Midway through the trek

It is two and a half months into the trek and that means that for a five month trek we are halfway finished. We easily hitched up and left Pennsylvania. We traveled on the Pennsylvania Turnpike which was boring (and not very expensive) except for the tunnels. The tunnels were built in the late 40's and are not very wide. Honey was fine, but Bob worried that a big 18 wheeler might pass us and cause Honey to swerve. But that didn't happen. We then had to go through downtown Pittsburg to get to Steubenville Ohio where my sister lives. That was a little busy, but I had good maps and we did not get lost.

We are now at my sister's for a few days. We actually slept inside last night. Today I am doing laundry and Bob is going to do a whole bunch of small repairs or fixups to Honey to make her fit our needs better. This is a good time to relax and rest. That is good because Bob was getting really tired and I think was coming down with a cold. So this will give us a chance to catch up with relatives and to rest up. For those who are reading this regularly, please know that I probably won't be blogging for the next few days because we really won't be doing anything worth blogging about. Just resting. And by the wawy it is warm and sunny here. Yeah.

Nice day.

Both Bob and I are starting to get used to Honey - where things are and how they work. We are developing some new routines. Why is life so much easier for me when I have a routine and don't have to think about how to make the coffee or where I keep my eye glasses during the night? But it is easier. We are really not camping. We have not set foot outside Honey while we have been here in the campground except to go to the shower or to get into the car. But that is okay for now. It will be different when we are camping.

After our morning routine we drove into Hershey Pennsylvania. (It is nice now that spring break is finally over and this was during the week. Things were pretty quiet and we did not have to deal with lots of crowds.) We first went into Chocolate World and got this cute little ride as a tour of the chocolate making process. There were these really cute little carts that went on a track. (They were very attentive to make sure that Bob was safe.) Then we started through. The first thing we saw were these singing cows. They were singing about how important milk was. Apparently one of the reasons for Hershey's success was the ready availability of milk for the milk chocolate. The ride showed the entire chocolate making process. It took about 10 minutes and I was laughing most of the way through. When we got off there was this huge store filled with everything Hershey imagineable. Bob loves milk chocolate so we bought some stuff. (I even had to call home and find out what kind of chocolate son-in-law likes. I know what kind of chocolate daughter likes.)

We then went to the Hershey museum. Milton Hershey was pretty visionary in how he treated his employees and the kind of town that he built for them. He used Pullman (and the company towns that Pullman built) as a bad example. He allowed the employees to buy their homes. He built community centers, schools, and parks for the families. This town is all about chocolate. The streets are named things like chocolate and cocoa. Even the lampposts are in the shape of Hershey kisses. The town seemed quite prosperous and that is a good thing. I would buy Hershey chocolate now just because I am so impressed with the ethics of the company.

We then went to a metal working factory. We just skipped the tour and went right into the company store that had many bargains. We spent a little too much, but got things that I never realized that I wanted - like a really nice platter for deviled eggs. It was a real kick.

The countryside here is rolling hills with many farms. They all do begin to look alike after a while. Bob kept saying "Haven't we been here before?" But the area looked prosperous as a whole. We went into Lancaster and skipped the Amish visits, but did see some horse and buggies.

The weather is still cold. I was amazed to learn that they are having a snowstorm in New England right now. Here it is going down to the mid 30's at night and only to the 60's during the day. Very chilly - which might explain in part the fact that we are not spending much time outside. We are really happy to have Honey - have I said that before? (Bob ponders regularly on where we will keep Honey when we get home - but that is over two months away.)

Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer and warmer. That is good because both Bob and I feel like we may be coming down with colds. That would not be a good thing. But we are going to spend some time with Big Sis for a few days and that will give us a chance to sleep inside a house and do some of the work on Honey that Bob wants to do - like put up curtains on the new window that was put in for us. On with the trek.

What a bizarre day

Last night it continued to pour. I was worried about trying to hitch up and go in the pouring rain. But I needn't have worried. It was bright blue sun when we woke up. (That didn't last long, but it was nice for a while.) I have put in a picture of Honey in the woods. (I think that Honey liked the woods - I sure did.) I also put in a picutre of me in front of the Gettysburg battle site. (I forgot to add the pictures yesterday.) The rest of the pictures are from the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum but more about that later.

We had a short drive today. We wanted to see the Hershey chocolate factory so we are camped in Elizabethtown Pennsylvania - cute town by the way. We actually tried to stop for lunch on the way and it was the most bizarre place. We went to the hostess to be seated and she asked for our order. There was no menu, just some pictures on the wall. Bob, who didn't hear of any this, looked at me. I told him we had to give our order now. He said - "Let's go." That was actually fine because we were only ten minutes from the campground that we planned on for tonight.

So we got here about noon. Who knew that would be a problem? As we walked in, the gal at the desk said something about "earlies." I asked what she meant. She said that check in time was at 3 pm and that they were pretty strict about it. This was really strange because there are about 100 sites here and maybe 10 of them were filled. There was even a sign in the office that said that they would charge extra for early check in. She was quite adamant that we should have known and that they needed this time to clean the campground. Now we have been doing this for two and a half months and the campgrounds have always been able to clean without such a deadline. I think she must have seen that we were ready to leave because she did check us in without any extra charge. It was just bizarre.

