Tom & Jill's Circle The USA Trip
First Half - Page Two 
September 16th - Mid October

Wednesday September 16th
Croton Point Park Campground, on the Hudson River 
about 40 miles north of New York City

Holy Moley Batman, the Big Apple tried to swallow us non-city folks whole, but it didn't win, we did!!! We started the day early, at the train station a little after 7am, and caught the 7:20 from Croton to Grand Central Station. First thing is very apparent, finding a seat that the two of us could sit together was just NOT gonna happen. But Jill shoved us into one of the last side by side possibilities, and much to our delight all we had to look at was the bulkhead between cars, no view at all... So for about an hour we twiddled our thumbs until the doors opened and the staff shewed us out the door into the reality of a downtown NYC train/subway/zoo and we had to hit the pavement running as we were about to be run over by a half million two legged animals wearing headphones that could care less if you ended up as a stain on their shoes. Upon being herded by these animals into the main Grand part of Central Station we finally had an opening to duck into cover and catch our breath, Pretty cool I must say, not as fancy as some of the stations in Europe, but on American standards it was picture worthy. After asking about 3 groups of NYC's finest, we figured out how to get to the subway, and the green 5 line that ends up in Bowling Green, where the tours boats to Liberty Island disembark from. And once we survived that part of our morning,,,, way off in the distance the lady kind of showed herself, the object of our Bucket List, Item #2, The Statue Of Liberty... 

So as we were ahead of schedule by about an hour or so, we were so happy when they told us we could board the next boat heading to the island. AWESOME!!! The tour boat ride goes really fast, and we were soon on Liberty Island with the statue right there in front of us in full glory. We had heard that the is not really that big, and I have to agree from Bowling Green she is not that impressive, but when your standing right in front of her she is AMAZING. And the whole history thing, including how she was made, the people that have passed her, the importance of her message, just makes you kind of whimper like a baby in many ways. Words just do not do justice to the feelings that overwhelm you when standing in front of such an important piece of American history!!!

After spending more time than we thought on Liberty Island, we decided to skip Ellis Island and head to the next bucket list item on our list... Granted it is September the 16th and not the 11th, which would have been WAY COOL, but close enough to 25 years later that this was a MUST for us while in lower Manhattan. The memorial where the twin towers stood is a sacred spot, and while here you get goose bumps thinking about how we were all glued to the TV in disbelief when they fell to the ground consuming so many lives, and really an entire country. Outstanding memorial, one that we will remember for a long long time! AFter this we figured how to make our way back to the subway, back to Grand Central Station, and once again asking an officer of the blue where to find the right track terminal, we were on our way back to the campground. All in all, almost 9 hours of every emotion you can dream of, thing we will never forget, and on so many levels a day that will be special for the rest of our lives!!!!

Thursday September 17th
Croton Point Park Campground, on the Hudson River

Today was soyaaw day...( lets see who the first person is that figures out what soyaaw stands for)... We left about 8:30am heading out for some breakfast before heading about 30 miles north to the Chevy dealer to have our oil changed and the tires rotated. We had an appointment for 10am, but it was at least 11:30 before they even started to work on the truck. About noon we hear there is a problem, and it looks like the oil pressure sending unit is leaking. About 30 minutes later we hear for a fact that our oil pressure sending unit is leaking. "Just a minute and I will figure out what it is gonna cost you" was the comment which my reply was.... "5 years 50 thousand"... Of course that got a funny look, but then the light bulb went off and the "I will have to look into that for you" comment was made... Of course I should have panicked, but I knew that the "5 years 50 thousand" was valid as I made sure before we left on this journey. About 5 minutes later I heard yup, but we are not sure we have the part. About 20 minutes later we hear, "oh my god we had it", "I can't believe we actually had the part you need". So another hour goes by and we hear it is finished. I think we left about 2:30 and we were on our way... So we drove about 25 miles to get into Neu Jyoursey and grabbed a few caches in a little town called West Mahwah. Of course that added one more state to the list of states we have found geocaches in to bring our total to 35. By now we were just in time to catch the beginning of traffic getting back into Neu Youurk, so we followed the little road along the east side of the Hudson River back to our campground. But during that drive along the river we passed through some OLD OLD towns that we are going to go back to tomorrow, churches from before 1776, and graveyards like from the 1600's? We will have some surprises for you in tomorrows installment to our BLOG. Today no pictures, just a story of a long awaited relief that the truck was fixed and we are still on schedule with a healthy traveling unit ready to hit the road Saturday morning!

