Bill and Cathy McArthur Spring/Summer/Fall 2010: 3

   Monday, July 5, was another hot day. Bill decided to go out early to a long kayak ride of 20 miles. He went down the Broadkill River, out Roosevelt Inlet, along the Bay beaches, by the ferry terminal (where he tangled with a ferry), and over to the end of the Cape Henlopen State Park fishing pier. On the way back, Bill was close to another ferry and had the current in his face for the whole return leg. After Bill returned, John and Diane Hartnett picked us up and drove us to a restaurant in Villages at Five Points. Bill had a pasta salad. We drove around a bit in the 97 degree afternoon and then were dropped off during late afternoon. We had a pasta dinner.

   Tuesday was predicted to be 101 degrees, so Bill decided that he better do his run early. He got up at 5:00 AM, drank a G2, ate a Power Bar, and hit the road running at 5:21 AM. He decided to run for 10 easy miles. The flies bit him during the first 2 miles, so Bill returned to the RV to use a Deep Woods Off wipe. He continued for a total of 10 miles:

Meanwhile, Cathy drove to the gym to do a Pilates class. The XTerra did not react well to the heat and stop and go traffic, so we tried to drive mostly with the A/C off on a record hot day. We went to All Wheels to pick up the Rapido and then headed back to the RV for lunch. After lunch, we stopped at the Post Office and then went to the ferry terminal to pick up Jack and Sue Beatty, who were on the 1:00 PM ferry. We took Jack and Sue to Eagle Point and showed them our townhouse. Then we went to visit the model townhouse so they could get a look at the inside of a unit similar to ours. They liked what they saw. We drove to downtown Lewes and parked. Bill got a cappuccino at the Bakery and then we all went to the Striper Bites bar for drinks and hors d'oeuvres. After a lot of drinking and eating, we moved to Irish Eyes across the canal for more to drink and eat. We liked the new decor and food at Irish Eyes since they had burned down a couple of times. We got Jack and Sue back for the 7:45 PM ferry. It seemed strange to be sending people off from the Lewes side of the Bay.

   Wednesday morning, Bill wanted to do an early bike ride. He got his gear together and then noticed that both of the Rapido's tires were flat. He tried two pumps to no avail. Bill was frustrated and mystified. We took our dirty clothes to the laundry at 8:30 AM and paid $24 for the 24 pounds of clothes. Then, we tried to drop off the Rapido at All Wheels, but they didn't open until 10:00 AM. We went into downtown Lewes and Bill got a cappuccino at the Bakery. Then we drove to the townhouse to meet the home inspector. His name was Ed and he had only good things to say about the townhouse. He liked the quality of the construction and the state of the unit. We met Joe, the owner. Pat, our realtor, also made the scene. We finally left and went back to All Wheels. The young kid there found that both tube had holes in them from tire pressure forcing them through holes in the rim liners and into the spoke holes. I told the kid that I thought that the tires were overinflated. We left the bike there. We stopped at Super G for some shopping and Roadsters for some wine. We didn't use the A/C to prevent the XTerra from overheating. We ate lunch in the RV. While there, we arranged with Two Men and a Truck to move our stuff over the Bay on Monday, July 26. Bill would meet them at the Dairy Queen in Lewes and ride the truck to Cape May, load it, ride the ferry back to Lewes, and drive to the townhouse to unload it. This would cost us $700 + $120 for the ferry. We drove the Bethany Beach to visit Bethany Cycles and talked to them about roof racks, tri-bikes, and Old Town kayaks, which they also sell. Then we drove back north on Route 1 and stopped at All Wheels to pick up the Rapido. They charged us $30 to undo the damage that they did to the bike. What a bad bike shop! We will never go there again and will take every opportunity to spread the word about them. We stopped by the laundry to pick up our clothes, but the attendants were not there and didn't show up for the half hour we waited. We returned to the RV without sheets and towels for the night. Bill decided to go for a bike ride, but he was so dehydrated that he bonked after 10 miles and had to give up. Back in the RV and A/C, Bill chugged 40 ounces of G2 and ate a Power Bar. He still was shaky for an hour or so. Bill got a shower and we ate a tortellini dinner. Afterward, we watched a couple of episodes of "Arrested Development". Cathy got a shower later. Bill had dried off with a hand towel and Cathy dried off with a beach towel.

