Covered Ground

After leaving Mt. Pocono, PA, we traveled to Hagerstown, Maryland which is near Antietam Battlefield. Believe it or not, we are not now nor have ever been Civil War buffs, but it seems this part of the country was extremely significant during that time period, with the battle at Antietam being the bloodiest one day battle in US history. The sun set on 26,000 dead that day. The biggest loss of US lives on US soil in one day.

This small part of Maryland is very near Virginia and West Virginia so we ventured just a few miles over to Harpers Ferry, WV. We had said that if we were ever in the area we definitely wanted to visit the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters in Harpers Ferry. The visit was much like we had imagined it would be. The headquarters is a small, unassuming stone building just on the perimeter of the historic district of Harpers Ferry. The ATC is the "psychological midpoint" for those who are hiking the AT which runs from Georgia to Maine. We were able to hike a short segment of the AT, which only reignited that desire to do more of it. The trail goes through the campus of Storer College which has huge significance in the history of African-Americans and all seeking an education without regard to race or creed. It now serves as a federal training center. We are in awe of those who actually walk the 2100+ miles of the AT and at least one of us hopes to one day be among those who have successfully accomplised this feat.

Harpers Ferry is a small hamlet historically recreated. The town itself was significant during the American Revolution and again during the Civil War for its industrial importance. The interpretive rangers at Harpers Ferry will argue that the Civil War began there via the insurrection by John Brown, rather than with the first shot fired at Fort Sumter, SC.

Harpers Ferry is a very interesting place. Its history pre-dates the Civil War, although that is a major focus of its demonstrations. It is a beautiful area with spectacular views. We visited The Point where the Shenandoah River and the Potomac Rivers converge. Jefferson Rock was purchased by Thomas Jefferson from King George for a sum equal to about $2.40 so that all may enjoy the view. The view from Jefferson Rock is spectacular and the verdant view from Bolivar Heights is worth the short drive. If you have the opportunity to visit anywhere in the area, Harpers Ferry is definitely worth a visit. Even if you don't care for Civil War or history, there is still a lot to see and do. A one day car pass is good for three days and includes the shuttle bus to and from town.

With the visit to Harpers Ferry as the highlight of our Maryland stay, we enjoyed the campground's beautifully flowered rock garden and view along the Conochocheague Creek. The C&O Canal historic area is nearby, but runs 184 miles in actuality.

Leaving Maryland behind, we traveled to Natural Bridge, Virginia. We fully expected Natural Bridge to be a little cheesy based on the brochures and advertising, but were pleasantly surprised. The sign at Natural Bridge says it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We thoroughly enjoyed the day, first hiking down to Natural Bridge, then to the reconstructed Monacan Indian village and on to Lace Falls.

We then toured the Caverns which take you on a stroll 34 stories beneath the surface, which are said to be the deepest caverns east of the Mississippi. We are in awe of the power of nature and what running water can create over time.

On the way back to the campground, we had a MUST SEE stop at Foamhenge - an exact replica of Stonehenge created in FOAM. You gotta see this one to believe it! This must beat the giant ball of yarn for wit and creativity...

The campground had a concert last night featuring Andy Brasher, a musician from Kentucky. Jerri enjoyed the live music while Kathy recovered from eating greasy fish and chips from the Pink Cadillac Diner. The food was initially tasty but not so digestible later.

Left Virginia and traveled south on I-81 to Kingsport, TN (just down the road from Bristol and the fastest half mile NASCAR track) today (7/11). We're at Rocky Top Campground which is a nice, quiet change from all the noisy children at the KOAs of the past few days. We plan to explore the area a little tomorrow and let you know what we find.

For those wondering about our travel agenda, we are heading back to Rabun County briefly to take care of some business before heading south and to points unknown. Just keep reading, it may or may not eventually make sense. It's all about the journey.

Until next time, find joy in the small stuff.