Friday September 18th 
Croton Point Park Campground, on the Hudson River

Today was fun day, in a spooky sort of way... You ever heard of the story: The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow??? Well we went right to the source today!!! We visited the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, and the Old Dutch Burying Grounds of Sleepy Hollow! We gotta tell you this is the most awesome graveyard we have ever visited in this country. Right up there with the ones in the United Kingdom for sure!!! And it is HUGE!  We started at the south end at the church and walked the entire cemetery which is 90 acres but feels much bigger. We were there almost 4 hours, and saw some very famous people including The Rockefellers, Washington Irving, Florence Nightingale (Elizabeth Arden), Andrew Carnegie to mention a few. After we got back to the truck it was time to do a little shopping and lunch so we headed north to the little town of Peekskill. Main reason for going so far north was to get a 50 amp to 30 amp conversion adapter so we will have power at our next stop in Marlton NJ. RV supplies are few and far between around these parts, and even our truck gets very strange looks all the time. After lunch we headed back to our campsite and did all the pre road trip activities (tanks both emptying and filling, checking all the nutz and boltz, etc.) and are about to consume Jill's dinner! So with that, we are done for the day, and hit the road south to Marlton just outside of Philadelphia PA in the morning... 

Saturday September 19th
Marlton Elks Lodge - Marlton NJ

Today was a moving day again, but this time leaving the New York area and heading south to the Philadelphia area. We are to the west of Philly in a real nice residential area, using the Elks Lodge RV hookup area. After what seemed like a half day driving in circles, we finally figured out the maze to get on the NJ Turnpike from Croton Point. Once on the turnpike things went smoothly and we made it here a little after noon. We got unhooked and setup, grabbed a snack, and then headed south again into Delaware. One guess??? Yup, geocaches... IT was about a 30 minute drive to our first cache, and then we did a few more before heading back to Marlton to our trailer for the night. Pretty easy no stress day once we hit the turnpike, until then the drive was what nightmares are made of....

Sunday September 20th 
Marlton Elks Lodge - Marlton NJ

Today was another very laid back easy day. We left about 9am headed to meet a rather metallic fella, but first stopped at a really nice local diner and had breakfast (something that is usually just yogurt and berries). Of course when in Rome as the saying goes, Jill says lets try Scrapple and Pork Roll, which we had no clue what they were going to be. To be safe we both ordered Eggs Benedict as well to make sure we had all bases covered. Turns out the pork roll was nothing more than fried bologna only a higher grade bologna than the Oscar Meyer stuff from Safeway. Scrapple on the other hand was pork scraps and trimmings, combined with cornmeal, flour, buckwheat flour, and various spices like sage and black pepper. It is also know by the Pennsylvania Dutch name Pannhaas, Quite good in a very unique way. After that we were once again off to meet this metallic fella who was just a quarter mile from the diner. As you can tell by the picture this is another one of the Thomas Dambo trolls which is part of Jill's bucket list. After the find we did a few other geocaches and headed back to the Elks Lodge where we had been invited to watch the Eagles / Titans football game, something NOT on Jill's bucket list lol. Of course I had to poke the bear and root for the Titans who eventually lost in the final seconds of the game. All good fun, and since it was a cloudy and rainy kinda day, being inside and enjoying those people with the outrageous Neuu Jouehsey accent was a hoot. Tomorrow: Liberty Bell, Liberty Museum, Betsy Ross house, etc in downtown Philadelphia.... 

Monday September 21st 
Marlton Elks Lodge - Marlton NJ 
Philadelphia USA Day

The rain let up today, and the weather was perfect for a trip into downtown Philadelphia. So we figured out that we could catch the PADCO train about 6-7 miles from where we are staying, and for 6 bucks round trip each we could ride the train and not have to deal with parking and all that stuff. So we got out of here fairly early and made it downtown around 9am, just in time to walk over to Independence Hall while it was still free admission, but more importantly before they start the scheduled tours which were sold out for the entire day. We planned this trip perfect I guess because the original Declaration Of Independence was on display (from what we hear this is rather rare). Absolutely AMAZING to see all the side notes and scribbles here and there on Elbrige Gerry's copy, and the actual document that Colonel John Nixon used to declare independence on July 8th 1776 including the pen that is believed to be the one used in the signing of the decleration. We also walked into the Assembly Room Where countless famous American leaders and prominent figures have made their presence known to the world, and where the United States Of America actually started. Your actually walking where all this happened 250 years ago, where George Washington and Benjamin Franklin walked, your standing right there, on top of their footsteps!!! Flippin CRAZILY AMAZING does not even cover the emotions. Goose Bumps with the hair on the back of your neck sticking straight out, almost a tear drop too.... If you haven't been here, make it happen is all we can say!

