The Green Green Grass of Home

Portland, Ore., April 30 -- I’ve been without wifi for a couple days so the three of you who read this might have wondered if I got blown off the face of the earth. Well, almost, but never fear, I am here. We pulled into Portland, and the rv park I stay at when I’m here, on Tuesday night around 5:30 after bucking heavy headwinds much of the way.

Typically on this dash home the mornings have been calm and fair, followed by wind or rain or both in the afternoons, and we come dragging into an rv park around 5:30 or so some 500 miles later. And so it was when we left the little town just west of Twin Falls (how quickly we forget -- Wendell maybe). Then around Baker City the wind came up, as did the rain. The wind got even worse through the Columbia River Gorge -- there were a few times when I worried about tipping or losing control -- but we made it.

I liked much of the southern part of Idaho we drove through; kind of pastoral with lots of circle irrigation farms -- already the sprinklers are running and the hay and grain are a rich green. But there were other parts that are a little more rugged and rough, though nothing like Wyoming which I found overwhelmingly cold and dry and desolate. We drove through Boise and then Caldwell, the farm town where I was actually born, though I was raised in Central Washington.

Utah where I-84 passes through is similar to the Sedona area with lots of beautiful red rock formations, though not as breathtaking. Unfortunately I was driving at the time and didn’t get any pictures.

And then there is Oregon. What can I say about this state that I’ve lived in for 30 years? Driving across the border felt wonderful. Not even the most expensive diesel we’ve seen the whole trip ($4.38 a gallon), or the vicious winds in the Gorge, or the rain that fell on us off and on from Baker City west could dampen my enthusiasm at being home.

This time of year the hills that are usually brown are all green with cheat grass that will soon turn golden. The green is dotted with little yellow sunflowers and purple lupine and smaller blue and lavender forget-me-nots. In the Blue Mountains and the Cascades there is still plenty of snow on the higher peaks with pine and fir rising proudly up out of the snow. Then driving into the Gorge, with whisps of clouds and fog hanging on the peaks, the moss clinging to the rocks -- oh my gosh. I’m home!!!! And it’s beautiful. Even the rain is beautiful. I felt like George Bailey after his “dream.” Hello you wonderful Multnomah Falls, I love you Oregon rain, Crown Point, I’ve missed you. And what have I learned? Just like Dorothy -- I thought about her when we were in very windy Kansas -- there’s NO place like home.

High Plains Drifters

Rawlins, Wyo., April 27 -- Well look what the wind blew in . . . us!! Actually, for almost all of our 510 miles today from Okaley, Kansas, to Rawlins, Wyoming, we drove headlong INTO the wind. That got very tricky when we were climbing up the big “hill” between Cheyenne and Laramie. This stretch is 8,640 feet high, the “highest point on the transcontinental I-80” according to the Wyoming map. I expected mountains but this was just high plains and buttes; pretty in it’s way but not striking. There is snow in many places, though it looks like it’s been there awhile and it’s not even close to the roads so it’s okay.

I’ve never been in this part of Wyoming and I have to say it is bleakly beautiful but very, very windy. Kansas and Nebraska were every bit as windy, though. We drove north out of Kansas on 83, a two-lane very interesting road past old cornfields and new grainfields, but thankfully it’s not well used on Sundays. We connected with I-80 in North Platte, Neb. At least my awning didn’t come loose today. One big gust of wind blew me halfway into the next lane, but thankfully there were no trucks or other vehicles next to me at the time.

Between the headwind and the climb we got terrible mileage today. We also are towing the Saturn so we can take turns driving the Mo and that probably adds a little pressure on the fuel economy. We filled up before leaving Oakely but were down to below a 1/4 tank (this is a 75-gallon tank -- imagine filling that up at $4.15 or more a gallon!!) by the time we got to the western border of Nebraska.

We pulled off at one area that advertised diesel and turned into the place only to find a chain across the entry and no room to really turn around. Little by little, inch by inch, backing a little -- tricky with the Saturn attached, pulling forward a little, back and forth, with the help of Jeff who was outside watching my corners and the Grace of God, we FINALLY managed to get turned out of the driveway. We ended up having to slip between a couple of posts and under a telephone guidewire. It only took us about 15 minutes and lots of patience. Needless to say I was stressed and swearing by the time we got out of there.

We managed to find diesel just across the border in Wyoming. Diesel isn’t too bad here in Wyoming; by that I mean it’s less than $4.20 a gallon which isn’t saying much. We’ve seen it for around $4.03 in places, though we paid $4.15 as we were feeling desperate and stopped at the first place we found. We are easily spending $250 a day on diesel. I suppose it’s cheaper now than it will be in another month or two. Whatever, we need to get home so we will pay what we have to pay. Thank heavens the stimulus checks will be out next week! That will buy me a tank or two of diesel.

Tomorrow we finish off Wyoming and will connect with 84 in Utah and then cross Idaho toward Oregon. I doubt we’ll make it to Oregon by Monday . . . I’m guessing we’ll spend Monday night somewhere in Idaho. Then Oregon by Tuesday and Portland by late Tuesday or sometime Wednesday. Whew!

This has been a marathon, averaging just under 500 miles a day. I’m exhausted. Charlie’s exhausted, Jeff is probably exhausted but he’s being brave and strong and not whining as much as I am.

