THE ROVING POLLOCKS
2009 FALLISH

It has only been a couple of months since we last reported on our travel and travails. The latter has been winning as you shall soon see.

After our brief auto trip to North Carolina to visit our Grandson William, and his parents and to Virginia beach to catch up with Don and Kathee Larmee, we returned to the warmth of our mountain cabin …and our hot tub.

The first order of business was to get Pollock's Midway B & B into shape for the semi-annual visit from John and Ellen Albin (John’s lovely wife) and Piper, the wonder Westie. The Albins were migrating from Maine to the Florida Keys winter fishing grounds…at least John was. Our place is midway between. We had our usual great time hosting them. This time we explored historic Leesburg, Virginia and the less than historic nearby outlet mall. We did some windshield touring in the Virginia piedmont and Gisela prepared some gourmet chow.

This is Bill and John - Lobster Heads both.

Falling leaves, cooler days, and earlier sunsets told us that we better start thinking about our trip south before we were caught by falling snows, cold days and 4:00 PM sunsets. We had some work to do to get the motor home in shape for the winter.

We had been having problems with the tail lights on our “toad” vehicle, the Jeep nicknamed Wally (goes with the Beaver motorhome nicknamed the Beav. Any one out there that does not understand Wally and the Beav is too young to be reading this.) We thought the problem was in the motorhome wiring so we sought out an expert on towing stuff. He rewired the motorhome and replaced a gizzmo that combines two lights into one wire. We then hooked it up to the car…and promptly blew up the new gizzmo. We concluded that Wally was the culprit and took it to the trailer expert. He did some rewiring to make the system simpler and more fool-proof…just what Bill needed. Now it was time to return the Beav to get a new gizzmo. Turns our our selection of experts was a tad misguided because it was discovered that he had wired the first gizzmo up incorrectly. Thanks to Cliff Bedore for spending countless hours trying to make sense of our gizzmos and how they should be wired up. I learned that if you mention a technical problem to Cliff he does not like to see it remain unsolved. Thanks, Cliff. Our towing stuff expert did come through in the end and showed that his ethics exceeded his gizzmo wiring savvy since he more than made up for this mis-wiring by fixing it and giving us a new top of the line gizzmo for free. We really came to value small town America business ethics as shall be seen a bit later.

Back to our travails. On our way to deliver the Beav to the towing stuff expert, Gisela, who was following in Wally radioed to Bill, “White Smoke, White Smoke, White Smoke.” That would be OK if White Smoke was Bill’s call sign, you know like Navy fighter pilots call signs. Tom Cruise was Hollywood in Top Gun, John McCain…Playboy, and there was Booger. But it’s not. Bill’s call sign is Bill or sometimes "Hey, you." That meant White Smoke was a sign of... Big Trouble. Bill pulled the Beav over on the shoulder of Interstate 66 and went to look at the business end where the engine and transmission are located. He noted the location of the fire extinguisher on his way aft. However, the source of the White Smoke was soon evident…it came from engine coolant flashing on a hot engine and transmission. It seems that the folks that assembled the Beav back in 2001 ran a forty foot hose from the rear radiator to the dash heater a little bit too close to the hot exhaust system and after eight years that part of the hose was terminally dried out and it cracked under pressure. We love roadside repairs. If you refer back to March 2007 in this blog you can learn why. (Hint: Double front brake lock-up in the middle of the Florida Keys.) In this case it turns out that the hose could be spliced and after doing that and adding four gallons of coolant we were on our way. Did I mention that is was the expensive, long-life coolant…roughly $30 a gallon? Did I mention that roadside repairs always cost twice as much as repairs done in the shop? Well it was and they did.

But by the early days of November Wally and the Beav were loaded out, the hot tub was drained and winterized, we had our last dinner with Scott and Missy White, the best neighbors on this or any other planet, we said goodbye to our mountain amigos at the Coffee and Bagels Club and headed for Richmond. We spent nearly a week visiting with Bill’s daughter Ann and her husband, Dwayne. It was really great to be able to spend time with them.