From there we did the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Liberty Bell, but not the National Constitution Center as it was closed today. We then went into the visitors center and asked a few questions, and the people there were a GREAT help! We ended up walking about 10 blocks to the Reading Terminal Market. This was the original building for the Reading Railroad, and now the lower level houses over 80 different food vendors of about every nationality you can think of. The gentleman that sent us here told us the best Philly Steak Sandwich in town was at Uncle Gus's inside this place. Well when we arrived the line kind of told us he was probably correct, so we ordered one to split and enjoyed a FANTASTIC lunch sanny!!! From there we walked another 12 blocks or so through downtown Philly to a place Jill had found called Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.  I'm thinking roses, shrubs and the like, and when walked up to the place I though she had lost her mind. But low and behold my wife found the most interesting place, kinda like a artist/hippie/eccentric hideout on steroids!!!! We must have spent over an hour here, which is amazing because it is not that big of a place, but it is filled to the brim, everywhere you look is something new, and then look again and there is something else you missed the first time. Mosaic wonderland I think is the term that would cover this place, and it's EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

By this time it is after 3pm and we are thinking we should get to the train station before the work people start their nightly pilgrimage. It was another 10 blocks or so but we made it in time to be able to grab a seat and enjoy the ride back across the Delaware River to the station where we left the truck. A quick 20 minutes or so and we are back to the Elk's lodge for our last night here before we move on to Gettysburg tomorrow morning. A quick shout out to the Marlton Elks Lodge for being so generous and welcoming to us!!! We loved our stay here, thank you very much!!!!!

Tuesday/Wednesday September 22nd & 23rd
Artillery Ridge Campground - Gettysburg PA

So we will start with Tuesday and the drive from Philly NJ to Gettysburg PA... One word, RAIN, and all day long. But since it was only a 3 hour drive (without rain) we just sat back in the slow lane and tried to keep ourselves out of any problems. It was stressful going through the outskirts of Baltimore but we made it to Artillery Ridge just outside of Gettysburg without any mishaps... So that brings us to today, Wednesday, and our visiting the Gettysburg National Military Park... At least it was not raining this morning, couple light sprinkles here and there, but was in the low 50's which was light coat weather. We started off at the national cemetery, which was very subdued for a national cemetery, but still got us some chills down the spine. From there we decided to do the 16 stop self guided auto tour. Believe it or not, this took us 7 hours, holy cow there is just so much to see. Over 1200 statues and monuments, and they are just plain everywhere! Add the amount of grave stones and markers and it is just incredible. I think the thing that really amazed me was how small the battle area actually was. It is about 3 miles wide and 5 miles long, in today's terms that is nothing. The total lives lost was over 7800, and it was over in 3 days. A FANTASTIC day, and so many memories we will leave here with!!! Pic's are limited here on the website, but my phone battery died before we made the end of the drive from taking so many pictures.....

Thursday September 24th
Artillery Ridge Campground - Gettysburg PA

Today was sleep in, relax, and then go into the old part of Gettysburg and do the store/tourist trap shopping thing. We ended up at the famous Dobbin House, built back in 1776, and was the first house built here. It now is a B&B, Tavern and Restaurant. We had lunch downstairs in the old basement, still the same brick floors, wood walls, posts from when it was built. Technically a tavern, but their menu was first class and they are well know for excellent food. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get a table, but it was worth every minute. Food was good however the crab cakes were rather different then we are used to. The French Onion Soup however was world class as well as the Date Loaf. After lunch we headed south about 8 miles to grab a few more Maryland caches while we were so close. Then headed back to the trailer where we prepared to leave tomorrow morning (yup tanks, water, tightening boltz, etc....). After that we took our evening walk and on the way back we decided that the mini golf course here at the park probably dried off enough to give it a go. Of course Jill kicked my ass, and about the 14th hole the skeeters decided we were done, so back to the trailer we went for a great bean soup Jill made with white beans from her greenhouse she grew and dried before we left. Tomorrow??? Headed to the DC area. Four days of Smithsonian, History, and fun....

Friday September 25th
Arlington-Fairfax Elks Lodge #2188

Not much for today other than a short drive, about an hour and a half, to get to the DC area. Pulled into the elks lodge around 1:00 pm, and after getting set up went on a drive to add a couple geocaches from Virginia so we could add another state to the list of states we have geocached in. We are officially up to 38 states now, 11 more to go on this trip! After that we came back to the trailer and started making reservations for the second half of the trip from December through the first of March. Dinner was at the Elks lodge, which we are learning that there is no such thing as fine dining, but rather good ole fashioned home cooked stuff with canned vegetables. YUMM????? Well it was ok, but the members and staff went out of their way to make us feel at home. We enjoyed our time, got some valuable info for our next three days visiting the DC area, so a win win all around. Tomorrow we will get to know the train/bus system first hand and head to the Smithsonian and Capital areas, first of 3 days we have planned for trying to see as much as we can. Weather is going to be kind of iffy as we are going to get to see what they call a Nor'easter that is moving through tomorrow and Sunday. Then it starts getting better and temps up in the mid 80's by Tuesday. OH BOY HUMIDITY, WOO HOO..... But looking forward to the warm sunny days coming our way!!! Got down to 47 last night so we actually fired off the little electric heater for the first time this whole trip... Fall is a coming, and them leaves might just be red by the time we get to the great smokey mountains (fingers crossed). 

