Into Plimoth (Plymouth) and R&R - April 30th

Wandered up to "Plimoth" which is a recreation village of the settlement of Plymouth and surrounding areas, spelled in the most common spelling of the day. Great recreation - which includes both the Native American settlements, speaking in English so that we can ask them questions from their perspective, and also a very impressive settlement of the colonists. The colonists were all "in character" and played the part very accurately. Lots of little pieces of reality, such as a pot of "eel soup" being prepared (below).

After the initial rain wore off, we had a very nice couple of hours there, until D started melting down from lack of sleep. Had a Turkey Dinner, including Indian Pudding, then came back to the hotel, and all napped for a while, fixed a simple dinner in the room, and just laid low.

Tomorrow, off again - probably head up towards Maine to find us some lobster...

Out of the farm, and in to Boston - April 29th

Had a very nice couple days on the "Farm", including the playground and other stuff, and then headed up to the outskirts of Boston today.
We parked at a "T" parking area in the hopes of taking the train direct into the city, but they were doing some work on the rails, so ended up having to take a bus to a terminal further along the way, then rode the train the rest of the way in. The bus took a lot longer, but at least we got to see the "above ground" city.

In Boston, we walked part of the Freedom trail, snacked on some Bagels, then went to Fanueil Hall for a "lunch" (though it was already almost 3). From there, we headed over to a "Duck Tour" of Boston which was a lot of fun. For those unfamiliar with the Duck Tours, they have purchased some WWII vintage amphibious trucks (as were used in Normandy), and done some modernizing on them so that they use them for city tours - both on land (for about an hour), and then on the water (in this case, on the river) for another half hour. Delilah even got to drive the Duck for a few minutes, while in the water. Was a lot of fun, though admittedly rather cold without a heater in it... After the tour, we found a cafe and had some hot drinks, soup and grilled sandwich before heading back out.

Better luck on the return trip since the rail work had been completed, so was able to take the "T" subway all the way back to the station.
From there, decided to do another "Hotel Rest" for a couple of days in Cape Cod area - actual bath tub to soak still weary toes in, in a two room suite for some private space. Funny configuration in the place that the rooms are built around a covered indoor courtyard which has a pool (they call it heated, but D doesn't think so), and game area.

A day on the farm - April 28th

Spent the day "playing" at this camp site (the Normandy Farm). Swam in their pool, wandered around the pond looking for fish or toads, Delilah played on their great play lot, and we watched some FREE rental movies. Then, headed into a little town where B got an acupuncture session, and D and I shopped for some odds and ends. There was a tiny little model train store - not much larger than a broom closet, a few eclectic stores, including a place that was called "Farmers Corner" which though the name might insinuate some farm products, the closest thing to produce that I was able to find was a container of orange juice that was not from concentrate...


On the return trip, we happened upon a pair of wild turkeys courting a hen in the street - quite a spectacle. Apparently one of them thought the RV was competing and gave us a good show. Yes, that's a real Tom turkey, slightly blurred by motion of shooting while driving.


Another picture included above, of Barbara in her nest. Between the lack of a "white noise generator" fan (we could turn on the roof fan, but it moves a lot of air), Barbara still getting over some "issues", and apparently my snoring louder than normal, B has managed to usurp the comfy bed, which relegates me to the over cab bed with Delilah... It has it's pluses up there - for starters, Delilah sleeps through my snoring, where B is likely to thump me with a pillow, the cat bugs her instead of me, the bed is actually longer there (I don't need to tuck), and now that I sleep with Delilah's head at my feet, Delilah isn't as likely to pester me in my sleep. There have been a few times where she pulled on my beard hair while I was sleeping, or fiddles with my eyelashes, or thinks it would be funny to tickle my chin, etc... I'm sure I'll look back with fondness, but when you are trying to sleep, "Go to sleep, imp..." is all I can muster. A side benefit is that I've been able to convince B that since I'm not sleeping the bed, that we can at least occasionally store some of the detritus that we have collected along the way on the side of the bed she isn't sleeping in. Contest of the day - guess what the stuff is?

