Roving Reports by Doug P

2012-01 New Year at 1,000 Palms

2012-01-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

A New Year Arrives at 1,000 Palms Rv

Campground: 1,000 Palms Rv Resort. Smaller Florida Rv park. 95 Rv sites with some park models as well. (campground previously reviewed)

Elmo rests up before the New Year begins

I’ve been here at my winter destination for a little over a month. Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas breakfast and dinner’s have come and gone with the finally being a sit down (served) New Year dinner and dance. These folks, like most Rv-ers know how to eat well.

Their winter clubs (writing, photography, crafts) haven’t yet begun and those that have have barely started as the park doesn’t fill up until the 1st of the year. Line dancing continues, but with my having a possible second hernia (I’m trying to find a good Dr. in the area) I’ve not been doing any dancing. The computer club is anemic to say the least, so not much interest there. I have gone on a number of weekly diner nights out and have discovered some great places to dine and enjoyed great conversations. Some looking like shacks on the outside but with great food being served inside.

Michael (owner) on the right

I had a most wonderful visit on Christmas Day with my niece Kelly/Rusty and family with a super great dinner being served. Kelly wasn’t sure she could compete with her sister who is also a great cook and whom I had visited on my way through St Louis. But I told her that she was 10 points ahead of Kim since Kim’s kids gave be the dreaded “Bug” while I was there. And after tasting their “pickle soup” Kelly and Rusty gained another 5 points. Kim got 4 points for having taken a most awesome picture of Luke and Brooke, but in the end Kelly was way ahead on the point scale. What ever will Kim do to raise her point score? (giggle)

A week or so later I had the opportunity to visit with some good friends, Debbie and Eddie and one of their dogs, “Nickie”…. notice everyone’s name ends in ie. Hmmmm. Nickie is a German Sheppard and is being trained to become a service dog. Less than a year old Nickie is the most precious excited dog I’ve ever met. They live in Williston Fl and we found the best restaurant called the Ivy House. True gourmet Florida cooking at it’s best. And nice to see yet again, another small Florida town I’d never visited before.

They love to line-dance at 1,000 Palms

I’m eager to join some of those “hopefully” good clubs that will be forming in the next week or so. As I love to share what I’ve learned along the way and can’t wait to learn new tips and tricks from my fellow Rv-ers. I’m just concerned I’ll end up leading half of them.

Of course we do have a weekly cocktail hour at one of the campers sites, but I miss the smaller get-togethers that I enjoyed so much at Desert Trails (my former winter residence).

It’s January 1st, 2012. We expect the temp. to reach a sunny 75 today and I may be able to get another day of swimming in before we have a cool down with a cold front heading towards us on Monday. Just a note: could all you Northerners keep your cold weather up North. Thanks.

Wishing everyone many adventures in the new year.

and of course, more pictures of the New Year celebration on Picasa.

NEWS

2011-12-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

News:

I recently found out two tidbits of news. the first being, Camping Club USA has merged with Passport America. Affinity Group which owned Camping Club USA was not making a profit off of the club and sold it to Passport America. No official word from Passport America as to how the merge will be accomplished or whether they will add the Camping Club campgrounds with Passports clubs. Except to note that Camping Club USA members are being sent Passport America membership cards.

The second bit of news is that Woodalls will be merging with Trailer-life Directory with a new mega directory to come out in 2013. Again, Affinity Group owned both directories and has decided to merge them, I'm sure as a cost saving effort.

2011-38 Travel Expenses for 2011

2011-11-27T05:00:00.001-08:00

The following chart shows my expenses for Camping, Fuel (diesel) and Misc. Food has not been included. This should give the future traveler some idea of the costs involved with full-time camping. Under misc one would find truck maintenance, a new tire, insurance on the camper/truck etc.

My camping cost was reduced in October after I began to take advantage of my newly acquired Gov. Senior Pass which provides half off National Parks, BLM, Forest campgrounds. Along with my continued use of Passport America my favorite half price campground club.

Click on chart to show larger version

2011-37 Wintering In Florida

2011-11-26T17:23:00.001-08:00

2011-37 Winter Campsite

Inverness Florida

campsite on the pond

Campground: 1,000 Palms Rv Resort. A mix of full hookups and water/electric sites. Half in shade trees, half in sunny locations. I’m on the pond…. Water/electric $384 monthly. 5 over the air HD-TV stations. Free wi-fi. (Passport America park, 7 night max)

On my way here from St Augustine, I stopped at the Rv dealer in Ocala and had them install the new faucet in the shower area. The work done was the last under my one year warranty as the camper will be one year old as of today. It was done in speedy order and I headed on down the road to my winter campsite.

last repair under warranty

I’ve completed my travels for the year and have landed at my snowbird winter site here at 1,000 Palms Rv Resort. It’s about 10 miles from Inverness Florida. I’ve reported on this area in the past as this is one of my favorite areas in Florida. Surrounded by Lakes, rivers, ranches and small towns with that old Florida feeling. It’s far enough away from the beaches, resorts and Disney Worlds which Florida is noted for and the crowds that they attract.

The campground I’m at is much smaller that Desert Trails where I’ve wintered for the past couple of years in Arizona. 1,000 Palms has 95 Rv sites along with about a dozen park models. A heated swimming pool (80 degrees), Laundromat, clubhouse, shuffleboard court and group campfire.

Enjoyed a “two day” Thanksgiving feast. There were so many leftovers, that we all got together for dinner the following night. What a great deal. One gal had made over 20 pies for the feast. Of course I met a number of the winter residences during the dinners. The park is a bit over half full as many of the snowbirds arrive on December 1st.

Thanksgiving

Because a few of my Desert Trails friends want to know what the campground is like, here in Florida, I’ve taken a few pictures of the campground to share with you’all. Now that I’m back in the south I have to get my southern-eze back on. I can do a fairly good southern accent without too much of the sugar….

I’ve learned that there are a few locations to enjoy some good country/folk music throughout the week. One is at Catfish Johnny’s, where about 20 musicians get together to jam. Our park will also have a jam session every other week starting in January.

Talking with a few folks up at the swimming pool with their granddaughter in the pool (water temp. 78), the granddaughter asked me why I was taking so many pictures. I told her about my Blog and she wanted to know if I’d take a picture of her for the Blog. So of course I did and here it is.

Now I should mention something about the camper. As you know, I had my last appt. (under warranty) to have the faucet fixed in the shower this past week. Well, after setting up at 1,000 Palms and checking through the camper, wouldn’t you know it, I discovered a mess. I tugged and pulled on the large pull out drawer under the sofa which is great for storing all the extra stuff one collects. After finally opening the drawer I discovered that a casserole dish and three pottery bowls were broken into a million pieces. Along with some damage to the drawer. Needless to say, I cleaned up the mess, reinforced the drawer and had to purchase a new slider for one side of the drawer. Repairs are on me from here on out.

That must have been one huge bump I went over to cause all that damage. Guess I need to use more packing material between breakables before heading out next spring.

my winter campsite

Anyone from the Orlando area who would like to come visit for the day, I'd love to see you‘all, I’m only a little over an hours drive up the Florida Turnpike. And I’m sure I’ll be in Orlando for a visit myself one of these days as well.

club house

laundry room

group campfire

and more photos on Picasa.

2011-36 St Augustine Florida

2011-11-19T05:35:00.001-08:00

St Augustine

Campground: St Johns RV park. $12.50 Passport America Rate. Water/Electric. They also have full hookup sites w/cable tv. ($15 PA rate) Flea market next door but nicely separated by buffer of trees. All sites are pull-thru’s.

Shout-Out: Thanks to all the readers on Hitchitch.com for reading my Blog. I’m so glad to have you along on my travels. Hitchitch is a great resource to connect with other Rv’ers Blogs and learn about this most wonderful lifestyle. Keep on traveling down those back roads to the next adventure.

An hour and a half on down the road and I was in St Augustine. My campground is right off of hwy 95, but I was able to take some great back roads the entire way here. Passing through places like Elkton, Spuds, Hastings and Palatka. If I didn’t get off the main highways imagine what I would have missed.

Here’s a quick rundown on the history of St Augustine, one of my favorite places in Florida to visit.

Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain, 1513.
1565 Pedro Menendez with 700 soldiers and colonists founded St Augustine
Menendez kicked out the French who recently established a garrison and were trying to worm their way into Florida
Life was treacherous with pirates roaming the coast, Indians and the isolation of the area.
Englishman Francis Drake burned down the town and fort in 1586
The town was sacked again in 1668
Spain realized they needed fortification to defend Florida so they built the Casillo de San Marcos in 1672 (yup, it’s still standing, guarding the city)
The darn English came back in 1702 and 1740 to take St Augustine but failed
But alas in 1763 England defeated Spain in the 7 years war and Florida was transferred to the English
Florida was returned to Spain as part of the American Revolution in 1783
1821 the Americans took over Florida from Spain (Spain really wasn’t doing much with it)
1883, Henry Flagler co-founder of Standard Oil Co visited the city, eventually building The Hotel Ponce de Leon and Hotel Alcazar along with bringing the railroad to Florida so all the wealthy folks along the east coast could come to Florida for winter vacations…. And that’s how Florida became a winter vacation paradise. The end.

Making St Augustine the OLDEST city in the United States… so there… all you Pilgrims from Massachusetts and the New England States.

Had a great day with the guys as we toured the area. Lighthouses, a quick visit to Anastasia State Park, a tour of the historic downtown of St Augustine via carriage ride and lunch at the Columbia Restaurant. A Cuban restaurant with a 100 year history in Florida. The food was mixed in that some of the dishes were great and others were just so-so. They served plantain chips instead of fresh plantains. The chips were tasteless and shouldn’t have been served. Drinks and deserts were top notch.

I took a tour of the Lightner Museum on my own as the guys were a bit slow in getting around this morning. It’s in the original Alcazar Hotel. Part of which housed the largest indoor swimming pool of it’s day, exercise and health spa for the wealthy of the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. They’ve opened the top floor ballroom and the main hotel entrance has been restored to perfection since I was last here. Near the end of my wonderings, they had a demonstration of vintage music players. Some really unusual ones including one that played a piano and violin and another that contained pretty much a full band. All the art objects would have been found during the height of the Golden age of travel.

In the evening, Walt, Ben, Scott and I went into St Augustine for dinner and music. Tim is still going through recovery from a stoke and thought he might get too tired to really enjoy the adventure. It was hard to leave him behind, but we went into the night for a bit of fun. After crossing the Bridge of Lions, we drove along the harbor and found a parking spot. Without any planning we walked along the narrow back streets in the heart of Old Town where there are dozens and dozens of restaurants and bars. We found an outdoor dining patio, surrounded by palm trees and yucca’s. Later we would find out it was attached to an English Pub for a completely different atmosphere inside. The outdoor dining was perfect for a long leisurely dinner along with wine and good conversations.

Then it was into the night, walking along narrow brick lined roads to the Stogie. A Cigar smoking coffee house with live Jazz music every night. A small intimate coffee house in one of those old houses that was probably from the early 1800’s. Classy burgundy drapes on the narrow windows, a small bar serving coffee drinks, beer and wine. A few small cushy couches, stuffed chairs and tall ladder back chairs against the wall between diminutive tables with small lamps on each one.

Two guitar players came in and set up in a corner. The first singing and playing in a soulful silky smooth voice, later accompanied by another player with equal playing and singing creds. Not quite Jazz, but more Joan Baize type music. Next we wandered down more side alleys and found ourselves drawn to a small outdoor patio attached to Marie’s Crepe Restaurant. A pair of gals were playing classical Russian, Greek and Spanish music on various guitars and violins. Pure magic and so accomplished one got the feeling they were at a classy recital instead of sitting above the crowd on an outdoor tile lined patio.

More excitement came as three, more than inebriated, women came tumbling onto the patio. Minutes later a police man came scurrying through looking for them. They’d skipped out on paying their tab at the last place they were at. After “escorting” them back to the previous establishment to make good on their tab, they returned to pay their bill at Marie’s. Finally it was time for our group to head on back. White rope lights and twinkling lights illuminating the dark night as we retreated from a night out on the town.

More photos on Picasa.

This is my last major posting of the 2011 season as I will be heading to Inverness and 1,000 Palms Rv Park for my winter stay. Thanks for being a part of the journey.

2011-35 Ocala Florida

2011-11-11T17:08:00.001-08:00

Ocala Florida

M.K. Rowlings House State Park

Micanopy Florida

Campground: Ocala North Rv Park. $16 Passport America rate. Full hookup/cable tv. Country setting. Each campsite has concrete pad and patio w picnic table, large old stand of trees dripping with Spanish moss. Swimming pool/rec hall.

Ocala was the closest place for my next stop, about an hour from Inglis. Which was determined by the fact that they have an RV dealer for, yes, once again, repairs on the Montana camper. I have 20 days remaining on the warranty and I needed the shower faucet replaced and a sliding closet door latched fixed. They sure don’t build things the way they used too.

Ocala is of course the center for all the wonderful large horse ranches. My campsite at Ocala North backs up to one of these ranches. A straight row of black 4 board fencing lines the side of the campground. Creating a genteel country atmosphere with the green pastures beyond.

The campground is filled with horse trailers with “bunkhouse” compartments for living quarters up front. I gather many of the horse trainers and workers live in them during the winter season here in Florida, then move north following their horses and owners.

A note about the equipment installed (at Best Buy) on the truck for a direct connection to my MP3 player and smart phone (cell phone) to the stereo unit has worked out exceedingly well. I can now play my MP3 music and Pandora, Slacker radio and all the other internet radio stations through my trucks stereo. The sound is awesome and I don’t have to listen to 15 commercials before the radio station plays the next song.

Yikees! I had a a sidewall blowout on one of my truck tires. Fortunately it occurred while touring the area and not while towing the camper. I had purchased the tire while in Canada and have no way of seeing about getting reimbursed as the tire companies don’t recognize the manufacturer. Darn.

After getting the tire replaced with the spare, I continued my journey to Marjorie Kinan Rowlings Cross Creek home. I’ve been here before but it is just such an awesome home in a true cracker style. The historical site is managed by the State Park system, but the house itself is only open 4 days a week Thur. - Sunday. Rowlings was a Pulitzer prize winner for The Yearling. She often entertained famous authors, poets and actors like Gregory Peck. If you’ve ever wondered what life was like in the 30’s and 40’s in Florida, this is the ideal place to experience it.

