El Paso, TX

well, I guess I should have put a "Merry Christmas" note on my blog, but I forgot all about the blog on Christmas day. 
On the 23rd of December, Paul, Jess, Dozer and I drove to El Paso from San Diego, in one day- about 730 miles.  Pretty tiring for Paul, and probably for Dozer. 
It was a quiet Christmas eve and Christmas day.  I am glad  my "youngest" child is old enough to understand that life doesn't always go the way you want, and isn't always a fairy tale, and it isn't always about you.....
We all got up on Christmas and opened the few gifts we had.  For the first time ever,  Paul and I didn't get each other ANYthing.... after a great breakfast of bacon, sausage, cinnamon rolls etc.... Gerry and I headed to the hospital and Jess and Paul stayed home.  Paul was in charge of cooking Christmas dinner.  Gerry and I came home a little early, to relax and enjoy Christmas dinner.
Today  was pretty much the same as yesterday.  Gerry and I went to the hospital to spend the day with Tom, and Paul stayed home to get some projects done at his parents house.
We plan on leaving here to go back to San Diego on Tuesday, but we are keeping an eye on the weather, which isn't supposed to be all that great.  If it looks bad, we'll leave earlier if necessary.
We are trying to research places to store the RV in El Paso, but are being thwarted by the holidays.  Every place is closed until after the first of the year. Worse case we will stay at the RV park here for a week when we get back, while we research places to store it.
There has still been no change in Tom's condition- he is unconscious but breathing on his own.

San Diego, CA

I think Jess was one of the lucky few who actually didn’t have a flight get canceled. She flew from Indianapolis to San Diego on Saturday night, the night that the entire east coast got bombarded with a massive storm, dumping up to 2 feet of snow, and causing thousands of flights to be canceled. Luckily she had a lay over in Dallas, not Chicago.


We arrived here Thursday night from El Paso, taking two days to get here. Our overnight stop was in a town called Quartzsite AZ. What a quirky town! In January the population swells to over 100,000 people as the RVers come to spend the month at the many RV parks and on the free government land. One woman said that over a million people will come through the town in that one month. One online group that we are members of meets here in January to have a chance to actually meet each other.

Once in San Diego we did some shopping, some decorating for Christmas and took a day to unwind a bit.

Saturday it was in the mid 80s here, which was warm even for San Diego….it felt really nice to be warm! Jess’s flight arrived at 11 pm, so we just went to bed once she got here.

Paul’s brother Tom and his wife Sue live about an hour from here so Sunday, after putting the decorations on the tree, we went up to their house for the day, and got to see them and our nephew Shad and his wife Amy. A very nice afternoon for us.

We have two more days here before heading to El Paso for Christmas. Today it was cool out but we headed for Mission Beach anyway, since tomorrow it will be cooler. We walked the boardwalk and ate at a restaurant right on the water, then headed back home to turn on the heat!! We were all wearing shorts, which probably wasn’t a great idea. Its 62 degrees out, but on the coast there was a bit of a breeze.

We have not decided what we want to do tomorrow- I think, as usual, it will depend on the weather. Wednesday we leave first thing in the AM in order to make it to El Paso in one day. There has still been no improvement in Tom’s condition, and the more time that passes, the more likely it is that he will either not wake up, or will have tremendous difficulty if he does

El Paso, TX

Latest update:
Tom has settled into his new room at the new hospital, where he has been for the past few days.
There has been a little improvement in his condition.  He opens his eyes and look at whoever is standing in front of him.  So far there has been no purposeful movement on his part other than his eyes.  The doctors are hopeful and we are as well, since he  was so active before the accident.
Because Tom's condition is stable, Paul and I are going to go to San Diego in time to meet up with Jess.  We'll pick up our trailer in Phoenix on the way, and leave it at the park where we have reservations, in San Diego.  After 2 weeks without the trailer, there are things we need from it, and things we can't leave in it indefinately. We'll head back to El Paso for Christmas, then back to San Diego for the last week of Jess's break, so she can keep her original flights.  After that we will head back to El Paso, with the trailer this time, to stay there as long as we need to be there....lots of driving, but its the best way we can think of to handle everything.

General blurb for anyone who hasn't read previous posts....


Paul and I are in El Paso with his parents. On November 30th Paul's father fell through the floor in the attic. He has no broken bones, but is currently still unconscious. We have stopped traveling for the time being, and will stay with his parents for as long as they need us here.

El Paso, TX

Latest update:  Yesterday afternoon Tom had  a tracheotomy and a feeding tube installed.  There has been no change to his condition other than the fact that he is breathing completely on his own now.  Today was a long day as we waited and waited to get him transfered to a new hospital.  There is nothing else they can do for him in ICU, so this afternoon at 5 pm he was transfered to a longer term acute care hospital.

General blurb for anyone who hasn't read previous posts....
Paul  and I are in El Paso with his parents.  On November 30th Paul's father fell through the floor in the attc.  He has no broken bones, but is currently still unconscious. We have stopped traveling for the time being, and will stay with his parents for as long as they need us here.

El Paso, TX

Just a quick update to our situation-  I waited a few days to post this for a couple of reasons.  I was hoping each day that there would be some change that would be happy news that I could write about,  plus, honestly,  I am not quite sure how much information to put in the blog about life as it is right now.
I guess at this point,  anybody who is reading my blog to read about all the great places we are visiting, well, you should probably stop reading for a while. In fact, anyone who wants me to send them a note when we get  back on the road can send me an email at paulporter11@gmail.com. I have no idea when that will happen, but I will send out a note when it does.....
So, where we stand.  There has been no perceptable change in Tom's condition in the last few days.  There have been small improvements- he is breathing more on his own,  and he is moving around more, but he is not responding to touch or to voice.  Monday he is scheduled for a Tracheostomy and the installation of a PEG feeding tube. 
I have seen this type of brain injury before- and I know that the doctors really have no idea what will happen, how quickly Tom will recover, and to what extent.  Its one of those frustrating, one day at a time situations.
Paul and I have canceled our reservations up until December 18.  At that point, our daughter Jess flies into San Diego to meet us there for her 3 week winter break. Our trailer, with most of our clothes and belongings, is in Arizona, half way to San Diego.  We are running through many potential scenarios, so that as it gets closer to Dec. 19th, we will have considered all our options and made the best choice as to what to do, based on what is happening here.  As I have mentioned before, I am very grateful that Paul and I were on the road and therefore available to stay here as long as his parents need us.
I'll post  updates here every few days or so, but I have pretty much decided that this is a public arena, not a personal journal for me, so it will be limited to the basics.
Thanks for all the well wishes everyone, and feel free to drop me an email!
Sue

Phoenix/El Paso

We had a great time in El Paso and a great Thanksgiving, with Paul's parents and Jessica.
Jess flew back to Muncie early on Saturday morning and we left soon after that for Phoenix.  We stopped along the way at Picacho Peak State park for the night, since it was too far to go in one day. 
Once in Phoenix, my cousin Linda was nice enough to invite us over for dinner and invited some of my other cousins so we would get a chance to see them.  We had a great time chatting with everyone.
Monday I hung out with Linda while she did some errands, and Paul did some projects on the trailer.  I always enjoy Linda's company- we are about the same age and saw each other a lot when we were kids.  Our daughters were born about 4 hours apart, 20 years ago....
Linda and her husband Michael came over for dinner Monday. Unfortunately we had just recieved a phone call from Paul's mother telling us that his dad had fallen and was rushed to the hospital, unconcious. Linda and Michael were a great help to us while we figured out what to do with our trailer so we could get back to El Paso ASAP.  We couldn't take it, since was snowing in El Paso, and therefore too cold for it. Plus it would slow us down and we'd have to park it someplace.  We ended up parking it in my cousin Marcie's driveway in Phoenix. We very much appreciated having a safe place to put it for however long we need to...
We left this morning at 6 AM and it took about 30 minutes to get the trailer backed into the driveway before we hit the road.
We arrived in El Paso at about 3 pm this afternoon, dropped the cat off at the house and Pauls mom came home to pick us up to go to the hospital.
Tom has no broken bones but has not woken up yet, due to some bleeding in his brain. They are still running tests and hopefully we'll know more in the next day or so.
This is one of the perks of early retirement- we can stay here as long as we are needed, since we have no where specific we need to be.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