Through Rhode Island and into Mass - April 27th.

Rained last night hard enough to wake us several times, though not terribly cold (50 or so). Continued intermittently through the morning, which made for a difficult packing of the rig - extended the awning as an umbrella, and had to dry things before stowing. The location for teh sat dish had become a swamp during the night, only accessible from one angle, which required a number of trips around the RV for the morning decommissioning.

Was hoping to revisit the Mystic Seaport again this AM, but the rain kept us at bay. Instead, we found a local mini-mall with at least a bit of character, and I found a salon for a haircut, while Barbara and Delilah both got their nails done. Delilah was apparently quite fascinated with the process of having her nails done, and in fact later in the day ran up to a lady we were talking with and said "Look at my pretty nails!". Gads - she's such a girl...

Had lunch at "The Mystic Seaport Village Mall" (also a place of some character) and did a bit of shopping before heading out on the road again.

One of our observations about malls is how "milk toast", or "vanilla"or "cookie cutter" they generally are. It is truly remarkable that you could go into a mall anywhere in America and not know where you are by what is in the mall:
* Gap * Pottery Barn * KB Toys * Pottery Barn * Williams and Sonoma * Brookstone * Radio Shack * Godiva * Sears * J.C. Penny * Waldon Books * Cellular stores in the kiosks * Victoria's Secret * Teddy Bear Factory * Electronic Boutique (Also called EB Games). Then there is another grouping of stores - usually Target or Walmart, Best Buy and Home Depot or Lowes withing a "block" structure. Not quite a mall, but still a recognizable "cellular unit".
The size of a regional mall merely dictates the number of the base ingredients that are to be included. They almost never have more than a kiosk with any personality or regional flair. Yet these are the malls, other than in tourist areas, that succeed. The recipe for success is in fact "generic" not "unique". To replicate the same set of stores every few miles is the pattern that has worked, and is apparently the pattern that consumers want. Even the food courts in these malls rarely have any local flare, and almost always contain the same half dozen generic food sources everywhere.
The malls are perhaps a reflection of our desire for "that which is common, or known, or stable." It is reflected in the way some people will eat at McDonald's regularly when traveling around the world - that the Big Mac will taste the same weather it was purchased at the corner McDonald's, or one in Bangkok. Makes me wonder how a relative upstart, like the Teddy Bear Factory is able to push them selves into the consciousness of society at such a universal level that they become a part of the ubiquitous mall...

Continued on from Mystic after lunch, traveled on through some nice small towns including Stonington (picture of lighthouse above). We are apparently just shy of when many of these places awaken from their winter slumber - carnivals and museums boarded up "Will open in May". This is definitely the big time of year for the local handy-man types, mending fences, paving parking lots, moving dirt - preparing for the soon to be summer rush.

In looking for a place to stay the night, I found http://normandyfarms.com/ which is a truly remarkable camping "destination". Man, what an operation they have here - the entry is a three lane drive, with a traffic coordinator at the bottom, direction where people go. Heated indoor pool, fishing pond, walking trails, softball, tennis and basketball courts, all sorts of good stuff. We will just hang out here tomorrow and then head in to Boston on Sunday. We'll see how long we end up staying here.

More of Mystic - April 26th

Decided to stay another day in Mystic to see more stuff.

They have a nice museum/re-creation seaport here with ships and buildings of the period. Lots of interesting displays like one building that was used to make rope... One of those things that you never really appreciate until you see all the stuff that is needed to make it happen. At the same time, the level of technology used is appealing - there are gears and levers and rods. These are things that you can look at and say "Well, here's the problem..." unlike most of todays tech. It is one of those "longing for simpler times" places. Also interesting that it appears less letigious here - there aren't any warnings about "caution - low rafters" or "STEP" or such, nice that common sense prevails at least some places. A short visit, but they actually allow you to come back the next day, which we will likely do and see a few more sights before heading on further.

