North Dartmouth, Massachusetts Day 8 (GA571)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

To view past blogs, scroll to the bottom of this page and use the menu.

I’m currently in my 24th year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

The motorhome is parked at Shady Acres RV Park in Yuma, Arizona. I may be here until March 4th.

 

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

  In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

This entry was posted August 6, 2013…

 

 

 

The motorhome is parked at my cousin Bob’s and his wife Donna’s home at North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. We will depart later this morning.

 

 

Yesterday was a somewhat decent day. With a light cloud cover the high temperature was 79 degrees with 63% humidity. Still too hot and humid for my liking.

 

 

Yesterday we drove the Bronco the about 15 miles to East Freetown, Massachusetts to the home of my cousin Mike DiPaola. Also in attendance was my cousin Jeannette and her husband of 60 years, Camello. She is 81 and he is 83 and a recipient of a pacemaker about eight months ago. Camello immigrated to the United States from Catania, Italy in 1948…

 

 

 

 

 

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…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a Monday, the rest of the family was at work. With their parents were the oldest Mike and the youngest of their children, Lisa…

 

 

 

 

 

Jeanette showed me a photo of the entire family…seven children and eleven grandchildren taken a while back…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a photo of all seven children taken a while back…

 

 

 

 

 

Mike has a wild peacock whom he calls Hobo in his neighborhood that frequently visits in his yard…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I swear, the neighboring City of New Bedford has more donut shops than any other city in the United States. Most of them are Dunkin’ Donuts shops. Mike bought two dozen. He said it was a state law that we’re not allowed to leave Massachusetts without eating a Dunkin’ Donut. I had two just to be safe…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Mike with a Dunkin’ Donut box…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike’s wife Ann arrived shortly after 5:00 PM from work…

 

 

Thanks cousin Mike and family for a nice visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Then back to my other cousin Bob and Donna where she had a French Meat Pie (a favorite of mine) waiting for our farewell evening meal…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had two pieces…

 

 

And they were very tasty!

 

 

This completes our visit to the New Bedford area. This morning we’ll head back to my son’s home at Ivoryton, Connecticut for a few day visit before heading out for the west coast next Monday.

 

 

Enjoying relatives and friends is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/the-di-paola-family-in-east-freetown/

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Forecast for today is sunny and 64 degrees.

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity 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

 

“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” –James Madison

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

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 would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

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

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2019

THE DI PAOLA FAMILY IN EAST FREETOWN

Yesterday we bopped over to East Freetown to visit with Jim’s cousins, Jeanette and Camello Di Paola for a couple hours.

We met at their son’s house. Mike is the oldest Di Paola son, and daughter Lisa is the youngest member of the family.

Camello immigrated here from Catania, Sicily and was a leather craftsman all of his life. He pointed out his grandchildren in a picture.

Another picture shows all four of his sons and three daughters.

Son David, who couldn’t be with us.  is a baker at Dunkin’ Donuts, so of course, that is what we snacked on.

It turns out that their pet peacock, Hobo, likes donuts,too.

He is a beauty and get’s along well with the dogs. He wanders the neighborhood but he sleeps in a tree in their yard. In 2010 I got his picture with tail fully spread, but he doesn’t have a lady friend.

Mike’s wife Anne joined us when she got off work.

We were also joined by Mike’s best friend, Steve, and we did another round of pictures. Steve is a member of the family, too, Mike said. We all have good friends like that. Next time, we’ll stay a little longer and capture the whole gang, but sometimes you have to settle for half a package. (Jeanette and Camello live right around the corner from St. Anthonys, from yesterday’s blog.) The kids all attended church there. Mike told me the beautiful marble came from Italy.

We returned to Bob and Donna’s for our “last supper.”

Bob’s son makes clams casino, a family favorite.  Bushels of them are a family tradition at Christmas for Bob and Donna.

We were just short of calling the fire department as the casino clams came out from under the broiler in those cardboard baking pans, too much laughter, I might add. Nothing like creating a lasting impression of your favorite regional food.

Despite the flambe, the clams were delicious.

And Donna made sure we were as stuffed as the clams with Jim’s favorite meat pie, before we called it a night. We will hit the road for Ivoryton, CT. later this morning. What would we do without cousins?

MOVING SOUTH, HOOKING UP WITH THE PARKERS

Moving South about a hundred miles to hook up with Bob and Donna Parker, Jim’s (Jaillet) cousins where we’ll stay for the next week. The weather changed to rain but didn’t cool much. It was 75* when we got up at 5:30. Even the gulls were absent from the parking lot. One lone fellow kept trying to dig something out of a pickup truck, maybe an ice chest tempted him. Previous mornings flocks of them were raucously sounding in what could be considered the equivalent of a rooster crowing the coming morn.