But I still think that once we get home the work starts. I have to figure out what I want to do, try to sell the motorhome, try to find a place to live. Then since I sold everything I’ll have to start reacquiring furniture and furnishings. Slowly. Maybe I’ll hit some estate sales since my things went so cheaply maybe I can find some nice things inexpensively to replace some of my furniture. Then, do I work or write or what will I do? I still don’t know. Do you have any suggestions?

TravelinLady

Winter Revisited

Oakley, KS, April 27 a.m. -- Brrrrr! That all I can say. After weeks of weather in the 70s, 80s, 90s even, we have come back to the cold. It got below freezing last night so I had to unhook the water before we went to bed and the rehook this morning. I also ran my little system heater that warms the underpart of the motorhome where the water and sewer connections are.

Yesterday started out fairly well, with sunshine and warmth. But less than an hour before where we planned to overnight, a huge, blustery wind blew up and accompanied us the rest of the way. It was so strong it ws causing the awning over my doorway to continually open and flap back and forth. We stopped twice to try to fix it and finally found a rest stop where we actually taped it shut with some heavy duty tape. That held it for the final miles. We may just leave it taped till we get to Portland. In all the miles I've traveled (more than 23,000) I've never had that happen before.

The place we parked in was right next to a steak place. I decided a steak sounded perfect for dinner so I walked over and got a couple rib-eye steak dinners with baked potatoes and rolls to go. We ate them in the Mo with some salad we had in the refrigerator and I had a glass of sangiovese wine from the Biltmore Estate Winery in NC. We also had a little Southern Comfort . . . we both needed Comfort. It's almost gone but it was a very small bottle!

Today we head north into North Platte, NB, where we connect with 80, and then on west. We will probably cross the continental divide bewteen Cheyenne and Wyoming -- looks to be about 8,000+ feet so should be interesting. We have towed the car the last couple of days so we could take turns driving the Mo but somewhere in Wyoming we will unhook so the Mo doesn't have to tow the car over the pass. Even though it's light, it still puts a strain on the engine that it won't need for that trip.

If I have wifi tomorrow night -- who knows where we'll be -- I'll try to post a short note then as well.
TravelinLady

Right Smack Dab in the Middle

Columbia, MO, April 25 -- Yup, you read it right. I’m currently in Missouri, right about the middle of the state. Jeff needs to be back to deal with some issues that came up unexpectedly. I also have an issue that just popped up that I can deal with more effectively if I’m home. So we will try to take the most direct route and make the best time we can.

We left Lexington this morning just before 9 and headed west. By about 5, some 470 miles later, we arrived here for the night and were delighted to find free wifi. Actually, having fought wind most of the way, we were delighted to find anywhere to park for the night!

The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington was a pleasant surprise. It was a quiet, relaxed place with large paved parking places surrounded by acres of soft green grass neatly mowed. Up the road is the polo field which is a huge open flat area where dogs are often allowed to run free. Actually we’ve seen dogs running free alot here, even if they’re supposed to be leashed. There are almost as many dogs as horses around here. Down the hill from the polo field is the steeplechase field with all the jumps set up. And everywhere that gorgeous green grass. But that was when we arrived. By the time we left this morning it had gotten a tad busier.

Yesterday is the first day of the Rolex Three-day Event that is a prequalifier for the US Olympic equestrian teams. There are competitors here from Australia, Canada and Great Britain, as well. In two years they host the World Equestrian Games here -- the first time ever the games have been held outside of Europe.

We wandered over there yesterday afternoon for awhile and watched some of the Dressage competition, though we had no tickets so mostly watched from a distance. Charlie got two free samples of Purina dog food that he actually LIKED! I’ll have to see where I can find that kind of food -- I’ve never seen it in pet stores or grocery stores. He also got a red bandanna that said Purina Mills and had their famous checkerboard squares.

Wednesday we had gone to the Park (we’re in the campground that is right next to it and connected to it so we got a discount) and paid to visit the exhibits and especially the Museum of the Horse. Lots of very interesting, fascinating information. For instance, did you know that Paul Revere was one of three riders who was trying to warn the Colonist militia of the approaching British soldiers? And he and one of the other riders were apprehended by the Brits before they completed their warnings; one other rider was successful and he shall apparently be lost to history because . . . who knows? Maybe because Longfellow didn’t write about him. We figured Paul Revere had a better PR person. Lots of other fascinating nuggets of information like that.

I spent some time on Tuesday with my daughter’s friend (and my friend too), Tina. She is attending the University of Kentucky to get her PhD in gerontology. We drove out to Keeneland Racetrack where we tried on $200 hats and explored the Bluegrass Parkway and the Bourbon Trail, though we never actually found a distillery that was open. We stopped and had an obligatory mint julep. Kind of like boiled peanuts: one is plenty to last your whole lifetime. On that same subject, Jeff and I bought a very small bottle of Southern Comfort and it’s definitely better than straight bourbon or a mint julep, but quite strong. Tina and Patrick came over for a visit on Wednesday night and we made s’mores around the campfire.

We are planning to connect to 80 north of Kansas City but it’s still very cold and snowy in Wyoming -- right now they are predicting accumulations of snow in SE Wyoming -- and the mountain areas so we may just take 70 into Colorado and then decide whether to head south to 40 and go across the mountains of New Mexico or head north to 80, or maybe even cross at 70. We’ll have to keep a close eye on weather forecasts. We don’t WANT to go south because that means we have to travel through California on the way back and frankly I can’t afford to buy diesel there. It’s bad enough here where I paid $4.17 a gallon today and spent more than $270 on fuel just today, though we have a pretty full tank to head out tomorrow.

