Hershey PA

May 15 - 16 2012

We spent a day with our group in Hershey, PA. The day began at Chocolate World where we designed our own candy bars. They made us wear aprons, gloves, and hairnets. They made Rick wear a beard net.

Using several computer stations we were able to choose ingredients for our own custom chocolate bar and then design a wrapper. Mine was a dark chocolate bar with almonds, pretzels, and toffee bits. I haven't tried it yet. We've done nothing but eat since we've been here. Hopefully it won't melt before we get hungry!

We took a trolley tour of the town of Hershey. Milton Hershey came from humble beginnings and was bankrupt three times before he finally made it as a candy maker. He was a great philanthropist. He founded a boarding school for underpriviledged children which provides a completely free education to its students. He built hospitals and parks and a zoo for his factory workers. Hershey Park began as a weekend diversion for his employees. When he died he left his entire fortune to a foundation that supports the school and his other charities. A significant portion of the profits from all of his enterprises, goes to support the school and his other charities.

We head "home" to Baltimore tomorrow for a long weekend.

CHOC Rally

May 13-14, 2012

We're in Manheim, PA at a "rally" with other owners of our type of RV. There are 26 other motorhomes here and the campground looks like a Coach House Platinum sales lot. We're eating a lot of catered meals and taking various bus trips. We're doing things that we probably would never choose and/or get around to on our own, and enjoying them all. These rallies really are a lot of fun.


We spent a day in the portion of Lancaster County, PA where there are a lot of Amish. There are oddly named towns like Intercourse, Blue Ball, Virginville, and Bird-in-Hand. We started the day at an Amish farmhouse where we saw how the Amish live. We also saw some barnyard animals and particularly enjoyed this sow and her piglets. She and Rick were snorting at each other.

Here's a picture of me kissing a goat.

We had an amazing lunch at a family style restaurant called Good and Plenty and spent the afternoon at a cool general store and quilt museum. There was much "local color" in the area. The Amish buggies were constantly clipclopping by at the same time that cars were whizzing past.

Rick got this shot of several Amish children who were barefoot, playing outside. It was raining steadily and about 60 degrees.

Gunston Hall

May 12, 2012

We hiked from the campground to Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason. Mason was a neighbor of George Washington, but his home was much more opulent than Washinton's Mount Vernon. He brought craftsmen over from Europe as indentured servants to carve the woodwork in Gunston Hall which is incredibly elaborate.

Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights. This document was the first in America to call for freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the right to a fair and speedy trial. Jefferson drew heavily on it when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Mason was one of the signers of the Declaration and was a delegate to the constitutional convention where he was one of the most vocal debaters. Objecting to the amount of power being given to the federal government and the Convention’s unwillingness to abolish the slave trade, Mason refused to sign the Constitution. Mason’s refusal to support the new Constitution destroyed his friendship with Washington, who later referred to Mason as his former friend. But Mason's objections would later became part of the constituion when James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights. Mason referred to slavery as "a poison." But, unlike Washington, he didn't free his slaves when he died. They were willed to his nine children.

We spent the remainder of the day doing laundry, cleaning the RV, and snuggling with the dog.

Mount Vernon

May 11, 2012

We spent the day at George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, in Alexandria, VA. This was my third visit to Mount Vernon and Rick's first. Since my last visit which was about 15 years ago, they have added two wonderful new museums: one with artifacts and original art, the other with exhibits about the man, his life, and his presidency. When we gushed in this blog about the Lincoln Museum in Springfield last year, we didn't know that it was not unique. It seems to be the wave of the future to create these very modern "immersive" historical museums which do a fabulous job of presenting what might otherwise be dry material. Mount Vernon's Reynolds Center and the Marine Corps Museum that we saw yesterday are both equally impressive as the Lincoln Museum was last year.