Thursdays B has some work she does on the phone, so Delilah hung out at the nice park here. Found out that the laundromat isn't open "yet" (meaning for the season), so will need to find a place tomorrow, since rapidly approaching the danger level in laundry.

Had a "funny in retrospect"moment today, where a bottle of wine (mostly already drunk) flew out of storage and sprayed around the cabin while driving. Fortunately for us, small towns are low traffic areas, and I pulled to a stop sign, we did a little quick clean up, and managed to make it out without holding traffic up - other than a lady giving me a rather odd look as I climbed back in to the drivers seat. Cab smelled of wine for a while, which is better than it smells other times of recent (between a cat and a 3 year old...) but certainly glad that we didn't get pulled over by a trooper...

Hooked up the sat. dish again for connection, and had one of those mysterious "can't find the signal until you move the tripod" moments. Moved it and dropped right in - but I can't for the life of me see what the problem was with its previous location.

Rain has passed, day was cloudy and cool. Afternoon, and we have already plugged in the heater. Looking foreword to the warmer weather that is supposed to be coming this weekend.

Around New York and into the Mystic - April 25th

We wandered down numerous little highways, got to I-95, and then bypassed the New York area, getting in to Connecticut and making our way up the coast. Stopped in a few little towns, and then decided to stay in Old Mystic (just a bit inland from Mystic).
This is the second "has been KOA" that we've stayed at - was constructed as a KOA, including the characteristic A frame office structure, but at some point was decommissioned or lost its license or ??? that it became a "non-KOA". Funny place - power from one pole, water from the other side of the lot, and only dump sites for sewer. As with many places, they have limited wireless which is mostly around the office. We couldn't receive it from our spot, so will have to hook up the sat tomorrow.
Had a nice dinner in a tavern in town, with some warm drinks to cut the drizzle, then headed back to camp, and actually worked through some training stuff for web site creation with databases (something that I know significantly less about than Barbara at this point...).

Delaware, Pen and New Jersey - April 24th

A travel day today, trying to work our way up to "Smaller Towns" and New England states. Headed up I95 which took us through Delaware (where we stopped at a mall briefly for some tax free shopping), then into Pennsylvania and Philadelphia (where we drove around for a while, couldn't find parking near Independence Hall, and decided to move on), and then drove some scenic routes in New Jersey to the Atlantic. Had a nice walk on the boardwalk with D, found some big shells, and later had a Philly Cheese steak sandwich for dinner.

Was Dave's B'day and had a simple celebration. Have tried several places to pick up a Wii for my birthday, but all out of stock. Will try again later. Not sure if there will really be room in the RV or not to play, but what little playing I've had has been a lot of fun. We'll see. This trip is of course the real birthday gift and I'm so glad that we've been able to make this happen, even with the various trials.

Tonight in a regular camp site (only $40 - what a racket! at least the wireless is unlimited, and don't have to set up the dish), and tomorrow will probably worm our way through/around New York. B and I have seen "the sights" of New York, and are really looking for the small town thing, so probably will litterally skirt the place, and high tail it out to smaller spaces.

On with the travels - April 23rd

Picture of one of the many bridges at Fredericks MD.

Funny that though we have "mostly" gotten the timing of meals on East Coast Time, and we are going to bed at a reasonable time, we are still waking up on West coast time... :) Hard to get out of bed much before 9:30 or so, and when check out is at 11, and we're deeply entrenched, well suffice it to say that at 10:59 we were rolling out of the lot...

Stopped at a Costco along the way to restock on some snacks, and found out, to our great frustration, that they have discontinued carrying some of the organic stuff that we like. Still managed to buy more than enough, and now can't fit all the oatmeal packs in the main cabin... Space is an eternal issue. Smaller RV certainly is nice for driving and parking, but starting to regret a little having not bought a few more feet. The reality is that we probably would have just brought more stuff - that whole "perfect gas law" thing... Many rigs out there are the class A beasts, pushing 40 ft or so - but at $200k plus, and 6MPG or worse, a tough pill to swallow. Also funny that they generally have few small windows, which are typically covered. These things are like caves on wheels. I don't understand why they don't at least want to see what is outside when they are traveling?