El Paso, TX

Paul and I were lucky to be able to get reservations at Hueco Tanks State Park.  Essentially, admission to the entire park is by advance reservation only, and is limited to 70 people at any given time.  Even so, we were only able to get reservations for a guided tour, and were not able to do a self guided one.
Hueco Tanks,which basically means Hollows/Tanks, is named for the basins that are hollowed out of the rocks, which fill  with rain water, and  have been used as a source of water by people for thousands of years.
The reason for the severe limit on the number of people allowed into the park is to control access to the pictographs on the rocks.  There are hundreds of rock paintings, some of which are 2000 years old.  Unfortunately, some of them have been ruined by graffiti already.  A lot of the pictures are of masks, some are of animals, and some are of people dancing. There used to be a stage coach stop in this area years ago, and there is a huge boulder that has the passenger list for one trip engraved in the stone.  Apparently that was done so that any friends or family following behind would know that those are the people who made it this far, since so many people died along the way.
Our tour was 3 hours of climbing in and around the rocks and caves looking at the ancient paintings.  Its amazing that they are still there and haven't faded completely away. Most of them  are in small caves and never get rained on, and are always in the shade. After our outing we headed to Paul's parents for dinner.
We have spent the last couple of days doing some hiking at Franklin State Park, and eating.  Paul helped his dad pull out a couple of small trees in the yard, and I have been doing some research on Arizona, our next stop on our trip. We have cooked dinner a couple of times for his parents,and they have cooked a few times for us.  In general we have just been hanging out and relaxing.
Yesterday Jess flew out from Indiana.  She's only here for 3 days, but still it feels great to have her here. It also helps knowing that in another 3 weeks she'll be flying out at the end of the semester to meet up with us in San Diego for a few weeks.
She  had called from Chicago, between flights, from a stranger's cell phone, to let me know that her phone broke and she can't turn it on.  When she got here at 10:30 pm, Paul looked at it and sure enough, it's toast.  We immediately started researching options for her.
So this morning was the hunt for a new phone.  I think Jess almost jumped out of her skin when we agreed  that maybe she could get an iphone, if her current phone was not under warranty.  We were planning on getting her an itouch for Christmas anyway,and its the same price, so really it makes sense to get her the iphone.  We spent about 2 hours at the AT&T store and in the end, she got the iphone, and has been glued to it ever since.  We went shopping at the outlet stores this afternoon and didn't buy ANYthing, so I think the "new phone distraction" actually saved me some money.
Paul picked up our truck finally from the dealership.  The fix for the air conditioning was very expensive, but we don't feel like we have much choice.  Since it's a known issue for this truck, Paul is hoping that Ford will help with the cost of it.
Tomorrow we head to his parents for Thanksgiving.....

El Paso, TX

We left Big Bend behind and hit the road for El Paso Texas on Wednesday. It was a long but uneventful drive, and we arrived mid afternoon. Paul’s parents had invited us to a dinner that was being given for the members of the El Paso Community Foundation and their families. It was great that we were able to get there in time to attend with them. We met several people who are on various committees with Tom and Gerry, Paul’s parents. The amount of energy and dedication that they all have is awe inspiring. Rather than spending their retirement growing “old”, they stay active, giving back to the community financially, but more importantly, with their time and energy.
From the Assistance League, to The Community Foundation, with other foundations and committees in between, Tom and Gerry dedicate a large portion of their time working to better the lives of others. It really makes me feel like I (like most people) don’t do enough. One of the things I would like to do while on the road is to work for Habitat For Humanity. I’ll have to check into doing that.

Yesterday we took our truck in to get the oil changed and get the air conditioning fixed. They still have the truck today, and lucky for us we were able to borrow a car so we can get around easier. We did a bunch of errands and bought 2 more batteries for the Everest, which will make it easier to spend a night or two without electricity.
We’ve had a relaxing time hanging out with Paul’s parents. After hiking so much, it feels nice to slow down a little bit. Jess flies in next Tuesday night for the Holidays and has informed me that we are going to see the newest Twilight movie. First I have to finish the first Twilight book!
Tomorrow we head to Hueco Tanks State Park for the day to take a tour of the pictographs.

Big Bend National Park, TX

What a difference a day makes, weather wise, at least.…Two days ago, we drove 45 miles, across the park, to hike for a couple of miles in the desert, and then go to some hot springs. By the time we got to Boquillos Canyon to hike, it was in the mid 80s and the sun was beating down on us, with not a cloud in the sky. As we walked into the canyon, there were walking sticks and small pieces of artwork, set up on some rocks. There was a list of prices for each item, and a bucket to put money in. We came across several of these “piles” as we walked to the canyon. Looking across the Rio Grande, we could see the Mexicans hanging out on the other side. They cross the river when no one is looking and leave their goods for people to buy. As we got closer to our goal, we heard someone singing! A Mexican man was serenading us as we walked. Again, we came across a bucket with a note asking for donations for the singing.


Long before we got back to the truck, we knew it was not the day for hot springs. We were way too hot to contemplate getting into hot water.

We headed back home for the day.

I guess its always a good idea to make plans set in jello….the next day we had planned on hiking to Emery Peak, the highest point in Big Bend National Park, but when we got the trailhead, it was only 35 degrees out! There was no way we were dressed for that kind of cold, so we drove instead to the hot springs that we had skipped yesterday. It was actually pretty awesome. The water from the spring comes out at about 105 degrees, and the “pool” is big enough for a dozen people. It actually pipes into the ruins of a building that used to be there, that butts right up to the Rio Grande river. If it was warm out, you could go from the hot springs right into the river to cool off. Since it was cool out, we just hung out in the hot springs, and chatted with a couple from Maine who come down here every year for 5 months. We stayed for about two hours, ate lunch, and then decided we were waterlogged enough for one day.

On the way home we hiked The Grapevine Hill Trail, which was at the end of a 6 mile dirt road in the desert. There were unusual rock formations at the end of this trail, which made it a worthwhile way to spend an hour or so.

After dinner we called it a day, because we wanted to get up at 1 am to see if we could see the meteor shower. I hate to say that it was a waste of time getting up in the middle of the night, but it kind of was….we each saw one meteor in the hour we sat outside. Visibility certainly wasn’t the issue, since there is hardly any light pollution here and there were a gazillion stars. The meteors just weren’t there to see! Sadly disappointed we went back and got a few more hours sleep.

So, today was a day that I was really proud of myself. We drove to headquarters to catch the Pinnacles Trail, which leads to Emery Peak, the highest elevation in the park at about 7800 ft. After sleeping in a little too late due to our midnight excursion, we got to the trailhead at 11:30, a little late to start that kind of hike, but we figured we’d go as far as we could. We hiked up 4.5 miles, with an elevation gain of 2700 ft. and made it all the way to the top of Emery Peak. We had lunch along the way, and kept a sharp eye out for wildlife (we did see several deer along the way- no mountain lions though). We knew if we weren’t far enough along at 2:30, we wouldn’t make it to the peak, since we lose daylight at 6 pm. Pushing hard, we did it, for a total hike of 9 miles/ 6 hours.

On the way home we fueled up, in preparation for leaving tomorrow for El Paso.

At the store/gas station, there was a pile of clothes on a bench. Paul asked the cashier what the clothes were there for and she said that its just one of the ways that the townspeople help each other out. Anyone who has clothes they don’t want bring them to the bench and leave them there, and anyone who needs them just takes them. Really neat. There are definitely some differences between this type of small town and the places we are used to. The other day we stopped at a store that sells plants and stones, and there was a sign posted out front that said “be back at 1:30- if you want a plant, leave the money in the bucket.” The day before that we went to the liquor store and there was a sign on the door that said “see cashier at general store”, so the woman at the store next door told us to just wait two seconds while she called the guy and told him he had a customer. Sure enough, a few minutes later he showed up.

Big Bend National Park, TX

There is no shortage of hiking trails in Big Bend National Park. We spent a good portion of a day hiking a 5 mile trail called “the Window”. Within minutes of starting out we saw a Road Runner, and several deer. We met up with a couple who were on their way back who had seen, and actually gotten pictures of, a bear. She said he was about 15 feet away, looked up and saw them, and slowly meandered off. We looked really hard, but never saw him. Too bad. The view from the “window” was unique, since you can only see out through a square area that does look like a window. From there we went partway up a different trail and although not “unique”, the view was Fabulous! We ate lunch up there, then headed back, chatting with several groups along the way.

Back at the Visitors Center, while eating ice cream, we saw a herd of a very different kind of animal that lives in the park. They are called Javelinas. They look like very strange pigs but are not pigs at all. They are pretty aggressive, apparently, and can’t be domesticated.

Later that day, I wanted to test out the settings on my camera to see if I could capture the night sky, so after dark, Paul and I drove out past town, pulled over, and waited for our eyes to adjust to the dark. The sky was perfectly clear and the Milky Way was clear as day. Its been a long time since I have seen that many stars in the sky. As a bonus, the temperature  was still in the low 60s, so it wasn’t cold, either. I tried every combination of settings I could think of, and still couldn’t get a good picture. I’ll try again, but it was really disappointing. Paul patiently waited while I took pictures, but then he heard noises in the bushes and we both decided it was time to leave. There are definitely Cougars in the park, as well as coyotes. Every night I can hear the coyotes howling.

