Debbie and Mike Edgett - Full time RV travelers

Casa Grande, Az - 11-2-2011

2011-11-02T23:25:00.000-06:00

We have arrived at our Winter spot in Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort, Casa Grande, Arizona. Our travels this Fall were modest compared to last year at only 4500 miles but we never-the-less had a wonderful time visiting new places and with family and friends.

Upon arrival we were swamped with many of the friends we met and became so close with last Winter. We even had the pleasure of sharing dinner with Brent and Sherrie Nimo from Edmonton as they are leaving to return to Canada in the morning. They will be back in February, but it was great to see them now.

We will stay here until late next spring but will make a trip or two by car or plane to Colorado and Idaho. Our first planned trip is back to Lakewood, CO in less than two weeks, we are currently planning to fly back for this visit.

It was wonderful to get back and the temperature was nearly 80F.

Albuquerque, NM - 10-31-2011

2011-10-31T22:15:00.000-06:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!. We did not have any trick or treaters but we did get to spend the evening with some wonderful people.

After leaving Greeley, CO we spent a night in Raton, NM and while there made arrangements to meet with Bob and Lorelei Porter in Albuquerque, NM. They were in Texas with relatives when we talked with them but they were planning to head home on the 31st and thought they would arrive about 2:30. We thought we would arrive between 3 and 4 so we agreed to meet for dinner.

While we were driving through town to get to an RV park they called and invited us to stay in front of their home. We arrived at their home at about 3:00. We set up land spent a wonderful evening with them eating out and playing Mexican Train in their beautiful home.

Greeley, Colorado #2 – 10-29-2011

2011-10-31T21:59:00.000-06:00

Still in Greeley, Mike’s mom had to head to Boulder for a week to do a job so his Dad suggested a trip to the miniature railroad museum. This was an excellent idea. We spent a couple of hours at this museum. They had a remarkably detailed set up with at least four trains running. They also had many service trucks and cars running in the many towns depicted.

This is one of few miniature railroad exhibits that operates just like the real world. Conductors us radio remotes to control their locomotives. The lights on the tracks (and street lights in the towns) all operate as in the real world. A dispatcher sits a a console and controls all the main track switches and talks with the conductors of the trains as to which track they can be on. The individual trail conductors control the side switches to access areas to load and offload cars and to park and transfer cars.

Les Edgett

After the museum we drove by the new huge cheese plant that is being built. In orer to bring this plant to full capacity the area needs to increase the number of dairy cattle by 80,000 head. This is already the stinkiest town in America because of all the feed lots around it, I do not believe the increase in cattle will make it any worse.

Dispatcher

Sunday will be a travel day as we head south toward AZ. We plan to stop in Raton, NM on the way down.

Greeley, Colorado – 10-28-2011

2011-10-28T21:57:00.000-06:00

After Mike spent some time on the roof of the trailer clearing a path to put down the antennae and clearing off the top of the slideouts so they could be retracted into the trailer we headed to Greeley.

We arrived safely in Greeley. Tree limbs were down all over the RV Park. Limbs were sagging sooo low that when we drove to our spot we passed under some that are normally over 13 ft above the ground but hit our windshield. The trailer did a great job of clearing the snow off of them and they helped remove some of the snow off the trailer.

When we got to mikes folk’s place there were limbs down all over. Mike’s dad had pulled many back under the car port so he could get in and out of the driveway but there were many more, one had gone through the fence in one place, several large ones were on the roof, some were very large and still connected to the tree.

Patio

Mike helped load a trailer that his brother-in-law (Ron) brought over. They were able to remove about 2/3 of the limbs that were safely accessible. A tree company was called but they had a VERY large back log of people that need limbs cleared from yards and we are sure those that are on power lines will get higher priority. When running errands on Friday we noticed there were many limbs resting against power lines and telephone lines on the few streets we went down.

Limbs Dad moved day of storm

We had a great dinner with Mike’s folks and his sister (Shirley) and Ron. Dinner was followed by a lively game of the Five Crowns, boy was Ron’s luck running high, he creamed us all. While we were playing cards we heard and felt a loud rumble. Upon inspection outside we found that one of the very large branches that was still connected to the tree and resting on the roof had fallen to the ground. It had to have hit Ron’s truck and part of it was resting on the tailgate. Fortunately there was no damage found, not even a scratch.

Limb on roof that fell

On Friday, Mike and his dad cut up the large branch that had fallen (much future firewood was cut out of that one) and loaded it and the other branches in the back yard and on the driveway into Ron’s trailer. After Ron and Shirley arrived we moved the trailer forward and loaded the large quantity of branches that were on the patio. The branches here were far greater than it appeared prior to moving them.

Driveway after storm and loose limbs dragged back

There are still more branches to be removed but a bucket truck is needed to safely cut them free for removal, the tree service will get these when they can finally get around to it.

Driveway after limb fell

After dumping this load we helped Mike’s mom get ready for her next job in boulder and ran some errands around town. After this we had another great meal and another game of five Crowns, Ron’s luck had slipped and this game was much more competitive.

Limb that fell

Golden, Colorado – 10-26-2011

2011-10-28T21:13:00.000-06:00

Bear Creek Lake Park

Well, we knew cold weather and snow was moving in but we did not think we would get jittery about traveling a short distance to Greeley. We woke up to snow on the ground this morning, at least 6”. It was snowing when we retired the night before, some snow was sticking on the grass but none on the road.

We watched the news this morning and saw that Greeley had received several inches more than we had and it was still snowing there also. There was also reportedly several power outages and many limbs down on trees in the Greeley area.

We decided we could wait another day before heading to Greeley even though it meant spending less time with Mike’s mother, she has to leave town for a job in the boulder area on Friday.

It snowed most of the day. We received about 8 inches based on the depth of snow on the tables in the RV Park.

Mike did laundry while Debbie recovered from twisting her ankle on the snow and ice. Deb’s folks came over late in the afternoon to visit for a couple of hours. We had a nice visit just talking and glancing at the TV.

We will travel to Greeley tomorrow.

Lakewood, Colorado – 10-25-2011

2011-10-28T20:40:00.000-06:00

We have been visiting in the Lakewood/Golden/Denver, Colorado area for the past two weeks. We have spent each day with Debbie’s folks and have had a GREAT time.

During the two weeks we have been here the leaves have mostly turned and the scenery is beautiful.

We spent a day at the Denver zoo, toured the Coors Brewery, visited the Golden Historical Museum, visited the Colorado Train Museum, looked at show homes, cleaned up leaves in the yard at least three times, Visited the huge Denver Museum of History, visited a huge park nearby with several lakes and many hiking trails (even a campground/RV park), and went on many walks with the dogs.

Deb’s Dad and I were also able to repair a seal on one of our trailer slideouts, repair (restring) one of our day/night shades, and rebuilt our dinning table because many of the wood screws had worked loose.

We are now heading to Greeley to visit Mike’s folks for a few days. If we are needed in Lakewood some more we will be close enough to respond quickly.

Laramie, WY - 10-9-2010

2011-10-09T18:54:00.000-06:00

Mary and Ari

Steve and Aaron

We have made excellent time heading to Lakewood, CO from the Seattle area. We stopped one night in Caldwell, staying by Aaron's house. We were able to visit with all the kids and grandkids and even watch the BSU game.

Nick

Chris and Ari

Steve and Matt

Mary

Matt

Angela

After a couple of days on the road we are now in Laramie, WY. I cannot express the displeasure of having SNOW around us again. Fortunately the forecast is for clear skies and warming over the next few days.

YUK!!!

We will arrive in Golden, CO sometime sometime tomorrow (staying at the Dakota Ridge RV park while visiting Deb's folks in Lakewood).

On the road (Ferry) again – 10-5-2011

2011-10-05T23:56:00.000-06:00

Well we finally got the truck back. I took a late afternoon Ferry across to Anacortes, WA. A driver from blade Chevrolet in Mt. Vernon, WA met me at the Ferry terminal and took me to the dealership. It took them much longer than one would expect to button up things and get the truck back to me but they were great to work with. They were able to get over $500 from me and make me happy at the same time. I did suggest I deserved their routine ‘complimentary’ wash. I got the keys back just one hour before the next Ferry left for Friday harbor. The drive took 45 minutes coming so I had to hustle to get back, especially since I had no idea at all where I was with respect to the Ferry terminal.

I made it in exactly 45 minutes and even had to sit for 10 minutes before boarding the ferry.

We said our goodbyes last night and this morning and headed back to the Ferry with the trailer. Unfortunately the most convenient one was the one that stops at Friday Harbor on the way from Sidney, BC to Anacortes. This means we had to wait in line and go through the customs and boarder patrol checkpoint. We made it through fairly quickly and are now staying in an RV park in Everett, WA.

Tonight we picked up our new camera from Best Buy and had a delicious Mexican food meal.

After talking with Deb’s folks today we have decided to change our travel plans and go back to Colorado rather than continue down the West coast. We were really looking forward to touring the country and visiting relatives but we feel pretty strongly it is much more important we head to Lakewood.

Friday Harbor, WA – 10-4-2011

2011-10-04T14:09:00.000-06:00

Still in Friday Harbor, truck is still on mainland at Chevy Dealer. Just like in Canada, they started it and it has run like a champ. I just talked to them and they had the fuel tank out to check the fuel pump further. The only problem they could find is that the pressure drop from the fuel pump to the fuel rail was a little higher than it should be, they can find nothing to cause this. They have been working on it for two days; I cannot wait to see the bill. They are trying to blame it on the extended fuel tank and or the Banks Speed Brake system I had installed after-market; this would take GM off the hook on warrantee.

One side benefit for the truck work is getting to visit with the local relatives for a longer period of time. We will soon have a problem however; our waste tanks are getting a little full. We have gone1 day shy of a week without dumping and have never been able to go more than a week before.

Ah, Hah!..... The chevy folks just called saying they found the problem. Apparently there was a piece of cardboard in the fuel tank that would get sucked onto the fuel outlet choking the fuel off. It would fall away when the vacuum released and the truck was jostled when being towed and then everything worked fine. Later on it would work its way beck up and choke things off again. This of course is the theory but it is all we have. Now I know I am going to have to pay for all the service and it will NOT be covered under warrantee. I am not at all excited to see the bill.

Well, I have to go catch a Ferry in less than an hour.

Friday Harbor (2), WA – 10-1-2011

2011-10-01T16:28:00.000-06:00

Boy, what a hassle. The truck quit running again today. It is currently parked on the side of the road about a ½ mile outside of Friday Harbor. The only place to get it serviced is on the mainland, a ferry ride away. The tow truck is coming from Bellingham and cannot get over until the 4:30 ferry, which will get him here at about 6:00. He then catches the 7:45 ferry back and will drop the truck at the dealership in Mt Vernon at about 9:30 tonight. Of course the shop will not be open until Monday morning. Hopefully the problem is the fuel pump and covered under warrantee so GM will cover the cost of the towing not covered by our auto service.

Kay picked us up after all the arrangements were made. We drove out to the beach house to look around before returning to the trailer to make dinner. I will be meeting the tow truck at about 6:00 and letting him take it in without me.

Friday Harbor (San Juan Island), WA – 10-1-2011

2011-10-01T12:11:00.000-06:00

Well, we haven’t made it out to the beach house but we have had a great time visiting and touring the island.

Diane, Erik and their youngest son Kyle flew out to Boise, ID early Friday. They have a son in his first year at Boise State and went over for parent’s day and to see the BSU football game on Saturday. They will return on Sunday.

Debbie and I headed to the North end of the island to see the English Encampment, of the infamous pig war – the last boundary dispute between the US and England – only a pig was shot at. We then walked through Roche Harbor before returning to the trailer.

On our way north we went up the south west coast and saw a large number of killer whales surfacing. We stopped and watched for a while.

On our way back we saw a camel in a field. Kay told us this is a family pet and its name is Molly.

Today we are going to visit the American Encampment – still part of the Pig War – on the south end of the island. Hopefully we will get to see more whales.

One of the folks in the RV park is supposed to leave for the season today so we will likely be moving over into their spot later today, if they do indeed leave.

PS- I ordered a new camera and we will pick it up on our way through Seattle. This will help spice up the blog with a few pictures again, at least after I figure out how to use it.

Friday Harbor (San Juan Island), WA – 9-29-2011

2011-10-01T12:09:00.000-06:00

We joined Doug and Becky Trapp for breakfast this (Wednesday) morning before we went to the Ferry. It was sad to say goodbye to such wonderful people. They were much more than fantastic hosts, they opened their home and their lives to us. We thank them with all our hearts for making our stay in Sidney SO MEMORABLE.

The ferry crossing went very well and we had wonderful weather. We met a very nice couple of folks from Ontario waiting for the Ferry. They too had a large fifth wheel and had actually stayed the previous night right next to us at the RV park. We chatted with them before we loaded on the ferry and for a while on the crossing., they were going on to Anacortes, WA while we got off at Friday Harbor.

Because we were getting off in the middle of the crossing and they had to let more cars come on at Friday Harbor, we had to back our rig onto the Ferry. This was an interesting experience and with only two restart events, where I had to go forward a ways to straighten the trailer because I was too close to the edge of the pier to use the truck to straighten it, we made it across and on to the ferry just fine. One the ferry workers told me as I was backing in that I had only 5 ft to go and then the ‘bar was open’.

We made our way to Kay Erickson’s place on the island and said hello to her kids. We had Kay over to the trailer for dinner last night. Today we met for lunch in town with Kay and her son Mike, Wife Kim, and daughter Diane, husband Eric. Eric and Diane have been kind enough to let us stay in their driveway while we are here. They own a campground, which is right next to us, but it is full because workers building a new hospital are staying here for the year.

I believe we are going out to the beach house this evening.

Chemainus, BC – 9-27-2011

2011-09-27T21:19:00.000-06:00

Rain, rain, rain - Well we haven’t let it slow us down a bit.

Unfortunately my camera quit working yesterday, I will fiddle with it a little more but I am afraid I am going to have to get a new one.

We stopped in Chemainus, just a few miles north of Duncan (and set up in the rain of course), because we found a RV park that looked to be nicer than any around Duncan; at least as described and listed in our Trailerlife book. We found it to be a wonderful spot. There is a very nice miniature golf course and game arcade right next to us, although closed for the season. This park is even part of Passport America so we got 50% off on our stay.

Immediately after setting up we headed down to Duncan. BC and walked throughout town to see their many Totem Poles. Even with a couple of stops in book and clothing stores this was a very interesting visit. We REALLY enjoyed the Totem Poles, even in the rain. I wish I could have gotten some photos of the poles.

After Duncan, we drove back up to Chemainus’ Old Town. There they have about 40 murals painted on the sides of buildings. This too was very interesting. Also, the town itself is beautiful and full of very interesting shops, candy stores, and restaurants. Most were closed for the season but it was very obvious this is a busy and exciting place in the summer.

We head back to Sidney, BC today and catch the ferry tomorrow.

Nanaimo, BC – 9-26-2011

2011-09-27T21:09:00.000-06:00

Keeping our fingers crossed, the truck ran fine all day Sunday.

We toured around through Nanaimo, most shops downtown were open because a cruise ship was docked. We visited a small but excellent museum on the local history. A first Nations woodcarver was carving in the museum so I chatted with him a little. We looked in several book stores trying to find a First Nations legend that goes with the NW Whale carving I am working on; I actually found one that pertains to boys in a whale skin but I did not find a story like the one described by the master carver at Cascade, ID.

We ate lunch at a fish and chips place right on the dock and sat with a couple from the UK that came on the cruise ship: their first cruise.

It rained most of the morning but cleared up and was beautiful shortly after lunch. This allowed us to enjoy a stroll on the walkway along the marina.

It is raining again this, Monday, morning. We will pack up and move another hour southwest to Duncan, BC. Our plans are to visit attractions in the area (mostly the large collection of Totem Poles), travel down to Sidney, BC for one night and then take the Ferry to San Juan Island on Monday.

Qualicum Bay, BC – 9-24-2011

2011-09-25T17:10:00.000-06:00

We spent another day in Sidney and toured sites near Victoria. Our first stop was a tour through the Craigdaroch Castle. This home was built by a coal baron by the name of James Dunmuir in the late 1800’s. He had come to the area as an indentured laborer. At the end of his contract he had found a seam of coal and kept it hidden, he then found a number of investors to buy the rights to the coal and began mining it. This lead to him becoming the wealthiest man in the island in a few short years. The government asked him to build a railroad on the northern end of the island for which he took a trade in land, nearly 1/3 of the island. On this land he found two additional large seams of coal which eventually brought him a great deal more wealth. The ‘castle’ was completed a year after his death but his wife and family lived in the home for many years. When it was finally closed down his son sold off the surrounding land as a subdivision for homes, nobody wanted to purchase the castle so he sold lottery tickets and gave them away as part of the purchase of the development lots. The winner of the lottery purchased the castle for $1.

Cafe in Goats on the Roof

Qualicum Bay Resort

In the afternoon we drove to Sooke, BC in an effort to visit several carving studios. Unfortunately we were unable to locate any of them but had a nice meal in a local café.