But the bizarre is not over. We were escorted to the campsite. It took some maneuvering for Bob to get the trailer in. The site was not level and we needed to put some blocks under the tires on one side. That turned out to be a challenge because they had just put down new gravel and everything moved around like mush. We finally got the blocks in place and Bob tried to unhitch. But the trailer was so much higher than the pickup at that point that the hitch was stuck. So Bob got in the pickup (we have done this many times with Fanny mind you) and moved the pickup just a little. The hitch did come undone, but Honey had been up on about seven layers of wood so that she was level. When the pickup moved, Honey fell off the blocks and into the gravel.

I just stood there. I was ready to cry because I couldn't figure out how we would get her back up and level or ever get her attached to the pickup again. But Bob stood there a minute and knew what to do. (Never trek without your mechanic.) It took about half an hour, but he was able to raise Honey. We reattached her to the pickup and put Honey in place and leveled her again. Then we had to unhitch and had the same problem. But this time when Bob moved the pickup everything went fine. Whew!!!

We made lunch in the trailer - Bob was starving. Thank goodness for the microwave and fast lunches. After lunch I checked out the bathrooms and shower - always need to know what I am in for. On the way there, there was a little room with all kinds of travel info. I had thought that all there was to see was the Hershey factory and the Amish country, but there is so much more to see. Among other things, there is a railroad museum here and I knew that Bob would be interested. He was. So we drove for about half an hour and got to the most amazing museum. Railroad cars, engines, and other stuff from the beginning of the railroad era. (Bob is mad at me because I did not take more pictures, but it is really hard to take pictures of HUGE engines like that.) I took a few so that we could get the idea. I think that Bob would have stayed there all day. We then stopped at the museum store. If only my grandson were a little older.

On the way back we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner and Bob reports that it was the best soup that he ever had in his whole life. That man is now addicted to Cracker Barrel. Anyway, back here and played some Cribbage and some Scrabble. (Bob is unhappy because I beat him in every game. He says that I am just inordinately lucky. I say it is skill. What can I say?) Tomorrow to Hershey.

Back in the woods

It rained on our last day in Washington DC and both of us were not feeling very good. I felt like I was going to get a head cold. So, before I went to bed I took some Nyquil. I did sleep very well but woke up the next morning quite groggy. We had a very short ride through the Maryland country side and we were in our campsite at a state park before lunch. It is a very nice site. However, it is very odd. We have electriccity but no running water. It is good that Honey has such big tanks. There was a bicycle race going on throughout the park so we saw lots of bikes hurtling down the mountains. But lots of trees. Honey is no harder to park than Fanny was. In fact, in many ways it is easier. It is certainly more stable when we are driving. We are both very thankful for Honey when it is raining.

We spent the afternoon going to the Antietam battle site. They did a much better job of preserving the site than at Vicksburg and I really enjoyed it. There was a driving tour and we planned to take it, but I was so groggy and tired that I listened to the first half hour of the talk. We then left and came back to our camp site. It is a good thing that we did.

Very soon after we returned it started to POUR. And it started to thunder and lightning. (Welcome to spring.) The thunder kept going for hours. It was a very different kind of thunder that I have experienced in the west. I wonder why it is different? Anyway, I was snuggled safe and dry in Honey and slept well.

This morning we drove the backroads to Gettysburg. The rolling hills and green landscape of the Maryland countryside were beautiful. Every yard was well manicured, even if the house was not so fancy. Bob said that it looked like there was an ordinance requiring that yards be well maintained. We drove through a couple of parks on the way and enjoyed the ride.

Gettysburg was by far the most interesting of the civil war battle sites. We watched a "multi-media" movie about the entire war, not just Gettysburg. There was then a huge diorama that involved a huge circular painting of the battle and they had lights and sounds showing the day of the fiercest fighting. It was very moving. Bob especially was moved and had a few tears. He gets that way when he hears of the stupid loss of life.

We spent another hour or two going through the museum. We did not take the tours because it was still pouring rain and that did not seem like much fun in the rain. But we did get a very good idea of the battle and the horrendous loss of life both there and in Antietam. We also got a better sense of the impact of the Civil War on the populace. Wow. But I must say that I have had enough of the Civil War now. On to Hershey and some chocolate. (Bob says amen.)

It is going to rain again

Yesterday was another day spent at the Smithsonian. (I don't tend to take many pictures inside a museum.) We visited the exhibits on the presidents and on the Nation At War. There was also a small exhibit on the gunboat "Philadelphia." This was a Revolutionary War gunboat that had been sunk by Cornwallis. It was found in 1925 and brought back up to the surface. The boat itself (and not a replica) was there. It was fascinating and gave a really good view of what life might have been like for the sailors on the gunboat. I know that the picture is not very clear, but you get the idea.)

The exhibit on presidents was good as far as it went. It focused on a few of the presidents but left out most of them. I would have enjoyed an exhibit showing the events of each president. (There was a long wall showing a picture of each president, with Obama being the last. There were a number of African Americans waiting in line to take a picture of the section showing Obama. My eyes teared up a little.)

