Adding Another State to the Map. Finally.

The last new state Denny and I added to the list was in September of 2006 when we spent time in lower West Virginia. The summer of 2007 was spent in Ohio working on a garden for Denny's dad, then came last summer with another garden and then the death of Denny's father and then this year with my mother's illness and subsequent death. When we did travel, we returned to some familiar areas and some new places, but still in states we had already visited. So it's kind of fun to be able to put color in another state on the "States We've Visited" map down at the end of the page (did you forget it's down there?)

Although New Jersey is a brand new state to us, we still have regular and unexpected maintenance chores to do. A leaky toilet meant a long drive to find a Camping World store since our toilet is a different brand than what most local RV dealers carry. Since we had to go so far, we decided to make a side trip to the beach, visiting Island Beach State Park. And as it just so happened, there were a couple of geocaches in the area, so we added a couple of those to our list too. A nice lunch overlooking Barnegat Bay and our day was complete. This is what traveling by RV is all about.

There were so many cotton-tops (us old white haired folks) here on the beach, loaded for bear with beach chairs, coolers, colorful umbrellas and books. By the looks of some of the folks here, they spend hours here daily as they were brown as nuts. I was jealous.

Following a trail to a geocache we discovered wild blueberries among the brambles and brush. Too green to eat, though.

Prior to going off-trail to locate a geocache, we walked to the end of the trail to take a look at Barnegat Bay on the other side of Island Beach State Park. I would think it would be so peaceful to be on a sailboat, as long as you weren't the one in charge of piloting it or handling the sails. I'd make a great passenger!

I think this fox would have approached us for a handout if a parked truck with two very large dogs wasn't near by. They created quite a ruckus and startled him away. Since he was within the state park boundaries I have a feeling he's more than a little used to the beach goers.

Round a curve on US 9 south of Tuckerton, NJ and you'll come upon a 20 foot tall champagne bottle. According to Roadside America the Renault Winery put up several of these huge champagne bottles in the 1920s, but there is no signage or any information at all around this one that's now painted a solid white. It would be interesting to know if this was just an advertising gimmick for the winery or what their purpose was.