OCTORARA TEACHER GET TOGETHER

Since my plans are to be out of the area for over a year we had a little get together before I left. Francis was my principal when I started at Octorara. He just had had back surgery and doing very well. He loves getting together with all the teachers he worked with and remembering the good old days. Gail Smith retired two years ago and is still enjoying her horses and fox hunting.

Francis on the left and his wife Lois on the right. Avis and Susan are still teaching at Octorara. I taught 3rd grade with both of them . Avis is now teaching kindergarten and Susan loops between 3rd and 4th.

Mary Alice had just returned from two weeks in Alaska along with Mary Kay (behind her) and Sandy McLaughlin. They had a great trip. The picnic was at Mary Alice's lovely home. With her recent travel and lot of family visiting I really appreciate her opening her house for us.

PA NCT STATE RALLY

We went to Centre Hall, PA for the Pa National Campers and Travelers State Rally (NCT). We took our grandson, Brady with us. Two other boys his age were also there. They went to Penns Cave and then Ron Bush offered to let them put up rockets. Ron ran to catch a rocket before it hit the ground since the parachute hadn't opened. Ron hit the ground harder than the rocket. We ended up taking him to the hospital. He he had broken his shoulder.

June and John Lehman came from Florida. He is our partner for Masonic RV tours. We gave a seminar on our tours hoping to get more to join us in our travels.

Diane playing bingo. We traveled with her and Ed to Alaska and Nova Scotia. She had her grandson with her, he is the other boy putting up the rocket.

Larry playing bingo. He was a winner. Brady got close but never won.

TORNADO AT hERSHEY TT

We moved to Hershey Thousand Trails on Monday, June 21. We got up early Tuesday morning and went to work at Roots. We then went to Mountville and picked up our grandson, Chase. It was a very hot day so we went to Circle M to go swimming. About 4 o'clock a thunderstorm came up, pools were closed so we went to McDonald's and then headed to the Barnstormer's baseball game in Lancaster. We received several phone calls from friends and family telling us that a tornado had hit Thousand Trails in Lebanon. Friends checked our RV and told us it wasn't damaged, but we would have problems getting home. The entrance to TT was closed with fallen trees. By the time we arrived home about 11:00 they had the lower entrance opened through the storage area. This truck was parked in A circle.

A camper in A loop.

This bath house had a tree on its roof.

The roof off the pavilion landed over here just missing a trailer.

This tree fell on the get away with a family inside. Amazing that nobody was hurt with all this damage.

We had no water, electric or sewage. At two o'clock on Wednesday they had us come to the pavilion and encouraged people to go to other camp grounds in the area. We did get eclectic that evening, but no water. We were scheduled to leave on Thursday to go to Centre Hall,PA for our State NCT rally. Thursday morning we did get water, but people were asked not to leave if possible while trees were being chopped up at the entrance. We were able to leave, but understand the area was hit with another bad storm that evening.

At the end of our row this tree fell between these campers. The camper on the left had its slide out destroyed.

Another picture of the get away with tree on the porch.

FACTOR X WALK

Luke and his wife at the Factor X walk. At the raffle we won a LARGE jar of peppermint patties and another basket with two quart containers of peppermint patties. We gave some to his dad for Father's Day and to anyone else who says they like them. $10,000.00 was raised at the walk. We walked for an hour. A nice sunny but hot day.

Tom and Barb (Larry's sister), Dottie and Larry, Georgine (his sister) and Trae and Loretta (his brother). Luke is Trae and Loretta's son, so it is their grandchildren we were walking for.

FACTOR X WALK

We walked for Factor X on June 10 at Bernville,PA. Larry's nephew Luke, two girls have been diagnosed with this disease, so they were the organizer of this event. Fragile X is a mutation of a gene that can cause retardation, mostly in boys, and learning disabilities in girls. There is simple blood test for it to see if a person is a carrier and it does skip generations. From the research they are hoping to understand more about autism and retardation. They were able to raise $10,000. It was a very hot day and I was glad we only had to walk for an hour. They were redoing the track at the school so we walked around a circle in the field.

VISIT WITH FRIENDS

Kathy and I put this puzzle together one evening. We always enjoy doing one when we are together. This one was a fun one to do, only 500 pieces and lots of colors and shapes.

Kathy came for a visit. We have to fit visits around all our travels. She just came home from a two week cruise on the Baltic Sea. Some may remember Kathy from her visit to me in Florida where she fell playing pickleball and had to have her hand operated on. She is just finishing up her therapy and the use of her hand is almost back to normal.Ruth Ann and Denny live down the road from where our house was in Mountville. We always enjoy a visit when I'm in the area. The puzzle was one she was working on in her sunroom when I stopped by,and she let me borrow it for Kathy and I to put together. Her enjoyment of puzzles and reading are things we enjoy sharing.