Leaving Richmond, we headed for the Great Outdoors RV Resort near Titusville, Florida area and a rendezvous with Ron and Ginny Norton. Our visit was a bit different from past visits in that Ginny was taking pain pills instead of drinking wine. It seems that a “routine procedure” went wrong resulting in surgery and a long period of convalescence without wine. We still enjoyed our four days in the area. We were reacquainted with Pegs and Jokers and had some good seafood at the world famous, Dixie Crossroads. Never heard of it you say? OK, so, maybe it’s only fairly well known to snow birds in eastern Brevard County…good seafood nevertheless.

After four days with Ron and Ginny, we said our fairwells and see you laters, and headed for a Thanksgiving Indian Pow Wow near Fort McCoy, Florida. We were having the second annual, east coast, Escapee Boomer Thanksgiving ‘rang hosted by Cynthia Lee. As we drove east along State Route 40, we smelled something funny…but not as in 'funny ha ha.' Funny as in 'Oh, no, not again.' We stopped, inspected, sniffed, checked the front wheels for excessive heat and did not find the tell tale symptoms of brake lock-up. Relieved, we proceeded. A few miles later the smell was back and just like on the overseas highway in the Keys, there was no safe place to pull over. So we proceeded until we found one a couple of miles up the road at an abandoned doctors office now occupied by a guy selling Jerky. No mistaking the problem now. Thank you, Mac McCoy, known in RV circles as The Fire Guy. Mac had refilled our big foam extinguisher discharged in Michigan in the summer of 2008 when the left front wheel locked up and caught fire. This time it extinguished the fire in the right front wheel. We then headed down a familiar path. Call the Camping World Road Service. Get a mobile repair guy dispatched, etc. etc. etc.

This road side repair was the “mother of all roadside repairs.” We can’t go into detail about it because it is now under investigation by the Florida Attorney General, in litigation in small claims court, the subject of a Camping World Road Service complaint and a disputed MasterCard charge. You should be glad that the detail is not being provided…the complaint to the state of Florida runs over thirty pages. The good news neither us nor anyone else was killed or injured because we found the woefully negligent repair before the right front wheel came off a 29,000 pound Beav towing a 4800 pound Wally sending them crashing into a day care center. We took the Beav to another brake shop to have the melted ABS sensor replaced. The technician crept out from under the Beav (he was lying on a creeper, thus he crept.) and said, “Did you know one of the two bolts that holds the caliper on is sheared off? Well, folks, that and the fact the some astute price analysis by an old Navy contracting officer uncovered a serious case of “rip off” lead us to the current state of litigation, etc. No small town America business ethics here. More like ‘let's do defective repair work and then cheat those rich dummies driving those big motorhomes.‘ Stay tuned for the next chapter. Who knows, we may make it all the way to “Judge Judy.”


The Pow Wow Boomerang was great fun. We again met up with our old Boomer Amigo, Chris Christiansen and her dog Rufus. Chris had spent the summer in the Canadian Maritime Provinces had stopped to visit for a long weekend in Virginia on her way South. A big event on that visit was a Trader Joe's and Wegman's shopping spree. Chris was a bit starved for that sort of shopping since there is nothing comparable in Newfoundland. We also visited Chateau O’Brien in Markham, VA where we saved Chris from buying an $80 bottle of wine. Actually we were hoping she would. The Pow Wow featured a free Thanksgiving dinner of smoked turkey and wonderful stuffing but no gravy or mashed potatoes. Bill was told he should feel fortunate because the Indians at the first Thanksgiving served Swan and Maize according to his Cedar Springs High School classmate, Lisa Van Someren who has been living is the same state as Plymouth Rock since the 1970’s, and therefore, knows all about such things. We also got in a great boat ride on the Saint John’s River thanks to Chris’ friend, Barry, whose brother has a house on the river in Palatka.

At long last we headed for our winter nesting grounds on the banks of Orange Lake (what isn’t named “orange” or “gator” in Florida?) We arrived just in time to celebrate Jim Jaudon’s birthday with him and his lovely wife, Anne. Bill and Jim were ‘mates in the Navy. Can’t really say shipmates since they served together in buildings not ships. You know, like the Pentagon and Headquarters, Naval Material Command…buildings all.

We barely got oriented at Grand Lake RV and Golf Resort before it was time to head to Wildwood, Florida for the Grand Opening of Alliance RV Repair Center. The party was fun but we probably would not have gone if we did not have an appointment to have a few things fixed on the Beav. Five days and a few thou lighter in the bank account we returned to Grand Lake. It was the 20 labor hour “strip and seal” that got us. Remember the eight year old hose. Well, the same goes for eight year old roof caulk and sealant on windows, etc. Hopefully, we have put an end to the many nagging water leaks that have been plaguing us lately.