“I do not know how any one can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to” Cross Creek 1942.

“enchantment lies in different things for each of us, for me it is this: to step out of the bright sunlight into the shade of the orange trees; to walk under the arched canopy of their jade like leaves; to see the long aisles of lichened trunks stretch ahead in a geometric rhythm; to feel the mystery of the seclusion that yet has shafts of light striking through it. This is the essence of an ancient and secret magic.” MK Rawling.

Those words help to describe my feelings about Florida and what keeps bringing me back to this land of enchantment. It’s found along the country lanes with the dripping moss hanging from the majestic oak trees. The hundreds of natural springs with their blue green waters bubbling up from the aquifer. Seeing gators and deer and red fox or a dragon fly flying from the tip of one tall grass to the next.

In Ocala, while getting the tire replaced, I was talking to the front desk manager who was working by himself. He mentioned that they used to have 4 people working the front desk and even though he had a stack of applications, he couldn’t hire any of them. Many came in dirty, not even dressing for an interview or preparing in any way. So there’s work out there, the applicants apparently don’t know how to prepare even when going in to apply for a job. 1st impressions really do make a difference.

My next stop was to the small town of Micanopy. It’s between Gainesville and Ocala. This small town has tons of history, having had a village on the site as early as 1539 when explorer Hernando De Soto came on through the area. Observing the Timucuan Indians living in the area. But it’s current configuration started around 1821. What’s fascinating is that the town has remained in this historically preserved state. No gas stations, fast food shops or convenience stores. It’s as if the 21 century bypassed the area. With it’s oak tree lined streets dripping with Spanish moss and stately palm trees, it’s like stepping back in time. The shops containing bits of history in their antiques and collectibles as well. A few restaurants to nourish the tummy while drinking in all the cool atmosphere. An art co-op in a small log cabin tucked under an old corrugated metal building. Specialty shops with vintage and rare books, thousands of old postcards from all over the States and world. A large collection of iron skillets that have been seasoned with age and use. Just a great place to wander around and of course take a ton of pictures as well.

One of my last tours was to the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala. An impressive newer museum with a good collections of Asian art, Iranian and Eastern pottery, European paintings and exhibits from local landscape artists. No pictures were permitted inside, but I’ll include a link to their website for you. Nice to have the time to explore art through a true collectors eye, Mr. Appleton. He owned a large electrical supply business in Chicago, came to Ocala and bought the Bridlewood farm in 1977 (960 acres) and produced a number of the best horse breeds in the country. His collection of over 6,000 pieces of art are the center piece of this 10 million dollar museum which of course he and his sister donated the money for.

Ocala has become quite cosmopolitan and even has a BMW (top end, $109,000) and Porsche (high end $99,990) dealer in town. But I’ve also found homeless along the highways with signs saying “please help, Hungry” and even have had the poor walk up to my open truck window and ask for a handout.

I'll be heading to St Augustine for a week before settling down for the winter at 1,000 Palms in Inverness Fla.

More photos on Picasa

2011-34 Crystal River Florida

2011-11-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

2011-34

Sopchoppy, Fl

Inglis, Fl

Crystal River

Kings Bay

Campground: Ochlockonee River State Park. $18+ tax. Elect/water. Pine and Oak forest. Sites are around a sandy loop road with a couple tight turns. About a dozen over-air TV channels available. And special note: if they recommend you go look at the sites with your rig and then come back to the office to sign in, there’s no place to turn around up at the office. You big rigs know what I’m saying. Might want to suggest that you drop your rig off at a site and then go pay for it….
.
Campground: Aurora Acres MH and RV park (originally Northwoods) . $13 Full hookups (Passport rate). RV park separate from MH section. Ask about cable tv, as it’s only available on some Rv sites.

Crystal River

For the observant traveler there are things the average traveler might not see. Having been aware that the Monarch butterfly migrates along two major routes, one being along the Eastern U.S. south to Florida and then along the Gulf of Mexico until they land in central Mexico., I’ve been able to observe that migration. I first became aware of it while camping on Santa Rosa Island off of Pensacola. The Monarch butterflies were flitting around in their crazy hectic pattern. And I had to questioned their resolve to get to Mexico. Then again as I began my drive along hwy 98 along the Gulf of Mexico route, I not only saw them all along the route, but they had a major impact on me as well. Well, ok, my truck. With a splat and a flip, some ended their journey much too soon. Sorry.

Back in Pensacola, my trucks engine light came on and I was able to get the truck serviced at a Chevy dealer 1st thing Monday morning. Seems there was a recall on the EGR valve again and computer settings. I wonder how one is supposed to hear about these recalls. I never received any mail regarding it. After owning the vehicle for over 4 years, the service man told me it was still under warranty. So what cost $390 you ask. Just a basic oil and filter change, replace the fuel filter, air filter and transmission filter. Boy do they sock it to you on pricing of oil and all those filters. Geez Louise. Well, the truck must be maintained, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

Update: A week later the engine light came on again. Not unexpected. The EGR valve cleaning didn’t do the trick and it was replaced along with a half dozen gaskets, all under warranty. Free, yippee!

A note to travelers. I usually get my oil/filter changed at Wal-Mart’s and save a considerable amount of money (between $50-$75) doing so. But they don’t change fuel filters etc, so occasionally I need to take it elsewhere for maintenance.

While awaiting for the maintenance crew to replace the EGR valve, I met an older women. She was having basic service done on her Escalade (A real sharp pearl color). Told me how they have lived around Florida most of their lives. Were in a gated community with tons of regulations. Finally moved to a community south of Crystal River. Husband died. They had lots of friends especially through his gulfing buddies. After talking about health insurance which she pays $195 for Medicare part B which doesn't include prescriptions (I really don’t understand all that yet) and the state of the economy, she described her community. A house next to her doesn’t cut their grass, making the whole neighborhood look a shambles. Absentee homeowners and the homeowners assoc. has done nothing to rectify the situation. Bottom line, she’s living here, no husband and as she held up her hand and formed a circle with her thumb and finger, said, “that’s how many friends I have”. Zero.

A walk around the campground at Ochlockonee River SP and to my surprise, I saw a white squirrel. The eyes were normal color, so not sure if it was an albino or not. Besides, it had a black stripe down it’s back. Just too cool. This is the best shot I could get before it scurried away.

About another two hundred miles down the road and I’m in a small town along hwy 98/19 called Inglis. 1,600 people and about 98% white. And most of them living in single wide trailers or campers. It’s in-between everything else but close enough to get there from here. A grocery store, gas stations, Napa Auto, and Dollar General.

Rainbow River

I met up with friends from the Great Outdoors who were kayaking the Rainbow River. I had planned to join them, but chickened out when it dropped to 48 last night and became a breezy day on the river today. But I did go into Dunnellon and explored a town wide yard sale and even had a pancake breakfast put on by the Lions club. Then, hopped over to Rainbow Springs and joined the GO group for a walk around the park.

We’re headed out to the Stone Crab Jam in Crystal River this evening.

Margie and John

Nice event. Best vendor food I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Butterfly shrimp so fresh I think it was plucked right off the boats minutes before frying up. Butterfly fries, have you ever had them. So thin you can almost see through them. And key lime cake, yummy. A clam chowder cook off well worth doing the tasting for. 4 stages of blues/rock music. Fun and energetic. Oh and lots of beer and wine vendors. And what interesting timing. 4pm to about 11pm.

Great Outdoors

Extra photos on Picasa

2011-33 Mississippi to Florida

2011-10-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Biloxi Mississippi

Pensacola Florida

Campground: Lakeview RV Resort, Biloxi. Passport America ), $16 per night (2 night max, but I asked for 3 and was granted it. Full hookups. Concrete streets and pads. Very neat and clean, though sites are relatively close. All pull-thru’s.

Campground: Gulf Islands, Davis Bayou Camping National Park campground (east of Biloxi). I didn’t stay here, but would def. consider on my next stay in the area. 1st come 1st served. $16 reg. $8 senior rate. Water and elect.

Campground: Fort Pickens, National Park. $20 reg. $10 Senior rate. Water and Elect. Reservations recommended. Barrier Island camping at it’s best. Scruffy oak hammock setting. The trees look pretty weathered after all the hurricanes in recent years, but within walking distance of gorgeous sugar white sand beaches for miles and miles.

Biloxi Miss.

The casinos and hotels have rebuilt. The wreckage of Katrina has finally all been removed. Vacant lots and empty pristine beaches await the traveler. Biloxi has built a huge visitor center across from the lighthouse. An impressive building with huge (9 foot) doors even to the restrooms. Static displays of life in the area fill the exhibit rooms. A large theatre room on the second floor shows a 10 minute film on Biloxi. The film is visually first rate but only has three words spoken throughout the presentation… “Welcome to Biloxi”. Apparently there isn’t that much to share or talk about except pretty scenes of the Gulf of Mexico, sailing and smiling people.

I’m staying at Lakeview Rv about 15 minutes north of town, though I discovered Davis Bayou campground (see listing above) and would more than likely stay there next time around. Though from Lakeview I’m only about 5 minutes away from a shopping area with the Super Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and good chain eateries right off of hwy 10.

Of course Biloxi is noted for all their casinos and I did stop in two of them. However, I was intrigued to find out that a new Art Museum had open (partially anyway) called the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art. It was designed by famed Architect, Frank Gehry. A mix of 4 different styled buildings done in his most unique design. It’s only been open for one year, with two more in the building phase. The 4 pod building is not opened yet, so I look forward to coming back and seeing this structure completed.

It houses a local potters art, George Ohr. Much of his work was shunned by the critics of his day. His work was packed away and only recently has come to light. Amid much praise for his work of course. A special exhibit by Herman Leonard, a photographer covering the Jazz era was on display. What an exciting exhibit of black and white photography covering the like of Luis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra. All with moody back lighting with wisps of smoke curling up around the artists. Jazz music playing perfectly in the background.

There’s even a re-creation of the House built by Pleasant Reed. The original was destroyed in 2006 by Katrina. One of the first blacks to own property and build a house after the Civil War. Helping to capture the history and life in Biloxi during the late 1880’s.

Nice to see ultra modern architecture next to an historically recreated building. Reed even paid a $2 a year poll tax to enable him to vote in local elections and often did manual labor for the city to pay his property taxes. Never giving in or giving up.

Florida, Pensacola

Santa Rosa Island

Lucky, lucky, lucky. 135 miles on down the road and I’ve arrived on Florida’s Gold coast. Pensacola Florida. Santa Rosa Island. Glistening blue water over the Pensacola Bay Bridge. Sugar white beaches that go on for miles.

I’m spending 5 days on this barrier island. Touring Ft Pickens, walking along the beach. Last night I walked out to the waters edge and watched an awesome sunset along with just 3 others. A huge red ball of fire slowly sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. I could almost hear it sizzle as it sank into the water and then with one final blurb, it was gone. Just the sound of the surf as we all headed back to our campsites as darkness quickly envelope the night.

The next day I drove back onto the mainland to go pick up my mail from my mail forwarding service, American Home base (Good-Sam’s). My replacement for my remote control unit came in and I couldn’t wait to program it for the camper. My Montana has a remote control for the slide outs, stabilizers, awning and security light.

Oh and I stopped in the local Escambia County Library to get a library card. I wanted to make sure I had it before my Kindle arrives later in Nov. I’m looking forward to downloading E-books to the future Kindle. And they told me I could download Audio books as well and put them on my Droid smart phone for playing while I’m in the truck driving down the highway. How cool is that? The gal that signed me up for the library card had also lived in Orlando. She recalled the fun times she’d had there. Telling me in a whisper the time she was kicked out of the Parliament House (a gay bar) for swimming nude at midnight in their swimming pool. We laughed about the good times before Orlando became too big and outgrew itself.

More Repairs: Then I went to take a shower the other day and darn it if the shower faucet won’t redirect the water to the shower head. And I’m down to my last month of a one year warranty on the camper. I’ll have to schedule repairs for later next week when I get further into Fla. Sure hope this is the last repair for a long time. I must admit, I’ve been a bit disappointed with the number of times I’ve had to bring the U.S. made camper in for repairs. Guess I was spoiled by my Canadian built Titanium’s that I’ve previously owned. Fortunately after finally getting the bad tire replaced, all the vibration issues have ceased and the camper in traveling beautifully without everything coming loose.

And of course now that I’m back in Florida, I have to start having more seafood. In Pensacola, there’s an old restaurant called Halls Seafood. It has that old 50’s look to the round booths, fish tanks and captains chairs with heavy lacquered tables. The waitress told me to order off of the dinner menu because any dish that had an * next to it was only $8.95 for seniors. I ordered a $16 dinner for the $8.95 price and got lots of shrimp, bay scallops, baked potato, really great hushpuppies and a salad. What a deal.

And speaking of deals, as you may have noticed, I’ve taken advantage of staying at a number of Gov. campsites, like Army Corp reservoir campgrounds and National Parks for half price. That senior discount card is really coming in handy. I was able to keep my monthly camping fees down to an average of $13.73 a night. My best month ever. And of course I also used my Passport America half price club membership quite a bit this month as well. My good friend Al told me he and his wife Maria spent a high of $68 one night on a recent camping trip. Yikes, I think I would have had a cow if I’d paid that much.

I’m already missing all my Desert Trails Friends in Arizona, but Florida has called me once again to spend my winter here. With the warmest regards, wishing you many happy travels.

and you know, more photo's on my PICASA site.

2011-32 Missouri to Mississippi

2011-10-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

Tennessee

Arkabutla Lake Resevoir

Union city

Mississippi

Tunica

Mount Olive

Campground: Union City Rv Park. Passport America Rate: $15, Regularly $20 so they are not giving the expected half/off rate. It is a simple new campground, clean white gravel sites with darker gravel to indicated each site clearly. It sits behind a small shop off the main road leading into town. Full Hookups and good free wi-fi.