Our agenda for yesterday was to drive the scenic road that circles around part of the park. We started off by skating down a 13 mile stretch of dirt road. Looking behind the truck as we drove reminded me of the old westerns, where the truck kicks up a huge cloud of dust that leaves a trail behind the truck. That’s what we looked like. We could tell when a car came towards us by their cloud of dust. There were several stops for us to make along the way and the first one was the Santa Elena Canyon. The Rio Grande flows through this canyon, and the walls are over 1000 feet high. It was about a 1.5 mile hike into the canyon. Once inside, it was very peaceful and quiet. We explored for quite a while before coming back out. There was a lot of mud along the river, with animal tracks in it, so we spent some time trying to figure out what animals made the tracks.

We stopped at several historic buildings along the road, one of which was an old ranch, and one was a store, back in the early 1900s. It was really clear that back then, this area had what they call an “invisible border”. People from both countries moved back and forth pretty freely and no one paid much attention to the comings and goings. Very often, Mexicans would set up homes on land that belonged to someone else. Usually the rancher whose land it was didn’t mind, since it was more security for him and a source of labor when he needed it. There was a sense of cooperation.

Looking at all the “canyon” hikes there are to do here, I thought it would be a case of seen one, seen ‘em all, but the ones we have been to all have unique characteristics. Santa Elena Canyon has the Rio Grande running through it, Tuff Canyon is a canyon created from volcanic action, so there is a magma layer and a “tuff” layer. Tuff is essentially (white) volcanic ash that has hardened. When the volcano spewed, the ash settled over the magma and hardened. Once hardened, it’s very dense and acts like glue. What was cool at Tuff Canyon, was the rocks that were magma (red/brown) in the center, surrounded by white tuff. Pretty much looked like a rock within a rock. That canyon is mostly white due to the tuff, and is very narrow, because the density of the tuff kept the water from eroding the rock too much.

Burro Mesa Pour off is also a canyon, but it’s a box canyon. We hiked a mile or so into that canyon, and obviously came to a dead end, since it’s a box canyon. I was glad we didn’t run into a bear in THAT canyon.



Today we decided that we could handle another decent sized hike, so we got up a little early and headed out to the Lost Mine Trail (4.8 miles-6850 ft/1200ft elevation gain). This is the trail that has had the most bear and mountain lion sightings, but we weren’t lucky enough to see any. The views from the top were incredible, as usual, and we were done with the hike by lunch time. There were about 25 other people on the trail at the same time, some of whom were a little loud, so I was getting a little annoyed. We had decided last night that we would leave the afternoon free to just hang out and recuperate from all the activity. Unfortunately, Paul had to spend the afternoon trying to diagnose why the air conditioning in the truck isn’t working. He doesn’t have the tools to check it out, so we’ll have to bring it in for service in El Paso. Its due for another oil change anyway, so we’ll combine the two.

Tonight Paul is making Enchiladas and Margaritas.....yum!

Big Bend National Park, Texas

          Once again we have reached a destination that has me reaching for my camera every 2 seconds.  We only got here today and I already love this place.  Its HUGE-now I know what is meant by "VAST".  We drove for miles and miles and saw nothing but mountains, canyons, and desert, and once in a while we caught a glimpse of the Rio Grande. This isn't my first time seeing the Rio Grande, so I wasn't surprised when I saw it.  I was, the first time, though.  I had always heard stories of the Mexicans coming over the border by way of the river, as if it was a miraculous feat that they got across it.  Well, we can't take our dinghy on the river because it isn't deep enough.  There are some places that its only about 4 feet wide and a foot or so deep.  Most of the river tours are not running right now because the water level is so low.

     It took us two days of driving to get here from San Antonio.   We elected to use the smaller highway and stay off the main interstate.  Paul really finds it more relaxing, and its definately more scenic that way.  We spent a night in the town of Marathon, which is a very small town, with one gas station. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains though.

       Having been here for a day, I can see why people say to get all supplies before coming.  The only food store in the town we are staying in, Study-Butte (pronounced Stoody beut), is a convenience store that just sells eggs, milk etc.  The nearest "real" grocery store is over 80 miles away.  This town, which is typical of all the towns around here, has about 15 buildings total.   Since the reviews of all the campgrounds in the area were mixed, we hadn't booked one, figuring we'd check them out in person.  We ended up choosing the one that is closest to the park, because it  has wi-fi and we have cell phone service. Its also next door to one of the very few gas stations around that sell diesel fuel. So we are all settled in.

     We took off this afternoon to scope out the area.  Earlier in the day we had spoken to a ranger, who gave us ideas on hikes that would be appropriate for us, other activities we might be interested in, and he also mentioned that we could take Rte 90 when we leave to go to El Paso, since its such a scenic route, instead of the main interstate. That is, as long as our truck can handle a 2 mile stretch of road with a  15% grade , first going up, then going down, about 15 miles out of town.

    Along the way this afternoon we drove to the ghost town of Terlingua.  The town was a mining town- they mined mercury there until the mine closed in the 1940s.  The population of the town, such as it was, abandoned the town soon after. We kept driving down rte 90, and came across an old movie set.  There are the remains of about 5 buildings there which were used in several movies including "Streets of Laredo"(1995) "Journeyman" (2000) "My Maria" music video (1995) and "the Gambler V".  We checked out the town of Lajita, which is almost as small as Study-Butte. It was a beautiful afternoon for a drive so we kept going, admiring the scenery around us. 

I have never been on a road that felt as much like a roller coaster as this road did. There were hairpin turns, huge hills, huge hills WITH hairpin turns, and many times that it looked like we'd go right off the edge. All with a speed limit of 35-50 mph. After driving for a bit we decided to check out the stretch of road with the15% grade. Oh man. We knew before we even got there that there is no way we'd take the Everest this way. Guess its the interstate for us.
Tomorrow- hiking, maybe?

San Antonio, TX

After looking at the list of potential outings, we elected to go to Fort Sam Houston, which is a modern, active military base.  I have never actually been on a military base, that I can remember. Fort Sam Houston headquarters the Army's medical department and medical command, among other things.  There are two museums there- one is a medical museum, and the other houses the history of the base, along with some other information, such as the history of the army uniforms and the meaning of the "chevrons" or insignias (ie. Sargeant Stripes) and all the changes that they have been through over the years.  The stripes used to be a dull color, then years ago changed to a shiny gold color, but in Vietnam, it was determined that they were too bright and the soldiers had to have new ones made locally that were not as bright.There was a display that showed all the potential medals and ribbons that can be awarded, and where on the uniform each one would be placed. Not sure why I found that fascinating, but I did. The medical museum had army helicopters, jeeps and trains outside in the courtyard in addition to the information inside the building. I found it enlightening to see the military and warfare from  a different perspective.

After spending the day there, we rested up for a bit, hemmed and hawed about whether we really felt like going out again (it was 6 pm) and finally did go back downtown to walk the riverwalk at night. It has a whole different feel to it, and will be even more neat when the Christmas lights are turned on. We ate at another Mexican restaurant, strolled around for a bit, then called it a night.

Sunday we spent relaxing, food shopping etc. We had things we had intended to do but really when we got up, we felt like just having a lazy day.

We are really lazy this week- today we just did some cleaning, then spent the afternoon doing errands and lazing by the pool. It is one of the only days the weather has actually been warm enough to do that! We did try to work out, but their idea of a fitness center was pretty laughable.

Tomorrow we leave for a two day drive to Big Bend National Park. We keep hearing about how remote it is, “bring food” “there are no services anywhere near there”. Yikes. We finally talked to someone today who just came from there- they said there is diesel fuel in the towns surrounding the park, and that was our only real concern, so I feel better. We can buy food before we get there. We certainly won’t starve to death anyway….