After a day at Grand Lake, we headed for Orlando International Airport to meet…. Mr. Cuteness himself, William Pollock V (Bill being IV), and his traveling companions, one of whom resembled Bill’s son and the other the nice girl with the French sounding name that Bill’s son married. We had a nice dinner together and took them to their hotel at Cocoa Beach where they were meeting up with Yvette’s dad, Brian and his lovely wife, Judith, who were taking William V and his parents on a Disney Cruise out of Port Canaveral. Lucky them. We did a RON -military lingo for remain over night- at Patrick Air Force Base. Lucked into a Distinguished Visitor Quarters suite right on the Atlantic Ocean for 48 bucks a night…pretty nice compared to the Super 8 down the road for twice that. The Air Force does a nice job with amenities.

Grandson William V and Son Paul



Another Silly Hat

We then headed back to Grand Lake for a couple of days before buttoning up the Beav and shooting up I-95 in Wally to spend Christmas and New Years with family and Friends.

We hope this finds you all well. We were saddened to hear of the passing of two alumni of the Navy Submarine acquisition community, Floyd Bedsole and Ed Washington. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Delores Washington and Floyd’s family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Bill and Gisela

The Roving Pollocks - Summer 2009 Part II

Because we spent a couple of extra weeks in Virginia getting Gisela’s mom resettled, we missed the opportunity to visit with ND classmate John Lancaster and his wife, Chris in beautiful Potsdam, NY. We couldn’t make our schedules mesh…we’ll try again.

We, instead, proceeded to Maine via Elks lodges in Frackville, PA and Hudson, MA. We parked at the Fairgrounds in Cumberland Center for three weeks and for most of that time had the whole place to ourselves. It was a good location for exploring the Portland area and is near our friends at Forrest Lake and in Yarmouth. We had seen the fairgrounds over the years and had tried to find out if we could park there but could never find a way to contact them. This year we discovered a web site http://www.cumberlandfair.com/ and clicked on camping. We emailed them inquiring about a site, prices, etc. They came back and said that even for two weeks it would be $35 per night. We responded that we thought that was high for water and electric …30 amp… and a dump station…no security or other amenities. They responded with an offer of a weekly rate of $100 and offered to put in 50 amps at our site. For Maine in the summer, that is pretty darn good…better that anything except the some Elks lodges. Most full hookup campgrounds we have used in the same general area run $800 per month or more. For our RV friends, if you are interested you can email Bill Fischer, the campground manager, at: camping@cumberlandfair.com or call him at: 207-829 3283

We love Maine! We have been visiting there almost every other summer for the past ten or more years. This year we hit the ground running. As soon as we were parked, we headed for Day’s Lobster Pound. Three 1 1/8 pound lobsters, steamed…$18.…total. That’s a whole lot better than the $18 cup of coffee we “enjoyed” in San Marco Square, Venice, Italy. You can see the impact of our lobster quest…Lobster head.

On our second day, which weather-wise was the first day of Summer (August 6), we were invited to go sailing on Casco Bay with our friends John and Ellen Albin on their friend Robin’s boat. It was an absolutely perfect day. There is something special about looking at the rock-bound coast of Maine from offshore. Like this view of the Portland Head Light:

John and Bill enjoy boating together…It goes back to their days at Navy Officer Candidate School where they spent a bit of the Summer of ‘67 boating on Narragansett Bay and doing other fun Navy things.

The next day we gathered at our friend Liz Banta’s Forrest Lake cottage for a family gathering. The lake is small and quiet…you know a lake is quiet if it has loons . We love loons, too.

We joined Liz on the Casco Bay mail boat ride, had chowder at Gilbert's, took pictures of the Portland Head Light, had lunch at DiMillo’s (Liz loves their bread pudding), had lunch at Five Islands Lobster Company with Bill’s nephew James and James’ daughter, Katie who drove up from Danvers, MA, and took a day trip to Rangely with John, Ellen, and their wonderful Westie, Piper and, of course, had lunch. We love Five Islands.

It is east of Bath and is the most picturesque place in Maine to have lunch…and we love lunch.

