The Ray Adventures: Ft. Dix

We have been at Joint Base McGuire (Air Force) Dix (Army, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard) Lakehurst (Navy) New Jersey for 11 days now. Reveille is at 6AM, the speaker must be close to Fam Camp, it comes in loud and clear. Our objective was to get the big slide on the coach to extend. When we were in Massachusetts we got the name of the service center in Berlin, NJ from Fleetwood. I'd hate to think what would happen if it'd been stuck in the open position, let's hope we wouldn't have to wait a month. The base is essentially in the middle of New Jersey, not much to do around here but that's okay, we needed a little R&R from our whirlwind tour of New England.

Monday, August 17, It's been pretty hot here, in the 90's with high humidity. I keep telling myself it's good for the skin. We did a trial run into Berlin just to see how long it would take to get there, 40 miles but it takes an hour with all the twists and turns on country roads.

Tuesday, August 18, This is the 4th day with temperatures in the 90's. The diagnostic appointment was at 10, seemed to take forever with the discussions about extended warranty, etc. Berlin has the craziest traffic patterns, if you want to turn left you have to turn right then cross the intersection but not always. We checked out a doggie day care, REI (we're looking for an inflatable kayak) and lunch at Subway, we had to eat in the car, Luci was with us, it was too hot to leave her in the car.

Wednesday, August 19, We woke up to cloud cover, thunderstorms are forecast. Lakehurst was the location of the Hindenburg Disaster May 6, 1937 killing 36 of the 62 people on board. The Hindenburg, a rigid airship was the fastest way to travel taking half the time to cross the Atlantic vs ocean liners. The fire was caused by a spark igniting leaking helium, making matters worse the weather was bad, some think the repeated attempts to land caused the spark. It took less than a minute before it was engulfed in flames. It is amazing anyone survived. A monument marks the landing area plus the Lakehurst Heritage center is located in the blimp hangar adjacent, thunder and lightning all around us, I stayed in the car while Gary ran out to the memorial. The center is run by all volunteers and funded by donations. Our guide was quite enthusiastic, he explained all the pictures then took us out to the hangar, staying past closing time to show us everything.

Thursday, August 20, Another hot day with the humidity seemingly higher. A good day to go to the New Jersey beaches. Atlantic City is only an hour drive from here, we took Luci and went to the beach. An Oregon Coast native as I am, I figured it would be cool or cold. Wrong, it was hotter than blazes. We walked from the end of the Boardwalk to the Steel Pier, that was enough, we got to see the Trumpsters Taj Mahal. pretty gaudy. We discovered on the way back that dogs weren't allowed on the Boardwalk, a policeman went by us twice but didn't say a word. The Absecon Lighthouse is nearby, Gary decided not to walk the 199 steps to the top, He said it was too hot. Sure, a likely story.
A neighbor here in the park told us not to miss Lucy the Elephant in nearby Margate City, a six story wooden structure built in the shape of an elephant. It was built in 1891 by a real estate developer who wanted to draw prospective customers. You can climb up to the howdah (canopied seat) again Gary declined blaming the heat. We were going to drive down to Cape May but decided against, it was just too hot.

Friday, August 21 We left about 8:00 am to take the coach back to Stones Camping World to get the slide fixed. After we dropped Luci off at Doggie Day Care to give us some "people" time. We had 2:00 pm tour scheduled of Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. We had a little bit of time to visit the Historic District, we had been here before so we took a quick peek at the Liberty Bell. Our time was shortened by (of course) a missed turn taking us into China Town, the street was a parking lot due to road construction on the way in. Fun! We walked a few blocks to the Forefathers Brew Pub for lunch, across the street was the very first Post Office established by Benjamin Franklin, the country's first Postmaster General. You walk through a carriage way to Franklin's home, outlined by a frame of the house and B.F.'s Museum. Gary got the "call" while there, the slide is fixed. Just a corroded fuse. Wah Hoo!!!! I picked up a couple of postcards in the gift shop then had them hand canceled with Franklin's signature at the post office. Time to scoot to the stadium, after we got out of the Visitor Center's parking garage (17.50 for 2 hours) the GPS didn't recognize the address we put in, well I guess Gary didn't get enough of China Town so we went through it again, this time not as bad. We fumbled our way through, we had a general idea where it was located finally finding it. Lincoln Financial field is the 19th NFL stadium we've visited,( not all have tours), Lincoln Field is a nice facility opening in 2000, it seats 70,000 rabid fans that boo'd Santa Claus several years ago. I've never been an Eagles fan but now that Chip Kelly (U of O head coach)is there I find myself rooting for them. Shaun, our guide, took us to all the usual places, this time we got to see the Eagles locker room complete with uniforms, Saturday was a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. Kenyon Barner, a running back from Oregon is on the team this year, we got to see his uniform and the door to Chip's office. We learned that it takes 160 gallons of paint and 5 days to paint the field before each game. We were not allowed to walk on or touch the grass, they want it pristine for the game. The tour took 90 minutes so we "scooted" out to beat the rush hour traffic. We picked up Luci then the coach. When we got back to camp and settled we did the happy dance we were so happy, felt like we were in a mansion. The Seahawks lost their second preseason game, it's a good thing we couldn't watch the game.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we didn't do much. The weather has been almost perfect, 80's with lower humidity. We took Luci to a dog park here on base, I went to a quilt store in Mt. Holly and a trip to Costco. When we got back Saturday I found a note on our door. A couple from the area are struggling whether or not to full-time RV and wanted to pick our brains. What a fun couple, they stayed for 3 hours asking all kinds of questions. We leave for Dover, Delaware tomorrow then on to the D.C. area.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam