March 2, 2004

We finally came out of hibernation and decided to go on a picnic yesterday.

Had trouble putting on my thinking cap today about our trip. It is hard to write about what we did or where we went when we don't know ourselves. haha.It was a beautiful day, in the 60's and partly sunny. We took off around 1pm. Really didn't know which way to go or where, so headed west towards several parks we had in mind, Neither of us went to the store but figured we have so many WaWa's (stores) in this area, would be no problem getting stuff for our picnic. We had a nice straight ride til we got to Bridgeton, maybe 25 miles or so, saw a street that rang a bell.

Years ago we found a quaint little restaurant in that area so decided to look for it, Made a left and went on down, out of the town, into the farmland. Came to a cross road but there was NO OUTLET on opposite side so made another left. Looked familiar, anyway, stayed on that road, but do we find the place? Nope, after several miles of farmland scenery, passed a hugh Apple Orchard, really nice, turned down a road and came to a high fenced in area, with iron gates.

There was a sign posted, "PRIVATE PROPERTY" does this stop Vel? no of course not, had to see what was so private about it, Short ride into the place, beautiful wooded area, could see a house in the distance between the trees, but the road we were on lead to a big house with circle driveway.

Really a mansion, of course we best not investigate too far, so turned around and got out of there. We continued on and found another road, The further we went the narrower it got, nothing in site, only marshes. Finally came to the end, We did see a sign that said dead end, but being curious we just had to drive in there. We found a boat ramp, and it was more or less a large creek, that I guess would have led out to the Deleware River. We had to turn around and we are off again. We went through a few small towns, of course always keeping an eye out for a store, finally came to a place called Alloway. Had been there many times but we came from a different direction, took a few turns and saw the High School from the side, drove around through another road, and turned left.

Gosh it was a nice day but we really were a little bit lost, We passed some greenhouses, a large nursery, had a lot of small trees growing. but kept going, oh yea saw what we thought was a school bus with flashing lights on, Vel almost came to a stop, but some guy behind us was not happy, so of course he blew the horn, ooops, not a bus, it was a fire truck with his lights flashing. I did remark that the lights were white and red, not yellow caution lights. Had seen a small fire a few miles before we saw the truck, This guy jumped out of the truck and was talking to another fellow in a pick up, just leaning on the door, jerk, shouldn't have left his lights flashing unless he didn't know where the fire was, any way we zigged and zagged up and down these different roads, until here we come back in another direction and there was that same school house.

LOL, by this time, we were wondering where we were, not lost, just confused, sort of got turned around. anyway we took another turn at the crossroad by the school and took off. We must have driven at least another 15 miles when lo and behold, there are the same greenhouses and nursery that we had already passed twice but this time we were coming from the other direction.

I said, next thing we will be back at the school, Vel had her doubts but off in the short distance, there it was, the great Alloway high school, but this time I was hysterical from laughing and Vel told me to stop it or she would pee herself, haha, me too.

We were both having to go, Then decided to forget the picnic, Just need to find a bathroom. Not to many restaurants in that area, for sure. Finally just kept on this one road and got into territory that we knews. think it was a state road, that took us through Salem, past the Riverside Park, but didn't have any food with us, kept going and at 4:15 we arrived at Cracker Barrel, down in Pennsgrove. Just before you go over the bridge to Deleware. OMG we had to make a made dash for the bathroom. We picked a good time, cause it was not crowded.

I had catfish and Vel had pork chops. It was good. Oh yea we cheated too, we spilt an apple dumpling, yum, it was covered with some kind of sauce with nuts in it and also ice cream on top. Good thing we shared, it was more than enough for 2 people. The place was getting crowded, a tour bus had pulled in, and it was around 6pm or close to it. No playing around on the way home. It is differnent driving when it is dark. Vel doesn't like to drive when all the lights are on, things look different. She asked me several times if I saw a man or someone on the side of the roads, I did, but guess she was testing to see if she was seeing things, or was I able to see. haha. We had such a good time laughing and gabbing, We really had no idea where we were but we were not lost.

No one can get lost in Jersey. LOL. Just imagine almost 5 hours in the car and only traveled about 50 miles in either direction, as the crow flies that is, not the way we drive. All in all it was a great day. Next time We are going to the park in Somers Point so we will have our bolonga sandwich. that is only 5 miles from here. Hope this didn't bore you all too much. I am a little out of practice with writing about our jaunts to nowhere. haha. I feel like the groundhog, Haven't been out too much this winter but hoping it will stay this way so Vel and I can start wandering again.

I love to read where we where on these jaunts! LOL Always so much fun to read it from Vi's eyes. We do have a fun time. Like Vi said, can't be lost just not know where we are at in given time. Lost in South Jersey ??? just drive 4 miles East of me to Ocean or 30 miles South to lower tip of Jersey or West 50 miles hit the Delaware Bay . go North about 90-100 miles and hit NY City. Fun but gets a little difficult steering to my right . sure hope it gets better in time. Thanks Vi for telling me where I was yesterday. LOL