Goodbye Shenandoah

It is funny – every morning we start out on our daily hike and I get out there and look around me and the air is fresh, the scenery is incredible, I feel invincible. Who would believe, ol' sedentary me - loving this outdoor life. Of course after I've been hiking for about three or four hours, I'm thinking – what the hell – you've seen one tree, you've seen them all – enough of this outdoor experience. But then the next morning I am ready to get out there again and start all over.

 

Today's View

 

Today I drive about ten miles north from the campground to South River Falls. My plan is just to do the short loop – see the top of the falls and then head back. Again – a lovely day. The hike goes downhill and then wanders along a creek that feeds the falls. I get to the observation post and you hardly see the falls because of the trees. So, I decide to go another couple of miles down to get to the base of the falls. Down, down, down I go and I get to what I think is the base which is just sort of a small cascade into a pool. What a disappointment. Then I see that there is a little path off on the side, a rocky steep little trail. Miko really has to scramble over the rocks to get down the trail. And then we saw the base of the falls. Best falls of the park so far. I almost wish it could have been a hot August day so we could have played in the water.

 

 

 

Top of the Falls

The Bottom of the Falls

 

Sat down next to a ranger and ate some lunch, just watching the water cascading. There was a boy scout troop at the base of the falls and they were scrambling around on the rocks, probably falling into the water more than they were staying dry.

Because I felt so good, I decided to take the long way back. Probably should have remembered how I felt about long hikes. As I'm slowly making my way up, up, up the trail, the ranger passes me by. She is probably thirty years younger than me and a hiker. I start talking to her which means I have to step up my game and keep up with her. After a while, she took pity on me and stopped to rest. I am dripping sweat – no glowing – whoa – it was intense. I'm so glad that she was there – I really got pushed to my edge.

But enough of this hiking. I think it is finally time to come down off of the mountain. I had four wonderful hikes in the Central part of Shenandoah, when I come back I will do the southern and northern parts. That is the joy of this lifestyle, I can always come back.

Coming down the mountain is a little hairy. The first three miles is at an 8-9% grade, followed by another three miles of a 6% grade – we are talking a long steep drop. My mentors have told me, take it slow, do not sit on the brakes. Put the RV in a lower gear, let the engine help hold you back. If you need to use the brakes, stab them – get down to a low speed and then get off of the brakes so they don't burn up. It is a single lane road, cars are piling up behind me, but I'm taking it slow. The road goes on and on and I'm being really concious of what I'm supposed to do. Then I smell something - not exactly a burning smell, but sort of an acrid type smell. What is this? Luckily, there was the one and only (besides the runaway truck ramp) place to pull over. I pull over and try to figure out what happened. Not a clue – I know I wasn't hanging on the brakes at all – maybe something wrong with the transmission. When the smell lessons, I continue on. I made it to the bottom of the hill, but that smell stayed with me for a couple of hours. I still don't know what it was.

Oh Shenandoah

Shenandoah National Park – what a jewel of the National Park Service.

Shenandoah is a park that runs 105 miles north-south in the northern Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia. Besides getting my solar installed, this has been my major destination for this trip. I've been hearing about Shenandoah for years and I've finally made it here.

The park itself is not very wide, but it sits on top of the mountain so it is a long climb to get up here. There are several campgrounds here – I ended up in Big Meadow which is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the Skyline Drive – the drive which takes you from one end of the park to another. I lucked out, getting here on Tuesday – there were plenty of first-come, first-serve campsites left. That changed quickly as the week went on – this is Columbus Day weekend, a three day weekend when everybody wants to spend it here in Shenandoah.  I'm one of the few RVs in the park, most people are here in tents and pop-up trailers - I sort of feel like I'm RV ostentatious.   

My campsite has no hook-ups – no electricity, no water. It will be another good test of my solar system. As I write this, I've been here for four days and haven't had to use my generator once. Again, I feel so green. There is very limited phone/internet service here. Rumors run rampant – if you go to the center picnic table in the picnic area, you should get a few bars. In the lodge, there is supposed to be WIFI.

About the only thing to do is Ranger Programs and hiking. And more hiking. I did go to one Ranger Programs – Shenandoah Wildlife at night. The ranger played recordings of various wildlife – frogs, coyotes, barred owls. Not five minutes after she played the barred owl call, an actual barred owl flew across in front of us. Wowzer.

Because we are in the mountains, there is a lot of climbing up the hills and going down the hills. I always thought going up was more difficult, but I've since changed my mind. Going down a hill is much more stress on the old body. I am trying out my new hiking pole and I don't think I will ever hike again without a pole – they really make it a lot easier to hike on uneven terrain. Let me say at this point, I have got to be the world's slowest hiker. That is not counting my sister-in-law, Barb, who is much slower, but at least she stops every five feet to take a picture.

So far, the best hike for me has been the Rose River Trail. This trail goes down to the Rose River Falls. You are following the river for most of the way and because of all the rains we have had lately, the river is flowing. Cascades, Falls – we had to cross one of the streams on rocks– Miko's favorite thing(not) – again she misjudged and ended up in the drink. According to my FITBIT, I walked about 14,000 steps and climbed 74 flights of stairs.

 

The Actual Rose River Falls

 

 

The second day we walked about 12,000 steps but climbed 89 flights of stairs. I wonder how FITBIT measures flights of stairs when there aren't any stairs. We did the Lewis Falls Trail which goes to Lewis Falls (go figure), a falls that is 83 feet high. Of course I only saw the very top of the falls – to see the whole thing you would have to climb out on some rocks and hang over the edge. Not for height phobic me.

 

This all I saw of 83 foot Lewis Falls

 Today we went to Hawksbill Summit, the highest peak in the park at 4050 ft. Only 10,000 steps and 70 flights of stairs. It was a great day to do this – it seems like overnight the colors have changed. When we got here, everything was green, now it is the proverbial riot of colors. I'm so lucky. The views were great – I really wish my little point and shoot camera could capture what the eye sees.

 

Before

Taken through the car window, hence the foggy look

 

 

One of the coolest things though is that I have now officially walked on the Appalachian Trail. I've been wanting to do this for years. The Trail goes from Georgia to Maine and while I would like to walk the entire thing in one shot and be an official Thru Hiker, I think I am going to have to settle on being a Segment Hiker. I have now officially completed almost two miles of the Appalachian Trail. I only have 2,198 more miles to go. How exciting is that? 

Lows tonight are going to be low forties. Since I'm really low on propane, it will be interesting to see how it goes without heat. I have enough for the furnace, but I'm trying to save the propane until I get back into civilization. I've plenty of warm clothes – all will be fine.

Spending Time in Tieland

Greg (the solar guy) told me that I needed a bigger inverter. The one I have now cannot handle running the microwave or two heaters at one time. We are looking at about $1600. I'll just put it on my Xmas list. He also told me that all I needed to do was reset the inverter and then all will be back to status quo.  The problem is that to do the reset, I have to lift my bed up and prop it up.  Then I have to remove about six screws and slide some paneling around.  At this point, I will uncover the inverter and push one little black button.  As I've mentioned before - I am not mechanically inclined.  It was a challenge to figure all this out.  But I persevered and got to push that little button.  I also found a giant drill under the bed.  I think it is sort of like when a doctor operates on you and forgets something inside of you when he sews you up.  I had to find a post office so I could send it back to Greg.

This is what it looks like under my bed.  I hope somebody knows what they are doing there

Saturday it finally sort of stopped raining in the morning I went to Greenbelt Park, a park that is in northwest DC and is managed by the National Park Service. So, it is a national park, but it isn't a NATIONAL park. I think only Congress can decide if something is a NATIONAL park or not.  The rest of the day was spent trying to get everything together to get back on the road and napping.  And napping some more.  Life on the road is hard.

 

Sunday - I'm outta DC.    I was heading to see some friends down in southern Maryland.  But first I had to do the obligatory sightseeing.

 

Fort Washington.  One day, ol' George was sitting on the front porch of Mount Vernon, overlooking the Potomac when he thought to himself, we need a fort right across the river from where I'm sitting to protect Washington DC from being burned.  And his word became a fort by the name of Fort Washington.  Imagine that.  Interesting that out west, it seemed like all I was seeing was pueblos.  Now it seems like it is all forts.