The following day we drove north with the trailer to Qualicum Bay, BC and stayed in a beautiful RV park near the ocean. From here we visited local sites; of interest was our visit to Coombs. They had a very unique country store with goods from all over the world and at amazingly low prices for Canada. Also, this store had goats living on the roof.

The photo’s are a little deceiving as to the size of the store, it was actually quite large. We also visited some woodcarving galleries with beautiful work. One of these was not open when we got there but a lady was getting her mail and said she would open up. She told us everything was reduced in price and the price was negotiable. We cannot buy much stuff because we have nowhere to put it, but we were interested as to why. Apparently her husband has been ill for a couple of years and unable to carve or work in the store so she is planning to liquidate everything at sometime in the near future. I asked if he had any of the beautiful burl he had done many carvings in, she said she had sold it all already but she had some base materials that had already had a finish put on them. I ended up buying 7 of the smaller ones. It rained most of the time we were in the area.

Also of interest was the North Island Animal Rescue Center. They take in animals from doves to Eagles and squirrels to bears that have been injured (often hit by cars, shot or attacked by cats) or raised by humans and unable to live in the wild. When possible, they care for the animal and release it back into the wild as soon as possible. They had 7 bald eagles in a large shelter they can fly in; the center plans to release them in a few weeks. They also had a number of young bears that will be released soon. They do not allow the releasable animals to see people very often so they will do better in the wild, therefore, we had to view them via camera monitors or through one way windows\.. The unreleasable animals made for an interesting zoo.

On Saturday we drove down to Nanaimo, BC; only an hour drive down the coastal road. After we unhooked I could not get the truck to start to move it away from the trailer. I primed it several times and it would start, but would run for only a minute or two. We had it towed to the local Chevy dealer. Even though I had tried restarting 5 times with the same results (a lot of cranking and then running for only a very short time), including just before the tow truck hooked up, the Chevy dealer could find nothing wrong and the truck ran just fine on two road tests. They gave me a complimentary car wash that actually cost over $200. We are VERY. VERY, VERY hopeful this was an anomaly and will not occur again; we will not be near a shop all the time.

Nanaimo Bay

We are parked with the back of the trailer overlooking Nanaimo Bay; it is beautiful when the tide is in. Last night the water was so calm the sea was glassy smooth.

It was beautiful on Saturday but it rained most of the night and is raining this morning as I write.

Victoria, BC – 9-20-2011

2011-09-22T10:44:00.001-06:00

On Tuesday we visited the Royal Museum of British Columbia. This was an excellent museum that focused on the human and natural history of British Columbia. Of course this also includes a lot of the First Nations in the western side of BC and on Vancouver island so we saw many wood carved masks and totem poles as well as metal castings and stone carvings.

In one area was a special exhibit about Emily Carr, a famed local artist and author. It was very interesting learning about her life and many visits to the First Nation villages in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. It was also interesting that the explorers that visited the area in the late 1700’s saw no totem poles outside of buildings, however 15 years later their were many. Apparently, the trade that followed first contact with the natives included metal tools and the natives took advantage of these tools to carve the large totem poles we relate with the northwest indians.

After the museum we went to a sushi restaurant for an early dinner. We had a boat load of delicious food..

Leavenworth, WA - 9-12-2011

2011-09-19T23:34:00.000-06:00

We next stopped in Leavenworth, WA. We drove through this little town a few years ago and were really taken by the quaint Bavarian look of the town. We have wanted to come back and stay a while.

This town went downhill in the 1920’s when the railroad and lumber company pulled out. In 1960 the town opted to take on a Bavarian theme, they went all out with the transformation and their success continues today. With all the winter activities in the area it booms year round.

The town sticks strictly to the Bavarian theme for all commercial buildings, even the McDonalds and NAPA Auto Parts stores have had to stay with the theme.

We have enjoyed going through the many shops, tasting wines in one of the many winery tasting rooms and eating in the Bavarian restaurants.

Fantastic Nutcracker Museum

On Tuesday we will be traveling to Anacortes, WA where we will do laundry and catch a ferry to Vancouver Island, BC (Canada). We plan on spending a couple of weeks there and then stop off on San Juan Island (Friday Harbor) to visit relatives (Kay Erickson and her family) for a few days on the return ferry ride to the mainland.

Boating around Vancouver Island – 9-19-2011

2011-09-19T23:28:00.000-06:00

Trapp's Back yard- Ocean behind me

After a one night stay in Anacortes, WA we took the ferry to Sidney, BC on Vancouver Island. Doug Trapp met us at the ferry but he had to wait an extended period of time because Canadian Customs pulled us over for a thorough inspection with all the slides out on the trailer. They wanted to make sure us gun-toting Americans weren’t illegally carrying an arsenal of weapons: We had mailed our pistol to San Juan Island before we left so we had nothing with us.

r' Andiamo

Theme was Gilligan's Island

Doug and Becky Trapp had invited us to go on a boat rendezvous about 30 miles north on a small island. We excitedly accepted the invitation and spent 4 days with them at Telegraph Harbor Marina. There were several planned meals with the other participants (over 70 Tollycraft boats) and a number of activities through the weekend, On Saturday several close friends of the Trapp’s (3 couples) joined us for lunch at a nearby marina pub. On their way back these folks set out 6 prawn traps. We recovered those prawn traps on our way back on Sunday. The Trapp’s spend several weeks to several months each year on their 60 foot cruiser; they fish, crab and trap prawns for much of their food when they travel, they try to only spend time at a marina when they need water, fuel or food (they have a unit to make water on board when it is needed). The boat had three forward staterooms so Debbie and I had our one room with a very comfortable queen size bed.

Debbie, Doug, Becky

r' Andiamo

Doug had talked with another friend on the island and got permission for us to park our rig on their driveway. We therefore stayed at little cost while we were on the boat and the night before and after our boat trip.

About those Prawns we caught. We pulled up a sea bass, several sea stars and a small octopus along with about 30 prawns. The folks that put out the traps invited us to a crab and prawn dinner on Sunday evening. We had the most delicious dinner with all those wonderful people.

Doug and Becky are unbelievable hosts and with their fantastic friends they all made this a most remarkable start to our visit to Vancouver Island. We cannot thank them enough for all they did for us this past week.

After having breakfast this morning with Doug and Becky, and the folks that own the beautiful home we had our trailer parked at, Debbie and I visited Butchart Gardens.

The Butchart Gardens, set in an old limestone quarry, are absolutely beautiful. They change out a large portion of the flowering plants seasonally each year so you always see many plants in bloom.

After the gardens we visited the local Sidney Aquarium. This was a small aquarium but as with all the others we have seen we learn something new each time.

When we got back to the trailer tonight we cracked all the crab that was leftover from the previous nights meal (they gave it all to us because 3 of the 4 other couples present were all leaving the island right after we ate). We then made a huge crab salad and devoured it for dinner. Yum! Yum!

Out of Cascade and Back on the Road

2011-09-10T19:12:00.000-06:00

Dinner with Rick/Nancy, Doug/Jan, Allen/Sandy

Well summer had to finally come to an end for us. We spent a fantastic summer in Cascade, ID. Debbie spent time almost everyday beading various designs of jewelry, including some she designed herself. I spent some time most days wood carving, I was able to get started on many projects I can complete in AZ this winter and learned to carve new things in classes with a master carver and with mentoring from a very successful professional carver. We had a wonderful time with old friends we met last summer and new friends that were at the park for the first time this year.

Mary (& Ari) with Carving Instructor, John

At beach in McCall

Angela and Matt near Idaho City

During the summer we were also able to visit with Stephen and Angela’s family several times as they were able to get away and stay at the RV park a couple of times. Ari (Aaron and Theresa’s daughter) and Mary (Steve and Angela’s oldest) were able to spend a week with us, we had a fantastic time and Mary got to do a little beading and got started on carving. While they were here they entered one or two items in the county fair, as did I. All of us won at least one blue ribbon and Mary and Ari got big ribbons for being 2^nd and 1^st in division respectively)

Chris at creek near Idaho City

Angela had a little surgery during the summer so Debbie and I spent several days taking care of kids allowing Steve to spend most of his time at the hospital. Angela is now recovering at home and based on all the wonderful pickles, relishes and jams she has been canning she is recovering quite well.

Nick in creek near Idaho City

Ari started kindergarten last week and loves to tell us all about it, I bet she would like to tell you too if you gave her a call.

Pendleton Underground tour

After a short trip to Idaho Falls to get some work done on the trailer we are now traveling again. We spent last night and will also stay tonight at Pendleton, OR. We are on our way to Vancouver Island where we plan to spend a couple of weeks. In Pendleton we spent today on a tour of the underground that thrived for nearly 70 years from the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s.

Campfire With Friends

2011-07-07T12:54:00.003-06:00

We have renewed friendships with many people here at Arrowhead RV park (Cascade, ID) as well as meeting many new wonderful people.

We meet with one or more of our neighbors one or two nights a week for games (Mexican train and Pokeno) and join folks for Bingo at the Cascade Senior Citizens Center on Fridays.

We have had a friendly campfire beside our trailer a couple of nights. Pictured are Sandy and Alan Clark (Fulltimers from Colorado Springs, CO).

Sunset

Whimsical House

2011-07-07T12:54:00.002-06:00

A professional carver, also a fulltime RVer (winters near us in Florence, AZ), has come to the park to stay a couple of months. He specializes in carving Santa’s and wizards from Cypress knees and carving faces and Whimsical houses from Cottonwood bark.

He volunteered to mentor a few of us in the park at carving whimsical houses.

Pictured is Dave showing me a finer point at clarifying details on the carving and the finished product for my first bark carving.

Fourth of July Weekend

2011-07-07T12:54:00.001-06:00

Steve’s Family invited us to participate in an archery shoot in the Idaho mountains over the weekend. We went to Middleton on Thursday afternoon and visited with family, including a wonderful breakfast with Aaron, Ariana, Malachai, and Elijah.

On Friday, after replacing the arrow rest and sighting-in my bow and after Angela got home from work, we took off for New Centerville, ID (about 16 miles northwest of Idaho City). We made camp near a small creek about a ½ mile above the HQ for the shoot. Steve, Angela and the family were in their camping trailer and Debbie and I slept in a tent they provided us. Fortunately, they also provided a very nice air mattress.

We spent Saturday and Sunday shooting. It was amazing that two-year-old Christopher walked the entire 3 ½ hours over dusty hill and dale for the first 25 targets. He then shot at 7 youth targets with his toy bow before he lost interest.

Nicholas and Mary shot their compound bows at the 15 youth targets on both days. Mary even won a second place trophy for her shooting on the second day. Christopher was able to shoot at all the targets on the second day and took first place for his 1 to 6 year old age class.

After the kids shot we returned to camp for lunch and put the two little ones down for a nap. Debbie then watched all the kids while we shot at the last 15 targets on the course. On Saturday we could not finish to post our scores before the deadline, it is too bad because Angela had a good enough score to take second or third place. We all finished in time on Sunday but her scores were not as good, I improved mine by 50% but was still way back from placing.

After shooting on Sunday we went down to a local swimming hole in nearby Grimes Creek. The kids and Dad had a GREAT time as you can see.

Starting out in Cascade, ID 6-26-2011

2011-06-26T22:54:00.002-06:00

We have had a very enjoyable beginning of the season in Cascade. The weather has been cooler than average and we have had a few wet and or windy days, however, in general is has been fantastic here. Debbie has been very active with hear beading work and I have gotten back into my woodcarving. I have several projects in mind to start but have only started a new Kachina, a crouched and dancing Kuahu the Eagle Kachina. On Monday I will take a class from an extremely talented commercial carver on carving whimsical houses in cottonwood bark.

Earlier this month we went to Caldwell for a BBQ at our son Aaron’s house to celebrate Elijah’s B-day. We had a wonderful visit with Aaron’s extended family and Stephen’s family. Last weekend Stephen, Angela and all four kids came and staid two nights in the RV park. We had a wonderful time even though it rained most of the day on Saturday. Nicholas and Mary took turns spending a night with us. We are really hopeful they will each get a chance to stay for a week later in the summer, after baseball and swimming lessons are through of course.

This past week we also visited with a couple we knew from Idaho Falls, Dick and Gayle Lindquist. Dick worked at the INL where I worked and Debbie taught school with Gayle for several years early in her career. They were staying at a condo in McCall but live nearby in the Boise area. After a enjoyable visit at the condo to catch up and share stories we had a great meal of Mexican food with them before returning to Cascade. They stopped by to see our trailer on their way home the next day. They are GREAT people and are so blessed they shared time with us.

Yesterday we hosted a welcome back breakfast for the woodcarvers, crafters, and RV park staff. It was a breakfast in a bag event. Most of the people had never heard of such a thing, as we hadn’t until this past winter, and all found it to be a lot of fun. They also found the omelets boiled in the bags to be very tasty. Debbie and I also brought dutch oven cooked sticky bun pull-aparts and others made biscuit and gravy or brought a large bowl of mixed fruit, it was all very, very good.

Family in Idaho 6-1-11

2011-06-04T15:01:00.000-06:00

In Caldwell/Middleton, Idaho we had a fantastic visit with our kids and grandchildren. It was so wonderful to see them all. Little Matthew, who turned 1 on 5/27, has grown and matured soooo much. Except that he is a little small for his age one would never know he was born premature. He is such a happy boy. He pulls himself up on everything and walks around with ease, only rarely does he attempt to walk on his own but that is not far away. Poor Angela and Steve, they will be beside themselves with another little one running around.

Christopher (2 yrs) is his same happy self; he is infinitely inquisitive and explores everything. Believe me, he keeps everyone around on his or her toes to keep him in site. He has an unbelievable sense of humor for a tot his age; what a joy to be with.

Nick (8 yrs) and Mary (10 yrs) are doing great too. We were able to attend two of Mary’s softball games; her team won them both and Mary (third base) was part of a double play in each one. I was able to help Steve as he is coaching Nicholas’ coach-pitch baseball team. I helped at two of the practices, his first game is this week and we will not be there for it. I am sure we will get to see one or two of his games later this month.

It was fortunate that Angela was off the entire time we were visiting, this gave us a lot of time together with the entire family.

Ariana (5 yrs) was her normal charming self, we had the privilege of watching her two or three times when Aaron and Theresa were both at work.

Ari and Nick each stayed a night with us in the trailer. I am sure we bore them to death because we get up so late in the morning but they were both VERY good and seem to want to do it again, maybe they will get a turn (and Mary too) at staying with us in Cascade this summer (one at a time, of course).

Friends in Idaho 5/22/2011

2011-06-01T10:09:00.000-06:00

While at Heise we spent an afternoon at their world famous hot springs pool: Boy that felt wonderful after a round of golf. After three rounds of golf at Heise and some beautiful weather we traveled the last 50 miles to Idaho Falls.

Again this year, as we did last year in our frenzy of moving from home to trailer and then to a second trailer, we stayed in the back yard of some WONDERFUL friends; Leslie and Cliff Gill. We are tickled they will have us and their backyard is a wonderful place to stay. This year instead of a single bull and several horses Sandi made friends with two bulls and seven steers. If only she knew what role these ‘critters’ play in steak night.

While in Idaho Falls Debbie, Sandi and I had our doctor’s appointments. We were able to get this done with only one cavity found, Debbie; I will visit the Dentist in Nampa, Idaho.

Of course our return to Idaho Falls gave us the opportunity to visit with many old friends. Unfortunately we did not have time to get with everyone but it was definitely wonderful visiting with those we got together with.

On Wednesday, Debbie spent the entire day at the school she taught at. She had a wonderful time working in reading groups and helping teachers with preparations for the next days/weeks work. She found it great fun meeting with former students and the many fantastic people that work in the school. I spent a couple of hours at the INL site touring through the treatment project I was working on when I retired. It was great seeing all the folks again and seeing the project nearly to completion; unfortunately they were not operating the plant yet because I would really like to see this one of a kind facility in operation.

On Saturday 5/21 we headed out for jackpot, NV where we spent the night in a Casino CG and met another friend for Idaho Falls.

Sunday we headed for the Caldwell/Middleton, Idaho area to spend a week with our children/Grandchildren.

Colorado to Idaho 5-12-2011

2011-06-01T09:49:00.001-06:00

We had a very nice visit for four days with Debbie’s folks in Lakewood. We spent a day at the Denver Zoo, a day at the Denver Aquarium and two days just visiting (well, on one of those we spent an afternoon in Blackhawk at a casino, we had a great meal there).

After our visit with the Rogers we headed out on a slow trek to Idaho. The second morning on the trip we woke up to a driving snowstorm. We took our time getting ready and headed out after the temperature got to about 36 F, about noon. The roads were clear and had no slush. We got rain and snow until we were a ways past Green River, WY.

Since we were heading to Heise Hot Springs for the rest of the week we decided to go North through Star Valley in Wyoming and stayed at an RV and Golf resort near Afton, WY. We had heard about this resort for many years and had stopped in for a look around once, more than 15 yrs ago. We found it to be a little like the resort we wintered at in Casa Grande, AZ. Many park model units, some with sheds and add-ons to the park models (we called them Arizona rooms down south), many RV lots with concrete pads and sheds on the lots. The golf course still had some snow drifts on it so it was not open, nor were the pool and hot tub. There was no power at the site they assigned us, the power company had apparently not energized a transformer after they worked on it late last fall. They had a few folks in at the annual lots but very few in the transient lots so they were as yet unaware of the power problem.

