Head Out Program (HOP) to Hudson River Valley

On the second and fourth days of the HOP visited the Hudson River Valley to tour the CIA and FDR sites in Hyde Park and West Point. All these places were much closer to the RV park so we did not have to spend as much time on the bus. We extended our time for a day to visit Eleanor Roosevelt's home and the Vanderbilt Mansion. That will be our next post.  

Our first stop was The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The CIA was founded in 1946 in New Haven, CT and moved into the former Jesuit novitiate St. Andrews-on-Hudson in Hyde Park in 1972. They offer associate and bachelor degrees in culinary arts and food and hospitality management. We toured several classrooms and kitchens, where students learn to work their magic. No photos of the classrooms were allowed.

I loved this wall covered with words about food. As you can see the best culinary school in America recognizes what I have always said, beer is food.

This sculpture is a sturgeon, the source of caviar, sculpted out of flatware. These fish are found in the Hudson River and can weigh up to 200 pounds. 

After the tour we were treated to lunch at Ristorante Caterina de' Medici prepared and served by the students. This is one of four restaurants at the CIA that are open to the public.

Everyone enjoyed their meal that started with bean soup with pasta.

The main course was roasted chicken breast with gnocchi and glazed carrots.

Dessert was Italian vanilla custard with strawberries and blueberries. If you are in the Hyde Park area make sure to add one of the restaurants at the CIA to your list.  

Our next stop was to the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historical Site just up the road from the CIA. This is Springwood, the home where FDR was born in 1882. Here is the link to our blog post when we toured the home and presidential library and museum two years ago. On that visit we got to see the bedrooms on the second floor. Because it was so hot we did not get to go upstairs on this tour. Below are some rooms that we did not include in the 2016 blog post. 

The Roosevelt's living room. The pictures on the piano are of famous people from around the world who visited Springwood. It is amazing to think of all the historic figures who sat in this room and talked with the president. I guess we did not make the cut on our first visit as our pictures are not there. 

We did get to see the kitchen this time. Modern by the standards of the first half of the twentieth century. 

Another room we did not see before is this small study where Roosevelt often met with Churchill, who visited the home many times during WWII. 

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum. We had toured it a couple years ago and wrote about it in the blog above.

Busts of Franklin and Eleanor.

We did check out the special exhibit at the museum, The Art of War. It was an interesting look at posters from WWII that showed the various ways people could support the war effort.

The last day of the HOP we went to West Point to tour the United States Military Academy. Here is the link to our blog entry about our visit here two years ago. That post includes our visit to Woodstock, quite a contrast to West Point. This is the Cadet Chapel and Washington Hall, the cafeteria (mess hall) with the dorms (barracks) overlooking the The Plain, the parade ground. 

These are the homes of the superintendent and commandant on The Plain. Our guide said my relative John Caldwell Tidball may have lived there when he was commandant because it is the oldest building on the campus.

Our tour included the cemetery, something we did on our own two years ago. This is the Old Cadet Chapel that was moved here when the new chapel was built. 

These are a few interesting gravestones our guide pointed out. Top is Maggie Dixon who was the women's basketball coach at West Point for one year before her sudden death in 2006. It was a great honor that, even though she was not a West Point grad, she was buried here. Middle is William Westmoreland who was Army Chief of Staff during the Vietnam War. Top right is Harry Cramer who was the first American killed in Vietnam in 1957 long before we were officially there. Bottom is Emily Perez who was killed in Iraq in 2006 making her the first female African-American officer in history to die in combat. The stones are placed on her gravestone to show respect and that you have visited. Right is Norman Schwarzkopf who was the commander of Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  

There are six Tidballs buried at West Point. We had visited those graves two years ago, so this time I decided to put a stone on John Caldwell's marker to show I had visited and to show my respect.

We had lunch at the West Point Club overlooking the beautiful Hudson River. We always learn something new when we take a tour even at places we have visited before. This time one of the things we learned was that Patty Hearst lives in one of the mansions on the East bank of the river.