The War section was interesting because you could walk from room to room and see how it all fit together chronologically. A lot of information on the various wars with the Indians. (I now understand more about the "Trail of Tears.") Part of what was interesting was what was not included. There was almost nothing on WWI or even the War of 1812. Lots on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and WWII.

Usually when Bob and I go through the museums we go at our own pace but can find each other easily. During this exhibit I completely lost Bob. I was just finishing the Civil War and had not seen him for about half an hour. So I called him (Cell phones are wonderful.) I was amazed to hear that he was completely finished and waiting for me at the end. I walked out and brought him back to go through some of the more recent stuff with me. (There was stuff from WWII that I wanted to ask him about and there were actually pieces of the World Trade Center (more tears to the eyes)). The problem that Bob was having was the number of people there - it was more crowded than any of the other days. Even more bothersome, it was mostly kids - middle school and high school age - in large tour groups with very little adult supervision (UGH!) The kids would run around (making Bob lose his balance) get in front of you while you were reading an exhibit (I lost it with one kid), and they would yell at each other across the exhibit (Bob actually had to turn off his hearing aid because the noise was getting so bad.).

When we finished this museum (there were actually several more exhibits, but it was getting more and more crowded - this is spring break somewhere), we had planned on going to the Museum of Natural History. As we left the American History Museum there was a line a block long to go through security. The line in front of Natural History was not as long, but given the experience we had, we decided to forego any more museums. We both enjoy them, but not in the crowd. My guess is that they will be much worse today on Saturday (tomorrow is the Earth Day celebration so there will be lots of folks here for that.)

Walking past the Natural History Museum we saw a wonderful sculpture of a dinosauer - had to get a picture of that. There was also a street band playing on plastic garbage pails. They actually sounded pretty good. We took public transportation again- we are getting to be experts. On the bus part of the trip a couple got on that were also going to the campground (that is not unusual- the bus is usually packed with campground folks). But I was amazed at what this couple said and how different folks can be in their expectations and enjoyment. We got to talking about what we had done today. We said that we had gone to DC. They said that they had done it years ago and once you have seen the monuments, there was nothing more to see. I said that we had spent some time in the museums. She said that she had gone to the Smithsonian one day but it was with her mother and her mother got tired and besides, there was nothing much to see!!! I couldn't believe it. I could spent another week or even two here and not see it all. (Bob has even admitted that he is now hooked on museums (good museums)). I couldn't figure out why the couple was even here.

Bob made his most wonderful fantastic chili for dinner last night and we had a small Scrabble tournament. I won one game and Bob won one - it was a standoff.

This morning Bob is not feeling very well. I think that he is really tired and have sent him back to bed. We can spend the day doing laundry, trimming each other's hair, and just resting - the mall will be too busy anyway. Then back to the trek.

Today we walked.

Yesterday we did nothing. We just sat and read and tried to recover from being so tired. We did try to do a little shopping, but I am not familiar with the area and it was hard to find anything we wanted. So we decided we will look later.

Today we walked. We started down Pennsylvania Avenue and walked to the White House. When we got there, we were halted because the helicopter had come for the president and he was getting on it. We could not leave until the helicopter took off. We then walked along the reflecting pool (very nice) and walked to the Viet Nam memorial, the Lincoln monument, and the WWII memorial. That was a long walk. Bob did great, but he was getting tired. The memorials always make you think more about history. Bob and I talked as we walked about various historical perspectives and that was interesting.

We went into the Smithsonian Castle for lunch and then to the Air and Space museum. The place was FILLED with groups of kids. Guess what. It is spring break again somewhere. The kids were a little unruly and that made the experience a little less enjoyable. But the information about early flight was fascinating as was the info about how passenger air has progressed over the years. It is hard to believe that when Bob and I moved to Oregon there was not air service there from any of the major airlines. So much has changed.

We then decided that we had had enough. Bob was tired and we still have three more nights here, so we can come back. We are getting pretty good at the public transportation system here.

When we came back to the campground I spent some time trying to figure out where to go after we leave Washington DC. It is interesting because when we were out west and asked folks where we should go, the folks had so many suggestions. Here, no one really has any suggestions. Today when I asked someone all she said was "New England." We will ge there, but there is stuff to see before then.

Honey is turning out to be a nice investment. We have plenty of room to sit. We are sleeping much better on the better mattress. And Bob has room to cook. Today he made pepper steak for dinner. It was delicious. He does not think he could have done it in Fanny. Whatever. It is nice to have the room to cook and then do the clean up.

The weather was nice today, but rain is coming again. We will probably stay in state campgrounds in Virginia to see Antietam and Gettysburg. Then probably on to Hershey Pa. Then we get to spend time with my sis and nieces. Still so much time. Still so much to see.

The Smithsonian

We are getting pretty good at using the public transportation here. Today it was so much easier than yesterday. We even brought books to read on the trip - it takes about 45 minutes from here to the mall. We spent the entire day today at the national Museum of American History. There is so much to see. There is a section in the transportation area that is about Sandy Blvd. in Portland and the effect that the automobile had on American culture, using that area to show how things changed. It was funny because we looked at the pictures of Sandy and it has not changed all that much since the 50's.

We also went through a section in which they took a house that had been built in the 18th century and showed how it had changed over the years through different owners. I thought about taking pictures, but it cannot be conveyed using a small camera. You really do have to see the exhibit.