The other option is cutting across to I-40 but that puts us in Arkansas, Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle -- tornado alley. So that’s even less appealing than snow. At least with snow we can park until the weather warms enough. But with tornadoes we might not have many options. They can get you while you’re parked as easily as not. We could still find tornadoes in Kansas and Missouri -- fortunately we only had wind and rain today -- but probably not as likely as farther south. So we’ll be trying to make good time returning to the northwest but everything will be subject to weather conditions.

If all works well I should be back in the Pacific Northwest by maybe next weekend, possibly sooner. While this means cutting the trip short by a month or even two, it’s okay. I’ve seen most of what I wanted to see, though I still haven’t seen northern New Mexico and still hoped to visit my friends in the Las Vegas area but that can wait for another time, I think. At least they’re much closer than Florida.

Then the work starts and I have to try to sell the Mo and figure out where I’m going to live and if I’m going to find a job or work on my book and try to get that published. Lots to still think about. One step at a time, just like heading home is one state, one city, one mile at a time.

travelinlady

Grandeur, Manmade and Godmade

Sylva, NC, April 19 -- Wow, it felt good to drive west into mountains. We have seen so much flat and low land that it was delightful to see peaks again. The Blue Ridge Mountains come up first, then the Appalachians.

This is a really pleasant area. The weather is fairly temperate although they get more rain, I think, than either Portland or Seattle. It’s still reasonably affordable, depending on the area and style of home. There are plenty of mobile homes/manufactured homes, and just plain trailers here, along with the log homes and stick-built places. It is apparently a popular place for people who live in Florida during the winter and want a slightly cooler place to spend their summers.

One of the people from Gainesville, Fla., who is currently staying at this rv park says they call these people half-backs: they moved from the cold north to Florida for the warmth but then can’t handle the heat in the summer so they move half-way back north. The folks in this rv park are very friendly; I think most of them are here fairly long-term and they were very willing to give us advice on where to go and what to see.

A number of movies have been filmed right around here so if you want to know what the scenery is like you can see Cold Mountain, Last of the Mohicans, the Fugitive, Deliverance, among others.

We spent most of Friday touring the overwhelming Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It was so huge and took so much time that we had no time left to see the rest of what Asheville has to offer. Biltmore was where the movie Richie Rich was filmed.

The Biltmore was the country home George Washington Vanderbilt III spent six years constructing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. Vanderbilt came from a family of wealthy shipping/railroad tycoons. By the age of 33 he finally completed his 250-room mansion, covering some four acres of floor space and on Christmas Eve 1895 he held a formal grand opening of what is still the largest privately owned home in the U.S. It has four stories and a full basement, an indoor swimming pool and bowling alley, 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces. You get the idea. We only saw about 65 rooms on the tour, so many 25 percent of the whole house.

Not only is the home immense, but the furnishings were gorgeous. The technology was state-of-the-art for the time, including full electricity, telephones and refrigeration. The grounds at the time covered more than 100,000 acres connected by 30 miles of macadamized roadways.

There are some 8,000 acres of the original grounds left, much in gardens, formal and informal, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, who also designed Central Park in New York and the Capitol Grounds in Washington, D.C. While we were at the estate they were in the midst of the Festival of Flowers, including acres of brilliant tulips and flowering trees and shrubs. A few of the azaleas were out but many were a week or two away from blooming. Still it was an absolutely beautiful display of wealth and opulence and luxury.

This is truly a castle but unlike European castles, it was built on capitalism rather than feudalism or taxation. According to the guides, the family paid their servants very well and took care of the community surrounding Biltmore. Clearly they provided a great deal of work in both the building and running of the home and farms. There is now a winery -- which imports many of its wine grapes from Oregon and Washington, thus the wine is pretty darn good -- which claims to be the most visited wine tasting room in the country. I could easily believe that. Sort of a production-line process of wine tasting.

Exhausted from such extravagant living -- really, we did a lot of walking and climbing up and down stairs, hills, etc. -- we chose to spend the next day, Saturday, visiting the natural beauty of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Parkway actually ends (or begins, depending on your viewpoint) in the GSMNP and wends its way across mountains some 469 miles into Virginia. Obviously we didn’t go that far. In fact, we only drove about a dozen miles and exited through Maggie Valley. Parts of Maggie Valley reminded me of Switzerland, steep hills dotted with houses. Many of the homes here, though, are log construction and there were several companies in the town that do log homes.

The mountains here might not be as steep as the Rockies or the Cascades. They might not be as craggy as Western mountains, or have high snow-capped peaks. But they are beautiful, none-the-less. There is very little ground in this area that is level, as we found when we parked the Mo at this rv park south of Sylva. I used all my leveling blocks and my hydraulic leveling jacks and we’re still listing a bit to the rear and driver’s side.

We arrived at a good time, according to the locals. The mostly-deciduous forests are just beginning to leaf out. Next week they celebrate the Greening Up, a big party here in Sylva, complete with bluegrass concerts. Right now you can see most of the curve of the hills, the steep drives that get residents up to their homes perched on these hills. It’s pretty amazing; houses in the least likely of places.

The reason these mountains -- the Appalachians, really -- got the name “Smokey” is because of the abundance of mist and whisps of clouds that drift up out of the “hollers” and “cricks.” This morning we awoke to rain and there were many clouds and mists and fogs to shroud the mountaintops (tallest at about 6,000 feet). Then the sun popped out and added another dimension to the landscape. Supposedly the mists and fogs are a result of the humidity in the area.