Since our last visit the new visitors center has opened. It offers an inside look at the life of the cadets while they are going to school. This exhibit shows the tradition of tossing their cadet hats, that they will no longer need, into the air at graduation. The five men pictured are the grads who achieved the rank of five star general.

The HOP group. We really enjoyed the HOP seeing many things and making new friends. Our thanks to Jim and Lisa for a great time.

Year Eleven Summary

Here is the summary of our eleven years on the road. The first column of the summary is the total for the whole time on the road, the second is the eleven year average of the total and the third is the info for the past year.

THE LIST........................ TOTAL.........AVERAGE.........YEAR 11

Motorhome Miles...................96517................8774...............7200

Average Miles Per Day..............24.1.................24.1..................19.7

Average Trip...............................173..................173.................171

Gallons of Diesel Fuel............12486................1135...............1020

Cost of Diesel Fuel.................41652................3786...............3023

Average Cost Per Gallon...........3.33.................3.33................2.96

CRV Miles............................118087..............10735..............10991

Camp Sites..................................555....................51..................41

Average Nights in Each...............7.2...................7.2..................8.7

Cost of Parks per Day.............79589.................19.81.............20.92

Number of States(Provinces)......50(11).............17(2).............16(0)

National Parks Monuments.........177.................16.....................8

Blog Posts....................................780.................71...................48

Days of Exercise (Jim)...............1949...............177.................116

Days of Exercise (Nanc)............2750...............250.................271

Number of haircuts (Jim)...............0....................0....................0

Friends & Family...........Priceless...........Priceless..............Priceless

Once again writing a yearly travel summary makes us realize how fortunate we have been. We have now been retired and living in Opus, our house on wheels, for eleven years. In that time we have put 96,517 miles on the RV and another 118,087 on the CRV while visiting all 50 states and 11 Canadian provinces. We have also vacationed in six countries; Jamaica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Belize and the Bahamas. It has been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience that has exceeded all our expectations. While the opportunity to visit great and beautiful places all over North America is fantastic, it has been making and seeing so many friends and visits with family across the country that has become the best thing about our lifestyle.

All of that said we have reached a point where we are beginning to talk about an exit plan. We do not want to stop RVing, but we have decided to start looking for a place to grow some roots. Our eleven years of no extreme winter weather has convinced us that we want to be in the warmer part of the country. Last winter we explored the Atlantic Coast of Central Florida and liked the area. This coming winter we plan to look at some places and narrow down our options. We are just in the early stages of this plan and are thinking we will make a move in the next couple years.

This year we put 7,200 miles on Opus and 10,991 miles on the CRV while visiting 16 states. We stayed in 41 places at an average cost of $20.92 per night. This is $2.13 more than last year and $1.24 a night more than our eleven year average. We did spend a good deal of time in the East where the RV parks are much more expensive so we expected this increase. We did have 30 “free” nights, most while working or having Opus in for various repairs. The cost of fuel was $0.49 a gallon more than last year but still $0.37 less than the eleven year average.

While we do love our lifestyle, the one aspect of being on the road that causes the most frustration is repairs and service. In Florida we had a waterline leak and the AC not working. Both were repaired without any problem. When we left Betty's we had to have a tire valve stem replaced that should have been done two years ago when we had new tires installed and asked that they check the stem. In Texas we had the toilet valve replaced, a new faucet installed in the bathroom sink, a pump replaced in the washer and a leaking air suspension valve replaced. All this work was done to our satisfaction. The real problems started when Opus developed an intermittent acceleration issue. Spartan would not work on it and we ended up having the fuel filters changed three times at three different places and the problem still has not been solved. Two of the places checked the engine with the computer and found no fault codes. These kind of issues are really frustrating. As I write we are back in WashPA and hope to find someone here to fix the problem.