Of course we also saw Julia Child's kitchen. Amazing. Everything is out and hanging and not in drawers. She has so many knives of various sorts that even Bob was impressed (Bob loves knives and needs a separate one for every chore.) There was a statue of George Washington. This apparently was intended to be the first Washington monument, but he is not wearing clothes and is just covered by a drape in the appropriate areas. There was too much unhappiness and folks thought that the level of nakedness was not appropriate, so another monument was commissioned. Hmmm.

On our way back to the metro station we stopped at the sculpture gardens of the National Museum of Art. Some really weird sculptures. My favorite was the eraser. All in all today we walked and looked for about five hours today after about six hours yesterday. At that point Bob was absolutely exhausted. I am really surprised that he made it that long. By the time we got back to the rv park he was feeling a little better - sitting and doing nothing on the subway and then the bus for 45 minutes actually helps you recover. That meant that he was able to make us a great dinner.

We have been eating much better dinners in Honey than we did in Fanny. It is much easier to cook with the space. It is also much easier to clean up. So last night we had Greek penne and tonight we had salisbury steaks. It makes Bob very happy to be able to cook. He is now relaxing on the sofa reading. I tried reading, but couldn't keep my eyes open, so blogging was my option. Soon to bed and another day in the nation's capital.

Stef, wait about 10 years to bring Alex here. He won't appreciate it before then.

First day in Washington DC

First I want to say that we made it into the Washington DC campground without getting lost. I spent about 30 minutes studying maps before we left and it paid off. We made it here easily. While we were driving, we were still nervous about the new trailer. It pulls differently. Bob says that even though it is longer and wider it is easier to pull than Fanny because of the double axles. Whatever. It was Sunday and the traffic was still awful. But we got here safely and without a hassle.

The campground is nice. There are about 500 camp sites. The check in was smooth and they gave us all of the info that we needed to get into the city. There are two pools (but too cold to enjoy even the heated pool.) This morning we got on the bus that took us to the metro and had no trouble. We got there early before the museums opened and just walked around. When the Smithsonian Museum of American History opened we went in and spent about an hour on one part of one exhibit. We were looking at motors and electricity. Bob loved it. Why am I not surprised. There is so much more to look at, but we had tickets for the Holocaust museum so we left the Smithsonian.

On the way to the Holocaust Museum we passed the Washington monument. It is huge. We did not have tickets to go inside. There were many people outside waiting to get in and they had tickets. I understand that if you don't have tickets by 10 am, forget it. You don't get in. But I don't think I want to climb it. I just wanted to look and realize what a huge monument it is. We will spend more time at other monuments, but this one was right in the middle and was a good place to stop and rest until our tickets for the Holocaust museum (they have timed entrances). We got to the museum early. I was kind of worried about my reaction, given my background and all that I had heard about it. There was a new display on Nazi propaganda and we also went through the permanent exhibit. I was not overwhelmed. It is all stuff that I had seen before. Maybe it is because I have always been interested in this period of time, but it was nothing new. However, it was interesting and it took all day. We then took the Metro to the bus to the campground (about 45 minutes.) We will go back tomorrow. There is still so much to see.

The weather was pretty cold yesterday and this morning. I understand that there was snow in New England yesterday. It was in the 30's here this morning. But Honey has a great heating system so we were fine. We just have not spent any time outside. Today was cold in the morning, but is warmer this evening. Hopefully, it will continue being warm. I am getting really tired of the cold weather.

When we were in Washington DC I admit that I felt overwhelmed by the history of what was there. Just walking around the mall and seeing the historic sites was moving. The mall is getting ready for Earth Day on Sunday so they were setting up tents and portapotties. The mall is truly America's living room.

Bob and I probably walked about 6 or 7 miles today. So we are both tired. And more tomorrow.

Virginia

Yesterday morning we left North Carolina and started heading for the rest of our journey. First we had to pack up Honey and try to figure out what might move around when we travel. It was so automatic with Fanny. I used lots of pillows and bungy cords to hold everything in place and pack it all real tight. Bob disconnected water, sewer, and electricity. Then he hooked Honey up to the back of the pick up which had a brand new hitch to more evenly distribute the weight. While he was doing that I went into Fanny and did one last check to make sure that we had not forgotten anything. I locked Fanny up and then gave her a good bye pat. I couldn't believe it when I started to cry. I never cry about losing material possessions. But Fanny was so familiar. I knew every inch of her and what fit where. I have to learn a lot more for Honey, but I really will miss Fanny. I guess I wish we could have kept them both.

The dealership had one more repair to be made so we towed Honey to the welding shop while they fixed the step and we took off at about 10:30 am. We started heading east and went through the North Carolina mountains, spent an hour in Tennessee and then on to Virginia. Our one stop in Tennessee was for lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Bob has absolutely fallen in love with that restaurant for lunches. He always gets their soup. We even plan our lunch stops around where the next Cracker Barrel is. I never thought Bob would feel that way about a chain restaurant.

