RV Trip - Stop 1 - Savannah

This post and the next 6 are a diary of our recent trip up north for a number of reasons. We were gone for a total of 25 days and drove the motor home a total of 3426 miles. We made 6 significant stops and if you don't have anything better to do for a while you can visit all 6 posts to see how these "old timers" are spending our golden years and our money!!!!

We were originally going to depart North Port on AUG 4 but Jim found out The Lady Chablis was going to be in Savannah on AUG 3. Lady Chablis was one of the main characters in the book and movie " Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", by John Berand. If you have not seen or read the book it is a true story about a murder in Savannah. Very good book and movie.

So we got to Savannah, had a pleasant dinner and went to the show to see Lady Chablis emcee the show at Club One, where the show is a number of cross dressers!! Yes, it is a gay bar and show!!! I did not have a good camera with me but I did get a picture of Lady Chablis on my cell phone.

Even though picture is not high quality you can see Chablis is a good looking slender person.  Carol would have really liked to have several of the gowns worn by Chablis. Chablis' name prior to her current one was FRANK. Yes "she" is a guy but you would never know while dressed!!

RV Trip - Stop 2 - Norfolk VA

Our trip north involved many stops the second being Norfolk, VA. We had been there earlier in the year evaluating it as a location for the Hazelwood reunion in 2015. Jim served on the Hazelwood for 3 years. This time we were evaluating 4 hotels as the possible reunion location. We were surprised and pleased that we got  invitations to spend a night in each of the 4 hotels. In that way we got to properly evaluate each of them.
One of the tours we did not get on during our visit earlier this year was a harbor tour and dinner on the Spirit of Norfolk. The convention bureau made arrangements for a complimentary tour on that boat. It was great and I am sure we will include it in our reunion.
The meal was superb and they had a DJ to make the tour even more fun. Since we were about to celebrate Carol's birthday I even got us a bottle of champagne rather than just a glass.

As you can see, you get to see the ships up close and the captain gives an excellent description of each as we go by them If you ever go to Norfolk don't miss this tour.
When we finished our 4 nights in Norfolk, we left early in the morning and drove 11 1/2 hors to get to the Troy, NY area.

RV Trip - Stop 3 - Mini Phi Kap Reunion

Our trip North had many purposes and one of the most enjoyable was a gathering of Phi Kappa fraternity brothers in in Lake George, NY. There were 6 brothers attending, Don Nojaim, Joe Internacola, Dick Veltri, Dick Pratt, Jim Julian and the sparkplug for the "reunion, Vice Alescio.

Our group went to a daytime dinner and play and then to Buco de Peppo the next day for an early dinner prior to going to a show at the Proctor Theater in Schenectady. Both shows were excellent except the excessive loudness at the Proctor. It was a show similar to Circu de Leis(?).

Here is a series of photos taken at Buco de Peppo of the group, minus the photographer, Jim.

Prior to Carol and Jim going to Lake George, we stopped at Latham (Troy, NY) to visit Carol's family cemetery and to take in some our favorite local area foods. It was Carol's birthday so went to the Red Front in Troy where we used to go on dates over 56 years ago. The pizza was just as good now as it was back then  and this picture shows Carol with a SMALL pizza. I don't think the table would hold a large pizza!!

We also stopped at Ted's Fish Fry twice before leaving the area as those fish sandwiches are the BEST!

RV Trip - Stop 4 - Trafford and Pirate Ballgame

Jim lived in Trafford, PA his first 18 years of life and then went to college for 3 1/2 years and the Navy for 3 years. After the Navy there was only one year he lived in Trafford. When we went back for the Peduzzi's birthdays (next post) we drove around every street in town to see the changes that have been made. There are many improvements and there is still much of the "old town" remaining.

Here is the senior high rise that now rests between Brinton and Cavitt Avenues. McBride's Market used to be on this site on Cavitt and Matesick's Store was on Brinton. I am sure if Jim had looked at the list of residents in the high rise he would have seen that some his classmates now live there!

The old borough building is in process of being removed. Even the steps that ran up the hill that were adjacent to it have been closed for years. The new borough building and Fire department is a showcase building visible as you enter Trafford coming across the bridge.

  You are also greeted by a large mural painted on the rear walls of buildings on Cavitt Avenue.

