Overnite @ Kemblesville, PA
Awake: 4:50am I set the alarm for 6:00am but woke up before 5:00 &
couldn’t get back to sleep again so I just stayed up. Around 7:15, we
rendezvous with Grace & Gary, drive 2 min to get some coffee @ the local
A1 store. Then Gary drives us into New Castle, Delaware (25 min) & gives
us a 1st class tour of their company: the various departments & their long
time employees, offices, rooms, parts departments, large shops with
overhead cranes where they assemble the customers mechanical, electric or
hydraulic driven apparatus, semi trucks & trailers for hauling heavy
equipment, etc. They have a very specialized workforce to create some very
specialized machinery.
From here, we drive to “Arners” for a 10:10am breakfast; we were all a
little hungry.
Next, Gary places a cell phone call to the Charles Cropper Parks Art
Studio & tries to catch Charlie in the studio working….but he was already
gone. “Come & see us anyway” his secretary says. We spent @ least 1.5 hrs
admiring all the various sculptures of famous people, animals, beautiful
women, etc.; it was spell binding. This was our 1st visit to a very
elaborate & professional working art studio. Charlie’s assistant Matt, was
most helpful in touring us around & explaining just how one creates clay,
plastic, or bronze sculptures. What an experience just being here among
all this talent…. & Charlie is over 80 yrs of age.
From here, we are driven in & around the historic town of New Castle,
Delaware. What a neat place with a lot of history. After seeing some great
old homes & buildings of New Castle, G & G take us into the countryside to
show us some beautiful new large homes built by the Wilson (sp) Company.
It was obvious to us that a lot of the old farmland is being purchased &
turned into country estates.
We visited several areas of new homes during this tour…. & then, Gary
stops to point out the home they thought would fit perfectly on our
Nicktown property. The owners were not home at this time so we could only
see a front & side section, but we did get the picture….Kathy had a
camera…. & we got the picture that G & G were trying to emphasize also.
Their idea makes a lot of practical sense to us so we will be giving it
more attention as time goes on.
Then we return to the G & G estate where they give us a tour of their
home…..which by the way, has quite a number of extra ingenious ideas &
ways to keep the occupants comfortable with lower costs: i.e. a heat
exchanger to heat up their hot tub; a powerful squirrel cage blower
bringing in cool air throughout their sun room; etc.
We also spent some time discussing the house plans G & G copied & drew out
for us that resemble the house that Kathy took a picture of & the sloping
land it was on.
For dinner, G & G take us to the town of Perryville, MD & the restaurant
“Rendezvous.” En route, we stop to see their intended final resting place
on the hill and, a little further down the road, their lovely Presbyterian
church built in 1720 (?).
For yrs, I have loved Maryland crab cakes & this was the right place to
eat them. Kathy had a single order & I had a double. Gary helped select
the wine & what a great choice he made….in fact, the wine was so good, he
asked Grace to drive back to their country estate because he ordered a 2nd
bottle all for himself!
We were pretty well tired out from the day’s fast paced action & touring
so we waste no time in going to our respective sleeping areas for the
night.
Lights out: 8:56pm
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