The Simple Life

Lancaster, PA  May 14 - 18, 2013

We made the drive safely from West Virginia all of the way to Lancaster, PA.  We even had to drive through part of Maryland to get here and were scared to death.  We arrived at Roamer's Retreat campground in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch where the Amish and Mennonite live in pockets through out the countryside.  It was literally surrounded by farmland. 

Amish team harvesting Alfalfa next to our campground

We decided to use our first day to take an authentic buggy ride through the Amish countryside and to tour a working Amish farm.  Our driver Barb was a 23 years old and very excitedly told us that she was recently engaged and planning her wedding day.  There were only four of us on the tour so she let us ask any questions and she told us all about the Amish wedding day.  Here's a few fun Amish facts....  they are schooled in a one room school house with 22-25 students.  The students are K-8 in that one room and they are only schooled until the 8th grade.  There is no science in the curriculum, Peg had to bite her tongue. Their lifestyle is one of simplicity, no electricity is the key to this.  Think what comes with electricity, music, technology, telephones etc...  They are only committed to the simple Amish lifestyle after they choose to be baptized and commit themselves to the church;  they have to be baptized to be married in the Amish church; they are shunned only if they turn their backs on the church after being baptized.  We had a great day and even bought an authentic Amish quilt! 

Our beautiful new quilt.

Barb, our Amish buggy tour driver.  Her head covering is what identifies her as Amish and not Mennonite.  Mennonite wear doilies on their heads.

Farming and Dairy are the main professions.  Here is a dairy calf, look at the heart on her forehead.  Her milk will be "lovely"

Two car garage, these buggies are fancy, he also sells birdhouses.

Covered bridge.  A buggy went through followed by a Chevrolet.

Notice the piece of equipment on the right has no rubber on the wheels.  This does have a diesel engine to turn the blades but it is still pulled by horses. 

Now here is a road sign you don't see every day.  We feared for their lives.  Speed limit is 35 mph and nobody except the buggies are going that slowly.

No electricity, no dryers.  Washing machines are the old agitator kind and they run on propane as do the stoves and refrigerators.

I had made arrangements to visit an very old friend and her family whom live in nearby Harrisburg.  I hadn't seen Lisa and Dustin in 13 years.  I saw her last when she was pregnant with her first son.  She now has four beautiful and lively boys.  I met Lisa in California when she worked at my favorite shoe shop and I found out that she was a babysitter on the side.  She helped raise my three beautiful children for 5 years while she finished up college.  I flew to Pennsylvania to attend Lisa's wedding over 15 years ago where I met her mom Carol and her friends the Marty's.  We became fast friends and I flew back a couple of years later to take a very infamous trip into NYC.  We had such a great time and I was really looking forward to seeing everyone.  They were able to get everyone together for dinner even though I had only given them two days notice.  We had a fantastic meal and time reminiscing about old times and catching up.  Of course once again, I was having so much fun I forgot to take any pictures Darn it.  This has been such a fun part of this adventure we are on,  getting to see old friends and family.

We used our last day to drive out to Gettysburg.  It was a little further than we thought, but it was worth it.  We meandered through historic downtown Gettysburg which is still very colonial looking and very cute.  Then we drove the battlefield and learned that this three day battle happened purely by chance when the two armies literally bumped into each other and that there were more casualties in this one battle (51,000) than any other before or since on U.S. soil.  The large number of casualties is why the Soldier's National Cemetery was created and where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address.  A very powerful speech that only lasted a two minutes. 

Unknown soldiers take up a large part of the cemetery.

Unknown soldiers are identified by number only.  This piece of marble has been on the ground for 150 years.  You gotta love the durability of metamorphic rocks!

This is the Soldiers National Monument.  A. is standing where President Lincoln on November 19, 1863 gave his Gettysburg Address.

Happy 1st Anniversary to my beautiful daughter Alex and her perfect mate Jacob!  We wish you both many more fabulous years together.