Walking around we learned there was a party in the resort that also wintered at Palm Creek. They were gone when we went looking for them. We learned this from a man that had spent a week in Palm Creek a year ago, he said he plans to spend at least a month there next year.

Thursday morning we drove to Heise Hot Springs, ID. We arrived on a beautiful day with the temperature in the upper 70’s. After setting up we gave the trailer a much-needed bath. We then headed over to the lodge for some Pizza and made a tee time for Friday morning. The golf course is beautiful.

Mission Accomplished - Off to Lakewood, Colorado

2011-05-03T22:18:00.000-06:00

We have spent two wonderful weeks in Greeley, Colorado. Debbie has been helping my mother with many personal tasks and dressing her wounds. I was able to help with a few things around the house but unfortunately could not do much to help my mom other than to push her chair in and help her to stand occasionally. She has gotten so much stronger over the past two weeks she can now get herself out of bed and shower on her own. She is not yet allowed to reach above her head or bend over and pick things off the floor so she still needs some help there but she is doing exceptionally well. She goes in to the hospital for physical therapy the first time later this week (a therapist came to the house for 5 or 6 visits up until now) so I am sure she will be given activities that will quicken her recovery even more.

Mom and dad are planning on a trip to Florida in a couple of weeks, I am sure she will be very ready for this adventure.

We have been addressing out trailer axle issues. When we got here we discovered the facility that Heartland and Lippert had selected to do the work would not do the work in a timely manner. They said this was the beginning of their peek season and would not be able to work on our trailer until it was done. They would put our unit aside anytime someone that bought their trailer to them for dewinterizing or any warranty issues. We informed Heartland that this was unacceptable and they worked with Lippert to find another facility. They found one that did not sell trailers, only maintained them, in a nearby town of Loveland, Colorado. We made an appointment with them and Lippert assured me the axles and leaf springs were sent and would arrive prior to the day of the appointment.

The day before the appointment and the day after the axles were supposed to arrive, I checked with the repair facility to see if the parts had arrived. They said all they got were some bearings and the return shipping labels with instructions for the removed axles and springs. I called Lippert and discovered nothing else had been sent, they did not have the leaf springs to send. The Customer Service rep said he was sorry, he did not know nothing had shipped, he went to his supervisor and got permission to have the parts delivered via next day air, once they got the springs. Two days later everything arrived.

On Monday morning we took the trailer over and were told they would have it done by mid afternoon the same day. A few hours later we get a call telling us they needed to negotiate more time with Lippert because the axles were sent all unassembled and they needed to remove and reinstall all the bearings and drums from the old axles to the new ones, three hours more work than they expected. Then they called and said the bearings were complete frozen up on one of the drums and that the magnetic brake had carved into one of the other drums. They ended up having to get a new drum in addition to a new set of bearings, races, and seals. This meant we had to wait another day. We also found out Lippert had sent the wrong mounting plates for the springs, the repair facility did not find this out until they could not get the springs to mount and align correctly, by then they had destroyed the U-bolts.

We were told we could pick up the unit by mid day the next day. After most of the day had expired we called, we were told the unit would be ready by 4 in the afternoon. When we got there at 3:30 and our unit had no wheels and one drum was still not mounted. We were told they had to but a new magnetic brake on the the wheel with the new drum because the wear pattern did not allow the brake to work correctly, they were installing the magnet when we arrived. They then installed the wheels and were adjusting the breaks when they discovered the new drum had the wrong size studs on it. The facility owner then headed out and picked up a replacement drum (this took more than an hour). The bearings were changed out, new seals installed and the wheel mounted with the brakes adjusted in less than 20 minutes after the new drum arrived. We finally left the facility at about 6:30.

Good news, the brakes on the trailer work better than the have since we bought it last June, I am tickled to death about this.

We still need to get at least two new tires. A tire store in Greeley ordered some and got them in this afternoon, we will get the tires changed and head to Lakewood late tomorrow morning.

I am not looking forward in settling the labor costs with Lippert, I feel they need to pay for all the work, they do not want to pay for any of the bearing replacement and drum replacement.

In Greeley, CO - More Trailer Trouble

2011-04-19T22:31:00.000-06:00

Last night in Raton, NM, Mike noticed the cover on one of the trailer wheel hubs was missing and the dust cap over the bearings was loose and tattling around in the hub. Because we did not want any damage to occur from dirt getting into the bearings we took the trailer to the only RV service center in Raton. They easily fixed the problem, I would really like to know why the dust cover came loose. While the wheel was off it became very obvious the tire had worn seriously in the inside portion of the tread. On further inspection it was found that all the tires had similar wear, however, not as severe. The tire removed was worn so severely that the steel cord was exposed in at least one spot.

Mike immediately contacted Heartland and they tied in the axle manufacture. Based on the tire wear it was apparent the axles were bending and causing the wheels to camber severely. We took the trailer to a scale and had it weighed to determine if the trailer was over weight. This proved the trailer was under the gross value limits specified for the trailer itself and for the axles. (Debbie was glad to hear this. She was already thinking about what she could throw out. All she could come up with was...Mike.)

So we could continue on to Greeley we had the tires turned around on the wheels so the worn side would be on the outside and the unworn side on the inside.

Heartland and Lippert contacted a repair shop near Greeley that can do the work, Mike will set up an appointment and Lippert will send replacement axles and leaf springs. We need to get clarification that Heartland or Lippert will also pay for replacement tires, at least two of them, and compensate for loss of at least half the life of the other two tires.

Unfortunately we arrived in Greeley too late to visit with Mike's folks. We will get with them on Wed. morning.

New Mexico

2011-04-18T17:19:00.000-06:00

We spent last night in Gallop, New Mexico after a 314 mile drive. Tonight we are staying in Raton, New Mexico, just South of the Colorado border. Todays drive was also a long one covering about 350 miles.

Today's drive was highlighted with lots of wind and some good gusts. When I filled with fuel this morning the gusts were so strong the gas pump was rocking quite a bit; I was afraid it was going to blow over onto the truck.

When we were checking in at the campground I noticed a South Dakota registered motor home pull in and remarked that I had passed it about an hour back. When the people came in to register I saw the gentleman wearing a Palm Creek Golf and RV resort shirt and commented: "Your from Palm Creek too? We just left there yesterday morning." They too left yesterday morning and are heading to Brighton, Colorado, just South of Greeley. What a small world.

On the Road Again

2011-04-17T22:43:00.000-06:00

We have ended our wonderful stay in Casa Grande, AZ. We felt sad and empty to leave what has been such a wonderful stay over the winter but Debbie and I soon got over this empty feeling as it feels GREAT to be back on the road again.

Rogers

We recently visited the Royce Thompson Southwest Arboretum to try to catch a gimps of cactus in bloom. Many were certainly in bloom but not as many as we hoped. The late winter seems to have delayed the blooming and the arboretum is at a higher elevation than I thought; the blooming runs later than in Casa Grande. The Cactus at Debbie's folks park model in Casa Grande blossomed a second time, they had over thirty blossoms a few weeks ago and 19 more bloomed just before we left, there were still many buds developing and will bloom over the next few days to few weeks.

Rogers

Mike's mother just had triple bypass heart surgery so we are altering our plans from traveling up through California into Oregon and visiting Mike's 100 year old grandmother. We will instead go to Greeley and help out for a few days while mom recovers. Plans after that are a bit open. We will make our trip to Oregon and California in the fall in reverse order.

Fortunately Mom is doing extremely well according to her doctor and physical therapist. She is weak still but getting stronger every day.

Yuma Visit 1-15 and 16, 2011

2011-03-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday January 14 Debbie and I packed up and headed to Yuma, Az for a couple of nights. We just took the truck and stayed in a motel.

The purpose of the trip was to visit with friends from Cascade, ID and to participate in the woodcarving show and workshops. Debbie and I went to three excellent workshops on bark carving, painting and wood burning. We went to a fourth workshop on chip carving but it was not very useful.

At the show we were able to purchase wood and patterns for future projects, we also took some photos and and got ideas for several additional projects.

We met up with friends and went to lunch on Saturday. Later we visited at their RVs, carved, and enjoyed happy hour before leaving for dinner with them all. We also met two more people at the happy hour who joined us for dinner, I only wish I could remember their names. Everyone was so nice, we had a fantastic visit.

the Dark Hole

On Sunday we returned to the carving show for two of the workshops and then visited the Yuma Territorial Prison. This prison was the way prisons today should be, inmates would really not want to return to a place like that, I am sure there would be fewer repeat offenders.

Christmas 2010 in Idaho

2011-03-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Christopher Edgett

Debbie, Matthew Edgett, Theresa Pringle

We traveled two days from Casa Grande to the Boise, ID area (1000 miles with a short Casino visit and "free" meal in Jackpot, NV). The roads were dry most of the way; only in the town of Ely, NV where we spent the night was there snow and ice on the roads (I even had to use 4-wheel drive to get out of a parking lot after dinner). There was about 12 inches of snow on the ground in Ely.

Aaron

Boise was cold the entire time we were there but most of the large snow they received a couple weeks earlier was gone; only a little on the North side of things.

Elijah Pringle

Our first full day there we had the privilege of spending the entire day with Aaron and Theresa's kids. We spent most of the day playing games or reading with them but ventured into Boise to the mall so Debbie and I could get the one last gift we needed (couldn't find it anywhere else we had been but found it easily at the mall). The kids were great and we had an enjoyable time.

Malachai Pringle and Nicholas Edgett

Mary Edgett

Debbie and Steve

Aaron, Angela Edgett andTheresa

Mary Costa with Matthew

It was great seeing Matthew again since he was still quite small after getting out of the NICU just before we left Idaho at the end of last summer. He was doing wonderful
and is about the happiest kid we have ever seen (of course, so were Ari and Chris at that age). Christopher can be a ball of energy, Steve and Angela really have their hands full with him. However, he is always happy and has a wonderful sense of humor for his age.

We also had a great time with all the grand-kids having their second Christmas of the season. We had brought quite a load of stuff.

The CAKE

Mary Costa, Nick and Mary

The day before we left was Nicholas' 8th birthday. Angela had made a fantastic Spiderman cake and we all met together, along with Angela's folks Frank and Mary Costa, for a joyous birthday party.

Nicholas, Mary and Frank Costa

Ariana Edgett

Our visit to Caldwell and Middleton was absolutely wonderful. It is a shame we cannot yet instantly transport ourselves so we could easily visit them anytime throughout the year. Oh- well, maybe sometime in the near future?

Ari Edgett and brother Eli Pringle

Christmas 2010 in Casa Grande

2011-01-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Roger's neighbor at X-mas parade in park.

We had spent just over a month at Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort when Christmas came upon us. Fortunately we had done most of our Christmas shopping along the road at the many towns we visited so we did not have a mad rush to get gifts once we were here. We spent Thanksgiving with Debbie's folks at the home of some wonderful friends (Keith and Arlyss Radabah) that have moved out of the RV park and into a nearby neighborhood. Since we arrived here we have had a wonderful time wood carving, beading, playing golf, going to the nearby casino, playing bingo, and visiting with the many new friends we have made here.

Our neighbor at the parade.

Arlyss Radabah

Christmas morning was shared with Debs folks at their park model. After opening gifts and having some breakfast I had to get back to the trailer and get Christmas dinner started. I used the dutch ovens and cooked six Cornish game hens a'La Orange; they had to be on the charcoal for a couple of hours. We had the two friends we shared Thanksgiving dinner with over to the Rogers for Christmas Dinner. Turned out I cooked twice as many hens as we needed but we were able to send one home with Keith and Arlyss and leave two with the Rogers. Debbie and I were leaving for Idaho first thing the next day.

Our palm tree decor

Don't we look Christmassy?

After a wonderful Christmas we bid farewell to our new friends and headed to Middleton and Caldwell, Idaho. We were very anxious to see our sons and their families.

Thanksgiving in Casa Grande, Palm Creek - 2010

2010-11-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

We settled into Palm Creek pretty quickly. We even decorated for Christmas, night photo does not show up well (see at bottom), the lit flag is beautiful at night.

Debbie's folks arrived the day before Thanksgiving. We gave them a little surprise by cleaning up their park model and moving all the deck stuff stored inside out onto the deck. I trimmed the shrubbery in front because it had overgrown over a walkway and even onto their parking spot. There was a pile of branches nearly 4 ft high when I got through.

We were invited, with Deb's folks, to have Thanksgiving dinner with some dear friends, Keith and Arlyss Radabah. We had a wonderful meal and of course a great visit; we look forward to visiting with them more over the winter.

Harold rogers, Deb, Jeri Rogers, Dick and Charlotte

After Thanksgiving Debbie's folks had some visitors from Colorado, Dick and Charlotte Lucus. We all went out for dinner together, what wonderful people these are, Buck and Jeri are lucky to have such great friends.

Home for the Winter, Casa Grande, Arizona - 11-21-2010

2010-11-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

We are here, in our winter home, 14,650 miles of travel and touring since we left Boise 8/1/2010. We are all set up, just a few short streets over from a pool and hot tub and excited to get the trailer all dressed up for Christmas. Oh yea, we got rid of all our decorations when we left the house:-( . Guess we will have to pick up a few items (ones that pack and travel easily, of course).

The number of planned activities here is phenomenal. There are ten or more things planned each day, of which we can participate in any number we chose or can fit into the day (many are at the same time). Today we will probably do none because we need to get a few things set up for propane filling, mail delivery, etc. I also need to get a tire on the truck fixed because it has a slow leak. And, of course, I need to get a couple of quotes to get the truck and trailer fixed from my little faux pas a few weeks ago.

Benson, Arizona - 11-20-2010

2010-11-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

View out our back window

We traveled to Benson, AZ to: 1) Visit some friends we met last summer in Cascade, ID at Arrowhead RV park and, 2) Look over a park that is popular and relatively inexpensive for staying in over the winter.

Before we arrived we arranged with Diane and Dave Jones to purchase tickets for us to attend the planned park fish fry. After arrival we joined Diane and Dave at the park happy hour, stayed for the fish fry and then retired to one of the game rooms to play a few games of Fast Track until RV midnight (9:00 PM).

Top of each arm has a light in it

On Saturday Deb took a long walk with Diane to look over the park and then we washed the trailer; boy did it need it. We would have liked to wash it more often but most parks do not allow you to do so or ask that you pay $5 for a wash permit. We then relaxed for a while until time for happy hour again. We followed happy hour with a burger in the rec room and then danced until RV midnight to a great band, "the Retro Rockets".

Traveling west from San Antonio - 11-17-2010

2010-11-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Heading west we stopped near Ozona for the night. This was in a desolate area like all the surroundings after you get about 20 miles west of San Antonio, but a safe place to rest. Sandi was excited because there were bovine critters across the road from us. Debbie cut my hair and groomed Sandi; she's gorgeous and I appear to be a little balder.

Today we headed further west and stopped in Van Horn, Texas. This was a longer drive than we intended but RV parks are few and far between in this desolate country.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - 11-14-2010

2010-11-17T09:34:00.001-07:00

It has been several days since we posted last. We have spent three days in San Antonio, Texas and moved on.

After arrival in San Antonio we met Mike’s brother Chuck for a late lunch. When we picked him up he gave us a brief tour through the music store he works in. Both of us were overwhelmed at the size of the store and the quantity and quality of merchandise they carry. They seem to specialize in guitars, drums, keyboards and professional sound and lighting systems for both recording and performing. They carried more types of microphones than I ever imagined were made or needed; they even had one microphone for $8K.

In the evening we did our laundry and then attended a dance in the campground. It was all country western, of course, and even though not our preference we had a good time with the local folks.

On Sunday, San Antonio hosted a marathon so all the river walk and downtown attractions were inaccessible. We therefore met with Chuck, his son Corey and nephew Sam and toured through the Natural Bridge Caverns east of town. After visiting this well presented, highly active and very old cavern we had BBQ at Chucks place and watched the Dallas Cowboy game. We had a wonderful visit that was capped with a marshmallow roast on the chiminea in his back yard.

On Sunday we visited The Alamo. As we were completing our audio tour Chuck and his son Matthew joined us. We walked a little bit of the famous River Walk, it was actually very beautiful, Debbie and I will need to come back and spend some more time. After a delicious lunch we visited the Villita shops. The Villita area is interesting because most of the buildings date back to the time of the Alamo. This was a prominent housing area at that time.

Debbie, Mathew, Chuck

After the River Walk area Chuck came home with us and we bored him stiff with hundreds of photo’s of our family and our adventures (I guess this means VISITORS BEWARE). We then went over to his house and shared the evening with Chuck, Mathew and Chuck’s daughter-in-law April. April is excited for several reasons, her husband Alex is returning from Korea in 30 days and they are moving to Germany the first of January.

It was so wonderful to get to spend so much time with Chuck and his family. It will be nice to come back and visit more some time in the near future. Chuck has been in San Antonio for over 25 years and this is the first time we have visited, we do not want the spacing to be so great before the next visit.