I was very excited to find out that the Leonid meteor shower will take place while we are in Big Bend, one of the most remote, least light-polluted areas in the country! Apparently there will be thousands of meteors per hour, the morning of November 18th. We will definitely get up for that one! I’ll practice taking pictures of the sky before that night, so I get a better idea of what settings to use. I did get good pictures of the lunar eclipse last year, so I should be able to do it. Apparently the Milky Way is completely visible as well. I am starting to look forward to stargazing!

ahhhh, San Antonio, TX

Two days later we arrived in San Antonio. We spent the night along the way, in Beaumont Texas. Keystone (the manufacturer of our 5th wheel) called us to ask how things were going, and make sure we were ok, which was nice. No one is convinced that the 5th wheel is really 100% ok, because it’s still flexing, but it isn’t as bad as it was- at least, so far. Paul isn’t too worried safety-wise, but if it continues to flex, then Keystone wants us to bring it in to another dealer, probably in El Paso. If it doesn’t get worse, then we can wait it out and see what happens. We arrived in San Antonio with no issues, and it was 83 degrees outside! Yay! What a beautiful day! We sat outside with brochures and made some decisions about what we want to see while we are here. There are some things that are obvious, like the Alamo, but we’re here for 5 days so we have time to do other things as well. We started off by doing some of the obvious today- we went to the Alamo. I must say I was a little apprehensive, since all I have ever heard is how out of place it is in the middle of the city, and that it isn’t worth seeing….Well, it didn’t cost anything, so that right there makes it worth it! There was more to it than I thought. There are several buildings still standing, and the courtyard is still there. I think it was one of those “expectations” situations. I expected that it wouldn’t be that good, so it exceeded my expectations very nicely. I don’t think you can grow up in this country and not know the words “remember the Alamo”, but today I learned a lot more about what made it so special, and what role it played in history. Its amazing that those 200 men were willing to take a stand and fight so hard for what they believed in, against such odds. Of course, they were hoping for reinforcements, but they did have an opportunity to get out, and chose not to take it. After the Alamo we walked down the Riverwalk, and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, sitting outside so we could people watch and enjoy the sunshine. We’ll go back to the Riverwalk again at night to see how different it looks. Probably tomorrow night, since there is a Latin Music Festival near there all day tomorrow, so we can check that out at the same time. Our final tourist event of the day was the Tower of the America’s. It’s a tower that was built in the 1960s for the Worlds Fair that took place in San Antonio. You can take an elevator to the top, where there is an observation tower, and a lounge. I think most big cities have their version of the Tower of the Americas. This one was ok- we could actually see our truck where it was parked a few streets away. There was a 4D movie about Texas that we saw as well. An amusement park type ride, but it was fun. We specifically didn’t make plans for the evening because the RV park we are at serves dinner on Friday nights. For $3.50 per person you get Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, a drink, and dessert. More importantly, it’s a way to meet other people who are staying in the park, so we wanted to go. We met and shared stories with a nice couple from Canada who are on their way to South Padre Island for the winter. We also met today, another couple who are fulltimers- they are on the opposite trajectory from us- headed from West to East, and will spend the winter in Alabama. Really nice people- too bad we met them the night before they are leaving, but we did exchange information. We’ll see what we decide to do tomorrow!

New Orleans/Hammond, LA

There were thousands of people walking the streets of the French Quarter on Halloween. I am sure there were parties galore as well, but it seemed like the main idea was to walk up and down the streets, to see and to be seen. Most people were in costume, although we weren't, much to Paul's disappointment. Anyone who knows him knows he LOVES to dress up for halloween. We saw two parades, one of which just kept winding around the streets. There was another one later, nearer to midnight, that was a wedding celebration. At the very last minute we accomplished one of my goals in New Orleans. We found Cafe Du Monde, THE place to get beignets, which are a doughnut, unique to New Orleans. They were very good, similar to Navajo fry bread or fried dough. We also ate dinner at Bubba Gumps, because it sounded like fun. The food was great, which kind of surprised us. The people of New Orleans definately discuss things in terms of "pre Katrina" and "Post Katrina". We didn't see that much of the city outside the French Quarter, which essentially sustained very little damage from the hurricane because its on high ground. The most damaged part, the ninth ward, is where some of the poorest live, which is the part that is below sea level. We drove by parts of it, and it still looks like about every 3rd or 4 th house is abandoned or destroyed and has not been fixed. We have heard that people would love to come back, but can't afford to get back here. The last two days have been pretty stressful. Last week we noticed several problems with the trailer, and we made an appointment for Monday, at a dealership in Hammond, LA, to get them fixed. A couple of the problems were minor and easily taken care of, but two were more serious. We had an issue with water coming in, onto the carpet, when we drove in the rain. Luckily no major damage, and they were able to find the cause and fix it. The other problem is the one that has kept us here . The outside fibreglass, where the front panel meets the side panel, has shifted, breaking the caulking seal that keeps the water out. They thought they had it fixed yesterday by pulling off the outer skin and putting more screws in, to hold everything in place. We didn't make it out of the parking lot before the seal gave way again. There shouldn't be any flexing, especially enough to keep breaking the caulking. There is a possibility that the interior frame is broken, causing everything to shift. Tomorrow they will open it up again and put longer screws in. If it doesn't work, we will have to head to Goshen Indiana to the factory and have them look at it. We would rather do that now, while we are reasonably close, rather than later, when we are in Texas or California. Hopefully the new screws will do the trick- Paul thinks they might. Meantime, the RV dealer has a great setup- sort of a mini campground, with 4 spots that including electric, for new customer orientations. They have let us spend the last two nights here, so they have access to the Everest first thing in the morning, and we don't have to drive anywhere. On the plus side, it saves us a little money on campgrounds! One way or another we should be back on the road to somewhere tomorrow.

New Orleans, LA

The Natchez Trace Pkwy was an easy ride, and probably would have been fun for us to explore, if it hadn’t rained all day the day we were driving it. We did stop at one museum along the way, but that was about it. We also took one wrong turn which was a big mistake. Most of the museums, trails, and scenic views require you to turn into a parking area that isn’t totally visible from the main road. No problem, except, after we made this particular turn into the road to the parking lot there was a sign that said “No RV Turn around”. It would have been more effective if the sign had been visible before the turn off. 30 minutes and many frayed nerves later, Paul finished his 20 point turn and we got out of there. That pretty much soured us on taking any more turns off the main road. We did spend the night at the free campground on the Pkwy and it worked out awesome for us. It was our first FREE night, with no fee! Once we arrived at New Orleans, we were immediately happy with our decision to pay more to stay within walking distance of the French Quarter. The RV Park is the nicest one we’ve been in, with great sites for parking, a great hot tub and pool, and we were greeted by a guy wearing a SUIT! Hahaha. More upscale than we needed but it served our purpose well. Our first night we decided to walk to the French Quarter, just to check it out. Many hours later we staggered back home. We tried a “Hurricane” which is one of the strongest drinks around. Bourbon Street is one of my new favorite places. Similar in spirit to Duval Street in Key West. So much music coming from so many venues! People everywhere, walking down the street with drinks in their hands, wandering from one club to the next. Its so Alive! The weather was perfect for it- in the high 70s. The next day, during the daylight hours we walked to the river front- almost took the ferry over to Algiers, but decided at the last minute to not do it. We walked Canal street, ate lunch at a restaurant in the French Quarter, and headed home to rest up for night time. This time our plan was to walk down to Frenchman Street where most of the Jazz music is played. I don’t know, maybe we were just in the wrong mood, but it was so quiet there, we lost interest after a while, and headed back to Bourbon Street, for another lively evening. Halloween in New Orleans is similar to Mardi Gras, but on a smaller scale. The buildings are decorated, the bars are decorated, there are parades, music, you name it. Eminem performed last night and tonight KISS is performing live downtown. Yesterday we moved to our new park, just outside the city- we’ll take their shuttle into town, then have to take a cab back. We washed the Everest yesterday- took us a loooong time. I have no idea how it got so dirty! Most RV parks won’t let you wash the RV, so we took advantage of the fact that this one does. Today is Halloween so we are headed into town for an early dinner, hopefully we’ll be in time to see the parade…..