Campground: Arkabutla Lake Reservoir (Army Corp Campground). $10, senior rate. Reg. $18-$20. Elect/Water, paved pads, large picnic tables and grills. Lots of shade trees. 20 over air TV stations, minimal cell phone coverage.

Campground: Dry Creek Water Park (Mt Olive). $9.10 Passport America rate. Full hookups. Beautiful open forested setting, very quiet. 25 HD over-air TV stations. 3G service available, no cell signal. Good lake fishing.

I’ve left St Louis. They were expecting a couple of days of lousy weather and even though I didn’t really feel all that up to moving on, I knew I’d feel better on the road. With a slightly queasy stomach I headed out around 9:30.

The further I got from the epicenter of the dreaded “bug” the better I felt.

The flat cotton fields on the eastern boarder of Missouri were waiting to be picked, leaving the fields looking like snow covered fields on an overcast day.

Since I wasn’t in much of an exploring mood, I missed stopping in New Madrid and a visit to the earthquake museum. It’s the epicenter of the New Madrid Fault Line. The Mid-West has a fault line that apparently has a major earthquake about every 200-300 years. The last ones being in 1699 and 1811-12. The largest being in the 8.0 range. My niece Kim said they have felt small earthquakes in St Louis, but they are not worried about it at all.

While traveling through the Madrid area I noticed that a number of the highway overpasses have been retrofitted with heavy cables connecting the horizontal concrete structures to the side walls. Otherwise, many of the overpasses will most likely slide off their bases, blocking all traffic during the next big one. A Missouri PBS station had quite an interesting piece on the Madrid Fault and the locals in that area are very much aware and preparing for what a large earthquake in the area would mean. 200 “events” occur each year in this area. Averaging 20 a month. Imagine. That’s a lot of earth rumblings.

Food Note: After feeling much better this morning, I went out looking for a quick breakfast. Found Hardees. They have a great breakfast special, biscuits & sausage gravy, tater tots, egg and bacon for $2.99. Wow. And some really great coffee. Just what I needed to get back to normal.

Tunica's Museum

I’m in Tunica which is a small rural town in Mississippi. It’s about 30 minutes south of Memphis Tn. Around 1990 Tunica was the first county to approve gambling along the Mississippi river. The area went from about 26% unemployment and being a cotton growing community, to having 4% unemployment after $4 billion dollars of casino investments in the area.

As I drive into town from the my campsite at the reservoir, I pass huge combine type farm machinery on the rural roads. Huge tires easily 10ft high and each as wide as a car. I have to straddle the edge of the road as the machines pass, half on, half off the roadway.

The flat rich delta soil is still farmed in cotton and soybeans and the casinos huddle next to the Mississippi. like giant colorful painted cardboard boxes made to look like castles and fanciful imaginary cities. Most of the fields have been plowed under for the next seasons crops and butt up against the new highways and casinos. There hasn’t been enough time to build subdivisions and huge malls or strip shopping centers as of yet. Not sure they ever will be built.

I had planned on traveling along the river highway, which isn’t exactly along the river but close enough I guess, since the Mississippi is known to flood quite often. But, as a good Rv-er, I changed my mind and drove down hwy 55 through the heart of Mississippi, through the state capital Jackson and even saw a big new Nissan plant on the outskirts. Lots of thick forests along hwy 55, but almost no services off of any of the turn-offs. It was a pretty boring drive all in all especially since I rarely drive on major highways.

I arrived at my next destination of Mount Olive, mainly to stay at a Passport America park as it is on my way as I head back to Florida. What a fun find. This is after a windy drive along a road just about as wide as the truck and camper. Had to pass one truck but all went smoothly as I crept along. I planned on staying just two days but will extend an extra day because it’s such a nice place. Dry Creek Water Park is a pretty State owned campground with a lake for fishing and picnicking. It’s referred to as a “water park” because it is a watershed area with a small earthen dam. The park itself could be flooded if need be to protect land downstream.

Picked a large bag full of pinecones for a craft project later on and enjoying this simple super quiet park, the big pine trees, small lake and perfect 77 degree sunny weather.

2011-31 St Louis Missouri

2011-10-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

2011-31

St Louis Missouri

Campground: Belleville MH and RV Estates. $150 wkly rate. Full hookups, 50amp. An older established park on the SW side of town, Fenton. A few well maintained MH’s separated from the mainly Rv park. Neat, clean and nice concrete pads. Quiet tree lined area and close to shops and restaurants.

Before I left the Mark Twain Lake area, I stopped into a General Store to do laundry. The place is a regular country store selling all the usual convenience store stuff, coffee and quick lunch items. The store has tons of fishing lures including live bait and camping equipment, even clothing and way in the back of the store are 4 washers and dryers. Oddest place I’ve been to too do my laundry. Kind of funny walking through the store carrying my laundry basket to get to the washers and dryers.

St Louis

I’m not usually this close to a big city, but of course I had to come visit my Niece Kim and family. So while here, I’m taking advantage of some big city attractions. I’ve already done the wonderful zoo and Budweiser Brewing Beer tour on past visits so today I headed downtown to their large Art Museum. It’s housed in one of the original buildings built for the World Fair held here back in 1904.

I was able to attend the “Monet’s Water Lilies” exhibit $10. Otherwise the art museum is free to the public. The special exhibit include the three large three piece painting of Water Lilies. A grand scene that hasn’t been put together since it was first created. The exhibit included Ipods for a personalized tour of each of the paintings. Something I really appreciate. It was perhaps one of the smallest special exhibits I’ve ever attended with only about half a dozen Monet paintings in all.

The rest of the museum contains a mixed collection of art, my favorites being the European Art collection, Cubist and Contemporary art. A few rooms had recently been redone. The walls were painted in deep rich jewel tones and the paintings were all hung at perfect eye level making for a grand intimate display. Amazing how the art work popped out against those darker rich colored walls. One of the security attendants said they had just re-hung the paintings in those rooms and it was like having friends come back into your life. She had missed seeing them for most of a year.

I’m visiting my niece Kim and her two daughters Megan and Camy and hubby Aaron. They live in an elegant Dutch Colonial style home in an older established neighborhood. The house has been expanded upon and is a perfect mix of traditional and modern open style concept living. A warm home with tons of light and two active kids who I might add like their Uncle Dougie a lot.

Plans have been aborted since first Megan was ill and now Camy has gotten the same bug. Hope I didn’t catch anything.

Electronic Gadget Update.

For all you Rv’ers who travel a lot, having your favorite music in the vehicle is a must. Since many of us have converted our Cd’s into MP3 music, we need a way to play it through our vehicles stereo system/radio. Now of course the newest vehicles already come equipped with connections for your Ipod and MP3 players, but those of us who have vehicles say pre 2007, we don’t have the built in connections. I recently discovered that there are wiring kits that can be added to ones car radio to permit the plugging in of MP3 players as well as smart phones which of course have everything from Internet radio apps to Pandora radio stations.

I had used an FM transmitter, a small device that sends out a radio frequency and connects to the MP3 player. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work well when near larger metropolitan areas that have a lot of completing radio stations to interfere with ones signal.
I went to a Best Buy and had them install the wiring kit for me. Not cheap, but so well worth it. The handy person can go online and find the right kit for their car radio and install it themselves for around $65. Of course the other option is to just install a new radio with the headphone and USB connections already built in but that also requires a special wiring harness and kit to make the new radio fit the vehicle.

I am beyond ecstatic to be able to plug in either my MP2 player or my smart phone (an Android) to be able to play music and it can even transmit the GPS ladies voice over my radio for instructions on how to get to that next destination. She now gets to tell me I’ve taken the wrong turn in stereo. Imagine.

Cahokia Mounds

Wow, after stopping by Kim’s house and picking up the girls, we all headed out to the Cahokia Mounds. There on the Illinois side of Mississippi river and within viewing distance of St Louis. Now all those who have followed my travels know that I’ve visited a number of Indian mounds as far south as Florida on up through Ohio and now I’m getting the chance to visit the largest Indian Mound site in North America. The Cahokia Mounds are the largest prehistoric Indian site north of Mexico. It’s big. Really big. The 2200 acre site is protected through the Indiana State Parks and is a World Heritage site.

This is the 1st level of steps to the top, the 2nd set is just as long

All of the mounds that were in St Louis have all been bulldozed away during it’s rapid growth as a city. But these 80 plus mounds on the east side of the Mississippi have been preserved. With an estimated population of 20,000 it was the largest prehistoric Indian settlement north of Mexico. Monks Mound is the largest covering 14 acres with multiple levels and rising to a height of 100 feet. It’s definitely the largest Indian Mound I’ve seen in North America. Archeology has gone through quite a transformation over the past 50 years, as one of the mound sites was excavated in the 1960 and completely destroyed. That wouldn’t happen today and some of the new techniques for looking deep within sites like this without disturbing them will no doubt provide new discoveries in the future. A 40 foot high peaked building would have sat on the top of Monks Mound.

During a planned expansion of hwy 55/70, archeologists completing a survey of the area discovered 5 circular sun calendars. Tall wooden posts evenly spaced with one in the center for determining the changing seasons. They call it Woodhenge and it may never have been discovered it it hadn’t been for the planned road interchange construction. Which was later revised and moved.

Imagine the sophisticated structure they must have had set up to manage, feed and sustain a population of 20,000 Indians. And with only wood and stone tools to create not only these structures, but to farm with and develop such a large community. All to gradually decline in numbers and dissipate after about 250 to 300 years.

On my last couple of days in the St Louis area, I finally caught the dreaded “bug” from Camy or Megan and have been really under the weather. I’m just starting to feel better and will begin my trek south tomorrow.

And more pictures on Picasa.

2011-30 Hannibal MO: A Bonus Report

2011-10-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

IOWA
MISSOURI

Hannibal MO
Florida MO

Mark Twain Lake

Campground: Mark Twain Lake, Army Corp campground. $9 (half price senior rate) Electric 50 amp. Paved driveway. Both reserve able (full hookups) and drive up sites. All easy to back into, most are deep sites with plenty of space for those big rig campers.

I headed south out of the Iowa City area on hwy 218, (US 27), which became SR 923, in Missouri it becomes SR B, US 136, and finally US 61, whew, thank goodness for GPS to keep me on essentially the same road except for all those name changes. The winds picked up half way through my 173 mile trek. Gusting to 25-35 mph , but the camper remained steady and comfortable to tow.

I’m staying at another Army Corp campground, taking advantage of my senior discount card. They’ve already closed a few of the camping loops making for crowded camp loops at the ones that remain open. I take the first open campsite I find and luck out with one that is surrounded by a forest of fall colors. Mainly bronzy yellow/browns and light pumpkin oranges and yellow/oranges. What a dramatic setting.

Oddly the Army Corp campgrounds permit people to place chairs, small tents, table or what ever to reserve sites for their friends who haven’t yet arrived. It’s the only campgrounds that I’ve ever seen where one can hold a campsite without paying for the site or having the campers already there. Not sure I like that.

Hannibal

The campground is about 20 miles from the Mississippi River and the famous town of Hannibal. The town made famous by Mark Twain and the stories he wrote about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The home Mark Twain grew up in is hear (1839) and all a part of a multi-building museum complex. It’s almost like stepping back in time, wandering the streets, listening to banjo players in the downtown area. Seeing the buildings that became a part of the stories Mark Twain wrote about with such skill. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) got his start working as an apprentice at a newspaper. As I read the blurbs about his life, I found I had similarities in common with his upbringing. He never saw anyone in his family kiss, he started work at age twelve and need I even compare our writing skills? …. One of the Mark Twain museums in town contains many of Norman Rockwell’s painting that he did for an illustrated Tom Sawyer book.

What better way to get the feeling of this river town than to take a river boat cruise down the Mississippi. It’s an hours tour, 30 minutes down river and 30 minutes back. Not much of a tour except the great feeling of being on the river, the fresh air and the perfect sunny fall weather. Seeing barges slowly moving up river. And talk about realism, as we were boarding the paddleboat, someone in line pointed out a fat happy river rat on shore scampering among the rock walls, Munching on tall grass and weeds.

I later stopped into the Missouri State visitors center. Which was located in the most unusual place in a house on the side of a hill and not even on a major highway. The attendant was very helpful, even limping off on crutches to get me a few more brochures. He said he’d broken his leg breaking in a horse and it wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last time either. He loves to break horses. Sounds like the horses like breaking him. But he was in a great mood and provided me with a brochure on the “Great River Road Travel and Map Planner” It’s a map that covers the roads that follow the great Mississippi River and I’ll be taking a portion of that route on my trip back to Florida. This could easily take up a full summers journey. Hmmm something to think about.

On my last day in the area, I drove around the southern end of Mark Twain Lake to the town of Florida. Yes, Florida Missouri. It’s where Mark Twain was born and the State park, just outside of the small town contains the Mark Twain Memorial Shrine. The original two room house was moved a short distance from the town to the Museum where it is protected from the elements. Since so much of Twain’s life as a boy is centered on Hannibal, I wasn’t expecting all that much. But after arriving at the Shrine, I must admit that I really did feel the essence of the man who is truly one of Americas favorite authors. He was born two months early in that two room house and was ornery from the start. And even a drive through what remains of the town of Florida, barely a cross roads with a few houses and open plots of land, I once again got the feeling of being somewhere special. Perhaps it was just the clear sunny autumn day. A freshness in the air not always felt during the hotter summer days. Or maybe is was the silence only broken by the rustling of the dry fall leaves. So with wonderful quotes from the great author swimming in my head “my books are water: Those of great geniuses are wine. Everybody drinks water”… I headed on back to the Army Corp campground to enjoy a late afternoon of reading a book outdoors surrounded once again by those wonderful pumpkin colored autumn leaves.

More photos on my Picasa site.

2011-29 Iowa City Iowa

2011-10-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Iowa City, Iowa

Coralville Lake, Iowa

Campground: Coralville Lake Army Corp of Eng. $9 Electric. (half off the regular price with my Senior Card). This is the first time I’ve had a chance to use the senior card, Yippee! Great views of Coral Lake. Some sites have full hookups and reserve able sites. Beautiful, easy to back in sites. Full hookups usually have concrete pads as well.

Well as you know from my last report, I’m visiting with friends Kathy and Randy in Iowa. This is one of those rare times where I have two built-in tour guides and Randy has already done a great job of taking over the driving for our tours.