The roads we traveled today were lined with wildflowers: trillium, dogwood, little purple and white flowers which I never caught the name of. There is also an abundance of streams and rivulets cascading down the slopes to the river, a shallow, fast-moving, clear-watered stream, itself full of cascades and little waterfalls. The ground was carpeted with brown leaves from last fall; again, most of the trees are deciduous. And everywhere the hills and valleys. An abundance of beauty more breathtaking for me than anything Biltmore had.

We leave North Carolina and the Eastern Seaboard tomorrow, headed through Tennessee into Kentucky. Virgin territory for me yet again.
TravelinLady

A Response to Criticisms

Advance, NC, April 15 -- Happy Tax Day to all you people out there. Hope you got all your forms filed. I hope I did, too; I’m pretty sure they all got taken care of. We are currently in another Thousand Trails preserve, just south of Winston-Salem. We spent about seven hours driving across northern North Carolina, mostly on small state routes that went through a variety of towns and lots of rural territory. I do like North Carolina; it is quite charming and a bit humble, genteel is maybe the best word, but beautiful at this time of year. Our site here is surrounded by dogwood in full bloom.

I admit to struggling with the trip today, mostly because I didn’t sleep well last night. I had an unsettling experience yesterday that kept me tossing and turning. It comes from me being too thin-skinned and caring too much about what people say. That’s an area I still need to work on, apparently.

Yesterday I received some emails from my Oregonian editor enclosing three letters he had received in response to my latest Oregonian article. I’ve already received some personal compliments on it and over the past two months have received several nice comments on my blog. These letters, though, weren’t complimentary; in fact, one of them actually felt like a vicious personal attack on me. The writer, “a seventh generation native of Louisiana” called my article “boorish, condescending and riddled with ridiculous cliches (i.e., ‘Charlie as alligator bait’)." He or she implied that my articled lacked “cultural sensitivity,” that my writing was bad and elevated “one region of the country at the expense of another.” She closed by “wondering why this gadabout Portlander ever left the Rose City in the first place." I wonder why if the writer loves Louisiana so much he or she is living in Oregon and has been for 20 years.

A second writer thinks I “missed the point” of my trip and focused on the high cost of diesel and the drive-through daiquiri shops. He or she went on to explain why New Orleans is wonderful and the value of the swamps which I supposedly derided in my article.

People, people. I said, and I quote, “From my perspective, Louisiana was the most unusual and the least inviting place” I had visited so far. I went on to say later in the article that I loved New Orleans and San Antonio, that “New Orleans was very beautiful.” I never said I hated New Orleans or Louisiana. I did find the “endless swamps” overwhelming and not something I found comforting. I am a girl born and raised in the high deserts of the west; of course the swamps of Louisiana were a bit of a shock to me. And frankly they seemed endless; they stretch on through to Florida and even up here in North Carolina and Virginia. In fact, there is a swamp between Virginia and North Carolina that is named the “The Great Dismal Swamp.” I didn’t label it that way; and I didn’t find it all that dismal. I loved the Everglades.

And I was very nervous around bodies of water that might harbor alligators, keeping Charlie as far back as possible. Alligators have been known to attack pets and Charlie loves the water. It was not a cliche; it was my honest fear, but daiquiris were never something that concerned me overmuch.

The copy editors had apparently decided -- in their infinite and unexplainable wisdom -- to title the article “Stuck in Gumbo, Fearful of Daiquiris.” We DID get stuck in gumbo and I lost several of my leveling blocks to it. Couldn’t pry them out! And I found -- as did Jeff -- the drive-through daiquiri stands hilarious. I didn’t fear them. I thought they were funny. If you can’t have a sense of humor about what you see that’s different it’s seems pretty sad to me.

I find it very curious that people who don’t know me at all feel qualified to call me names, to judge me guilty, to comment on my supposed purposes for traveling, and to assume that I don’t understand loss of loved ones, loss of home and possessions. I know these things better than many people. Yes, I chose to give up my home and most of my possessions, but that is because I think possessions can become chains, can trap us into a lifestyle that keeps us captive. I did not chose to lose my husband to a sudden, accidental death.

As to the purposes of traveling, the letters encouraged me to think about that again. Part of it is to see places I have long heard about and never seen. Curiosity, I guess. Does that mean I have to like them all? Part of it is to see old friends. Part is to grow and stretch, to meet new challenges and to be more aware of all the different parts that make up the U.S. Part of it is a spiritual journey and that part doesn’t get shared with Oregonian readers. I am not a PR person for Louisiana or any other state, not even for Oregon. I am just a person who happens to be sharing my honest thoughts about my travels with others. That people who don’t like my opinions and perspectives feel it is okay to attack my integrity and person illustrates how our society has devolved into name-calling when someone doesn’t agree with us.

Finally, from what I saw of Louisiana and her people, they are proud and secure enough to not really give a damn what some Yankee thinks about their swamps. In retrospect there were several incidences and experiences with the people of Louisiana that colored our visit in a negative way. Not even considering our brief trek into the Lower 9th Ward where we felt extremely uncomfortable and glowering looks made us feel as if we were the enemy, there were at least three other times when we were treated rudely or unkindly and not at all in a welcoming or friendly manner. There were also, however, a few very positive experiences that impressed us immensely.

These negative experiences serve as a reminder that each of us represents our state or city and being rude or behaving badly is bound to give visitors a negative impression. I try to bear that in mind as I drive my vehicles with Oregon plates in other places.

