Of Civil War battlefields, ticks, poison ivy and pretty small towns

Since our last post from the Shenandoah Valley where we departed from the lovely home of Tim and Nancy Hulings, we  traveled to several more Civil War battlefields, stopping at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia, then Antietam, and finally at Gettysburg  It was all interesting, but we have seen enough battlefields to last us for a long while. From Gettysburg, we drove further into Pennsylvania, getting a bit lost in the Amish countryside.. and finally found our way to the outskirts of Philadelphia (Glenside), where we parked for 7 nights at the home of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RCPV's) Anne Gwynn & Mel Strieb).  Unfortunately, we damaged the roof of the RV again as we scraped the side of a tree branch while backing into Anne & Mel's driveway.  

We kept busy during our 7 days stay in Philly, doing a bit of sightseeing that included the delightful Italian market on 9th Street.  My sister, Erin, from Wilmington DE, came up to visit on Sunday, the day after we arrived and we enjoyed catching up on our respective activities.  The logistics of more visits - considering traffic, other commitments, our respective dogs, etc. precluded more visits - much to our mutual consternation.  Fortunately, we'll see each other again at Hayla's upcoming wedding.    

In the interim, Anne asked for some guidance to convert their yard to something more low maintenance and immediately 'hooked' us with yard work.  We helped select shrubs and proceeded to do several days worth of yard work in order to plant the new shrubs.  Quite the "con job" as far as we were concerned.  Truth be told:  We thoroughly enjoyed puttering in their yard and felt our 'sweat equity' allowed us to park in their driveway and enjoy the excellent meals/beverages and company provided by Anne & Mel.  Their garden, however is where I had my very first encounter with poison ivy. In the mean while, we were once again reunited with our laptop - hooray!  

After departing Philly, we drove to the town of Jim Thorpe, which was formerly known as Mauch Chunk.  According to some stories on the internet, when Jim Thorpe died his 3rd wife essentially sold his body to the two towns, who united in an effort to re-name and re-brand the former coal mining town.  We drove up to the tomb and appreciated the story placards and statutes of the legendary Native American athlete, then did a slow drive-through of the old historic part of town, which was very busy on a Sunday afternoon.  It's a weird story, especially since Jim Thorpe had never set foot in Mauch Chunk, although he did attend the Carlisle Indian School in another part of Pennsylvania.  Otherwise, the town was another in a long series of very pretty and quaint small towns we continue to see on our journey.  

From Jim Thorpe, we drove to Hyde Park, NY in order to visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) historical sites.  FDR's included his Presidential Library with its museum and Springwood, the home where he was born and lived for several years after he and ER were married.  We also made a brief visit to ER's later residence at Val-Kill.  After our visit to several WWII museums and FDR's Warm Springs "Little White House", our visit here was a nice conclusion.

In the interim, we've been having yet another challenge with Tiny Tin (the RV), requiring us to use the booster from the 'house' battery to get it started.  The problem got worse, so we took a couple of hours and drove a few miles south to Poughkeepsie where we were able to get the battery replaced.  As a result, we can say we got to see downtown Poughkeepsie and eat what was purported to be its best pizza in town, conveniently located across the street from the repair shop, (it was OK - not the best pizza we've had).  

On our drive towards New Hampshire, we stopped and visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, which was quite nice.   We drove through Stockbridge, which was very pretty (same theme) and stayed in a RV park in Pittsfield.  

We'll spend part of Memorial Day weekend outside Bennington, Vermont before heading to friends Bunny & Dana Knight's home in Merrimack, NH.  I will be flying to Pierre, SD on 5/31 to testify at a hearing and hope to get back to NH late on 6/3, leaving Jim and the boys at the 'mercy' (i.e. great hospitality) of Bunny & Dana.  