Coming soon.... Galloway, NJ; White Plains, NY and Boston, MA.  This stop is all about family and friends.  Maybe I will remember to take some pictures.

R n R from Retirement

Parsons, WV  May 8 - 14, 2013

Well after all of the "excitement" of the big city of Washington, DC we were both ready for some rest and relaxation.  We found an RV park in a little town called Parsons, WV in the middle of the Monogahela National Forest and surrounded by state parks.  After a long and harrowing drive on the mountain roads in the pouring rain we pulled into Nirvana, a wide open grass field that has been turned into an RV park.  Nothing to run into!  We pulled into our site in the dark and quickly set up camp. 

Calcite's Playground

A river runs thru it

We awoke the next morning to find the place was even better in the daylight.  There was a huge open grass area and the whole place was surrounding by a river.  And the best part was that the owner told us we didn't have to worry about leashing the dogs!  The forecast was for rain for pretty much the whole week, but that made it great for the seven loads of laundry, shopping and other errands we needed to accomplish.  We also made it into a Ford dealer to have the bat inspected and serviced. 

Parson's - A cute little town

Towards the end of the week we were ready for some outdoor fun so we buttoned up our jackets and drove out to Otter Creek for a beautiful hike in the woods on Mother's Day.  A perfect day topped off by phone calls from all three of my beautiful, amazing children that I miss so much!  That made my day.  Our last day was spent meeting with another insurance adjuster to deal with the Crazy African Incident.  At the end of the day we were treated to fifteen minutes of snow... yes snow.  Vern the lawn man said "In all my 75 years I have never seen snow after Mother's Day". 

Calcite and Peg crawled across this bridge

A beautiful hike in the woods

Manna from heaven.... or snow!

Coming soon.... Lancaster, PA; Galloway, NJ, White Plains, NY and Boston, MA a whirlwind of states, friends and family.

Our new obsession - filling in the stickers.

D.C Crazy

College Park, MD  May 1 - 7, 2013

We left Misty Mountain excited about our trip to Washington, DC, but decided to make a stop at an RV Service Center to have our axle checked.  We bought some new wheel blocks to try to stabilize ourselves a little when parked and the blocks didn't fit on the side where the blow out occurred - so we thought maybe something was damaged.  We drove into Richmond and paid a mechanic to take a look at our springs, axle and bearings.  He determined that the problem was the "cheap" tire we had put on after the blow out... he called it a "Chinese bomb" because they blow out so much.  So we had him switch it out with the spare (which was the same as the rest of the tires) and thought our problems were solved.

We head to Washington a little later than we had hoped, but relieved that our tires were in good shape.  The drive was very challenging as there was a lot of traffic and Maryland drivers are absolutely insane.  When we were about 11 miles from our RV park a car swerves in front of us and slams on her brakes.  Peg manages some how to stop our 17,000 pounds of inertia without slamming into the back of her, miraculously.  We wait for her to continue to pull over or something, but she is just sitting there in the middle of the freeway talking on her cell phone while cars are honking and getting around us.  We were terrified that we were going to be hit so Peg manages to back up enough so we can get around her and she backs up too!  Peg then gets out of the car to find out what is going on and the woman proceeds to scream "you hit me".  Peg says no I stopped in time.  And she just keeps repeating that we hit her.  We now believe we are being scammed so Peg jumps back in the car and manages to maneuver around her - she steps in front of the car even putting both hands on the hood trying to stop Peg from moving forward! Peg leans on the horn screaming at the woman to get out of the way, she finally does running back to her car.  I get on the phone with 911 to report a crazy woman and here she comes again weaving through traffic and cuts us off again with the brake slamming thing but this time we are in the fast lane.  The police say to stay put and they are on the way.  The longest 20 minutes of our lives - we are so scared.  Luckily there was a large shoulder to the left of the fast lane and everyone behind us used the shoulder to move around us.  A very nice state policeman arrives and takes our statements and inspects the cars.  It turns out she is claiming that we hit her changing lanes and there is a little scratch on her front fender and a matching scratch on our rig.  We know that if we had hit her changing lanes with our massive vehicle that her car would have spun out of control so we are pretty sure this is a scam and she turned into us from  the next lane after we had changed lanes! Well sure enough... she went straight to an attorney because we received a letter claiming injury four days later.  Unbelievable! Our insurance company took our statement and the two insurance companies are going to duke it out.