The landscape was beautiful. The rolling mountains gave way to rolling hills to rolling even smaller hills. They have cut into some of the hills to make the road. The resulting shale patterns are very striking and beautiful. There are little communtities nestled in between the hills. Each one has a building (I assume a church) with that very tall, very slender steeple that looks like Virginia to me. There are gorgeous purple leaved trees that I have never seen before. they are in full bloom.

One of the interesting things that happened is that during the week that we stayed in North Carolina, spring hit. When we got there, the trees were bare or just barely starting to bud. When we left, there was leaves, albeit sometimes small, but you could see the beauty of the area change in just one week.

We did not drive very far - just about 250 miles. We have stopped at a KOA just about 30 miles past Roanoke. The place is nice and has lots of trees. We had a little trouble leveling and getting hooked up. We realized that there are some more changes that we have to make in how we do things. Meanwhile, Bob spent the night sitting at the dinnette and catching up on all of his accounting stuff. That was a relief. With everything that had been happening - we were spending loads of money but had not kept track of it. We are now caught up.

Breakfast was a snap with the nice stove, the amount of room, the dinette, and the double sinks. We then drove into Roanoke and stopped at a Camping World and a Home Depot. We got more stuff to make it easier on us. We then went grocery shopping and even got stuff for the freezer to be heated in the microwave. We came back and had our frozen lunches. We also got the pick up washed - it was getting very dirty. Bob has spent the last couple of hours rearranging stuff and fixing stuff. No sightseeing today. Just working on Honey and enjoying this nice campground and nice day. Tomorrow morning we leave for Washington DC.

We have decided to name her Honey.

She is so different from Fanny that Fanny Too did not seem appropriate. But she is a real honey and so Honey it is. Besides Hank and Honey do seem to go together. We spent the day dealing with details like paying for the trailer, taking care of licensing details, getting the bike rack put on, getting the stove rack put on, getting the equalizer hitch put on, and putting up many many hooks so that things are out of the way and in their place. It was another day that Bob and I were exhausted. Today Bob had to do much more of the work. Yesterday I took care of moving all the inside stuff and putting it away. Today Bob took care of the outside stuff like learning how to attach the new hitch, hooking up the outside stove, and stowing all of the outside stuff. More of our stuff will be in the trailer and less in the truck, so that will be nice.

This morning I took a shower in Honey. The shower is small but it works and I got clean. We probably will not use it when we are in parks with showers that are nice, but it will be a wonderful backup for those times when the showers are AWFUL. We also used the oven and made meatloaf and baked potatoes for dinner. The oven worked fine. (We have not yet used the microwave, but that will come.) It was particularly nice to have the dinette tonight because we have no picnic table here and we were so tired. However, the oven made it very hot inside the trailer so we actually used the air conditioner. Usually I am very opposed to air conditioners, but - again- we were so tired and Bob still had work to do while the meatloaf was baking. One of the nicest things for me is the double sink so that I can wash and rinse dishes all at the same time. (In Fanny I had to wash, then empty the tub or sink, and then rinse.) The dealership here has been fantastic. If anyone is ever in North Carolina and in the market for an RV, I would definitely recommend this place. They did everything they promised and did it immediately and with a smile.

We had so much to do to be ready that it was a good thing that there was a Lowe's hardware about a mile away. I think we made 10 different trips there in the last three days. We are on a first name basis with the cashiers. They are very nice but I do have a hard time understanding the very thick southern accent.

We are going to be heading out with Honey tomorrow morning. We will be slowly making our way to Washington DC, but I don't yet know how far we will go or where we will stop for the two nights. But we will get practice.

Exhausted.

They have not finished modifying our trailer, but the things that they need to do are on the outside. So, they brought the trailer over to where we were parked and told us it was fine to move in. They brought it at about 2 pm. Bob and I have been working ever since trying to fit everything in. The configuration is just different enough that nothing fits in this one like it did in the old one. Bob had to build some shelves in what they called a closet (too short to hang much of anything - better as a chest.) I moved most of the stuff over and have found a place for it. I even found some places for things that were in the pickup. The bed is harder to make, but I am sure that I will get better at it. (One problem is that the sheets for Fanny were queen size and this is not a queen size mattress. More stuff to buy.)

We finally stopped working on things at about 9 pm and we are both too tired to go to sleep but too tired to do any more. Tomorrow is another day. Someone will be coming tomorrow morning to go through everything with us so we have to be up bright and early. I hope that I can sleep.

The dealership is allowing us to stay here free until we are fully moved and ready to go. We had reservations in Washington DC for Friday. We are not going to be ready to leave until Friday morning at the earliest. So I called and changed our reservation. They were really nice about it.

Both Bob and I are wearing down. So I am going to bed now. I promise pictures tomorrow.

New trailer!!!