Headed up to Fredericks MD to tour around. A really beautiful place, great "small town" action. Very active art scene, lots of galleries and good food joints. Picture above is on one of the many bridges that cross the stream that goes through the center of town. Many kitschy cool little shops - wooden toys, old hardware stores, places that sell what look like pin-up versions of fairies, etc. Spent a couple hours exploring (as much as B could do), and then back on the road to Harper's Ferry West Va (just on the boarder, and only 20 minutes from Fredericks).

Harpers Ferry has many stories - including one of mine, where as kid, when we visited as family in the van, I had gotten sick (as I recall, eating too many apple jolly rancher candies), and so when we got there, I wasn't doing too well. One version of the story in my vague memory says that this was one of the rare places that the family actually got to eat out, and my poor timing meant I didn't get to. In any event, for some reason, I was drawn back here. We got to the National Park HQ just a few minutes before closing, so just wandered around for a while, then drove the area exploring for a bit. Some beautiful spaces - a barn that obviously hadn't been opened for years. Sets me to wondering - what was the story here? When the farmer closed the barn for the last time, did he or she know that it was to be the last time? Did they sell their heard? Was there an accident? Did they just sell the farm? Interesting that the mundane act of closing a door could, in that instance be a fork in the road - a change in the destiny of a space...

There really weren't any good places to eat around Harpers Ferry, so we went back to Fredericks for dinner. Had fun parking the RV in the cramped roads (and more fun extracting it afterwards). Had a nice (albeit expensive) dinner at an Indian place, and hit the road. We are trying to "eat out" only one meal a day, and do the RV food other meals. Most days that works pretty well.

RV camping spaces are somewhat tough to find in some areas of the East, and so ended up staying at a hotel. Ouch. We'll try to target our end of day closer to camping places in the future...

Laying low in DC - April 22nd

Unfortunately, Barbara over did it with her walking in DC yesterday, and her leg injury of last week is acting up. She needs to lay low for a while, so we decided to stay for an extra day here instead of exploring, and Delilah and I took the opportunity to do a little shopping, and play her first round of mini-golf, which she enjoyed. The little course is actually in the RV park we're at (still the expensive one), but nice place - great amenities and area, including the cherry trees blooming (must be a real mess on this course in late summer though!)

Really interesting how Delilah's little brain works - after dinner we were watching a little TV and there was a commercial with a portable putting green; she says "Remember when we played that today?" She is such a cute kid, a really great traveler. She has been so easily amused on the road - not one "are we there yet" and only an occasional statement of status - "I'm hungry - I want a snack please" or "Can we stop now, I want to get out". She got over her "night terrors" a few days ago, and now is just still fighting the "Cox Family Plague" - a random cough in the middle of the night. Other than that, we are really lucky with her - and so greatful to have her.

Tomorrow we will hit the road, head up to some smaller towns - which we have decided that we definitely prefer.

We had hopes of visiting with both some relatives out here, and also some friends, but between time, health, and other stuff going on, it just didn't happen. C'est la vie - perhaps another trip?

DC Tour - April 21st

Picture above of the reflection pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Note shadow of Delilah on Dave's shoulders (Dave taking picture).

Having stayed a few days here, has been good. Allowed some recovery from our various ailments (though still lingering issues), allowed us to stretch out, pull out our stuff, and make it more of a home for a few days. We will stay at least one additional day here to soak it up, and take some more time.

Last night we made a fire, which was an interesting experience. They sell hardwood here for fires - which requires a different kind of "fire engineering" than us west coast "coniferous wood" folks are used to. Doesn't catch easily, and requires a long heat to get it going. Finally, with a combined effort of much axe whittling, a number of pages from an out of date "Woodals Camping Guide" and Delilah collecting many pine-cones, we got it going, and cooked dogs over the fire.

