There are good days, and then...

...there are days that have some badness in them. Monday was one of those days. It had some really good moments, but when we got to New York, things went south.

<- Our RV tucked on the deck of the SSV New Jersey

We had planned to take the ferry from Lewes, DE to Cape May, NJ just for the fun of it. Then we did a little research on diesel prices, and found that southwestern NJ was a low point in our travels north. Diesel at the Flying J in Carney's point was 2.59, as opposed to 2.89 in northern New Jersey, so we checked a route avoiding the ferry and found it added about 40 miles to the trip. For the fuel alone, that probably wouldn't have been worth it. But that would save the $70 ferry fare as well. But we still wanted to ride the ferry, so we decided to take the ferry and then head toward where fuel was cheap.

We got up early enough, but goofed off too long. In order to make the 10:15 ferry, we figured we would have to leave around 9:30, allowing time to dump our tanks and arrive at the terminal 30 minutes early as we had been told. The last 1/2 hour was a race, as we both had to shower, and I had to pack away the satellite dish. But we made it, on the run.

The ferry ride was great. The sun was out, there were light breezes and a relatively calm ocean. We rode the rail together, watching Cape Henlopen fade away and Cape May appear. The ride is about 18 miles, and takes 1 hour and 20 minutes.Wonderful, wonderful.

We decided if we could find cheaper fuel after we left the ferry, we could buy it then choose an easy route toward the Jersey shore. We had targeted an Elks club in Manhawkin, NJ, for two nights. But we headed up the western NJ coast instead of along the shore. It turned out that we were only 20 miles from Carney's Point when we found a station with diesel at 2.63/gal, and we stopped for lunch and bought fuel there.

<- Arriving at the Cape May ferry dock

I probably shouldn't try to change my mind while I'm driving, because I don't readily grasp my options. Now, at about 2:00, I wanted to keep moving. It was too early to park in a Flying J station for the night, too far to go back to the shore, or Manhawkin. Consuelo found a Walmart in New Brunswick, about 80 miles up the road, so we headed there. As we got close to the exit off the NJ Turnpike, I askked her to see how far it might be to go all the way to our stop in Croton Point, NY. Another 80 miles. I felt like driving, so we kept going. Traffic was better than I expected. We took 287 around NY, and slowed to 15 mph a couple of times, but most of the 80 miles was at posted speeds. Consuelo called the campground and got us a site, since we were 2 days ahead of our reservation. Our route tooks us over the Tappan Zee Bridge. There, the trouble began. We were about 1-1/2 miles across the 3 mile bridge, when we heard a loud crash and bang. We both were startled, and Consuelo looked out the window and and saw our large, 22' long awning flying over the edge of the bridge. Then the rear end of the awning dropped to the roadway, and the rear arm was sticking straight out 8' from the side. There is NO place to stop aloing this bridge and we were in the middle of rush hour. Our only choice was to keep going.

<- The Cape May lighthouse

We slowed to 10 mph, and got over the line between the middle and right lane, to keep the arm from hitting the bridge. We crept along, with traffic whizzing by us at 55 mph, trailer trucks within inches of our left side. Consuelo with her head out the window, me watching the rear view mirror, until we got to a parking area just before the toll booths on the eastern side of the bridge. I got out and surveyed the damage. The arm that was sticking straight out was only held by a clip, so it popped right off. The other arm was still in the upright position, though bent and twisted. The 22' pole had dragged 1-1/2 miles across the bridge, and one of the end caps was scrapes up pretty good. The cloth had but 2" attach at the front. The rest had completely separated from its mount. Two NY State Policemen had stopped in the same area, helping other motorists who were having problems. One places some flares behing out car, to warn traffic that we were stopped there.I should have done that, but I was focussed on cleaning up and getting us out of there. I gout our ladder out, and cut away the cloth from its groove, got the front arm down, and stowed the parts below. The 22' pole, with the cloth wrapped around it, was a bit more of a problem. We opened rthe front door, and tried to get it inside. With the inside end over our stove, the outside was still 10" from going through the door. I removed the end caps and springs, and we just barely managed to fit it through the door. We then proceeded through the toll booth and paid our $20 (yikes!) fine (errr, toll). We can travel 100 miles on the NJ Turnpike for $8.80, but 3 miles across a bridge costs $20. Go figure.