Nashville, TN

Nashville is only about 100 miles south of Mammoth Cave, so we had time that day to do some shopping. We didn't buy much, but did get a couple of things for the Everest that Paul has been wanting. One is a special Level that you can mount on the Trailer so its easier to find out if its level, before you actually get out of the truck. I learned a lesson with this Nashville portion of our trip. If we are going to want tickets to something that is popular, we need to either plan far enough in advance to get good seats, or be content if we get lousy seats, or no seats at all. It all worked out fine, but next time I will know to pay more attention.I wanted to go to the Grand Ole Opry while in Nashville, but didn't realize that not only would Trace Adkins be performing that night, but also Montgomery Gentry and The Oak Ridge Boys.Tickets were hard to come by- we ended up in the second to last row, but luckily the acoustics are great there, and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. We attended the concert Saturday night- the late show, which didn't start until 9:30. The way this show works is that there are many acts, and the three I mentioned were only 3 out of about 12 performers. Each of them played a couple of songs, although since the Oak Ridge Boys were last, they did a couple of extra songs, and ended with "Elvira". The other tour I wanted to go on was the "NashTrash" Tour. According to Tripadvisor, its the #1 rated attraction in Nashville. Its sold out for over a month, so the only way to get on the tour is to go where the bus loads and wait for "standby".So, we started our adventure in Nashville by waiting at 9 am on a Saturday, to see if we could get on Standby. We couldn't, because everyone showed up who was scheduled to take the "tour". As it turns out, it was Tennessee History Weekend. That was great for us.... especially since it takes place at the park we wanted to check out. Bicentennial Mall Park in Nashville, is an incredible park. There are granite posts and walls all around the park that have the history of Tennessee engraved in the granite, starting with a billion years ago (which interestingly enough, mentioned God, and not evolution). There is also a map of Tennessee engraved in granite that is probably 25 feet by 75 ft. A lot of towns and rivers are shown on the map. Really awesome. There is a farmer market there every weekend.Since it is History weekend, there are people dressed in period costumes for the time periods that include wars. So there are people from the 1700s, up through the vietnam war. At different times during the day, they have a variety of re-enactments, including a civil war battle, a world war II battle, and speeches from Daniel Boone and Abe Lincoln. It's a great day in Nashville! After walking through the "timeline" and seeing the exhibits, we wander over to see if we can get on the 2 pm Nashtrash Tour. This time we made it. I think the performers ( two sisters) felt bad for us, since we had been there since the morning. The tour is actually a comedy show, that does a little touring of the town. These two are hysterically funny! They spent the first 20 minutes learning the names of all the people on the bus (33 people), and teasing then about where they are from, etc. They are originally from Michigan so when they heard we are from there, they made many wisecracks about the state and what part of the “hand” they are from etc. We had a blast! They also allow people to bring their own booze, and if you didn't think of it, like us, they make a stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and you can buy a drink and bring it back to the bus. Too funny! Sunday was regroup day for us- we did laundry, went food shopping, hung around and in general did nothing much. We were going to go bar hopping Sunday night, but Paul wasn't in the mood, so we skipped it. Monday we drove out to Franklin, TN, to explore the town that was pivotal during the civil war. It was pushed into the limelight by the book "Widow of the South" which is based on the true story of Carrie McGavock of Franklin TN.On November 30, 1864, a major battle took place in Franklin, right outside the home owned the Carter family. The Carters, and several of their neighbors, hid in the basement of the house while the battle raged for 5 hours. They all survived, but in those five hours there were almost 10,000 Union and Confederate soldiers killed or wounded. The Carters' son was a lieutenant for the south who was mortally wounded in that battle. One of their outbuildings had so many bullet holes, apparently it ranks as the “most bullet-ridden” building in existence in this country today.Nearby, Carrie's McGavock’s house was used as a hospital, and she, instead of hiding away, helped the surgeons and the soldiers the best she could. Two years after the battle, she dedicated 2 acres of her own land so that the confederate soldiers, who had been hastily buried after the battle,. could be properly buried. After an early dinner, we hit the bars in downtown Nashville. We started at Coyote Ugly, and despite the constant urgings of the bartenders (all women), I did not get up on the bar and dance with them. We also didn’t do body shots, although it was tempting…from there we just meandered in and out of the tons of bars in the area, listening to live country bands. It was fun, more for me than Paul, who was driving, of course. In New Orleans, he really wants to stay at a campground that’s walking distance to the French Quarter, so he can relax and not drive. At this moment, we are driving the Natchez Trace Parkway. We have left Tennessee and are in Alabama. We hope to spend the night in one of the free campgrounds along the parkway.

Mammoth Cave, KY

October 20, 2009

 Driving through KY to Cave City, I was looking at the map and realizing that there is so much to see in Kentucky, most of which we’ll have to do some other time. We only have a couple of days here before we move on to Nashville. We got up early Tuesday morning and headed to Diamond Caverns- so named because the boy they lowered into the opening they found so many years ago, yelled back up that it looked like the cave was full of diamonds. Very disappointing for them to find out that it wasn’t really diamonds, but glittering stalagtites. The tour in that cavern was about an hour long, and I thought it was pretty cool, with great lighting. This whole area is full of caves- some are privately owned, some are in the national park. There was a landmark case years ago when a neighbor found out that the cave tours given by the people down the street went under his property. He sued, to get a share of the income. Many, many years later, he won, but he died before the decision was made, so his estate got the money. The court decision said that property owners own rights to whatever is under their property. Now there are rocks lined up inside the cave that mark the property line. Right from that cave we went to the national park to see what tours we might be interested in taking.

 We decided to take the Great Onyx Cave lantern tour that afternoon. Paul also signed up to take a 4 hr/4 mile hike called the Grand Avenue Tour, the following day. I am not wild about caves to begin with and really wasn’t interested in spending 4 hours under the ground, so he’ll do that one on his own. The Onyx tour was even better than the Diamond Cavern. The whole tour is done by lantern, no electrical lights at all. This tour is only open to the public 2 months of the year, for groups of only 38 people per tour/day. That’s because its not cost effective to do this tour in the height of the tourist season when they need their resources for other tours that can accommodate over 100 people. Because so few people walk through this cave, the formations are in pristine condition, and more varied than the Diamond Cavern. We met a nice couple from Florida on this tour, and pretty much went through the tour with them. Wednesday Paul went on his adventure, and I stayed home and caught up on some cleaning, organizing, and phone calls. Before I knew it, Paul was back, and he brought the couple from Florida with him. We all sat outside and had a drink and traded life stories for a bit before they left to go home. Our last day here we spent above ground. We walked a 2 mile trail that was supposed to go to a spring, which it did, but there was nothing of interest there, so it was disappointing. We decided to walk the “Collie Ridge Trail” thinking it might have a view at the end. The trail was over 4 miles each way. Along the path we met a bicyclist, and chatted for a few minutes. He said the trail we are on is “pretty”. We also saw a small, but very old cemetery. After reading the gravestones, we realized that almost all of the graves were children- mostly very young ones. I looked around on the web and couldn’t find any information on it. I may try again when I have more time. Anyway, after hiking the 4 miles to the end of the trail, there was nothing of interest there. No ridge, no view, just an equestrian campsite. Sooo, we turned around after eating our lunch, and walked back 4 miles the other way. It was a nice walk but really, its nicer when there is something to see somewhere along the way. When we sat down that night to look at our itinerary for the next week or so, we decided to make some changes. Halloween in New Orleans is apparently almost as big of a deal as Mardi Gras, so we can't get a reservation near the French Quarter that weekend. I don't want to skip New Orleans, so we are skipping Chatanooga, and getting to New Orleans early. We want to spend one night actually in the city, so we can walk to and from the French quarter, and the rest of the time we will stay just outside the city. The rates for the one in the city are high!

Ball State University-Muncie, IN

We spent 3 days on the road, getting to Muncie. We arrived here Thursday, and had dinner with Jess and her friends, including her boyfriend, who we met for the first time. Friday, after her last class, we had lunch and she came back to the RV with us for the day. She can’t spend the night with us, since she is on duty this weekend (she has a Resident Hall Assistant position). We did some errands and had dinner at the campground. Saturday we drove down to Indianapolis and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, with her boyfriend and his parents. They seem like very nice people. Sunday morning was “Watermelon Bust” a fundraising event held by one of the fraternities. There were many teams that competed at games like tug of war and an obstacle course/relay race. Jess and her sorority sisters had 3 teams competing. They didn’t win, but had fun anyway! The weather was REALLY cold when the sun wasn’t out. After all the events, We took Jess, her boyfriend David, and her friend Ashley, back to the RV for a homecooked meal. They all had a 7 pm staff meeting, so we had to bring them back to the dorm early. It was so great seeing Jess and meeting her friends. Its hard to say goodbye- the only thing that makes it easier is that we’ll see her in a month. Today we are on the road, driving 260 miles to Mammoth Caves National Park in KY. We’ll stop at the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln on the way.

