19-22 June - Departed Gettysburg and now in New Jersey

19 June
Happy Father's Day!  Today we took care of chores around the RV in preparation for our departure on Monday.  Our friend from Norwalk who we went out to dinner with Friday night, April Stanton Hill,  invited us over to her house for Father's Day dinner.  So we ventured down to Hanover PA and found her beautiful house out in the country.  We had a nice dinner on their deck and then returned to the RV.

20 June
A lost day.  I have been recovering from a nasty cold which moved into my chest.  I am definitely better each day but now Doreen is starting to get it.  The closest I can figure is we just took it easy today and made preparations to depart the following day.

21 June
Today we broke camp at Deer Run near Gettysburg and started towards our next campgrounds in New Jersey.  The day started a bit shaky with the "Tireminder" alarm going off.  Tireminder is a tire pressure and temperature sensor system.  Each of my six truck tires + spare and four RV tires + spare have a sender on the valve stem and they transmit continuous info to a little monitor device in the cab of the truck.  It was telling me the pressure on the outside right dually was 10 psi low.  Dang, I have a leak.  Must have picked up a nail along the way.  So after finding a repair shop, we diagnosed the problem to a bad valve stem o-ring.  Wow, could have been a whole  lot worse!  Glad we did not get stranded out on the Pennsylvania Tollway with a flat tire towing our RV.

We had a stop in route to get our RV awning repaired.  Based on the symptom, tech support center diagnosed the problem to a broken torsion spring in the awning tube.  We found a dealer in Trenton NJ that could order it and install it in between campgrounds.  Long story short, the spring was not broken.  They replaced it anyway and added a little more tension.  I believe it is a little better.  On the road we go to our next campground.

About 5:15 pm we arrived at the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) RV Park at Naval Weapon Station Earle, our 13th campground.  We will be here from 21 June until 6 July.

This is a small inland Navy base near Colts Neck NJ. The primary mission here is storing and providing ammunition to the fleet.  The campground is very small, but nice paved RV spots and paved areas where your picnic table sits.  The camping spots are spread apart separated with grass.

Our camp spot is circles here

Lots of room!

Laundry and restroom/shower facility.

22 June

We cooked breakfast outside and then headed for Sandy Hook NJ.  Sandy Hook is a peninsula with several nice beaches, a Coast Guard Station, and old Army base called Fort Hancock and the oldest operational lighthouse in the Country, built in 1764!

We toured the lighthouse keepers residence and then 95 circular steps to the top of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse and entrance.

Beautiful keepers residence and lighthouse.

Our tour guide, at the bottom of the lighthouse

The circular staircase - 95 steps

Great view of Fort Hancock officer's row out one of the lighthouse windows.

The New York City skyline from the top of the lighthouse.

The lamp assembly inside the Fresnel lens.

Selfie from the top.  More of Fort Hancock in the background.

After touring the lighthouse, we visited one of the old mortar batteries from Fort Hancock.

Thick concrete walls surrounded the mortar battery to shield it from view and protect it from attack.

Four pads that held the large mortars

Part of the underground infrastructure.

Rails transported the heavy munitions into the battery.

After visiting the mortar battery we traveled to the end of Sandy Hook and climbed a platform used to view birds in the wildlife preserve.  

Also at the end of Sandy Hook is a World War II coastal defense area known as "Nine Gun Battery".  This area was equipped with "disappearing guns".  They were hidden behind the concrete walls and would pop up and shoot, then drop down again.  The structures are falling apart and fenced off.

This is a huge complex.

There are several structures on Fort Hancock that are being sold off to investors, being remodeled, and will be offered as year round vacation rentals.  These show damage from Hurricane Sandy.

After our day at Sandy Hook we got some New York style pizza from one of the local establishments and then relaxed for the evening back at the RV.  In the next few days we plan to visit New York City, at least Ellis Island and Liberty Island.  We will also visit Philadelphia, take in a Phillies ballgame, visit Atlantic City, etc.