Louisiana is what it is: a very distinct state with a history, culture and landscape that are unlike any other. It is not a place I would feel comfortable living in, but I never said it was a bad place. I think Louisianans would not like Oregon much if they arrived in mid-January to freezing rain and temperatures in the 20s with an icy wind coming down from the Gorge. I arrived in Louisiana as some of the spring rains were beginning, when the cypress trees had not yet gotten their leaves but the heat and humidity where already present.

So to anyone who was offended by my sharing my own personal perspective I would like to say: learn to accept that we are all different, we like different things and that’s okay without getting angry at each other. That ability to express our opinions without being attacked is part of what makes this a wonderful country and this traveling a wonderful experience. To the rest of you, thanks for reading and laughing with me at the funny parts, crying with me at the sad parts, and for sharing in my joy and awe at all the many amazing parts.
TravelinLady

From Kennedy to Kittyhawk

Outer Banks, NC, April 14 -- Just over a week ago we were touring Kennedy Space Center and reliving all the accomplishments human-kind has made in mastering flight, especially the exploration of outer space. Today we time-traveled backwards from the space age to the first successful powered flight. Not quite 105 years ago Orville and Wilbur Wright opened the doors to the exploration of flight when they successfully flew -- on December 17, 1903 -- a small motor-powered airplane.

They spent several years -- and their own time and money -- observing birds, researching previous attempts at flight, building kites and gliders to try to find better ways to control the machine. They built a wind tunnel and tested different techniques for wings and propellers. Finally, after numerous tests and experiments, Orville piloted the machine in its first flight, which lasted 12 seconds and went 120 feet. They flew the machine three more times that day, with the final flight lasting 59 seconds and traveling 852 feet.

“It is not really necessary to look too far into the future; we see enough already to be certain it will be magnificent. Only let us hurry and open the roads.” This statement is attributed to Wilbur Wright. One wonders if he had any idea of where their first flight at Kill Devil Hills would eventually lead: to the moon, to Mars and beyond, to a manned space station. Sadly, he barely lived long enough to see his work come to fruition. He contracted typhoid fever and died in 1912 at the age of 45. Orville, however, lived until 1948 and saw many of the advancements of aeronautics that built on the work he and his brother had done.

It was interesting seeing the place where these early flights took place. The Kittyhawk-Kill Devil Hills area was chosen because of the “breezes” (it was blowing something like 27 mph on the day they first flew), the soft sand for landing, and the remoteness and privacy of the area. Both days we were on the Outer Banks (also known as OBX), the wind was blowing strongly.

After our chilly tour of the first airport we found a place for lunch: Dirty Dick’s Crab House. I had a delicious crab melt sandwich with sweet potato fries, and I finally had a hurricane. Jeff had gator tail again and shared some with Charlie. He didn’t like it as much as the gator he had in Florida. Charlie liked it just fine, and the sweet potato fries, too!

We also went into a few shops, including one called the Outer Barks. The owner gave us two treats to take back to Charlie, who had been left to protect the car. He told us about the Yappy Hour they hold on Fridays, featuring canine cocktails, and said in the summer they sometimes have up to 70 dogs attending. Of course, they are required to bring their owners. He was a very friendly guy who told us we will love Ashville -- it’s similar to Seattle but without the Sound, according to him.

Some of the funny names of this area include Kill Devil Hills, which was named after the rum that washed ashore from the many shipwrecks (more than 2,000) in this area, know as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. The locals claimed this nasty rum “would kill the devil.” Nags Head is named for the old practice of tying a lantern to a horses head and walking along the beach at night, thereby luring ships to thebeach where they could be plundered. Tar Heels has some obscure beginnings but supposedly it alludes to the tar, pitch and turpentine that were early products of North Carolina. Folklore also claims that during the Civil War General Lee praised the North Carolina soldiers for sticking to battle like they had tar on their heels, or alternatively, it was claimed that Lee needed to put tar on the heels of other regiments who weren’t as steadfast in their duties as the North Carolina soldiers.

There is a great history of pirates in these islands that stretch 130 miles from the Virginia border. Edward Teach -- Blackbeard the pirate -- was beheaded in the waters surrounding Ocracoke Island in 1718.

Beyond the islands, this area of North Carolina is mostly flat farmland. There are a few swamps but for the most part it is lovely country. Right now the flowers are blooming everywhere and we look forward to seeing more as we travel west tomorrow.

A North Carolina Ferry Tale

Wilson, NC, April 12 -- Yesterday we arrived in the early afternoon for a couple nights at a small rv park outside of Wilson, which is about 20 miles south of Rocky Mount and probably 50 miles east of Raleigh-Durham. We are doing a lay-over here until we can get to the rv park close to the northern Outer Banks which doesn’t honor the rv membership discount on the weekends. There isn’t much in Wilson. In fact, we went looking for a place for dinner tonight after a long day -- more below -- but barely found a town. I had to go through my pantry and freezer to find something quick for dinner.

Because there isn’t much here we decided to explore the area east of us, through Greenville: Pamlico and Albermarle sounds and maybe even make it to Ocracoke in the southern Outer Banks. We decided to head for Swan Quarter and take the ferry to Ocracoke. So more than 100 miles later we arrived at the ferry. Too bad for us: during the winter the ferry only runs at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Even on a Saturday in mid-April. No wonder there was no traffic going to or coming from Swan Quarter.