Last night up late (B working on her web sites, and me playing some), and a late breakfast we made here of biscuits (ala Pillsberry) and vegitarian sausage gravy - was actually really yummy.

Then, attempted to go swimming with D (per her demands). That could have gone better. Walked to the Conference Center here, where the pool is, to find it closed. Tried to talk to someone at the Cafe there - who was remarkably unhelpful. Wouldn't call the office, and didn't know when the pool was open. Walked up to the office just a few minutes after noon "Pool opens at noon". Hoof back to the pool - still closed. Find someone else in the Cafe who looks like they have it going on - she calls the office, and unlocks the pool, and pulls the cover off. After all that, the pool is cold - and Delilah is unimpressed, and uninterested... Off to our tour...

Had a nice tour of DC on a "motor coach" - seeing the requisite sites - mostly from the bus, but stopped at Arlington and had a tour there including changing of the guard, tomb of the unknowns and Kennedy eternal flame, also stopped at Lincoln memorial and Marines Memorial (Iwogima SP?) Knowledgable and friendly driver, but really packed it in.

After the tour, we decided to do dinner in DC (ended up just eating at Pizzaria Uno - strike two with them), and took a subway and bus back to the park - which is the route that we will take tomorrow to explore some of the Smithsonian and capitol mall area.

Chantilly,VA and on to Cherry Hill, MD April 19th and 20th

Actually got up pretty early, from our Walmart slumber. I went in to Camping world and picked up parts to fix and upgrade the water heater, and some other stuff, while B preened for her meeting. Dropped her off at the conference, and Delilah and I worked on the RV. Finally fixed the water heater (but ironically, didn't have water to shower yet), and added an electric heater for the water also - so it will heat off of park power, or gas... Redundancy is good.
Also got a few other odds and ends:
* Wrap around mat for the entry step
* Replacement screws for the A/C vent
* External holder for the sewer hose
* Vent cover for the fan vent
* Napkin holder for ease of access
* FRS/Weather radios
* Replacement switch for fresh water tank test
While at Camping World, there was another fellow with water heater problems. At least good to be in company.

After the presentation, we headed out to our camp ground on Cherry Hill, where we are staying for three nights. Deluxe place, with all sorts of amenities - not just the standard 15/30/50A power, water, and sewer, but the occasional cable hookup and one hour (yes, only 1) of wi-fi. Managed to eat up the one hour before posting this yesterday, thus had to wait for me to set up satellite today, and back on line. They actually have a conference center here, offer tours, have two pools, jacuzzi, sauna, laundry (just spent 2 hours and $14 on laundry), and a huge store with both regular camp items, and RV specialty stuff. Nice place - but it ought to be for $50/night!

Here for a couple more days - probably tour DC tomorrow, and then take off probably up the coast at a leisurely pace, assuming that the weather is more to our liking by then. We'll see!

Into Virginia - April 18th

A very pretty sunset at Cape Hatteras, but fewer amenities than we (ok, in particular B, but others are also affected :) ) were used to. The water heater has gone non-op even after replacing teh bypass, which makes for less fun in the AM then would otherwise be had.

Continued north from Cape Hatteras, stopped at Roanoake Is., and Kitty Hawk (Write Bros' famous flight). Then, on to the main land, in an attempt to "High Tail" it out. High Tailing ended up taking a very long time, and between mis-communications, getting lost and having to pull out the GPS, and "powers that be" sort of events, all local hotels were sold out, and the camp ground that we got was way out in the boonies. Upon finally getting there, we learned that the showers in the RV section were "being worked on" which would mean a walk through the brambles, which was vetoed, and they still wanted $36. Ok, abort on camping, and "surely there must be somewhere with a hotel" on the night before B's presentation. Two hours later, and after more than a dozen phone calls, and hotel stops, we found our selves at our first Walmart parking lot for a free nights "roughing it".