Saturday September 26th 
Washington DC - Smithsonian & Capital
Arlington-Fairfax Elks Lodge #2188

Today was another "Bucket List" day for us. Up early, on the train at 8am and into the Capital area about 9am. The train system here seems GREAT, pretty easy to get from the west side of DC into the Capital Mall area, and we hit the streets running (well ok, walking, it's a great term but unrealistic at our age). So all the museums open at ten, so hey lets walk west down to the Capital and work our way east, sounded like a great plan. Well if you have never been here before like us, you quickly learn that it's not just a short hop and jump around this place, it's like 2.5 miles between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capital Building. But since we are spry and nimble (cough cough) we started off with a trot and worked our way down to a steady walk... Capital was AWESOME, especially the statue's next to the reflecting pool. Of course we could not get close, but hey we were there and did a couple Geocaches to prove it (along with a butt load of pictures). From there we were going to head back to the American Indian museum, but got sidetracked into the Bartholdi Gardens and the United States Botanical Garden. Gotta say the greenhouse here is the most amazing one we have ever been in!!! Awesome does not even come close. It's the most mature and diverse display of botanical displays in one place we have ever seen, hands down. The greenhouse even has a catwalk through the upper levels of the tropical jungle section, it was awesome, as was the rest of the area. If your a "planty" like we are, this is a must for your "have to visit" list for sure. From there we did the American Indian museum as well as had lunch in their cafe. As we were eating lunch the dreaded "Nor Easter" really started showing signs that it actually might just get rainy and windy, oh boy right? From here we ducked and covered moving next door to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum (Next Door around here is about 2 city blocks). After about 2 1/2 hours our legs and bodies were starting to complain, so we took a break at their cafe and had an orange juice and some chips and nuts. We finished off the upper floor of the museum and decided to make it a day (well ok we still have an hour long train ride back to the truck and then about 15 minutes back to the Elks Lodge where we are camped). So we dawned the rain gear and umbrella and headed to the train station about 4 blocks away. GREAT DAY, LONG DAY, TIRING DAY, all fit the description of our experiences on the first day in Washington DC...... Tomorrow? More walking, the White House, Lincoln Memorial, closer to the Washington Monument, and three more Smithsonian Museum's.....

Sunday September 27th Washington DC - 
Smithsonian & Capital 
Arlington-Fairfax Elks Lodge #2188

Today was another full all day adventure like yesterday but even longer. We left before 8am and got back around 7pm. We got off the train a couple stops before yesterday so we would be closer to the White House. Of course this was a major stop in the bucket list category, and much to our chagrin, it turned out to be a 99% total dud. You can't get anywhere close to the White House, you can't even get a view of the white house except for the north gate, and that is about a 10 foot wide view and through a major security fence making it about impossible to get a picture. Secret service everywhere, I'm sure they had me pegged somehow, but we still got to the front of the blob of people trying to get the same "outstanding picture" as we were. Well we got a narrow view by getting our lenses in the middle of a 3/4 inch hole in the security fence and had to be satisfied with that. Very disappointing, but I guess that is what the world is now a days. At least the rain was kind of holding off, for now anyway, the big Nor Easter was in full effect. So from here we walked back south and then east to visit the WW2 and Lincoln Memorials. Wanted to check out the reflecting pool, but of course it was empty and fenced off (thanks to BS, uuhh never mind) so the views looking towards the Lincoln Memorial were non photogenic, The WW2 memorial did afford us a great view looking west with the Washington monument in the background, but with the dark clouds and rain starting again, not very photogenic. At least the Lincoln memorial was open, and the photos were acceptable if you can ignore the political ass (uh again never mind), I mean the distractions on the steps leading up to it. From there we worked our way back to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a Smithsonian building (there was a parade going on Constitution Ave which sidetracked us for awhile). This actually was very interesting, and especially the 2nd and 3rd floors covering the 1960's and 70's which brought back a LOT of memories of when we were kids. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, we were not directly exposed to the direct feelings of the south, but it was still part of our lives and this very much brought back memories of those turbulent times in our childhoods. After a few hours here we moved on to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where we once again spent hours on our feet. We got lucky as during this visit the rain was pouring outside, and we missed the majority of it. Again this place was awesome! We got some foodish items at the cafe, and enjoyed a place to sit for 20 minutes while here, PHEW... From there we still had a little over an hour left before everything closed, so we walked across the national mall to the Hirshhorn Museum. OK this one is one of those hoidee toidee places that you have to dig real deep, have some sort of abstract mind, and consuming mass quantities of something synthetic to be able to call it art. There were a couple Picasso pieces in there, that will give you sort of a clue how abstract your mind has to be, but mostly for me anyway, kindergarten grade art at best. If you call a 50 foot long by 3 foot wide pile of white rocks art, well this place is definitely for you. BUT, like all Smithsonian buildings, it was free, and so on those term we got our monies worth! From here it was after 5pm so we made our way over to the train where we ran into the herds of people leaving the DC area after witnessing the Washington Commanders spank the Seahawks! Being Seahawks fans since were from the NW, we kept quiet and therefor didn't get pushed on the tracks and actually found a seat on the train. So far all was well, then the next stop made us all feel like meat being pushed into a sausage casing :-). It did take over an hour to get to our final stop, so by the time we got to the trailer it was about 7pm. So folks, to sum it up, GREAT day, LONG day, LOTS of walking (again), and no energy left to do this blog when we got back, so here it is a day late.... 

