Family Visits and Engine Issues

For the last couple of weeks we've been visiting family in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. We also spent a few days in Gettysburg, which will be the subject of another post.

Tom's cousin Judy Packard treated us to both lunch and dinner at her weekend home in Martinsburg, West Virginia - Judy has an avid interest in genealogy, and has a wonderful library of source material that rivals that of some historical societies. She also has interesting collections of antiques and various Packard memorabilia displayed throughout her home. We had a great time talking family history and current affairs. 

The following weekend we went out for dinner with Tom's younger daughter Tisha, and figured out it's been 5 years since they last saw each other. Tisha lives on the north side of Philadelphia, which has not been on any of our itineraries until now. On Sunday, we enjoyed a wonderful warm afternoon at the RV park in Coatesville with Tisha, her friend David, and Tisha's two Bedlington Terriers, Hamlet and Ophelia. Unfortunately, Shelby is not fond of other dogs, so we had to keep them somewhat separated. Tisha did a nice demonstration for us, getting Shelby to heel and come around (we've really undone most of Shelby's great early training by letting her just wander on walks, but she responded to Tisha's commands right away). We were quite negligent, and did not take any photos during this visit.

We had planned to spend a week in Arlington, VA, visiting the National Archives for some research, then spending time with Barbara's brother Jim's family - but instead spent 3 days in Harrisburg, PA getting a bad injector in our diesel engine replaced. Not fun to go up hills on only 3 cylinders, limping along at 10 mph with emergency flashers warning drivers coming up behind! Fortunately they did finally figure out what was wrong, and fixed it under warranty, so while we lost 3 days, it didn't break the bank. 

We did spend the weekend with Jim's family - we left our motorhome at the park and spent the night at Jim's place in Arlington, catching up with him, his wife Susan and their children Isabel and Matthew. Their dog Boomer, a very mellow black Lab, had no problem with Shelby, nor she with him - I'm beginning to think it's only dogs her own size she tries to dominate. Jim has a great wine cellar, and treated us to delicious grilled lamb with a nicely matched vintage for dinner. On Sunday morning, we all went to Isabel's soccer game - it was her 17th birthday, and you'd think she'd deserve a win, but the opposing team's goalie was just too good, and all but one of her team's attempts were fended off. After the game, we again had an interesting and tasty meal, followed by a mile-long walk down the hill to a neat little neighborhood "market" that is actually a beer garden. I think the walk back up the hill probably took care of some of the calories we'd consumed.