Travel to Austin, Texas - 11-11-2010

2010-11-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

Today we left Dallas behind and drove to Austin, Texas. On the way, we stopped in Waco, TX to visit the Texas Ranger Museum and Hall of Fame. This was a very well presented museum of the history of the Texas Rangers and its ties to the development of Texas and their evolution to their current role in Texas law enforcement. Included was a very interesting 45 minute film on the history of the force.

After getting set up in an RV park north of Bees Cave, TX (about 20 miles North of Austin, we tried some closer parks but they were booked full) we drove into Austin to Meet with Marcus and Rachel Pond, Marcus was Debbie's student teacher last year. We had an enjoyable visit with this enthusiastic young couple. They are anxiously expecting their first child in February and we are really excited for them.

Historical Dallas - 11-10-2010

2010-11-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today we spent our afternoon at the Dallas Heritage Village. This is a village of relocated homes and business structures from around Texas, mostly in the Dallas area. These structures and their contents were all built between 1845 and 1910. Many of the structures had costumed living history interpreters. This village is located in what was the first City Park in Dallas, established in 1876 as part of the centennial celebrations. This was an excellent learning experience and probably the best value museum we have visited (except for those that were free) at only $5 each. While we were visiting there were a couple hundred elementary students visiting also. We were quite impressed how friendly, polite and inquiring the students were.

Before we went home we visited the local Farmers Market. After a brief meal we walked the fruit and vegetable stands. It was amazing all that was available and almost no one in site to buy. As you can imagine the people at the booths jumped on us like vultures to buy their product.

Tomorrow is another travel day as we drive down to Austin, TX.

Travel to Dallas, Texas

2010-11-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a travel day but we were able to visit the Dallas World Aquarium and visit with family after arriving.

We are staying on an old plantation in Sunnyvale, TX, just east of Mesquite. The plantation house is lived in by the park owners and not open for tours, it is a beautiful home from the outside however.

We drove into Dallas after getting setup and visited the aquarium. This is our third aquarium on this road trip but it was like no other aquarium we have ever visited. It was located on three or four floors and only two floors really had a lot of the types of exhibits usually seen in an aquarium. The bottom floor had aquariums from about 10 different regions of the world. In the center was an aquarium with sharks and sawtooth fish, this had a tube through it you walked through to see the fish around you.
This aquarium was not much larger than the tube. On the floor above was an aquarium with Manatee and some other unusual fresh water fish and several other aquariums with fresh water fish. Most of the floor space was like walking in a rain forest. Birds were in the open or behind screened areas, other animals, reptiles, snakes and spiders were in various terrariums or special exhibit areas; like the sloths and the crocodiles. This aquarium was fascinating and highly recommended to be visited.

Brad, Tina, Wolf, Sarah

In the evening three lovely cousins and their spouses were kind enough to disrupt their day and visit with us at dinner. Unfortunately, Natalie was unable to stay very long and her husband was working, however, it was great to see her and visit the short time she could stay. Justina and her husband Brad Silwood and Sarah and her husband Wolfgang Blauen were able to stay and share dinner with us. We had a fantastic visit with all catching up on who is doing what. It had been 33 years since we had seen the three sisters (they came to our wedding in the mountains of Colorado).

Tina's husband, Brad, plays in a band in his spare time. You ought to have a listen, visit the following web sites to see and hear what his band does: http://www.myspace.com/gravityfeed , http://www.gravityfeedband.com/ .

Sarah and Wolf have a business selling custom cabinetry that Wolf makes. To peruse some of the great work they do visit their website: http://www.texastimberwolf.com

Natalie and her husband Jerry Hughes have their own business making and selling outdoor speaker systems (Exteris Audio). They are in the process of patenting one design that Jerry developed. Unfortunately, they do not yet have a web site from which to display their products.

Stuttgart, Arkansas - 11-6-2010

2010-11-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday we traveled from Natchez, MS/Vadalia, LA to Stuttgart, Arkansas to visit with Debbie's Aunt, Uncle and assorted other relatives. We have spent 2 and 1/2 wonderful days here.

We arrived late in the afternoon Friday and after parking in her uncles front yard, jaws dropped at the size of our unit, we spent the evening visiting with Junior (A.B. Rogers), Judy Baser, and Jack. We also shared a meal of Mexican food, it seems like it has been forever since we ate good Mexican food.

Lake near the Miss.

Junior, Judy and Debbie

On Saturday Junior Rogers and Judy took us for a drive to Junior"s old favorite camping and fishing spots along the Arkansas, Mississippi and White Rivers. The camping spots were fantastic, they were all the kind of spots Debbie and I have preferred the past several years. One nice thing about these is that they all had electricity and water and most of the forest campgrounds we were at in Idaho did not. Another nicety is that most had level concrete pads to park the RV on and roofed covers over the picnic tables, these are luxuries that even commercial sites usually do not have. On the trip we stopped for a catfish lunch, I had the most delicious blackened catfish, Debbie had a chefs salad (Blah!). We also stopped into the Arkansas Post Museum and National Historic Park. This marked the place where an early French settlement had been established in the 1700's and where battles were fought during the French and Indian war, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812. It was a key location that allowed control of shipping up both the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers so it was fought over in each conflict. The town in this location was the first Capital of the Arkansas territory until Little Rock was established.

Saturday night we watched the Arkansas football game, the Hogs whipped the South Carolina Game Cocks.

A gold Medal Performance (Video)

David, Ethen, Megan, and Lauren Baser

On Sunday we drove to Little Rock and watched Lauren Baser (Judy's Granddaughter) compete in an Irish Dance competition. While this competition lasted over 4 hours, it was also very interesting and quite enjoyable. Lauren did an outstanding job and earned 2 Golds, a Silver and 2 Bronze medals. Following the competition we enjoyed a pot luck dinner and that was followed by most people in attendance joining in with some Irish folk dancing.

Lauren and Grandma doing some folk dancing.

We left Stuttgart this morning, after Junior made us a wonderful southern breakfast of grits and, my favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy. We traveled to Mount Pleasant, Texas as we head East to our winter roost.

Cotton and Music - 11-04-2010

2010-11-05T08:18:00.000-06:00

Today we visited a working 1800 acre Cotton plantation and the Delta Museum of Music.

Only 20 minutes away in Louisiana is the Frogmore Plantation. This plantation has been in operation since the early 1800s. The current owners decided to restore the old cotton gin and salve quarters on site, some were beyond repair so they searched a three state region and shipped in buildings that could be refurbished. This tour included an excellent video by the owner providing the history of the plantation, the use of slaves and the hardships of the planters and slaves after the Civil War. The video also covered how cotton was planted, picked and processed until recent times. We were than given a guided tour of the old out-buildings which concluded with a cotton gin and press. These units had originally been mule powered but converted to steam power. We were then shown a video of modern day cotton planting, harvesting and processing. We were allowed to drive through an operating cotton gin but guided tours are not provided during operation.

This tour was excellent and we learned a great deal of cotton industry. One interesting take away is that we have been using cotton seed oil most of our lives without knowing it: CRISCO got its name for its main constituent - CRyStalized Cotton Seed Oil.

Another interesting fact, was that when Lincoln freed the slaves he did so only in a few areas of the nation. He didn't free the slaves in any of the Union states or Union controlled counties in Confederate States, only the Confederate states (check the Emancipation Proclamation). Therefore, when the slaves left their owners in the south they had nowhere to go, either join the Union military or go clear up to Canada. When the Civil War was over slaves didn't have any money, jobs, or homes. they all of a sudden had to have money to care for themselves but no way to get any. Sixty percent of former slaves when interviewed years later (early 1900's) would have rather have lived as slaves than have been freed. Most plantation owners lost everything as well. It was not a good situation for anyone.

After the plantation we visited a music museum we passed up on the way through Ferriday, LA. This museum featured the music Hall of Fame for the local area. The main focus in the museum was on three cousins that were born and raised in Ferriday: Mickey Gilley (country western), Rev. Jimmy Swaggert (religious), and Jerry Lee Lewis (Rock and Roll). A docent took us through much of the museum sharing many stories of these three and others displayed in the museum.

You are in luck, no pictures because you know who temporarily misplaced his camera.

Natchez, Mississippi - 11-03-2010

2010-11-04T19:50:00.000-06:00

We visited a few Antebellum houses and a Natchez Indian Museum/settlement.

Home left open for 30+ yrs

The homes we visited were very interesting. Two of them were never completed. One, a huge home of over 30000 sq feet was constructed just a few years before the civil war and the owner died before the upper level conservatory was completed. It never was completed after that.
Another home, 10,000 sq ft on one level was constructed as a three story building with a conservatory above that. When the Union blockaded the south the Philadelphia workers left to never return. Only the first floor (actually the basement level) had been completed; needing only some final finishing which was done by local contractors and slaves. The family lived in the home until the 1960's but the upper floor have never been completed. When the home was taken over by the local historical society the workers tools and equipment and all the installed scaffolding were still in place. Even the crate the grand piano was shipped in was still sitting on an upper level floor after 150 years.

Only basement level finished

One of the homes was willed to the city of Natchez, built the city fathers did not know what to do with it so they auctioned off all the contents. After trying to use it as housing for the local golf pros and some other city personnel without success, it sat vacant in the middle of a park for over 30 years; it is amazing that the fantastic woodwork, chandeliers and other finishings in the home were not destroyed by all the people that played and explored the house that was left open in all those years.

Tools left behind

These (town) homes were built by plantation owners in nearby Louisiana or rich businessmen that moved down from Philly or New York to take advantage of the lucrative cotton business. Natchez had the third most US millionaires per capita in the 1850's and almost none after the Civil War.

The Natchez Indians are extinct. The French wiped out these indians in the 1740's in retaliation for a Natchez Indian uprising that resulted in a number of French women and children being kidnapped. The only records of the Indians are from personal accounts of colonists in the early 1700's and from a few explorers that passed through in the late 16th century and mid 17th century. These people were mound builders with permanent homes made of adobe with thatch roofs. The mounds were for ceremonial purposes with a temple or the chiefs' (the Great Sun) home built on them.

These big branches fell about 50 ft in front of us

Little is known about these people except that they were sun worshipers and they were an agricultural society. Most of the people lived in dispersed family farm units away from the central village that only contained the chief and support personnel to keep the ceremonial fire going in the temple and keep the compound running. One interesting account from people that attended a funeral service for the chief reflects that human sacrifices were made to provide people to support the chief in the afterlife.

The French Quarter by Day - 11-1-2010

2010-11-02T09:34:00.000-06:00

On Monday we walked the streets of the French Quarter during the daylight. The difference from the Halloween eve celebrations is amazing. On our walk we visited the John Lafitte National Monument Visitor Center.
Is we walked the streets, which were now not blocked off and deliveries and cleaning were in full swing, we noticed that many businesses had washed their front walks with a disinfectant of some sort; this was probably a real good idea, it certainly kept the odors manageable.

The visitor center had a small museum on history in the French Quarter. This covered the architecture, which is a unique mix of many influences (French, Spanish and German being the most influential). the French had trouble getting people to populate the province so they allowed other nationalities to take their place, Germans were the predominate nationality. The Spanish ruled the colony for over 40 years,~ 1760 to 1803, during which time the Quarter burned once or twice so the rebuilding had a strong Spanish influence. This museum also covered the development of the various dialects of language and the development of Jazz in the New Orleans area.

I find it interesting that it was during the period of Spanish rule that the Acadians from Canada immigrated into the area (now known as Cajuns).

We had a delicious late lunch at Bubba Gumps before leaving the Quarter.

Our evening was dedicated to the fun job of doing laundry. While doing laundry, we talked to some locals and found out that there have been 4 shootings in the area recently and one person that was shot twice ended up jumping the 8 foot fence in the campground. Luckily, the campground owners called the police and held him at gun point until they came. Also, while watching the news, we found out that last night several shootings and robberies occurred in the French Quarter last night. I think it is time we left for safer ground.

New Orleans, La - 10-31-2010

2010-11-01T08:31:00.000-06:00

Today we visited the National World War II Museum. This was an outstanding museum, definitely the best museum covering the war we have visited anywhere. Our visit started with a 4D Movie experience called, "Beyond All Boundaries". This was excellent and should be required viewing for every American. It took 5 years to put this presentation together and it reflects in its depth and quality. This museum has only been open since 2000 and the movie has only been part of the exhibit the past year or two. Debbie and I highly recommend everyone visit this museum if they can possibly find a

German Bomb Shelter

way. It is reason enough all by itself to come to New Orleans. This museum goes a long way to help get a feeling for the commitment and hardships of the American people during the war and also of the horrors associated with the realities in the field of war.

After a comfortable meal in the trailer and of course giving Sandi some loving attention, we headed back into town to visit a local Casino. The casino was only a few blocks from the Superdome and there was a Saints game this evening . People were all over and the pregame partying was all around us as we made our way to the Casino. Fortunately, we were finished and able to leave just before the game ended so we completely missed the traffic congestion after the game (at least they won, Denver is having problems finding the winning way).

New Orleans, LA - 10-30-2010

2010-11-01T08:04:00.000-06:00

After our safe arrival in New Orleans we decided to take a night time Ghosts and history tour of the French Quarter. We made a reservation and headed into town. After finding parking for a ridiculous $20 we headed out on foot into the Quarter. We found the tour place and then looked for a place to get a quick bite to eat, it was 7:00 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We found a Po boy place and settled in, I had a horrific link of sausage, can't believe anyone would like it, my pulled pork was excellent, Debbie's roast beef was not a good sandwich at all.
Given this enlightening dinner we visited several shops, we did notice the streets were getting fuller by the minute, people were streaming in to Bourbon Street at a constant rate. We went on our tour, it wasn't done very well in comparison to others we have done around the country (the best ones we have been on were in Fort Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida; Annapolis, New Brunswick; Gettysburg, PA; and Virginia City, Montana).

After the tour we headed back to Bourbon Street, it was chaotic with Halloween revelers. Actually quite an interesting experience. We got quite a few laughs at the many costumes, some people are quite creative and quite talented and putting together costumes. Bourbon street and the adjacent streets were wall to wall with revelers. I think everyone was having fun except the police who tried to be as stoic as possible in most cases, especially the mounted police.

I was worried about making the 6 block trek back to the truck because the streets had been very bare when we walked in. We both felt very safe as we walked back to the truck because all the streets had quite a few happy revelers coming and going.

Traveling through Alabama - 10-29-2010

2010-10-29T22:05:00.000-06:00

Today was another travel day. Other than getting started this morning it was an event-less calm and relaxing trip We are spending the night near Greenville, Alabama. Our current plans are to go to New Orleans for a few days and then up to Natchez, MS for a few days before heading West across Texas.

Now the getting started part. After hitching the trailer, or at least believing it had been hitched, I attempted to pull the trailer off of the leveling blocks when I heard and felt a thud. The truck had driven forward without the trailer which had fallen onto the bed of the truck. This caused the tailgate to be severely bulged and buckled the bed and fender on one side. The trailer itself appears to have only fiberglass damage with the exception of the electrical connection box being torn completely away from the king pin. With the help of one or two of the neighboring folks in the campground we got the trailer back onto the hitch in the truck and got the tailgate open and closed again.

I have established a routine that includes checking the hitch to make sure it is connected correctly at least twice and usually three times before I ever pull the trailer. My head must have been somewhere else this morning because I clearly did not do so this time. The trailer appears usable but we need to get it checked and repaired. I am not sure yet where we will stop long enough to get the trailer and truck repaired. I am waiting for the insurance adjuster to get back to us before a decision is made.

Georgia Aquarium and Coca Cola World - 10-28-2010

2010-10-28T18:34:00.000-06:00

Today we visited another aquarium and the home museum for Coca Cola. They are located adjacent to each other so we were able to park in one spot to visit both. This was GREAT, the traffic leaving at 5 o'clock was horrendous.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium. It was completely different from the Carolina aquarium. I say different, it also had similarities, we enjoyed petting the rays again but this time hammer head sharks were added, they made it even more interesting. One of the large tanks included 4 juvenile whale sharks (12 ft to 18 ft long), the tank is large enough for 6 full grown whale sharks. This same tank had several giant guitar fish and their close cousin the saw fish:
Both of these look like sharks but they are more closely related to the rays. The tank with a reef in it was extremely well done, I was able to get a few very good photos if this one also.

The World of Coca Cola covered the history of Coke from its creation by Dr. John Pemberton, a Pharmacist, in 1886 to the sales of the formula to Asa Candler in 1887, chandlers aggressive marketing of the product and innovative sale of the rights to bottle the product for $1 in 1899 (sold these rights to two lawyers in Tennessee that initiated the franchising of the bottling of coke that is still used today), to the failed creation of the "new" Coke and up to the present day ownership of various beverage companies and different beverage products around the world. I had wondered what happened to the "new" coke after the coke classic product came out just 79 days after the "new" coke was launched. The Classic coke product labeling went away a few years ago also. The company realized their misjudgment, even though a series of blind taste tests around the country showed the "new coke" was the preferred taste, and silently phased out the "new coke". Part of this facility is a small bottling plant to demonstrate the process, you are given a free bottle from this plant as you leave the museum. Of course, we also had the opportunity to taste over sixty-five of the various world wide coke products, some pretty good and some REALLY bad.

Interesting fact: Coca Cola is the largest producer of bottles or canned coffees and teas in the world. We got to taste a new tea product they plan to release soon, it is without doubt the best tasting bottled tea I have had; wish I could remember what they called it.