<- The remains of our awning, taped to the window

That alone was enough to ruin a good day, but we weren't done yet. When we got to the park, we found that our campsite was about 8 feet too short, and the neighbor, who was not home, had plugged his trailer into our outlet. We fit into the site at an angle, and I plugged him into the 15 amp outlet. But he needed to cook and run his AC when he got home. We were fine with 15 amp, for the night, so I let him have our 30 amp outlet. Which he proceeded to blow. The he somehow found the master breakef for his post, but not ours. Now he had electricity, and we didn't. I ran a cord over to the next site and we had enough for the night.

The next morning, the office called, surprised that we were here 2 days early, and very surprised that we were in the short site. We talked with out insurance company to see what our awning coverage was, and found it was not much. We'll probably get this one repaired.

I haven't had a good shot of adrenaline in a while. Guess it was time.

Cape Henlopen, Delaware

We don't have a specific mission to visit every state as we travel, but occasionally we take stock of which we've seen and which are still unexplored nuggets to be discovered. Of course, there are many, many places in most of the states that we have not yet discovered, so there's still many opportunities to visit again.

This week our travels brought us to Delaware, the 2nd smallest state in the union. Delaware was first to ratify the US constitution, so it calls itself "The First State". Before that, it was settled by the Dutch, and was part of William Penn's territory of Pennsylvania. During the civil war, Delaware was a slave state, although it never seceded from the union. The governor at the time said Delaware was the first state to join the union, and would be the last to leave.

During world war 2, the Army determined that protecting the mouth of the Delaware River, the gateway to industrial Philadelphia and Wilmington, was an important mission. They built the largest fortification in the US on the Delaware side of the river, on a sandy point called Cape Henlopen. This area was called Fort Miles, and included guns designed to sink ships, up to 20 miles away. After the war, and as such weapons were obsoleted by missles, most of the fort was acquired by the State and turned into a state park.

Our experience is that this is one of the best state parks we have visited. While they don't have the best camping facilities (no electric or sewer hookups) they clearly have a pride in the operation that shows through the presentation of the park, a concern for preserving the history, and great trails for walking or bikes.

One thing we saw that was highly unusual was the albino deer we saw cavorting with the rest of the herd on the Frisbee field when we arrived. It is quite striking to see a white deer.

Their beach is excellent, reasonably accessible even though the park encompasses the largest sand dune between Cape Cod and the Outer Banks of NC. They support surf fishing and provide several crossovers for fishermen in trucks to reach the beach. The swimming area has a large bath house and parking lots.

Fort Miles retains some of the original barracks and other buildings because they were built from block rather than wood. There is an active reenactment group that presents recreations of wartime life in the fort, and some of the armaments are being restored to their appearance in the 1940's. While there are remnants of the fort, such as concrete foundations, scattered throughout the park, the most impressive structures that remain are the 9 observation towers that served as viewing and triangulation points to help aim the guns.

The great dune, nearly 100 feet above the ocean, was actually created by the Army to house a large gun placement. From the top of the trail, a great view of the ocean is provided. On the bay side of the park, the original WWII pier reaches out into the ocean for hundreds of feet, even though the far end is under reconstruction. Dozens of people fished there over the weekend, though all they were catching was a tan.

The campground differs from any others we've seen in that the RV parking is at the each edge of wide paved roads. Since the base of the parks is mostly sand, paving long strips of roadway provides a secure footing for the vehicles that come here, and preserved the pine forest in between the roads. Vehicle parking is therefore parallel to the road. Since the park was virtually empty when we arrived, we didn't have the extraordinary experience of needing to parallel park out 38' motorhome. The sites in the tenting area are scattered through the trees around the edge of the paved area, and appeared to be very nice.