We drove northeast and eventually made it to Roanoke Island and then Bodie Island via a couple of very long bridges. We stopped at a beach on the south end of Nags Head but the wind was blowing so hard it felt like we were in a sand blaster. The sand was very painful hitting our legs. Nags Head was named after “the practice of tying a lantern to a horse and walking the beach, thus luring ships into shore for plundering,” according to the 2008 Official Travel Guide to the Outer Banks.

We decided to jump back into the car and head down to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which turned out to be almost 50 miles. We visited the lighthouse, the “tallest brick beacon” in the world, at 208 feet. Unfortunately, Charlie wasn’t very impressed.

We drove back up north across Roanoke Island and took a more northerly route back home through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. We passed several red wolf and black bear crossings and warning signs but saw neither hide nor hair of any critters, including alligators, except for the dead possums along the road.

So nearly 400 miles and nine hours later we returned to the rv park to rustle up some dinner. It was a very long day but we split the driving. Jeff drove about 2/3rds and I drove the last 1/3rd or so. However, in my defense, I had to drive through the thunderstorm and cloudburst and deep water on the roadway. In fact, I could barely see three stripes ahead of me on the highway for a time. But then in Jeff’s defense he had to drive across most of the long bridges and through the heavy winds and blowing sand. What a fun day!!

The Outer Banks are a series of barrier islands that stretch about 130 miles from the border with Virginia south. There appear to be lots of beaches and sand dunes and plenty of huge houses that people rent for their vacations. People from DC often come down to the Outer Banks to vacation. But honestly, the Florida Keys it ain’t. Especially not in April. Barely anything was open. If this had been a Saturday at Seaside or Cannon Beach or Lincoln City in Oregon, there undoubtedly would have been plenty of people. And it wasn’t even raining while we were there, just very windy. Of course most sensible people probably wouldn’t drive as far as we did for just a day or two, and the major population areas are at least that far away, and then some.

Still the countryside was beautiful. Much of it is very flat farmland but there were plenty of dogwoods, azaleas, and what looked like wild wisteria blooming everywhere. Along the freeways in many places there are huge fields of California poppies and other wildflowers. Very, very pretty. I will try to get a photo of some of these wildflowers and post in a future blog.

TravelinLady

The Lowcountry Swing

Florence, SC, April 10 -- Today is my wonderful daughter’s 29th birthday. How is it possible that someone as young as me has a 29-year-old daughter, you ask? Not only is it possible, but it’s a delight having an adult daughter. She and her hubby are on their way back from their travels to Costa Rica and Panama. My darling son and his family were in Victoria and Vancouver, BC for Spring Break last week so they were also abroad. Funny that for a few days I was the only one inside the U.S., though about as far from the Northwest as it’s possible to be and still be in-country.

After leaving Orlando on Monday, we spent three nights at a Georgia state campground just south of Savannah. On Tuesday we drove into Savannah for a little reconnaissance, then found the closest wifi-friendly coffee house.

Later Jeff and Charlie and I set out for what I thought was a quiet little hike that turned out to be a death-defying march through the marsh, under constant attack by all manner of flying predators, dodging mud and large puddles (Charlie wasn’t dodging them in spite of our valiant efforts). We barely made it through the 3.1-mile loop before dark. And we still had to go back to the Mo and make dinner! I had made a fire the night before using up the last of my dry firewood so we bought another small supply as I was planning on doing hotdogs and s’mores. Unfortunately, the wood we bought was so wet it refused to burn so we had to use the microwave. Just not the same.

Wednesday it was back to Savannah, a bit earlier in the morning, where we spent a couple of hours touring and exploring on foot. We picked the better day to spend in Savannah as it was beautiful and sunny; Tuesday had been cloudy and cool. Savannah is a beautiful old city, a glorious old dowager filled with gardens and statues and fountains and wonderful old antebellum “Georgian” homes. Wow! With the sun shining and the 75+ degrees, it would be hard to find a lovelier place to while away a few hours and a few dollars.

We spent a couple hours in the Savannah Riverfront area. There are all kinds of little shops in the old cotton warehouses along the river and a lovely brick walkway next to the river. There’s a lot of brick used in Savannah: the houses, the walls, even some of the streets. We had to try some pralines (yum!) and some other pecan-filled treats and I bought a small can of Georgia peanuts which are really quite good.

Then we headed to the tour company where we were able to park free and leave the driving to them. After about two hours of driving around all the many squares and past numerous beautiful old houses and churches, including the double-spired Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, pictured, we stopped for lunch in the City Market. We had a great seat outside where we could watch the tourists and people wandering by. I had one of Georgia’s specialties: she-crab stew, made with a bit of sherry and cream -- very good, though I still contend Dungeness is the best crab -- and a chicken salad with fruit. Shrimp and grits, another of Georgia’s favorites, just didn’t appeal to me. Jeff had blackened chicken. I also had a glass of North Carolina reisling and it was really quite tasty.

Savannah was originally laid out by by James Oglethorpe in 1733 and his name is attached to one of the main avenues as well as to one of the squares, among other things. Many of the original settlers were brought to relieve the debtors prisons in England and to create a colony to serve as a buffer between Spanish Florida and the rich Carolinas. Georgia was the last of the 13 original colonies. Oglethorpe laid the city out in grids around a series of squares. Some 21 of the original 24 squares have been preserved and are filled with live oak trees draped in Spanish moss, azaleas and dogwoods which were blooming this week, and other flowering trees and shrubs.

Many of those who came to work in the cotton shipping process were from Ireland. The biggest strike against them was that they were Catholics, a faith which had been prohibited up to that time (Catholics and lawyers were just not allowed in early Savannah). According to our guide, Savannah has the second-largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the country, behind New York (what about Boston or Chicago???). There are lots of Irish shops and pubs here.

Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin while working as a tutor in Savannah. Before his invention rice was the major cash crop. Once he figured out a way to get the cotton seeds out of the cotton, it became a viable crop and many of those who raised and bought and sold cotton became wealthy. They built beautiful homes in Savannah, some of which are being restored, though some were destroyed and others are still waiting for an interested owner to take one of the challenges of restoring their former glory.

Forest Gump sat on his bench here telling his story to anyone who would listen. Savannah has been the scene of a number of movies, most notably Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil which we tried to find at the video store but were unsuccessful. Jeff has both read the book and seen the movie but I have done neither.

They call this part of Georgia, and the eastern part of South Carolina, the Lowcountry. I presume that is because as you head west and north the country climbs and eventually you find yourself in the Appalachians and the Great Smokey Mountains. We will be in that area in about a week. In the meantime we will spend a couple days in Northeastern North Carolina and visit the Outer Banks area, more low country.

On the last night at the campground my friend Russ and Carol from Maine arrived to spend a couple of nights so we had another great visit. Turns out they are also staying at an rv park in North Carolina we’ll be at, but we leave the morning before they arrive. Rving is kind of a small world sometimes.

TravelinLady

Georgia, Georgia on My Mind

Richmond Hill (just south of Savannah), Ga, Tuesday, April 8 -- Yesterday, after more than three weeks, we left Florida and headed north. We didn’t see everything there is to see in Florida -- not by a long-shot -- but we did see a large percentage of the state. This is the longest we’ve stayed in one state since we left Oregon two months ago.

Our last two days in Clermont, west of Orlando, were filled with rain, and then more rain, with a little thunder and lightening thrown in for good measure. But it wasn’t a cooling rain, which we would have welcomed. It was warm and muggy rain. Not at all refreshing. If this is Florida in the “off” season (May-October), you can have it.

We drove north through orange and grapefruit groves (orchards, if you were in the Northwest) and through farm country. The middle of the state is very pretty. We passed a number of produce stands where you could buy fresh strawberries, grapefruit, and valencia oranges; the navels were already harvested by the time we got here. We have had some fresh strawberries and they are quite tasty, much better than those you can find groceries stores.

We also got a couple of pink grapefruit from my friends, Russ and Carol. They got them from a friend who got them from an abandoned orchard (apparently they got permission from the owner). There are groves that have been abandoned by the farmers. In some cases the trees were damaged by frost. Don’t know why else people would just abandon their “liquid gold” but you see unkempt orchards with fruit still hanging off the trees. Carol says the fruit is often bitter; but the grapefruits they shared with us were sweet and juicy. I am regretting not stopping at one of the stands and getting more.

It was a bit of a relief driving into Georgia. For one thing, it is already much cooler here. The skies are cloudy but it doesn’t seem to be as humid. I am wearing my jeans for the first time in a couple of weeks. It’s been shorts and sleeveless shirts for most of the past three weeks. Charlie is much happier with this cooler weather. I think the heat and humidity were hard on him. He’s got a lot of his old spunk back. But despite the heat and humidity, I was very impressed overall with the variety of places to see, things to do, the history, the beauty of Florida. I’m glad we got to spend so much time there. Georgia, on the other hand, doesn’t look quite as promising so once we have spent a couple nights here, we’ll probably head up to the Carolinas.

The other reason leaving Florida feels good, though, is more psychological. We are actually moving slowly back north and will begin heading west again in a week or so. It feels comforting to know we are on the back-side of the journey. We still have many miles to go -- possibly close to 5,000 depending on which route we choose. But at least we are heading in the right direction. There is a sense of peace and joy that come with that. Never mind that I have no clue whatsoever what I will do when I return to the Northwest. I’m practicing living in the now so try not to worry too much about those decisions I’ll have to make in a couple months.

We haven’t completely decided where our next stop will be. We’d both like to see the Outer Banks of North Carolina but it is really quite a distance. Friends have said the weather is very dicey there this time of year. But I would think that even later in the spring and summer you’d be running the risk of hurricanes. I believe hurricane season coincides with the wet season: May into November. We’ve seen so many coastal towns, especially with the Keys, but I have heard lots about the Outer Banks and my curiosity is piqued.

We are staying in a Georgia State Park, Fort McCallister. We have a fairly roomy spot, but no sewer and only 30 amp service. This is the site of an old earthwork fort that withstood Yankee bombardment at one point but fell to General Sherman in December, 1864. It is on the banks of the Great Ogeechee River. This is tidal flats mostly and marshes. The first thing to greet us were mosquitoes; they also have plenty of sand gnats. In fact, their professional baseball team is called the Sand Gnats. Nice.

The neighbor across the way visited with me last night while I was tending a campfire -- the first of this trip. He and his missus are from Minnesota. They sold their home last December and are fulltimers. The cost of diesel doesn’t bother them too much, he said, because they usually only go about 100 miles or so at a time and stay for a week or so at each place. I supposed I could be doing something like that, but I would miss my family and friends too much to be gone that long.

Another neighbor, who came out to ask me about Charlie, is from Ontario. She and her husband come to Florida for the winter every year. There are a number of people from Canada -- notably Ontario -- who come south to Florida in their rvs.