K&J

Deja Vu, Sort Of

The July 4th weekend was upon us before we knew it and we found ourselves in search of a campground that wasn't full for the holiday weekend. We were very fortunate - as we have been throughout our travels - to get a campsite at Mt. Pocono Campground in Mt. Pocono, PA. After leaving Connecticut, we arrived in Western Pennsylvania on the 3rd and stayed until the 7th. Spending July the 4th in the Pocono Mountains was not a bad deal. The 4th was a combination of rain and fireworks, a pool with lots of kids, lots of dogs, and the aroma of grilled food. The area is beautiful and looks a lot like Rabun County, with lush green mountains and morning fog. FYI, the Pocono Raceway (NASCAR track) was about 8 miles from the campground. The campground had a nice nature trail with a small waterfall.

We ventured out on one of our days to visit Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County. We learned about this park, after leaving Pennsylvania the first time, while watching a PBS special. Having the opportunity to visit this state again, we could not pass up the chance to visit this unusual park. This park was comprised of a huge open area full of nothing but rocks of all shapes and sizes. These rocks were of a composition that, when hit with a hammer, various tones were produced that resembled musical sounds. When a group of rocks are hit by several people, the combined sounds resemble a song of sorts. Definitely a strange, must-see kind of place.

We said good-bye to Pennsylvania for a second time and headed to Williamsport, Maryland today (7/7), which is near Hagerstown. Antietam Battlefield and Harpers Ferry State Parks are nearby as is the C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal. This area is filled with history.

Our campground is on the Conococheague Creek. Maybe we'll find time to explore a little of the area before we leave Wednesday.

All Hail Connecticut...

Connecticut has been a blast! In spite of being touristy, Mystic Seaport was interesting and definitely one of our fave places. We went back yesterday evening (7/1) to have 'a slice of heaven' at the original Mystic Pizza. Their claim to fame is Julia Roberts' debut movie, 'Mystic Pizza,' from the late 80s, but prefer to say they're the pizza that made a movie famous. The pizza was delicious and we had leftovers for dinner again tonight. Right down from Mytic Pizza on Main Street is a draw bridge that is raised every quarter hour to allow boats to pass through. We enjoyed riding over this for another view of the river.

While at the campground we've been able to bicycle and paddle boat. Jerri's had a nice place to run and a mountain to run up and down (just like home only a shorter mountain).

Yesterday we daytripped to Essex for a ride through the Connecticut River Valley on board the steam railroad, then a trip on the Becky Thatcher paddle boat up and down the Connecticut River, and back on the train to return to the station. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip. From the river we saw Gillette Castle, osprey nests, Canada geese, cormorants, swans, and a pair of nesting bald eagles. We passed marinas and boatyards and also passed the home Doris Day rented when she filmed a movie back in the 1960s. We also met Bob, and 85 year-old train conductor who had a small (very small) role in the latest Indiana Jones movie. The train was also in the movie, as well as the Yale library. We saw pictures of Harrison Ford and Stephen Spielberg in the train gift shop.

So, of course, we went to the movies today to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We did see the brief train scene (near the beginning of the movie), which took three days to film. This afternoon we rode over to Foxwoods, which claims to be the largest casino in the world. On the way to Foxwoods, we ran through some rough weather and large hail, which at first appeared to have broken the car windshield. After the rain quit, we found the hail marks on the windshield were spatters of tree sap, not broken glass as it appeared from the inside. Never seen anything quite like this. Unable to tell at this time if there are any dings in the car body or not (needs washing too badly). After losing our designated amount at Foxwoods, we came out and the sun was shining.

All in all, Connecticut has been a very nice trip. Just don't buy gasoline here, cause the cheapest we've seen is $4.39 per gallon. Hopefully we'll find it less expensive in PA when we get there.

We leave for Mt. Pocono, PA tomorrow to spend the 4th of July weekend, then head further southward.

Until next time - life is short, enjoy the journey.

K&J

Mystical Connecticut

We arrived in East Lyme, Connecticut on Thursday, 6/26 after a short drive from Littleton, MA. We are in a nice RV Park that is centrally located to many sights along the coast. Yes, Lyme is the city for which Lyme Disease is named.

Our time in Connecticut has been refreshing after days of rain in our previous locations. We realize that there are many areas in desperate need of rain (we hear ya in South Georgia), but we are very grateful for a few days to venture out of the cozy but close confines of our home on wheels. We have had two beautiful days of sunshine with warm breezes.