I complained yesterday about the tax dollars that have been spent at the Marine Corps Museum. By contrast, I have always loved the fact that Mount Vernon is run by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. The Mount Vernon Ladies purchased the property from the Washington family in 1858 and have owned and run it ever since. No taxpayer money has ever been used to support the estate or its programs. Sure, they have received major grants from the Ford Foundation and Donald W. Reynolds, but most of their money comes from fundraising and the $15 per person admission price.

If you ever get the chance to visit Mount Vernon, I highly recommend it. But I also highly recommend that you don't see it in May. We arrived this morning just before 9am to a back up of vehicles entering Mount Vernon. There was bus after bus of school children. We stopped counting at 50 buses! I'm not kidding! The little monsters were EVERYWHERE, setting off the sensor alarms at the exhibits, talking during the films, and generally being a nuisance. The food court was mobbed. We were told that May is THE month for school trips to DC. We still really enjoyed the museums, but the mansion was so crowded that it was hard to enjoy. They moved you through so quickly that there was no time to ask any questions of the docents.

We had dinner with David Boaz, an old friend of mine from college days and his partner Steve. David and I met at a Young Americans for Freedom convention while I was a student at George Washington and he was at Vanderbilt. We were both involved with various libertarian causes, and became good friends. David went on to become Executive Vice President of the Cato Institute. We went back to Mount Vernon and ate at the Mount Vernon Inn. I had salmon which I doubt was on George's menu, though Rick and David had duck with apricot sauce, George's favorite dish.

Steve, Sally, David, Rick

National Museum of the Marine Corps

May 10, 2010

We spent the day at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA. It's a really well done, really modern and interactive museum. A lot of money has been spent to make it engaging and informative. We really enjoyed it. But I couldn't help but wonder who was paying for it. Admission was free. Sure they had membership opportunities and a few inobtrusive requests for donations. But this is a really expensive museum, and there must be taxpayer (Defense?) dollars involved...lots of them.

The museum has galleries that show all the places in the world that the Marines have been sent since the Marine Corps was founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia in 1775. There were individual galleries for each of the major conflicts where the Marines have been involved, and they were all very well done. But I was most amazed by the number of places that I either didn't know or had forgotten that we had been involved. It was scary.

We're staying in a nice public park in Lorton, VA, a suburb of DC. We had our first campfire of the trip tonight and cooked some hot dogs.

Fredericksburg, VA

May 7 - May 10, 2012

The closer you get to a major metropolitan area, the harder it gets to find a decent campground...probably because of higher property values. We've landed in a KOA campground outside of Fredericksburg, VA. We try to avoid KOA's whenever possible, but sometimes there's just no other option. They tend to be extremely overpriced and the sites are usually small and unattractive. They're also usually located next to a major highway, so highway noise is often an issue. The sites are OK sized at this one, but it's definitely way over-priced. And it's far enough from I-95 that there's no highway noise. But guess what? More trains! Luckily the nights have been cool and our windows are closed.

The weather has actually been really nice. We've come far enough north to find spring again. The azaleas are at the tail end of their colors and the rhododendrens are just beginning to bloom. I think we've missed the dogwoods, though.

(Rick says that these were Roses...not azaleas)


Rick and I share an interest in Civil War history. We've visited a number of battlefields, museums and homes over the past few years. We've been to the battlefields at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Antietam, Appomatox, Harpers Ferry, and New Market. We've visited Stonewall Jackson's home in Lexington, the wonderful civil war exhibits in the Lincoln museum, and Jefferson Davis' home in Biloxi. Yesterday we visited the battlefields at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and today we visited the place where Stonewall Jackson died. Rick has an instinctive understanding of the military history. I try to understand and visualize it all, but my eyes start to glaze over when the talk's of flanking maneuvers, earthenworks, armaments or strategy. My interest is more in the political history, the individuals, and their lives. Rick's eyes, on the other hand, tend to glaze over when we're touring the old houses which are an endless source of fascination for me.