As Jeff has commented, rving is a whole different way of life and people who have no experience with it have no idea what all is involved. There are huge gatherings -- jamborees -- where people from all over the country and I suppose Canada gather to share information, meet old friends, learn more about rving and how to care for their equipment, etc. There are organized tours using your own rv or one provided. For instance, we could go on an rv tour of New Zealand and Australia, if we wanted to spend $25,000. Which I don’t. But there is a lot to do, not to mention a lot to learn in this lifestyle.

We did a quick little tour of Savannah by car this morning. We will go back tomorrow without Charlie and do more investigating. Then Thursday -- who knows what Thursday will bring. We will move on to somewhere . . . just not sure where yet. Since we don’t have wifi right now the immediate need is to find someplace to check email, post the blog and figure out our next step.

TravelinLady

The Wetter Side of the Sunshine State

Clermont, Fla., April 5 -- Today I have some down time as Jeff drove into Kissimmee to visit an old friend so have been busy cleaning the Mo -- a much needed project. It’s even being cleaned on the outside as I found a company who will come to the park and wash it. It won’t be cheap but it’s really the first time I’ve had it washed since my brother-in-law washed it for me in Yakima last May. It definitely needs a bath! Of course, wouldn't you know it, shortly after they finished, the skies opened up and it's been pouring off and on, accompanied by loud claps of thunder and flashes of lightening and wild gusty winds. Is this a hurricane coming???

Imagine my surprise when, shortly after parking at this Thousand Trails park, I looked out the window and saw my friends from Maine, Russ and Carol, parked just across the field behind us. I went over to visit. I knew they would be here but didn’t know exactly where their space was and there are something like 850 full hookups here so it was unlikely they would be so close. We have had some great visits, catching up with what’s been happening. They know many of the people who stay here in the winter as they’ve been coming down for many years. Our neighbor, Saul, was a vaudeville comedian according to Russ and Carol. I have only spoken with him briefly but he is very friendly. People generally seem to be friendlier at Thousand Trails parks.

On Wednesday we went to lunch at a lovely restaurant in Celebration, a Disney-created community. Columbia is a Spanish/Cuban restaurant and I had great food. Carol especially likes their flan and it was very good. Then they took me to Downtown Disney and a brief tour of the area. Probably the only taste I’ll get of Disney World, but frankly it was quite enough. Yesterday Russ took Charlie for a long walk while we were away most of the day at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Kennedy Space Center was very interesting and fascinating. The tickets for the tour were $40 apiece but included a two-hour bus tour with video and many sights showing the U.S.’ 50 years of space exploration. Included were a visit to the Apollo/Saturn V Center which contains the computer and communications equipment used in the command center when the Apollo missions were launched. This brought back memories for me of being in high school and college during many of the Apollo missions, the space race, the moon walk, and seeing satellites in space as a child, such an exciting novelty. Now you can hardly look without seeing a satellite and how could we possibly function without them?

At one point we could see the launch pads used in the space shuttle program and the huge crawlers that transport the orbiter (shuttle) and its boosters to the launch site, as well as the building where the orbiters are built and reassembled after flight.

We also toured the International Space Station Center which provides information on the ongoing space station project. The orbiters are integral in carrying astronauts, equipment and materials back and forth. The Space Station is scheduled for completion in 2010 and will be the size of two football fields when it is finished.

I believe there are -- or were -- six orbiters: the Challenger and Columbia were both lost (1986 and 2003), two of the three U.S. space accidents that have taken the life of the astronauts on board. The other was Apollo 1. Other ships include Enterprise, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The Enterprise was used primarily for experimentation and never went into orbit. A total of 122 Shuttle missioned have been flown, if I counted right, starting in 1981. The latest landed here at Cape Canaveral in February; they hope to send another, STS-124, later this month.

A great place to learn more about the U.S. space program, the shuttle missions and the new program, Orion, scheduled to being in 2010, is the NASA web page: www.NASA.gov. Fascinating stuff.

The final thing we did was experience the shuttle launch simulator. This supposedly gives participants the feelings, sounds, sights that the astronauts experience when they launch into space on the orbiters. It was interesting but I thought a bit over-hyped. There was plenty more to do -- with IMAX theaters showing two different programs about space --walking on the moon and life in the space station -- but we didn’t have time to see them as the Center was a good 90 minutes from the rv park and we left a bit later than planned.

The Kennedy Space Center is surrounded by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We explored a little bit here -- mostly because we took a wrong turn. During the Space Center tour we saw a huge bald eagle’s nest, a flock of roseated spoonbills -- gorgeous birds with deep rose coloring on their wings, a blur of pink when they fly -- as well as many other birds. There is apparently a very healthy manatee population as many of the waters are closed to boats which are very hazardous to the manatees. But we still haven’t sent one, dang it all. Don’t know if they have manatees in Georgia, our next destination but am thinking probably not.

Charlie has had his own close encounters with wildlife. There is a very large turtle that lives in a hole maybe 100 feet from our door. He loves to go explore to see if his friend, Mr. Turtle, is at home. I’m thinking Mr. Turtle might be a snapper and could injure him if he puts his head too deeply into the hole. A couple of times Charlie has darted out the door before I could grab him and gone to investigate the hole. He’s also, for the first time, showing signs of discomfort when we have thunder and lightening -- which we're having a lot of. He crawls under the dinette and seeks what comfort (i.e., petting and food) he can find.

Here’s hoping the thunder and lightening and humidity aren’t as bad in Georgia, but I’m thinking we probably won’t really escape it now until we get back to the Rockies: Colorado, Utah, Arizona -- and that’s probably at least a month away.

TravelinLady