Monday September 28th Washington DC 
Arlington-Fairfax Elks Lodge #2188

Today was recovery day for us & maintenance day for me! After walking long distances and being on our feet literally all day long for two days straight, we took advantage of a rain free cooler day to recharge our personal batteries and get some important tasks done as well. First off since we found out that there is a Safeway store less than 10 minutes from us, we called their pharmacy and had them fill both our prescriptions so we are covered until we fly home in about 5 weeks. On the way we stopped and bought a grease gun and a tube of grease so I could grease the zerk fittings on the suspension of the trailer. This task has been bugging me for the last few weeks since we have way over 10k miles on the trailer now, and I did not bring my grease gun from home. We also bought supplies for the next 4-5 days while at Safeway since we are heading to Williamsburg VA tomorrow and I am sure will be on our feet touring again while we are there. So after a quick bite for lunch I went through half a roll of paper towels (not really but it sounds good) trying to put together and get the grease working on the new gun. Of course I didn't change to an old shirt so as my luck would have it, right off the bat I got grease on the one I was wearing. Then about five pairs of hand condoms later (surgical gloves for all you non outdoorsy type people) the trailer was almost all greased. There was 3 out of 14 fittings that are clogged, so a trip to a parts store to buy new zerks and replace the ones that are clogged/stuck, and then finish the grease job is on the near horizon. Since we only have 150 miles to travel tomorrow things should be fine until I can replace them. Hopefully Williamsburg will not be the hustle bustle PIA that DC has been, and we get a relaxing 4 days with no subway/trains involved! The weather looks almost scary, in the mid to upper 80's which would normally be great, but in this humid environment it just might be a little sweaty? That's it for today folks, other than actually having a semi sunset for a change with no wind and rain, YEA!!! So too-da-loo folks, until next time.......

Twooosday September 29th  
Chickahominy Riverfront Park
Williamsburg, VA

Really kind of nice to be out of a paved parking lot tonight, but can't say enough good things about the Elks Lodge camping opportunities! About half way here we had a construction truck pass us doing 65 on the highway and WHAMOOHH, another nice rock, this one Jill says was rather large gave us our second chicken legs in the windshield. This one though is rather large and has an air bubble in it as well.  Pretty sure it's going to spread at some point. I was watching my mirror at the time and didn't see it hit, but it did make a rather loud "SMACK".... Just gotta love when your new truck gets an "Oowwee"...  Tonight we are just outside Williamsburg at Chickahominy Riverfront Park in Jamestown Virginia. It is right on the James River just up from the Chesapeake Bay. Nice little park and our site is in the trees on the edge of the river. It's kind of got that Georgia feeling to it, but no moss hanging in the trees. Really nice and quiet, peaceful, and very relaxing. Exactly what we need and were looking forward to. We did drive into Williamsburg this afternoon, had Discount Tire redo the pressures in all four of the truck tires so now were are running the exact same 80lbs in all four. Ever since we had the tires rotated in New York the rig feels a little twitchy, and I am hoping this will get it back to rock solid. We also stopped by the Colonial Williamsburg visitors center to get a plan going for the next three days. Quite the opposite here than in DC where everything is free, here it starts around 40 bucks each for every attraction. Oh well, when in Rome as the saying goes... That's the plan for tomorrow, start visiting all the history that abounds here. Oh ya, and for Jim, we are just outside Norfuck, that should bring back memories you don't want to talk about!!! 

Wednesday September 30th 
Chickahominy Riverfront Park 
Williamsburg & Jamestown, VA

I guess we could call today "Brother" day since we spent most of it in Jamestown a the settlement park. We got a little later start this morning as we only had about a 10 minute drive to get there, but we were still there about 9:30 just before the fun stuff starts. The museum inside was really nice, where we spent probably over two hours before and we headed to the replica ships and the settlement areas. The ships were cool, smaller than you would think, and the settlement was what you would expect for a replica. The "park" itself did go overboard with all the learning areas, and the people in period costumes, and there were a ton of grade school kids there on field trips. It really was not busy though, and we got a few nice pictures without hoards of people in them. We had lunch there at the cafe, and then headed in Historic Williamsburg. Now this was very cool, nothing replicated here, all original from the 1700's. Well ok I am sure the brick sidewalks are not 250 years old, but the buildings are, and we got in quite a few of them. The picture below of the brick building is the oldest commercial building here, built in 1740. The picture of the man is him making a mans wig out of real human hair, and how they used to shave the men bald and fit the weaved head piece to fit. Of course walking this entire area took hours, and before we knew it, the phone batteries were almost dead and it was after 5pm. So back to the campground, grabbed a soda and relaxed for a few before it was time to head over to the Chickahominy River Bridge that is right next to the park where our campground is. Grabbed some sunset pics and Jill had her "Betty" impression going while looking for rocks on the shoreline! After that we made our way to a geocache a little ways from our trailer, and then home where Jill made a great fallish type dinner using some of her canned veggies from her greenhouse and some elk steak. So to sum it up, just as many tour type things going on, but WAY less stressful as we are NOT in a big city, and did not have to deal with crowds of people, trains, traffic, or anything like that. Nice easy day with less walking than DC, but still 7 hours on our feet, so it was nice to sit back and work on a BLOG before we head to bed. Tomorrow is the Colonial Williamsburg tour stuff, so probably on our feet all day again with that. People here are very nice, friendly, and accommodating as well!

Thursday October First 
Chickahominy Riverfront Park 
American Revolution Museum & Yorktown, VA

Today was Yorktown day, where the final battle of the American Revolution was fought some 250 years ago. Gotta tell you that this museum, although not as big as the Smithsonian museums in NYC, is every bit as good as they are if not better!!! Spine tingling AWESOME... We spent over 3 hours looking, reading, listening and witnessing some of the best pieces of American history there is. Their firearm collection is friggin AMAZING, would not even try to guess what market values would be for this stuff. The revolutionary war right there in front of you, close enough to touch if not for the glass the items proudly sit behind. Everything, right down to Sheffield candlesticks, and Chippendale chairs, George Washington Silver sword, and my personal favorite (aside from the weapons of course) was a hand carved Beechwood cribbage board from 1768 with matching playing cards. After the indoor offerings we walked around their replica of a civil war encampment, and again first class, very entertaining and captivating! Anyway, after hours there, we went a short ways into Yorktown proper and had lunch on the banks of the York River before heading to the Yorktown Battlefield. The visitor center here is rather lacking when compared to the American Revolution Museum (I'm being nice because this really sucked), but we enjoyed our 10 minutes or so before jumping in the truck and doing the self guided battlefield tour. The drive was nice, but again compared to places like Gettysburg it's not even close to the same caliber. It was a nice drive with barely anyone around, so we enjoyed ourselves being in the "wilderness" of a national park. We got back to the trailer for a quick snack and then walked to a new area of this park for the sunset. Tonight was awesome!!! Lots of color and the sunset lasted for like forever it seemed. Then grabbed a Geocache on our walk back to the trailer and now Jill is working on dinner. Great day here, in the upper 80's but it didn't feel all that hot. Supposed to be the same tomorrow if not a little warmer. That's it for tonight, a day that we will remember for a long time!!!

Threshing Flax for weaving  -  Above: Jill mastering a 75 caliber, and then doing her "Cotton Picking" imitation!

Friday October 2nd -
Chickahominy Riverfront Park & Jamestown

Friday, bright sunshine and about 90 degrees, and humidity not overwhelming, so really a rather enjoyable days weather wise. After two hard days of touring we really only had about a half day to finish the area around Jamestown. So about 1:30 we ran into Williamsburg and did a little grocery shopping to get ready for the next 4 days in the boonies. We also grabbed some quick lunch and filled up the truck so will be good for the road tomorrow morning.  This evenings chore for me anyway is dump the tanks and fill our water supply. The battery bank is at 100% so we are good for the next four days. We will be pretty much out of touch until Wednesday next week as we are dry camping (no water, electric, or sewer) until Wednesday. We will be in the mountains of Shenandoah National Park, in the trees, and in nature for four days, exactly what we like to do, and exactly what our trailer is designed for. So IF, and that's a big IF, we have some sort of view of the sky we will have starlink and I will continue to post, but if not we will see you all again on Wednesday evening with a report about the back country mountains of Virginia! Hopefully we don't meet a banjo player on the river... I guess that was in Georgia, but we are close enough, especially since that was 54 years ago and the "banjo" is more popular now than it was back then...... (come on folks, it's all in great fun, a joke already!)