We started the eleventh year of our on the road adventure in North Carolina spending time with my brother and sister-in-law Rick and Denise at their place on beautiful Lake Norman. We had a fun time along with their friends Tim and Mary and Pedro and Samantha who drove down from Pittsburgh. We then headed back to WashPA for two months of family, friends, doctors and dentists. We see so many people while we are here it is impossible to name everyone. We enjoyed the weekly lunches with the teachers' lunch bunch, went to many of our favorite restaurants, checked out the local music scenes, and had a great time with so many friends. We played euchre with the old card club, went fishing a few times, visited a couple local museums and attended the 25^th reunion of the Wash High Class of 1997 that I taught when they were in seventh grade. We did get to share a bit of the local scene with RV friends Dan and Merlene who stopped for a couple days. We always have a great time back in our old home town. We have been replacing a few things in Opus that have started to show their age. We put a new back splash behind the sink and replaced the recliner in our 13 year old rig.

We left WashPA on October 1^st stopping near DC to see Nanc's sister and brother-in-law Michelle and Keith. While there, we drove into the city to see the new MLK Memorial and strolled the streets of Old Town Alexandria. Next we went to Hatteras Island for a week of fishing, food and fun. We got to spend some time on the beach with friends Tom and Georgie who were vacationing there. Next we sprinted a thousand miles to Florida where we had an appointment for annual service on Opus. We had dinner with RV friends George and Nan in Jacksonville on our way south.

We stayed in Naples for a month to explore the Gulf Coast as a possible place to settle down. While there we flew to Punta Cana for a two week vacation but were disappointed when Rick and Denise had to cancel their plans to join us for a week. We then moved to the Atlantic side of the state staying in Jensen Beach for a month. We really liked the area and have moved it to the top of perspective places to settle. While there, we had the carpet in Opus replaced, part of our ongoing up-grade. Next it was only 25 miles to Jupiter were we ended the year with our WashPA friend Mary Lou. We have spent the holidays here every year we have been in Florida since 2007. We love this area with its many great restaurants and great music venues. We got to see the manatees and the Capitol Steps New Years Eve show. We also got to spend time with friends we have made there over the years. While we are happy for her, we are sad that Mary Lou has sold her beautiful place in Jupiter. On January 1^st we moved to the Florida Keys Elks in Tavernier for a month. We had a great time with many old friends and made some new ones. We really enjoyed the Keys winter weather. Our biggest disappointment was the Steelers not making it to the Super Bowl.

From the Keys it was a four day 1100 mile sprint to Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, LA for two and a half month stay. We had a great time with many of the Betty's regulars and our Cajun friends while meeting many new people. We had a fun time at Mardi Gras events, enjoyed the local music and of course the wonderful local food. Rick and Denise came down for Mardi Gras and Tom and Georgie joined us for a week of Cajun fun. Betty's is always our favorite stop as we travel the country.

We then spent a week at Escapees RV park Rainbows End in Livingston, TX where we gave Opus a good cleaning inside and out. College Station, where we met up with RV friends John and Sharon, was our next stop. We toured the Texas A&M campus and visited the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. It was then on to Hill Country where I was able to check out Hamilton Falls, that I visited in 1967, off my to do list. We toured the Lyndon Johnson Ranch NHS and Presidential Library, as well as the Nimitz National Museum of the Pacific War while there. We then stopped in Waco to see the Waco Mammoth National Monument and found to our surprise that Waco is a pretty neat city.

In Little Rock we checked out the Arkansas capitol off our list and then moved to Jefferson City, MO to tour that capitol. We have been to 34 of the 50 state capitols. In Missouri we worked at the 40^th Escapade in Sedalia. It was a busy couple weeks, but also a lot of fun seeing so many SKPs. From the Escapade we headed to Michigan where we had a service appointment at Spartan Chassis in Charlotte. This was when our plans took a big turn. We received word that our dear friend Tom had passed away. We were able to leave Opus at Spartan and drive the CRV to WashPA for the service and to spend a week with Georgie. When we got back to Michigan we toured the Gerald Ford Presidential Library in Grand Rapids.