The park also supports various activities to educate the public in environmental issues. The weekend we visited included Earth Day, and there were a number of presentations and walks that highlighted the natural elements of the park. On Saturday, hundreds of people played Frisbee games in the large field designated for that purpose. A nature center features aquariums of local fish, presentations on the nature of a sandy ocean interface, and the loaned out bikes for people to enjoy the trails. One very large building housed the University of Delaware Marine/Air laboratory, and one portion of the park contains the longest running acid rain measurement facility in the country.

We can highly recommend this park for RVers that want to stay in a place that gets you close to nature along the Atlantic Ocean.

Washington DC

After getting new tires on our house in Charlottesville, we cruised late in the day to the Elks club in Arlington, VA. The club was easy to find, but had two large functions in progress when we arrived. After a little guidance, we found the spaces for RVs at the back of the lot.

Washington gets so much attention in normal life that it seems there's little new to say about the landmarks here. As with the crowds at Monticello, Washington was packed at this time of year, as people tried to get in the last of their Easter vacation in the city. Finding parking was difficult. We finally found a tiny space near the Capitol, with a police car adjacent, who told us we were legally parked.

We decided to take a bus tour to get a glimpse of a lot of things in a relatively short time period. Having lots of choices for this, we chose a double-decker bus. Due to the weather, we were unable to get our money's worth, it was too cold and rainy to sit outside on top. The bus tour allows as many exits and returns to the route as you want, so stopping to explore is pretty easy. One alternative was "ducks", like the ones in Wisconsin Dells, which both drive around and cruise on the river.

Our main attraction here was Consuelo's nephew Gabe, who is doing a 3 month internship in terrorism research with a group here in Washington. He's finding this interesting, but it has not attracted him into this business. He plans to return to Naples, FL, and continue towards a teaching position there. Gabe has had some time to explore Washington, but he's no tour guide. We had fun together.

There's lots of good places to eat here. We chose to get off at Adams Morgan, near Embassy Row, where there was a choice of international cuisine, from which Gabe chose an Indian restaurant which had a nice buffet.

Afterward we hopped back on the bus and rode to the Lincoln Memorial. After touring the memorial itself, reading both the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's 2nd inaugural speech, we walked the length of the reflecting pool, stopping to visit the Viet Nam Veteran's memorials, finally arriving at the Smithsonian near the Castle. Here we split up, as Consuelo wanted to see the Holocaust Museum, and Gabe and I went to see the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Museum, which was closed. Several museums were closed for renovation, including the Smithsonian American History museum.

Instead we went to the Hirshhorn Art Museum which I enjoyed. The Hirshhorn has a large collection of 20th century art in many different media. Groups of young people were mesmerized in front of the multi-screen video display. Another group was following the long, intricate video of a Rube Goldberg setup going through its crazy paces. I was most intrigued by the art that wove together form and color into interesting pieces, the sculptures, and some of the mobiles. I did not care for the artworks that seemed to me to try to say as little as possible, appearing to me as preparation of the canvas for something yet to be created.

Afterward, Gabe and I walked down to the Air and Space museum, as he had already visited the Freer Art Museum. I find the artifacts in Air and Space interesting, but I found that there was a relatively small collection of items from the American History Museum in one corner of the building. A long line was queued, but moved fairly quickly through the exhibit. Many of the artifacts here were old, like Lincoln's hat and Helen Keller's watch. The ones I found most interesting were those from my lifetime, icons of my past that appeared here in person. Things like Archie Bunker's chair, Carl Yazstremski's batting helmet, and R2D2 from Star Wars. It's interesting to see what museum curators decide are the important artifacts from my time period to represent the culture I have been living through.

Consuelo found the Holocaust Museum, but the main exhibit was sold out for the day, so she could not see it. Instead, she toured an exhibit describing a young boy's life as it progressed from a middle class home to life in the ghetto, where signs of "No Jews Allowed" were displayed, to life in a concentration camp, separated with his father from his sister and mother. He and his father survived the camp, but they never saw his sister or mother again. The building was beautiful, but sparse. The gift shop was an education on the holocaust in itself.

We caught the bus back to Union Station and walked back to our car. On the way, we saw a wedding party lining up at a fountain in front of the Capitol for wedding photos. We returned to our little home in Arlington to talk, eat and play cards with Gabe.