Strasburg, PA

10-7-09 Strasburg PA Strasburg is in Lancaster county, home of the 2nd largest Amish population in the US. Since its Columbus Day weekend, its mobbed here. We got our feet wet by doing some shopping in downtown Intercourse, PA. There are tons of little shops, with handmade items. Lucky for us we have no where to put anything. We drove around the countryside a little bit, and found a bakery, Bird in Hand Bakery, in Bird in Hand, PA. The food was delicious. One of the favorite pies around here is Shoofly Pie, so we bought one to try it. Its molasses based- very good. Different from anything we have had before. We sat outside on a glider that has a table between 2 benches, and the table glides with the benches. After that stop, we went to a Mennonite Visitors Center to learn more about the Amish and Mennonites. Once upon a time they were of very similar religious beliefs, but they split a long time ago- one of their differences is that Mennonites use modern conveniences, like electricity and cars, and the Amish don’t. Mennonites interact with outsiders (the “English”) and the Amish don’t, at least not very much. A lot of my preconceived ideas of the Amish were changed this weekend. I always thought they didn’t use things like cars because it is “against their religion”, but that isn’t really it. They don’t use modern conveniences if they think it will take away from the quality of the time they spend with their family and community and God, but they use car batteries to run sewing machines because it makes practical sense to do it. We learned a lot about them, and there is obviously so much more we don’t know. . We made it an early day but when we got back there was a “Live Jam session” scheduled in the campground store. Turns out there is a room, like a large living room, off to the side where about 8-12 men were jamming with their guitars, fiddles, bass, etc. What a great time we had! So much fun to hear them play! I am going to try to post a short video. Most places are closed on Sunday around here, so it was off to Hershey for us!!! I admit that I went to Hershey with only one thing in mind. Chocolate. I came away with a much better understanding about who Milton Hershey was (and also, a lot of chocolate!). We did the usual "factory tour" which in this case was more like an amusement park ride at your local travelling carnival- not the same quality as a Disney ride, for sure. It doesn't go through the factory, just a cartoonish version of the factory, but it was short, so thats ok. The real deal here was the trolley tour, and I am so glad we decided to do it.... our tour guide was fabulous, obviously passionate about Milton Hershey and what he has done. The short version is that Milton Hershey started his company at the turn of the 20th century, right around the time Henry Ford started his. The similarities are striking. Both men went bankrupt several times, both were innovators, both ended up making their fortune by creating a way to mass produce their product. Milton and his wife could not have children and decided to help orphans instead. They started the Milton Hershey School to educate those children who had no one looking out for them. Today the school has 1800 students, Kindergarten through high school. Its a boarding school for kids whose parents are either deceased, not available, or who are otherwise incapable of caring for their kids financially and otherwise. All of the children who are successful at the high school level, are awarded an $80,000 grant to attend college.The school is run by a Trust, and the Trust owns over 80% of the Hershey Co. stock, ensuring its longevity. In fact, before his death, Milton Hershey turned over his entire fortune to the trust. Part of the reason our tour guide is so passionate is that he was an administrator at the school for over 30 years before he retired. He gives the tours in his leisure time because he enjoys it so much. Today we went to explore a restored Amish farmhouse. We were going to take a bus tour around the countryside, but decided it wasn’t worth the price and the 2 hours it would take. The farmhouse was interesting, and again, we learned a lot. Our tour guide loves this area and it shows. He is a taxi driver for the Amish, since they can’t drive cars but they can ride in them. Because the Amish population is growing so fast, doubling every 10 years or so, there aren’t enough farms available for them to farm, so some of them have taken jobs as carpenters, plumbers etc. and need rides to get to work, since its too far to travel by horse. We ate dinner tonight at the “Plain and Fancy” restaurant, which is typical Amish food, served family style, to a table of 10 people. So, obviously we sat with people we don’t know, and had great conversations with all of them. One guy is doing something similar to us. He is single and quit his job to go tenting around the country. Turns out the last 3 places where he stopped were places we were at too. Tomorrow we drive. We aren’t sure where we will stop but we are headed towards Muncie (Yay!).

Scranton, PA

There is no shortage of excursions in Scranton that interest Paul and I. There is Steamtown, a trolley museum, a corn maze, and a coal mine tour among other things. Scranton has one of the largest deposits of Anthracite coal in the world. Because of that there was an incredible infrastructure put in place for the railroad, in the early half of the 20th century, and the town boomed. Sometime in the middle of the 1900s, people began to use natural gas and oil to heat their homes, instead of coal, which reduced the demand for coal, causing the shutdown of the mines, a mass exodus of the population ( which has still not recovered) and a decreased need for the railroad. Since we had most of the afternoon available the day we arrived, we went to Steamtown, which is a railroad hub that has been turned into a national Historic Landmark/Park. I have seen trains before of course, but never in such a high concentration, with miles of tracks that are still active. We were also able to go inside rail cars, Pullman cars, a caboose, etc. That was a different experience for me. Afterwards we stopped at Manning Farms to get an ice cream. The Mannings are in control of the entire ice cream process-they grow the feed for the cows, milk the cows, sell the milk, and make ice cream. Delicious… The campground we are staying in is Lackawanna State Park. We saw several deer our first night here, plus some groundhogs. We went for a walk around the lake and came to a field with 4 deer grazing in it. There was a bird blind nearby so we slowly walked over to it, sat down and watched the deer graze for a while. They did notice us but just kept an eye on us while they ate. While we were walking there were several hundred migrating birds in the trees above us, making quite a racket. As we got closer, they went silent and we heard a noise that sounded like a car driving on gravel, but actually was the sound of hundreds of birds wings flapping, as they all took flight at the same time. It happened twice more. Very eerie!

Thursday we were both looking forward to the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour and we were not disappointed. We learned so much about coal mines and the lives of the coal miners and their families. The lives they lived were so incredibly hard, its difficult to imagine. 12 hours a day in the mine, in a tunnel 2 feet high, not allowed to come out for anything. Each worker rented their tools on a daily basis, and in order to get paid, had to cart 18 tons of coal a day. If he only got 16 tons, he received no pay for the day, but still had to pay for the tools. Our tour guide is from a family of mine workers. He told us that at the beginning of each shift, each mine worker puts a peg into the “in” slot with their name, so the foreman knows they are in the mine. When they leave for the day, they move the peg to the “out” slot, so he’ll know they are gone. If they forget to do it, they are immediately fired. In general if someone is still “in” at the end of the day, its because he died in the mine. The foreman takes his body, brings it up, puts it on a wagon, and drives to the man’s house. He puts the body on the porch, and leaves. He doesn’t bother to knock, or speak to the family. 3 days later, someone from management comes to the house- all houses are rented from the mine owner- and if there is no one to take the worker’s place in the mine, the family is evicted immediately. Boys as young as 5 can take their fathers spot- taking on other, smaller tasks in the mine. They leave school and begin full time work. Tony, our guide, said that his mother opened her door one day and found the body of her father, with no explanation. The tour actually goes down into the mine. We got on a type of cable car, and rode down 250 feet to what is now the bottom of the mine. Our guide showed us through some tunnels and explained all about the different jobs, and the work the mine workers did. Fascinating information. One interesting note…in hindsight it makes sense, but …most of the movies I have seen show coal mines with the wooden beams that always seemed like they were supporting the ceiling and wall…I guess it never dawned on me that it doesn’t make sense. As our guide said….we are 250 ft below the surface. There is no way that wood beams could hold up that weight. He said instead, the beams were an early warning system. If the beams started to “snap, crackle or pop” then the miners knew the ground had shifted and they better get out fast. There was also a movie with news footage from several mining accidents over the years. This mine was closed in 1966 due to lack of demand for Anthracite coal, and the costs associated with keeping water out of the mine. That tour was one of the most interesting and informative things we have done this trip. After the tour we ate lunch in the car and then went to Miller Farms to see the corn maze. I have never been in a corn maze and its one of the things I wanted to do. It was fun, we must have walked about 2 miles trying to get out!

Last night we booked a month stay in San Diego for Christmas, and decided that we are going to Lancaster PA tomorrow for 4 nights, before we head to Muncie. Neither of us was all that interested in going back to Ohio, so even though it will be a short trip to Lancaster, hopefully it will be enough.

Lake Durant, Adirondacks, NY

Saturday it was time to move on, and we headed out, not too far, to Lake Durant, a state park campground in the Adirondacks, near Blue Mountain Lake. This is our first venture at having a campsite with no hookup-including electric. We will be using the generator to recharge the batteries and do things like make coffee. You can’t use it before 9 am- so we had to make coffee the day before and just heat it up in the morning. By 9 am we have usually showered, eaten and are gone for the day, so it’s a little late to start making the coffee. We arrived early enough to head to the Adirondack Museum, which is, without a doubt, one of the best museums we have ever seen. Its huge, and has many separate buildings, with information arranged in a way that its fun to learn, and not at all boring. Lots of things for adults and kids of all ages. Definitely worth the price of admittance! We had arranged to meet up with Joe and Judi, but had no specific time or place, so we just headed over to their lodge, and they showed up 10 minutes later. Perfect timing! We had gotten a slow start that morning, since we were up half the night. Dozer was busy earning his keep all night. Somehow, a mouse got in the trailer during the night. We heard loud noises (the cat running around) and when we came to check it out, the cat was playing “cat and mouse” with a live mouse. He was purring so loud you could hear it across the room. This was one happy cat! He was playing catch and release. He would let the mouse go, then catch it again. We were not very thrilled with this, and tried to egg him on to dispose of the mouse, to no avail. We couldn’t get close to the cat, since he growled like I have never heard before, every time we approached. There was no way he was going to let us take his toy away. After a while, we had no idea what to do, so we went to bed ( I told Paul it was his job to get up first in the morning). For the next two hours we heard him running around, chasing the mouse. Ewwww.. When we got up, after searching high and low, there was no mouse to be found. Anyway, after meeting up with Joe and Judi, we took off for one of the trails in the area. After about a 2 mile hike, we found the most spectacular view! We were overlooking Blue Mountain Lake, and the fall colors were in full swing. After hanging around at the peak for a bit, we decided that if we hurried, we may make the 2 pm boat trip that cruises around the lake. We actually didn’t quite make it, but we had a great time sitting on the porch of the lodge, sipping on wine and eating cheese and crackers etc. We stayed at the Lodge for dinner that night, then headed home. The next morning we woke up to rain. Again. Our plan had been to go for another hike with Joe and Judi, but the weather was definitely not cooperating. We ended up going to a fairly new museum, The Wild Side, for the afternoon. It was good, but no where near the caliber of The Adirondack Museum. We spent most of the day there, stopped at a local waterfall on the way back, dropped Joe and Judi off, then headed for home. Paul has been a little antsy about the generator the whole time we have been here. Its working fine, but we only have one battery, which is definitely not enough to spend a couple of nights without power. Just the refrigerator and hot water heater’s electronic ignition are enough to drain the battery in a few hours. When we got back the battery had died again, hopefully not causing permanent damage to it,since its our only one. Although we will probably not spend lots of nights without hookup, we do plan to “dry camp” sometimes, so I am guessing new batteries are in our future. Lake Durant is pretty remote, as is this whole area, which makes it a very peaceful place to be. The view out the back window is what I envisioned that I would want to see every morning. Nothing but trees and a view of the lake.Very different from Lake George, which is beautiful, but touristy. The fall colors are spectacular right now. I think someone said we are right at peak. I keep taking a million pictures, but they don’t do it justice. If only the sun would come out for more than 12 seconds, the pictures would be so much better! Spending time with Joe and Judi was an absolute blast, and we are both really looking forward to meeting up with them again. The similarities between us were amazing. They are very easy going and it was very comfortable hanging out with them for a couple of days! Today (Tuesday) we got on the road and drove several hundred miles, stopping just outside Scranton PA- the weather is 10 degrees warmer, and the sun is out! We decided to stay here for a couple of nights, then maybe head to Lancaster PA instead of Ohio