It seems like all the civil war battlefields that we visit vie for the "honor" of being the "bloodiest." Gettysburg was the bloodiest (3 day) battle of the war. Antietam was the bloodiest single day of the war. But the four battlefields that surround Fredericksburg (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvnania Courthouse, and Wilderness)claim that they were the bloodiest of the war. Those four battles combined left more that 100,000 men dead. Because it's halfway between Washington and Richmond, Fredericksburg was very important strategically. The battle at Chancellorsville was where Stonewall Jackson was mistakenly shot by his own men. After having his arm amputated on the battlefield, he was taken by ambulance to a farm not far from our campground where he died of pneumonia several days later.

Stonewall Jackson Shrine

We took a break from history today and visited a local vineyard and a brew pub.

We leave tomorrow for a few days in the DC area.

Roanoke Rapids, NC

May 6 - May 7 2012

We're spending the night in a campground in Roanoke Rapids, NC, just south of the Virginia border. It's a nice little campground with full hookups and a cable tv connection. There's a nice pool and a hot tub. And all this for only $21.25 per night. The only downside is there's a fair amount of train noise. It's really amazing how many campgrounds are located next to or near train tracks.

We were sitting outside this evening enjoying a glass of wine when a lady walked by with her Australian Shepherd. SiSi was immediately interested. Next thing we knew there were four more "aussies" and their owners in our campsite admiring SiSi. They were all here for a dog frisbee catching competition. We got a demonstration from one of the champions whose name was "Hippie Chick." She was amazing. Here's a link to a video of "Hippie Chick" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgjRl2J4U4I

Myrtle Beach

May 3-6, 2012

We drove for about 8 hours to reach Myrtle Beach, SC. Against the Navigator's better judgement, the Captain elected to listen to the advice of both Mapquest and our Garmin nav system which routed us through Charleston, SC. While the rest of the drive was surely more scenic than I-95 would have been, we lost about an hour to heavy traffic and construction in Charleston.

But it was all worth it when we arrived at our campground. We're staying at a place called Lakewood Camping Resort just south of Myrtle Beach. Again we're paying exorbitant beach resort prices...nearly $80 per night including tax and a "resort fee." While that's really pricey for a campground, in addition to full hook-ups we have a beachfront campsite. I can see the ocean from my bed and we go to sleep listening to the sound of the surf. Well maybe not tonight. It's been so hot today that I'll probably go to sleep tonight listening to the sound of our air conditioner.

Myrtle Beach has a really lovely long wide stretch of beautiful white sand. The ocean is a perfect temperature and we've really enjoyed walking SiSi on the beach. I'm not sure she's really enjoying it, though. Although she's lived her entire life within a few miles of the beach, she acts like she's never seen the ocean. She's scared of it and always makes sure to keep us between it and her.

There are some really nice areas in Myrtle Beach but the rest is quite commercial. There must be a thousand mini golf opportunities. And if you like pancakes, this is the place for you. There seems to be at least one pancake place on every block. And this place is really big on seafood buffets. There are lots of warehouse size restaurants with huge buffets.

Not being big buffet fans we elected to try the local seafood and Carolina barbeque. The seafood restaurant that we chose had Ravens posters all over the place and touted their "Maryland style seafood." The owner turned out to be from Carroll County. But we elected to have a "low country boil" which consisted of a bucket of steamed oysters, mussels, shrimp, king crab legs, corn, sausage and red potatoes. It was wonderful.

We splurged and got tickets to the Carolina Opry which is loosely affiliated with the original Opry in Nashville. We went to the Grand Old Opry when we were in Nashville a couple of years ago and saw several big name acts. The biggest name at this show was one of the finalists from season 4 of American Idol, but the show was really quite good.

St Augustine

May 1 - May 3, 2012

Quick, where was the first landing and what is the oldest city in America? Isn't Jamestown the site of the first landing and settlement in America? Or was it Plymouth Rock? Wrong, it was St Augustine, FL. My parents, who live in Santa Fe, NM say that there is some debate as to whether Santa Fe is actually the oldest American city, but there's no doubt in the minds of the residents of St. Augustine that they live in the "oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America." Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain in 1513. He came ashore in St Augustine, met Indians who lived very long lives and were over seven feet tall, and decided that he had found the fountain of youth that he had heard tell of in his travels in South America. Ponce was only 4 foot 6 inches tall, so he was particularly impressed with these Indians!