The real showcase improvement is the war memorial park on Edgewood at 5th, overlooking Trafford.  It has 5 monuments for the wars since WW1 up to and including the current War on Terror. Memorial benches are also in the park.

So there a lot of improvements to Trafford and the entire town should be thankful they have a great Mayor in Rey Peduzzi. 

We also found improvements in the Pirate PNC Stadium. The last Pirate home game Jim saw was in Forbes Field and PNC Stadium is a wonderful stadium.

One on our "must" stops in the Trafford area is Delallo's Italian Store on Rt 30 in Jeanette. If you can't find the Italian food you want in this store, it is not made!! Just look at the olive display!!

 

Naturally when we left Trafford we had a good supply of my favorites, Sandwich size pepperoni, Hot sausage and other goodies.



RV Trip - Stop 5 - Peduzzi twins birthday party.

The original reason for us to make a trip north was the 80th birthday of the Rey and Ron Peduzzi. Jim has know the Twins for 75 years as they were neighbors. At Rey's 75th birthday party, Jim told Rey that if he was not planning an 80th birthday party, that we would come to visit and have one for him.
Well, the families decided to have a party for both of them. Rey is the Mayor of Trafford and they were able to arrange the use of the Manchester Room in the new Borough Building.

This is Ron, Bob Mikan, and Rey. If you look closely, you can see the 3 of them in the picture behind them. That picture was taken when they played football together for Trafford High School. 
Naturally at a birthday party there has to be a "roast" and this was no exception.

Here they are being roasted by a college football friend. Since Rey lives in Trafford and has a lot of his family nearby they had a good crowd for the family picture, shown below.

And here is Ron's family picture.

There was the cake and candles that got blown out and this little girl got her share of the cake.

Again, a very happy birthday to Ron and Rey and many more.

RV Trip - Stop 6 - Charleston Visit

Our last stop on this trip was in Charleston, SC to visit with our daughter Joy and family. Naturally we got out to dinner together and here they are.

Of course one of our major reasons to visit them was to spend time with our grandson Kismet. He loves swimming and we went to the water park in the county park 2 days in a row. This was in the park where we stayed in the motor home.

That was a lot of fun but then we went to Folly Beach on James Island. A very nice beach but the day we were there the wind was strong and that caused the surf to be equally strong. Waves were 3 to 6 feet and the current close to shore was at least 5 knots at an angle to the beach. Jim even got knocked down once in knee deep water!

As you can see, Kismet had a ball in the surf but it was too strong for Jim to join  in.


On our last evening we had some time that allowed us to relax and go to dinner ourselves. We found a great place to have a drink and a light dinner, The Charleston Crab House.

Carol got an appetizer of Calamari which was as good as any we have ever had. Jim got a bowl of She Crab Soup. If you have never had She Crab Soup, it is made with crab meat of course and they add crab roe (eggs) for additional flavor. A delightful dish that you should not miss if you see it on a menu.
The next morning we departed and headed home, driving about 10 1/2 hours to make it in one day. Overall for the 24 days we were gone, we put 3,429 miles on the motor home. A tiring but enjoyable time.

OMG - Jim turns 78

Well, Jim had a birthday recently and turned a ripe old 78. He may be old in body but the mind is still young. The body is not doing too badly because last week he was SCUBA diving in the Keys for lobster. He did catch 2 but one was a female with eggs and had to be left on the bottom. Carol and I  had the one for dinner when we got back and based on the total cost of our 3 night trip and the weight of the one tail, it cost about $2,000.00 per pound!!! Not economical but a lot of fun.

Carol and Jim had planned to go to the American Legion with Gus and Marilyn for Jim's birthday but when we got there Carol had arranged for many others help to celebrate his birthday. In total there were 7 couples plus the rest of the Legion membership who were also there for dinner and dancing as we were.

There were even balloons at the two tables we had for our group. That is the streamer holding the balloon in this picture.

 The reason we had planned to go to the legion was because pour favorite entertainer and dance music provider was planning there. We follow him around to the various places he plays.

Yeah, we have become senior citizen groupies.

Marilyn, our "cake maker extraordinaire" made a cake decorated with a bikini "babe". I don't know who she used a model but we all started calling it "the boob" cake.

Naturally you can guess which part I got served!

So another year has been chalked up and we are looking forward to the next one.