Our plan had been to go to New England before going on an Escapees Head Out Program (HOP) to New York City and the Hudson River Valley. Because of the continuing issue with the RV, we ended up staying in Eastern Pennsylvania for a couple weeks rather than driving to New England. We did make it to the HOP and had a wonderful time. Our last blog post was about the two days we spent in the city touring the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Museum, Time Square, and Empire State Building and seeing the Lion King. The next post will be about touring the CIA, the Roosevelt Mansion and Library, and West Point. We stayed in New York an extra day to tour the Vanderbilt Mansion and Eleanor Roosevelt’s home. We are ending our eleventh year on the road in WashPA for our annual visit. In our first week Richard and Valerie, friends we met our first year on the road, stopped by on their way to visit his aunt who lives in Pittsburgh. It is great seeing friends on the road.

As we start year twelve we will be in WashPA until October 15^th. We have the usual doctor and dentist appointments and will be spending time with our family and friends. While here we will be going on a cruise out of New Orleans in September to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Betty's RV Park. Nanc plans to run the Great Race and has her 50^th class reunion before we head south. We plan to see Keith and Michelle in Maryland and spend some time on Hatteras Island. Then we will go to Florida to look at some possible places to settle before spending six weeks in the Keys. We want to take a slow trip rather than our usual sprint to Betty's so we can explore the Gulf Coast on our way to Louisiana. In the spring we plan to head west to tour a few capitols and national parks while heading to Washington to see Nanc's brother Dave before turning east toward WashPA. As always, these plans are written in the sand and subject to change depending on what life throws our way.

Head Out Program (HOP) to NYC

Our plans for the early part of summer sure did not go the way we planned. The change in plans started with our sad trip back to WashPA for Tom's memorial service and continued with our ongoing issues with Opus. Because of the RV problems, we did not make it to New England. We ended up spending almost three weeks in Pennsylvania because we were uncomfortable driving to Connecticut and Massachusetts. The one thing we did not want to miss was the Escapees Head Out Program (HOP) to New York City and the Hudson River Valley. We did  make it to that and it was fantastic. The Hop included two days going into NYC and two days in the Hudson River Valley. We did way too much for one post so this one is about our time in the city.

It was close to a two hour ride from the RV park to Manhattan during the morning rush hour. This was our first view of the skyscrapers, including the new World Trade Center, near the Battery. 

The city sure is booming with many new buildings going up. This is the view from New Jersey showing  the new development on the Westside of Manhattan. There are four or five new residential tower going up in an area that used to be industrial. 

The first day in the city we went to Liberty Island and the 9/11 museum and memorial. Our first stop was Battery Park where we were greeted by Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian who in 1524 explored the North American east coast including New York Bay for the French.   

The Staten Island Ferry sailing passed Governors Island and Castle Williams. The Verrazzano Narrows Bridge is in the background. When the double deck bridge opened in 1964 it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 4,260 feet long.

We took the boat from the Battery to Liberty Island for an up close look of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The statue was a gift of friendship from the people of France in recognition of the United States as a symbol of freedom and democracy.    

We did not get to climb up the pedestal or the crown because tickets to do that are very limited and reservations must be made far in advance. It was strange being at this symbol of welcoming to immigrants from around the world considering the times we are living in today. 

My Lady Liberty holding the torch welcoming all to the United States.

We only stopped at Ellis Island to drop off and pick up people on the way back to Battery Park. Thousands of Eastern European immigrants passed through here from 1900 to 1954.

The new One World Trade Center rises high above lower Manhattan. The building including the spire is 1776 feet tall. 

The beautiful New York City skyline from the boat.

For lunch we had our choice of several food trucks in a park near the World Trade Center. Great food at a very reasonable price, especially for New York.

The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street.

The skyline of lower Manhattan at 8:30 AM September 11, 2001 just minutes before the planes flew into the twin towers. 

 The National September 11 Memorial Museum states that the mission of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, located at the World Trade Center site, is to bear solemn witness to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. The Museum honors the nearly 3,000 victims of these attacks and all those who risked their lives to save others. It further recognizes the thousands who survived and all who demonstrated extraordinary compassion in the aftermath. Demonstrating the consequences of terrorism on individual lives and its impact on communities at the local, national and international levels, the Museum attests to the triumph of human dignity over human depravity and affirms an unwavering commitment to the fundamental value of human life.

There is an excellent film that covers the events of that day and what happened after that. The flags are of the 90 countries who had citizens killed in the attack.