Stone Mountain, Georgia - 10-27-2010

2010-10-27T19:27:00.000-06:00

11300 miles since we left Boise, Idaho.

Today was another travel day, however, we arrived early enough to have a very nice visit with our niece after we settled into a marvelous RV park in the Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, GA.

Early this evening, in a tremendous rain storm and under a 'tornado watch' we met Kayla Edgett (my brother Chuck Edgett's daughter) on her school campus (Oxford College of Emory University). Not being able to communicate well where to meet her she unfortunately ended up walking several blocks in the pouring rain to get to our truck, I can't tell you how bad we felt about that: unlike us though, she at least had an umbrella. We ate at a Thai restaurant and had a wonderful meal for an extremely reasonable price.

Kayla is a charming young lady and it is clear why her dad and her grandparents speak so glowingly of her. We enjoyed our visit greatly.

Clemsen, South Carolina - 10-26-2010

2010-10-26T21:10:00.000-06:00

Today was a travel day but we had an opportunity to visit with the daughter of close friends in Idaho Falls. We arranged to take Danielle Tom to dinner. She suggested we go to the ESSO Club, we did. This was an interesting cafe and seemed to be popular with the locals. I believe it was indeed an ESSO gas station at one time. We had a great meal and a wonderful visit with Danielle. We were tickled to see she was soooo happy and enjoying her time in school. The Tom's can be VERY proud of their lovely daughter.

The RV park we are at is beautiful and also very large. It is the off season so the park is much less than half full. We are right on a creek, Crooked Creek, which is about 50 yards wide. There is a marina here at the campground and we can see boats docked behind homes up and down the creek.

Wilmington, NC - 10-25-2010

2010-10-25T20:35:00.000-06:00

Today was a fun and relaxing day. We toured a mansion and a fantastic museum.

We started the afternoon touring a mansion near downtown Wilmington. The builder, Dr. John Bellamy, was also owner of several plantations but this was the family's primary residence. They had domestic slaves at the home with a two story Italianate style brick building to house them. This house, built in the mid 19th century, stayed in the hands of the same family until it was turned over to the historical society in about 1970. The home was large and well laid out for a family with many children. The fourth floor of the house had a large area for play and many sleeping quarters for the children. The grand step entry and central staircase in the home is representative of the home 'Tara' in "Gone With The Wind".

The family moved into the house on the eve of the Civil War. In 1865 when Wilmington fell to the Union, General Howsey made this home his headquarters. After the war the General refused to release the home back to its owner. Dr. Bellamy was a very strong supporter of the Confederacy, providing both monetary support and goods and services. Dr. Bellamy went to Washington DC to obtain a formal pardon in order to force the General off his property.

This home had the most intriguing cooking stove. The one pictured is not the same one but is similar in design, the actual one is said to be about twice as large to meet the cooking needs for twenty people plus guests.

Cold Water Storage

Another interesting feature of the home is that it had hot and cold running water. the cold water was stored in a tank on the fourth floor for gravity feed, the hot water had to be hand pumped from the heating tank in the kitchen when needed.

After this home we walked down the street to the Cape Fear Museum. This museum had a little bit of everything but focused a lot on the transition required after the civil war, a transition that only recently is being realized. Wilmington schools stayed segregated for over a decade after the Supreme Court ruling to integrate schools, it took being sued many times and then the national guard to force the integration. This wasn't welcomed by either side, the African American children probably suffered the most because the schools they loved and believed to be outstanding in quality were closed over night and they had to join other schools that were suddenly integrated.

The museum had a very large and wonderful section on the history of movies in Wilmington, they even had some 1890's films showing. There was also a fantastic interactive discovery center, mostly for youth. This was largely focused on the flora and fauna around the State.

Wilmington, NC - 10-24-2010

2010-10-25T08:53:00.000-06:00

On Sunday we had a wonderful time touring through the battleship North Carolina followed by a tour of a local historical plantation. In the afternoon we squeezed in listening to the end of an extremely disappointing performance by the Denver Broncos. Afterward we visited again with Debbie's Aunt Juanita and Cousin Jean; they are a thoroughly enjoyable couple to visit with; what fun listening to the history of the family and various tales they have to tell (good thing Deb's dad doesn't read this or he would be dying to know what we learned).

Touring the North Carolina was a self guided affair, fortunately they had arrows to take you through the ship in an organized manner, otherwise one would easily get thoroughly lost. We toured through portions of 4 levels below the main deck and all the levels above. We visited the sick bay, several of the 20 or so sleeping areas, all levels of two of the big gun turrets, the 5 inch guns, both of the gun firing centers, the command center, barber shop, dentist office, officer quarters, captains and flag (admirals) quarters, bridge, one of the heads, the galleys and sculleries, etc. etc, etc. this was a fantastic experience and during the tour we got glimpses of the life because there were men on the tour that had served on naval vessels and they were very willing to share insights, albeit very briefly.

The Poplar Grove Plantation home we toured was a mid 19th century home. The original early 19th century home burned due to a kitchen fire. They had the kitchen attached to the main house which was uncommon at the time.

This plantation, primarily a peanut farm, had about 60 slaves for operation of 3000 acres and the home. It was said the owners treated their slaves better than most any other plantation owner, this is a tale we hear frequently about the plantation owners. I am sure some truly treated them better than others but I do not believe any were treated with a whole lot of human dignity (with the exception of one or two very trusted slaves on most plantations).

This home had several features pointed out to us that we had not seen before, though I am sure they existed elsewhere. The ceiling had vents over the ceiling lamps that could be opened in the summer time. The heat from the lamps would flow out these vents thus pulling in cooler air to cool the room in the summer. there was also a gout stool, a small rocker that the feet were laced on so the ankles would be rocked as one rocked in a chair to increase the circulation and improve the gout condition. We also learned of a secondary, or maybe, primary function of the fancy moldings above the ceiling light fixtures; these were to collect the soot of the lamps/candles because they could more easily be cleaned than the painted ceiling. Unfortunately we were not able to tour most of the out buildings because there was a huge Halloween festival on the property and the outbuildings were being used for tarot card readers, spook alleys, etc.

Carolina Beach, North Carolina - 10-23-2010

2010-10-24T08:49:00.001-06:00

After traveling to Carolina Beach we settled in at an urban RV park (busy street right next to us and the busiest ice machine I've ever seen right behind us - fisherman stop there to fill their ice chests on their way to the beach). In the evening we took Sandi down to the board walk to look for where Debbie's aunt had a beauty shop.

On Saturday, after a little shopping, we visited with Debbie's aunt Juanita and cousin Jean. After sharing tales and family history we took a ride south and across the ferry into Southport on the mainland. Here we had a wonderful lunch and then drove up through Wilmington. Jean and Juanita shared their knowledge of the many historical homes and buildings and also of the schools Jean attended and the buildings where Debbie's uncle had businesses (mostly arcades).

Many vehicles with carts like these mounted on their front bumper.

Sunday we plan to visit a number of the area historical sites.

Aquarium and Beaufort, North Carolina - 10-21-2010

2010-10-21T16:38:00.001-06:00

Today was a beautiful day. We spent our time visiting a Maritime Museum and some historical buildings in Beaufort, NC. We than visited a wonderful aquarium on the outer banks island of Emerald Isle; the Aquarium of North Carolina at Pine Knoll Shores.

The maritime museum was very nice, quite a gem for a free museum. This covered the fishing and shipping history in the area. It is putting in a large exhibit on Black Beard because his ship was recently found off the outer banks nearby and artifacts recovered and preserved. Also covered in the museum were the differences in design for several different kinds of sailing boats: I'd love to share with you all I learned on this subject but it would be underwhelming and probably not nearly as informational as the displays in the museum.

Following the museum we took a guided tour of two homes and an apothecary. A docent guided Debbie and I through each with a rich knowledge of the buildings. One of the homes was constructed in 1826 and was owned by a wealthy merchant. This home was decorated in the Victorian style. When constructed it was a 4 room home, two up and two down, it was later expanded to add two rooms behind these and the first floor later expanded to add about 10 feet. Taxes at the time were based on the number of rooms and windows, this home therefore showed the wealth of the owner increasing, as he could afford the higher taxes.

The second home was built in 1792 and was owned by a lesser well to do individual. This home too was constantly expanded, but not so much to add rooms as to show improvement. He had to show improvement every few years or he would lose his title to the property.

The third building was a doctors office and apothecary. The docent was very excited about the many different cures and their contents. It indeed was interesting how many were more than 50% alcohol and up to 25% opium and chloroform; I am sure they did an excellent job eliminating pain or taking ones mind off of a particular ailment.

We spent a couple of hours at the aquarium. They had an experience pool where you could touch the rays, skates and guitar fish. Several of the rays really liked to be petted and came up to you, we had a great time with the rays and came back for more before we left.

Tomorrow we will leave for Carolina Beach.

The Coast of North Carolina - 10-20-2010

2010-10-20T21:05:00.000-06:00

Today was another travel day. Last night we stayed in a combination RV park and motel. It was very cheap, not very pretty and quite noisy, however, we did have cable TV. Sandi liked it because there were a half dozen feral cats running around for her to bark at, almost as good as squirrels.

Tonight we are in Stella, NC at the west end of North Carolina's Crystal Coast and adjacent to Emerald Isle. This campground is not cheap but is quite nice, it has several hundred ark models or trailers set up as though they were park models. All of them are very neat and many have wonderful decks and decor. We plan to spend two or three nights here and then travel south to Carolina Beach.

Tonight we groomed Mike and groomed the dog. We also gave the trailer and the truck a bath. We need to squeeze in doing laundry over the next day or two.

Montpelier and North Carolina

2010-10-19T18:26:00.000-06:00

Today we traveled south to North Carolina. Before we left the Charlottesville area however, we toured the home of James and Dolly Madison, Montpelier.

The Madison plantation and home were every bit as grand as Jefferson's. The home was originally built by his father on land his grandfather had a patent for. Madison expanded the home into a duplex with his parents on one side and his family on the other side(hint, hint Stephen and Aaron). After being elected President, Thomas Jefferson convinced him he needed to make the entry of the home more fitting of his position and recommended a new entry. The home was modified to open the two sides together but was still essentially two residences. Madison's mom wanted to stay with the same style of living she had known in their original log home built by his grandfather, she did not want the extra help in the home and the fancy kitchen and cooking that James and Dolly wanted.
Therefore, she had her own slaves and her own kitchen beneath the house. She also had her own garden because she did not want to deal with all the different plantings that James was experimenting with, much like Jefferson did.

Madison had a huge multi-tiered garden he used to grow grains and vegetables. He also had fruit trees but liked to experiment with the grains and veggies. He also kept detailed logs of the meteorological conditions to hale chart the effects on his gardens.

This home had very few owners, the Dupont family lived in it for many years, late 1800's until 1985 when it was given to the historical preservation organization. The home was modified extensively with the Dupont's expanding it to double its size at Dolly's death. The home underwent a 4 year restoration of the architecture (removal of the added wings and upper stories) which completed in 1980. This year they began restoration of the interior and location of original furniture for the home. They had already had wallpaper made for one room to match as closely as possible what was in the home and have the drawing room wall paper currently being manufactured (the paper is hand printed with a wood block printing method). In a few years I am certain this will be an even more magnificent display piece. They have collected many items of furniture they are pretty sure belonged to the family and others they suspect may belong to the family, much research is done to confirm each piece.

Dolly and James never had any children. However, they raised a child from Molly's first marriage, Paine Todd. Paine was likely a major contributor to the financial ruin the Madison's were in upon Dolly's death (she died 14 years after James). The plantation was a business success and made good money. Paine had a severe gambling problem and James spent at least $500K to keep him out of debtors prison, possibly much more not documented. After James death he stole many items from the home and sold off several slaves to try to support is habit. This contributed greatly to the debt of the family.

Archeological activities

The plantation is also active in the archeological excavation of the domestic slave quarters and artisan shops near the home.

The Dupont's changed the garden into a beautiful open flower garden. This garden still has the tiers that Madison had created.

After spending three hours exploring this site we headed out and drove to Weldon, NC.

Virginia - 10-17-2010

2010-10-19T08:04:00.000-06:00

We have been tardy in providing an update. After traveling to Charlottesville, VA we visited the Thomas Jefferson home plantation, Monticello and a nearby 18th century tavern, Michie Tavern.

We had planned to visit more in the one day and leave to head south the next day but ended up spending almost 6 hours at Monticello. As we have found with most of the national historic sites this was an outstanding facility. We started with a film on Jefferson and Monticello while we waited for our scheduled tour time. We then took a bus up to the house followed by a tour inside the home.

It is amazing to me how many original items owned and used by the Jefferson's are in the home. This is especially amazing because when Jefferson died he was in debt and his family had to sell off the home and most of the plantation to pay off the debt. Fortunately much of his possessions were either kept by the family or had been previously donated to the University of Virginia, which he designed, built and founded. It is interesting that it took 40 years for him to build the house the way it ended up and was completed not too many years before his death.
At one point, he had the front of the home and upper story torn off completely because when he returned from France he had determined some new styles of architecture he had learned about that allowed more light into the home should be adopted. For such a grand home of almost 11,000 sq ft it is interesting that it has no grand staircase, Jefferson felt this was a waste of floor space. He had innovative gadgets that he designed built into the home in many places (a table top that turned around like a Lazy Susan and on top of that he had a book holder that held 4 books at a time so he could study five books at once, parlor doors that were linked together so that when one was closed the other closed with it, a clock that kept track of the time and the day of the week, a wind indicator that was located under the porch roof linked to the weather vane on top of the house, etc.).

Jefferson had a large library, he believed knowledge was power and that all the people needed to be well educated; he actually tried to have it added to the Constitution that all citizens had a right to a free education all the way through college (he allowed his family to teach his slaves to read also). When the Library of Congress was burned in 1812 he sold his entire library to the LOC (for a sum equal to a couple of $million in today's dollars). The volumes were in all seven languages that he read and spoke. A year later he wrote to a friend (John Adams?) that he "cannot survive without books"; the friend then helped him purchase a modest library, including a set of law books he used to educate lawyers in his home (including James Monroe).

Jefferson had a very large garden he used to study the viability of growing different crops for use in the area and had some 250 different varieties of food producing plants in his garden, all partitioned and organized by how the vegetable or fruit is born (roots, stems, leaves, fruit, etc).

After the tour of the home we walked through the basement, slave work quarters, and kitchen areas of the home. We then took a tour of the what they called Mulberry Row, this was where his domestic slaves lived and where the artisan shops were located.

While at the home Debbie tried her hand at writing with a quill pen and did an outstanding job.

The Michie Tavern had actually been located about 20 miles away but a person had purchased it and wanted to make it an antique shop; the original location was very poor for this purpose so she had the entire building and out buildings (smoke house, privy, ice house, and dairy) disassembled and reassembled down the road from Monticello. It is now restored to the original tavern condition.

The tavern only had one room with two beds for rent. The government regulated how much he could charge per night so to make money he put 4 to five people in each bed. No one bathed in the 18th century so it would have been a ripe situation. the table in the food preparation area was also interesting; this table was at least ten feet long but the top folded up and the table served as a bench when it was pushed to a wall .

Because we spent so much time at Monticello and have several things we want to do in this area we are going to stay an additional day in the Charlottesville area. We are actually staying in Spanardsville, VA.

Second day in Charlottesville, VA - 10-18-2010

2010-10-19T07:50:00.000-06:00

We spent our second day visiting Ash Lawn Highland, the home of James Monroe. This home/plantation was actually directly adjacent to the Jefferson property. He was good friends with Jefferson and wanted to live as close as possible to him. He built the home while he took a two year hiatus from public service.

Monroe fought with Washington in the revolutionary War and he was the Sec. of State and the Sec. of Defense at the same time during the War of 1812 and the burning of Washington. With his service as a diplomat to France on two different occasions, two terms as VP and two terms as President, he spent most of his life in public service to our country.

His home was much more modest than Jefferson's and he had less than a third as many slaves. He like Jefferson was adamantly against slavery and spoke often that slavery would lead to the ruin of the country. However, he, like Jefferson, kept slaves and freed very few in their lifetime or in their wills.

His home was not preserved as well, Jefferson's home was purchased by people that had great regard for him and took great pains to not revise the home. Monroe's home was not preserved, it had many additions after he sold it and moved in with his daughter. In the photo, the yellow portion of the home was added after Monroe sold the home.

After touring the Monroe home we visited three area wineries with a tasting of six to eleven wines at each. We then visited the the downtown historic district which was just a open mall of shops on closed off downtown streets.

This caboose is one of several in the RV park we are in that the park rents out, kind of like camping cabins or a park model. All are on a short length of tracks like this one.

Gettysburg, Penn. - 10-15-2010

2010-10-15T22:05:00.000-06:00

Well we have had a fun two days. We traveled to Gettysburg with a stop at the Hershey World of Chocolate, explored the historic battleground and the associated museum center and took a ghost tour of the town.