In homage to the mart, I went in to buy some water (which we were out of after a few days without connections), and on the way out, discovered that we had inadvertently also parked across from the Mecca of RV's - camping world... At least tomorrow would yields stuff to finally repair the water heater!

North from the Carolina's - April 17th

Another late start from Jacksonville, SC, but at least this place had a small playground for D, and dougnuts and coffee. Headed out to Cedar Island, and took a Ferry to Occracoke and another to Cape Hatteras, then camped there for the night - this time giving up just a little too early, and staying at a national park. Yes, they are cheap to camp at, but no hookups, and cold showers, and you can't run your generator past "quiet time". No internet connection that night! So much for the occasional game night...
Was a beautiful drive - both on land, and hopping over islands. Much to wonder at in this country.
This was the first day that really started feeling like "the big trip"to me. People feeling a little better, and making progress (though slower than expected) for Chantilly VA for B's thing.

Another missing day - Atlanta and the Renaissance faire

Another one of those things you forget, when you are only blogging here and there - in Atlanta, we actually did the Ren Faire there. Turns out it is one of the biggest ones in the US (huh??) even larger than the LA one that we try to hit. They have one huge advantage that the fair grounds are permanent, even though they only run the fair for 4 months out of the year. Thus the structures are all wood and stone - built to last, instead of built to transport. Thus, they have structures like ships, large seating areas for the jousting, and many different artisans (glass blowing and leading, smithies, etc) which need more space.

Was a very nice faire, other than it did start raining towards the end. We had all sorts of the requisite food stuffs - Turkey leg, Pickle, Fried Mac n Cheese nuggets, Fish and Chips, Ale, Weiner, et al... Was warm, even with the rain, and other than the probable diliterious effects to all of our otherwise ill health, a good time had by all!

Charleston, heading north

Had a nice day in Charleston, wandered down to the old port district, and ended up taking a carriage tour of the city. Many things to see - steeped in tradition and pride. Few cities have been leveled and rebuilt as many times. From there, headed up the coast into the Carolina's, towards the cape there.

We are trying to stop earlier in the evening, so that we can finally get on more of a real East Coast schedule, instead of Delilah staying up till ten, and us barely getting out of dodge by checkout (typically 11). With getting up late, we eat late, so all the meals have been off - trying... to... adjust... We saw a camping area just north of the South Carolina Boarder, but decided to try to find something better, which led to finding nothing for a long time, and staying again in a cruddy hotel.

The East Coast, Finally

Well, last night we finally pulled in to Charleston, South Carolina. Been a long couple days since last check in. It has been cold, very windy (there was a tornado watch the night before last), raining, and did I mention cold?
We have managed to all get some permutation of sickness (D still coughing, B now working on allergies, and me still coughing up interesting stuff, and sore-throated). Looking foreword to things getting warmer sometime here, and just parking and camping for a bit to recover.
Barbara has a presentation in Chantilly VA on Thursday, so we will continue up the coast first, then cut inland to get there. Hopefully this big "Nor-Eastern" that is pummeling the entire east coast will peater out soon...
More updates and picts later - perhaps tonight...

The missing early days

Barbara was looking over the blog and brought to my attention that there were a few early days missing from the blog, that I should ad in before I forget about them completely.
After the first night in Tucson, we headed out to Bisbee Az, and stayed there two days. Cool little town - it was the metropolis along the route from TX to California in its day, and had quite a booming "entertainment industry". Later, mines took off and they pulled copper, silver, tin, gold and traces of other stuff from the area in profusion. There are over 2500 miles of mine shafts under Bisbee - far enough to have dug to New York City...
We went on a mine tour - ok, so Barbara got clostro and had to jump the train, but at least B and I did the mine tour. Pretty interesting really, but definitely pushing the attention span of a 3 year old as well. Amazing stuff they did for the last hundred years there - mining first with candles as only light source, and mules to pull ore to surface.
When copper prices collapsed in the early 70s, the then mayor of Bisbee decided to try to make the town a tourist attraction, and applied for and received a federal grant to recomission one of the closed mines for tourism. Thus the tour - given by one of the miners.
Then we went on to Roswell, which is decidedly something that you only need to spend a few hours in to get the flavor of. Went to the museum there, took some pictures, and got out of dodge. Alien lamp posts, alien coffee joints, conspiracy this and that. Enough to make even an x-files fan sick...
From there, continued on to Amarillo Tx.