A model of The Sphere. The original that was in the plaza between the Twin Towers was damaged, but survived. It is now in Liberty Park overlooking the 9/11 memorial. 

The Flag of Remembrance which honors the victims of the attack was created by Mindy Kombert and Sherry Kronefeld. An image of each person who died that day was placed on the flag in shades of red, white and blue. The blue field and stars was reserved for uniformed first responders.  

The Impact of Art: Peace and Healing after the 9/11 Attacks. Here is a link to the story about the creation of the mural.

This is the steel beam that was struck by the plane that flew into the South Tower.

The museum is built in the foundation of  the two towers. This was where the beams were attached to the bed rock.

A piece of the TV antenna that was on top the North Tower.

One of the firetrucks that was crushed when the towers collapsed. No photos are allowed in the In Memoriam exhibit and the September 11 Historical Exhibition. Some of  the accounts of the day in these exhibits were very difficult to read and hear.  

The Foundation Hall has remains of the original World Trade Center including the slurry wall and this Last Column that was the last one removed from the rubble in May 2002. It has the names and numbers of many of the units and people who worked to clear the rubble. There is also an exhibit on the struggles those who worked at the site after the attack had to get the government to cover their health issues.  

The 9/11 Memorial is on the footprint of the Twin Towers. They have the names of each victim and the companies and city departments where they worked. On their birthday a rose is placed on the name of the person.

One World Trade Center over the 9/11 Memorial.

Another way the victims are honored.

These are the words of the memorial's designer, Michael Arad, about the flow of water in the memorial. “In what we ended up with, you can see each strand of water as it goes over the edge of the weir, appearing as separate, individual streams as it falls. By the time it reaches the end, the clarity dissipates, and it becomes a woven tapestry of water. I think it speaks to individual and collective loss — bringing together many lives into one".

On our second day in the city we went to the Empire State Building, Time Square and to see The Lion King. This is the Art Deco entrance of the Empire State Building.

Looking down on the streets of the city and Macys, the nation's largest department store. 

The Empire State Building was built in 1930. The building was in a race to be the tallest along with the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street, two other going up at the same time.  At a height of 1,250 feet it was the tallest building in the world for forty years until 1971 when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was built. With the antenna it reached a height of 1,454 feet. Originally, the mast was in place to anchor airships.  

The buildings being built on the Westside that are pictured above from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. 

The skyscrapers at the south end of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty in the harbor. In the foreground is the Flatiron Building that was built in 1902. At the time, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city. It takes its name from being triangular like a cast-iron clothes iron. 

The Statue of Liberty from the top of the building. I put the phone up to the telescope to get this picture.

Looking out across the East River and Roosevelt Island. The tallest building on the right is the United Nations and the one of the left is the Chrysler Building. 

Looking north at Midtown Manhattan with Central Park in the background. Many of these buildings are residential.

The Crossroads of the World, Time Square. It is really one of those places you need to see to believe. It is so big with so much within the surrounding buildings like a canyon in the city. 

You see people from all over the world including this couple from WashPA. The tower behind us with 2018 at the top is where the ball is dropped to ring in each New Year.

George M. Cohan who published over 300 songs including, Over There, Give My Regards to Broadway and You're a Grand Old Flag.  

Looking down on Time Square from the Lobby of the theater. Across the street is the huge ABC billboard that advertises shows and runs the latest news headlines.

We saw the The Lion King. The show was fantastic, especially the African animal costumes. This famous poster for the show was designed by the cousin of our tour guide, Keaton. Very Cool!!

Of course, no pictures were allowed during the show. This is Sarabi and Simba.

I found this picture on line of two of my favorite characters, Timon and Pumba.

Giving a shout out to our Escapees HOP hosts Jim and Lisa who put the whole thing together. Our tour guide Keaton (right) was great keeping everyone up to date and informed about what we were seeing and guiding us from place to place. 

This post only covers the two days we were in the city. The next post will be about our tours of the CIA, Roosevelt home and museum and West Point in the Hudson River Valley.

We have made it back to WashPA and are settled in for a three month stay with a lot to do.