Other Spanish explorers found riches in Mexico and Peru which they sent back to Spain on ships which traveled along the gulf stream. Spanish settlements needed to be built in Florida to protect the treasure fleets. The French had troops garrisoned near Jacksonville, which made the Spaniards particularly paranoid. King Phillip II of Spain sent Pedro Menendez to settle Florida and drive out the French. On September 8th, 1565, Menendez and 700 colonists landed here and founded St Augustine. The Jamestown landing was in 1607 and the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts in 1620.

While here we have visited the old Spanish fort called the Castillo de San Marcos. It's a National Monument, run by the National Park Service, We purchased an annual pass for $80 that will allow us admission to all park service facilities for the next year.

We've also visited the old jail which makes my old place of employment, CBIF, look like a luxury hotel.

We have a third family member traveling with us this year. Her name is SiSi and she is a very spoiled six year old Australian Shepherd. Rick has been trying to convince me to get a new dog ever since our beloved cocker spaniel, Taz, died five years ago. He finally won. Here is a photo of my 37 pound "lap dog."

On the Road Again

Monday April 30th 2012

Starting Mileage: 16,646.82

Rick and I embarked today on another extended RV adventure. We expect to be gone for approximately three months, returning home around August 1st. For those of you who followed my blog last summer, welcome back. For those who are new to Rick and Sally's excellent adventures, feel free to scroll back through last year's posts to get a feel for what we're up to. One big change from last year...I've removed most privacy controls, meaning that you should be able to view the blog without being invited. You may still need to log in using an existing google, twitter, or yahoo username and password. If you don't have one it's very easy to set up, and, no, you won't get a bunch of spam. If you elect to "follow" the blog on the right hand side of the page, you will receive an email each time I post an update.

I understand that the rest of the country has had a particularly warm winter. Florida was no exception. Our winter and spring have been absolutely spectacular. Even January and February averaged temperatures in the 60's and 70's. The skies have been clear and beautiful and there has been little to no humidity. Of course, we're in the middle of a terrible drought, but, other than that, we've had nothing to complain about for the past six months or so.

But all that began to change about a week ago. Temperatures have been slowly creeping up into the mid to upper 80's, and the humidity has been increasing. The mosquitoes and "noseeums" have been biting, and we were starting to see the first of the "love bugs." The love bugs appear for several weeks each spring and fall in central Florida. They are non-biting insects who mate in mid-air. And they are everywhere. Every place you go you have to make your way through swarms of insects who are joined in coital bliss as they fly through the air. The real problem is that thousands of them end up plastered to the front of your car (or RV) after a short trip down the road. We appear to have made it out of town in the nick of time with only a few conjoined love bugs on the hood of our RV.

We finally headed out at 1:30 pm this afternoon. There's a lot of planning and prep work before a three month trip. The storm shutters needed to be put up in case a hurricaine arrives in Florida before we return. We needed to cancel the newspaper, drain the hot tub, make arrangements to have the pool cleaned and to have the lawn mowed. One of the biggest challenges is the mail. Most of our bills and bank statements arrive electronically, but there's still an amazing amount of snail mail that clogs my mailbox every day. Luckily there are several "mail forwarding services" that will forward all my mail to me upon request for a small monthly fee plus postage. The challange is to find places where I can receive it. Some of you who will be seeing us this summer may be called into service to receive a mail shipment or two for us at your home addresses.

The first leg of our journey was a short one. We arrived in St. Augustine, FL at about 4:00 pm. We're staying at a very nice, albeit pricey, campground which is just across highway A1A from the beach. We dined on a nice stew which was cooking in a slow cooker which rode along in our kitchen sink as we rolled down the road. After dinner, we enjoyed a nice walk on the beach.