Well, Bob and I are getting ready to say goodbye to Fanny (our trailer). We did find a new trailer to buy that met all of our needs. Actually, it did not initially meet them all, but the dealer is making modifications so that it does meet all of our needs. The price was more reasonable than I thought - so we did it. The new trailer (I think we will name it Fanny Too) is a Dutchmen Sport model. It is the smallest one they make - 18 feet long. That makes it four feet longer than Fanny. We will have sleeping room for at least 6 - a double bed, a bunk bed, a sofa bed and a dinette that turns into a double bed. The dinette can be up all the time and that will prevent (or at least reduce the risk of) another coffee accident. It will also make it easier for Bob and I to be inside when the weather is bad or we are camping in a place where we cannot be outside (like rest areas). In addition, it has a lot of very nice amenities - it is amazing how much difference four feet makes. We will have a bathroom with a separate shower (Fanny's shower is right over the toilet - Fanny Too has a small bathtub with a shower in it.) We will have an oven and a microwave. We will also have a double sink. One big issue for us was storage space. Fanny Too has quite a bit of storage space. The issues that are being modified are - they are putting a bike rack on the back, they are putting a gas connection on the outside so that we can continue to be able to cook outside. Lastly, they are putting a window in right next to our bed - the bed was in the back and essentially had no outside view. I would feel like I was sleeping in a cave and would not like it. So they are putting in a window.

The dealership has spaces in the back of their lot where folks who are buying a new trailer can transfer from one trailer to another. It is free. That is where we are right now. It is a concrete pad with full hookup. We will get delivery of Fanny Too on Thursday morning. We have a lot of things that we want to do, like put up hooks and build some additional shelves. Anyone who saw the inside of Fanny knows how much modification we did on Fanny. There will not be that much, but we still need to make it fit our needs. We spent the day today shopping for the appropriate things we will need. We were both exhausted after a full day of shopping.

When we get Fanny Too delivered I will take pictures and post them. It is most interesting to see Fanny here on this lot next to some really HUGE trailers. I will miss having such a small trailer, but even an 18 footer is not very big.

Two months!

First I will tell about the last two days and then I will try to describe my feelings at this point - two months into the trip. Yesterday it was pretty cold in the morning. We got a very slow start. Bob has been feeling more and more like he wanted to get a bigger trailer. We were sitting on the bed talking about options and drinking our morning coffee. There really is not very much room and we work very hard at putting things on the very limited counter space in a way that we will not knock them over. I have already knocked over a full glass of wine and had to clean up quite a mess. But at least the wine was room temperature. Hot coffee is something else. Bob was making a point and using his hands and hit his cup full of HOT coffee. It fell right down the front of him. I did not think he could move so quickly. He pulled down his jamas and dried himself off and started putting burn ointment on- which happened to be right on top of the counter for some reason that I do not remember. I sat absolutely still until I was sure that he was safe - partly because from the back of the bed there was nothing I could do. When he looked okay - not great but okay, we examined the damage. Pretty good burns, but no blisters. I then started drying out the bed and the blankets and the sheets and the pillows. It was quickly clear that we would have to wash everything. So I did. Bob was too uncomfortable to do much so I decided to do the rest of the laundry and just take it easy.

There was a trailer sales place about a mile away. Bob and I stopped there and found one that we sort of liked. We talked about it all day. We drove into downtown Asheville and talked about it while looking at everything. This is a very interesting town. It reminds me a little of the Haight during the 60s. Lots of weirdly dressed young people. They gathered in a square in the middle of town and were playing chess and singing and playing various instruments. Farther down the block was a group of folks demonstrating against US immigration policies. Bob and I walked around, went to a museum on geology and the weather, had a drink in an outside cafe, and then drove home. By the time we got home, Bob had decided that the trailer we saw was nice, but not the right one.

This morning it was warmer and we were very careful about the coffee. However, when we weighed in (we weigh every morning) it was clear that we were both putting on weight. This was distrubing because we really had not been eating very much for the last few days. I said what I always do when this happens - I need to exercise more. Bob and I agreed and this time we actually got the weights out and did our morning routine. We then walked over to the dumpster together for a short walk. It is hard walking here because the hills are pretty steep and the road is narrow. There is no safe place to walk alongside the road. When we were walking back I saw the owner and started talking to him. Bob mentioned that we might be looking for another trailer. The owner sent us to a place about 20 miles away. So we drove there. But it is closed on Sunday. We walked around and found one that looked pretty good from the outside. But we couldn't contact anyone to see inside.

So we went for a picnic to the Nature Center. This is sort of like a zoo. It has a great nature trail. On the trail there are markers showing the number of steps from the beginning. We had a good walk. Then we came back and Bob did some online research into a trailer we saw. It looks pretty good. So we decided to stay here another day and go look at it tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe we will get a new trailer. I prefer the small size of Fanny but this is getting harder on Bob and the burns on his thighs did not help.

So, how do I feel after two months? The newness has definitely worn off. There is a routine to our lives that is very basic and slow. We spend more time on essentials than we do at home. We spend a lot of time reading and talking. But I am very rested and relaxed (that does not count the harrowing ride up the Great Smokey Mountain in the pouring rain). I am not thinking great thoughts or anything. I am just going with the flow. That is very unusual for me. I did not know if I would be able to do so little each day, but I can.

I find that I am not particularly interested in big cities. They are mostly the same - big buildings and busy streets and too many tourists. I love looking at the lay of the land, even when it is not dramatic. For example, this rv park is build like a public campground. Looking out my window right now I see lots of trees and can hear the wonderful sound of the stream a few feet from our campsite. It is very quiet - with the sound of a train several miles in the distance. I like that. I also like the fact that sitting here on the bed in my trailer I can feel the slight breeze on my face. It is about 75 degrees and very comfortable.

