Goodnight Irene

We survived Hurricane Irene.  It hit the coast way south of us as a Hurricane and was downgraded to a Tropical Storm by the time it went through our area.  This meant the winds were not as strong but the rain was still torrential and seemed to do the most damage in some areas with many swollen rivers.  This part of the country had already received record rain falls at the start of August, so the ground was completely saturated.

In less than 48 hours you can see the rain damage, washing away the gravel and exposing the pipe.  This was only minor compared to what it did further north in places like the State of Vermont.

We are now biding time in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, waiting to go to New York on the 5^th September.

Hurricane Irene

We’ve postponed our trip to NYC due to Hurricane Irene.  We had planned to be there this weekend, the same time the hurricane is forecast to travel through there.

Unfortunately this was the only vacancy the RV Park had, otherwise we would have been there during the week.  It is a very popular park for it’s great location, just across the water from the south tip of Manhattan, with views of the Status of Liberty and easy access to ferry’s. 

We’ve changed our booking to the 5^th Sept and fingers crossed New York doesn’t suffer too much damage.  One of the main concerns is storm surge.  It also doesn’t help that it will coincide with a high tide.

We have headed North West into Pennsylvania.  Although we may not be immuned from strong winds and rain, we think we’re in a pretty good spot.  We’re away from the trees as much as possible and on a slight slope for water run-off.

Viriginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey

Unless we like hot, humid and hurricane weather it is a little early to venture south to look at more boats.  So we are slowly heading up the East coast through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey to New York.  We are staying in RV Parks with swimming pools, water parks and mini golf. 

We hit the beach and the kids had a fabulous time, with Luke trying out the boogie board for the first time. 

Most of the RV Parks are a good distance from the ocean and as we drove up the coast today you should have seen the queues at the toll booths into the beach car parking.  I don’t think we realise how lucky we are back home.  Our appreciation for home is growing more and more.  We really do live in a fabulous country.

East Coast

After 2000 miles and 10 days we had arrived on the East Coast of America.  Why Virginia – there was a boat in Deltaville we were interested in looking at.  Lucky that’s all we wanted to do, cause when we arrived at the brokers to inspect the boat he told us it was ‘under contract’.

On the up side we stayed in a nice RV Park ‘Grey’s Point’ that had fantastic swimming pools for small kids and a water park.  

It also had activities for the kids, which Luke loved.

It was a large campground with many permanent holiday sites and everyone whizzed around in golf carts.  The Manager of the RV Park enticed us in to being in a photo shoot for their brochure, with a free night’s accommodation.  We also got to zip around in one of the golf cart which the kids thought was pretty cool.

On the Road Again

We hit the road and spent the next 10 days heading east until we reached the Atlantic Ocean.  It put a smile on Rich’s face to see the sea again.  We initially drove a little north out of Denver to avoid the heatwave across the Great Plains.  From Colorado we drove through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia to Virginia.  The weather in those states wasn’t exactly cool, but the mid 30’s seemed better than 40+.

We knew we wouldn’t go hungry on our drive across America.  If we missed one of the ‘fast food’ exits, the Rest Area's had vending machines!

For most of the trip across, the land was flat and full of corn fields until we hit West Virginia, which is very mountainous.  Although not particularly high in altitude, it is extremely rugged and many of the highways had as winding through the trees.  It was very pretty.
We crossed the Mississippi River dividing the states of Iowa and Illinois, which was a bit of a highlight - tells you something about the rest of the road trip!

At one RV Park, we decided our ‘Minnie Winnie’ was actually mini.

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

We loved our time at Steamboat, a ski resort renowned for its ‘powder’ snow.  Another place we may have to revisit in the winter!  We stayed in a friend’s condo, which was very generous.  It was huge, perhaps as big as our house and we all relished the extra space.

The condo was in a great location, with views of the ski slopes or the grassy hills as in our case.   There was also a large hot tub which we frequented most afternoons and Luke’s confidence around water has improved dramatically.

Downtown Steamboat was really pretty and they had a free bus service around the whole town.  The bus stop was about 200 metres from the condo, it was perfect. 

Chloe and Abraham Lincoln

There was also an amazing outdoor swimming pool/gym complex.  It is called the Old Town Hot Springs, as the 8 swimming pools are fed by hot springs.  I think they actually have to cool the lap pool down.  It’s a fantastic complex; they also have 2 big waterslides and also a toddler water park, with small slides and little water fountains.  The kids loved it, as did Rich and I.

We farewelled Steamboat after 10 super days and hit the road headed for the East Coast.

Wyoming

Once we left Yellowstone we were headed for Gerard’s apartment in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.    Our first stop after Yellowstone was Jackson, Wyoming.  It was such a pretty town, we decided to stay 2 nights.  Jackson is in close proximity to several ski resorts, very much cowboy territory and certainly geared to tourists.  It makes for an interesting mix.

The Lonely Planet’s comment on Jackson is, it is as ‘jet-setting’ as gets in Wyoming , so one more stop at Rock Springs, pretty flat and industrial and then on to Colorado. 

I even had a drive!  We left so early, the kids are still in their PJ’s.  Every time we decide to have an early start, they seem to sleep in, always the way isn’t it.