Lake George, NY 10-3-09

Wednesday we headed out to drive around Lake George, weaving in and out of small towns, and ending at Fort Ticonderoga. I am not a huge history buff, but I must admit I am enjoying learning about the different eras of American history. Fort Ticonderoga has been inhabited by the French, the British, and the Americans, at various times in its past. The worst battle here was between the French and British (us) during the French and Indian War- 1758. Unfortunately, even though the French, who had possession of the fort at that time, were severely outnumbered by us, we did not capture the fort, and suffered heavy losses. Eventually, at some point, the French blew the fort up and left it in ruins, as they abandoned it. The fort was reconstructed as a tourist attraction in the early 1900s. The way they chose to do it is different from other forts that we’ve seen. There are no rooms set up here that show what life was like back then, its more set up to just teach the history of the battles that took place. I have learned interesting things such as, in the 1700s the rifle the Brown Bess was introduced. It was the first rifle that had uniform parts and was uniformly sized. Before that, if you bought a rifle in North Carolina, and it broke, you had to go back to North Carolina to get the parts for it. The Brown Bess was made of three distinct parts, the lock, the stock and the barrel. If your barrel broke, you could then just replace the barrel, etc. which made it much more cost effective. Army personnel were responsible for paying for any weapons that they lost during the war, so if they went to the supply room and said they needed a completely new rifle, they needed “lock, stock and barrel”- hence the term we use when we mean “everything”- lock, stock and barrel. I thought that was really neat information. The following day the weather was not very cooperative again- no downpours, but very iffy. We set out in a southerly direction to do some exploring. When we got to the town of Glens Falls, we started seeing signs for “Coopers Cave”. Sounded interesting, so we followed the signs. The cave is really barely a cave. In the 1800s and 1900s they had steps leading to it. Its actually on an island in the middle of the river, which happens to be the Hudson River. (The Hudson River winds all around this area- everywhere you go, you see the Hudson River). Apparently years ago they decided it was too dangerous to go out that far, near the falls, so they put up a fence and now you can see the “cave” from the fenced in area. The claim to fame in this area is that James Cooper, who was the first author who was considered a “best selling novelist” lived here. One of his friends suggested that he use the cave as a setting in one of his novels, so he did. This is the cave that is featured in “The Last Of The Mohicans”. They didn’t use the actual cave, just the idea of the cave. So, that was cool. Now I need to watch the movie again, after learning all about James Cooper. We are really paying the price for having great weather for so long. For the last week, its been cold and damp with rain on and off. Friday we drove in a different direction, and landed in the town of Warrensburg, again. We recognized it from the day we arrived in this area. We needed fuel that day, so we got off the highway in Warrensburg because we could see the gas stations from the highway. We were towing the Everest though, so not only did we have to check to see if they have diesel, we had to see if we could even fit in the parking lot. We picked the station closest to us, on the right, and chose wrong. Couldn’t get the Everest into the lot. Now we were committed to this direction, and the road got more and more narrow and crowded. We ended up turning into a parking lot, going in the exit and out the entrance, since it’s the only way we could get the trailer in to make the turn. So this Friday we recognized the town, coming from the opposite direction, and were just glad we only had the truck. As we approached the town, the traffic was incredible. It turns out that it was the weekend of Warrensburg’s annual Townwide Garage Sale. It is billed as the Worlds Biggest Garage Sale and apparently even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. We didn’t bother to stop since it was too crowded to park our huge truck.

Lake George, NY

Rain, Rain go away…… Its been raining on and off for the last three days, part of the problem being that its not very warm out so it’s the kind of rain that makes everything feel really cold and damp. We spent one night on the road, and got to Lake George Village a couple of days ago. The day we got here was really a wash out so we sat down and did a lot of planning for where we want to go in the next three months and what’s really important to us. Even after narrowing it down to where we really want to go, we had to knock off some places due to lack of time. Sounds silly, yes, but its getting pretty cold up here and we really can’t chance snow or temps below freezing for an extended period. We already had a couple of nights that got into the low 30s. The first night it happened our little electric heater died, so we bought a new one. We really don’t need one, since we have regular heat that runs on propane, but since the electric is included in the site fee, and the propane comes out of our pocket, unless its cold for prolonged periods, the electric is enough. Our basic, revised itinerary includes Muncie IN (to see Jess); Mammoth Caves KY; Nashville TN, New Orleans; Houston, San Antonio, El Paso for Thanksgiving, Phoenix AZ; Yuma AZ, and San Diego CA for Christmas. I just finished booking Jess’s flights for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which was exciting, since I miss her a lot and I’m looking forward to spending time with her! Yesterday the weather was unpredictable so we kept our plans simple and walked around downtown Lake George Village. We ate lunch outside, overlooking the lake, but it started raining again half way through lunch. We spent the afternoon shopping- we finally found some outdoor chairs we like, so we have something comfortable to sit in now. Today it rained again but since we are only here for 2 more days, we decided to ignore it and go see Fort William Henry. What made this fort interesting is that they (“redcoats”) give tours and explain some of the things we saw and the history of them. Among other things, I found out that grenadiers were the biggest and tallest soldiers (and the only ones allowed to handle grenades) and wore tall hats to make them appear even bigger, so that the enemy would be very afraid when they saw them. Paul and I both had to think through and put this information in perpective, timewise. It took me a bit to remember that the timeframe for this fort is pre-revolutionary war, and WE are the redcoats in this scenario. Being from Massachusetts, I have had the revolutionary war drilled into me for a looooong time. It drizzled most of the day so by the time we were done with the fort, we headed back home to get warm and dry out. Tomorrow our plan is to drive all the way around the lake and check out Fort Ticonderoga.

Lake Champlain-Burlington, VT

We headed across Vermont in the rain, but luckily it didn't last all day. We landed at Apple Island Resort, a nice campground, right on Lake Champlain, complete with a marina. We are here for 3 nights- we added a night when we found out they accept Passport America, which is our "Club", like AAA, that cuts our price for the campground by 50%. We did some food shopping and in general just got our bearings and tried to get a sense of what we want to do while we are here. We thought that putting the dinghy in the water might be fun, but as it turns out, not with the wind and/or cold we have had.

We back tracked a bit to see a quarry that Paul was very interested in seeing. It was an hour drive but it actually was very interesting and worth the trip. We went to Rock of Ages granite quarry, the deepest quarry operating in the world, 610 feet deep. the granite is actually 6 miles deep and about 10 miles long, enough to keep the quarriers working for 4500 years. The pieces they pull out weigh 23 tons each-they don't look that heavy at all, but granite weighs 100+ lbs per cubic foot. From there we went to the local cemetery, called Hope Cemetery, which has some very different and unique headstones. Many people in this area design and build their own family headstones. We had a very late lunch in Barre, VT.

A trip to Vermont wouldn't be complete (I guess) without a trip to Ben and Jerry's. We stopped there on our way back home. The tour is ok, and they do give you a sample of whatever ice cream they are making that day- it happened to be Chocolate chip cookie dough, and Paul asked for seconds. After then buying a cone of a different flavor, we both decided that we had just had dinner. Just as fun as the tour was the graveyard of ice cream flavors.

This morning we got a slow start, then decided that we can't spend EVERY day running around, so we "allowed" ourselves to relax and go window shopping in downtown Burlington. We still feel like we are moving at too fast of a pace, but plan on slowing down and spending a week in each location(eventually).

