Riding the Storm Out

The Bus at Aberdeen Proving Grounds

After we finished our work in Ellicott City, MD helping the flood recovery effort, we headed over to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to the Assateague National Seashore.  We actually stayed at the Maryland State Park that is adjacent to the National Park.  The State Park has a few campsites with 30-amp power and with temperatures hitting 90 degrees, we wanted to run at least one of the rooftop air conditioners.  The park’s attractions are the beautiful undeveloped soft sand beach and wild horses that roam free on Assateague Island.  Rangers caution everyone not to get within 10 feet of the horses, don’t feed them, and don’t leave food out.  It did not take long before we spotted small groups of wild horses.  

They were in much better shape than I had expected and they were not afraid of humans at all.  We saw a family sitting down to dinner at their picnic table and four horses trotted right over and just pushed their way around the table taking the food.  It was kind of funny to watch the folks jumping all around and yelling trying to get the horses to back off to no avail.  Since we were on the Eastern Shore, we woke-up early and took our chairs to the beach to watch the sunrise while we sipped coffee. It was not very spectacular as leading edge clouds from Hurricane Hermine moved in rapidly obscuring our view. It was nice to sit and ponder our next move as we watched the horses walk along the beach.

We had planned to move north to Delaware for a visit, but all the campgrounds were booked for the Labor Day weekend. It was going to be hot, so we wanted 50-amp electricity to run both rooftop air conditioners. I went on-line and found an open spot at the Navy Recreation Area Solomon’s Island.  This is the campground that we used when we were selling our home last year.  It has a good weekly rate and full hook-up with 50-amp service.  This turned out to be a great place to hide out for Labor Day and we avoided the evacuation of the campgrounds at Assateague Island and Delaware where we had planned to stay.  I was able to bike around Solomon’s Island, but Pattie is still not able to bike due to her knee injury.  We were able to visit our home church in Dunkirk, MD and we spoke about our disaster relief efforts.

 After Labor Day, we received an email that we were accepted to attend the Disaster Relief Incident Commander Training Course near Rockville, VA in late September.  We have been taking the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) on-line courses to better understand how the government and non-governmental agencies coordinate disaster relief efforts.  This formal training will prepare us to lead relief efforts in the future. 

With the training on the schedule, we decided to camp close by and enjoy Virginia a bit.  The Cheatham Navy Annex campground has good reviews, so we booked a week to check it out.  The campground is modern with flat concrete pads and plenty of space around each campsite.  I purchased a Virginia fishing license and a base permit to try my luck in the surrounding ponds.  Over a week I was able to catch one small bass but lost three lures.  I guess I’m “down two” as they say in Vegas.  

On a better note, Pattie’s knee was feeling better and we took a longt hike along the trails surrounding the lake.  The Navy was setting up obstacles along the route for an upcoming fitness competition.  We tried our hand at a few but thought we should not push our luck as we are not “outdoors sports people.”

We got restless after a week and noticed the Hershey, PA RV show was in a few days.  This is the largest show in the world and we attended it several years ago before we bought The Bus.  We thought it would be fun to go back and see it now through the lens of a full-timer.  A neighbor in a nice 5’er said they recently stayed at Aberdeen Proving Ground campground and that it was nice.  I made reservations and we took off braving the D.C and Baltimore traffic once again.  The Aberdeen Proving Ground campground has two sections and we stayed in the new section that is more open allowing a better satellite TV shot (football season ya know!).  Our plan was to get to the Hershey show early the first day and take our Blue Ox tow bar to the technicians there for inspection and routine maintenance.  However, when I went to pull it out of the motorhome receiver, it was rusted and stuck.  We worked up a sweat beating on it with a hammer and finally used a strap and the Jeep to pull it free.  We took it to the Blue Ox booth for inspection. They said it was worn out, not repairable!  

I don’t know how old the tow bar is or its history since I made the guy throw it in the deal when I bought The Bus two years ago.  The Blue Ox folks said they would give me $150 on trade in and a military discount on a new one.  So yeah, we bought a new one.  What option did we have really?  I don’t want to look over one day and say “Hey, honey that Jeep passing us looks just like ours…”

We enjoyed our day at the show and saw many features on the new motorhomes that we like.  No one rig really jumped out as a better fit for us than The Bus, so we escaped without the temptation to trade up.  We did have a chance to talk with Bob Tiffin the owner of Tiffin Motorhomes who made our coach.  We told him how much we enjoy The Bus and hope he will add some orange and blue paint schemes in next year’s model. 

Above is our trip map for August to mid-Sept 2016 with Hurricane Hermine's track superimposed. Why ride out the storm when you can dodge it all together!

Thanks for keepingupwiththejonesrv!