On Sunday, we had planned to do some more touring, but the weather was nasty, raining nearly all day. Gabe came over around 5:30 for dinner and more card games. Consuelo dug a great pork roast out of the freezer and added Cuban fixin's to it.

We had planned to leave on Monday, but the storm was throwing 40-60 mph winds around the entire east coast, toppling trees and putting out power in the region. We stayed put, only venturing out for fabric shopping at G Street and finding a Panera's for lunch, with free Wifi, so we could get and send mail, and find a place to stay Tuesday night on the web.

Flat Tired

We traveled from North Carolina to Charlottesville, VA, with one tire flat. We can only surmise this because we now believe the tire went flat in Jacksonville, NC. We heard a noise, and attributed it to a storage door that opened unexpectedly. We now think the door was blown open when the tire popped. Either way, while inspecting the tires in Charlottesville, I discovered that an inner dually was flat. The outer tire had carried the weight, and hidden the damage. Live and learn.

Locating somebody to replace tires on our RV is a good example of how we find support people in general. As with many things on a motorhome, I can't change a tire. We don't even carry a spare, though there's some justification to do so. As a result, we rely on the network of help out in the world, and when we need it, we have to go find it.

We have a couple resources in the motorhome with us. One is the phone book contained in our mapping software, Street Atlas. We often use this to locate nearby resources. The main problem with it is that it's never up to date. Even though we have the 2007 version, it was published in early 2006, probably from resources available in 2005. On numerous occasions I have located a store in Street Atlas that I wanted to visit, only to find that it had closed or moved. We tried this, looking in "Truck Tires" with no luck. We might have had better luck if we had spelled Charlottesville correctly.

Since we were parked in a Sam's Club parking lot, with a tire department, we decided to check them out. They don't carry tires for our RV. But they had a guy who knew the tire shops in town, and especially the ones that might help us. We called them, and found that the do carry tires our size, but would have to order them, and it would take 6 days. We didn't mind overly spending 6 days in Charlottesville, but thought it might be more productive to check further.

The second resource in our RV is the manuals that came with the coach. I have referred to these on occasion to call Spartan, our chassis manufacturer, to locate service shops. One problem with the manuals is that they are 10 years old, and thus are even less reliable than the phone book. In this case, though, I was looking for an 800 number for Michelin, which I found, and it still worked. The number was set up for dealers to call to place orders, but I patiently found a way to ask for help. The fellow at Michelin was kind enough to locate the closest dealers who carry our tires, and even get them on the phone for us. The first one had 3 tires, and was 80- miles away. The second had 13 tires in our size, and was also 50 miles away. But discussion revealed that the secind one, Big L Tire Company in Harrisonburg, was in the process of opening a new truck tire service operation in Charlottesville. We were their first on-site customer.

John at Big L agreed to have our tires trucked down to Charlottesville, and they charged us the going rate (about $400 each installed) for them. They were operating out of a construction company lot near Monticello, a little hard t o find. To help, Terry, the tire guy, drove their company truck down to the entrance and waved us down as we approached. And he began removing our old tires while the new ones were coming down from Harrisonburg.

The whole deal took about 3 hours to change 5 tires (one was newer than the rest). We were impressed with the service and courtesy we received, though John said he would knock off the $0.13 from the total, and we got charged for it anyway.

Tires we the top priority remaining on our list of major things needing repair on the motorhome, and we had planned to replace them in Florida. Our delay caught up with us. I now have little concern for the condition of our tires, which allows me to roll down the road more easily.

Monticello

The little mountain, Monticello, was the lifelong project of Thomas Jefferson. He began envisaioning a home for himself and his family at a fairly young age. The land was granted him as an inheritance. He built a house, the "dependencies" around the house, a collection of service buildings and living quarters for the slaves that were part of his inheritances. He was a farmer, college trained at William and Mary, a member of the Virginia legislature, the author of the Declaration of Independence (one of his proudest achievements), the mastermind behind the University of Virginia, third president of the United Stated, and responsible for the Louisiana Purchase and the adventures of Lewis and Clark. He tinkered in archeology, meteorology, architecture, and animal husbandy. He grew hundreds of varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers and trees on his property and even invented some species. He is credited with inventing the moldboard plow, and accused of inventing many other things. He loved technology, and brought home devices, like double doors that operate together, from his travels in Europe, notable France. He kept thousands of books, dozens of scientific instruments, and played the violin. He displayed sculpture and art in his home, including the bust of his enemy Alexander Hamilton. Guests, who often arrived unuinvited, were kept waiting in his foyer, which was a museum of natural history and the greatness of the United States.