We didn’t even have to leave the Army Corp campground site for my first tour. The Coralville dam, or Dam Complex as it’s called. They have a small museum in the visitors center including a movie that discusses the building of the dam to prevent flooding. Though twice in the 1990’s there was enormous flooding, one that had tons of water flowing over the spillway for over a month. It wore down the river bed exposing the shale beds of a 35 million year old lake bed.

Birth Place of Herbert Hoover

So after exploring the small museum, we were able to walk along the river bed (now dry of course) and find ancient sea life fossils. What fun to see and touch fossilized creatures that had been buried for over 35 million years, exposed and viewable to us after all those years. Small creepy crawly creatures, sea shells, tracks from creatures crawling along the bed of a once ancient sea.

Another day we drove over to West Branch Iowa to visit the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and birth place. Now as a full time Rv’er, I have an agenda to visit as many Presidential Libraries as possible. Others including me like to visit lighthouses or national parks. But it’s more than just adding one more library to my bucket list of things to see and do. You see, when I visit a site like the Hoover Presidential Library, I’m introduced to a man who made something of himself in life. I learn how he got to where he did in life. I get to follow his path and see what inspired him, built his character. And of course, I think this makes me a better person, learning what makes a person a leader and someone I can look up too.

Herbert grew up in a Quaker community where his parents where both educated and leaders of their community. His Father died when Herbert was 6 and his mother, died when he was only 10. His brothers and sisters were scattered among relatives and he was sent west to Oregon to live with an Uncle.

He went to Stanford and became an Engineer in Geology, traveling the world for mining companies. And all along the way was a humanitarian who found ways to help the hungry and homeless. Often by encouraging others to volunteer their time, effort and food.

I could ramble on about his highs and lows as President, but will let you explore and discover those stories on your own, including his final years at the Waldorf Astoria Towers.

The next day we drive around this farming communities that surround Iowa City. On the way to Kalona, Kathy and Randy take me on an adventure into small town shopping. Out in the farming country are many small Bulk food centers run by the Amish as well as dairy farms where cheddar cheese can be seen being made right on the farm. We’re able to buy spices of every type in bulk packages, hand made pasta, dairy products and fresh baked goods all at very reasonable prices, some almost too good to believe. We go into a general store on an Amish farm where one can find all those basic household supplies.

bulk shopping at it's best

We even see a newly built Amish co-op that’s like their version of a Sam’s Club. In the small town of Kalona we go to a sandwich shop (the Kalona Bakery) where they make fresh sub sandwiches and a whole counter of fresh bakery that calls to us… of course we have to get something sweet along with our sub. A small store packed with customers eager to experience the small town atmosphere.

Then it’s onto Riverside Iowa, The town came to fame when it decided to call itself “The future birthplace of Capt. James T Kirk“ as of course Star Trek takes place in our future you know. Later, William Shatner came here to film a movie (of sorts). It was a spoof on the town and ended up on Spike TV. The town has the original mock up of the spaceship, a museum of Star Trek items and of course the filming of the movie/spoof. Talk about a quirky, fun, unique experience to see a small town caught up in and forever wrapped in the dazzle of being a part of Hollywood. There 15 minutes of fame now enmeshed in who they are. And the site is even highlighted on my National Geographic’s map.

One of my last stops in Iowa was to the 7 Villages of Amana. It was an experiment in communal living that began way back in 1714 as an offshoot of the Lutheran movement in Germany. They believed in the gift of prophecy and divine inspiration. They were referred to as The Inspirationalists and eventually took the name of the Ebenezer Society. After continuing harassment by the governments in Europe, they moved to America where they eventually settled in Iowa. Creating 7 villages where the farmers and workers lived, radiating out to their farms and factories to work. They were most productive for over 80 years, but as time went on and younger member grew up, they balked at being told which job they would be assigned too. After a huge fire destroyed two of the manufacturing factories, the communal life came to an end. Today only a small weaving mill continues to make blankets and other products though the communities continue to thrive.

Randy and Kathy

I find the communities an inspiration of what can be done with talented people working together to make not only good products but a community where people work together for a common cause. And what a way to be able to learn new skills than at the hands of inventors and craftsmen. Though they learned the hard way that a person needs the freedom to decide what kind of work they would like to learn and not be told by an elder, this is your path….

A final note on my visit with Randy and Kathy. Along with great conversations, I had a chance to meet their daughter Christine and her husband John. They have adopted a few kids and are foster parents to some who are mentally challenged. What a loving, fun, energetic family. Good people doing good deeds every minute of the day. Whew, I could never keep up.

Oh, and a final final note, I beat the pants off of Kathy and Randy winning two games of Mexican Train.

More photos on Picasa

2011-28 U.P. Mich to Wisconsin to Iowa

2011-09-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin

Wausau

Iowa

Campground: Wausau, Marathon County Park. $18, 30 amp elect. No water or sewer at the sites. Large gorgeous Pine trees, next to this multi use county park. First half dozen sites suitable for large rigs.

Campground: Sky High Campground: $17.50 Passport America price, full hookup. Rates vary drastically throughout the year. High end campground with heated swimming pool, gulf course, mini gulf and lots more.

Campground: Coralville Lake Army Corp of Eng. $9 Electric. (half off the regular price with my Senior Card). This is the first time I’ve had a chance to use the senior card, Yippee! Great views of Coral Lake. Some sites have full hookups and reserve able sites.

I had a great visit with my Sister Ann and then it was time to move on.

I left the Copper County through the small mining towns Painesdale, Toivola and Donken heading towards the Wisconsin boarder. The Fall foliage of brilliant reds, tangerines and oranges, yellows and burgundies became more vivid with each passing mile. A pair of deer watched as I drove by, as if to say, “we’re sad to see you go”. The colors and the final goodbye greetings of the deer left me speechless and in awe of natures display. How is it possible to have such beauty on display. Needless to say, it will stay with me for some time to come.

Some of the reds were so brilliant that it almost hurt my eyes to look at them. All seen through a morning of clouds, clear skies, later fog right to the ground and finally rain before I reached my next destination in Wausau Wisconsin. The Goodyear folks had determined that one of my tires was indeed damaged due to belt separation and will replace it free of charge. Wausau being the closest town that had one in stock.

Rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. I’m caught in that huge low pressure swirl that’s sitting directly over Wisconsin and Michigan. It’s been raining now for 7 days straight. I may have to put pontoons on the camper soon.

So what does one do on a rainy day. I did a bit of updating on my Blog site. Adding a new link to Army Corp of Engineer Campgrounds. I know all you campers will find this a great asset to finding great campsites on the water. And I know I’ll use it a lot.

As a full time Rv’er, I use three or four resources regularly to find the best priced campgrounds in an area. Rv Park Reviews, Passport America, Free Camping and Casino Camping. I have links to all of these web sites on this Blog on the right side bar. If I’m interested in camping at a Forest or State Park, I’ll check those sites as well. To find Marathon County Park, I used the RV Park Review site. It’s especially good for providing reviews of the campsites as well as price for camping.

What’s Wausau like you ask. Well it’s a city of around 38,000. The downtown area is filled with new construction and an entire city block of older buildings was torn down and replaced with a large open park for festivals and musical events. A compact Mall anchored by Penny’s, Sears and Yonkers faces the newer city center of shops and businesses and compliments but doesn’t take away from the shops the downtown area. Overall the area seems to be a thriving small city.

Unemployment is low in this area, the summer temps average around 84 and winter around 20 degrees. There’s even a good ski hill within a few miles of the downtown area. Two colleges and a number of satellite college/university campuses are in the area.

I’m not planning on exploring that much of Wisc, and will save it for another time down the road. From what I can tell so far, people in Wisc. Really like to camp during the summer months and there are just a ton of campgrounds of every type throughout the state. The northern portion of the state is called the North country with lots of forests, lakes and great spots for camping. The middle portions having more farms mixed in with forest and the southern area gets into the prairie lands with huge farms over wonderful rolling landscapes.

I’m passing through and staying only one night in Baraboo which is close to the Wisconsin Dells, a truly family oriented vacation get-a-way. With all the tacky mystery shows, water parks et-all. I took a backcountry tour through the farming country, road a free ferry across the Wisconsin Lake, had lunch at a lake side eatery and traveled along the lake side before heading back to the Sky High campground.

I’m heading into Iowa to visit with my Desert Trails friends, Randy and Kathy. They summer in Iowa to be near family and grandkids of course. I headed out early Thursday morning, as I had noted that there were going to be high winds, 35-45 mph, by noon. It helps to be aware of the weather before heading out. I was able to get to Coralville IO before the heavy winds started and glad I did, as the winds picked up quickly and would have made for dangerous traveling conditions.

What a joy to meet up with friends I’ve met along the way. Kathy and Randy have two campers, one large 5th wheel camper that they live in most of the time, and a small travel trailer for doing short excursions around the area. If you talk to any full timer, you’ll find that most of us would love to own a second camper for those more adventurous trips that aren’t necessarily practical with a larger camper.

I’m sure I’ll have lots to report on during my travels in Iowa, before heading to St Louis to visit with my niece and her family. So stay tuned for more adventures….

2011-27 Houghton Michigan, Family hometown visit

2011-09-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

2011-27

Houghton Mich.
Jacobsville
Gay
Bete Grise

How much is that doggie in the window, (arf, arf)
The one with the waggley tail (arf, arf)
How much is that doggie in the window,
I do hope that doggie is for sale

The song was coming over the sound system at a nice restaurant (Joey’s) in downtown Houghton where I was having lunch. I believe it was being sung by the Patty Page. A song I remember from my childhood growing up here in the U.P. We might have even had it on a 45 record, which I’m sure we played and sang too often…. Driving our Mom a bit nutty. Talk about instant memories of growing up here in the U.P.

Even though I had lived in the this area for 20 years, there is always something to explore, so after checking out a few maps I decided to concentrate on the east side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. And though Jacobsville, my first stop along the way is only about 17 miles from Hancock, it took over an hour to drive around Rice Lake and Torch Lake to get to Jacobsville.

It was one of those drives through a very remote area of the U.P,. Jacobsville having no stores or gas stations just the end of the road and a light house at the entrance to the Portage Canal, a few homes making up the community and a small Swedish Lutheran Church now acts as a community center.

National Park Ranger, Ron

The small town of Gay has a tavern (with of course the expected tacky T-shirts with gay references), Fire Department and the remains of a once large stamp mill. The old school is being renovated into a museum as the area has some wealthy patrons who have homes along the lake shore. A small campground with cabins is being built along Lake Superior. The campground appears to have been in place for some time now. What a remote area to spend a few days along the shores of Lake Superior. Ron and I enjoyed taking pictures at the old Mohawk Stamp Mill. Seeing the tall smoke stack, concrete walls with many unusual shaped doorways and a concrete slew going to the lake along with the black stamp sand along the shoreline.

Lake Superior Shoreline

Bete Grise has the most beautiful protected harbor with a lively community around the bay, a lighthouse tucked away behind a thicket of pine trees. Along the Lake Superior shore line, seeing steep red sandstone cliffs, rocky shorelines and a white capped lake, with many areas to for blueberry picking in the fall months. A number of trees are starting to turn color with a few splashy reds, yellow and oranges scattered amongst the thick green forests.

This whole area is often overlooked by the casual tourist who would normally drive up US 41 to Copper Harbor, Brockway Mt Drive, Eagle Harbor and Eagle River. A superb drive worth taking, but I sure enjoyed getting off the beaten path and seeing a side of the Keweenaw Peninsula I’d never experienced.

Of course I’ve been visiting with my Sister Ann and Jim, having them over for dinner one evening a playing a few games of Mexican Train (dominos). And I hate to say it but Jim was the winner of all of the games. Talk about luck! I’ll get him next time….

I was telling one of my stories from a visit to a restaurant on the eastern end of the U.P. The waitress was talking to some customers, of course her voice carrying across the room so everyone could hear. She was telling them how all the roads in the U.P. are posted at no more than 55 mph except one small stretch that was designated at 65mph. Now she was saying, “I know this sounds dumb, but I just had to drive over to that stretch of highway and drive up and down it, going 65, just to experience going that fast.” Everyone got a chuckle out of her slightly eccentric behavior, but it was also a statement about how frustrating it can be for the locals traveling at only 55 mph across vast stretches of lonely highway up here. Especially if they have to follow us tourists who are following the speed limit and enjoying the drive.

Ann and Jim

and a visit with the Palosaari cousins

and of course more pictures on PICASA.

2011-26 Yooper Country, U.P., Northern Michgan, Da U.P.

2011-09-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

2011-26

Campground: Cadillac Woods Campground. Passport America half price, $14.50. 30 amp elect/water. Hilly campsites, lots of trees, close to main road traffic noise. Could be a bit touchy to get into some sites with larger rigs.

Campground: Kewadin Casino. Free: $0.00 30 amp parking lot sites. Kind of tight, so try and get the outside or last site in the row. In Christmas Mich., outside of Munising N Mich.

Campground: Ojibwa Casino (Marquette). Free $0.00 50 amp. Nice wooded large back in sites w/large picnic table. Tall pine trees. Casino gives you $5.00 a day real money for playing the slots or whatever and a coupon for one free drink.

Campground: Hancock City Park. $22.00 50 amp. & water and cable TV. Not all sites have water. Short walk through the woods to the city beach which is really a pretty country park like setting.

Before I could get back on the road, I needed to have my alignment on the camper checked out and balance the tires. As it turned out, the alignment was fine, but one tire had developed a bald spot due to being completely out of balance. Will need to see if the tire manufacturer will replace it. Likely it began the day I purchased the camper, as I had been noticing that the camper had excessive vibration. With light bulbs, bolts and screws coming loose every time I headed on down the road.

With that all taken care, of thank you very much and why didn’t I get the tires balanced when I first purchased the camper, I was ready to head out.

As always I was eager to get back on the road as you know I love traveling. Crossing the Mackinaw Bridge, all 5 miles of it, was smooth sailing on a very clear day. Needless to say, I could look down at the water below through the two inch square open metal grid road bed, or drive on the right hand side which is paved and look over what seems like a very low guard rail, out at the water way way below as the bridge arches high into the sky before coming back down on the other side.