We have enjoyed some down-time and half-day excursions to visit the Mystic Seaport and the Mystic Aquarium. During our visit to the Mystic Seaport, we happened upon the Wooden Boat Show that was being held along the Mystic River. So, in addition to visiting the ships along the river, we were able to see some really beautiful wooden boats sailed/brought to the area just for this event.

A highlight of the day was being able to climb aboard the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world. Built in 1841, she is jewel of the watercraft collection of Mystic Seaport, presiding over a fleet of more than 500 historic vessels.

Mystic became famous as one of the few remaining shipyards for building huge wooden ships. We took a water taxi from one end of the museum to the other. The museum has 17 acres and a recreated village along the river. The train still operates on a turnstile bridge that opens across the river to let boats pass. The slave ship used in the move Amistad was built in Mystic. The Mystic River flows into Long Island Sound. During our visit the river was alive with sailboats, peapods, kayaks, water taxis and all manner of boats. We saw a wooden catamarand from Scotland, which had been built in England. Lots of wooden boats were down from Maine just for the show. There are lots of sailing programs for children and young teens in the area.

Visiting lighthouses has always been intriguing for us. The more challenging the walk or hike, or the more stairs to the top, the better (for Jerri). While the Mystic Lighthouse was easily reached and visible, it still was beautiful in its own way.

Friday was pretty much spent in Mystic Seaport, about 15 miles from our campground home. Saturday we had a wonderful down day in the campground taking it easy. We rode our bikes through the campground and rented a paddle boat on the lake. Today (6/29) we ventured to the Mystic Aquarium and Olde Mystick Village. This aquarium is like a mixture of Sea World, a regular aquarium, and a theme park. Exhibits were indoors and outdoors. There was an indoor marine theater with a presentation of California sea lions; a 3-D dive experience which was like a theme-park ride; outdoor tanks with Beluga whales and African penguins. We are also in close proximity to the Submarine Museum, the US Coast Guard Academy at New London, the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation and Museum, and Foxwood and Mohegan Sun casinos. Connecticut has lots of state parks in the area to choose from but the price for non-residents is higher and higher still on the weekends. Some state parks charge by the car and others by the person.

The 4th of July holiday changed our plans a little with campground reservations difficult to get this late, so we'll be leaving Connecticut on July 3rd and traveling to Mt. Pocono, PA for the holiday weekend, then continuing southward.

Happy in our mystic travels,
J&K

Bye Bye Boston

The Minuteman Campground was our favorite New England campground so far. We had a lovely corner lot with lots of big boulders and tall trees, we could have enjoyed it much more without the daily incessant rain. On the one really nice day (6/25) we went to Boston. Drove to the Riverside parking complex and took the green line into Boston where we signed on for the Super Trolley Tour. We toured through much of the city and saw lots of sights, like Fenway Park [yes, there was a Red Sox game that night]. We didn't have tickets to the game but definitely rode the train back with every single Red Sox fan. We were packed on the train like sardines until after the Fenway stop.

We saw the Bull and Finch Bar which was used as the opening shot for the long-running television series, Cheers. The bar is actually downstairs but doesn't look like the TV version which was created in Hollywood. We hopped off the trolley and toured through Boston Common and the Public Garden to visit 'Cheers.'

Everyone in Boston was elated that the Celtics won the NBA title. They had a downtown parade a couple of days before we arrived and banners and signs were hanging all around town.

Apple must have a headquarters in Boston. Every train and billboard around town had bright colored Apple and iPod ads.

Included in our trolley tour was a boat tour of the Charles River. This ended up being the highlight of the day. The weather was beautiful, there was a nice breeze and the boat wasn't crowded. It happened to be 'Community Boating' day on the Charles. Anyone under age 18 could

rent a sailboat for $1.00 (that's right, one dollar) and sail on the Charles River. We saw lots of children of various ages sailing. All along the Charles colleges and universities (Harvard, Cambridge, MIT) have their own boathouses on the river. Some of the boathouses cost upwards in the millions to build. Boston has 68 institutions of higher learning.