Ruth Ann and I had a nice lunch at Trio.

REASONS TO COME BACK TO PA

Our grandson Chase (9 years old) plays on the Mountville traveling team. We got to go to his game the other night. Many of his games have been cancelled, since we have had so many storms in the evening. This game just got done when the heavens broke open. He plays left field. That night when he was up to bat he had a walk (eventually scoring a run) and then he struck out twice. His dad said he is usually a hot batter.
Notice my battered face? These medical check-ups are keeping me very busy and sore. When I had my annual check-up I mentioned the spot on my nose that didn't seem to heal and kept reoccurring. My sister has had basal skin cancer on her face and arm, so I thought I better have it looked at. I was sent to a Skin Center and had the spot on my nose checked. The doctor felt it was probably basal skin cancer, so he cut it off (the spot not my nose). Having your nose numbed is quite a sensation. It may leave a little scar. Then I went for my 6 month dental cleaning and I complained about a tooth I've had problems with for a long time. From the x-ray, the bleeding when I floss and they cleaned we felt it needed a periodontist to build up the bone. At the periodontist they took more x-rays and decided my back molar needed to be extracted and then a bone graft done so later I could have an implant. This tooth had always given me problems, it had already had a root canal done many years ago. My symptoms for the root canal had been my lip went numb and unfortunately it has stayed numb ever since. The extraction was a little painful (needed some extra Novocaine)It was very infected. They used bone from a cow for the bone graft, so you will know why I may be mooing when you see me. My face has been quite swollen the last few days and now it is turning black and blue. I have the stitches out in two weeks, and then at least a year before an implant. My question is, How much will my insurance cover? At least I have some dental insurance.

WE USE TO LIVE HERE

This was our house in Mountville we sold to Larry's son, Brian, when we went full time RVing. Brian's wife Dorothy (yes Brian's wife is also Dorothy Mathias) has a great decorating touch. The house looks so nice inside and out. We don't miss having to cut the grass,(Brian in the pictures doing the mowing) plant the garden, and all of the other up keep. It has been over three years since they bought it and we see it as their house now not ours. It takes a little while to get to that point.

THE HOLE SISTERHOOD

East Penn chapter of NCT loves to party. The wine and cheese party was planned for Saturday night but it got rained out. So we gathered on Sunday night. They had it all decorated for Memorial Day, even had luminaries up the walkway. We have been members of East Penn since last year, but with our travel we have only been able to be camping with them once last fall. The women have formed a little sisterhood called the hole sisters. AS new members join they initiate you into it with a wand, crown, and giving you a hole name. Because of our dri wash business them dubbed me dry hole (Larry is not real fond of my name). It is all in fun and enjoying your company. That night they finished the intuition with toilet papering the rig.

A SHORT HIKE

Being in this beautiful area we had to go to for a hike. We found this trail at a township park in Blakeslee. It was an easy mile hike (a little muddy from the rain last night) to a short waterfall. It was more of a rapids. It was a delightful place to sit and listen to the rushing water. Larry even enjoyed a little nap.

FUTURE NASCAR?

At the fairground is a quarter midget race track. It is fun to watch those little kids (4 years and up)racing around the track. Pocono Raceway is only a few miles away, so I guess it is in the air. It is a whole day event, with the entire family involved. The best race we saw was between two brothers. Unfortunately a cloud burst ended the races before they all had a chance to run their final race.

MEALS, MEALS, AND MORE MEALS

We had great meals all weekend. I didn't have to cook a thing. When we arrived on Friday we had delicious ham, green beans, and baked potato. Saturday was a spaghetti and meatball dinner. On Sunday we had a brunch of left over ham, eggs and fried potatoes (made from the left over baked potatoes). Then we had a complete Memorial Day picnic with hamburgers, hot dogs, and lots of different kinds of salads. We had all these meals for only $10.00 a person. Our camping was only $22 a night, since it is at the fairgrounds.

BIG CREEK VINEYARD

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Down the road from where we were camping, in Kunkletown,PA was the Big Creek Vineyard. We always enjoy doing some wine tasting when we are in a new area. The tasting was free, but of course we bought three bottles of wine - La Brusca a sweet red table wine and Vin Di Pasqualina a rose table wine.

GOLF ANYONE?

Larry has decided to try his hand at golf. We stopped at a Pro shop and he bought a driver and then went out to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls.

MEMORIAL DAY

Happy Memorial Day We were in Gilbert,PA near Stroudsburg in the Poconos. We were camping with two Masonic camping groups. The Caravaners and NCT East Penn chapter.

HERSHEY THOUSAND TRAILS

Our RV site at Hershey TT.
The geese are still here along with lots of new babies.

PICKLEBALL AT HERSHEY

MY ROSSEBURG'S RHUBARB PIE

ROOTS ON TUESDAY