Gisela had fun adventures at Caravan beads in Portland and discovered the Beading Path in Freeport. She enjoyed some quiet moments with her beads and wire. Her inventory is really growing….between tools, supplies, books and completed projects, we may need a larger motor home.

We visited the Christmas Tree Store in South Portland which sells everything under the sun except Christmas Trees or any Christmas stuff at that time of year. Bill was thrilled to find a Weber grill cookbook for $3. Bill loves to make lunch…or dinner on his Weber grill. Gisela found enough bargains to entice her to return again and plan a visit to another branch in Hagerstown, MD.

We traveled to Cornish, ME with Liz and her friends, Stan and Lucia. Cornish is the home of the biggest and best fried seafood platter on the planet. It is so big that three people can share it and still need to take home a doggie bag. In the name of good health, we settled for baked Haddock…I thought Bill was going to cry…He loves Cornish fried clams, shrimp, haddock, oysters, etc., etc., etc., Did I say fried clams? Maybe next time?

We did have some neighbors at the fairgrounds during the big Maine craft show. A few of them came by RV and some tent camped. We had a lot of neighbors, most of them canines, when the dog show came to the fairgrounds. We had never seen a dog show. This one did not seem to be designed for outside spectators. It was a competition much like you see once a year on television …the Westminster Dog Show from New York. Judges judging dogs, handlers handling dogs, some obedience trials, lots of people up early grooming dogs, etc. It was curious seeing handlers in coat and tie or skirts in a rural fairground field. People were very focused on their dogs and the competition. We did not see many smiles or get many greetings as we walked around. They had their ‘game faces’ on. Lots of beautiful dogs…six barking boxers outside your window at 6:00 AM tells you there is a dog show somewhere nearby.

In the small world department, we ran into fellow Escapee Boomers (RV Club) Mary Lane and Elaine Cannel in the Portland Wal-Mart. They had just spent the summer in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, primarily in Newfoundland. More on them later.

It was with a heavy heart that we broke camp near the end of August and headed back to Virginia to check on Gisela’s mom. We hated to leave Maine but it was time and Winter was just around the corner up there. We don’t do cold, snow ice, etc.

We spent a couple of weeks in Virginia. Bill ran down to Richmond and spent the day with his daughter, Ann. She showed off the ‘book’ she is putting together on one Arthur L. Vissers, a real character she ran across while doing genealogical research in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It is hard to briefly define him but maybe saying that he had thirteen wives...three at a time…twice, was a Texas, Ranger and an auto mechanic as autos were being invented early in the 20th century gives you a flavor for old Art. It is an amazing story. It was great to see Ann and Dwayne.

Richard and Sarah Shong, Boomers whom we had not seen for several years were in the area and we caught up with them at a combination BBQ competition and Blue Grass Festival in nearby West Virginia.

The next big event was a car trip to New York City to visit Tom and Jil Mohr who had just returned from two years in Vencie…the land of the $18 cup of coffee. We drove to Staten Island and parked our car at the Navy Lodge at Fort Wadsworth, the former home of the Navy Exchange (PX) Command (NEXCOM). Why is there still a Navy Lodge 15 years after NEXCOM moved to Norfolk, VA? Beats the heck out of us but we’re glad it’s there.

We hopped on the free Staten Island Ferry and were met by Tom and Jil when we disembarked in Manhattan. Of course we passed by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on our crossing. Gisela had a similar view in 1957 as her family entered New York harbor however, she was too young to remember it. It is possible that she remembers it in German and not in English?

We stayed in a building overlooking the World Trade Center site which was where Tom and Jil lived before 9/11. The building survived but the 23 apartments were all filled with debris and required over 18 months to be made habitable again. By then, Tom and Jil had decided to become full time RV’ers. They were staying with friends in their old building and we were able to stay in another apartment in the same building. Building…I guess we learned about ‘buildings’ from Seinfeld as well as other aspects of living in Manhattan.

The WTC site is still largely a hole in the ground.. It was sobering to look down on it from seven floors above and remember that day.