   Thursday morning, Cathy went to the gym and picked up the laundry. Bill went out for a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike, 2 mile run. He hit the last mile of running pretty hard and finished fast. Bill got a shower when he came back in and we both packed for a few days of travel. We ate an early lunch and left for Dover. We stopped at the Hertz dealer and rented a small Kia car. We got a good price on Priceline, so we opted for the $10 per day collision protection, which we normally don't do unless we're in bear country. We transferred our stuff from the XTerra to the Kia and drove to the Nissan dealer. The service department was very friendly and we felt good about leaving our vehicle there. We headed toward Glen Mills, where we checked in at the Hampton Inn and stopped in at Border's and Justice for a few items, including a cappuccino for Bill. Then, we drove to Alex and Phil's house and Erin's birthday party. Phil's brother Craig and wife Arvilla were there. Later, Phil's parents and their dog joined us to increase the dog population to 3. Bill looked around for his pepper spray, but found that he had left it behind. The sky was threatening from time to time, but there was no rain and Erin's friends enjoyed a nice pool party. Cathy and Bill left the party around 8:30 PM and returned to their room at the Hampton. The beds were great and they enjoyed a good night's sleep.

   Friday started at 4:30 AM for Bill as he arose and drank a bottle of G2 and ate a Power Bar. Bill grabbed a cup of coffee in the lobby and stopped at WaWa for gas on the way to Rocky Run YMCA, where he met Phil. They entered the Y when the doors opened and checked in. Bill and Phil did a 6:00 AM Spin class, Bill's first ever. Bill liked the class, but struggled with the parts lifted from the saddle, which he wasn't used to. After the class, Bill and Phil ran for 3 miles on a loop outside of the Y. The air was stinky, which made for uncomfortable running. Bill discovered that someone had put a big dent and scratch on the driver's side of the rental car. Bill frowned, then smiled when he remembered that he was covered. Phil headed for WaWa and home while Bill headed to the Hampton to join Cathy for breakfast. We headed over to Alex and Phil's about 11:00 AM. We had a light lunch on the deck and then got everything ready for an evening at the ball game. We headed out in two cars for Citizen's Bank Park. Phil and Craig set up a big tailgating tent and we all settled in for some serious eating and drinking. Amy and Pete walked over from Pete's mother's house and joined in. The first of three downpours started soon thereafter. We all huddled under the tent or in one of the cars for some of the kids. Phil managed to grill hot dogs and burgers in spite of the driving rain from the cloudbursts. The rain stopped for good just in time to pack up the tailgating equipment and walk over to the ballpark. We were split in three groups: Phil, Craig, Erin, and Craig's son Harmon had the best seats in the Diamond Club in the second row and behind home plate. Cathy and Bill had good seats in the players' family section. Alex, Arvilla, Pete, Amy, Bridget, and Sophie were high up above home plate. The game was very exciting. The Reds led 7-1 after the top of the 9th inning. The Phils tied the score in dramatic fashion. A Phils' reliever shut down the Reds in the 10th and the Phils won it 9-7 in their part of the inning. The crowd was very pleased. After the great game was over, we enjoyed the best fireworks we've ever seen. It was a long, awesome display. We were all tired and happy as we headed home close to midnight. Bill and Cathy went back to the Hampton after saying goodbye to everyone, for they were leaving for Western Pennsylvania early the next morning.

   Saturday, we got up at around 6:20 AM. We ate breakfast at the Hampton and checked out about 8:00 AM. We didn't know it, but we left Cathy's Keen sandals behind when we left. We drove west through very hard rain until we reached the Harrisburg area. The sky cleared and the weather was good for the rest of the trip. We drove right by State College and ate lunch at a Quiznos off of I80. We arrived at a very run-down Hotel Arlington in Oil City at around 2:00 PM. We got moved in and then drove to Bill Hynes' cabin, on a dirt road about 15 miles from our hotel. We enjoyed the the party and the people that attended. Only Jack Benhart, Jim Hanlon, Frank Dangello, and Jim Zullinger were there from the old crowd at Shippensburg. The rest were newer people from Shippensburg, a couple of old students, and lots of family and friends from other places. With so few from the old days, we decided not to try to read the tribute that Bill had written for the occasion. We put a copy in Bill Hynes' gift bag and gave one to Jim Hanlon. We drove Jim Hanlon back to the hotel when we left at about 9:30 PM. We watched a little TV before heading to bed.

   Sunday was another early day. Bill was up for a shower at 6:18 AM. We packed up and went down for a quick breakfast. We were on the road at about 7:30 AM. It was a beautiful day and we made really good time. We stopped at Alex and Phils' house for lunch. When we reached the Delaware Shore, we drove to the Food Lion in Five Points Village for some shopping. We turned on the A/C as soon as we reached our RV. It was in the low 90s as we settled back in. We caught up on email and other computer activities and then went to dinner at Fish On in the Villages of Five Points. We ate outside and had great meals again. After dinner, we picked up our mail at the post office and drove back to the campground. Instead of a check for the propane in our tank in Cape May Beach, Amerigas sent us a bill.

        Bill and Cathy