He had but two daughters by his first wife, and his first daughter and wife died young. But his second daughter left him a legacy of grand and greatgrand children, who lived with him late in life at Monticello. He also has a darker legacy expressed in the family of Sally Hemmings.




I had visited Monticello once before, in the early 1980s, with my sons as part of a vacation in the area. I came because I had heard of the inventiveness of Jefferson, and I was interested in seeing the unique inventions he had scattered through his house. I was lightly impressed. It's difficult to grasp the creativity process from 200 years ago, and I was expecting much more. Having visited again, seeing the same few innovations, I have a much broader context to understand his independent genius. Jefferson was no Edison, nor did he intend to be. He collected ideas and incorporated them into his life. If he had been more of an entrepenuer, perhaps he would have capitalized on his technology transfer and avoided the debt he had accumulated trying to make the plantation profitable.

Many of the artifacts in the house are Jeffersons. This is fairly unique and unusual in historical preservation. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has re-acquired numerous of Jefferson's properties that were scattered to collectors. Since Jefferson was a scrupulous record keeper, other artifacts in the house are identical to the ones he owned, such as the books in his vast collection, such that the house is presented very much in character. The house itself was preserved by the Levy family until it could become the foundation of an educational and research organization that would preserve it. Most of the house is original, though some worn artifacts have been replicated.

Having been through most of a life at this point, I was much more appreciative of the broad brush that Jefferson managed to paint on the world. Monticello is but the abode he inhabited, not finished until he was in his mid-60s. It is but a mere shadow of the measure of the man, an important artifact, but only one color in the rainbow of an impressive life.

Duke Homestead/Tobacco Museum

<- Fence and dogwoods along the homestead path

Today was forecast to be rainy all day and night. Kurt Augustine, who I worked with at Mayo, had recommended that we visit the Tobacco Museum in Durham. Per se, that didn't sound all that inviting on its surface. But a little web research found that North Carolina reported it as the Duke Homestead and Tobacco Museum, which sounded a lot more appealing. After our visit, I must report that we were not disappointed at all.

The homestead in on the northeast side of Durham, and we arrived through a tangle of I40, I85, US15, US501, and a few local roads, the last "Guess Road", designed to confuse the best navigator. The museum was on Duke Homestead Road, making it easy to know we were in the right place, once we found it. Actually, Durham did a pretty good job of providing signs to help guide us.
<- The Duke Homestead and 1st manufacturing barn.

We entered the museum and found that the next guided tour would start in 15 minutes, which gave us time to explore the museum a bit. While the history of smoking tobacco goes back a long way, the salient points presented in the museum are the discovery of the way to produce light colored "bright" tobacco through a charcoal curing procedure, and the decision of the Duke family to give up farming in favor of tobacco manufacture. The first led to Durham becoming the major center of tobacco for many years, and the second led to an organization that owned 90% of the tobacco business, know by the name of American Tobacco, until broken up by the Sherman act, along with other monopolies in the early part of the 20th century.

<- The grading barn, where tobacco was prepared for auction

The tour took us to the old curing barn, and our guide explained the operation of the closed firepit and exhaust tubes designed to warm and dry the barn evenly.

Then to the grading barn, where the dried tobacco mildly rehydrated, then sorted and packed for the auction.


<- Consuelo and "Biscuit" in the manufacturing barn

After that, we visited the 3rd manufacturing barn, where tobacco bought at auction was processed into pipe tobacco, for packaging into 30 pound sacks for shipment. The Dukes gave up most of the farming for concentration on manufacturing around the time of the civil war. The manufacturing barn was now mostly empty, save for a black cat called "Biscuit" who was in charge of rodent detail on the homestead. He apparently was locked into the manufacturing barn since yesterday, and was very glad to see us (or anybody).