The trip to Hershey, PA was wet but we found our way and carried our umbrella, at least Debbie did, as we ventured into the tour center with our mouths watering. We quickly signed up to see a 3-D movie and attend a chocolate tasting session. We learned of the all the different flavors in chocolate depending on where the cacao was grown. Some chocolate has a berry flavor or the flavor of exotic blossoms, or an earthy caramel flavor. It was very interesting and also quite delicious. We then saw a 3-D movie which included the theater snowing on us and squirting us and blowing burst of air on to us; it was lots of fun. the tour was a simulation of how chocolate is made and how the different Hershey candies are processed.

Our trip to the Gettysburg campground was a little exciting because the GPS took us down a road with the bridge out. There was a sign but it was after were were going down the road. This was a narrow, sort of residential road and nowhere for a huge trailer to turn around. I turned into a driveway and tried backing out to turn around - this did not work because of several obstacles. A neighbor suggested backing out the way I came in, moving forward, backing in to the driveway, and then pulling out. this worked out well and we were on our way again: taking a new route of course.

The campground here is having Halloween this Saturday night. They will repeat it again the next two Saturdays. Many of the folks here have decorated lavishly for the event. The campground is packed with people, including many children.

We had a wonderful visit at the battlefield Museum Center. The government has done a remarkable job with the museum, the films on the battle, the huge diarama, everything. We purchased an audio tour book and CD and explored the 245 sq mile battlefield listening to the CD.

As a side note, we were amazed at the number of children that were there also: It was a Friday and the local kids were certainly still in school.

In the evening we took a ghost tour which included the Farnsworth Inn. The tour addressed a number of apparitions that have frequently been noted in buildings around town, especially those associated with the battle. The buildings used as surgical hospitals saw many soldiers die and apparently some of them are still hanging around. The Farnsworth Inn has been featured on the Travel channel as the 7th most haunted site in the USA. Our tour guide told us that on at least 18 occasions members of his tour groups have seen and been scared by the site of or the touching of apparitions on his tours. In the Farnsworth house there is a male ghost that does things to women only (tries to irritate them to get them out of the house), there is an 8 yr old child that does child like pranks like pulling hair, untying shoe laces, and even tying the shoelaces of shoes together so the wearer trips upon starting out again. He said on several occasions people have run from the room screaming, running right over and through other people to get out.

Last year a women saw a ghost right behind where Debbie is sitting.

Pennsylvania - 10-13-2010

2010-10-13T19:08:00.000-06:00

Today was a travel day, as will be tomorrow. Today we traveled to Benton, PA, just a little southwest of Scranton, PA. The drive was beautiful because most of the way the tree foliage was near peak.

We plan to drive to southern PA and visit some historical sites. We will be heading for Carolina Beach, SC to visit Debbie's aunt, if she is available.

Mystic, Connecticut / New London, CT - 10-12-2010

2010-10-12T18:24:00.000-06:00

A not so successful whaler!

Today we traveled to Mystic, CT to visit the Mystic Seaport. This is a mid 1800's village and working shipyard. It includes a museum on US fisheries, a youth discovery center on maps, a museum on shipping, a display and discovery center on Tugs, several homes and several ships to tour. There were a large number of hands-on things for children to do, this could be a two day visit for a family that likes to explore and learn.

Whaler

Blubber rendering vats

We attended a talk on whaling and what went on, on the small whaling boats that actually caught the whales. We could have attended sessions on how to work the sails on a yacht, how to make rope, and how to make barrels so they will be watertight,. We also went aboard several wooden sailing ships, including a huge whaler that was being restored. There was also a steam powered yacht in port that was beautiful.

This is so close to Newport, only an hour away, it is only 2 hours from NY and Boston. There is so much to see and do, this is an outstanding area for a wonderful family vacation. Did I mention, there is an aquarium in Mystic to visit also.

There are several more attractions to visit in this area, including 2 huge casinos only 20 minutes away, but we plan to push on south tomorrow. We will see what NY, NY has to offer.

Last day in Newport, RI - 10-11-2010

2010-10-11T21:32:00.000-06:00

We spent another day in Newport, RI. today we visited Fort Adams and the Green Animal Topiary Gardens/Brayton home. We wanted to visit another Mansion, the one Alva Vanderbilt moved into when she remarried, this was closed for a private event so we were unable to visit this home.

Fort Adams was one of the 40 forts the US government commissioned after the War Of 1812 to provide protection of important ports along the eastern seaboard. Fort Adams was manned as an active military fort from its completion in 1848 through 1950. It was the most advanced fort ever constructed in the US and by far the largest (Fort Sumpter, Fort Ticondaroga, and Fort McHenry can all three fit inside this fort with room to spare). This fort had three levels of fire power against ships coming into the deep portions of the harbor (the upper with cannon balls chained together to take out the masts, the middle one to shoot the decks with cannon balls or shot, and the lower one to fire red hot heated cannon balls that would be bounced off of the surface of the water into the hulls of the ships and would start the wooden ships on fire).
The part of the fort facing land had several levels of defenses making it nearly impossible to take the fort by land alone. We toured through the tunnels used to listen for the enemy trying to dig under the defenses and into the outer ditches and firing positions. Unfortunately, with the development of high speed cannons and heavier projectiles the fort was obsolete within 30 years, therefore, the firepower was changed and the mission of the fort changed. It was primarily a training fort during WWI and II.

The topiary gardens contained topiary that were planted over 100 yrs ago and some created in the last couple of years. Approximately 60 sculptures are present int he gardens. There were also many other types of gardens included; vegetable, cutting garden for flowers used in the home on display, fish pond, roses, and many other interesting plantings.

The topiary plantings were on the property of the Brayton summer home. Thomas Brayton earned his money in the cotton textile industry. He purchased this home in 1872. He left it to his daughter who lived in it as a year round residence from 1940 to 1975 when she left it to the historical society. Mr. Brayton had the topiaries planted and rose garden planted in 1905. The home included the family furnishings as they were upon Ms. Brayton's death. Upstairs several of the bedrooms were dedicated to the historical societies toy collection. Debbie was in seventh heaven seeing the huge and fully furnished doll houses.

We plan to travel further down the coast tomorrow, about a100 miles with a stop in Connecticut for one or two nights.

More Newport, RI - 10-10-2010

2010-10-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

Today we visited three more mansions and drove the Sea View Drive. Todays mansions included the Marble house, the Elms, and Chateau-sur-Mer.

Marble House - front

Marble House (a summer cottage) was built by William Vanderbilt and given as a birthday gift to his wife Alva Vanderbilt. Alva had told her husband if she was to have it, it had to be given to her with full ownership. She directed the construction from start to finish, she also divorced (the first divorce by an aristocrat ever) her husband of 20 years just 2 or three years after the house was completed. A year after the divorce she married a neighbor and moved into his house, using this mansion as a laundry and storage for her wardrobes. When built in 1892 at $11M it was the largest and most expensive home in the USA. Alva was a strong supporter of the womens suffrage movement and spent much of her wealth on that movement. She also had several large parties and fund raisers in this home for the suffrage movement.

Marble House - back

From the unbelievable $60K iron entry (it was placed on display for viewing for several months and sat in a fabrication facility before being moved for installation in the home) to the 100% gilded reception room (the largest room of the house) this home was extremely impressive. This home included a dark and depressing "Gothic Room" that was built to display the Vanderbilt collection of 14th century to 19th century (mostly 17th century) religious artifacts; all the artifacts auctioned when the home was sold have been returned and are on display. The silk wall coverings throughout the house were reproduced by using the same machines in Italy and same patterns as the originals when the house was refurbished.

Tea House behind Marble house

It was amazing how cruel and controling she was over her daughter. She also forced her to marry a Duke: The Duke got $10M from Alma and Alma got a Duchess for a daughter.. At least when her daughter determined after many years and two children to divorce the Duke and have the marriage annulled, Alva testified that she had forced her daughter to marry.

The Elms - back

The Elms - front

The Elms, completed in 1901, was built by coal magnate Edwin J. Berwind and his wife Herminie. This house has wall sized original Venetian paintings, and original Chinese lacquered wall panels (17th century I believe). The gardens in back originally included a pond and river with an Adirondack covered bridge. this to was an immensely impressive home.

Chateau-sur-Mer

Chateau-sur-Mer, completed in 1852, was home to three generations of the Wetmore family. The interior of this home was done in Italian renaissance and other older styles. We found it mostly dark and gloomy and not an exciting place to live. It did have some wonderful features, including fantastic parquet on the floors, a leather wall covered room with the leather covered completely in silver leaf with patterns in gold and lacquer.

The Sea View Drive takes you past several more old and newer mansions and has remarkable views of the sea coast in between homes (did not take any photo's).

If anyone has a chance to vacation in this area for a week or more you will not be disappointed. It is a beautiful area with lots to see and do.

Middletown/Newport, Rhode Island - 10-9-2010

2010-10-10T08:33:00.000-06:00

Today we traveled a whopping 70 miles to Middletown, RI. After setting up we went into Newport to visit some of the old mansions.

The Breakers

We started out visiting The Breakers, built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895. Actually the original cottage was a sprawling wooden structure that burned in the late 1800's. The 1895 home we toured was an awesome "summer cottage". Thirty staff rooms on the third and 4th floors. Twenty four family and guest rooms and 24 bathrooms. The master bedroom baths each have a coffin style tub carved from solid marble. They had to be filled seven times with hot water and drained before they would hold the bath water at bathing temperature. Some of the family members sometimes took several baths a day. The tubs had hot and cold sea water in addition to potable water so they could bathe in sea water if desired. The amount of gold leaf was unbelievable. There was even one room with Spanish leather wallcovering that had a gold leaf pattern pressed into it. Some rooms were made with all the walls covered in marble. All the fireplaces were custom carved marble. All the fabrics for the drapes and furniture were custom woven just for the house. One room had silver wall-panels with paintings on them that did not tarnish, curious what the metal actually was a mobile x-ray florescent spectrograph was brought in; the panels were found to actually be Platinum, they will never tarnish. All the wallpapers and floor coverings were custom made for the house.

Back of The Breakers from cliff walk

The house was constructed, decorated and furnished in two years. Most of the decor was prefabricated in France, disassembled, shipped and reassembled in the home so that the decor could be made in parallel with fabrication of the home. The tour was an MP3 audio that you could customize by taking side trips and listening to supplementary audio as you went through the house, it was just as impressive as the home itself.

Rosecliff

The second house was the Rosecliff house built in 1903 by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs. This tour was shorter and fewer rooms were refurbished, however, it too was a magnificent home. Many of us have seen this home in films because about seven different have had parts filmed in or around this house, the Great Gatsby was one of these. This home highlighted the clothing of the early 1900's, at least the woman's haute couture fashions.

Cliff walk

It was very interesting to note that the end of era (the Gilded Age) for these mansions was caused largely by the creation of the Income Tax (1918) and increasing the Inheritance Tax initiated in 1866. These taxes made it impossible for the houses to be maintained after the owners passed away. By 1940 nearly all of the large mansions in this area were abandoned. The Rosecliff was constructed for just over $2M; it was sold at auction for $21K, the furniture was sold for $36K. Of course the great depression was probably also another one of the results of these new taxes.

After touring these two homes we strolled the cliff walk which runs several miles behind these mansions along the edge of the cliff that follows the coastline. I was able to photograph a few other mansions also at this time: One was even much larger than The Breakers, it and several other old mansions are part of Salve Regina University.

We topped the day with a great Mexican dinner.

By the way Boise State won 57-14. Go Bronco's.

Cape Cod - 10-8-2010

2010-10-08T19:39:00.000-06:00

Today we visited the Pilgrim Hall museum in Plymouth. This was a well done museum and helped to clarify some of the time line and associations of peoples in the 1600's. The museum also had a special exhibit on 'history in glass'; this had various tankards, glasses and bottles used in the consumption, and transport of beverages. It also presented the history of beverages from the use of water in Europe in the 1600's, introduction of soft drinks, coffee, tea, and chocolate, to the development of Gin and Vodka. It was interesting to note that the folks from England thought it very unsafe to drink water because only the poorest of people did so and folks often died from doing so. When they arrived in the new world with their beer rations very low they were forced to try the spring water and called it the "sweetest of waters": it was truly a life saver for them.

Cape Cod Light

Chatham Light

After the museum we ventured out on Cape Cod. We visited two light houses and walked the beach. We drove out to Provincetown but it was too late to do anything and it was also too dark to see anything.

While on the Cape I saw a street sign for 'IRENE Tress'. I wanted to take it and send it to my Mom but goody-two-shoes would have nothing of it (and she still won't not eat any of the red mushrooms either).

Visiting with Pilgrams, Plymouth, MA - 10-7-2010

2010-10-07T21:19:00.000-06:00

Today we visited the Plimoth Plantation. Note the different spelling. In 1620 there were no rules for spelling and most people just spelled phonetically. John Smith wrote in his diary and spelled Plimoth for the historical site to distinguish it from the village of Plymouth.

The 'plantation' was several attractions in one:
First it had a Wampanoag Native American village. These Native Americans, as those we talked with in Canada, are part of the greater Algonquin Nation. In this village there were several Wampanoag Native Americans dressed as they did in the early 1600's and working and living in the village as they would have in the fall of the year. They were excellent at discussing their ancestor’s habits and living conditions. There were some schools present on a field day and they would introduce them to games played at that time. While in this village we also met a retired couple from Nampa, ID that live just a stones through away from a restaurant we have visited many times, Jalapeno's.

Second, it had a 1620 village rebuilt to be like the one established by the Puritans after they arrived on the Mayflower and other following ships. In this village the actors were not only dressed as they were in 1620 but also talked in the same language and in the same context of time as though they were still living in the 1600's. They were quite good at this. They would say 'marrow' to mean 'morning' and pronounced past tense words ending in 'ed' as 'edd' not as 't' like we do today. We learned about their views on religious freedom: they considered this an absurd thought. The reason they came to America was to be free to practice their own religion without the influence of others. They would shun or throw out others if they were vocal about it. One man followed the Kings religion, the only legal religion in England, and thought very poorly of the heretics that came from Holland to practice their own religion (the puritans or pilgrims on the Mayflower). All in all this village was also a very interesting and educational experience.

Third, it had a craft area where a Wampanoag was flaking arrowheads, making arrows and a bow. Another man was doing woodwork and at other times people are making clay pottery. All of the products made are sold in the gift shop.

As part of our admission to the plantation we also got admission to the Mayflower II so we drove into town and boarded the ship This was built and sailed in 1957 to be as close to the original Mayflower as they could discern. On board were more actors also talking as though they just landed in Massachusetts.

We capped they day with a delicious meal of swordfish and haddock.

Tomorrow we plan to drive down Cape Cod and visit one or two more museums in Plymouth.

Plymouth, MA - 10-6-2010

2010-10-06T21:44:00.000-06:00

We traveled down through Vermont and back into Massachusetts today. We are now in Plymouth, MA. We had rain all day and learned on the news there was some flooding in Plymouth this afternoon. It was too bad it rained so hard, it ruined the views of the colorful mountain sides on the drive down. We are in the Indian Head Campground south of the village of Plymouth. We plan on visiting a number of sites in the village area tomorrow and may stay a third night and visit Cape Cod; we haven't decided yet.

As you can see from the photo's we are again in a heavily wooded CG. This site was a bit narrower than most others. Debbie guided me in quite well; we were able to get all the slides out but could not extend the awning out completely.

Some beautiful mushrooms by the trailer, Debbie wouldn't try them though.

Franconia Notch State Park

2010-10-05T19:25:00.000-06:00

Today we visited a number of interesting sites. We started at a natural feature in Franconia Notch called The Flume. This was a narrow gorge carved first by glacial movement carving out softer basalt from the granite and then water eroding out almost all of the basalt. On the 1 1/2 hour walk we also saw two other water falls each were on different streams/river. On this walk I had a severe fascination with the roots of the trees; took about 20 photos of tree roots. It was amazing how many exposed roots there were; there was even a sign that described that the seed germinated on top of a large rock and sent out long roots until soil and moisture were found to allow the tree to grow. Debbie says I just developed a foot fetish;-)

After The Flume and exploring one of the local state park campgrounds and driving by another large ski area (Loon Mountain) we decided to visit the Clark's Trading Post, Lincoln, NH. They have daily bear shows here but only one a day this time of year and we missed it by a couple of hours. While here I found and bought another book of local tales and legends to share with grand kids when they can visit with us.

We then drove up to the village of Franconia and the Robert Frost home. His is the home he lived in with his wife raising two children and writing poetry. He called it a farm but only raised a few animals. It is lived in and the museum is closed for the season. We walked a trail behind the house that has a dozen or so of his poems mounted to read along the trail. This reminded me how much I DO NOT enjoy reading most poetry; however, this was a pleasant visit.

Right in the village of Franconia is an old Iron Furnace. The oldest standing iron smelter in Vermont. Franconia was founded in about 1775, the smelter opened about 1805 and it was shutdown in 1870. They sent pot metal to other sites for refining into wrought iron and cast several items on site, especially the 'famous' Franconian Stove.

Littleton, New Hampshire - 10-4-2010

2010-10-04T18:59:00.000-06:00

We decided to head north into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We ended up near a lovely town of the same name as the town we were near in Massachusetts, Littleton. This campground (Crazy Horse Family Campground) is every bit as heavily wooded but we were lucky enough to get a pull through site this time.