The U.P. (Upper Peninsula) has a primitive wild atmosphere in some places, especially when driving through inland sand dunes, past boggy wetland areas with stunted spruce trees that would look right at home in the frigid north tundra area of Canada and Alaska. Did you know the highest point in Michigan is the U.P.? It’s Mount Arvon at 1979 feet between Marquette and L’Anse.

Towns are few and far between. I was so mesmerized by the scenery that I almost forgot to fill up with diesel.

My first stop in the U.P. is at the Kewadin Casino in Christmas Mich. Free camping and close to Munising. After setting up, went inside to get a light dinner and was given a coupon for a free hotdog and drink. Life is good on the cheap. Some of the trees are just staring to turn color and I can’t wait to see them in their full fall regalia.

I checked out the possibility of seeing a moose up in these parts. Both the National Park Ranger who had only seen two in all her years up here and a shop owner also had seen two, but over in the Newberry area. They say there are about 600 in all of the U.P. A moose did walk into Munising last year and police had to stop all traffic while the moose wandered around town, then headed back into the woods never to be seen again. After checking some online resources I drove west of Marquette where they’ve transplanted moose from Canada. The moose herd has grown, but I wasn’t able to see any along the narrow poorly maintained paved road as it followed a meandering stream through dense woods, marshy land and dirt roads leading to private camps.

in search of a moose, at least the scenery was great

My next stop is at Ojibwa Casino, I not only get my very nice campsite for free, but they give me a $5 bill each day and a coupon for a free drink. Imagine, $5 a day that they give me and I get to stay in their campsite for free. And last night I won $11.00. Of course this spoils me especially when I go to pay for the next campsite on down the road.

The Copperama (no longer in existence) is where I had my first job at 12 yrs old.

A two hour drive and I arrive in Houghton, my home town. If you’ve been following my Blog your already know a bit about the area known as the Copper Country and home to Finlandia University and Michigan Technological University. I went to both along with a slew of other colleges when I moved to Florida.

I’ll be visiting with my sister mainly while up here. If I can find something interesting to write about I’ll add another report, but otherwise I’ll take a two week break before continuing my reports.

The lift bridge to the Keweenaw Peninsula

2011-25 Indiana to Michigan

2011-09-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

2011-25

Montana Keystone Rv Tour

Whitehall Revisited

Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary

Campground: Blue Lake, Muskegon County campground. $24. 50amp elect/water. Small county park on Blue lake. Country living and only 18 minutes to Whitehall.

My last day in the Elkhart/Goshen area where all the Rv’s are made was a full day of touring. I drove down to Goshen where the Keystone RV manufacturer has it’s headquarters and a huge campus of warehouse buildings. Each dedicated to building a different camper line.

If you own an RV or are thinking of buying one, you must come to this area and take a tour of at least a couple of the manufacturers. As I told someone when asked why I was in the area, I said I had to bring my Montana Mountaineer back to it’s birthplace for a visit. And of course I was interested in finding out exactly how they built the camper.

Now they didn’t have my Mountaineer on the factory line, but they were building some JY-normous Montana’s. The poor tour guide hardly had time to explain how they were made as the 10 people on the tour, including myself had a ton of questions about each aspect of the camper, as we all owned one, including a couple who was there to see there’s being built. They were three days early, as there had been a delay in the schedule. Our tour guide told us that the workers start at 4:30 in the morning and get out by 2pm. They lost about 8 days of manufacturing due to the summer heat in July as the buildings are not air-conditioned. Hence the early morning work schedule.

I learned things like:

The linoleum floor does not cover the entire camper. (older campers always did even under the carpeting). Meaning it no longer acts as a protective moisture barrier for the entire floor.

The sewer lines coming from the three holding tanks are perfectly horizontal, which causes the gray water to sit there until you go to dump again and then you’ve got a surprise of a gallon or so of dirty water running out on the ground before you can attach the sewer hose. An obvious design flaw which I took care of by attaching an additional shut off valve right before the end sewer cap.

The remote control which recently malfunctioned on my camper (for the slides, awning, stabilizers) can be reprogrammed. Great to know how to do that.

Questions on underbelly construction are to be researched and answers gotten back to us.

It takes approx. two days to build a Montana 5th wheel camper. With about 10 on the line at any given time going down the track.

So it was an interesting tour and of course I took as many pictures as I could. Gosh, some of these campers are getting huge. And I thought my 35 ft camper was big…. Some of the new ones have two bedrooms, two baths and two outside doors along with 5 slides.

Lower Michigan

I came up hwy 131 through Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids across onto 96 to my next destination outside of Whitehall Michigan. This is where my sister Dorothy and her husband Dave Wilmer’s live. It’s a lovely community a few miles from Lake Michigan, next to a harbor that separates Whitehall from Montague. Sailboats with their tall masts bobbing in the water around the marina community.

The Wilmer’s just had their family reunion here and I heard it was quit a success. Dave is in great spirits and looking slimmer and healthy, even though he only has about 30% use of his lungs and is on oxygen, has diabetes and takes a drawer full of meds. He and the family have had their share of scares with his health in recent years, so seeing him doing so well is wonderful. And of course, Dave being a superb chef, I get to enjoy his home cooking. Fresh breads, minestrone soup with mini meatballs all made from scratch. French toast and bacon in the morning, crab cakes or homemade pizza in the evening. I may never leave.

Dorothy and I decided to go on a days excursion to find the Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary. It’s listed on my National Geographic Map and we thought, even though it’s August (not exactly in-season for wildflowers), we’d take the drive anyway. Drove through lots of forested and farm land and a number of fruit farms. Peaches, cherries, apples….

Well as I’m sure you’ve already figured out, there were no spring flowers, but since this was an adventure and picture taking opportunity, we had a chance to stop and take a few pictures of old barns, corn cribs along the way and at Loda Lake we found an array of mushrooms and toad stools. White, orange and bright reds were all along the hiking trail. We’d barely get a few feet on down the path before we’d stop to take some close-ups of the next mushroom, or views of the lake covered in lily pads.

Dorothy commented a couple times on how quiet is was. What a peaceful setting and something I get to enjoy so often along my adventures on down the road or I should say, off the road. We saw some recent evidence of a possible bear, but fortunately didn’t encounter one. A perfect sun dappled day with temps hoovering in the 74 degree range.

Back at Blue Lake campground, Sunday morning, I was invited to join a worship service on down by the picnic area. A local preacher and his troop of singers (quite good I might add) were preparing for the open air service. The sermon was on soaring like the eagle, perseverance and getting tired but with His strength one could rise above and soar like the eagle. With my niece, Heidi battling cancer my thoughts were more on her struggle, along with her husband and 7 children. (A prayer for Heidi and her family sure would be appreciated). Observing a number of parishioners being baptized in the lake, one dunk, two dunk…., the sun shining brightly, a breeze and blue blue sky overhead.

It’s labor day weekend and rainy. The campground was filled to capacity by Wed. evening, with many campers just dropping of their campers for the long, now wet, weekend. I sit inside reading a book, with plans to go out to lunch later. Dorothy has to work today at Pamidas. They are changing all their clothing prices to a lower price this weekend so she’ll be working after hours with the rest of the workers to do mark downs. Michigan has just instituted a new law no longer requiring price tags on all goods which will make Dorothy’s life at work a little easier.

I drove over to Fremont Mich. the other day. A nice size community in central lower Mich. It’s the home of Gerber Baby Food company. One of those ideal communities with a good industry, lake side homes and away from the crush of big city living. There’s even a large grain elevator in town adding to the farm community feeling.

So that’s pretty much my two week stay in lower Michigan visiting family once again. I so much enjoy receiving news from all you armchair readers, so a big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to drop me a line. Being able to keep in contact with you makes my life so much fuller.

more pictures on PICASA.

Happy Trails till next time.

2011-24 Ohio to Indiana

2011-08-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

2011-24

Freemont Ohio

Howe Indiana

Elkhart Indiana

Campground: Wal-Mart Parking Lot. It was a bit warm into the evening before finally cooling off. But free is free, well except for spending about $100 at Wal-Mart’s.

Campground: Grand View Bend Association Campground. A Passport America campground. $12.50 for first 2 nights, then $15 for each additional night. 50 amp service and water. Easy set up. Discount sites are first row in park, just set up and they will come collect later in the day. Rest of park is a owner association park. Surrounded by farm fields, a river for fishing and canoeing. Well maintained pool.

Exploring an old abandoned mansion and then.....

I zipped on through Ohio after my months stay in New York with only one stop in the town of Freemont Ohio, where the 19th President, Rutherford B Hayes, Library and Mansion are. President Hayes had to deal with the rebuilding the country after the civil war. His wife Lucy was the first First Lady to be called the First Lady. They drove around in a black Presidential carriage which is now housed in the Presidential Library along with a fair collection of Lucy’s dresses. Boy did she have a small waist.

The Hayes mansion has about 35 rooms and 6 are currently under renovation. It was originally built for them by Hayes uncle on property he gave them. All Rutherford asked for was a porch… with a house attached. The original farm house was built, with no less than 9 foot ceilings and floor to ceiling windows and doors. Perfect for today’s basketball players. Most of the wood in the house is butter pecan and looks as good as the day it was installed. When it was expanded to the 35 room mansion it was the first to have an elevator. He was the first president to have a telephone and typewriter.

Then it was off to Indiana for repairs on my Montana . Where Tiara Rv removed the bolt that keeps coming up through the kitchen floor and replaced it with two bolts, with newly drilled holes and epoxy glue to hold them in place. Wonder if this will work. I also was given the phone number of the axle manufacturer as there is a possibility that the constant vibration of the camper while on the road, is leading to the many items in the camper coming unscrewed. Like light bulbs, whole light fixtures and occasionally finding screws and bolts lying on the floor after a long trip.

I found a Passport America campground called Grand View Assoc. which is a membership/site owner park with about 40 sites for us roving campers. They only advertise two nights at the Passport discount rate ($12.50) but offer additional nights for only $15 a night. At those prices I’m staying for the week to explore the area. This is one of those campgrounds where you can purchase a lot for around $9,000, with many of the owners purchasing two side by side to have a bigger lot. Cheap way for many to have a summer get-a-way for the family.

A trip to Shipshewana and the hugest flea market in Indiana. What fun driving down country lanes, passing numerous horse drawn buggies with Amish families. Some riding bikes along the wide paved skirting along the roadways. Shipshewana has a wonderful interpretive center for learning more about the Amish and Mennonite community. There is a huge community of Amish and Mennonite living in Indiana and Ohio in particular. They add wonderful local color to the area, living their simpler life styles, making some of us envious of their simpler way of life. But we Rv’ers have a pretty simple life style as well, so come to think of it, we’re not doing too badly in the keep it simple lifestyle either.

A note on my view out my large picture window at the back of my camper. I’m overlooking a flat field of hay which has been cut recently and looks like a blond buzz cut. Patches of trees line up mid field, giving the appearance of an African savanna against a soft blue sky with clouds lingering at various levels high in the sky. A really awesome view.

Since I’m right on the boarder between Indiana and Michigan, I drove over to Sturgis Michigan to get some prescriptions filled at Walgreens. I used Wal-Mart for a couple of years but started to have problems with them as they needed to transfer all my prescriptions to what ever store I was currently having them fill out in. sometimes, the other store wouldn't transfer the orders. It was a mess. Now, at Walgreens, they just ask for my name, look up my prescriptions on their computer and fill the order. No problems.

Kind of fun driving between states so easily. Back at the Grand View campground, the neighbors are all so friendly, even stopping by while driving in or out of the park to chat a bit and ask what part of Florida I’m from. Each campground has it’s own atmosphere and I can usually tell right away if I’m going to enjoy it. This is one of those parks.

Over in Howe, a small town with a few downtown shops, they even have a designated place for the Amish to park their horses and buggies. I had lunch at the Chicago Pizza place where the owner was eager to please and show off his Chicago pizza making skills. Across the street was a haberdashery. You know, a women’s hat designer.

I just finished reading a most wonderful book from my Spiritual reading collection thast I purchased on my recent visit the other week to Lilly Dale. Of course I finished the Priest and the Medium about my former pastor, Anne Gehman which was like enjoying the stories and life of an old friend. Wouldn’t it be nice to read a book about one of your friends, or at the very least Cliff Notes. There is so much we don’t know about our friends and family and each one of us does have a story to tell. Well in any case, the book I just finished is called “ Séances in Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Spiritualism during the Civil War” Nettie Colburn Maynard, Editing and commentary by Irene McGarvie.

It’s a shortened version of the original book by Nettie C Maynard and only covers first hand account of the Lincoln episodes and her early life. What a fascinating story of her mediumship and meetings with Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln. Along with some real insight as to what was going on during the civil war, I felt like I was right there experiencing a unique piece of history. A totally different perspective of history and a real page turner.

An except from the book:

“Mrs. Lincoln received us graciously, and introduced us to a gentleman and lady present whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Lincoln was not then present. While all were conversing pleasantly on general subjects, Mrs. Miller (Mr. Laurie’s daughter) seated herself, under control, at the double grand piano at one side of the room, seemingly awaiting someone. Mrs. Lincoln was talking with us in a pleasant strain when suddenly Mrs. Miller’s hands fell upon the keys with a force that betokened a master hand, and the strains of a grand march filled the room. As the measured notes rose and fell we became silent. The heavy end of the piano began rising and falling in perfect time to the music.”
“All at once it ceased and Mr. Lincoln stood upon the threshold of the room. (He afterward informed us….”

additional pictures on Picasa.

2011-23 Corning NY

2011-08-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Cuba NY

Corning NY

Corning Glass Museum

Rockwell Museum of Western Art

from around 400 BC

On my way back to my campsite last week I drove along the “Southern Corridor”, hwy 86. Passing through the Sovereign Seneca Nation, I noticed that the highway was very poorly maintained. Later Walt told me that there has been an on going battle between the state of NY and the Indian Reservation. The Seneca Nation wants to put a toll both between the section of hwy 86 which is on their land, the state is fighting it and during this period, is refusing to perform any work on that section of the highway. Interesting how there's always more to the story than one would think.