We had a fabulous five days in the Big Apple. The first night we went out for Indian food…a wonderful meal in a small, neighborhood restaurant. The next day we took a city bus tour of Manhattan that had been written up in the NY Times. We were riding with New Yorkers rather than tourists from Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Michigan. We went all the way to The Cloisters which Bill instantly recognized as the location of the closing scene of the movie, Coogan’s Bluff, starring Lee J. Cobb and a very young Clint Eastwood. We had lunch…yes, lunch again…in a little local Greek diner, walked the sidewalk in front of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, zipped by Central Park and too many other familiar landmarks to mention. We also wandered through the Union Square street market. Wow, what a market…they had it all. Gisela was so taken with it all she mentioned getting an apartment .

On Sunday, we took in a great show at the Planetarium in the Museum of Natural History, and had Sunday brunch in Tribeca with Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC (he was at the next table… we recognized him…he doesn’t know us from a bag of hammers.). We capped off the day with a wonderful gourmet Mexican dinner at one of Tom and Jil’s favorite restaurants. All the appetizers and entrées were unique but clearly Mexican. No Taco Bell stuff here.

Early Monday morning found us heading uptown to Rockefeller Center with Tom Mohr to participate in the Today show. By that we mean standing around the plaza with folks from all over the country holding up signs, waving and hollering in an attempt to get on television. Did we have our own sign? Nooooo, we did not. Everyone had a sign. But we had ….the guy in the Lobster Hat. Did it work? You’re darn tootin’ it worked. As the photo clearly shows:

To see our whole seven seconds of fame go to YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb6Zob9By5A. What fun.

After our TV debut we headed for Broadway and breakfast at Ellen's Stardust Diner. Here the wait staff are all aspiring Broadway musical stars. You get lots of great singing with your eggs and toast. Tom was obviously impressed.

It is amazing how many musically talented people there are who will never get their big break. Is it better to have no talent that to be very talented and disappointed? Bill says that he would vote to have some musical talent however he knows that voting for it will not help him. He is hopelessly untalented musically. We finished Monday with a wonderful home cooked meal at Tom and Jil’s friend Susan’s apartment.

Tuesday morning found us on a boat heading for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We only went ashore at Ellis for the tour. We took the audio tour which added a lot of texture to the exhibits. Tuesday’s other big event was attending a taping of the David Letterman Show. We were there two days before Dave’s big confession. It was fun but you have the feeling that you are not much more that a prop expected to laugh and applaud on cue. As soon as the taping is over the exits open and you are out on the sidewalk two minutes later.

We headed back to Staten Island on the ferry and had a horrible cab ride back to the Navy Lodge. On the way Gisela got a call that her mom had pneumonia and had been admitted to the hospital. We drove straight to the hospital the next day, It was sad…we are not sure her mom recognized us. We mentioned to her she had pneumonia. She said that nobody told her that. It was not clear to us that she realized she was in the hospital. Good news was that the pneumonia was not severe and she was released after a couple of days.

We left the hospital and went directly to the Elks Club in Front Royal where Mary and Elaine were parked. We really appreciated their hospitality. Appetizers, dinner, wine…just what we needed after a long day on the road and several hours at the hospital…Thanks, Mary and Elaine. We were able to return the favor by entertaining them for dinner at our cabin before they headed south.

We, too, headed south for a visit with Bill’s son, Paul, daughter-in-law Yvette, and GRANDSON, William…Mr. Cuteness himself. We had a great time and were just thrilled that William is no longer pooping his pants…Yea, William! We had lots of fun going to gymnastics, the beach, the park, etc.



We also stopped off in Virginia Beach for a catch-up visit with Don and Kathee Larmee. Good friends, Good food, Good wine, Good time. We will see them again for New Year’s Eve.

We were also able to give our neighbors, Scott and Missy White a ride to Dulles Airport for their two week trip to Croatia. We take turns doing this plus we watch each others house. We get the best of that deal since we are gone eight months and they are gone about one month. They are terrific neighbors and we are lucky to have them.