 

Fort Washington had an interesting history, but I swear the main focus of all of the exhibits was all the types of guns and cannons that were used during it's history.  Towards the fort's latter days, they had something called an Endicott cannon which could fire seven miles and it would get raised up on a platform, fired and then the platform would lower under ground so they could load the cannon again.  There must have been some reason that this was more efficient.  Interesting as all that was, one of the things I found really fascinating was this:

 

A solar powered trash compacter - cool, huh?

 

 

Light at the end of the tunnel........sorry, couldn't help myself

 

Thomas Stone Historic Site - Thomas Stone was a mild mannered lawyer who was one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  His homestead in Maryland became a historic site because it is the only homestead of one of the signers that is still pretty much intact from when Tom Stone lived there.

 

Some of these NPS sites have hundreds and hundreds of visitors a day.  There are other sites where they might be lucky to have one or two people show up in a day.  Thomas Stone Historic Site is one of the latter types of NPS sites.  What this means is that these highly trained park rangers might have a little free time on their hands.  I had my own personal park ranger talking to me for about two hours as he told me story after story of the Revolutionary War and also Tom Stone.  It was really fascinating and entertaining but finally I had to tell him enough.  My head was spinning. 

 

 

Thomas Stone's house was having it's first major renovation so I didn't get to tour it

Onwards to visit Phx and her husband JAG.  They live on an old farmstead near Chaptico, MD which consists of about three buildings.  Chaptico used to be a thriving town, established in 1653, but the British burned it to the ground sometime along the way.  The farm used to be a tobacco farm back in the day and the old tobacco barns and tobacco stripping sheds are still there.  The house is a magnificent old house built in the late 1800s. 

 

Phx and JAG fed me some really strange and wonderful food that I had never had before.  As an appetizer it was Padrones.

 

These are small peppers (about 5 cm long), with a color ranging from bright green to yellowish green, and occasionally red. Their peculiarity lies on the fact that, while their taste is usually mild, a minority (10-25%) are particularly hot.

 

Deep fry in olive oil, when you take them out of the oil, they shrivel all up.  Add sea salt and then take your chances.  It is like playing Russian roulette - will I get a nice mild one or will the next one take your head off with the heat?

They made an old Scottish dish called Rumbledethump.  Boiled cabbage, onions, mashed potatoes and cheese all baked together.  The ultimate comfort food.

 

It was lovely catching up with the two of them and visiting their own personal Tieland

 

 

 

The house

 

Maryland Gothic

How they really are
It was a blast - thanks guys

 

Forts and Houses

Hey – it's still raining. My shoes are all wet, my socks are all wet. Nothing seems to be drying. Seems like a good day to go to Baltimore.

Actually, I was planning on doing some hiking in some of the local parks today, but everything is just too wet. Poor Miko, she has been pretty much stuck inside except for a couple of quick walks in the rain. When I turned on the news tonight, they said that they were not recommending anybody go to one of the parks I had picked out because there was a overflow of 100 million gallons of sewage which has been released into Rock Creek and the Potomac. That is the number they quoted. Ish.

Anyways, on to Baltimore. Baltimore is only about 45 minutes away so I thought it would be a nice diversion from DC. Actually, I just didn't want to spend the time on public transportation today. There is a toll road which you have to take if you want to go the most direct route. On the toll booth, there is a sign that says No windshield wipers. I asked the toll booth operator why and she said it was because if the windshield wipers are on, they force all the water from the windshield into the toll booth. She says “We shower every day, we don't need any more”

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historical Shrine – the place were the Star Spangled Banner was written. Did you know the original flag that Francis Scott Key wrote the word for was 30 feet by 40 feet? I think that has got to be much much bigger than a Perkins flag. Did you also know that the Star Spangled Banner did not become our national anthem until 1931? Evidently there was an outspoken faction who did not want the song to be our national anthem because the tune is based on an old English drinking song.