A side trip took me to Cuba Ny where they have the most wonderful cheese store. Cuba at one time was the world center for Cheddar cheese and the town set the price for Cheddar cheese weekly for the whole country. Just outside of town is a huge 347 foot long horse barn, built to house the famous stallion "McKinney". It lies empty today, looking for a good owner to come along.

Day trips are great even if your not Rv-ing around the country. For me it’s always an adventure and this time I was able to go with two friends, Walt and Ben. We headed out in the morning to Corning Ny. Corning is still the home and manufacturing site of much of the Corning Glass and they have a large museum devoted to glass.

The town itself looks awesome being on a river. The downtown area is pretty nice, though there were a fair amount of buildings that were empty, others were being rehabbed including a 4 story brick building getting a facelift both inside and out. Nice pedestrian park in the center of town as well. Unfortunately, they have parking meters, always a pain when trying to find a parking spot, especially when one doesn’t have change with them.

The Corning Glass Museum is quite large so I would recommend making sure you have a couple of hours to explore it including taking in a couple of the glass making shows. Wonderful displays of ancient glass art going back to 400 BC right up to the present day art pieces on display. I loved the ancient and most recent art glass pieces and the displays and lighting were just stunning. A couple of over the top pieces like chandeliers, glass tables, chairs and Tiffany pieces were just awesome to see.

We also went over to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art. Discount tickets are available when purchasing both the Glass and Western art museum tickets at the same time. I was impressed with the western art museum, having visited a number of them out west. Nice to see such a high quality collection of western art on the east coast. Brought me right back to the area of the country I’ve enjoyed so much time in.

my favorite painting at Rockwell Museum,
The Morning Shower, by Frank Johnson

I’m on my last few days in this part of NY and will be heading across the top of Ohio and Elkhart Indiana on my way to Michigan to visit with my sisters once again. We’ve been having some great weather here in NY and hope everyone else is enjoying the summer as well. With doors and windows open to capture the cool breezes. We’ve even had a couple of days of rain which is always appreciated by the farmers in the area.

More pictures as always on Picasa.

2011-22 Lilly Dale Ny

2011-08-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

2011-22

Lilly Dale NY

National Spiritual Association of Churches

I was feeling a bit down the other day, as I had a pain on my right side, causing me to favor that side only adding to the discomfort by the end of the day. After a few aspirin and a fair nights sleep I decided to drive over to Lilly Dale. What better way to lift ones spirits than at a Spiritualist Camp.

Camps were popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. You may recall my visit to an historic Christian camp in Lancaster Ohio (report 2011-19). And the area I'm currently in was famous to many religious movements such as the Shakers, Mormons, Mennonites, and Amish and of course the Spiritualist movement.

As a bit of a background, back in my early 20’s, I had joined the National Spiritual Association of Churches in Orlando. There, I attended many classes in philosophy, religion and meditation. Having grown up Lutheran and having a wonderful minister who told us during our catechism classes that we must question our religion and not just accept it on faith and to find the true meaning behind our religion, I was ready to start learning. With that I began a wonderful journey exploring what this life was all about. And the Spiritualist movement aided me in that search.

So after taking a long drive through western NY’s hilly wine country, with it’s many small towns nestled between thick forests on rolling hills, past farms and vineyards and even a couple dozen wind turbines slowly turning in the early morning breeze I arrived at the spiritualist camp called Lilly Dale. After a 35 year absence.

After paying the $10 entrance/parking fee I entered the sprawling, park like setting of Lilly Dale. Each day during the summer months, hundreds of visitors arrive to explore, get spiritual readings, and attend lectures and services. Since I had been having a bit of pain, I headed to the Healing Service, where about a dozen healers perform Laying on of Hands. Asking the divine healing of the Universe to aid those in need. Having done some Laying on of Hands myself, I was very familiar with the procedure and waited my turn to sit and received the healing energy. A peaceful white light of energy was received and after a few prayers of healing for those close to me, I headed out to explore the grounds.

Now most people come to Lilly Dale to receive readings. Hoping to contact loved ones that have passed over to the other side, or to receive inspiration or guidance from spirit guides, or just to receive confirmation of life after death. Like the Tv program that was on the other night with Bob Woodruff, Near Death Experiences, I think we all would like confirmation of life after death. I’ve been fortunate to have always felt guided and in tune with my path in life, so needless to say, I did not feel the need to have a reading.

Instead, I enjoyed wandering around the camp, going to the bookstore (purchasing way too much), visiting the Marion Skidmore Library and discovering that a new book has come out on Anne Gehman’s life. She being my minister and spiritual teacher back in Orlando in the 1970’s. So of course I had to go back to the bookstore and purchase it. It’s called, “The Priest and the Medium” by Suzanne Giesemann.

Lilly Dale is comprised of about a 100 homes, hotel, guest houses, campground, museum, library, healing temple, assembly hall and a few restaurants , coffee shops and gift shops. A lovely lake for swimming, boating and fishing. And of course the dozens of mediums available for readings. I love the park like setting as I wander between the shops and restaurants. Stopping in the Sunflower for lunch. Had a Monte Cristo and sweet potato fries. Then is was off to hear Albert Batten and his wife, a medium, Beverly Batten. They hale from Ontario Canada and Albert has been a Spiritualist all his life. As with many Spiritualists, he explored other religions from Southern Baptists to Islam, you name it. Learning from each but always feeling something was missing till returning to Spiritualism that seems to accept and encompass truths from what ever the source.

A trip to the museum to learn about the different types of mediumship, the history and check out the story on Susan B Anthony. Noticed a lot of teenagers working in the shops and restaurants and as Albert mentioned from the podium today, lots of young, older folks and middle people. Real nice mix.

Well, after a full day of exploring and not wanting to get all preachy or sappy about my visit, I feel I nourished my Body, Mind and Soul along with a two scoop vanilla ice-cream cone for $1.50 and headed on back to my campsite.

My last week here in upstate NY and I’m meeting up again with my buddies, Ben and Walt. I’ve got a number of excursions planned and will mention them in the next report.

Additional photos on PICASA.

2011-21 Western New York

2011-07-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

New York

I thought I’d write about a few insights I’ve noted about the state of New York. Now these are my thoughts and may not reflect the total picture of an area but are items that I’ve observed.

didn't even have to carve it....

As you may be aware, many states have a fee on plastic, glass and aluminum cans. On initial observance, one would think it would be a great way to ensure recycling. But as a traveler, even though I have a separate garbage can for such recyclable items, there are no recycle bins to put my cans, bottle and aluminum into. From what I’ve observed NY doesn’t have recycle bins as in other states. Your supposed to return you cans, bottles etc to a grocery store that has a place to turn them in and get cash back. But what to do with a bottle or can that hasn’t been purchased in that state? It just gets tossed in the regular garbage bin, adding to the non-cycled garbage dumps. And what about the other things that aren’t being recycled like paper, cardboard and glass. Oh well….

I can’t tell you how much it hurt to toss those recycle items in the regular trash.

I’m in an area where many Amish live. Today while visiting the small town of Angelica, two horse drawn black buggies drove by. Each with a young person and a mother with her black bonnet covering her hair. The young boy with his straw hat on. Standing up as he directed the horse down the quiet main street.

Just out of town, one of the Amish farms also had a lively lumber business. Cutting lumber for building purposes, right in the local area, reducing transporting the lumber long distances and probably helping the environment. I like to see their laundry hanging up on huge lines strung up across a pulley system from the back of the house to a tall pole out in the middle of the yard. All whites one day, then all dark colors (black, gray and blue) the next. Nice to see a simpler way of life being so successful.

Lots of farms and barns and silos throughout the area. They appear to grow lots of grains and hay in the area with a smattering of corn as well as other crops. Many farms have a pond near the main entrance as well. Many of the small towns were built up and became prosperous around the turn of the century. With wonderful large homes and mansions to testify to wealth in the area at one time. And yet there’s so much land that is still forested as well.

My friend Steve was telling us how normally this part of NY never gets hot. Well the last couple of days it has reached into the 90’s and they don’t have air-conditioning in their farmhouse. Steve said it was 88 in their living room the other night. He had a brilliant idea to chill his T-shirt in the fridge. A little while later, he took the T-shirt out of the fridge expecting to feel all cool after putting the shirt on. He barely got the t-shirt on and it was at room temperature again. So much for great ideas.

I remember growing up in Northern Michigan and the few days it would get really hot, Mom would keep all the shades pulled upstairs and down. After a few days the house lost all it’s coolness and would become really warm. The basement door would be left open to let cool air rise up from the basement below. If you stood in the open doorway it did feel cool. Mom would let us kids sleep downstairs on the carpeted floor in the living room until the heat abated a few days later.

Over in Wellsville NY I stopped to take pictures of a wonderful pink Italianate mansion that even has a ghost story to tell. It remains in the same family that built it in 1868. Such amazing Victorian houses are all around this area. One has windows in the shape of keyholes and I must go back and get pictures of it.

The following week, I took one of those excursions into the country side that I always enjoy. I headed towards Letchworth State Park. Just driving along hilly country roads seeing all the farms in the area and a few abandoned old barns and homes. Thru tiny little towns like Canaseraga, Nunda, Portage Village and Dansville. Crossing over the Genesee River on a narrow bridge that barely looked like it could hold the weight a single car crossing it, with it’s buckling asphalt road and weeds growing up through the pavement.

Letchworth is one of those gems built around a natural wonder, the Genesee Gorge. Three waterfalls, 600 feet deep gorge, the Glenn Iris Inn where I had a wonderful lunch. The Norfolk and Southern railroad passes overhead on the tall Portage Bridge, built to replace the tallest wooden bridge in the world after it burned down in 1875. Thought Tim R who’s a train buff would enjoy a few shots of the train crossing the bridge. I walked under the bridge as the Norfolk Southern passed on overhead. Listening to the train as it slowly traveled across the bridge high above. The smooth grinding of steel wheels against the tracks and the rhythmic clicking as the thousands of tons of train engine and cars rolled over each section of track. Even feeling the vibrations through the solid rock foundation I stood on next to the steel girders of the bridge.

Great hiking trails, old timey rental log cabins and campground all along a 25 mile long scenic route within the state park. I thought I’d mention the lunch I had, Chicken Fricassee. What a simple elegant and taste dish. If you haven’t had it in a while, It’s basically fresh made biscuits piled with shredded chicken, peas, shredded carrots in a white gravy sauce, sprinkled with parsley. The folks next to me thought it looked so good, they wanted to take a picture of it. I’ve added a link to a Cajun version you may like to try and adjust to your own taste. Other versions are over rice. See links.

What a refreshing day spent hiking between waterfalls, along the edge of the deep gorge canyon walls. Tall shade trees providing a cathedral type atmosphere with birds chirping in the distance. Long moss covered rock walls and benches made by the CCC’s so many years ago. The Genesee River bottom made of flat slabs of rock that have cracked over the years and appear to be square and rectangular slabs made by man. But nature has carved these from the river itself.

Back in the little town of Angelica, I stopped in the Sweet Shop for a cup of coffee and pastry and a chat with the owner. Told how her and her husband have purchased two of the building in town and work 7 days a week running them along with hiring 20 part time workers as well. Loving the work and the small town. I wandered around town taking lots of pictures. In their circular park they’ve built a Roque rink for an old fashioned game that is still played today by some of the locals. Men only. As the owner of the Sweet Shop suggested, the women probably wouldn’t be interested in playing anyway, as it’s a very slow paced game.

Stopped in the city hall and met the Court clerk. A nice gal who said the judge is trying to convince her to study for and apply for being a judge one day. Hope she goes through with it too. The Post Office is in an old historic building on the corner of the circular park, (is it possible to have a corner on a circle?). The Post Master said they’re little post office is safe at this point and pointed to the 250 one hundred year old mail boxes in use. Neat little post office. I had wanted to go to the Free Library but it’s only open three days a week. Will have to back tomorrow. It’s an impressive building.

So as you can see I’m not exactly doing much exploring as I am absorbing the feel of this area of the country. Meeting the people and enjoying a different pace of life. Until next time, have a super great day
Exploring your own part of the world.

More pictures on Picasa.

2011-20 Penn to New York

2011-07-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

2011-20

Lantz Corner, PA

Bradford PA

Western New York

Campground: Foote Rest Campground, Lantz PA. $15 Passport America, extra for cable Tv. Elect/water site. Good size Rv park. Older swimming pool, nice shaded grassy campsites, most are pull-thrus.

Campground: Visiting friends for the month in western NY.

What an interesting drive north on hwy 219 through Pennsylvania. About 60 miles was a super nice divided highway, but half way up the highway, huge signs indicated I needed to take an alternate route. NO TRUCKS longer than 17ft. Yikees. I am towing a 35 ft camper. So after taking the alternate route (for about 5 miles) , I get back on the highway. It eventually peters out going back to a two lane road and another big sign warns ALL TRUCKS weighing more than 10,000 lbs need to exit, NOW. Well, with a 5th wheel in tow, weighing between 12 and 14,000 lbs. I took their advice again. Apparently the steep winding slope into a town would be too much for the ole brakes. The alternate had a couple of runaway ramps in case ones brakes fail.

When I got to Foote Rest campground and settled in, I was surprised to see dozens of bunnies all over the place. They tell me at times, they have up where near 300 to 400 rabbits. But with coyote, fox and other wild critters, the population fluctuates. Last night a couple of black bears came into the campground, attracted to a huge pile of overflowing garbage. About 20 feet from my camper…. I slept through it all.

Doug getting his Senior Park Pass

The following day, after a few tours around the area I dropped into the Alleghany National Recreation Visitor Center to pick up my Senior Pass. $10 for a lifetime pass that gets me into National Parks, BLM, National Forests and even TVA campground, etc. Many of the campgrounds in these places are half off with the Senior pass. Now that’s a Birthday gift that will continue to keep on giving for many years.

In Bradford I visited the Zippo lighter/Case museum. Nice to see a community that still has manufacturing of a great product. Many people collect the various designer cases with everything from Elvis (the most popular) to the Beatles, advertising cases, to WWII collectables. They call the Zippo lighter “pocket art”. The town also has a large motor oil refinery. You know Pennsylvania was the heart of the oil industry in the early days of oil and gas. I’ve noticed oil collection tanks along the back roads, all painted green to blend in with the surrounding forests, throughout western Penn. So there must still be some oil underground around here.

