Friends, Vicki and George, will be here from July through September. Those three couples are all residents of Florida. Sadly, another group of friends I've had the pleasure of knowing over the last couple of years are gone from my immediate area because of job re-locations. Pipeliners, Warren and Tommy and their wives and Danny, Jimmy and Karl, crane operators on the new Tappan Zee bridge.

So, those are my thoughts for Day One here at Croton, a home away from home; a laughable 11 miles and 16 minutes away. Many cannot grasp the beauty of my situation...all I do is re-read my second paragraph above and realize just how lucky I am. Tomorrow, with my sister, Judy's, help I'll pickup my Caddy and stop by my apartment to pick up some items, mail and some freezer food. Photos will soon follow.