Joy is going Coastal!

Aloha all,

I don’t know about all you guys, but personally, I was getting a little tired of this being all about Sandra and Chris and all the fun they are having and all the things that they are seeing. So last week, I devised a plan to change that and it worked out beautifully: To get some attention, I started screeching a little. Not all the time, not when they applied the brakes or when they turned, just randomly, whenever I felt like it. Not loud enough to make it obvious how I do it or where it comes from, but too loud for Chris and Sandra to ignore. 

Sure enough, after a couple of days, they took me to a doctor. It wasn’t easy to find one that would work on a big girl like me. You wouldn’t believe how many car doctors refused to even look at me, saying that I’m too tall or too heavy. And many truck doctors don’t want to work on me because I’m too small. There are a few specific RV doctors, but they were either too busy or specialized only in body work or only in plumbing and electrical issues. 

At the first doctor...

But eventually, we found a place that was helpful and had an examination room just barely large enough for me to squeeze in. For whatever reason, Chris thought the noise came from my worn out break pads, so I got a new set of those. It was about time, so I appreciated the new pads and kept quiet at first, even though as you know, the brake pads had nothing to do with the screeching. 

But Chris and Sandra went right back to their old ways: They drove right into downtown Trenton in New Jersey, even though they know I’m not a big fan of cities and they just left me by the side of the road to visit another one of those big buildings with a big golden dome. Chris and Sandra often call them ‘state capitols’, even though the sign in front of this one clearly said “New Jersey State House”. From where I was standing, it looked like all the others, just with a construction fence around it. They went in, but they didn’t take me along. They said I wouldn’t get passed the metal detectors. But that’s no excuse, I’ve heard them talk about how some other of those buildings don’t even have any metal detectors or security checks at all, but they have never taken me along to see one from the inside. 

My owners went on a two hour tour
of the New Jersey State House;
and all I got to see is this picture. 

They stayed in that building foreeeeever. Apparently they found some nice lady who gave them a free, private two hour tour. Chris and Sandra just go gaga about these places. They said it was the best thing they ever did in New Jersey. They say stuff like that even when they are with me, which seems very unfair after not taking me along.

That’s when I decided to start screeching again to get some more attention. It worked like a charm. I felt bad for the doctor who was nice enough to examine me. Obviously, he did not find the reason for the screeching noise since there was nothing physically wrong with me. But he prescribed two new tires anyway. Chris and Sandra bought them for me, even though they obviously knew that worn tires don’t make screeching noises. But after I got this much care and new parts, I decided to stop with the noises anyway. 

I think Chris & Sandra were so grateful that I stopped screeching that they really try to involve me more in their activities now. The next few days, we did a lot of extra fun things together:

Avalon Island

First they took me to Avalon, one of the fanciest places on the Jersey Shore with super wide streets, very little traffic and plenty of beach parking. Then they took me to a place where I got to play with beach balls.

At Wildwood Beach on the Jersey Shore

Next, we went to the cute town of Cape May at the southern most tip of New Jersey. Chris and Sandra went up on a light house (without me) and they were raving about a lobster roll they had in town (without sharing it with me). Now it seems like Cape May is their favorite place in New Jersey. 

On the Cape May Lighthouse

Then I got to go on a boat ride! That was a lot of fun…we even got to see dolphins! The trip to Delaware took an hour and a half and the weather was just glorious. I had never been so far away from land, but the ocean was very calm: Neither I or Chris got seasick.

My longest boat ride ever!

I was a bit shocked when we drove along the Delaware and Maryland coastline. It was so busy and so built up, we could barely see the ocean. Pretty ugly, to be honest. But then we arrived at Assateague Island…what a difference! Instead of one high rise hotel next to another like in Ocean City, Assateague Island is a protected natural shore. They had started developing this barrier island as well, but thanks to the foresight of some conservationists (and the help of a big storm), it is now the longest undeveloped stretch of coastline in the Mid Atlantic. 

Horseshoe crab on the
Assateague National Seashore

I have stayed in so many wonderful places over the years, but this was one of my all-time favorite campsites. Not only did I get to stay in the dunes, but wild horses were roaming through the campground!

Camping on Assateague Island

The wild horses of Assateague

To top it all of, Chris and Sandra took me on one of the most exciting drives I have ever been on: It’s called the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel…I would call it a roller coaster for RVs. It’s a total of 17.6 miles of views and fun. First it goes way above the water and then, in the middle of the ocean, there are two places where the road goes down to 150 feet under water! Craziest tunnel I’ve ever been on.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was
way too exciting to take a good picture,
 here's one of a relaxing sunset drive instead

That was so exciting that I am ready for a little rest. So I brought Chris and Sandra to a place where I know they can enjoy themselves without too much effort on my part: There's so much to see here in Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown... that should keep those two little history nerds busy for a while.  

Aloha, 

Joy

PS: Joy's blog post was so popular, I might let her write more often. She did forget to mention that before we went to Trenton we also stopped at Washington's Crossing at the Delaware River. I don't blame her, the parking lot was probably nothing special. To be honest, even the site itself is nothing special, but the film at the visitor center and the private tour we got was special! We had a lot to learn there, because, like most people, we only knew about Washington's Crossing from the painting (which was actually painted by a German). And if Washington had not crossed the Delaware and attacked the British in Trenton and Princeton, the revolution might not have been successful, so I wanted to at least mention it. No offense, Joy.