One sad note: In September Bill had reconnected with a long lost friend, John Songster, through Facebook. He had exchanged emails with John and nearly missed stopping by for a visit on our way back from New York City. A few weeks later, Bill learned that John had passed away suddenly on October 15. John was the Senior Instructor/Professor of Naval Science at the Notre Dame Navy ROTC unit when Bill was in college circa 1966-67. John, or Lieutenant Commander Songster as he was known then, was a bachelor who enjoyed spending time outside the classroom with the Midshipmen that he was educating and training for Navy life. There were lasagna parties at his apartment, staff meetings at the Linebacker Bar where we hatched the ill fated plot to kidnap the US Military Academy Mules when Army came to South Bend to play ND in football, an introduction to Michael's Bar in South Philadelphia during a trip to the Notre Dame - Navy game, etc. The gang thought so much of John that we invited him, along with First Sergeant Jim Barnett, the Assistant Marine Instructor, to attend our 25th reunion in 1992. John taught us many valuable lessons that helped us all in our careers and our lives. We all lost track of John after he retired from civilian life about ten years ago. We were all excited to find him again but alas...

That pretty much covers the last half of the summer and closes out September and a bit of October.

Roving Pollocks - Summer 2009 Part I

The Summer travel season began in late June when we left Virginia and headed toward Wisconsin and Gisela's family reunion in Milwaukee. Our first stop along the way was Dayton, Ohio where we visited the famed United States Air Force Museum at Wright (as in Orville and Wilbur)-Patterson (as in I don't know enough USAF history) Air Force Base. It lived up to all expectations. We have also visited the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport and the U.S. Navy Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida but the Air Force Museum was probably the best - although they were all very impressive, if you like all that airplane stuff. We are partial to submarines but it is not easy to get a lot of different submarines in one building.

From Dayton we headed to Milwaukee but gave Chicago a wide berth. The idea of driving a motorhome towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee up the Dan Ryan Expressway makes us break out in a cold sweat. We found a county park just north of Racine that was just great....we had a quarter acre all to our selves.

Before the reunion festivities began we were able to get together with Don and Sandy Hempson who we had not seen since their daughter's wedding in Washington about five years ago. Don and Bill served in the Navy together and were carpool mates. It was really fun to catch up with their lives. Staying in touch with friends and family is a major reason for our travels.

The reunion was terrific. This was a Leck family reunion, Gisela's Mother's side of the family. They came to Wisconsin from Germany in the late 1800's. The patriarch, Ludwig (say Ludvig) was a brother to Gisela's grandfather Cornelius Leck. Gisela's mom and dad were sponsored by Ludwig and came to Wisconsin in 1957 when Gisela was five. Ludwig and his wife, Millie had six children so that five generations later there is a pretty good bunch of Lecks available for a reunion as you can see from this group photo. They came from as far away as Arizona...and Gisela's first cousin, Anne and her husband, Michael came all the way from Germany.






During the weekend a large group of us toured the Harley Davidson Museum, had a reunion picnic in a park on the shores of Lake Michigan and hung out at the hotel catching up on everyone's lives and meeting the newer generations of the family.

After the reunion, Michael and Anne stayed with us in the motorhome for a couple of nights. We took them to Lake Geneva and to Summerfest in Milwaukee. They are fun loving people and we really enjoyed our time with them. We were able to send Inge, Anne's older sister, birthday greetings back in Germany.

Gisela also had the time of her life at the best bead shop she had ever been to. Bill called it the $100 store but what the heck....it was priceless.

As Anne and Michael headed north toward the Minneapolis airport and their flight home, we headed south... acutaly southwest to avoid Chicago again so we could go east to Michigan. We paid another annual visit to Camp Opperman near Bill's hometown of Cedar Springs. We had a great time, enjoyed Ivan's mom's baked goods (at 91 Marie still bakes a mean apple pie.), visited with Don Koster, and spent the fourth of July in Ludington at Ivan's brother, Steve and his wife Karen. They have a really neat log home in the woods. It was a real treat to see some of our European traveling companions, Jim and Louise Opperman and John and Jan Simmons. We also had dinner in Grand Rapids with high school classmates, Chuck and Mary Crosby, Gaylen and Diane Demarest, and Ivan and Janis. We were having such a good time they nearly closed the restaurant with us still inside.

As instructed by Bill's daughter, Ann, we spent many hours in the Grand Rapids Library and at Saint Andrews Cemetery tracking down Bill's mother's side of the family...the MacGregors and the Rogers and Giblins from Scotland and Ireland respectively. We also made a day trip to Saginaw to meet up with Bill's cousins Bonnie and Jimmie MacGregor who he had not seen since the late 1980's. Bonnie had a treasure trove of family pictures that are just fabulous. We made plans to meet next summer at Ottawa Beach near Holland, Michigan where Grandpa MacGregor had a cottage.


