My parents met at Ocean Grove, the first week of June in 1940 at the National Brethren Convention; my mother was the daughter of a Tennessee Old Order Brethren Minister (the Reverend Reuel B. Pritchett) and my father of an Indiana Old Order Brethren Minister (Dr. Edward Kintner.) The Midwest Hoosier lifestyle of Indiana was about to collide with the old-world mountain traditions of eastern Tennessee! Here is how my father wrote the details in his book “Events in the life of Elgin Perry Kintner. A Personal Journal.” It was at an Ocean Grove seaside resort hotel that Robert Merrit (Elgin’s brother) and I put up for the conference. The hotel was rather breezy, with open transoms into the hallways, and open windows to the outside. On the first day, I had attended a meeting and noticed this striking southern girl speak up at a discussion meeting. The following morning, the same vocalization came floating through the transom. Ethel was calling her father who occupied the room next to hers. We were across the hall. “Do you hear that southern gall talk?”, I asked Bob. He did. I did, later in the day at another meeting. I wasted no time in introducing myself. One thing led to another and it was evident I had fallen in love with Ethel Pritchett. We did many things together – some with Bob, and with Reuel Pritchett, her father. Both John Pritchett, Reuel’s brother and “Little” John Pritchett, Ethel’s cousin, were at the meeting too. Ethel was talking about going into airline stewardess work. I figured if she did that, I would never see her again – some pilot would marry her and I wouldn’t have a chance. After the meeting, we went our separate ways as we had planned before we met. We got into a daily writing habit. Once in the fall, I hitchhiked to visit her in Roanoke, and then we made plans for her to move to Indianapolis in the fall of 1941 before we hoped to get married the following spring of 1942 (April 4). What wonderful anticipation of plans for the future were developing. I grew up knowing this story, but I had never been to Ocean Grove until we found ourselves “passing by” in late June, 2018 . . . 78 years after my parents met! Oh, what a surprise we were in for, and oh, what little time we had to explore during our rainy 2-hour tour of Ocean Grove. I have always wanted to go back! Sunday, Oct 4 This trip began on a Sunday morning . . . not our usual day for launching a trip. The boys had a little spree to the Indianapolis Speedway on Saturday for The Harvest Grand Prix – a race limited to 10,000 people, including masking and social distancing. Tom was home by 8:00 Saturday night and we were up and off at 9:00 this morning. The drive across Ohio/Pennsylvania logged 495 miles, arriving at Harrisburg, PA by 5:30. We were not expecting the fall colors that we saw; still a mostly green background, but with pops of bright fall colors that seemed to collect in clusters. There was time to walk Charlie Button, cook supper and sit outside as it grew dark by 7:00. We have a pull-thru campsite, and the plan is to get up (no rush, Tom!) and drive the 158 miles on to the NJ shore and our destination near Ocean Grove. a.m.Monday, Oct 5 There was a light tapping of rain on the aluminum frame during the night, and a low temperature of 55 – both making for nice sleeping. With only 160 miles to go, we were anxious to get off . . . 8:30 a.m! In the car we are listening to the audio book “First Man” by James R. Hansen – the Story of Neil Armstrong. The early part was a bit tedious as Neil climbed his way from elementary school to entering the Space Program as a full-blown astronaut; then it picked up, leaving us engrossed as the story of the first moon landing played out. One thing I had not remembered: Neil got plenty of photos of Buzz Aldrin on the moon – but the only picture of Neil was his reflection in Buzz’s faceplate! To this day, that is a very regretted detail of the whole landing. By 1:00 we were set up at the Surf & Stream RV resort, a few miles from a deep inlet off the ocean and the town of Tom’s River. Our site backed right up to a small stream at a location where local geese and ducks have claimed a nice little swimming hole. This is one of those times that we are grateful for the view afforded out of the rear dinette set-up. Across the road there is a flock of fat little Guinea hens who occasionally raise a big brouhaha as a large hawk follows them in the tree tops. With site and weather so nice we were in no hurry to head out and explore, and we read and napped with the sound of the large geese slapping their wings on the water, squawking, and making noisy honking and splashing sounds. By 2:30 we were in the truck and on a quest for a seafood market. Who would have known that seafood markets take Monday off! After our 5th strike-out, and on our way back to the campground we saw a small “Clams, Crabs & More” hut, and pulled in. She admitted to being open on Monday because every/other seafood place was closed. Only a few of her selections were “home grown,” and we put our $ on the jumbo (true whoppers) shrimp . . . from Brazil! At this point, seafood . . . is seafood! It turned out to be wonderful, and we were not able to eat the whole pound that we purchased. As we got to know Surf & Stream RV resort, we saw that our site is indeed the prime site, and even has a privacy fence down one side of it! The rest of the campground is occupied by grungy permanent residents, with derelict trailers. I’ll never again second-guess when a campground sets “standard” for a trailer! Never mind! Our site is a wonderful little slice of Jersey paradise for the next three days.
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |