A Window on the Past

As promised, I've attached a few pics from our trip overseas. The first pic is the four of us in north west Ireland on the "Giant's Causeway". Dee & Allen are old time friends. Dee grew up with Laurie and Allen & I lived across the street from each other in Jamaica, Queens. The "Giant's Causeway" is a section on the northern coast of Ireland that legend says was created by giants. The rocks are mostly hexagonical and are stacked perfectly in line. Steps for the Giants ??

The second photo has yours truly standing in the fairway of # 18 on the "Old Course" at St. Andrews, Scotland with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club building the background. I had played the "New Course" earlier that day. Great memories.

We're in Chattanooga, Tennessee and it's cold. We'll ride the Choo-Choo and see the Ruby Falls.

More about that, later this week.


Gene & Laurie

Country Time !

Hello and Greetings from Nashville. We are in the heart of country music land and already have tickets for the 'Opry this coming weekend. Believe it or not, this is the first "campground" we've been in since we left Long Island earlier this month. We've been able get free camping so far. Of course, we spent a week at the Newmar factory in Nappanee, Indiana get a long list of warranty repairs completed. Nothing really major but lot's of minor annoyances.

The RV industry is really in a downturn and Newmar is not exempt. They used build 16+ units a day, now they are down to 4 units (must be ordered, no spec's) and only a 4 day work week. The Monaco factory shut down in July and laid off 1400 folks in Elkhart alone. Tough times.

They start early in Indiana. We had to be up, dressed, slides closed up and ready to turn over the rig at 6 am each day. The tech knocked on the door by 6.10 am and off the unit went. They bought it back around 2.15 pm and most folks were "napping" by 3 pm. Most of the workers are Amish and the community is filled with horse and buggy's.

While there we also had a nice visit with Steve & Linda Sanders. Steve & I worked on the LIRR and he's retired to the family farm nearby.

We took a quick trip up north to Charlotte, Michigan and had the chassis and engine serviced at the Spartan factory. Also had the coach weighed............whew ! we were under the gross figures !

Last weekend found us at the FMCA headquarters and their campground in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nice facility with full hook-ups and complimentary camping. While there we spent time seeing the Cincinnati Art Museum and some of the city sites and were able to visit with long time friends Dennis and Karen Conroy. Dennis and I grew up together in Jamaica, Queens and Karen lived on the next block. Two great dinners and some fun laughing and enjoying the memories !

I hope to get another post later this week with the promised Ireland memories.

Keep in touch, thanks for the comments.

Gene & Laurie