One of my side trips was to the Kinzua Bridge State Park. The bridge rises 301 feet high, well it did before a tornado came along and demolished most of it in 2003, ending the eighth wonder of the world. One end that remains standing is being refurbished and will have a glass floor for looking all the way down into the gorge. Should be completed in Sept of this year. Still kind of neat to see what remains of the bridge from a side viewing platform.

I’ve been fortunate to have reached a part of the country (western NY) that’s been getting perfect weather. Highs in the mid 70’s to low 80’s with no humidity. Wonderful daytime breezes and clear blue skies. Evenings in the high 50’s. Blanket weather. I’m looking forward to settling in for a month and doing maybe an excursion once or twice a week to outlying areas. If I find something interesting I’ll be sure to report on it.

I’ve already found quaint little towns with multiple churches facing a round park circle. Antique stores so jam packed with stuff it would take days just to go through one or two of them. Amish farms mixed in with more traditional U.S. farms on large rolling landscapes between thick forests of green. A young Amish boy with his dark shirt, suspenders and straw hat, riding a Clydesdale horse so big it looked like a house.

western New York

So while I’m enjoying the country life, I’ll have plenty of time to read my e-mails so if you have time, drop me a line and let me know about what’s going on in your life.

extra photos on PICASA

2011-18A

2011-07-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

The following story was written by my Writers Club friend Kurt Olson. I was not able to get it published before my 2011-18 Roving Report went out. Kurt has a wealth of knowledge and has written a most interesting story on the plight of the Blue Bird. Remember I built a Blue Bird bird house and because of that, I wanted to include Kurt's great story. This story will both entertain and educate on the life of the beautiful Blue Bird.

Enjoy, and let me know if you enjoyed it. Thanks. dougp

ATTEMPTED MURDER, INFANTICIDE, AND REVENGE

Author: Kurt Olson

Pauline, Tsuga, and I left Arizona in early April to get back to New Hampshire where we had a busy summer lined up working on the farm, woodlot, and visiting relatives and friends. We scheduled a weekend stop in Washington, D.C. to visit my son and his wife and to see their new home, so did not tarry along the way.
From Tennessee and up the eastern seaboard both of us were impressed with the redbuds, which were in full bloom, and getting reacquainted with eastern birds that we hadn’t seen in two years.

When we got to the D.C. area we found a state park in Reston, Virginia that accommodated RV’s located only a few miles from Hans’s and Kathleen’s house in Falls Church. The RV park was a great location, with spacious sites, a small lake, only four other rigs in the park, and handy to many of the places we wanted
to visit. Up early the next morning we were greeted by a male eastern bluebird singing and perched at the end of a limb with the sunlight brilliantly illuminating his blue, pink, and white plumage. A glorious bird in nature’s spotlight!

We had been seeing bluebirds since we got east of the Mississippi River, and it made us feel like we were home and amongst friends. The beautiful, friendly birds population declined seriously enough in the past century to reach critical status by the mid-1900s. The decline was due to nest predation by house sparrows
and European starlings; both of which are non-native, introduced species, loss of habitat due to loss of tree cavities, pesticides, and a severe late winter storm that killed many of them during spring migration in the 1930’s. As a child, it was very unusual to see a single bluebird.

Since that time, Rachael Carson wrote Silent Spring, the book that woke Americans up to the travesty that was occurring to the environment do to DDT and other pesticides. People have shown that they really do care about wildlife, with numerous bluebird trails across the country, where specially designed nesting
boxes have been installed and maintained for bluebirds. I have two dozen boxes on my farm.As a result of the positive actions, the bluebirds are returning, and to see them brightens ones soul.

Reaching New Hampshire, we stopped at the Seabrook visitor center to stretch our legs and to give Tsuga a walk. As soon as she got out of the motorhome, she sensed she was home, and her whole demeanor transformed. When we got going again, her nose was at the fresh air vent, she was excited, and she told us to hurry, she wanted to get home and run in HER fields and woods without any cactus spines or rattlesnakes. She had forgotten about burdocks however.

We reached Rochester before suppertime, got set up, and had supper – all before dark. The next morning, as we were eating breakfast, a male bluebird perched in an oak tree about 20-feet from the window. What a fabulous gift for a homecoming! As we were working around the next few days, we were thrilled by the male and his mate perching in various trees in the yard and investigating the merits of the various birdhouses in the yard.

They settled on a neatly painted house with red sides and a black roof that Norm, my tenant, had attached to an ash tree located between the barn and the road. A plus for this house was that we could view it directly through the windshield of the motorhome. There were a couple of negative features of this house though. The
entry hole was too large, allowing house sparrows or starlings to enter. Also, being on a tree might permit squirrels or other nest predators to get to the nest.

A few days later, I was looking towards the nestbox, enjoying the coming and goings of the birds when suddenly, as the female landed on the base, a black cat leapt onto the tree trunk, scampered almost to the birdhouse, nearly catching the female, and panicking both birds. Attempted murder!

My tenant, Norm, is a softy, and when a feral cat started hanging around the barn, he started feeding it, and by this time it was welcome in the house, although officially he referred to it as “a barn cat”. We live just far enough of town so that when people get tired of their cats, are moving, and don’t feel they can take their
animals with them, they drive out and drop them off. I guess they think, or hope, that the cats will go to the nearest farm and be absorbed into the farmstead. Wrong assumption. The average feral cat lives two years in the wild, and apparently it isn’t a very nice existence with internal and external parisites, disease, and
environmental factors taking a heavy toll. I keep telling him about a recent study conducted in Wisconsin that found that house cats are responsible for the deaths of 400,000 birds in that state annually.

Within the hour I had nailed two rings of aluminum flashing around the tree just below the nestbox. Hopefully I had eliminated that potential problem.

A couple of days later, I was again looking out the window as I lingered over a cup of tea before getting into the field. Suddenly there was a flurry of beating wings near the nestbox, the male and female bluebird and a larger male house sparrow. The bluebirds were trying to chase the sparrow off, but he had evil on his mind.
The distraught bluebirds were no match for this bulky bully. He kept going into the house with the oversize entry, picking holes in the eggs, clasping them in his beak and dropping them on the ground. Five beautiful blue eggs that would have been the next generation now lay on the ground with the white and yolks seeping into the ground. Was this infanticide or eggicide?

What to do? The house sparrow, aka English sparrow, is an alien bird species, introduced into North America by a homesick Brit in New York City in 1851. These feisty little guys have an affinity for man, and can commonly be seen wherever people congregate. Often scavenging outside McDonalds, feed lots, or nesting in the marque of shopping malls, they now populate most of North America. Prolific nesters, they can produce up to four clutches per year, and aggressively stake out nesting habitat.

The bluebirds hung around for a couple of days, tentatively looking at other nestboxes, and then they were gone. I did see bluebirds further down the road, and wondered if they were my bluebirds or another pair. A lot of the upbeat pleasure of spring had vanished.

Still wondering what to do, when it came to me – GAMO. A high velocity, very accurate airgun that would let me get control of the house sparrows.

The next day was a Saturday, and it was raining, so we hotfooted it over to the Kittery Trading Post who has a good selection of firearms, and was talked out of a GAMO and into a RWS. Neat little gun with a scope and propelling the lead pellets at 1,000 feet per second. War has been declared on these murderous aliens.
Revenge is sweet.

Now if I can learn to shoot straight.

Author: Kurt Olson, Desert Trails Writers Club

2011-19 Ohio to Pennsylvania and Falling Water

2011-07-09T05:07:00.000-07:00

2011-19

Ohio

Appalachia Plateau

Lancaster

Pennsylvania

Campground: Lancaster Camp Ground, 2151 W. Fair Ave, Lancaster OH, 43130:
Local: (740) 653-2261. Passport America $12.00, elect./water. Easy access dump station. Nice back in sites. Many with shade. It’s on the historic register having been started in 1872.

Campground: Kooser State Park, Penn. $25-35 depending on the day of the week. I received the senior discount bringing my daily fee to $26. Pull thru site, elect only. Grassy sites, gravel roads.

I’m in the southern corner of Ohio and have noted that many of the tourist information guides keep mentioning the Appalachia region or plateau. After doing a bit of research, I’ve discovered that Appalachia covers many states from Georgia on up through West Virginia and almost all of Pennsylvania. In this area of Ohio, they appear to be more in tune with the Appalachia culture. Carrying on the tradition of mountain music, quilting (here in Adams County there are many quilt patterns painted on the barns), wood carving and so much more.

And with just a little bit of exploring one can find two covered bridges, an Amish community selling fine furniture, baked goods and quilts. Even a winery and restaurant on the river. Did I mention the campground I’m staying in, The Sandy Springs campground has a monthly rate of only $200 a month plus electric. So if all you campers are looking for an inexpensive place to stay for a couple of months in the summer, this would be a nice place to stay.

The Ohio River running between Ohio to the north and Kentucky to the south is actually mostly within the Kentucky boarder, not Ohio. If I were Kentucky, I’d rename it the Kentucky River. Ohio has hundreds of Indians mounds and William Mills (1914) documented 49 enclosures and 370 mounds in Ross County alone.

I drove into the town of Portsmouth OH the other day, with it’s huge concrete levee with large retractable doors that open when there’s no threat of flooding. The town looks as if it was hit by a recession many years ago and is waiting for the recovery to come any day. It’s never come for this community and many of the downtown buildings, 5 and even 10 stories high remain vacant silent testaments to a better time. The one thing they are noted for are the unbelievable murals painted on the sides of those huge concrete levees. The best murals I’ve ever seen painted and I’ve seen quite a few murals in my travels across the country.

And they have that magnificent bridge leading into town from the Kentucky side of the Ohio river. A vision of the future they continue to wait to arrive.

Well the 4th of July weekend has ended and I’m back on the road. I’ve headed north on 23 to Chillicothe and the Hopewell National HP. It’s home to a large number of Indian mounds, many surrounded by low earthen walls. These mounds are conical, square, rectangular and even octagon shaped. I visited the mound city site which contained at least 23 mounds at one time. During WWI, the site was used by the army for training purposes and some of the mounds were removed or barracks were put on top of the mounds. Looking at a map of the eastern U.S. with dots pointing out the locations of the Hopewell mounds as far north as Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Ontario Canada and as far south as Mississippi and Alabama one realizes that their was a huge Indian population before Columbus‘s discovery in 1492.

Then it’s onto Lancaster OH. I found an historic campground called Lancaster Camp Ground. It was started back in 1872 as a camp meeting place for religious revivals in the great outdoors. It quickly expanded from a tent camp to a permanent settlement with hundreds of small cottages, a hotel, a large auditorium, cafeteria, grocery store and today even a swimming pool. The tiny one and two bedroom cottages are privately owned and sell for between $11,000 and 25-45K depending on whether they are winterized or not. The cottages are just the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Many painted white with small porches on their front or sides. The small Rv park is still here, though no longer in the center of the community as the campsites once were.

The following day I got an exclusive tour of the grounds, some of the cottages, the main assemble hall, hotel, grocery store and museum. I learned that back in the late 1800’s, farmers usually had a few weeks off during the middle of the summer between planting chores and harvest. This retreat was a place for the farmer and his family to go on vacation, usually in tents. The camps would have services in the morning and evening every day. Eventually the regulars decided to build small cottages to stay at during those summer stays. Most were very basic often with loft sleeping. As the years went on, a new movement called the Chautauqua movement became popular. Where along with religious teachings, lecturers, musicians, opera singers etc would come to the gatherings to educate and enlighten. Children would receive schooling, especially those farm children who often missed out on formal schooling. That was during the hay day of the religious camps. Billy Sunday, a famous evangelist came in the 1920’s. An imposing speaker if not so imposing in height. He stood about 4 feet tall. I saw his signature on the hotels guest book, bigger than life and probably about as big as his ego.

Lots of covered bridges in Fairfield county. Too many for my short stay to explore.

On Thursday I headed out of Lancaster finally reaching a major highway, hwy 70 thinking I’d have smooth driving for at least a couple of hours. Road construction had a different plan. Though I didn’t actually see very many construction workers, I did travel around lots of concrete barriers, something an Rv’er doesn’t necessarily like to travel next too. Sometimes seeming only a foot away.

Passing through that small narrow arm of West Virginia, magnificent rounded ancient mountain ranges before arriving on the western boundary of Pennsylvania. I’d planned on taking a part of the Pennsylvania turnpike, when I asked the gal at the Penn visitor center if they accepted credit cards. No. She then said you can take 31 and never get on the turnpike. Sure. Just what I did. Up and down and up again, through tiny communities, 35 and 25 mph. Over a mountain pass and finally I made it to the state park I’m staying at for 3 days. Would have preferred the turnpike.

The next day, I drove to Falling Water and Kentuck Knob, two Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes. Not only is this the highlight of my summer vacation but it is an early present to myself for my Birthday. And even with a light rain shower for much of the day, it didn’t dampen my experience one drop.

A misty, rainy day, Falling Water

I’ve been an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs for many years and architecture in general. Even wanting to become an architect in my younger years. I didn’t have enough brain power to get through calculus and never became an architect, but I did retain an appreciation for architectural design.

Falling Waters is Wrights master work when it comes to prairie home design and became an instant sensation when a picture of it appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. Reigniting Wright’s career at age 70. The home cantilevers over the waterfalls with it’s many horizontal planes jutting out over the landscape.

I was mesmerized by the design. The views both inside and out are beyond stunning. During the tour, water flowed down round holes on the various cantilevered patios creating waterfalls coming off of the house as well as the waterfalls over the stream below.

Falling Waters is an early example of the open floor plan used so extensively today. His design encompasses not only the home but the furnishings as well. He believed that built-ins such as long flowing cushioned benches around the perimeter of the room as well as shelves, and bookcases, removed the impulse of the home owner to ruin his design with their own furnishings. From chairs, tables, lighting and even hardware, his homes are completely his design.

