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.

By the Sea

Sally sells sea shells by the shiny sea shore
So she can see the shimmering silver ships
In sunshiny summers she strolls along the sea shore
shoelessly splashing somersaults while she skips

Greetings from the beautiful seashore in Delaware.

I actually got up at 6:00 this morning. I had planned on hitting the beach in Delaware but there is a giant low pressure system just south of Delaware which is causing huge winds and they were supposed to get stronger as the day went on. We all know how I feel about driving with wind. On top of this is that there was a Coastal Flooding Warning in effect for the seashore I was heading for. I was beginning to think that perhaps I should not be exploring the coast line at this particular time. Maybe the travel gods had it in for me. First the pope – now coastal flooding. I should probably look up what the seven plagues are, just to be prepared. I did call ahead to the park I was heading to and the ranger said that it was highly unlikely that I would need to worry about being flooded out.

Greg showed up at the rig around seven and proclaimed all systems were go. He also said that if I had any problems in the next couple of days he would come down to where I was at and get things fixed.  What great customer service.  Or maybe he was looking to get in a beach holiday.  Naw - I'm very impressed with RV Solar Solutions and Greg. 

 

I hooked up the car. It was difficult – seems like when I hook up the car, men seem to think they should come help me cause I'm just a poor little girl. While I appreciate the sentiment and it is very nice of them, I find that they are a distraction. I have a routine that I follow religiously, one step at a time and if I have somebody helping, it throws me off.

On the road at eight and it isn't too bad traveling wind wise. My biggest problem is that I'm pretty low on gas and there doesn't seem to be any gas stations. I finally see one, not the most ideal location because it is a tight squeeze to get in and out, but it is gas. It is $2.37 a gallon. Of course after I fill up about 50 gallons worth and get back on the road, there are all of a sudden tons of gas stations at $2.08. I should have checked my Gas Buddy app before I left the campground but as they say – hindsight is perfect.

It wasn't long before I crossed the border into Delaware. It was supposed to be a two and a half hour drive (three and a half in RV lingo) and part of it was on a toll road. I could have taken a non-toll road but it would have added on another 45 minutes to the trip. I'll pay the $12 to cut the time. The further south I head, the stronger the winds are getting. Even though they are a broadside east wind, they don't seem to push me around too much even though it looked like there were some trees that were really tossing and turning.

I'm heading to Delaware Shores State Park. To get there, you have to go through Rehoboth Beach which is one strip mall after another. The nice thing about this is that I only could go about thirty miles per hour which really helped cut down the wind issue.

I picked this place because the beach was only 150 yards from the campground. What they failed to mention is that there is a bridge and sand dunes between the campground and the beach so the view is negligible. I arrived about noon and check in time was 1:00 pm. My site was empty but they said I could not park until after 1:00pm. Ok then. Miko and I spent the time walking over to the beach. It was low tide and the wind was brutal. There were a couple of times that we sort of got blown backwards, it was that strong. I'm not sure that Miko had ever seen ocean before. It had all this white frothy stuff that was washing up. She ended up pretty much avoiding the surf – running backwards if the waves got too high. Typical kid.

We took several walks down the beach. The last one was about 7pm when the tide was quite high. The wind is blowing – if I were in New England, I would call this a baby nor'easter. There is something really thrilling when the wind gets going and the surf is pounding. It makes you feel alive – everything is just sharper, more on edge.

I'm not sure where I'm going tomorrow – I was thinking of heading down into Maryland – to the Assateague National Seashore where the wild ponies live but it is supposed to be cold and cloudy and windy tomorrow. Down there they not only have a Coastal Flooding alert, but also a Surf Alert – two alerts that we don't get in Minnesota. Cool, huh?

Pictures from the park (which is basically a sand parking lot – think RV park - I'm in site 465) and beach

See the little people there in the waves

We walk under the bridge to get to the beach.  They light it all up at night with blue lights.  Bridge built in 2012  Lots of highway noise

Obligatory Miko Picture

Waves were getting bigger and bigger

 

From Solar to the Revolution

Greg showed up this morning to teach me all I need to know about my own personal solar system and run through everything to make sure it all works. Ha. Generator didn't work. Turned out that some of the wiring done yesterday (not by Greg) needed to be rerouted. So...Generator works. Batteries are charged. All systems are go. And I know a lot about solar. Well, I know that if it snows, I need to get on the roof and brush the snow off. I learned where the on-off switch and the circuit breaker switch is. The most important thing I learned is that beyond cleaning off the panels every now and then, there is zero maintenance. I actually did learn more about wiring and other things, but I don't know how long that stuff will be retained.

Greg and Craig also did some maintenance and had suggestions on some of the things that I've asked Hilltop Trailers to take care of and haven't gotten much satisfaction from them. One of the things I'm excited about is that I know how to change my generator oil and filter. Evidently I'm easily amused. It will be something fun to try to do when I get back to Minnesota.

I finally got to be a tourist today. Valley Forge is about a half hour away and I decided I would go revisit it. Last time I was there, I was in second grade and I really don't remember much about it. I won't go into the history of Valley Forge – we all learned about it in school, how it was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. Ok, one fact that I found interesting, which I never thought about was why Valley Forge was called Valley Forge. It was because there was an Iron Forge in this particular valley. Don't know why it never occurred to me. Duh...

Of course guess what today is? It is World Family Day. This means that there are busloads and busloads of families descending on Valley Forge. Once you get past the horror of all of the crowds, there were some very interesting events happening. There was musket firing, there were demos on how to build the enlisted men's' quarters. Lots of people wandering around in period costume. I watched the movie in the theater and then took the ten mile drive around the Encampment Trail.

Enlisted Men Quarters

Inside the Enlisted Men Quarters - damp and dank - lots of disease wandering around back in 1777-1778

Dedicated in 1917 - the National Memorial Arch honors the soldiers perseverance

General Wade statute - commanded Pennsylvania troops

General Washington's Headquarters - they said that about 25 people lived here - it is a really small house for 25 people

It was an entertaining way to spend the afternoon. I did buy one thing that was rather special. C-Span used to have a show on that was called First Ladies. Each week they talked about one specific first lady. I've always had a soft spot for the First Ladies – you never hear about them, but I think an awful lot of them were very important to our country. I really liked watching this show. I found the companion book for the show. I'm excited that I can spend time with my First Ladies.