A few days camping

Since leaving Kansas, we went through St. Louis, stayed the night there, at a parking lot with a power hookup, which charged "only" $23 for the luxury of parking on their asphalt (though they did at least have hot showers, which since we didn't have a water hookup, I took advantage of). We did the arch (impressive feat of engineering, with rather ingenious elevator system to get up), and toured briefly, before departing east again.

Delilah travels very well during the day, often amusing her self for hours with puppets, and self-created games, or playing with her old fall-back, the leap frog which she has gotten many hours of amusement from. Unfortunately, apparently on the subconscious side, she is less happy with the travels, and has been having "night terrors" where she will start howling in the night, but she isn't actually awake - eyes closed, sobbing, arches her back if you try to lay her down - inconsolable... Apparently these are common in some kids but new to us. The "good" news (if you can call it that) is that she only does it for a few minutes at a time, but some nights she might wake half dozen times.

Between the waking up with Delilah's hooting, and my returning sinus infection apparently making me snore even more loudly than usual, Barbara hasn't been sleeping too well. Any of you that have been around B when she is more than a few hours shy of her quota of sleep will know that it is an unpleasant world to be in... To mitigate things, we decided to stay last night in a mini-suite in a hotel in Henderson Kentucky (after a run through Illinois, and brief stint in Indiana). The stay went well other than Barbara ended up twisting a leg a bit getting into the pool. After judicious application of healing techniques, it seems to be doing pretty well now, but obviously slowed things down a bit today.

We decided to take just a short drive to Bowling Green Kentucky, and will stay here a few days, to R&R, and do some real "RV Camping" at a KOA here. KOAs are definitely "deluxe" both in their accommodation's, and their price - about $30/night. But they do have full hookups (30A power, water, sewer, cable, optional phone, and wireless (shared though, so slow)), along with a nice play area, walking trails, and optional rentals such as bikes, fishing (catch and release) in a pond, etc.

I've gotten setting up the internet to a science finally, though it still takes about 20-30 minutes to make it all happen. Starts with turning on the GPS to get the LAT/LON, write that down, dialing that into the first program on the computer, which spits out the heading, inclination and skew. Next, you take a compass and start looking at the indicated heading for holes in the tree coverage, which tells you where you can set things up. Then, setting up the tripod, mounting the head, leveling it, then mounting the dish and the horn, wiring it up with the local indicator, dialing in the settings using a secondary compass (since you can't have one near the running dish, or the fields skew it). Hopefully you have long enough cables - if not, add the extension. Now, running back to the computer, configuring (after translating from degrees, minutes to decimal degrees) the sat modem, then out to the dish again to aim, tweak, then back to the computer to test... If all is well, you end up with a pretty reasonable internet connection. We've been able to use our Vonage VOIP phone here (though I can't seem to have it stop forewording calls to B's cell, when it's not on), and have two laptops (his and hers - how romantic) jacked through a router.

Picture of our nerd cabinet with all hardware included for reference. Satellite modem, VOIP box, router, UPS, Phone, host of wall warts, photo and regular printer, way too many cables, and our 20" LCD TV included...


With me doing all the driving, and most of the set up (Delilah helps some :) ), Barbara has been doing most of the cooking. Tonight's repast included Thai rice with shrimp, Basil, Garlic, and peppers, a salad and bread with vegi pate. Not bad for an RV meal I'd say...