Saturday October 3rd -
Big Meadows Campground
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Amazing how 150 miles, and a three thousand feet in elevation can change the look and feeling of fall. We are now at 3500 feet where it got up to a whopping 51 degrees with steady rain until 4 this afternoon. The drive from right before we turned into the Shenandoah National Park entrance all the way to the campground was heavy fog and raining pretty hard. We kept seeing these view point signs, but the fog was so thick you could not even see the parking areas. We got to the campground around 1pm, signed in and headed to our campsite. Upon arrival I told Jill we were screwed, both because of how tight the roadway was but mostly because of how steep our campsite was. With a little fiddling in the rain, I got the trailer where it was only off 3 inches side to side, but front to back was like three feet. I had to crawl through the bed of the truck to find all the extra blocks to make this work. I don't think I have ever camped where the tongue of the trailer ended up being above my waist. To top it all off, it was still raining the entire time it took to get set up. Yup, soaking wet and only 50 degrees, don't sound like much when your from Bend Oregon, but after the last 2 months of weather in the 70's and 80's, my skinny ass body has no insulation left anymore so I was cold. Anyway, we had some lunch in the trailer, I changed out of wet summer clothes, and we headed to the Lodge and the Visitors Center to get the scoop on things. Looks like were doing some hiking, some caving, and who knows what else the next 3 days. It finally kind of stopped raining around 5, clouds lifted a little, so we headed back down Skyline Drive to a couple of closer turnouts that we saw that said "View". You know this time you could actually see enough to get an idea of what we are in for this week. It was still not clear enough to really call it a view, but at least we now know that there is more than just white out there... As were heading into the campground this time this little tiny buck was posing for pics so being the nice guy I am, I just had to make him feel good so I took his picture. He said thanks and like a good little buckie, he went back to grazing alongside the road. Great way to end the driving part of our day! Tomorrow we are heading north, and then west for some caving. Supposed to be really cool, we will see? Kartchner Caverns last January set the bar pretty dang high, we will see what the east coasters have to offer!!!  :-) 

Sunday October 4th - 
Big Meadows Campground & Luray Caverns
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Today started off being cave day. We headed out this morning headed to Luray Virginia about and hours drive from our campground. Still rainy and foggy, but it was supposed to stop raining and start to clear up later in the day, so heck if it's gonna rain lets head underground right? So this cavern thing is a huge draw, and the establishment has expanded that to include all sorts of activities. The caverns were cool, but two thing stood out compared to others we have visited through the years. One, commercialism, and two, overuse and preservation. First thing I noticed when we started walking through is that almost all of the stalactites were broken at some time in the past. The farther we got into the massive cavern system it got much better, but still everywhere you looked there was damage of some sort. Do Not Touch signs everywhere but people were still grabbing/touching, really not enough supervision and control and it shows. The really bright part of this business is after you get out of the caverns they have a rather large museum that really is impressive. Old toys, cars, buggies, buildings, farm houses, household goods, you name it, and everything was from the early 1700's to the 1940's or so. More of a local flare than the large collections that we have seen the last few weeks. We ended up spending the entire day here and got back to camp after 5pm. Then the crazy thing happened... You know photography is usually something you have to work hard at, and then sometimes it just falls in your lap. Well this evening it fell in our lap in the form of 6 deer magically appearing right next to our trailer. Taaa Daaa, and like that we can call it a day right? Tomorrow hiking and waterfalls are the target, if it stops raining and clears up like it is supposed to. 

Monday October 5th - 
Big Meadows Campground
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

The word of the day today??? SUNSHINE!!!!! We finally had a day without rain, cool at 60 degrees, but we will take it! After a lazy morning and some breakfast we took off a couple miles north to do a little hiking. We took the back route into Dry Hollow Falls, about a mile and a half. We got to where we thought the falls were and we just stood there looking and thinking, are these Virginia people nuts? You call these falls? Heck you are kidding right? We walked a mile and a half for this? Continued below the "falls" pix....

Well it turns out (after taking about 3 pictures that we had just gotten to the spur trail that went uphill about a quarter mile to the "actual" falls. So up we go, and we are talking a quarter mile of stairs, before finally reaching the real falls. OK on the scale of 1 to 10, and after all the falls we have been to in our lives, this was on the lower side of the spectrum, but on Virginia standards, especially Shenandoah National Park, this is supposedly a solid 9 or so. OK, we got our exercise, it was worth it as it was a beautiful morning for a Mid-Fall walk. 