We then toured the house where the family was raised. As with many historic sites, it is filled with pieces appropriate to the period, not those owned by the Dukes. It was simply furnished, most likely as it was during their early years. We thought of many questions about the Dukes and their lives while visiting the house.

<- Spittoon display in the museum

Back in the museum, we followed the various trails followed by the tobacco industry in its quest to perfect the manufacture and sale tobacco. We were shown the types and life cycle of Nicotania plants, the history of the various machinery to plant, harvest, process and package the product. Displays of the artifacts used to consume tobacco: pipes, spittoons, ash trays and vending machines. And of course, the various displays of the marketing efforts of the weed, from Bull Durham to the Marlboro man.

The visit reminded me of my younger days, when I smoked cigarettes. It also reminded me of my visit in 1960 to Brown and Williamson in Lexington, where I saw those cigarette manufacturing machines in use. It also reminded me of when I was much younger, traveling through the tents over shade tobacco grown for cigars in the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts.

Jordan Lake State Park, NC

As we venture north, we engage my vision of "spring" more fully. The trees are still pushing out leaves, the weather is crisp, yet sunny. The early flowering plants are beginning to make a show of it. All in all, a wonderful time of year.

Spring probably has less effect on us because we have not endured a hard (or even easy) northern winter, like those we had in Minnesota. Nonetheless, we still enjoy the newness of life emerging in the woods.

Our plan is to visit Raleigh, NC. When people asked why were we going there, we said that we had never been, and we would see what Raleigh brought forth for us to see. Finding places to stay was a bit more difficult in NC than we experienced elsewhere. While finding state parks was not too dificult, they only take reservations in person or by mail here, so we had some uncertainty as to whether there would be space or not. But it's early in the season, and we arrived on a Monday. We've heard that the park was full over easter weekend, but now we are sharing 65 campsites (just in our loop) with 5 other campers, one of them a camp host.

Jordan Lake is a body of water created by the Army Corps of Engineers building a dam (formerly called the New Hope Dam) on the Haw river near Raleigh. The lake encompasses 13,000 acres, and serves multiple purposes of recreation, flood control, water supply, water quality, and fish and wildlife conservation. North Carolina designated the surrounding lands to be state park. There are several campgrounds, and we first tried Vista Point, but were turned away as that area a group camp and is only available individually to visiting family for emergency needs (such as visiting in the hospital). We ended up in Poplar Point, perhaps even better, as we are parked with 100 feet of the water.

The park includes several well-marked hiking trails, one of which we traveled part of this morning. Here we are doing a poor job of trying to hide behind the same tree.






The dogwood trees are blooming throughout North Carolina, like white confections sprinkled through the woods. This one was adjacent to another campsite along the trail.






The fauna are enjoying spring, too. Here a monarch butterfly warms his wings in the sun on a budding tree.

Edisto Beach, SC

Our spring migration north has begun in earnest. Our travels start with diesel prices around $2.70 per gallon. I expect it will get much higher before long.

Our first stop is Edisto Beach State Park, located on South Carolina's largest sea island, about 40 miles south of Charleston. This park has 2 camping areas, one in the live oak trees adjacent to the marshes, and the other, where we were lucky enough to get, adjacent to the beach.


The Edisto beach is much like Jekyll or Cumberland, long and beautiful, but because it's close to a city, there were lost more people enjoying the beach. There is a town here, too, a real resort village. Lots of houses on stilts, a golf course.

We thought the park was full, but when we checked later last weekend we found sites available. They're not cheap: $26/night. And they are all sandy down here, sand tracking into the house everytime we go into it.


Thumper liked the water, but didn't like the waves. While she's been in the ocean in several places, I don't think she's been on a beach with waves. She'd run into the water, then turn tail and run back up the beach as a wave came in. She seemed to think we were doing it to her, because she didn't want to go in again.





The beach flowers were out here, too. I'll have to do some research to find out what these are called.