Parkersburg, West Virginia

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 60 miles from Point Pleasant to Parkersburg, West Virginia. I began in West Virginia and ended in West Virginia, but because of the way the Ohio River zig-zags, most of the drive occurred on Ohio State Highway 7 that had very light traffic and ran alongside the Ohio River a good part of the way.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Before leaving Point Pleasant we had some morning fog so I went outside to see what I could see…and this is what I saw…

We crossed back into Ohio over this pretty bridge as seen from a Wal-Mart parking lot…

Going across the bridge…

Along the way we passed through Pomeroy, Ohio with the Ohio River on the right…

On this bridge we crossed the Ohio River into Parkersburg, West Virginia…

Where we ended up at a very friendly VFW Post #1212…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

Getting up close to the dinette window and looking down I could see a small stream and told Mary we are parked on waterfront property!

Other than the excessive heat and humidity we enjoyed a nice stay.

We will move along later this morning.

Enjoying very friendly VFW Posts is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 65 miles from Ashland, Kentucky to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Most of the drive occurred on Ohio State Highway 7 that had very light traffic and for the most part ran alongside the Ohio River.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Leaving Ashland we crossed the Ohio River on this blue bridge into Ohio. The green bridge on the left carries the traffic from Ohio into Kentucky…

On Highway 7 with the Ohio River on our right…

From Gallipolis, Ohio we crossed the Ohio River on the Silver Memorial Bridge…

which replaced the Silver Bridge…

which collapsed in 1967 killing 47 people due to a failure of these components…

You can learn all about the Silver Bridge collapse by clicking this YouTube link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGVP5yU6c8

Point Pleasant is at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. The below Google Earth image shows the area. X marks our camping spot at Krodel Park and M the Point Pleasant River Museum which we visited. The Silver Memorial Bridge is lower left…

Here’s a 180 degree panorama view of the Ohio River looking across at Ohio. The Silver Memorial Bridge is on the far left…

Here are some of the photos that I took at the Point Pleasant River Museum which, by the way, was excellent…

The below two photos are of live fish swimming in a large aquarium containing fish that came from the Ohio River…

After the museum we looked at the large murals painted on the flood wall…

Looking south down the Ohio River with the Silver Memorial Bridge in the distance…

Downtown Point Pleasant…

A view from the past…

After our Visit I drove the motorhome the about two miles to Kordel Park, a Point Pleasant city owned park where we parked for the night while it rained hard for the remained of the day…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

To see the other 53 photos that I took you need to click this Picasa Web Album link which is best viewed in full screen mode…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/PointPleasantWestVirginia

You can read all about Point Pleasant by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Pleasant,_West_Virginia

We will move along later this morning.

Enjoying interesting museums is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

A Techie And His Lady…

Yesterday I wrote about my current location here in Yuma, Arizona. Among the first friends I got to visit were Bob Parker and Donna Huffer whom I’ve known for a number of years…

They travel in this rig…total length is 66 feet…

Click to enlarge the photo…then click it again…and look at the doodads on their roof! If you do not know what they are…I’ll tell you. To create electricity there’s a whole bunch of solar panels and a wind generator. In addition there’s an Internet satellite dish as well as an anemometer to measure the wind speed. Don’t miss the kyack atop the roof of the trailer.

Speaking of the trailer…what do you suppose they have in there? Another RV?…nope! An airplane?…nope! A boat?…nope! Extra paper towels?…nope! None of the above!

It’s a mobile garage! Just like you have attached to your house. And what do you have in your garage? Well…so do they. Alongside of the motohome you can see their SUV…well that’s in the garage as they go down the highway. In addition, Bob has his workshop in there.

Bob is a retired die and tool-maker having worked for General Motors for 28 years. This also makes him a very creative person. If you think the outside of their RV is something…you should see the inside. Bob has installed all sorts of doodads to make their interior life more comfortable and convenient. Here’s a recent Blog he wrote about his solar panel installation…
http://parkerrver.blogspot.com/2011/11/solar-panel-upate.html

It truth I think he’s a borderline mad scientist!  Actually he’s a real nice guy who just enjoys being creative. Need a problem solved? Bob’s your guy!

I  think he’s just about out of ideas on what more he can do to their rig. So he helps other folks do things with their rigs. He ended up giving me a couple of ideas which I can use in my rig. When I get them done…I’ll tell you about them.

Bob and Donna are full-timers and very active Geo-cashers…which requires a GPS device…naturally! They go everywhere! Here’s some further information about them that comes from their Blog…

Donna has been on the road since 1998 and Bob since 2004. We are both from Salem, Ohio and met December 2005 on the desert below Quartzsite AZ, having not met previously in Ohio. We joined together and are traveling in a motorhome we purchased together in 2007. We are discovering the country together and even though Donna has been to 49 states she is enjoying seeing new sites with Bob that she hasn’t seen before and he is enjoying seeing everything for the first time. Follow us in our journey across this great land and let us know of places we shouldn’t miss along the way Donna & Bob

You might enjoy following their travels on their Blog at http://parkerrver.blogspot.com/

That’s another thing I love about the full-timing RV lifestyle…you get to meet so any neat and unusual folks!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Sandusky, Ohio

Jim says:

Yesterday Mary and I continued our journey towards Grosse Isle, Michigan on yet another hot and humid day.

Along the way we passed through Cleveland, Ohio.

Passing through Cleveland, Ohio.

Where we got our first sighting of Lake Erie.

Our first view of Lake Erie.

We ended our day’s travels at American Legion Post #83 in Sandusky, Ohio. This post is the largest American Legion Post in Ohio and the third largest in the nation.

American Legion Post #83

We are parked in their back parking lot trying to get a little shade from the trees.

Back parking lot.

Inside it’s a beautiful building. They have a great menu at very reasonable prices. Mary and I both enjoyed a tasty meal complete with soup, salad and two large draft beers for a grand total of $14.44!

We spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting in the shade of the trees reading our books. We expect to arrive at our destination of Grosse Isle, Michigan mid-afternoon today.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
My three books may be purchased at http://www.lulu.com
Just enter Jim Jaillet in the search box.