 

 

Entrance Fee is $10 but because I have the Senior Pass, it is free admission. Watched a short movie and then went out in the pouring rain and walked on the ramparts of the fort. It is called a Star Fort because that is the shape of it. Inside the ramparts, are some more exhibits and I watched another movie (it was an excuse to get out of the rain). This movie was pretty good – it explained the battle and what happened. It had all these little animated ships which every time they fired a cannon it would look like little fireworks. Again, I am easily amused. I probably spent about an hour roaming around the fort. Did I mention, in the rain?

Speaking of which, my raincoat is a raincoat that is specifically designed for riding horses. It has an extra large hood to go over a helmet. Most of the time, since I've had the coat (five years or so), if I'm not wearing a helmet, I walk around with the hood way down over my eyes. Very irritating. I discovered today that there is a Velcro strip on the back of the hood that makes the hood smaller and keeps it out of my eyes. I can now actually walk around and see where I'm going. Ha.

Hampton National Historic Site – This is a Georgian mansion built in 1790. At the time it was built, it was thought to be the largest private owned dwelling in America. The estate itself equaled half the size of present day Baltimore. The first “master” made his fortune in iron works. The Ridgelys were also know for their racehorses. A Ridgely family lived in the house until 1948 when they deeded it over to the Park Service. I toured the house – each room was decorated in a different era and 95% of all of the furnishings were original to that time period. Evidently the Ridgelys were a little bit of the pack rat mentality. It was a lovely house. Also, at one time, there were about 300 slaves working the property which gives you an idea of the scale of the place.

 

 

 

 

The Parlor

These two pieces of wooden furniture are commodes.  Our tour guide was quite enamored of them and pointed them out several times to all of us

A Cedar of Lebanon, brought back from the Middle East as a seedling by Eliza Ridgely in the 1820s, is one of the largest in the U.S

Formal Gardens

When I got back home, I walked Miko and then I plugged in one of my space heaters. Then I plugged in the other space heater. Evidently, with my new wiring from the solar, some of the outlets are now on the same circuit. Something blew and now several outlets and the TV in the front no longer has power. I looked at my circuit breakers and they all seem to be in the correct position, nothing looks like it is blown. I have an email into my solar guy to see where the fuse might be for these outlets.

Standard Washington

I upgraded my PC to Windows 10.  Seems they have a new version of Internet called Edge.  Seems like Edge is not compatible with my blog and it has taken me a little bit of time to make it all work.

Another day in the Capital. We not only have a nor'easter happening, we have a hurricane on the way. Coastal Flooding, Flash Flooding – my brand new weather radio is going nuts. At least I know it works. What this means is cold, windy and rain, rain, rain. Forecast is for tons of rain in the next couple of days. That is ok, I'm just going to slosh around – got my rain coat, nothing can stop me.

Getting to be an old hand at this public transportation thing. Got the bus, got on the green line subway, transferred to the orange line – I was rocking it.

First up is the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This is one of two places in the US of A where all the money is printed. This place prints 800 million dollars a day. Inconceivable. I happened to be first in line to get on the tour. Almost immediately, about twenty orthodox Jews got in line behind me. Followed by some Asians, followed by some women in hajib. There were about forty people in line half of them kids. Quite a cross section of America.

First you watch a short film that explains the process and the security around the printing. Then you get to go in and actually watch the money getting printed. There is something so fascinating about assembly line machinery. It makes you just marvel at how resourceful humans are. If you have seen how newspapers are printed, some of the machines looked like that with sheets of money ripping through. Of course the tour ended up in the gift shop.

Back out into the rain and got myself on the Circulator. The Circulator is a bus that “circulates” around the mall and you can get off and on at various stops along the way. The Circulator is something that DC used to have but all the tour buses complained and they stopped. I lucked out because the Circulator just started up again six weeks ago and it only costs a dollar for two hours of circulating.

I used the Circulator to pick up some Monuments that I hadn't seen in all the trips to DC that I have done in the past.

 

The Jefferson Memorial. I had seen pictures of it, usually in the springtime with all the cherry trees around it. Today, while still majestic, it was a little dreary. I also visited the exhibits that are in the basement of the monument. They have a huge statue of Jefferson in the rotunda.