We make it safely the rest of the way to our RV park with a sigh of relief that we don't have to drive anywhere for a few days.  The Metro Bus Service has a stop right in the park that stops at the nearest Metro Subway station, very convenient and easy way to the city.  They also have a dog walker!  We setup Sandy the dog-walker for three days so we could spend full days seeing everything DC has to offer.  We used our first day to take the open air big bus tour that drove by all of the monuments, museums and even out to Arlington.  We got off at the Vietnam Memorial so Peg could find her dad's best friend on the wall - Captain Michael Ross!  We also stopped at the Lincoln Memorial, it was great to read his Gettysburg Address and 2nd Inaugural Speech after seeping ourselves in all of the Civil War History.  We also got a start on the Smithsonian Natural History museum which we knew was going to take a long time.  We ended the day with a pedi-cab ride (a very special treat) to Harry's Bar for some chili cheese fries and local brewski's.

The Capitol Building

Washington Monument being repaired after 2011 earthquake

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial - Thank you Veterans!

White House as close as you can get

We devoted our second day to the Holocaust Museum.  Everyone should be forced to go to the Holocaust Museum.  It is an amazing experience beyond words.  I was shocked to learn that in addition to the 6 million Jews that were massacred, there were 5 million other people massacred as well.... Gypsies, disabled, and political adversaries etc...  Hitler was responsible for killing 11 million people! As many as in World War I.  Also heartbreaking was the lack of US response to the horror stories.  I did love reading about the heroes of the time that put their lives at risk to help those in danger.  The two most memorable rooms are one filled with the shoes that had been taken from Jews and a room filled with pictures from a little Polish village where every one of the 6,000 Jews were massacred.  Again I say, this museum is a must see. 
                                           
                         No pictures allowed in museum, but these are my Holocaust Jammies
                                                Notice I am not smiling...no laughing matter

We took our Saturday to drive out to Columbia to visit with Peg's Aunt Anne and her family.  Both of her kids Kate and Thomas came over with their families for a BBQ.  It was great to see everyone.  Uncle Eric even went out to get us Maryland crab cakes which were delicious.  Peg really enjoyed seeing her two cousins after 26 years and meeting their children for the first time.  Great parents raising fabulous kids.

We used our last day to finish touring the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum.  The dinosaur fossils at the NHS were amazing.  We loved the Amelia Earheart and the Wright brothers exhibits at the AS.  It was a great day and we were both exhausted.

Ancient Turtle Skeleton

Prehistoric Zoe

We packed up ready for a week in the West Virginia Mountains for some much needed R and R.  We were both a little nervous about getting back on the crazy Maryland highway with the rig.  One exit up I see smoke billowing out from the tire we just replaced.  I pull to the shoulder and call Good Sam roadside assistance once again.  The smoke is coming from the brake drum around the bearings.  Good Sam asks us to limp to the next exit to a Safeway parking lot so there will be room for the repair man.  I made it to the exit smoking like crazy, pull into a very busy parking lot looking for a place to park.  When I made a turn I heard a noise I look in the rear view mirror to see our tire, rim and all laying in the road!  Our entire wheel fell off!  OMG.  Some very nice young men had followed us into the lot and were picking up our tire and smoking brakes out of the road.  We wait four hours for a tow truck that is unable to tow us because the trailer is leaning to far over and putting too much pressure on the remaining tire on that side.  He chains up the axle and I limp around to the back of the buildings so as to get us out of traffic.  We call Good Sam back to get a mobile mechanic out who arrives at 5 pm (this started at 10:45a.m.) when all of the parts stores are closed.  Dave from Vinny's Towing is great though and pulls everything apart and takes all of the parts with him so he can round up all of the correct parts the next morning.  The good news is the axle is undamaged - another miracle.  We spend the night in the sketchy parking lot without incident.  Dave comes back at 11:45 the next day and gets us all fixed up.  New bearings and brakes on both wheels on the back axle.  And we hit the road at 3:30 just in time for the crazy Maryland traffic.... oh and I forgot to mention it is pouring rain.  Five hours later we arrive safely to Parsons, West Virginia!