I also like history when it is real history. Fort Sumter was real - the Alamo was not. I don't like history or culture when it becomes too touristy. Tombstone was too touristy. Cherokee nation at the gate of the Great Smokey Mountain park was too touristy. But St. Augustine was not.

I wish that Bob were more interested in cultural things - like trying to see whatever plays or concerts are in the various cities that we visit. But he is not interested. That is not the kind of thing that you do alone.

I also have to work harder on my resolutions about staying in shape. It is very easy to just sit and enjoy and not take my morning walk or force Bob to do our exercises. But I think both of us will be a lot happier if we can make sure that we get the exercise.

For the rest of the trip we will undoubtedly avoid big cities (with the exception of Washington DC and visiting family). We will try to stay in state parks as much as possible and see the natural wonders of the country rather than the cities. And we will walk and talk and read. All in all, not a bad way to live for a while. I will be happy to get home in a few months, but for now this is a good life.

Asheville North Carolina

What a day. We got up early this morning. It was way too cold and too mountainy for me to go for a walk. We just had breakfast and hooked up. The maps of this area are not great. We wandered around quite a bit before we found the visitor center for the Great Smokey Mountains. By then we had seen quite a bit of the mountains already. We decided to take the drive along the Blue Mountain Ridge. It was quite beautiful. Parts of it reminded me of home. It looked a little like being in Estacada, right at the foothills of the Cascades.

We then drove through Asheville and found a delightful campground. This is one with all of the hookups, but it is still camping. It is on a pretty steep hillside and they have used the hills to create a sense of privacy for each campsite. We spent the day just relaxing, grocery shopping and enjoying the great view. The sun is out, but it is a little chilly - about 65 degrees. It is supposed to get warmer each day for the next few days. The plan is to spend a day in Asheville and then who knows. Maybe we will just stay here for another day and maybe we will move on.

This is the kind of day that I actually expected that we would have more of. A day without plans and just waiting to see what happens. When we are able to allow ourselves not to plan we find that we discover some wonderful things. Sigh!!!

The Great Smokey Mountains

We left the lowlands of South Carolina and headed north. The only place in North Carolina that looked interesting was Asheville. It was a short drive to NC. We got there right after lunch. The visitor center was incredibly helpful. Bob decided that he wanted to try going into the mountains. Apparently they had a terrible winter here and there have been some rock slides, so the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed. Our drive here was in the pouring rain - and I do mean pouring. We don't get rain like that in Oregon. It was raining so hard that neither Bob nor I could imagine doing what we need to camp. So we drove to the casino and parked in the lot. We asked if there were any rooms available. There weren't. We gambled for a while - and lost. Then we looked outside and it had stopped raining.

Because it had been raining so hard I lost my bearings and was not sure where we were. By the way, I am still not sure. I will have to deal with that when we leave. But we found a campground. It is really too early in the season for it to be open. The bathrooms and showers are not functional. But they rented us a space with full hookup. We can get by with that for a night. I think tomorrow we will take a quick look at the mountains - which look to be gorgeous - and then head back down to Asheville.

Tonight we reheated leftovers for dinner and I decided to contact HP to find out why my wireless was not working. It seems that when I dropped my computer several weeks ago and the battery fell out, the computer needed to be reset. The tech support person (with the strong Indian accent who spoke too quickly and used all of those techy words) finally got me to understand that she wanted me to take out the battery and press the power button for 30 seconds. I did that and it all works just great now. Nice support from HP.

Bob spent about an hour catching up on our finances. He has now finished his current novel and is ready to go to bed. He is just waiting for me to finish writing in my blog. So I will say good night.

Charleston

I do not understand how this site orders the pictures around, but they are in reverse chrono order. At the bottom is the picture from Savannah Georgia of the black soldiers who fought to save Savannah. Next up is a beautiful tree in one of the squares in Savannah. (The city is built entirely around those squares.) Next up is a pic of Bob and I in the back of the horse drawn carriage in which we toured Savannah. Then two pictures of Fort Sumpter - one from the ferry and one inside the fort.

It is over 60 miles from our campground to Charleston and it was a lovely ride on a pretty nice back road. The trees are still much smaller than the ones in Oregon, but they lined the road almost the whole way. The Charleston visitor center was packed. The parking lot was full and we had to park next door. The center did not really provide much information. They had automated displays which were a help only if you knew what you wanted. The major thing the center did was to sell tickets for tours. We noticed that there were a lot of families with children. We had thought that we were done with spring break, but obviously not. We have been dealing with spring break since mid March in Texas and it is spring break here this week. That is why everything is so busy and crowded. (We could not get reservations at any of the SC state campgrounds this week.) Hopefully we will be done with it this week.

Anyway, the lines were so long that we decided to skip the visitor center and just start walking with one of the maps. One of the things that both Bob and I wanted to see was Fort Sumpter. While we were walking we saw a sign that indicated the direction to go to Fort Sumpter. I already knew that we had to get on a ferry and that the ferry only left three times a day, so I thought that we should walk over there and see if we could get on the ferry. It was only about a mile and there were spaces on the next ferry at 2:30. We visited the museum - very well done and walked around Liberty Square. Then we took a 35 minute ferry ride - with lots of narrated history of the Charleston area. The fort itself was mostly original and a nice change from what we saw at the Alamo. There were nice graphics on how the fort was built in the middle of the harbor as well as on the history of that first shot in the Civil War (otherwise known here as the War Between the States).