 

 

View of Washington from the steps - what a dreary day

Next stop was the Martin Luther King Memorial. On the side of the stone bearing MLK's likeness, there is a quote from the “I Have a Dream” speech - “Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope” which serves as the basis for the monument's design. There are fourteen other inspirational quotes along the back wall.

 

 

Onto the WWII memorial. I found this memorial rather moving. There are 56 granite pillars arranged in a semicircle around a plaza with two arches on opposite sides. One is labeled “Pacific”, the other “Atlantic” .

 

Today I seemed to have camera tiltitus

The pillars are all labeled with a state's name

 

 

On one side of the plaza is The Freedom Wall. The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died or were missing in the war. That would be a total of 404,800 lives lost – only the Civil War had a greater loss of life. Half a million people and that is just the American toll.

 

 

Crime and Punishment

Time to move on. I liked staying at Assateague, but the big city calls. It is on to the Headquarters of the Free World – Washington D.C. Well, perhaps that is overstating it a bit, but it was a nice turn of phrase. A pleasant drive – the road took me back into Delaware again and then into Maryland. I was on what they call the East Coast of Maryland which means I had to cross the Bay Bridge. This bridge is 4 ½ miles long – a twin span. It was huge and very old.

Picture from the web:

It seemed to go on forever

Washington DC is very urban, hence there are no really great choices as far as RV parks go in the area. That said, I am at an extremely expensive RV park ($58 after discounts) in College Park called Cherry Hill Park. It actually is rather an amazing place. They have 400 sites, it is huge. They make it very easy to get into D.C. A Metrobus comes right to the park which takes you to the subway which takes you into town. It takes about an hour travel time, but it is super convenient. This park also has a one mile nature trail which winds through the woods around the park. Great place to walk Miko. The cons are that it is right in the middle of several freeways, so there is a noise factor. Have you ever noticed that freeway noise is sort of like the crash of waves? It gets to be sort of a white noise after a while.

I bought a metro pass which allows me to take the bus and subway and headed into town. Most of the other people who left the park with me were heading to the Smithsonian museums or the Washington Mall. Not me. I had some really cool things planned.

First up was the Museum of Crime and Punishment. Today was it's last day of being open – they had lost their lease and were looking for a new place. When you first get started touring the museum, it starts of chronological – we are back in the Middle Ages and there are all sorts of exhibits of various torture devices. I must admit, at this point I was questioning my decision to go to this museum. As I went further into the museum, it became more and more fascinating.

 

Thumbscrews, Leg Irons, Head Cage (in case you needed to poke eyes out or something)

 

After the medieval exhibit, it started talking about crimes that happened in the colonial period of America. There was an understanding that if crimes were not punished severely enough, God would bring down all sorts of wrath.

 

 

After the colonial period, there was a section about pirates which talked, among other things, about how and why their various interpretations of the Jolly Roger flag was flown. There was also a section on women pirates who could be just as blood thirsty as their male counterpoints.

The exhibits proceeded on in chronological order, through prohibition with Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd and Bonnie and Clyde. On to current day (or at least the last thirty/forty years) with Manson, Dahmer, Gacy.

 

Car used in the movie Bonnie and Clyde, complete with bullet holes

 

The museum was not all about crime – it was also about law enforcement – how law enforcement worked to keep crime in check. There were exhibits about various prisons( Sing Sing, Attica etc), different types of carrying out death penalties (electric chair, lethal injections) and there was a forensics lab where they had a mannequin laid out with different wounds, talking about how medical examiners would take a crime case and decode it.

 

Al Capone's Cell - quite a difference from everybody else's cell

 

The second museum was the International Spy Museum. When you entered this museum, you had to pick a prepared cover story and memorize it. Through out the whole exhibit, you would be asked questions and they would try to trip you up to break your cover.

This museum had all sorts of spy gadgets. I almost felt like I was in a Great Smart episode. There were all sorts of camera apparatus – shoe cameras, lapel cameras. We had huge exhibits of all the different types of bugs. There was an exhibit where you could put headphones on and listen to ongoing conversations happening in different parts of the museums. All sorts of exhibits – everything you needed to know to be a spy.