We road over (during the trolley tour) and under (during the boat tour) the Henry W. Longfellow bridge which is also known as the 'Salt & Pepper Bridge' because the supports resemble large salt and pepper shakers. There is a story that the bridge was named after Longfellow because he traveled the bridge so frequently between his wife on one side and his mistress on the other side.

Our boat tour traveled under a lovely foot bridge and past the Harvard campus. This is a picture of the married student's dorms. The Boston trip was great and there's a lot to see and do. Boston deserves another trip to the area to do it justice...

Littleton, Massachusetts

We left Maine behind yesterday (6/23) under cloudy skies, traveled briefly through New Hampshire and arrived in Littleton, Massachusetts in a horrendous downpour with almost zero visibility.





The 'hubcap' bird of Skowhegan/Canaan will surely miss us, probably more than we miss her. Every morning beginning around 5:30 AM we were awakened by metallic tapping sounds. Peaking out the window revealed nothing and no one - opening the coach door revealed nothing but the sound stopped only to resume after the door was closed. Finally, the culprit was discovered - a small bird pecking at it's reflection in the right front hubcap of the coach - and only our coach - not any of the neighbors'. Later we observed this same small bird feeding its half-grown baby on the ground. We thought the baby must have fallen from the nest or something, but we found no nest. After mentioning it to the campground hosts we were told there is a bird in Maine that feeds its young on the ground.... We felt honored to have been chosen. We finally saw a Maine sunset the only evening it did not rain and it was quite lovely.





Leaving Maine we discovered the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) national monument located at Good Will-Hinckley, Maine. Maine shows distance in both miles and kilometers on major roadways. There is a 5-cent deposit charged on every 2-liter or can of soda and the only way to get the deposit back is at a redemption center. This was the only form of 'recycling' we saw in Maine.





We're now in Littleton, Massachusetts at the Minuteman Campground, and FYI, actor/comedian Steve Carell was actually a rural mail carrier in Littleton before hitting it big - and he was born just over in Acton, MA. Littleton could become famous one day soon (or not).



Today (6/24) we ventured out to West Fitchburg, Lunenburg and Shirley (Shirley was incorporated in 1715) and other small villages in the area. Tomorrow we plan to take the train into Boston and walk the Freedom Trail.





Until next time - travel for the fun of it and seek joy in the small things.





K&J

Enjoying Maine

We travelled from the Maine coast inland to Fairfield for coach repairs. Had the electric step motor replaced and now life is sooooooo much better. We arrived in the Skowhegan/Canaan area in the middle of a vicious thunderstorm. It's never fun leveling and setting up camp in the rain, but we managed.

Today was an absolutely 'wicked' good day with mild temps and lots of sunshine. We ventured forth to Waterville, then to Skowhegan to see the 62 foot tall statue of a wooden Indian. We visited OPB [Oak Pond Brewery] a local microbrewery housed in a remodeled chicken barn. The beer got two thumbs up, especially The Nut Brown Ale. New Balance footwear headquarters has moved from Skowhegan to somewhere in Massachusetts. We carried our passports just in case we ended up in Canada, but maybe another day... Somewhere near here is the Benedict Arnold trail which goes on up into Canada, but haven't found it yet. Stephen King is reported to have homes in Bangor and Portland but we weren't looking for him today - but the 62 foot Indian was a MUST SEE!!

We've been brushing up on local lore and found that pot-hole season peaks in April but occurs throughout the year [yep, we know all about that]. The word 'wicked' is used as an adjective meaning 'very' - just like in Massachusetts. 'Down-east' is a Maine term, but we haven't quite figured out what area it references.

Maine has one of the highest moose populations, second only to Alaska. There are signs along all the highways warning of moose in the area, as well as in the newspapers and campground literature [so this is wicked serious business]. Moose are vegetarians; a bull moose can weigh 1,000 pounds or more; they are unpredictable and described as fairly stupid, which is why there are so many accidents involving vehicles and moose. Moose eyes can reflect light, but at six feet tall, car headlights usually shine between their legs; the hood of the car usually strikes the moose under the belly with the body falling heavily against the windshield. We are trying our damnedest to keep away from loose moose along the highway...

We are still adventuring in Maine [which can be a wicked scary place with all the moose on the loose].

Until next time - seek joy in everything, even the small stuff.

K&J