Massanutten, Virginia

She will have to pay her own way, of course.

 

This trip has certainly not been without problems. We were going to take Michelle's car since its eleven years newer than mine, and had been recently serviced. After packing everything into the car, we got only a few miles before the "Check Engine" light came on. After stopping, shutting the ignition off, then turning it back on, the "Check Engine" light was still on, and it wouldn't even shift into reverse, and it ran badly when driven. We stopped at the service station that we use and found that the error code indicated a problem in the transmission, and something that needed to be diagnosed at a Ford dealership.

Since we didn't have time for that, we considered renting a car but between the daily rate and the per-mile charges, since we'd be driving more than 100 miles a day, that would cost more than we were willing to pay.

So we drove Michelle's car back to our driveway, and repacked everything into my 2002 Tracker, which is a mess because I normally only use it when I am going to camp or the transfer station with garbage, other than short trips to the store and such.

It has been raining heavily all day. We've stopped in Marlboro, Massachusetts for the night, and will have to head out early in the morning in order to make up for lost time. I hope it's not raining again tomorrow.

 

Knowing next to nothing about it, I have the feeling it's not a mechanical problem with the transmission.

• Running fine, check engine light comes on, but it's still running fine.
• Stopped, shut off the ignition, turned it back on and it runs like crap and there's no reverse. Although it would drive in a forward gear, it ran rough.
• Stopped at service station, shut it off, while he ran the error code. Later, it shifted into reverse again and seemed to run fine again, although the check engine light was on. Drove it eight miles back home.
• No more time to look further, so I suppose we'll have it towed to the Ford dealership when we return.

It's a 2013 Ford Focus.

 

We arrived safely early this evening. Although traffic was bad for much of the way, the weather was fine. Michelle took some pictures of the room, which I think she'll be posting later. As it turns out, the only thing smaller about the unit we have this year is that it has only one Jacuzzi rather than two and, more importantly, it doesn't have a full kitchen; just a microwave and toaster oven for cooking.

Other than that, there are two bedrooms: the master bedroom with a king-sized bed and another bedroom with two twin beds. There is a big dining room with a fake fireplace, a reasonably good-sized kitchen area, outside patio, etc.

 

At supper last night, they had live music. They were pretty good, but most impressive was the guitarist - Steve Hoke - who played a combination stringed instrument that he build, which includes a guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and another stringed instrument, all in one. He builds guitars, and I can see (online) that he has built other combination stringed instruments.

I think Michelle has some video that she took, but here's one that I found on YouTube that includes him and Keith Bryant, who was the singer last night, and one other guy.

 

@Michelle Anderson, how about posting some of the pictures you took?

We have only one more full day here, and part of that will be taken up with an up-sell thing where they pay us a $100 coupon to sit through a thing where they try to sell us something more than we have now. Since we don't have the money for anything more, it's pretty easy to resist the sale pitch. Plus, they overbooked our session twice now and offered an extra $50 each time, so we'll be getting a $200 coupon this year. It's can't be redeemed for cash but can be spent at their store here, and they have some pretty good Massanutten stuff, like cups that keep stuff either hot or cold for several hours, as well as other gift items and apparel. Being the perfect husband and all, I will let my wife spend it all on herself this year rather than fighting to be sure that I got mine.

We'll be leaving for home on Friday morning. They make us get out at some ungodly hour of the morning, like 9 am, if I remember correctly, plus I think we have to bag up the linen and stuff.