The special exhibition was about all the James Bond villains over the years. It made me want to got and watch every single James Bond movie (in order) again. They had lots of film clips and the parphenalia from the films. They also asked you to decide if some of the gadgets were fact or fiction.

The museums were very interactive – lots of buttons to push, lots of video to watch. Very enjoyable day.

Assateague National Seashore

Since I mentioned the parking lot RV park in Delaware Seashore State Park, here is a picture to show what it was like.

Delaware Shores State Park North Campground

Arrived in Assateague National Seashore. It was a long drive – 34 miles and maybe an hour on the road. I had to worry a bit about where I was going – Google Maps was taking me down all these back little roads, through all these little beach towns. It was much more interesting than driving on the highway, but it is a little worrisome when your really don't know where you are going.

I had had my eye on a campsite on the oceanside campground, but most of those are booked a year in advance. I drove through the bayside campground and found a wonderful site – A14. The view out my door is of the marsh and off in the distance is Chintoteague Bay. The spots are much further spaced out than in the oceanside campground. I am very happy with this spot.

Views out my side door:

Great Egret?

Smaller Egrets?  Maybe not so Great Egrets?

Assateague National Seashore is a barrier island that runs along the coast of Maryland and Virginia. Down on the south end of the island is Chincoteague where they have the annual pony swim across the bay. It is where the book “Misty” is based. I think just about every young girl read that book growing up. Chincoteague is down in the Virginia part of the island. I am located in the northern part, up in Maryland. They have their own wild ponies up here – 93 of them this year. They just wander where ever they want through the island.

 

 

This is my very first camping trip with no hookups whatever. I am obsessively checking my solar panel to see how charged the batteries are. It has been overcast for the last couple of days but the lowest my batteries got was 88% last night and I was able to run my lights. Even with it being overcast, today the batteries kept charging. This is fantastic – it is a whole new sense of freedom.

Speaking of overcast, I was pretty bummed out that the clouds were going to obscure the lunar eclipse last night. Magically, just before the eclipse started, the skies cleared and I was able to watch the whole majestic eclipse. When I was at McDonald Observatory in Texas last spring, I learned about the moon and also how much you can see with a pair of plain old binoculars. I pulled the binoculars out and had a front row seat along with billions of others. What a treat.

Something is wrong with my PC. It is making all sorts of whirring noises. I hope it lasts until I get home. Cheap piece of junk.

Miko and I went to the ocean again this morning. I have decided that I am not an ocean person. It is cool to see the waves crashing, play in the surf and listen to the sound, but I have to say, after about an hour, I'm ok with moving on. Give me a forest trail or a lovely meadow any day. Besides that, salt and sand get on everything.  You can be miles from the beach and still everything gets affected.  I guess I don't come from sea-faring stock.

 

These moving pieces of foam as they slide back into the ocean really freaked Miko out

 

Brought Miko back to the RV and then walked a couple of Nature Trails – Life in the Marsh and Life in the Forest. Miko was not allowed on the Nature Trails.

Life in the Marsh was this ½ mile boardwalk over the marsh with a few interpretive signs. When I was walking, the tide was in so you cold see the little fishes in among the grasses. I enjoyed the walk because it was a little bit different than what I'm used to.

 

The red plant is called Salicornia AKA Glasswort because they used to use it to make Soda Ash which is used to make glass.  It turns red in the fall.  Ranger said it was edible and we could pick it. 

 

 

Life in The Forest Trail was another ½ mile trail through a pine forest. These pines are a little bit different – they are used to salt spray. Found out that a carpet of pine needles is very slippery when they are on top of a boardwalk.

 

One last horse picture through my dirty windshield

 

I ended up going back to the Visitor Center because my first time through, I didn't have a chance to watch the movie. Imagine my joy when I found out they not only had one movie – they had two movies. The first one was all about the wild horses and how they manage the herd keeping them to 80 to 100 members. Parts of it were about hunting the horses to administer birth control to the mares– how difficult it was because the horses have learned exactly how far away they have to be to avoid the little dart that they shoot. Each mare is allowed to have one foal in its lifetime. The second movie was abot the culture and history of Assateague Island. Both interesting films. Now I feel I can check off Assateague Island off my list of National Sites I need to see.