Burlington is on Lake Champlain and it's downtown is kind of different. Usually in this type of town we have found the action is near the water. In Burlington, they do have the boat tours of course, but the harbor area has a marina, a park and has lots of "regular" businesses, as well as restaurants. We ate at a mexican restaurant (La Madera) that was actually really good. They featured Hatch chiles, a favorite of Paul's, in their sauce. In addition to park benches, there were also swings that seat 2-3 people. Fun and different! The shops are further up the street, and pretty spread out.

Tomorrow we head to New York again, still near Lake Champlain for a night, then on to Lake George for 5 nights.

White Mountains NH

We’ve seen a lot of waterfalls the last 3 days. Paul’s favorite was Diana’s Baths. It had numerous waterfalls with small pools in between. If the weather had been warmer, we could have gone swimming in the pools, which would be a lot of fun. I think my favorite was Arethusa Falls, which happens to be the highest waterfall in New Hampshire. I swear though, the hike to it was 2 miles each way, and it felt like it was uphill both ways(see picture). It was all hill, and rough terrain. The others were fun to get to, but in the autumn there isn’t much water running. It would be more dramatic in the spring. We moved from Gorham to Twin Mountain so that we could more easily access different areas of the mountains. We explored the Crawford Notch area one day, including the Willey House historic site, which I have been to several times. We drove all the way down to North Conway, had ice cream, as usual, and just stopped along the way if something looked interesting. At one point we stopped to take a picture of Mt. Washington, and a fox was meandering around the pull-off, looking for handouts from people. I took a lot of pictures, but it was kind of sad to see. Especially since a little girl did feed him, while her parents watched. Duhhhhhh. The campground we stayed at apparently has a resident bear that hangs around, although we didn’t get to see her, nor did we see a moose while we were here, which was very disappointing. We could have gone on a Moose Tour, but elected not to do it. We did meet Debby and Ken at the campground and immediately hit it off with them- conversation never lagged, that’s for sure. Sometimes we had multiple conversations going as we sat around the campfire trading life stories. They are also full timing and just starting out, although they are headed for FL for the next 6 months, and then they will be on the road- their passion is flyfishing. Yesterday was Franconia Notch exploration day. We did the Gorge tour, which was good, quite a walk, but expensive at $12 per person. We drove down to Clarks Trading Post, but there was no bear show that day. We did see the bears though. In the afternoon we explored the “Lost River”, which is a gorge with caves that you can go in and out of. The main reason we went there is because I remember going there as a kid and I wanted to see if it was how I remembered it. Paul had never been there. It was a fun afternoon. Left NH behind this morning, headed to Lake Champlain, VT. On the way we stopped at Cabot Creamery and took a tour of the facility. It was really interesting. Cabot is a farmers’ cooperative- it has grown from local farmers to hundreds of farmers all over New England. There are signs in several places that make people aware that ALL the profits of everything go back to the farmers. There was an amazing amount of sample cheeses, dips etc set out for people to help themselves. We ate quite a bit, but we also bought some great cheese. I tried something slightly different. It was cinnamon pear jam mixed with cream cheese- VERY good! I bought the jam so I could make it sometime.

White Mountains (Gorham) NH

As we drove along, leaving Maine for New Hampshire, I realized I will really miss the ocean. One of the things I loved about Acadia was walking in the woods and being able to smell the ocean as well as the pine trees. There is a very distinct smell to salt water that I really love. Lakes just aren't the same. I am looking forward to seeing other parts of the country, and discovering all the differences that make each area special and unique, but I think the Atlantic Ocean will always feel like home.

Paul has a fascination for forts, and Fort Knox was pretty much on our way to NH, so we detoured just a bit to be able to check it out. One of the things we have discovered after seeing quite a few forts on the east coast, is that most of them either never saw action, or saw very little action. It always seems to take so long to build them (25 years for this one) that by the time they get built, the technology has changed so much that they are obsolete. By the time they were ready for the cannons at this fort, cannons were obsolete because ships were made of steel.

Our ticket to the Fort also included a bonus feature for Paul. We drove across the Penobscot Bridge, which has a huge tower, that looked like an observation tower to Paul. Our ticket to the fort included a ticket to the top of what actually in fact is an observation tower. That was a fun and unique experience.

We arrived in Shelburne/Gorham NH after spending a night "on the road," at a campground along the route. We also made a stop at the visitors center in NH. We have learned to make that stop as soon as we enter a new state. There is so much information we can get there about what the state has to offer. We hadn't made a reservation at a campground so we beelined for the one we wanted. Most of the campgrounds around here are not very full right now, so we are only making reservations if we want a specific campground for some reason. After setting up, we took a ride around the area to check it out, and make some plans for the next few days. Once we did that, the weather changed everything anyway!

Saturday the idea was to go hiking , check out some waterfalls and investigate anything else that looked interesting. When we got up, it was cloudy, VERY windy, and not exactly warm. An executive decision was made to "trade days". We usually do our errands and laundry on Sundays, but with the lousy weather it made more sense to do it Saturday. We were really glad we did, when we saw today's weather. Beautiful! Warm, beautiful blue skies, and just as importantly, no wind. We took off to explore and stopped for a picnic lunch along the way (we usually pack a lunch every day and eat wherever we happen to be).

It was never really in our plan to go to the top of Mt Washington. We have both been there, and for whatever reason, didn't really feel the need to do it again. Until we saw it. And by that I mean, we could see the whole thing. Usually its in the clouds.

As we drove up the mountain in the van, the driver commented that there are really only about 12 days a year that are this fabulous on the mountain. The air temperature was 49, toasty warm for the mountain (yesterday:35 degrees), visibility was 130 miles, (yesterday:1/16 mile in freezing fog) and the wind was only 30mph (yesterday: gusting to 90 mph).

The views were absolutely amazing.

Acadia National Park, ME

this video is one that I took from the top of Acadia Mountain...the view was incredible!
I must say, at the risk of jinxing things, our weather has held for quite a long time. Since we've been in Maine its been great during the day, sunny or partly sunny, and in the 60s or 70s. At night it gets cold, sometimes in the 40s, but who cares....
Bar Island was different from what we thought it would be...we brought water shoes and a towel, expecting that to cross over to the island at low tide, we would be slogging through watery sand, and would get wet. When we got there it turns out that it is more like a gravel road, and trucks actually drive out there at low tide.. we didn't get at all wet. We did walk the island, which had great views of the mainland. No pictures, since I actually forgot to bring the camera. Our plan was to grab a piece of pizza for lunch at a place we passed by the other day. It smelled soooo good! Unfortunately, it was closed and instead we ate a restaurant called Rte 66. It had great 50s memorabilia, and awful food. it was the biggest waste of money, and the worst food we have had in a long time. That afternoon, there was actually a cruise ship in port, which was funny because there were so many people downtown, they were swarming the place.
We knew that Wednesday would be our last day here so anything that was really important for us to see was put on the agenda for the day. In the morning we went to the Gardens and Museum in the National Park. The Nature Center was really interesting, but the rest of it we probably could have passed on. From there we went hiking a trail along the ocean and met a really cool older couple. They were right behind us starting out on the trail so we chatted with them. A short time later they realized it was a more difficult trail than they had anticipated, and it was really too late for them to turn back. They said they'd just take it slow and steady. We met up with them again a few minutes later when we paused to look at the view. Turns out he is 79 and she is 80. Amazing what they were doing! Again we went ahead, but the trail got more vertical and challenging, so we kind of hung around waiting to see if they were ok...we joked with them, telling stories about people who push their spouse over a cliff and claim they fell. This time I asked them if they wanted company on the trail, but they said they were fine. Still, we saw them about 4 more times. That was not an easy trail! Their agility was amazing...!
After continuing on the "Loop Road" that winds through the area, we then made our way over to the smaller, non-touristy towns. Paul found a store that sells his new favorite treat- its called a Harbor Bar and its vanilla ice cream between two incredibly good chocolate chip cookies, and the whole thing is covered in chocolate. He had one a few days ago and has been on the hunt to find them again. What makes it great is the quality of the cookies. They taste like homemade...
It was approaching sunset when we reached the light house at Bass Harbor. Great timing! We had about 2 minutes to look around before I had to start taking pictures. There were about 20 other people there doing the same thing, and about 1200 mosquitos per person. I think we left before the sun had even completely set!
Today was a travel day- we are still in Maine but tomorrow we will move on to NH. We may take the time in the morning to get the oil changed on Paul's baby...um, I mean, truck..
We spent tonight trying to make some decisions on how long we want to stay in NH and VT. Our original idea was to head to Lancaster PA and the amish area before we see Jess in mid October, but, Joe and Judy Rizzo, the people who bought our boat, have invited us to join them for a couple of days of hiking the Adirondacks. It sounds like fun so we are trying to move our schedule around to be able to do that. I think Lancaster will have to wait.