Chapter 5
August 19, 2000
Saturday jaunt
A little late reporting in but here we are. It was a beautiful sunny day, low humidity and a great day for wandering. Vel picked me up at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and we were heading to Wal Mart to look at cameras. As soon as we turned on the county road we realized we could go the back way and avoid all of the traffic. Vel said it was bumper to bumper coming over here, so we turned off and headed toward Mays Landing (our county seat).glad we were going the opposite way because even on the back road the traffic was heavy. After a few zig zag turns we got to Wal Mart, which is about 20 miles from here. I think I had only been there once and boy was it crowded. After a few turns around the parking lot, we finally found a space. Found the camera we were looking for, and after awhile, we finally found someone to help us. Of course they are under lock and key. Haha, guess what, they were out of them, so Vel gave her name and they will have them somtime this week. We looked around a little bit, bought a couple of things and left. We decided to go up the Black Horse Pike, heading west toward the farm country. finaly Vel said, "lets get off of here as it is just your typical highway, everything pretty run down and of course shopping centers. not our cup of tea. Oh we did pass a place where they sell hub caps and they must have hundreds upon hundreds of them. There is a tall object out front of the place that looks like a tree but made of hubcaps. sort of neat but the rest of the place looks like a junk yard. Well might as well say, it is a junk yard. It does not improve the scenery, haha. Anyway we decide to turn off some road, and it is very pretty, lots of farms but also many new homes. It is sad because so many of our farms are being sold off to developers. bcause the farmers work so darn hard and then don't get paid half of what they should and they end up having to sell. NJ is supposed to be the garden state but if they keep on, there will not be that many farms left. There are still a lot of blueberry farms,and orchards in this area, but not like it used to be. So we are just driving along yaking away, talking about Branson and the usual womens talk, Kids, Vel's grandaughter leaving for college, baseball, tv shows and what have you. We are turning this way and that, one minute we are heading NW, somehow turn around and going SE, have no idea where we are, guess we went about 10 miles now heading NE, guess what right back on Black Horse pike about 3 miles from where we tuned off. didn't get very far but sure took us on a little detour. Whoa here we are on the freeway, rt. 42, very hazardous road, lots of accidents because it is on the road to Philadelphia and actually part of the Atlantic City expressway, do not want to be here so we get off about 2 exits before we would have to go on the bridge. Now we are on a road that takes us through a lot of little towns, Belmar, Blackwood, and too many to mention. I think we are heading north so we keep going straight. Go through the city of Haddonfield. Now this town is very old but has lots of quaint shops, and very expensive. Saw several sidewalk cafes but only for coffee. One of the places is called Starbucks, very nice but the price is not for us, $3.50 for a cup of expresso. Ha, anyone for a cup? Well we continue on and now sort of starting to look for a place to P and eat. We have no idea where we are going, did see a park, so we drove in. It was very pretty, nice big lake but water was as brown as could be, Some people were fishing, wouldn't eat any fish out of that water. There was a bridge across the lake, so I got out to see what the other side was like. There was a huge lawn area with picnic benches and off in the distance I could see some tennis courts. also a small water fall, So peaceful looking. I took some pictures and then went back to the car. There was a nice parking area and on this side of the bridge were several people sitting on benches just enjoying the scenery and the sunshine, and on the way out we say kids playing baseball, Just a nice local park for the residents. Now we are off again, still looking for a place to eat, We took so many turns up and down streets. some of the homes were so beautiful and huge. The flowers and the landscaping was absolutely gorgeous.We did notice with all of places that we ride around in, we see very few people. The ony town that actually had people walking around was in that town of Haddonfield. We figure they are all down at the shore. Anyway with all of this driving, turning and twisting around we must have crossed the Black Horse Pike 10 times. we would laugh because we would say ' Oh my gosh here we are again, can't seem to get away from this road. Finally we found a restaurant call Fuddruckers, looked nice, plus our bladders are really full, hehe, so we park and go in. There were two doors and to the right was one leading to what looked like a deli. saw big blocks of cheese on top of a fridge. and people standing there to be waited on, so that was not what we were looking for, to the left was an entrance to a bar, and beyond the bar were a few tables along the windows. It was very barren looking and not very inviting. More like a typical drinking establishment. plus it did not have a very pleasant aroma, smelled sort of musty, sooo with that, we turned on our heels and left. Now we could not see an exit from the parking lot only an arrow pointing around the back which we followed and there was a police station there. Several police cars were parked and when we came to the exit, the road would have went back to the highway which we did not want, There was a BIG sign there with and arrow with a slash across it and it said no left turn. Oh sh__can't go that way., so here we go, our little Vel makes a left turn and on out of the lot, whoa, here we are right in the police parking lot and we make an illegal turn, well needless to say we got such a fit of laughing had to pull over till we settled down, Boy do we have guts, we were almost sure a police car would be following these two old ladie who had the nerve to break the law..hahaha that was so funny, you would have had to be there. We finally got on our way, laughing at how we got away with that, and half expecting to hear a siren. By this time we really needed the depends. but got control and headed back in the SE direction, yep on that same road that we had been trying to avoid, Think it is rt 168, anyway, we enjoyed the scenery and going through little towns that brought back memories for me. Hit a town named Lindenwald, had a cousin who lived there and we used to go to an amusement park near by. Finally we thought of a place we had eaten last year or so, called Silver Lake Inn, and suprisingly it was not that far from where we where, so we went there for dinner. Of course we need to get to a ladies room and fast. Now what I would like to know is why do they always put the ladies room the fartherest away and you have to walk past a bar so everyone knows exactly where you are heading. haha. Well we ordered our margarita, Vel went first and I looked at the menu, then me. We enjoyed our drink, sort of tart but we were thirsty. Had a nice waitress and the dinner was good had a steak, but was too much so we got a peoples bag. Usually we can eat but this was a little much. The restaurant did not have much of a view, and it was nothing fancy, sort of western motiff, high back wooden benches, wooden floor, no carpeting and along the windows were booths and they were upolstered with a green leather. All in all it was a nice place, clean and the food was good. After dinner we headed home, but when we got about 35 miles from home we turned off and drove through the pine barrens. It was starting to get dark by this time,and we were tired, I know my back was killing me and I am sure Vel's wasn't much better but of course we would not complain to each other, after all, we were having fun. LOL. Arrived in our area around 8:30, but decided just to go home instead of driving around here, and No ice cream. We had a great day even if we were like a couple of gypsys, no destination, just cruising. So my dear friends, you have just been on another jaunt with Vi and Vel. Do wish you could be with us. It is hard to write a story about just driving on roads and not know where we are. BTW, we did go to several dead ends, and know what? they lead to nowhere. LOL. Lots of hugs to all.
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