We took the ferry back and got a recommendation for a good Italian restaurant. The restaurant was in the older historic part of town and they wanted to charge outrageous amounts of money for parking. But we found parking on the street and had a very nice dinner. Bob got very irritated at the whole idea of the parking charges, but calmed down. He really was very hungry so getting some food in him made a big difference. I thought about doing some shopping, but it was already getting late and we had to go back the 60 miles.

When I got back to the trailer I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with son-in-law trying to figure out why I cannot connect to the free wifi in this campground. We were not able to fix it. Maybe it is just this campground.

Tomorrow we leave here. I might have stayed longer visiting Charleston, but the long drive and the fact that this is not my favorite campground mean that we will move on. The problem is that we have no idea where to go or what to see next. There is nothing that is particularly calling me until we get into Virginia. So, we will probably just start driving and see what catches our attention.

Thanks to those of you who have commented on this blog. It is nice to know that you are reading it.

A whole week later.

I know that I have not posted for a whole week. It was a busy week. Lee was with us and we made really good friends with our neighbors. This is not a problem, but it did interfere with my blogging schedule. Usually I work on my blog in the evening after dinner and dishes. But this group had way too much fun sitting around the campfire - all five of us- until very late, sometimes nine or ten at night. When we were finished I did not feel like blogging - I was too tired. We have met some very nice people on this trip, but meeting Nick and Kris was special. We all felt a connection.

We all really enjoyed St. Augustine. The town was very interesting - lots of very historical stuff and very interesting stuff. And it was well done. There was also some good shopping. Then there was the beach. It was beautiful. You can drive on the beach and park your car right there - they just charge you! So we spent two afternoons just sitting on the beach and soaking up the rays. (Unfortunately Lee got too much sun and wound up with sun poisoning by the time she went home.) But the sun and the warmth felt very good to me. I feel bad for Lee because I know that she enjoys the sun.

Lee left on Saturday morning. Sunday was Easter. Nick and Kristine invited us to join them for lunch after they went to church. We got up and spent some time doing laundry and cleaning the trailer. Nick and Kristine overslept and missed church. But we had a great lunch. The restaurant is an old house right on the main street and the Easter parade went right by the window as we were eating. It was a different kind of parade. Lots of old (very hot looking) Spanish costumes, lots of vintage cars, and several teams of little girls with batons twirling them all down the street. (It reminded me of the many times I watched Stef with her baton.) There were no bands however and I missed that.

Then on Monday we left. The highway was PACKED with RVs. Apparently the day after Easter ( known around here as Easter Monday) is the day that all the sunbirds leave to go back north. Part of the road, particularly in South Carolina was at a standstill for miles. We had reservations in a campground in Point South SC because it is between Savannah and Charleston and we thought that we could stay there for three or four days and not have to move. Well, the campground was not as nice as the last one. First we had reserved a site with full hookups, but they had messed up the reservation and we got a very small site with only water and electric. And we cannot dump our dish water on the ground so without the full hookup I have to be very cautious about dishwashing. (The bath and toilet is not an issue because we just use theirs mostly.) To make it worse the chiggers are terrible. Tonight we pull out the full force insect repellent. They also got our reservation wrong. We planned to stay for three days. They charged us for four days. When I went back to tell them, they could not figure out how to change it and said that the only option was to leave a day early and then come in for a refund. (Not a good way to do business.)

So, I thought we would not spend much time there but rather in Savannah and Charleston. I asked for info about the two cities and the folks at the campground told us that there was a visitor center a block away. So this morning we went into the visitors center. I asked about Savannah. The woman looked at me and shouted "NO" "This is South Carolina" Bob and I just turned and left. I couldn't believe how rude she was. We stopped at the Georgia visitor center and got some info. When we got into Savannah the lines to take the tours were very long. It would have taken us over an hour to just get on a tour bus. So we got in the car and found a parking spot. We had brought our lunch and sat and ate it in one of the squares. I think that there are more tourists in Savannah than people who live there. It was filled with tourists.

That is not to say that it was not interesting. It was just filled with tourists. We walked around and visited the maritime museum - maritime is big in Savannah. We then took a tour in a carriage - pictures in the next blog if I remember. This is an interesting way to tour because it is much slower. However, it was hot and the smell of horse manure can get a little strong in the heat.

I am currently sitting at the South Carolina visitor center. We spent a great day in Savannah and saw all the historical sights and had a great beer watching some unkown soccer game in a Scottish pub. My cell phone coverage in the campsite is spotty so I was not able to blog last night. Bob is sitting in the pickup reading a novel. I am at one of the picnic benches. It is sunny and 85 degrees.

Being on the east coast is very different. I don't know for sure what to think about it. I have decided that I will wait until we have been on the road for two months - that is only five days from now - and then try to decide my thinking about all of this. I'm really having a good time, but the pace here is just different and I am not used to it.

I don't know if I will be able to blog for the next few days because of the cell phone coverage, but I will try. Keep thinking good thoughts about us.