We stopped in Berkeley, MA to have the Motor Home refrigerator serviced at USRV, where Jim’s (Bacon) cousin, Mike De Paola, works. We stocked up on some bacteria additive for the black water holding tank and a new set of blades for the wipers, etc. The company also has a dump station and a place to take on water, all needed chores required for smooth wheeling on the road. We’ll meet with Mike and his wife Saturday afternoon for cocktails. We arrived at Donna and Bob’s where personality and hospitality reign supreme. Donna baked a French Meat Pie for Jim, her first time effort.  I told Donna she was a spoiler and its absolutely true. She would make everyone’s dream come true if it were in her power. The meat pie was excellent, so much better than anything you can purchase. KUDOS! The plan is to attend the festivities at the Portuguese Festival in New Bedford,  something we’ve been looking forward to for a month. I especially enjoyed the Fado, when I was in Portugal, a sort of seaman’s lament about being away from home, the loneliness, contemplating missing comrades, missing his sweetheart, wife,  children and all things dear. Its an emotional, pleading kind of performance and they perform the Fado here at the Festa. New Bedford became an adopted home for Portuguese sailors who emigrated here in the late 1700’s and brought their traditions with them to stay.

A New England Food Feast!

Jim says:

On Saturday…it finally happened…something I had been dreaming of…since the last time I was here in New Bedford in 2007. A New England Food Feast!

The day started with a two-hour heavy-duty thunder and lightning storm.

Despite the rain, we headed out for the seafood market. You do not see seafood markets like this on the west coast.

A little later we went to Sacred Heart Cemetery where I introduced Mary to my mother and father and other aunts, uncles, cousins…all deceased. Most of my relatives are buried here. Because of my advanced age…I only have a few cousins left alive in this area.

It was time to prepare the food. For openers, we enjoyed stuffed quohogs. Then my cousin Bob taught Mary how to put the Lobsters “to sleep” before dropping them into the pot.

Mary’s a quick learner!

My cousin Bob and his wife Donna celebrate Mary’s accomplishments!

Mary shows off her handiwork. By time she finished devouring this critter…there was was little left to be put in the trash. Donna said Mary outdid her father who was an expert at cleaning out a Lobster!

Here’s my Lobster waiting for me!

In addition, we enjoyed a Clam Boil. The clams, hot dogs, sausage, linguisa, potatoes and corn are all cooked together at the same time in a big pot.

By the time we were finished…all of us were saying…”I’m stuffed!

Zoe the cat slept through the whole meal.

One of my favorite memories of living in this area as a young child was the French Meat Pie, a traditional Christmas-time meal. I was telling Mary, Bob and Donna this story and wondered if one might be found this time of year. After our great New England Food Feast…Bob and Donna surprised me with a gift of a French Meat Pie they found at a local bakery.

Thanks Mary, Bob and Donna for everything… I’m a happy camper!

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

The Marshlands of Southern Louisiana

Jim says: Yesterday Mary and I drove about 75 miles (the scenic route as opposed to the straight route of about 35 miles), much along the Bayou Terrabonne to Houma, Louisiana. The upside of driving along a Bayou is the beautiful scenery with the many variety of boats, etc… to be seen. The downside is since this is waterfront property valued highly by the locals, there a few places for a motorhome to pull over to take pictures. In addition, Louisiana’s secondary highways are quite narrow (about the with of our wide-body motorhome) and driving on them requires attention…never mind about taking pictures.

The first unique event of the day was a stop by a local sheriff at an insurance checkpoint. In my time I’ve been through a few checkpoints for drivers license, registration or driving under the influence of alcohol…but never solely to check insurance papers!

The first in 53 years of driving!

It was nice to experience a number of miles of marshland with no human habitation.

Average elevation in this area is 3 feet above sea level.

Throughout Southern Louisiana there are numerous canals and swinging bridges to wait upon while boats pass through the canal.

In the small town of Dulac, we stopped at Schoompy’s Restaurant, recommended by the Louisiana Culinary Guide. I enjoyed a delicious shrimp, crab and corn bisque and a small French meat pie. Yummmm!

Like most structures (including residential) Schoompy’s Restaurant is built on stilts.

Here’s a Wikipedia informational link about Dulac, Louisiana…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulac,_Louisiana

To see an additional 10 photos I took, click this kink..
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/SouthernLA022610#

We continued on to Houma, Loiusiana where we are parked at an American Legion Post and expect to spend the weekend in this area.

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