No tire, no brakes, no bearings, no problem!

Coming Soon..... Parsons, WV and hopefully no more drama!

Misty Mountain for a reason

Misty Mountain, VA  April 27 - May 1, 2013

We made the drive from Williamsburg to Misty Mountain without any trouble.  We arrive at a beautiful campground at the base of the Shenandoah National Park and it was packed!  We didn't know it was their semi-annual Jeep weekend.  They gave us a very tight back-in spot that had cars parked all along the road.  This was my first back-in in quite a while and my last couple of efforts had not been stellar.  Luckily the new walkie-talkies worked great and we slid right in.  Once we had settled in,  our neighbors started telling us all about Jeep weekend and that all of the Jeep drivers were on a trail ride, but would be back soon and running around the park.  Well they were right.... it was so much fun to watch.  The Jeeps were driving into the creek behind us and blazing their own trails out and around.  It turned into kind of a competition to see who could get up the biggest, steepest creek bank.  It was very fun.

Jeeps in the creek

Boys with toys

Up the hill - we hope

The next day it was raining to we used it to check out the area and drove into Waynesboro to stock up on supplies.  The only good thing was all of the weekenders were going home, so the park cleared out.  We kind of missed the excitement though.

Empty camp-sights abound now

Misty Mountain beautiful campground

 

We saved our trip to Monticello for the next day hoping the weather would be better.  This is the home that Thomas Jefferson built on his family's property and is known for being an architectural wonder.  He was a truly amazing man.  His thirst for knowledge drove him to creative genius.  The visitor center, house tour, slavery tour and garden tour were fabulous!  Grace was the best tour guide we have had in all of our adventures.  She was knowledgeable, honest and enthusiastic about Jefferson and architecture.  The house itself is 90% original and filled with 60% original artifacts.  Even 60% of the windows were the original glass.   Some Jefferson facts you may or may not know.... authored the Declaration of Independence, served as the Ambassador to France, served two terms as President, and was the founder of the University of Virginia.  There is also DNA evidence that suggests he fathered 6 children with his slave Sally Hemmings who was half sister to his dead wife Martha.  His passion was to inspire everyone into wanting a higher education.  The Monticello organization was very honest and straightforward regarding Mr. Jefferson and slavery.  It was very interesting to read his writings regarding his feelings that slavery was morally wrong yet he owned slaves his entire life.  He was a very interesting man and we really enjoyed our visit.

Monticello

He labeled every plant in the garden

Thomas Jefferson's garden and thinking room

Our last day was dedicated to Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park and the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The weather wasn't cooperating, but we decided to go ahead since it was our last chance.  The drive started out in pea soup fog, but we kept at it hoping it would clear.  We decided on a hike to the South Falls.  There was a beautiful hike down to a view of one of the highest falls in the park and part of the loop back was a portion of the Appalachian Trail woo-hoo.  The trouble of course came when hiking back up.... I swear it was one mile down and four miles back up.   We did run into a busload of Chinese students on a field trip.  It was really cute because they were fascinated with Calcite and Zoe.  Half of them wanted to pet them and the other half were terrified, but giggling.  They took pictures and waved good-bye when we left  The fog lifted for a while after that and we did get some beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We drove back to our campground through the Shenandoah Valley and it was just as beautiful driving thru as it was driving above it.
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It was way worse than it looks here

South Hills Falls

Appalachian Trail

Shenandoah Valley

Blue Ridge Mountains

Coming soon.... Washington D.C.