My second stop was to the Kentuck Knob site. Designed by Wright while in his 80’s. He was also working on the Guggenheim Museum and dozens of other large scale projects at the same time. Kentuck Knob has a large living area with balconies overlooking the wooded valley below. A high ceiling made out of tidewater red cypress and highly polished looks as new as the day it was installed. The copper roof has gone from a shiny penny look to that beautiful green patina. Lord Palumbo of England purchased the home in 1986 for $600,000 and used it as a vacation home along with his many other homes. He has since opened it up to the public as a means of historical preservation and funding to maintain the site.

And of course there are more pictures on my Picasa site. No photo’s are permitted inside the homes, but you might get a glimpse on some of the web pages previously linked too in this article.

I final note on Pennsylvania. At least on the western half that I’m currently exploring, I’m surprised at how mountainous the area is, resembling much of Kentucky. Further verifying the Appalachia connection. The ancient mountain range that has weathered into rounded hills, mountains and valleys, all covered with a thick forest.

Hoping your summer finds you in new and exciting places as well. Travel is a great way to refresh the mind.

2011-18 Kentucky to Ohio

2011-07-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

2011-18

Kentucky
US 23 Country Music Highway

Ashland Ky (home of the Judds)

Stubs Ohio

Campground: Greenbo State Resort Park. $22 Standard site Elect/water. Narrow dangerous road (US 1) leading into park. Campsites are close together and many are short and uneven. I would not recommend this park.

Campground: Sandy Springs Campground. $10 a night, 50amp Elect/water. Passport America rates. Nice country campground on the Ohio River. Grassy sites, 50% are pull-thru back to back sites. About 20 miles to the closest town. Monthly rates: $200 plus electric. I would definitely come back again.

I was thinking about my posting from last week and can’t believe I didn’t mention US 23 the Country Music Highway. It’s a route from Jenkins Ky in the SE corner of Ky and travels north through Ashland and Greenup Ky to the north. With so much to do in the area, I plum forgot to tell you about this scenic highway. This route will bring you to all the small towns that singers like Patty Loveless, Dwight Yoakum, hyLo Brown, Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, the Judds and Billy Ray Cyrus hale from. It’s a great RV route for driving and enjoying some great Kentucky scenery along the way.

What an absolute joy for me, a country western fan, to be able to travel around the area that so many famous country singers grew up around. Last night I went into Prestonsburg (home of Dwight Yoakum) to the Mountain Arts Center for a free Friday night concert. It’s an open jam session where many of the local singers and players get to perform. This is a state of the art center with a huge auditorium, recording studio and home to the Kentucky Opry.

Further on down the road in Paintsville, I went to the US23 Country Music Highway Museum, small but well done. Featuring all those local country stars. It’s where they have free bluegrass performances every Thursday evening. The museum has a video of Loretta Lynn talking about the film the Coal Miners Daughter. A from the heart interview that makes one just want to give her a big hug and wish she was your best friend.

Building a bird house.

I feel like I’m getting my chance to do a few things I never did as a kid. So today, I went to the craft project here at Jenny Wiley Park and built me a bluebird bird house. Interesting watching young kids trying to hammer, and remembering my own inept hammering at that age as well. Tried to give a few pointers, but discovered young ones don’t actually listen to adults. Oh well, I tried. I remember growing up in the U.P. and wanting to build a few things and my Dad pretty much taking over the project. I can understand why, especially if I wasn’t following his good advice and direction. But that’s also how we learn isn’t it, by doing it incorrectly sometimes and then hopefully trying to do it the correct way the next time around.

One of the reasons we were building these blue bird houses is that bluebirds have predator birds that kill the bluebirds eggs before they hatch. Down here in Kentucky, it’s the cowbird that does the nasty. Up in the New England states it’s the house sparrows and European starling. I originally learned about the plight of the bluebird from Kurt Olsen a member of our Desert Trails Writers club. I’ll add a link to a web page you can go to to learn more about the bluebird. Skim thru the article till you get to the heart of the article. Nice to be able to be a part of an ongoing effort to save the beautiful bluebird.

I met up the other day with my good buddies Ben and Walt and gave them the bluebird house to put on the farm here in Ohio. They said they’d send a picture of it as soon as they get it hung up on a post or tree (facing an open field as the bluebird can more readily see the flying bugs they like to eat). Sure was nice to visit with friends and catch up on what’s going on in their lives.

Camper lessons:

Yikes, kids trying to pull down a young tree sapling.

I’ve recently noted a few things that new campers should be aware of. Under the camper etiquette category, new campers should be aware that it is not nice to walk or ride your bike through someone else’s campsite. I’ve had this happen quite a bit lately, especially with kids running over my 50 amp electric cord. Not something that I would deem safe to do. Last night I had a half dozen youngins peek through my big picture window in the back of my camper, no doubt attracted by the big screen TV. Not only had they walked around to the back of my campsite, but in essence, they were peeping Toms. Parents need to teach their new camping children some camper etiquette.

While at Jenny Wiley park, I saw three young boys spend about 15 minutes trying to pull down a young sapling of a pine tree while the Mom’s completely ignoring their shenanigans. Respecting nature is the number one first lesson any new camper should learn. This area in particular has been hard hit by the pine beetle and every tree is doing it’s best to survive.

Watching a neighbors awning fill up with water during a steady rain, then luckily the awning dumped the water periodically, it reminded me that newbees need to be aware that awnings need to be tilted at least 5 degrees if left open during a rain to permit the water to run off and not collect in a pool. Another camper in the same park lost his awning the same evening. On the same note, if you have an electric awning like mine, one needs to retract it anytime it’s not in use or one goes touring away from the campsite. Wind/rain can do major damage very quickly.

Ohio.

Another day, another road to travel up, since I’m continuing my northern trek. Heading along the Ohio river I’ve landed at a small campground (Sandy Springs) right on the river. Online reviews mention that their isn’t anything to do in the area, which would be fine for me as it’s sometimes nice to get to an area and just veg out. The campground is simple with large grassy sites. Well the online reviews weren’t completely accurate. The park itself is about 20-25 miles from any towns, but within Adams county, I discovered a great historical site called Serpent Mound. It’s a mound in the shape of a serpent and is 1,348 feet in length. It’s believed to have been made between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago. As they found two separate burial mounds that could be carbon dated to 1 and 2,000 years ago respectively. It sits high on a ridge at the edge of a bowl shaped crater created by a meteorite millions of years ago.

not a great pictures but the best I could do at mid-day lighting

The site is considered one of the top 100 man made spiritual sites in the world. Ranked by National Geographic. I’ve seen pictures of the site many times throughout the years and it was a pleasant surprise to find I was close enough to take a day trip exploring the area. I had a great discussion with the small museum attendant and got some additional info on the state of Ohio as well as more in-depth thoughts on the significant of the serpent mound.

Here’s an odd note about Ohio. Ohio sold all their toll roads awhile back to a Saudi Arabia tycoon. Obviously the state needed some ready cash. However, in the agreement, apparently one of the major toll roads occasionally floods and the agreement states that the State of Ohio will pay the Saudi corp. the amount that would normally be collected,. For every day that the highway was closed due to flooding. Hmmm. Wonder who wrote up that deal.

I'll be spending the 4th of July here at Sandy Springs before heading onto Pennsylvania and more adventures.

2011-17 Pigeon Forge to Prestonburg Ky

2011-06-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

London Kentucky

Cumberland Falls

Natural Bridge

Paintsville, Butcher Hollow

Campground: Levi Jackson Wilderness Road State Park. $18 ( 10%Senior discount) Standard site, Elect/Water. Back in and Pull Thru sites available. Nice mini gulf course at front of campground. Old Mill and museum on property.

Campground: Jenny Wiley State Resort Campground. 3 nights @ $18.90, 1 night @ $20.70 w/senior discount. Standard site, water/electric. I got a pull thru, though the back-ins were easy enough to back into. All paved pads and roads. Lodge, cabins, boat ramp, fishing, gulfing, restaurant, theatre. Tons of activities for the kids and not so small kids.

I don’t know why I did it, but I headed out of Pigeon Forge, knowing it was going to be a rainy day on the road. Sometimes I can’t tell myself anything. Of course I could have stayed an extra day, but whatever, I headed out and got caught in a real gully washer of a downpour. Pulled off the highway and went to a McDonalds for breakfast and waited a while before continuing on. Finally made it to my next destination along the way, The Levi Jackson St Park.

Cumberland Falls

The next day with all the rain we had, I knew going to Cumberland Falls would be spectacular. It was of course, with about twice the water flowing over the falls than normal, but a bit brown from all the dirt being forced downriver. Talk about erosion. The drive alone heading over to the Falls was typical Kentucky hill country. I also went to Natural Arch. A spectacular stone arch over a deep wooded canyon. Even though I had a great view from a higher elevation, I took the “scenic” one mile hike down into the canyon and walked right under the arch. It has a great paved path leading down to the arch with stone steps and all. Many, many steps I might add. Great going down, but rough coming back up out the steep side of the canyon. Not to mention the black flies and mosquitoes buzzing around me. An improvised branch with lots of leaves helped swat them away. The arch could easily compete with any in Utah’s Arches National Park.

The town of London Kentucky is a neat little town with a still active downtown area, county court house and all of course. Lots of trees and flowers lining the main street. Making for a very inviting town to stop in.

I’m heading east on the Hal Rogers Parkway tomorrow. It was a toll road a number of years back when it was named the Daniel Boone Parkway. The Governor changed the name to Hal Rogers when the congressman was able to get 17 million dollars from the U.S. Gov to do away with the toll fees. Doesn’t say much about preserving the names of pioneering history of the area does it? You see, two major routes were forged by Daniel Boone to bring easterners to the new frontier. You might remember the Cumberland gap, one of the routes Daniel Boone discovered. Two of those routes once went right through the park I’m staying in.

Back at the campground, I was sitting outside reading a book, when a small gray and black painted bird came flying up. His eyes were circled in black almost like mascara, and the wings had both black and grey streaks. This tiny little bird hopped from one perch to the next, landing on the steps next to my chair. Undeterred by his surroundings, he hopped onto my foot, then up to my book looking around, before flying off around the corner of my camper. I think he was pretty new at this flying thing, as he seemed a bit unsteady in some of his moves. The cutest darn bird I’ve ever seen. Felt like I’d made a friend, even if it was only for fleeting moment.

I took that Hal Rogers Parkway, formerly a toll road and it’s only a two lane limited access road by the way. But I must admit is was a most beautiful drive, wide shoulders, well maintained and what I’d rate a primo route for Rv’ers. Unbelievable views of Kentucky high country, the Daniel Boone National Forest, large rounded hills and mountains sinking into deep narrow hollows so thick with green trees, well you just have to see it to believe it. If I get a chance of course I’ll take some pictures, but along the parkway and hwy 80, there just weren’t any pull-outs to get one of those spectacular shots.

After setting up at the Jenny Wiley State Park, which I might add Kentucky has the most bizarre pricing structure for campsites I’ve ever seen. Early week, mid week, weekend and holiday pricing along with standard sites, deluxe and economy sites. And each state park seems to have a different range of prices as well. I rambled on a bit there and never got to the after setting up part. Well, after setting up, I headed over to Paintsville for a quick bite to eat and then headed out to Butcher Holler, home of Loretta Lynn and birthplace of Crystal Gale.

Loretta Lynn's family home in Butcher Holler

What a fun drive through Van Lear, heading deeper and deeper into each hollow, homes lining the floor of each steep valley. Streams flowing through each. The homes progressively getting older the deeper I traveled into each Hollow. I could tell a number of them were built by mining companies as they all were identical in nature along with rusted out single wide trailers. Finally a turn up a hill, past a country store and few more miles down the narrowest one lane road I’ve been on in a long time, (it was just paved a few years back) leading almost to the end of Butcher Holler, and there sat the original homestead where Loretta Lynn grew up.

Loretta’s brother usually gives the tours, but today I got one of the neighbors because Loretta’s brother had to go in for a Dr’s appt. The family consisted of 6 children and Mom and Pop. The father really was a coal miner and if you haven’t seen the movie, I’d recommend renting it. Two main rooms, a kitchen and upstairs their was a attic bedroom for the boys. What a strange feeling to be standing on the porch overlooking the holler (probably called that because you could holler from one end of the hollow to the other end).

Just to experience such humble beginnings of a great country legend. Glad I took the time to come to this part of Kentucky.

Oh and Kentucky has over 11,000 elk. They were re-introduced into the area in 1997 after an absence of over 150 years. Going to show that some major improvements have been made to how we manage wildlife.
A positive sign that we can make changes for the better.

Here at Jenny Wiley State Resort, I’ve found a ton of activities to keep me busy. They have lots of activities for the kids and even some of us more senior people. Today I had lunch at the main lodge, a really good buffet with catfish, fried chicken, cornbread salad (have you ever had it?) a brown bean soup (yummy) lots of veggies and desert. After lunch, I headed over to the Jenny Wiley Theatre for a live performance of the play, “The Dixie Swim Club”. Imagine, theatre in the woods, who would have expected it. The set design was easily the best I’ve seen anywhere. Great performance. The show followed 5 friends from their high school swim team to old age. Funny, thought provoking, more fun and a bit misty eyed at the end.

Tomorrow I’ll be going on a pontoon ride around 5:30, but today, back at the campground I joined a small group of kids and adults for tie dying T-shirts. What a blast. I got my hippie on and relived a bit of the 50’s all over again. Cool man, really cool.

I just found out that Summerset Ky is the home to 6 of the 7 major house boat builders in the country. Imagine here on the eastern edge of Kentucky. At the marina here in the park are house boats of every size and age including about a dozen in the $500 to $800K range. With a number of the owners living only a few miles away, they drive down to the marina on weekends to tool around in their 100ft homes floating on the water. Now that’s living at it’s finest.

I went on the pontoon ride, our boat captain being a just graduated from college young gal who is also steeped in the areas music heritage. Her dad is an Elvis impersonator and her and her mom used to perform as the Judd’s. Even met Wynona once, as well as Dwight Yoakum, he’s one of my favorites in the country music world.

And as if that wasn’t enough for one day, I went to the group campfire last night to here the story of Jenny Wiley, roast marshmallows on the open fire and made smores. I like my marshmallows completely black. What a fun way to end the day.