Front Royal, VA

     Today was a 325 mile jaunt that seemed longer than it was.  There were no catastrophic show stoppers... just a bunch of aggravations that added up to a long day.  The first issue that has bothered since the toll booth on the Mass Pike is the fact that the electric step will not retract.  A good theory is that when Durelle had to get out to get a toll ticket (the ticket dispenser was way too low for me to reach), I moved forward before the step had fully retracted and it hit the curb.  At any rate it won't come in.  The fuse is OK, but there is no power to the step as indicated by the fact that the light doesn't work.  A call to Red Bay didn't help.  It is not really a problem as long as I know to drive accordingly.  The problems occur when my freedom of action is limited as in gas stations and those construction zones where the Jersey barriers encroach from both sides.  We had both today.  In addition I started the drive with the first nose bleed I've had in twenty years.  On I-84 and I-81 we had heavy rain, dense fog, hundred foot visibility and road repair all at the same time.  At one point we had all of those things plus signs that said "Deer Crossing" and "Falling Rock" to top things off. The heart of this region is Frackville, PA; Hi, Jeri.   It was a morning of a "leaning forward" drive that required more intense concentration than I want to sustain for a whole day.
     Fortunately, everything improved in the afternoon.  Even the road surface smoothed out.  The fact that the fuel pump at Flying J would only deliver three gallons per minute for an 82 gallon fill-up was the next to the last difficulty.  When we arrived at the campground, the site was unacceptable.  There was some sort of an insert in the sewer fitting the precluded attaching my hose and it was so unlevel that I had three tires off the ground.  So we moved, which was another hassle.
     From there things got much better.  We each had good showers and met Tom and Dagmar Loose for supper at a nice small place in Front Royal.  It was a excellent meal, and very nice company.  In the mid-sixties, while we were living on base at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, Dagmar was our next door neighbor and frequent babysitter for Cindy and Mark.  The picture below shows the four of us.  It is not a great shot, because the flash didn't, but it shows the four of us over coffee at the end of a great meal.