On 01/04/2012 we drove to Palmetto, FL and stayed at Encore Tarra Ceia Village for two weeks. During our time there, we had our RV transmission repaired. We traveled back to NACO Peace River Resort in Wauchula, FL on 01/18/2012 for three weeks. We drove to Fort Pierce, FL to visit Navy UDT SEAL Museum on 01/22/2012. Today’s Naval Special Warfare operators can trace their origins to the Scouts and Raiders, Naval Combat Demolition Units, Office of Strategic Services Operational Swimmers, Underwater Demolition Teams, and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons of World War II. While none of those early organizations have survived to present, their pioneering efforts in unconventional warfare are mirrored in the missions and professionalism of the present Naval Special Warfare warriors. Responding to President Kennedy’s desire for the Services to develop an Unconventional Warfare (UW) capability, the U.S. Navy established SEAL Teams ONE and TWO in January of 1962. Formed entirely with personnel from Underwater Demolition Teams, the Seals’ mission was to conduct counter guerrilla warfare and clandestine operations in maritime and riverine environments. SEAL involvement in Vietnam began immediately and was advisory in nature. SEAL advisors instructed the Vietnamese in clandestine maritime operations. SEALs also began a UDT-style training course for the Biet Hai Commandos, the Junk Force Commando platoons, in Danang. The picture shows some of the weapons used by SEALs.
The picture shows the actual 10,000-pound, fiberglass lifeboat that was the epicenter of a hijacking by Somalian pirates on Easter Sunday April 2009. Three of the pirates held the Maersk Alabama’s captain, Richard Phillips, hostage for four days on this lifeboat before U.S. Navy SEALs shot them dead, freeing the captain.
We visited the Military Sea Services Museum in Sebring, FL on 02/03/2012. The only museum in the U.S. to honor the Military Sea Services of the United States of America (The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard). We dedicate this building to the memory of those gallant men and women who honorably served their country protecting our seas, shores, and air space from those attempting to deprive us of our freedom. The picture shows one of the display rooms.
We traveled to Mid-Atlantic Three Flags Resort in Wildwood, FL on 02/08/2012 for a week before heading back to DC.
We started back to DC on 02/15/2012 and stopped at Casey’s Jones Campground in Lake City, FL. On 03/17/2012 we took the car in for service. Then on 02/22/2012 we traveled to Southern Trails Resort in Undillia, GA . Our next stop was at Jones RV Park in Norcross, GA on 02/29/2012 . On 03/03/2012 we attended church at Sabbath Chapel SDB Church in Flowery Branch, GA. We also visited American Girl store in Alpharetta, GA on 03/05/2012. The picture is of Abigail having lunch at American Girl.
We continued our trip back to DC Area on 03/07/2012 and stopped at NACO Carolina Landing in Fair Play, SC. After 6 days we left on 03/13/2012 for Freightliner Custom Chassis Service Center in Gaffney, SC for service on RV which lasted 3 days. On 03/17/2012 we headed for Thousand Trails Lake Forest Resort in Advance, NC. We only stayed for 4 days and on 03/21/2012 we drove to Paradise Lake Family Campground in Sprout Spring, VA. On 03/26/2012 we visited Montpelier in Orange, VA. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Orange, Virginia, Montpelier was the lifelong home of James Madison. Madison was raised at Montpelier, lived here after his marriage to Dolley, returned here after his presidency, and died here in his study surrounded by the books and papers that marked so much of his life’s work. It was at Montpelier where Madison researched past democracies and conceived of the system of government that became our republic. The Montpelier estate features the Madison mansion, historic buildings, exhibits, archaeological sites, gardens, forests, hands-on activities, a new Visitor Center, and a freedman’s cabin and farm. Here, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, you can spend an hour or two—or a day or two—strolling the grounds, picnicking, and learning more about the man whose contemporaries called “Father of the Constitution,” and the woman who inspired the title “First Lady.” The picture is of Montpelier west side which is the front.
Near Montpelier there is an 1910 Train Depot that can be visited. The Montpelier 1910 Train Depot is a small segregated train depot and post office built by the duPont family in 1910 during the Jim Crow Era. Black and white train passengers waited in separate rooms, marked “white” and “colored.” The Montpelier Foundation recently restored Montpelier Station to its original 1910 layout, to document this unjust period of legalized segregation in American history. The picture is of the 1910 Train Depot.
We arrived in the DC Area on 03/28/2012 at Thousand Trails Chesapeake Resort in Dutton, VA. While there we attended the Trail Buddies East Rally on 03/30/2012 thru 04/01/2012. We also visited New Point Comfort Lighthouse in New Point, VA. The Chesapeake Bay boasted the greatest shipping volume in North America during the 1700s and early 1800s, prompting America’s new federal government to establish lighthouses for guiding vessels to the vital ports therein. The first of these lighthouses were placed at Cape Henry, Smith Point, Old Point Comfort, and then New Point Comfort. This latter tower, now the tenth oldest lighthouse still standing in the United States, is situated on the westerly shore of the Chesapeake, just north of the entrance to Mobjack Bay. The 58-foot, sandstone New Point Comfort Lighthouse is similar in design to its sister tower at Old Point Comfort and other period sandstone structures constructed at Cape Henry and Montauk Point. The original light was a fixed signal generated by nine lamps and cast out to sea by nine-inch reflectors. Winslow Lewis revamped the lantern and added fourteen-inch reflectors in 1841, while a Fresnel lens replaced the entire lighting apparatus in 1855. The picture is of the New Point Comfort Lighthouse. Since 1976 restoration efforts have focused primarily on stabilizing the structure. The Mathews County Historical Society is involved with long term preservation plans, and in 2001 the New Point Comfort Lighthouse Preservation Task Force was established. Their mission statement is “to develop a plan to preserve the…lighthouse as a permanent historic sentinel representing American navigation, transportation, commerce, craftsmanship, engineering, and American’s perseverance through peace and war.” The burred picture is caused by air turbulence.