After a whirlwind week with Ivan and his lovely wife, Janis, who also knows her way around the kitchen, we headed south to Kalamazoo to have a much smaller family reunion of Pollocks. We visited Bill's brother, Bob. Our sister-in-law Pat Pollock (brother Mac's widow) and her friend, Mark came down from Leland in her motorhome. We really had a nice time together.

In mid-July we left Kalamazoo to head back to Virginia to visit Gisela's mother who was in an assisted living facility. On the way we stopped in Lima, Ohio for a Beaver Ambassador Club rally. The highpoint was Gisela winning the appetizer competition with her famous Italian Cheese Terrine. Bill was amazed to discover what is left of the once proud Kewpee Hamburger empire in Lima. They were one of the two earliest fast food chains in America founded in Flint, Michigan in the 1920's. They were hurt by the depression and rationing of beef in WW II, but one of their customers of their Kalamazoo location was a young boy named Dave Thomas who used their square burgers and Frosty (nee Frostee) as the foundation of his franchise...Wendy's. Kwepee's in Grand Rapids was a big part of Bill and his brothers' childhood memories. That speaks volumes, doesn't it?

When we returned to Virginia it became obvious that Gisela's mom's dementia had progressed beyond the point where assisted living was appropriate. It took a couple of weeks but we were able to find a new facility specializing in Alzheimer's disease with which we were very favorably impressed. We saw some that were pretty bad so we were really pleased to find Greenfield Reflections in nearby Strasburg, Virginia. It was kind of rough emotionally to go through this but we feel good about it now that it is done. Alzheimer's is really tough on the family as anyone who has been touched by it knows.

In early August we headed up to Maine. What did we have for dinner the first night we arrived?



We will fill you in on that part of the summer in our next post including more on the Guy in the Lobster Hat.

THE ROVING POLLOCKS
2008 FALL
2009 WINTER-SPRING

We returned to Virginia in mid-October after Red Flannel Day in Cedar Springs, Michigan. We felt like we were running a B&B as we had back to back to back visits from Chuck and Mary Crosby, Bill’s high school classmates, John and Ellen Albin on their way south to the Keys and Bill’s cousin from Canada, Greg Pollock. It was hectic but great to see everyone. We also made it down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for some family time with Paul, Yvette, and William and Ann and Dwayne.

In November we did something we had long talked about but never could quite get together…we headed for Florida in the Motorhome instead of winterizing it until January. We spent about three weeks on the Atlantic coast including a visit to Ron and Ginny Norton and some time at the military family camp at Patrick Air Force Base. We stored the motor home at Grand Lake RV and Golf Resort in Orange Lake where we had reservations for January. We drove to the car back up to Virginia for the holidays…Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Thanksgiving found the whole gang at the cabin, as well as, Gisela’s mom. This normally doesn‘t happen but we surely enjoyed having everyone here. We had a repeat performance for Christmas.

We started 2009 in pretty much the same way that we have started the past 15 years. We gathered in the cabin in the mountains of Virginia with our wonderful friends, Don and Kathee Larmee and rang in the New Year. For those of you who have been following our saga since the dawn of the twenty-first century, you know the whole deal with lowering the acorn at midnight, etc. For those of you that are new to our blog, I refer you to the history section (2004-2008) of this blog.

We were blessed with a no snow so we were able to depart on January 3 without any problem. We took up residence at Grand Lake and once again learned that Gainesville, Florida is too far north in January…we had lows of 18 degrees F several nights. But we did have fun including a visit from Ivan and Janis Opperman and spending time with Jim and Anne Jaudon including several U of FL basketball games.

February saw us head further south to the Great Outdoors in Titusville where we took up residence across the street from the Nortons. We did lots of exercising and had many happy hours, great meals and fun games of “Pegs and Jokers.”

In early March we headed north to Moultrie, Georgia to a rally of the Beaver Ambassador Club followed by a Family Motor Coach Association rally in Perry, GA. The BAC rally was held on the old Spence Air Force Base…you knew it was an AFB when you saw the street names…Mitchell Road, Spaatz Street, LeMay Lane, etc. We enjoyed catching up with some folks including Don and Kathie DuCharme who we had met the previous summer in Michigan. We made a side trip to FDR's Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. Among other things, we learned that the origianal Roosevelt who emmagrated to New York from the Netherlands spelled his name Rosevelt...as did my grandmother...go figure

After the rallies we headed back to Virginia via Athens, Georgia, home of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School of which Bill is an alumni. He did the nostalgia walk and got together with old Navy paes, Len and Eileen Sapera and George and Patsy Huban. Len and George are both former Commanding Officers of the School.

