Arrived New Jersey, Beach, Family Auto Issues

August 12 - 21, 2014   

Well, here we are in New Jersey where our full time RV life started a little over 2 years ago.  It really is hard to believe that it has been that long, time flies when you are having fun.  This is our 224th post since we began this blog when our house went up for sale in January of 2012.  It really is amassing all of the things we have done and the places we have been in just 2 years!

Our boondock site in Keyport NJ

We have been doing a little thinking about our longer term future.  We have always known that we will reevaluate our life plans when we turn 60 which will be in a little over 2 years.  Until that time, in the shorter term, we still plan to keep traveling around North America.  

Next year, 2015, we plan to tour the East Coast and winter in Florida.  Then the following year, 2016, we are planning to make a big tour of the North West which will require us to set out toward the West in mid-July.  We will leave FL in the spring of 2016 and head up to NJ, then Buffalo, and lastly IN before heading out west in July.  That will give us a good 4 months to cover the North West including some of the Canadian Rockies.  Then we plan to again winter in South Texas.

Our longer term plans are to continue to live in the RV but we may park it in the south, probably Texas.  We would like to have something up here in the North East for summers, just not sure what that will be just yet or even when where for that matter.  Our plans for then will be to basically snow bird (winter south and summer north) and do our major traveling out of the country.  We have a list of places we have come up with over the years which include the Mediterranean, Egypt, South Africa, China, South America, and Australia.  We are looking for long term travel of a month or more for each destination and probably just one destination a year.

There is the usual caveat; it all depends on our health.  My health is pretty good right now with no limitations.  Patty has some health issues with the biggest being her diabetes which, for now seems to be in modest control.  However, Patty is having some issues right now with walking distances which is of concern.  We are hoping to get this under control very soon as it can affect our plans for the future.  Anyway, that is what we have been giving some thought to over the past few weeks concerning our future plans.

Our time here in NJ has been pretty eventful so far.  Some events are good and some not so good.  Patty’s son Chas got into an accident on the Garden State Pkwy which thankfully was not his fault and he wasn’t seriously hurt.  

Chas's car is straight ahead, facing us on the shoulder. He was traveling on the other side of the grass divider.  The marks in the foreground are from the car that blew the tire and hit Chas' car.

His car however was a total wreck.  A woman with a family from NY blew a rear tire and crossed the highway divider hitting Chas causing him to spin out of control.  The woman’s car landed upside down in the middle of the highway.  For those who know the area, this was at rush hour on the Garden State Parkway; traffic was backed up for miles.  Chas called his mom and we got to him in less than half an hour.  We got lucky and were able to get near the front of the accident scene by making an illegal U-Turn. Chas has since found out that he will get only $100 less than what we paid for the car 3+ years ago so he is happy about that. 

Some very good events have been that we got back to our favorite beach here, Sandy Hook.  We also got to attend the last summer beach concert a few days ago.  We have been going to this beach for 19 years together now, so we have many friends there.

Hibiscus blooming on the path to the beach.

The beach looking north toward Manhattan, NYC.  In the center you can see the new Freedom Tower.

Nice relaxing picture from my chair on the beach.

Patty and friends John, and Dianna at the beach concert.

The Carl Gentry Band at the concert.

Looking out at the crowd with the Atlantic Ocean in the background.

Dinner for the 2 of us was a split Stuffed Grilled Cheese with pulled pork for the stuffing.  It was just OK, but I just had to have it!

Our dinner was from this Hog Heaven Truck.

We bought a season pass for $75 which is only required through this coming Labor Day.  The daily fee is $15 and we have been 3 times so far.  We feel we will go enough times to recover the cost of the season pass.

We had dinner with my daughter Jennifer and her husband Christian at the Walpack Inn in Sussex County NJ.  This is one of Jennifer’s favorite restaurants.  I like it but it's 90 miles from where we are and I prefer seaside places more.  But that is OK, I got to see my daughter!

This past Sunday we went with Cindy and Rob to the Monmouth County Race Track for the afternoon. We had some lunch at the track and a couple of beers.  We bet on a few races with just Cindy winning anything.  She won a whole $1.50!  We don't bet bet very much, maybe we spent $12 for the day.  With food, parking, entrance fees, and the betting we spent $25 for the 2 of us for a nice afternoon, not bad at all!

Entrance to Monmouth Park Horse Track.

Cool sand sculpture at the track.

Last night, the 21st we went out for dinner and Karaoke at a local favorite place called MJ’s.  As most people know, Patty is the singer, not me.  We went out with our friends Cindy and Rob at who’s house we are moochdocking.  Chas also joined us for dinner.  It was a fun evening however the Karaoke wasn’t so good.  There were a lot of kids (under 10) from a party that took up a lot of the mike time, so Patty, Cindy, and Rob only got one song in before 11 pm.  We still had a great time!

Cindy and Rob with us out to dinner at MJ'S.

Chas with us at MJ'S.

Yesterday I also went to see a dermatologist about a crusty patch on my right ear.  I have had this patch on my ear for past 2 years now.  I know it is sun damage and it has the potential for cancer.  They took a sample and will have it tested and let me know the results in about a week. No matter what, I will have to go back and have the patch dealt with in some manor.  I'm not too concerned about it.  I'm a little more concerned about not getting anymore so I really need to be more diligent about using sunscreen. Sometimes it is a real pain in the ass getting older!

Next week Cindy and Rob are having a Luau party which will be fun and we get to see a lot of old friends.  I am also hoping for a golf outing with guys from my work place.  Of course we will get back to the beach a few more times.  We are also planning to have a ribs night with Chas and his girlfriend too.

Some random pictures from last week in NJ:

Just a block from our site is this 12 mile trail called the Henry Hudson Trail.  It originates in Keyport NJ and ends in Highlands NJ.  It was an old rail line.  We walk/run and bike this trail when we are here.

Nice picture from the Henry Hudson trail.

We go here for Karaoke a lot.  It is at the entrance to Sandy Hook in the Highlands NJ.

The small house on the left of the dumpster is the place we rented for years in the Highlands for the summer.  It was almost completely under water during hurricane Sandy.  The larger house that shared the lot is now being torn down.  The owners found it to be more cost effective to tear it down and rebuild than to fix the Sandy damaged house.

Another picture of the house being torn down.  It is the end of an era here for us!  Sandy really changed this area forever!

Stay tuned!