Odyssey of the Barth: March 2010

The Gang........ Christmas-2009

2010 Season Travel Plans !! On-the-Road-Again!

Here's our 2010 season travel plans! If you're in the area, stop by and say "Hi!" Just look for the shiny 32 year old motorhome and some happy campers!........

April 23-26: Lee & his boyhood friend Tom Palen embark on their 3rd annual Civil War site trip. This time, they'll follow the escape route of John Wilkes Booth, starting at Ford's Theater in downtown Washington DC, all through southern Maryland and ending across the Potomac River in northern Virginia.

May 7-9: Lee & Kathy head for Fort Frederick near Hancock MD. Right on the C&O Canal, with lots of biking opportunities. Mother's Day at Katie's house.

May 21-23: Lee & Andy Watson, an airport associate, head for Horn Point on the Chesapeake Bay, near Cambridge MD. It's the annual fly-in for the Potomac Antique Aero Squadron....lot's of old planes and pilot war stories with friends.

June 5-6: With Raegan & Abby, we head for Cordorus State Park in Hanover PA. Nice lake for swimming, playgrounds and just plain fun!

June 11-13: Coopers Rock State Park in the hills of far western MD, where we meet-up with Jon & Terry Holland from Stow OH. Relaxation, stocked lakes.

June 25-27: We head for Brunswick MD, on the banks of the Potomac and adjacent to the C&O Canal. Railroad town, with museum. We'll have Carter & Drew on-board....those boys LOVE big machinery!

July 9-11: 3rd annual Family Weekend with Lorri's & Katie's clans....this time in Harper's Ferry WV. Pools, playground, historic town to walk, ice cream, you name it, we'll find something to do.....

July 18-19: Lee & friend George Ross head to Cox's Campground, in the hills outside Berkeley Springs WV. George knows the owner - we're gonna check it out, maybe fish a little.

July 23-25: Lee & Kathy head to Chestertown MD on the Eastern Shore. Historic town, good bike trails, water views, kayaking and hopefully, steamed hard shell crabs!!

August 7-8: A low-key weekend trip with Raegan & Abby to Breezy Point MD, parking in Ed & Pat Hanko's back yard. Swim in the bay, walk the boardwalk at Chesapeake Beach, Breezy Point park & playground and hopefully, MORE crabs!

August 27-29: Williamsport MD, on the C&O Canal. It's the town's Canal Days Festival and we'll take part, plus bike the canal, visit the museum, etc.

Sept. 4-11: The BIG trip! We head north to the Delaware Gap Nat'l. Recreation Area in the Pocono Mountains in northern PA. Kayak the Deleware River, stop in Scranton for RailFest at the National Steamtown Park, then across scenic Rte 6 to Wellsboro PA and the PA Grand Canyon area. hiking, biking, kayaking, mopeds, it ought to be great scenery and lots to do.

Sept. 24-26: Cumberland MD RailFest! With Drew & Carter - Gonna ride the Western Maryland steam train! Downtown festival too....

Oct. ??: Season finale trip plans are in-the-works........

END OF OUR 2009 TRAVELS :(

"I will build us a castle, fit for you and me, for green days in the forest, and blue skies at the sea......" -Robert Louis Stevenson (and Bampa! :)

The end of another great travel season! Even though the number of trips was abbreviated because of Lee's need to prep for College Park Airport's 100th anniversary airshow, we were able to take the grandkids out for their own special weekends, we had our Jellystone family weekend and we saw new places.

Other than the starter replacement back in April, the Barth ran flawlessly, and gave us our 6th enjoyable year traveling around the mid-Atlantic. The Mothership is winterized and we spend our time pouring maps and travel brochures.......April, 2010 is just around the corner!

Gettysburg Nat'l. Visitor Ctr. & McCadney Birthday - Oct.23-25, 2009

This weekend's plans included a trip back up to Gettysburg PA for Kathy to see the new museum & visitor's center and for both of us to take the tour of the Eisenhower Farm located nearby. Friday night was an overnight stop at Pat & Katie's place, where we had FOUR little people for a sleep-over in the Barth. Saturday morning it was off to Gettysburg, tour the museum, Ike's farm and drive some of the battlefield. We stayed overnight at Little Drummer Boy campground nearby. Sunday was a slow drive back to the New Market MD area to a pumpkin-patch u-pick farm, where we met the kids and had a 4th birthday party for Carter & Drew, along with some of their friends.

You wanna sleep where tonight?!.........

The more the merrier......

Ike & Mamie's house......No pics allowed inside:(

Lunch at the base of Little Roundtop....site of horrendous fighting in the war.

The campground was decorated and ready for Halloween - here's one site.

Playing at the Punkin Farm - lot's for kids to do..........

The Barth has a new role - Birthday Party Central.

Presents!.......THAT's what it's all about!

The Mom prepares the eats for the birthday celebration......

The GREAT Barth DC- Get Together! Oct 8-11, 2009

Easily the shortest trip of the year (3 miles :), the Barth Washington DC Get-Together was the culmination of a year's planning by various members of the Barth affinity website: Barthmobile.com. Over 16 Barths attended, including one from California. It was held at Cherry Hill Campground in College Park MD. Great bus service from the park made downtown sight-seeing easy for the out-of-towners. Evening campfires, afternoon cocktail hours, potluck meals brought all of together to share our travel experiences and our common attraction to Barth motorhomes. A great four days!

100th Anniversary Airshow !!

Not a Barth trip, but the reason that our 2009 travel season was somewhat limited.......After more than a year of work, Lee was happy to see his airport's 100th anniversary airshow go off without a hitch. The highly restricted airspace surrounding Washington DC made it a particular challenge. The families showed-up, so it was a special day all around!

Lee & his hardworking staff after the show

Best place to get some shade!

FLY Raegan, FLY!

The kids enjoyed Otto the Helicopter's comedy act.

The US Army brought two CH-47's

Drew & Carter getting some stick-time with the Coast Guard

Watch where yer goin' Abby!

Lee-the-AirBoss, with elevated BP I'm sure....

2nd Annual Family Weekend - July10-12, 2009

Last year, the whole family spent a weekend at Jellystone Park just outside of Williamport MD. We enjoyed it so much we returned this year - two sites away from our last visit. Unfortunately, Lorri had a last-minute medical issue pop up, so we grabbed the boys and headed out. Andy-the-son was in town and joined us. We brought the pop-up camper this time so everyone had a decent place to sleep. Pool, water slides, golf, kid's activities, good weather.....All around, a fun weekend, even though we missed Lorri & James.........

June 19-21, 2009 - Harrisburg PA - City Island Park

Raegan & Abby's trip with Grandmom & Bampa......Headed for City Island Park in the middle of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg PA. We stayed at the Pinochet State Park, about 20 miles away. City Island is a recreation area, with train rides, paddlewheel boat, playgrounds and lots of other things for little folks to do or see. The state park had a swimming lake that we also sampled. Rained more than it didn't, but we were able to fill the time with lots of things to do between showers.