Our trip had been pretty trouble free until we pulled out of the small campground near Athens. Bill got a little bit overconfident in executing two quick 90 degree turns to exit the campground. Unfortunately, we got hung up on a rock that twisted the black and gray water tank dump connection 45 degrees aft. This is a bad thing. Luckily we only had two more nights on the road. When we returned to Virginia we found a good collision repair place and had it fixed along with a bit of repainting that was needed after seven years of adventures.

Next stop was Lexington, NC and some famous Barbeque. We relearned an old lesson…If you call ahead to the Elks lodge and you don’t get an answer, don’t assume they are still where they used to be. We went to the address which was now a church and, of course, we recognized that just after passing the parking lot. And, of course, the street was a dead end with no possible way to turn around with out unhooking the jeep from the motor home. We finally recovered, found a new Wal-Mart to park at overnight since there were no RV parks in the area and still made it to Lexington BBQ for dinner…and it was mighty good.

We had less than a week in Virginia before we departed for another Italian adventure. Six days in Venice with Tom and Jil Mohr; then we all took the train to Naples. We spent four nights in Naples where we found the world’s most authentic pizza, several times. We found the people of Naples to be extremely friendly and helpful. Where else would you find someome willing to walk four blocks to show you where to catch the bus or when talking to a doctor at a bus stop, have her recommend treatment for Jil's sprained ankle. While in Naples we took the train to Pompeii. For those planning a visit, check out the locked houses. These require prior reservations but it is well worth doing. Naples has great museums, wonderful seafood and a fabulous historic district. We sampled them all.

After Naples we then headed for Praiano on the Amalfi Coast and the Villa Gisella. We spent seven glorious days exploring and thoroughly enjoying the sights of Positano, Ravello, Amalfi and the spectacular views from our terrace. We can't say enough about how beautiful this area is. We really enjoyed having our own lodging, cooking meals, sipping wine, playing cards and basking in our view. How often do you have your own olive tree? We did ...on our terrace. Plus the landlady would lower a basket from above containing homemade cake, marmalade, fresh eggs, etc. Sweet! It was worth each of the 94 steps up to the Villa Gisella (Gisela with two l's).

After our glorious week in Praiano we headed for Sorrento to catch a ferry to isle of Capri where we spent three nights in a charming B&B in Anicapri. Franco, our host, and his family were wonderful. Jil actually proposed to Franco probably because of his wonderful gardens and views. Most people only get to do day trips to Capri and only see the haute shopping. We were able to spend time on the back "streets" exploring the beauty of this island. We also had our two best meals on Capri and enjoyed the Roman ruins and gardens. The pictures accompanying really tell the story. We headed back into Naples and caught the train back to Venice where we had one perfect day to enjoy this amazing and unique city before flying back to the US. It was a fabulous trip in every way…and Bill still failed to get a gondolier’s hat to add to his collection. We have uploaded the best 83 pictures (of the 1400 we took) to the web. You can find them at http://picasaweb.google.com/rovingpollocks/AprilInItaly#

We spent the rest of April, May and three weeks of June in our mountain cabin. We enjoyed visits from John and Ellen Albin and Piper the Westie on their way north to Maine and a long weekend visit from Ann and Dwayne to celebrate Ann’s 38th birthday. The following weekend we visited Paul, Yvette and William in honor of Paul’s 40th birthday…Bill’s son is 40...Yikes! You know you are getting old when…

We have spent most of June getting ready to head to Wisconsin for a gathering of the Leck clan featuring a visit from on of Gisela‘s first cousin from Germany. Gisela’s mom is a Leck. We will also spend a couple of weeks visiting friends and family in Michigan, attend another BAC rally in Ohio, come back to Virginia for a week to check in with Gisela’s mom before heading back north to New York, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts

We hope this finds you all in good health. We have come to realize that is something that is not as sure of a bet as it was a few years ago.

Bill and Gisela