While we were in Philly, there was a cold snap, requiring us to get our winter jackets and extra blanket out again.  The weather has now turned hot, so the extra blankets are once again off - and the a/c on.  Once again, we have to be mindful of not turning Truman & Fergus into 'hot dogs' when we make stops/visit museums, etc.  As a result, our visits to landmarks etc. are often shorter than we would like.  

We have been delighted with seeing a continuous spring as we've traveled north.  The lilacs are now in bloom here whereas the season has passed in the south.  Although we had a respite from mosquitoes, they are back amongst us, along with ticks - which scare us due to Lyme Disease.  We've found a few ticks on us and the dogs - ugh!  We anticipate a mix of weather when we venture into Canada before starting our westward journey home.  With luck, we'll miss any freak snowstorm and/or tornadoes.

And we're off on a cloud of heifer dust again.  

Tim & Nancy Hulings, Elkton, VA

 The Hulings, Jim & Lynne

Harper's Ferry, WV

Harper's Ferry, WV

Antietam, WV

Gettysburg, PA

 view of Gettysburg from battlefield

Ninth Street Italian Market - Philadelphia, PA

 

Mel, Anne, Lynne & Jim in Italian market

Elsfreth Alley, Philadelphia

 Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia

 Anne in front of her yard - 'the project'. 

 Jim Thorpe's tomb - Jim Thorpe, PA

 Flowers & a sage bundle at the tomb

the town of Jim Thorpe

Our RV park near Jim Thorpe, PA

 Statutes of Eleanor & Franklin Roosevelt, Hyde Park

 The FDR Presidential Library & Museum, Hyde Park, NY

 Springwood - birthplace of FDR

 Tomb and graves of Eleanor & Franklin Roosevelt

FDR's desk from White House

Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill residence, Hyde Park

 Pond at sunrise at our Rhinebeck, NY RV park

 Norman Rockwell's studio - Stockbridge, MA

Waiting for Godot

May 10, 2016

Since our last post, Jim and I have suffered through a variety of challenges (snafu's). These have included repairs to the RV roof, water heater, repair of the satellite antenna/dish, dealing with DirecTV and Winegard (dish manufacturer) in regards to the satellite dish and ultimately (the final insult), the crash of our laptop (read: lifeline), then getting Apple to ship the repaired device to the correct address.  OMG, this has all felt as though we were waiting for Godot - and as of this date, we continue to wait. 

In the event any of you were wondering, these issues have conspired to make it difficult to update our blog.  We remain grateful that, while still a Luddite, I finally invested in an iPhone and phone plan and no longer have to worry about getting cut off in mid-sentence when the minutes ran out on my pay-as-you go cell phone as we're trying to deal with these issues.  With the iPhone, we've been able to continue to check email, find RV parks and routes, etc., however, the cell phone is not conducive to writing lengthy emails and certainly not the blog.  

A quick summary of our travels included several days in Savannah - a lovely city.  We won't regale you with how many hours of our time there were spent at Camping World, waiting for them to complete repairs vs. being in the lovely city.  

We departed Savannah and headed to Charleston, South Carolina on April 27th.  We foolishly drove Tiny Tin into the historic center of the city, along its very narrow streets.  We  managed to park the RV and made a brief stop at the Fort Sumter Visitor Center, only then realizing a ferry boat ride was needed to actually visit the historic fort.  We didn't go there.  We made it out of the city safely to a nice RV park about 8 miles outside of town and promptly arranged to rent a car in order to tour the city.   

Our four days in Charleston were again mostly spent waiting for Godot in the form of repair persons, one of whom actually appeared and repaired our water heater.  The other - DirecTV, never showed up.  We did, however, manage to twice get back into Charleston during our stay and enjoyed a horse-drawn carriage ride through part of the old center with an informative guide and visited the Old Slave Mart Museum, adding another chapter to our knowledge of that sad era.  