We have decided to stay here a couple of nights before heading south through Vermont. There are a lot of sites/attractions to see here. Unfortunately the Robert Frost birthplace museum closed for the season last weekend.

After we got settled this afternoon we visited the Cannon ski area and took the gondola to the top of the mountain, we then walked up to a lookout tower. The view was wonderful, the photo's do not do it justice.

Another Day in Boston - 10-3-2010

2010-10-03T17:43:00.000-06:00

Today we continued our second day in Boston with the Trolley tour company. We visited a number of sites like the North Church, south Meeting House, Paul Revere's home, a couple of Graveyards, the site where the Cheer's TV series was filmed, Faneuil Hall, and more of Quincy Market. We did not do the Harbor tour but also did not miss it at all; there was plenty to do and we had a wonderful relaxing time.

One of the many things we learned is that Boston was only 1 1/2 square miles on a small neck of land in the early 1700's. In the 1800's they reclaimed a lot of land by filling in marshes and bays and joining islands to the mainland with soil brought in by train. They spent 50 years working 24/7 to haul in rock, gravel and soil so Boston could be the 30 square miles it now occupies. this photo of a map shows the original coastline and the coastline after much of the reclamation work.

Boston - 10-2-2010

2010-10-02T19:24:00.000-06:00

After a day of rest (actually we did laundry, changed truck oil and filters, and cleaned the trailer), and heavy rains, on Friday we took again to the streets of Boston today. We decided to use a trolley tour company so we just had to park once and could get on and off the trolley as many times as we want (tickets are good for two consecutive days).

We started the day at the Boston aquarium and had a wonderful time.

After a couple of hours at the aquarium we took the trolley around town and listened to the history and amusing stories given by the trolley driver. We visited the Old State House (1731) Museum; the building that early Boston Patriots used to plot the beginnings of the revolution, draft and sign the first Massachusetts Constitution, and form the early government of the State. While there we took in a lecture on the class structure during the colonization of America and during the revolution. Debbie caught a picture of me as I was used to demonstrate the Middling Sort class (middle class of tradesman). After this museum we continued our tour through town on the trolley and finished the day with a walk through Quincy Market and dinner at Durgan Park.

On the way back to the truck we stumbled on a street performer preparing for an escape act, so we stopped and watched.

We plan to take a harbor cruise tomorrow, included as part of our trolley ticket, and visit more of the historical sites in Boston.

Back to Salem, MA - 9-30-2010

2010-09-30T20:26:00.000-06:00

I left out an interesting tidbit we learned on the USS Constitution yesterday. In the center of the lower deck is a built in barrel with brass trim. They keep fresh water in this barrel and each sailor gets a ration of 1½ gallon per day. The barrel was originally called a scuttlebutt. Men would stand around it to drink their ration, spread rumors and share tales. A practice that carries on today because the office water cooler is said to be the best place to get the latest ‘scuttlebutt’ of the day.

Another note of interest here in New England: There appears to be many more Volkswagen Beetles (Slug Bugs) here than in other parts of the continent that we have traveled; this is evidenced by the large throbbing bruise I would have on my arm if Debbie would hit harder.

Today we returned to Salem, MA. We seem to be attracted to the witch stuff but it is hard to determine which witch is which (or what is a tourist site of value). We found an excellent museum on the 9 months or so of inquisition that took place in the Salem area in 1697. We unfortunately could not take any video or photos of anything inside the facility. We did buy a great book of scary stories that we are looking forward to reading with Nicholas (and any other interested grandchild) when he(she) next gets a chance to stay with us.

Governors house

After the witch experience we visited a pioneer village in Salem. This had a recreation of the dugout type shelters the original Puritans used when they first settled the area. As stated when we were in Canada, the area was in a mini ice-age at the time and snow covered the ground much of the year. About 50% of the original colonists perished before the supply ships returned about 10 months later. there was also a recreation of the much nicer wigwam type shelters they later constructed using about seven thick layers of reeds and grasses to cover them (the recreation only had three layers). After tradesmen arrived with later deliveries of supplies from England they built houses, several reconstructions of the types of houses used at that time were available. One was of the first governors (Massachusetts Bay Colony) house; a luxurious two room home with a large second floor attic for storage. The Governors family of five lived in one room (about 20' X 20') and the other was used for public meetings and to board other colonists while there homes were being constructed.

Back of Wigwam style with fireplace shown

Inside of Wigwam style

Front of Wigwam style

Based on our tour guides recommendation we then drove to Ipswich to see an actual first generation colonial home. Unfortunately it was not open when we got there but we were able to visit a second generation home, circa 1790, that was built by a very wealthy individual (John Heard) with 12 children and later expanded to quite a larger mansion by his children (unfortunately only about a 1 quarter of the home had been refurbished and made available for visitors.

Debbie can be rough on tour guides!

USS Constitution - 9-29-2010

2010-09-29T18:16:00.000-06:00

After taking care of some business this morning we visited the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship afloat. Note that England has a commissioned ship 38 years older, HMS Victoria, but it is in permanent dry dock.

Built in the early 1790's the USS Constitution was engaged in more than 40 sea battles and was victorious in each. It was noted in a couple of her early battles that the opponents cannon balls were bouncing off her hull so she has been nicknamed "Old Ironsides" for over 200 years. the ship was built and commissioned as a 44 gun ship but sailed most of the time with 66 guns. It took 6 to 8 sailors per gun to fire in battle and there were 25 marines on board so the ship was heavily manned.

The ship is currently being refurbished again and will be pulled out to sea in October. It is planned that in 2012 she we sail under her own power again. Because she is a commissioned ship she is manned and maintained by the US Navy so it was a sailor that gave us our tour of the ship (ironically an F-16 weapons specialist), albeit in an 1830 style uniform.

Salem, MA - 9-28-2010

2010-09-29T09:12:00.000-06:00

We visited Salem and explored a wax museum and witch village tour. Both were relatively poor quality tourist traps so we were a little disappointed. We did learn a little though so all was not lost. By the time we got to the Maritime National Historic Monument they had closed the ship and three houses for tours, besides it had begun to rain and about 30 sec's after we got into the truck it began to pour.

We visited the house of Seven gables, the house that Hawthorne used for his classic story. This was fascinating as it was drastically modified during its 300 year history. In the late 1800's the owner restored it to the way it was described in the book and the original records of the home when it had seven gables. Over time stair cases were installed into the home behind fireplaces and other strange spots so we went up and down stairs that were barely wide enough to traverse and curved and twisted through odd ball spaces. The house was used to shelter teachers at one time so many spaces in the gables were made into bathrooms and bedrooms. Quite an interesting home. Amazing to stand next to the rafters that were installed over 300 years ago (pegs, no nails) with no sign of decay. At this site was also the home that Nathaniel Hawthorn was born in (moved 4 blocks this site in the 1950's) and the gift shop was in the oldest standing building in Salem.

We will have to try to come back to Salem because there are several attractions we have not yet had a chance to get to.

Boston Area – 9-28-2010

2010-09-28T09:10:00.000-06:00

Bush summer home

Yesterday we ventured around Kennebunkport and visited a number of local stores. It is quite a quaint village. We wondered up the coastline guessing at which house was the Bush summer home. When we ate our late lunch we discovered we had guessed correctly and found out the Bushes owned a number of homes. This made sense because there appeared to be more than two homes within the compound we observed. Taking pictures of the Bush home was a popular item because there were many folks doing so and there were also a steady stream of tour busses that passed by on the road. The Bushes were not in when we were there, we know because the Texas flag was not flying on the flagpole.

Square in Kennebunkport, ME

After lunch we went to an antique auto museum in Wells. This too was an excellent museum with many autos’ we had never heard of before. We then returned home to watch a very good Denver Bronco game that had the wrong outcome.

Today we traveled south to the Boston area. I know we said we would go to Portsmouth, NH, we did, but we blew right on past. We plan to stay in the Boston area for at least a week so me may get back up to Portsmouth to see some of the sites there. We are actually in Littleton, Ma. There are very few RV parks in the Boston area. We found only one within 30 miles and that was a Salem city park that did not have sewer at the sites. We found three other sites within 40 miles. The one we are at is about 30 miles from downtown Boston. It is a heavily wooded RV park; we had quite a time lacing the trailer in between the trees to get into our site. The sites are all very large. It is interesting to note that this RV Park, as with the last one we were in, has a Bocce court. Many of you may not be familiar with this game; Debbie and I play it occasionally in relatively level grassy areas (Stephen and Angela gave us a Bocce set). We had never dreamed there would be a designated court for playing Bocce.

We plan on spending tomorrow, Tuesday, in Salem, MA looking for witches. And plan on spending Wednesday walking the liberty trail in Boston. These are the only two days in the next 5 predicted to be warm and free of rain.

South Again - Wells, Maine – 9-25-2010

2010-09-26T08:56:00.000-06:00

We finally got back on the road again with a planned stop in Bath, ME to visit the State Maritime Museum. After a couple of wrong turns and traveling through impossibly narrow roads with our huge trailer we finally found the museum, however, there was nowhere we could see that could accommodate parking with our trailer. We looked over the side streets and saw only the same we had passed through; no way to park without blocking the street. Sadly we moved on without visiting this highly touted museum.

We drove south to Wells, ME. This is right next to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, ME. We visited the national trolley museum just a bit north of Kennebunk. At this site they have shipped in trolleys from all over the US and around the world (some from New Zealand, Australia, Hungary, Italy, etc.). They had 4 units in their restoration shop being restored and one that was just finished. This was the first museum to restore a trolley for show and created an interest in doing so around the world. This museum included everything from horse drawn trolleys to electric buses (including cable cars and incline cars) and even a USTD experimental mass transportation train. The majority of the working units and units we could tour were DC electric trolleys. We took a ride on an electric trolley; they have 6 or 8 different ones that regularly run the track on site.

Far 1 just restored, near 1 just started

We plan on staying here for two nights before heading south towards Portsmouth, NH.

Booth Bay Another Day - 9-24-2010

2010-09-26T08:01:00.000-06:00

I had noticed that our bike rack was in an outward position; it has an outward position built into it to allow opening a trunk without removing the bikes. We do not have a trunk so do not need this feature. Debbie and I had tried previously to put the rack back into the normal travel position but could not do so. When getting ready to leave I took the bikes off and attempted to get the device back into its normal travel position but could not do so. After removing the unit from the trailer and removing the hitch bar it became obvious the main support tube had bent and ripped out a couple of inches of metal, that is why it was leaning out into the alternate position. It was also obvious to me that traveling much further could result in the tube breaking out completely. While investigating this, a person I believed to be part of the RV park staff stopped by in a mule to chat, I asked him if he new of a weld shop I could take the bike rack to get it repaired. He said he was a general contractor and had an excellent welder on staff that could fix it in short order. As he left he said," Did I also tell you are in Maine and there will be no charge".

Well, he never showed up again. The next morning I went up to the office to again inquire about a good welding shop nearby. I discovered the gentleman I talked to was the father of the lady that runs the park and that the welder, "Doc", he spoke of had moved away almost a year ago. After contacting her father she stopped by the trailer and told me of a nearby shop and that they were waiting for me. They said they couldn't get the part back to me until mid afternoon so we stayed another day.

We spent the day at the L. L. Bean home store. Believe it or not we did not buy very much and most of what we did buy was at the outlet store and less than 1/2 original price. The Home store is huge, it is in four different buildings (most with two or three levels) and is as large as some malls. The Outlet store was about two blocks away, was smaller than the home store buildings but still larger than any other single-source 'outlet store' we had been in.

We picked up the bike rack from the welder at the end of the workday. They had to remove the lock that was used to hold the part in the normal travel position and replaced it with a bolt. This change will probably make it at least 4 times stronger than the original configuration and we lose no utility that we need. The weld and machine shop owner was very apologetic about having to replace the lock because they broke it when they removed it, but I assured him I was very much happier with their fix than I was with the original lock.

Boothbay Harbor, Maine - 9-23-2010

2010-09-24T07:12:00.000-06:00

After leaving the Bar Harbor area we traveled down the coast and visited the site of an old colonial town and fort in Maine. The town had been burned to the ground three separate times and was not rebuilt after the third time early in the 1800s. The fort was originally an English fort built of wood in the mid 1600's. It was later constructed of rock and thought to be a very sturdy and safe fortress, however, it was burned by the Indians in the early 1700's and collapsed because of the poor quality mortar used. Another fort was built over it in 1746 but only occupied a short while because it was not really needed. The colonists destroyed it just prior to the revolutionary war because they did not want the British to occupy and use it. It was very interesting to read about the various town site building foundations, what was excavated from them, and what type of dwelling/structure was believed to have stood over the foundation they dated from the late 1600's to the about 1748. Most were burned twice during french/indian attacks.

We traveled further south to Boothbay Harbor. Our goal was to visit a railway museum and village but it was only open for a short while after we got set up at the RV park. We therefore decided to stay a second night here and toured this museum the next day. We spent the afternoon and evening going through shops and eating in Boothbay .

Included at the railway museum and village was an excellent antique car museum with about 30 cars. Since we were the only two people in the museum at the time the curator gave us a personal tour that got interrupted when the owner of several of the donated cars showed up with a car he had been touring through New Hampshire. We ended up helping move several cars in the museum and positioning the car being returned into place. We pushed cars, moved signs, and relocated ropes ropes and repositioned items. It was interesting to see a luxury car of the 1930's (we can't remember what it was) started and moved and a 1960 Rolls Royce started and of course the car returned, a magnificent Packard. It was amazing how the engines purred on all three cars they started. The others were much older and only moved a short distance to make room for the other moves so they were not started.

Bar Harbor, ME - 9-18-2010

2010-09-19T07:53:00.000-06:00

Today we explored the west side of Mount Desert Island (pronounced as dessert by the locals for some reason).

We visited a very good car museum. This is the remnant of a private collection of about 130 cars. The cars were left in Richard Paine’s will to be kept in a museum on the island with the condition the collection be kept intact except that cars were to be auctioned off as needed to keep the collection as an operating museum. None of the cars were refurbished or reworked in anyway after the original owner purchased them; they are all in the condition they were in when he purchased them. Some are old and rusty, ¾ of them are in immaculate condition. Some are the only known car of its type in existence; some are one of only 2, 3 or 4 known to exist.

We also visited a lighthouse; we could not enter it because a member of the coast guard lives in it. Like all the others we have seen, it is located on the edge of the very rocky granite coastline.

Lunch was enjoyed on the deck of a great restaurant in Southwest Harbor while we watched lobsterman enter and leave the harbor, and unload their catch at the lobster pound.

A shop we visited highlighted woodcarvings of birds, it was interesting that he used only a penknife to carve all his birds, rather than the tools most wood carvers use. His birds were beautiful. The rest of the shop was pretty much a junk store.

Oceanarium at Bar Harbor, ME - 9-16-2010

2010-09-16T19:34:00.000-06:00

Today we visited the nearby oceanarium and visited some of the shops in Bar Harbor.

The oceanarium was a quite a surprise. When we drove in and then viewed the buildings my first impression was, "Oh NO - this is a real rip off": boy was I wrong. There were four stations and each had a prepared presentation. The first for us was the lobster hatchery; the only one remaining in North America. They showed us how they run the facility and the life cycle of the lobster (similar for shrimp and crabs). It is interesting that the breeding cycle begins about two years before the pregnant lobster is brought into the hatchery. The female has to mate immediately after a molt. She holds the sperm for almost a year before she fertilizes the eggs. About a year after mating the fertilized eggs are moved out under her swimmer legs under her tail where they begin to grow. After a year they have grown to fill up the space making her swimmer legs useless, each are still microscopic in size. When caught in a trap it is illegal for lobster-men to keep a pregnant lobster but several have permits to provide them to the hatchery. The hatchery keeps them until the female releases them and then keeps them in tanks until they have grown and molted several times. They will be about 1" to 1 1/4" when they are released. They release them through a tube directly onto the bottom of the ocean so they can quickly find hiding places. It is believed the survival rate of hatchery lobster is about 50% to the development stage that they are released and the natural environment lobster survival rate is about 1/10th of 1%.

We also went on a guided salt marsh walk which was very interesting and certainly educational. The third part was a museum on mostly lobsters and shellfish. This also included a talk with a very experienced lobster-man about how lobster are caught, the effects of severe storms and other interesting tales of the trade. The impact of the hurricanes that have come through was very different than I expected. Because they had to rush and either pick up their traps or move them out deeper and because they lost many traps due to the high waves it has set back their work by 2 to three weeks; recovering the location and the purchase and placement of new traps. This time of year is the most productive for catching lobsters, about 70% are caught mid August through October. The fourth leg of the visit was a hands on aquarium where a guide removed and discussed several types of creatures often found in tide pools (star fish, sea cucumbers, green crabs, horseshoe crabs, muscles, and moon snails. The digestive and reproductive systems were discussed along with a lot of information on the types and number of eyes they have (did you know that a horseshoe crab has 4 eyes on the front of its shell and 8 on its tail, it is one of a select few sea creatures that can see in color and they can also see in the dark more than 10 times better than we can - they also date back to a period in time before the dinosaurs).

