Delaware Friends

It's only 250 miles from Providence Forge, VA to Newark, DE but rain, fog and some narrow roads make for a long day on the road. We arrived at our friends Rufus and Susan Barbour's home late afternoon. Their big driveway makes a perfect camping spot for Shamu.

It's always great to sit back and catch up on things. Mann and Rufus have been friends since high school and were roommates in college for a year. Long term friendships require lots of catching up. Susan prepared a great steak dinner which we finished up with ice cream and Susan's home made cookies. Mighty good!

Mann was awfully impressed that Northern Equipment sent Rufus a hard bound catalog. It was only after inspecting Rufus' new truck that he understood. Note the bed mounted tool boxes, ladder rack, bumper mounted lift etc. The catalog came with a price!

Tuesday morning we gave Rufus an introduction to geocaching by searching out a couple of caches close to home and then visited Barbour Automotive, son Joe's auto repair shop.

It's time to leave now. Next stop, Hershey, PA

FMCA GeoCoachers

We belong to a FMCA Chapter called GeoCoachers. The focus of this group is geocaching which we're actively involved in. Many of the members of Dogwood are also GeoCoachers so it's easy for us to add an extra day or two to a Dogwood rally and do some geocaching together. Sunday was spent searching for and finding 11 caches during the day with friends Wilt and Barbara Greenwood. All of this activity worked up quite an appetite so we all went out to dinner at The Blue Herring, a local seafood restaurant with waterfront dining on the banks of the beautiful Chickahominy river. The shrimp and oysters were excellent and the restaurant is one that we can recommend.

Monday is a travel day. On to Delaware where we'll visit with friends Susan and Rufus Barbour.

FMCA Dogwood Chapter Rally

It's been a while since we've updated the blog but not because we haven't been busy. Just doing things around the house.

We belong to a chapter of FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) called Dogwood. There are a total of about 60 member families. This weekend we attended a Dogwood rally at Rockahock with about 22 member families attending. Rockahock is east of Richmond on Rt 60 about mid way between Richmond and Williamsburg. Mann's friend Dan Elkins and wife Francis decided to attend with us and by the end of the weekend decided to join our chapter. Friday started with the usual greeting of friends that haven't been seen for a while. Most of us are snow birds and travel to warmer climates during the winter so this is the first time we've been together since early December. Friday evening started with "happy" hour and then dinner at a local restaurant. Saturday morning we had a huge breakfast prepared by the men of the group. Saturday afternoon was taken up with preparation of barbecue for the evening meal, then "happy" hour and dinner followed by music from local talent including one of our own members. Threats of a terrible storm forced an early end of the fun around 10:30 pm. A re-reading of this post reminds me that there's entirely too much eating and drinking at these affairs. Sunday morning, the fun was ended with a continental breakfast and goodbyes till we meet again All good things must end!

Professional Base Ball

Well, maybe not yet but you have to admit, this 8 year old can keep his eye on the ball. Note the concentration. OK, so there's a little prejudice. He's our Grandson, Dustin.


The game was on Saturday. It gave us both the chance and excuse to get together with daughter Amy and her family.