We left Charleston and headed to Myrtle Beach, stopping in Georgetown along the way.  Georgetown was another "discovery", thanks to a Google search for "best small towns".   It had a thriving, small downtown with beautiful old homes and a nice waterfront.  We enjoyed lunch there and meandered with the dogs around part of the historic neighborhood.  Fergus and Truman seem to enjoy leaving their respective pee-mail messages throughout this journey.  

We arrived in Myrtle Beach and found our RV park - the largest in which we have ever stayed.  We had a perfect space adjacent to the beach and enjoyed the sound of the waves and the smell of the sea.  Aside from one storm, the weather was just right - not too hot/not humid. It was a nice park and a good place to chill out after our various challenges.  We contacted Apple and was able to make an appointment for their store in Raleigh, which determined our next destination. We were, however, still trying to figure out how to get our repaired satellite system to work.  

We arrived in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 3rd and found a state park just 5 miles from the mall with the Apple store.  Long story short:  We spent two nights at this park, then moved to the State Fairgrounds.  We thought the Apple Store was great - the computer was sent off for repairs (under warranty - woohoo!) and we finally were able to get our satellite dish connected and working.  The only downside was we didn't take time to explore the city of Raleigh or much else in North Carolina. 

On our way out of Raleigh, we did stop at Hillsborough, NC, another 'best small town' - which was also quite pretty and friendly.  We had a nice lunch then headed into Virginia where we had a rendezvous in Elkton, VA with Tim and Nancy Hulings, former Peace Corps Volunteers who had befriended us during our P.C. service in Romania.  It was to their home that Apple promised to ship the repaired computer, too.  

We dawdled our way to Elkton, staying two nights near Appomatax and spent time visiting the National Historic Park of Appomatax Courthouse (the name of the town) where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War.  Another learning opportunity for us.  As we headed north, we drove a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was also quite scenic.  

We visited Staunton, another declared "best small town" and enjoyed lunch and a walk around its historic center.  So far, the "best small towns" search has been accurate:  Every one we have visited has been very charming.  We stayed at a nice RV park in nearby Verona, which was full of semi-feral rabbits and a waterfall along the adjacent river.  The rabbits got the full attention of Fergus and he screeched and cried every time he saw them.  He was a nervous wreck and always on the alert. Truman, who is now almost totally blind, couldn't see the rabbits, but by their scent knew they were out there.  Jim figured the rabbits were the result of a "4-H project gone wrong".  His was a better story than the truth.  

On May 9th, we finally headed to Elkton, a small town nestled in the Shenandoah Valley.  The Hulings reside in a lovely home/farm on 40 acres with gorgeous scenery of this area.  Tim has a neighbor's cattle grazing in one large pasture, along with his retired race horse and a boarded horse.  He also grows grapes that he sells to a couple of local wineries - and makes his own wine with grapes he doesn't sell.  While in the Peace Corps, we discovered Tim is a multi-talented artist and writer.  As a result of our visit, we learned he's a pretty good farmer, too.  Nancy is the director and organizer of most things and does an excellent job at both (and she's a good cook, too!).  She thinks we've started a good trend as visitors:  We brought our own house.  We did, however, take full advantage of their (non-coin operated) washer and dryer!

Unfortunately, we're back to waiting for Godot.  The computer system at the Apple store in Raleigh had a big problem the day we visited and they lost the address where they were supposed to send our laptop.  In fact, they didn't send it out for repairs as promised because they were waiting for us to respond to the email they sent to our former email address (because their computer didn't like the new/correct one we provided them in Raleigh).  Arrgh!!!  With luck and perhaps a bit of whining on my part, they will now fix the computer and ship it pronto to my sister's house in Wilmington, Delaware.  Tim & Nancy graciously let me use their laptop in in the interim, however, due to its pokey nature, we're only posting a couple of photos.  

We decided to avoid the D.C. area, fearing the major traffic and will head north tomorrow towards the outskirts of Philly, with stops at Harper's Ferry/Antietem and Gettysburg. More adventures await - and perhaps we'll even be reunited with our laptop.

Scenes from Charleston

 Georgetown, SC