Been raining and windy, but staying cozy in our RV. Got an "oil heater" which will supposedly do a better job keeping us warm (instead of hot and cold). Internet service is slower, but still working ok, so can't complain.

We'll be here until Friday AM, then on again. We've given up on Disneyworld for this trip, since B has an awards banquet on the 19th, and would mean a lot of driving between now and then. I'm sure that we will return again and do at least Disneyworld and a cruise, and perhaps some of the southern states that we won't visit on this trip some year in the future...

That's about as much as I can justify pushing out into the digital cosmos today...

On from Kansas

Had a nice stay with friends in Kansas for a few days. We had originally planned on camping with them, but temp was in the 20s/30s so decided to just stay at their place. Leavenworth (famous for prison row a ways away) is a pretty out of the way area, basically 20 minutes to almost anything. My buddy, Mark, has amassed an impressive collection of "grown up toys", ranging from ATVs to farm equipment, trailers to Toy Hauler/RVs. Keeps him self busy during the winter when not working at Sprint, on a million projects, including framing in the basement as a guest house in the future, etc.

It snowed there this AM, and Delilah enjoyed catching a few flakes on her tongue. Left around noon (seems to be our standard departure time), and got in to St. Louis about 6PM after a couple stops along the way. Always goes slower than expected, but getting the kinks out of the system - at least mostly. I think that I left one of the laptop chargers at Marks, fortunately I have a universal one that will do...

Tomorrow, on towards Atlanta - unsure how far we will go.

Texas to Kansas

This entry is from last week - Friday morning, April 6th. Didn't bother connecting to internet that night, so just posted today.

The above pictures include "The Worlds Biggest Cross (from somewhere in Texas, of course), which somewhat ironically had its gift shop flattened by a tornado, and snow from Southern Ks.

Since Amarillo, the weather has been turning colder. Thursday riding through northern Texas and Oklahoma, had the heater on much of the time. Northern Texas is certainly prettier than central, with a very “great planes” look to it. Passing in to Oklahoma, only signs were duplicated – one either right next to, or in front of the other. In most cases, they were identical, but in a few cases, the “new” sign had deleted a city from the list of destinations… Perhaps a government coverup for an abducted city (sorry, still recovering from Roswell J ).

We are now in the little town of Wellington, Ks. Po-dunk camp ground (someone used to have a farm here), charge $22 for about $2 of power and water – what a racket, but tired travelers and all, we bellied up. It is snowing, though the snow melts when it hits the ground. I wondered why the heaters were going all night. Relatively cozy in our little beds here.

One tire is nearly tread bear, we will have to get a replacement in Wichita. Hope to be at friends in Leavenworth KS tonight (Friday) .

Finally, on the road

Well, we are now officially on the road. Got out of town a bit before noon on Saturday, and made it to Tucson for the night. Morning adventures included the realization that the pressure relief valve on the water heater was too sensitive and needs replacing. Made a trip to Camping world and got the parts, but haven't installed yet. Also of course bought a bunch of other odds and ends - pimping da ride, I guess...

Visited the Desert Museum outside of Tucson, and very much enjoyed it. Javalina critters (look like pigs, but only distantly related), caves, desert humingbirds, etc. Very nice.
Then, after a slight detour, on to Bisbee Az, for two days.
Today did the mine tour (ok, Delilah and I did, B chickened out :) ), and walked around the town some. Really quaint area. Victorian era houses, but mostly smaller (mine workers, etc).
Obviously got the Satellite Internet working. Turns out the you don't want to use a compass on the dish, since the cables signal tweaks the compass. Complications, but only 20 minutes this time...
Delilah, unfortunately, has a bit of a bug (runny nose, grumpy at night, a bit of a fever). Hoping that she will sleep better tonight. Makes for a long night for all...
Tomorrow off to Roswell, on the way to Leavenworth Kansas a few days out.
Some day I'll figure out how to push pictures up on this thing...