After getting back to the truck we went back to the campground and had lunch before we walked another trail right here around the park. It's about a 2 mile circle around the area trail that was actually really nice. By now it was 61 degrees with nice sun and a little breeze, perfect fall day for a walk in the Virginia high mountain woods (3500 feet elevation, about the same as Bend). After we got back to the trailer I checked the solar situation, and with 2+ solid days of rain, no direct sun under the trees, and no electric hookups, the poor system was down to 88% left... We had used a whopping 12% so in a panic (yuk yuk) I decided we had no plans for the evening and started up the good ole Yamahoppy Genny and let'er run for about 3 hours while is was the proper/legal generator time. Heck I have not run the poor neglected thing since we left the house 2 months ago, so why not? We topped off the charge on the Jackery as well (it was down to 80% left as I had not plugged it into the solar system) so we are good for coffee and whatever the next 2 days as well. Tomorrow pretty much the same as today, hiking in the wilds of Shenandoah National Park and enjoying another sun filled fall day before heading west to West Virginia...

Tuesday October 6th - 
Big Meadows Campground 
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Well folks, another Tuesday in the books, and our last day at Shenandoah National Park. We kind of slacked today, only took one walk this morning, but it was a doozey, about 3 miles but over 1000ft elevation change. That's like almost half way to the valley level below this place. Our destination??? Well yes, another one of Virginia's massive waterfalls, errr uuhhh, water features... But great hike and we enjoyed the three hours on the trail begining on a crisp (38 degrees when we left at 10am) morning. After the hike we stopped at the Big Meadow Lodge and had lunch, first time eating out here, and it was surprisingly good. For what this park lacks in waterfalls, it makes up for with the food they serve, especially for a National Park! After that it was back to the trailer and we booth took a nap, again first one while here. I have come down with a cold and so the nap was right up the alley for what my body needs right now, along with a ton of vitamins and Tylenol. Hope this crud passes quick and that Jill does not catch it... Tomorrow we hit the road in the morning and head east to grab our first geocaches in West Virginia. The next few days are road trip days to cover some mileage so we can cover Kentucky and Tennessee before heading back est to the coast and North Carolina. That's it for today... 

Wednesday October 7th -
Little Beaver State Park
Beaver, West Virginia

Today was a travel day, and a nice one at that. I had a hard time getting going this morning as this cold bug has not faded. Even with all the extra un-leveling stuff that was required, we were still on the road around 9:30. On paper we only had a little over a three hour drive, but in typical Tom/Jill fashion we arrived a after 2pm at Little Beaver State Park. It was nice to be back to a normal setup, just a little drop in the back but not bad. After setting up we did the park tour thing, and got a couple shots across the little lake here. I did not see the deer in the picture until editing it on my laptop, but the white PVC pipe stood out like a sore thumb. Anyway, after the park tour we then headed out for our second West Virginia cache. One more state added to our state geocaching for total of 39 states now. 10 more on this trip leaving only Hawaii to do sometime after we get back in March. Tomorrow is supposed to be a really cool area to visit, will keep it a secret until tomorrows post... Keeping an eye on this Hurricane Isaias thing, we are going to be just on the edge of the projected path, but hopefully far enough north that it will just be a rain storm.

Thursday October 8th - 
Little Beaver State Park, West Virginia
Glade Creek Grist Mill

OK folks, the surprise Jill had for me was unforgettable!!! Talk about a photographers dream come true, this place was unreal. 
Granted it would take an entire day to pick the right brightness for colors and saturation, and since I don't do any editing except resize for physical size and file size, it is what it is, but so much fun. I took 117 flipping pictures in this location, upstream, downstream and in the middle, picturesque no matter which way you looked. We didn't walk more than 300 yards in either direction, but spent about 2 1/2 hours here just enjoying the peacefulness and tranquility. So another thing after our second day in West Virginia, and I don't know what their actual motto is for this state, but it should be "UP, DOWN and AROUND". I doesn't matter where you drive it is exactly that. In the cities, in the country, on the freeways, EVERYWHERE is on either the upside or the downside of a hill. And not a little up or down hill, it's like low gear uphill and downhill and make damn sure your breaks are good. Back road speeds are posted at 55mph, but that is only if you have a thousand horsepower to get there before you have to hit the breaks to make the corner 200 yards down the road that is marked 25mph. Now that I think about it, "Roller Coaster" would be a perfect nickname for West Virginia!!! We did stop for lunch and some grocery shopping on the way back, but the majority of the day was driving and at the Grist Mill. Tomorrow finds us on the move again. We really wanted to find time to see Mary while were only 3 hours away, but with my cold still holding on and our short schedule it just didn't work out. Hopefully there will be another time we can pull that magic trick out of our hat. We are also watching the good ole category 2 hurricane that is heading almost directly at us, but we are far enough inland that the winds won't be a factor but it might rain up to 2-3 inches on us Saturday. So tomorrow has to be a move on day so that we are stationary and braced for whatever comes our way. 

If you think the beard is bad, you should see under the hat! More than past time for a haircut, just can't figure out how to get it done with everything we are doing everyday!