Bar Harbor, ME - 9-15-2010

2010-09-16T12:52:00.000-06:00

After Leaving Eastport, ME this morning we went to Lubec, ME. Lubec also claims to be the eastern most town in the USA; I believe they are more correct with this claim. We went to the nearby Lighthouse, I am pretty certain this is the eastern most lighthouse in the USA. This is also the only US lighthouse that has belonged to a foreign country for a period of time; during the war of 1812 it was captured and held for several months by the British. The lighthouse had a visitor center and small museum of the local area and the lighthouse history.

Looking for whales, and seals

Parking was tight for our huge trailer.

The lighthouse at Lubec reminded s more of the “Pete’s Dragon” lighthouse. It is located at the mouth of Passamaquoddy Bay so it may be near the historic sight we have been seeking!!. There may have even been a cave on the rocky coastline nearby that Eliot (the dragon) hides in. We did not get a chance to search the coastline, who knows???

We traveled from Lubec south to Bar Harbor, ME. We are staying in the Mount Desert Narrows Camping Resort and plan to stay here four to five days while we wait for our mail to catch up to us.

It appears we now have Verizon phone service here but it is a very weak signal. However, we should be able to talk to folks.

Back in the States - 9-14-2010

2010-09-15T15:18:00.000-06:00

Back in the States and back to the Eastern time zone (only two hours difference to Mountain time).

Today we had more interesting adventures. We got up at 5:30 this morning to be to the Ferry in Digby by 0700. The ferry crossing to St John New Brunswick was very smooth and gave us 3 hrs to eat breakfast, play pinochle, and watch for whales (only saw some dolphins).

After landing we traveled to St Stephens, which is the chocolate capital of Canada. We visited a chocolate factory and museum. This was an interesting facility to visit; during the trip through the museum and watching chocolates being hand coated with chocolate (reminded us of the old Lucy show) we could eat all the chocolates we wanted; there were a dozen or so trays distributed throughout the museum covered with wonderful chocolates. Debbie tried loading a box of chocolates against a time clock, this too reminded us of Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory; if the chocolates weren’t oversized Debbie probably would have been stuffing them into her clothes because she was taking so long;-).

We then re-entered the states and drove to Eastport, Maine. This is the Eastern most city in the United States. We were famished (ha ha) and went to a lobster shack restaurant for dinner. In addition to having an outstanding seafood linguine (lobster, haddock, and shrimp) we talked with the owners daughter who was loading herring for lobster bait they plan to use tomorrow. We also talked with the dock master about the lobster fishing. In Maine there is no lobster season as there was in Canada and the license in Maine is only about $800 per year. Here they are limited to 800 lobster traps per boat whereas in Canada they were limited to 250. The locals tell us the Canadians easily earn the cost of the license in one 3 month season. We watched the lobsterman as they unloaded and graded the catch they brought in today. We were quite amazed at the size of the larger lobsters, we were watching them weigh the premium grade, which is 1.9 lbs and up. We saw several that were around three lbs or more. They also showed us that lobsters are booth left and right handed; some have a large pressure claw on the right and some on the left. We were shown how to tell the sex and told that they have to separate the lobsters when they shed their shell because the others will eat it even with their large claws banded. At this time of year most of the lobsters are still soft shelled from the recent molt and some shed after being caught. They had one lobster in their holding tank that was an illegal size (too large) because it molted and grew to greater then five inches, when it was caught it was 5 inches or less.

The dock master then showed us how the traps work and told us they thought the lobsters could not get out after they were in. Use of underwater photography showed they have no problem getting out and that large lobsters chase smaller ones out of the trap.

Eastport, Maine is on Passamaquaddy Bay. Anyone familiar with a classic Disney movie, Pete’s Dragon, should be familiar with Passamaquaddy. We searched for Elliot the dragon and for his cave but did not find either. We also did not find a lighthouse anything like the one in the movie, darn!!!

Cabot trail - Nova Scotia - 9-6-2010

2010-09-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

On Monday we took an extended drive around the 'World Famous Cabot Trail' on Cape Breton. We had been told by many people this is a drive we have to take. It took us about 9 1/2 hours, with several stops to visit shops, view scenery/discovery centers, and eat. Debbie does not like to take long drives one little bit, however, she was a good trooper on this trip, better if when made more stops.

The MacKenzie River below highland plateau above

The trip started out very interesting, about a mile after we exited the highway onto the trail we came to a ferry, the ferry crossed only about 150 yds of water and carried only 15 cars. There was really no place for walk-ons; the one walk-on that went across with us stood among the cars (he had a fishing pole and joined others fishing from the bank next to the ferry on the far side). Our cost was $5.

The East side of the drive was through a Scottish community, the street and river names were all given in English and Scottish. The west side was mostly national Park with the southern portion being Acadian communities with the signs back to English and French; there was even a motel called the Cajun Cottages.

We are expecting our mail to catch up to us today, Tuesday. The FedEx tracking shows it left Montreal customs on 9/1 but does not indicate it has arrived or left any terminals since, who knows when we will get the mail! We will be here until it gets here.

Annapolis Royal, NS 9-13-2010

2010-09-15T15:11:00.000-06:00

Last night we went on a graveyard tour to discuss the history of headstones and markings and the history of the area. We carried around our own candle lantern that the guide provided and there were about 30 people on the tour (it really added to the ambiance of our late night tour). Our tour guide was a 10th generation Acadian. The Patriarch of his family was exported to Virginia in1755 but the group overcame the ships crew and sailed back to Quebec city, unfortunately Quebec was in the middle of small pox epidemic and most of the people on that ship died of small pox within a year or so. His great great great…. granddad escaped the extradition of Acadians by hiding/living in the wilderness along the St Lawrence River. Nine years after shipping out all the Acadians, the British allowed them back; all their lands and farms were now owned by colonists the British had brought in from England and mostly from the American colonies so most had to start over with nothing when they returned. [It seems the reason the British ousted all the Acadians is that they did not trust them. The Acadians would not fight with the French and would not pledge allegiance to the British, unless they were allowed to stay neutral and not be involved in any of the fighting. The British did not like this so they ousted them.] The Acadian site we visited yesterday was the homestead village of our guide’s ancestral family.

Our guide came from a rather large family. His father had 9 children with his first wife before she died (certainly understand dying after all that). He had 12 more children with his second wife; our guide was the 19th of 21 children. After the tour a man from Toronto came up to him and said they were cousins; with a family that large I imagine there were many cousins and second cousins that have never met.

The nighttime tour was fascinating and very enjoyable.

Aerial view of Fort Anne

We visited Fort Anne today. The fort was a typical fort of the period for the French. It was built in a star shape so a cross fire with guns could be established on all sides of the fort. The fort was built of soil mounds and deep valleys between the interior ramparts and outer enforcements. Only the tallest interior buildings stuck up above the ramparts. The Port Royal area (later Port Annapolis after the British took firm control in 1710) was the most fought over piece of real estate in Canada. There were 14 battles fought here and the area changed hands 7 times as a result of those battles (4 of the battles took place after 1710).

After a walk through town and a visit to a museum we enjoyed a meal at a local pub (even had some Acadian food, Poppier or Poppie Pie and Poutine). We then took a stroll to the historical gardens, which, even though the season is late, was both beautiful and interesting.

Annapolis Royal, NS 9-12-2010

2010-09-12T17:36:00.000-06:00

We have traveled 10700 km since leaving Boise, ID.

We are now in Annapolis Royal, NS by the Annapolis river where it flows into Annapolis Bay. this junction of waters is quite fascinating, the tide changes here are dramatic and incoming tide collides with the outgoing river in a fairly narrow channel of a couple hundred feet width. There is great turmoil in the water at the point the two collide and a huge swirling whirl pool is developed on one side. A large field of a couple of feet of foam is created on one side of the river (this goes away as the tide starts to go out).

Part of the reason for all the violence is a causeway put in across the river making the channel narrower. Later the government took advantage of this causeway and the large tidal changes (29 ft) and built the continents first tidal electric generating station. We can easily see this station from the swimming beach at the campground. (photo's to follow because I want to get them with the tide coming in, nothing spectacular with the tide going out and that is the only time I seem to have the camera with me).

Today we toured the site of an early Acadian settlement (this settlement was started by a single family in the early 1700's and was active with up to 14 families until all the Acadians in Canada were rounded up and deported to the US and Quebec in 1755 (this is where many of the Acadians [Cajuns] came from in Louisiana). There are restaurants with Acadian food in Nova Scotia but we have not been near them or have not known about them to look for them, I would like to try the food to see if it is anything close to Cajun food.

To prevent confusion, the local folks speak of the Acadians as a separate people from the French, even though they came from France. Acadians were not part of the Royal or formal establishment of colonies/settlements in the new world, the name Acadian came from the blending of a local indian word and a french word.

Lathe

We also toured the Port Royal habitation, this was the first French settlement/fur trading post in Canada. This settlement was established in late 1605, in 1613 a British ship from Williamsburg, Virginia came up and burned the fort like structure, stranding 20 french soldiers that were cared for by the local Mi'-kmaq indians (they call them First Nations or indigenous peoples rather than indians) until the next French supply ship came 6 months later. Later, the Scottish built a fort and encampment in the area and later (late 1600's) the French built a fortress, Fort Anne, we will visit this fort on Monday. Several interesting activities were demonstrated in Port Royale, one was the making of shingles or clapboards and the other was a very primitive wood lathe that used branches as the springs to operate the lathe with foot power on a crude treadle (the lower branch) to make the part rotate back and forth.

We also visited a home that is a museum. This home was used in the 1960's and 70's by a wealthy banker and antique dealer; the original home was built in the mid 1700's. When the banker had it fitted for modern living he added on some rooms and electric lighting and modern plumbing, however the original rooms have the original beams, original flooring (turned upside down so the original worn surfaces are down and the floor is smother) original ceiling planks, fireplaces, built-in pantries, etc. The owner furnished it almost exclusively with 17th and 18th century Georgian furniture, paintings, sculptures and kick-knacks. After his death all was given to the Province of Nova Scotia under the condition the collection stayed intact, therefore, all of the furnishings are original and worth quite a bundle.

Digby harbour

We finished our touring for the day in Digby. There we visited a number of shops and had a wonderful scallop dinner (Digby considers itself the scallop capital of North America).

Liverpool, NS 9-10-2010

2010-09-10T19:55:00.000-06:00

This morning we went to Peggy's Cove, Southeast of Halifax. This was a lovely small town with a lighthouse. We spent several hours waling through town and visiting several shops. One shop just sold old buoy's found washed up on the shore; we asked the proprietor what the cost was to get a lobster license. He said that in much of Nova Scotia it costs $250,000 to $300,000 but it is much cheaper along this area of the coast because the lobster fishing is not so good; his son sold his permit for $70,000 at the end of this last season. It costs $100 to renew the license annually and the license allows use of 250 to 300 traps. No wonder lobster costs $30/lb.

After leaving Peggy's cove we ventured to Liverpool. It was interesting that we passed an exit that was to East and West Berlin just before we got to Liverpool. Tomorrow we plan to cross the middle of Nova Scotia to the Digby and Annapolis Royal area where we will visit a couple more national historic sites. We have reservations on the Ferry from Digby to St John, New Brunswick on 9/14.

Murphy's Cove, Nova Scotia

2010-09-09T17:19:00.000-06:00

We have traveled 6078 miles. Now on the East coast of the Nova Scotia mainland. Last night we stayed near Sherbrooke on a little lake, the shore was only about 10 ft outside our front door. Unfortunately, it was a little foggy and rained the whole time we were there.
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Early Hydra-foil design

Final design that set record

After leaving Louisbourg we stopped in the town of Baddeck where Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel had a summer home. Since his family came to Canada originally when they immigrated from Scotland and because he spent so much time and did so much work in Canada they have established a wonderful discovery center for him near their summer home. It was interesting to learn that he and others, including a man named Curtis (went on to create his own airplane manufacturing company), designed the first airplane to fly in Canada (1909). He had envisioned a plan that could take-off and land on water. He designed and they built one but they could not find an engine with enough power to get it to take-off speed. This led him to research, design and testing hydra-foils (funded by his wife) because he was certain they would allow greater speed with less power. He was correct and he and his assistant developed several working boat hydrofoil prototypes and eventually set an over-the-water speed record that held for a decade. He never had the chance to apply the technology to airplanes before his death.

Propellers used for testing

The depth to which he tested and experimented with each area of interest he pursued was fascinating. He had many different propeller designs manufactured and tested for efficiency (thickness of propeller and pitch were the two parameters he researched). Before building a prototype airplane (financed by his wife) he worked hard on determining the best design through use of kites and gliders, he was stuck on the tetrahedron shape for developing lift and flew many kite and glider models testing for the amount of force it took to hold them in the air so he would know how much power was needed to propel them. He eventually used the Wright Flyer design and leveraged off of it. He developed the aileron to provide needed stability in flight of the planes he designed, but did not get credit for it because it was patented first in France.

Based on work by others he built the first working x-ray machine in Canada and took the first medical x-ray in Canada.

He successfully transmitted sound by use of light rays, a concept way ahead of his time, but abandoned it because of poor performance in fog, rain and snow. His device was a forerunner of today's selenium based solar cells.

Bell considered himself first and foremost a teacher of the deaf. He worked as a teacher and later a professor for teaching teachers of the deaf. He taught Helen Keller when she was a child. He dedicated his life to teaching the deaf and improving conditions for them, work in this area is what eventually led him to his development of the telephone. His mother was mostly deaf and his wife was a deaf student of his.

After our 4 hours in the Bell discovery center we traveled to Sherbrooke.
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Today we spent about 5 hrs in Sherbrooke Village. This is a working and living part of the town but is a historical site with people dressed and working as though it were at the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the structures were built in the mid to late 1800's. All of the structures (~80) are in their original location. A few are still occupied and some of the ones open for the discovery experience (~20 could be toured) were occupied as late as the 1970's. We tasted brownies cooked in a wood stove oven, saw hardware being made by a blacksmith, watch a woodworker carve on a rocking chair seat, machine a toy top, and carve on a spoon. We saw people weaving, helped separate freshly sheared wool to prepare it for spinning, saw rug hooking, watched folks try to repair an ancient leather belt that runs the sawmill (belt failed just before we got there), talked with a doctor, talked with the teacher in a one room school house (she had actually attended school in the room she worked in) and visited with many other staff members in the various structures.

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After this experience we traveled another hour or so and stopped in Murphy's Cove for the night. We are right on the ocean in a grassy RV park. This park is a little gem hidden away in the countryside.

Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

2010-09-08T06:04:00.000-06:00

We've Got mail. We had our first mail delivery in a month or so today. I was up late into the night last night trying to figure out what to do with much of the mail. Seems some of our retirement stuff is a little screwed up - most will have to wait until we get back into the states next week, assuming we have phone service then.

The other night it was raining around dinner time when our Australian neighbors rolled in. He showed us a great way to stay clean because he stripped to his Speedo and then came out to hook up his motorhome in the rain. This was not the prettiest site, but certainly entertaining out our huge rear window.

Yesterday we ventured out on a shorter road trip to Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Our objective there was to visit a coal mining museum. We took the Marconi Trail to this: this trail was not in nearly as good a condition as the Cabot Trail, however, it stuck to the coast most of the way and we traveled through several nice villages along the coast and nearby lakes. The mining museum was excellent. It was built in the mid 60's and a mine was excavated just for the museum, they removed 300,000 tons of coal in 14 months using the methods of the early 1900's; horse drawn carts to remove coal and using shovels and pick axes to muck the coal into the carts. Included with the museum was an underground tour of this coal mine. The tour was led by a fascinating individual, Abbie Michalik, a local retired miner. We were able to talk with him a couple of times before the tours started and before we visited the museum. Abbie had worked more than 35 years in 4 different mines in the area (plus 17 years at the museum). He started his carrier as a young teenager when his father pulled him from school and enrolled him to work to help supplement the family income, they did not make much as they only earned 65 cents a tonne. Abbie was 72 years old and didn't look or act a day older then 50, he kept the whole tour group in awe as we walked and talked on the tour in mine shafts that were only 4 to 5 feet high. We were all moaning (well I know I certainly was!!!) with back pain and he took it all in stride, making it clear that many coal veins were only 18" to 3 ft high and people worked a 12 hour day removing coal 6 days a week from them laying on their stomach or working on their knees.

The coal here is mostly located under the ocean between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The mines had to be at least 2000 ft deep before they could mine under the ocean. The mines extend almost 10 miles under the ocean toward Newfoundland in eleven distinct layers/veins. It is interesting to note that the miners received no travel pay so they had to go down the shaft 8 at a time then down the mine to where they were working the coal, often a 1 to 2 hour trek, before they were on the clock (they earned hourly wages in the 1950s, I believe it was about 80 cents an hour).

Abbie married in 1959 and last year his kids purchased their parents a trip to Cuba for their 50th anniversary. His wife had never been on a plane and insisted after they landed in Cuba, she would never again get on a plane again. Fortunately he was able to convince her otherwise because it would have been a long swim back.

It was interesting to note that he has to pay $126/tonne for coal to heat his home. Retirees on pension only pay $38/tonne. however, all miners lose their pension and other associated benefits (medical, dental, coal subsidy, etc.) at age 65.

PS: No pictures because you-know-who forgot to bring the camera along.