I spent a few days in New York with my friend Barbara.   She also volunteers at Habitat.   The campground we stayed in was very expensive, so I expected a much more luxurious facility.   I guess the expense was for location, location, location.   This was a bare bones place, not much more than   a parking lot with really nice electric hookup boxes.   But the location was fabulous, a few blocks walk to the train that dropped us off right at the World Trade Center.   That made the 911 memorial our first stop.   We basically followed a large crowd, expecting a very long wait.   While the line was very long, it moved quickly and we were in in no time.   I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the memorial was very impressive.   THE 9/11 MEMORIAL is located at the site of the former World Trade Center complex, and occupies approximately half of the 16-acre site. The 9/11 Memorial features two enormous waterfalls and reflecting pools, e...

I made it safe and sound to Toms River, New Jersey, although the tolls nearly killed me!   I probably paid over $45 from DC to NJ.   I actually had to pull into a rest area to find an ATM machine for more cash.   I loved the campground and especially my oversized site.   I actually had a back yard complete with a fire pit.   Most of the people seem to reside here full time.   They have really fixed up their sites with gardens, rock ponds, decks and screened porches added to their RV’s.   My neighbor told me that many, like him, live elsewhere but use this as a weekend getaway.   The park is also filled with construction workers judging by the number of trucks with construction/repair logos.   http://www.surfnstream.com .   My team came over for a get to know you BBQ and I could tell right away this was going to be a great group to work with.   Mike Kennedy came from Minnesota, Lee Blayden from near Pittsburg and Bill and Barb...

After a month in Kentucky it’s time to say good bye.   As usual on a Habitat Build, I made some good friends, 2 of which I’ll see on my next build in Toms River NJ.   Paul and Ginger came from West Liberty to Morehead to work with me several times and were so much fun.   They will be in NJ visiting family and said they would come out and work with us one day.  The last few days of my stay I moved back to the camp ground to hang with the Care-A-Vanners.   I’m glad I did, since I got to know Marlene better. Turns out she finished up the house I worked on in Tuscaloosa.   I’d love a chance to work with her again, she’s another single woman on the road and I really enjoyed talking to her.   I also got to spend more time with Sue who I met at the class in Americus.   I’m having so much fun meeting these women, but where are all the single men, sorry fellas, single men under 60?   OK I know I’m pretty young to be retired with no job, kids or gra...

I left Tuscaloosa at the crack of dawn but only made it to Anderson South Carolina before my beloved truck broke down.   My check engine light came on, followed in about 10 minutes by a lightning bolt icon followed by a message saying exhaust problems, see dealer immediately.   I pulled into a truck stop and they checked the error codes (there were several).   Because my truck is still under warranty I decided to wait till Saturday and take it to a local dealer.   This is where I first ran into problems.   I called 3 dealers before I found one who would even see me before Monday.   I was there first thing Saturday morning and the mechanic on duty said all I needed was a new fuel filter.   He changed it, cleared the codes and told me to drive it up and down the highway to clean out the fuel system.   I did and all the lights/error messages were still there.   I called the mechanic back and he said he really didn’t have the expertise needed, he...

While attending the Disaster Rebuild course, we stayed in Plains, Georgia.   We were lucky enough to be there on a day when Jimmy Carter was teaching Sunday School so several of my classmates and I walked next door to the Maranatha Baptist Church.   Prior to the service, we were briefed on our expected behavior by Miss Jan.   While she was a very nice southern lady, Miss Jan left no doubt in anyone’s mind about exactly who was in charge.   She has lived in Plains her whole life, is a retired teacher, even teaching Amy Carter in 3 rd grade.   We were instructed on when we could take pictures, not to call President Carter, Mr President, (not sure what the difference is between Mr. President and President Carter, but if Jan said it, it was law).   She briefed us on what we were to do when we had our pictures taken after the service.   She said the Carters will be holding hands because they have been married for decades and do not want you to stand be...

I spent the past week with the most awesome group of people in a Habitat Disaster rebuild course here in Americus Georgia.   Habitat has a sub group called Care-A-Vanners or CAV.   We’re a group of people who travel in RV’s to build Habitat houses and have fun doing it. http://www.habitat.org/rv   Within that group, some of us are interested in going into disaster areas specifically and rebuilding.   This course covered such topics as emergency management, psychology of disaster, volunteer self care, safety, safety, safety, conflict resolution and managing volunteers.   The Care-a-vanner desk is manned or supported by the most amazing people Mary, Lu, Kristen, and Brenda just to name a few.   I’ve dealt with them via email for so long I felt like I knew them.   I was so excited to finally meet them and I was not disappointed.   They were even better in person, if that’s possible.   OK, Lu wasn’t here, but I met her several years ago in Michig...

Albany week 2   My 2 nd week in Albany was just as much fun as the first.   This time we had 95 kids from 3 schools.   The first week we worked on the trailer that housed volunteer supplies and house items.   The 2 nd trailer contained building materials and the 3 rd trailer is the tool trailer which we worked on as well.   Week two I had a group students take everything out of the materials trailer, sort it and put it back in an organized manner.   They went back and forth between the 1 st and 2 nd trailer making sure one contained building supplies and the other contained house items and volunteer supplies.   Once they had everything like they wanted it, they went to house building and I turned my attention to the tool trailer.   I spent the rest of the week organizing the final trailer with an awesome helper David.   It turns out it was very helpful having someone in the trailer full time because many of the people coming in fo...