Thousand Trails Hershey RV Resort, Lebanon, Pennsylvania – Day 4

We are parked at Thousand Trails Hershey RV Resort at Lebanon, Pennsylvania. We will move along later this morning.

You can read all about this RV Resort by clicking this link…
https://www.thousandtrails.com/getaways/pennsylvania/hershey.asp

Yesterday was sunny and 75 degrees…the first nice day we have had in a long time. More thunderstorms forecast for today.

Yesterday was also Memorial Day. In the activities schedule we received when we arrived, it said for yesterday…

10:00 AM – Memorial Day  Celebration at the Flag Pole (ranger station). The veterans Campbelltown VFW will be here to perform the Ceremony with a 21 gun salute, followed by our Parade, Golf Carts, Bicycles and Walkers. Sounds good we said to each other…let’s attend!

I returned from my walk at 9:15 and shortly thereafter heard three rounds of rifle fire…looked out the window and saw the seven vets saluting the flag. What the heck? Come to find out there was a communication gap between the vets and the park. They came early and had to move on for other obligations. At 10:00 AM we went to the ranger station and this is what we saw…

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…

Assistant Manager Pam explained the communication problem, apologized for the mix-up and said we would have the remainder of the program anyways. She read a piece about the flag, we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang My Country ‘Tis Of Thee…

After the ceremonies were complete, she asked if any of the veterans would like to speak. Four of us did…

When my turn, I thanked everyone for attending and for remembering the special meaning of the day. Then the parade started…

Due to our physical situations, we did not walk the parade route…

The remainder of our day involved reading, some computer time and napping. We hope you had a nice Memorial Day.

Enjoying Thousand Trails RV Resorts is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Pennsylvania. 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

Thousand Trails Hershey RV Resort, Lebanon, Pennsylvania – Day 1

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 50 miles from Dillsburg to Lebanon, Pennsylvania. We are parked at Thousand Trails Hershey RV Resort only a few miles from the famous chocolate-making factory which we toured in 2010. To view that Blog entry,,,click this link…
http://wp.me/pDCku-n8

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…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

I’ve been here three times before…whenever I’m heading for New England…like I am again this year. A couple of days ago I read in an Internet article that there will be 58 million RV’s on the road this weekend and I have no desire to be out there among all the nuts. So, we’re hiding out here through the weekend and expect to move along on Tuesday morning.

Normally we do not have anything on our schedule calendar. However, Mary has a grandson graduating High School in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 6th…so she booked a June 5th flight out of Newark, New Jersey. She wanted a non-stop flight so had to fly out of a major airport. Then back to her home in California for a July 4th family reunion. She is currently scheduled to fly back to rejoin me on July 16th at Hartford, Connecticut.

Once she departs Newark, I’ll continue on with the motorhome to my son’s home in southeastern Connecticut where my oldest grand-daughter graduates High School on June 20th. I’ll visit my son, daughter-in-law and grand kids until Mary returns. We’ll then visit some of my cousins and long-time friends until we depart for the State of Washington on or about August 8th.

The weather has been really crazy…some more!. Two days ago we were sweltering in the heat and humidity. Yesterday it was cold rainy and windy. We hid out inside the motorhome where Mary had the heater running to stay warm. We’ve had a lot of trouble finding nice sunny 69 degree days in 2013. Ever since we started the year deep in south Texas it seems as though it’s been either too hot or too cold. 88 one day…55 the next day kind of thing.

Enjoying Thousand Trails RV Resorts is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Pennsylvania. 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

RV Trip Favorite Photos #145-150

Jim says:

While Mary and I are taking care of business here at her home…there is little “new stuff” to Blog about daily. So I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite photos from our recent 298 day, 16,000+ mile RV trip around the United States.

Since scenery and people snapshot-type photos require little special photography skills…and being limited by the abilities of my digital camera…I none the less took some photos that I really liked. They are presented in no special order of favoritism.

Today’s photos were taken at the Hershey Chocolate Factory in Pennsylvania on May 18, 2010……

In other news…
62 degrees with showers yesterday.

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.

Welcome To Hershey…The Sweetest Place On Earth!

Well, at least that’s what the sign says when you arrive in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It’s the Home of the Hershey Chocolate Company and Hershey’s Chocolate World!

Upon arrival at this huge facility…you notice two things. Every business in town appears to be owned by Hershey and even on a rainy Tuesday morning there were lots of tour buses already here that bring tourists from all over the world.

A number of years ago I stopped and took the factory tour which was quite interesting as you could see the many HUGE vats (perhaps 100 feet long by 10 feet high and 25 feet wide) of liquid chocolate being stirred by huge mixers. But no longer…the tour has been changed into what I call a Chocolate Disney World ride. Mary and I rode on what looks like an old roller coaster car on a about five-minute ride through a tunnel full of animated singing cows and an animated manufacturing process complete with accompanying dialogue. Cutesy, but not near as interesting as the old tour.

Happy cows make the finest milk!

What is interesting though are the production numbers. The below photo was taken about 10:30 AM…which makes you wonder what the daily totals are.

Production figures at 10:30 AM.

After the tunnel ride you are dumped into a HUGE store where you can buy every product they make. Including Hershey pillows and socks and everything else you can imagine with a Hershey name on it. The marketing people left no cocoa bean (excuse the pun 🙂 ) unturned of what they can offer to separate you from your money. Fortunately Mary and I do not like or eat Hershey Chocolate products, so we escaped without buying anything.

To see the other 35 photos I took, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/HersheyPennsylvania051810#

Here’s the Hershey Chocolate World official website link…
http://HersheysChocolateWorld.com

Here’s a Wikipedia informational link about Hershey, Pennsylvania…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey,_Pennsylvania

After leaving the Hershey Chocolate World we drove the motorhome to the Thousand Trails Hershey RV Resort about 10 miles distant where we spent last night. Shortly after our arrival a Canadian Geese Family provided us with a parade on the next parking space.

Mr. & Mrs. Canadian Geese and family.

Today we will explore the nearby Amish Country around Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com