Skyline Drive running the length Shenandoah National Park in Western Virginia

We had heard a lot about this beautiful drive in the Shenandoah Natl. Park from other RVers and in books but we were still unprepared for the splendor of this magnificent road. It rises out of the valley at Front Royal, VA and climbs to over 3500 feet above sea level. The entire 105 mile length is along the ridge of the mountains so you can look down into the valleys over both the east and west sides of the mountain ridges. There area 75 overlooks along the route. Needless to say they didn’t overlook many overlooks. We didn’t overlook all 75 but came close as the beauty of the fall colors going down into the valleys thousands of feet below drew us off the main road. At the top of the mountains the leaves were all brown and some of the trees barren. As you looked down into the valley 3000 feet below they turned to yellows and tans and at the bottom you could see some reds.

This reminded me that we have been watching the leaves change since early August when we left southern New Brunswick and noticed that the sumacs were all turning red. It has been a full three months of color change. Wonderful. And we still have a few weeks to go. We will head down the Blue Ridge Mountains on Sunday and anticipate more of the beautiful fall color. Life is good and colorful.

Forty miles into the park there was a tunnel with 12 feet 8 inch clearance. I had our Montana figured at 12 feet 4 inches with the new vent covers I had installed adding six inches to the height. So I figured 4 inches clearance. As we approached the entrance I was a bit nervous but there were no turnarounds so we proceeded in. Immediately a loud noise and we both jumped off the seats. To our relief we see that the tunnel is dripping water a big splash had hit the windshield. Now to find a place to change my underwear.

The leaves on the ground along side the road were swept into a magical dance by our jet stream as we drove by at the maximum speed limit of 35 miles an hour. They were mesmerizing to watch in the rear view mirrors, so much so that they almost lured me off the road into the ditch a few times. We were taken aback at first by the numerous gaps and runs signed along the way. Out west we call gaps, passes and runs are streams.

The narrow twisting road reminded me that at an early age I was practicing for this drive through Shenandoah's mountains. I can remember as early as eight years old some 55 years ago practicing to stay within the lines as I filled in my coloring books with my crayolas. And driving this beautiful highway I was again working hard with my tongue clenched between my teeth to keep the 5th wheel within the lines on the road. All that practice was paying off.

The Battle of Bull Run

Wow, civil war history 20 miles outside the nation’s capital. How convenient for the 21st century traveler. Bull Run, a creek in Virginia was the site of the first major battle in the civil war. It was supposed to be the first and last battle of the war. They both thought they could win the war in one battle. As it turned out it took four years and 600,000 dead Americans to decide the victor. The rebels called it the battle of Manassas for the town nearby.


Turns out the Union Army got its butt kicked by leaving its 2 cannons unprotected on a flank. The citizens of Washington that had followed the soldiers out of DC to Centerville near the battlefield to watch the fight were quickly horrified and turned to return home only to be run over by the rapidly retreating Union army. The same Army that took three days to march from Washington took 12 hours to return, with their tails between their legs.

The rebs won another battle at the same site later in the war, the second battle of bull run.

Our volunteer guide, Joe, was amazing. His civil war knowledge went far beyond Manassas and couldn’t trip him up with my questions about links between Gettysburg and Bull Run. He even knew of distant cousin Gen Reynolds of Gettysburg fame.


Our next visit to Civil War sites will be at Lexington, VA on our way to Durham. Stay tuned.

The senate is disappointing

So I got down on my knees and crawled into the Idaho Republican senator’s office whom I had been pestering for years with emails about what a lousy job he was doing and why wasn’t he following my sage advice on the economy, taxes, health care and veterans rights. It was truly humbling, but at least the marble floor was smooth and clean. For my penance I received two free passes to the senate gallery.



Suzy and I anxiously left the building and headed for the senate chambers. Visions of lawmaking dancing in our heads. After going through all but full body search, we were finally admitted to the chambers of the senate by the “Senate Nazi”. This woman, in her fifties with a butch haircut and expensive suit, would make the Seinfield Soup Nazi look like a Walmart greeter. She was ruthless, and we sat in huddled fear as she policed us in our seats, admonishing one fellow for reading a map.



But now for the main show, our government in action. A senator from West Virginia was reading nomination for a district court judge to the empty senate chambers. Yes, empty like he was the only senator there. Maybe the rest were watching on cspan. Anyway, when he finished a democratic senator from Maryland entered and spent 15 minutes complaining that the republicans were not letting enough district and federal judges be nominated. He was followed by a republican senator from Alabama who spent his 15 minutes arguing that the republicans were doing better under President Obama then the democrats did under President Bush.



Yes, with all the pressing problems in our country, like health care, job loss, homelessness, the economy, etc, etc, our senators were devoting their time to arguing like children about what the other had done to them. I just hope we caught them in the one thirty minute period of the month when they paused to point fingers and as soon as we left they went back to the pressing problems of our country. Am I naïve or what?

Barley and the Jet

Meg and Rusty paid us a visit last weekend and we took the opportunity to introduce Jet and Barley the two black labs. They were both much more interested in the new humans then in the new dog. The fifth wheel did quite well with two more adults and another big dog. Lots of room. Barley was a bit disappointed in Jet’s reluctance to play grab ass and Jet was disappointed that Barley wanted to rip up all his toys. (they had to be put away for a couple days). See their picture on the the blogspot, www.sawbridge.blogspot.com


Meg was in town for the Obesity Conference so we had a huge dinner Saturday night to prepare her. Suzy and I had found a super farmer’s market near our campground and we reaped its goods for our dinner.



Rusty and I enjoyed the Clemson and Miami game which Clemson won in overtime after seven lead changes. We were interrupted during the day by the park manager who explained the heavy downpours we were having had caused the creek to overflow the exit road. So we were trapped until the water receded. Good excuse for more football.



Before the squalls hit us we enjoyed some sun and fall color, as we did Sunday before Meg and Rusty departed. We will be joining them in another week for November and December in Durham. Then in January it will be on to Florida and then our turn to the west.

The George Bush Center for Intelligence

If this isn’t the mother of all oxymorons, then I am not …….  Anyway, we drove by the sign outside McClean where the CIA is located. Had to take a picture. Its on the website for the blog. Ssawbridge.blogspot.com



Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, VA is one of the best that we have found in the last four months. It is a county park, with cricket, soccer, football, and baseball fields, inspersed with large picnic areas, all shaded by beautiful oak, maple and elm trees. It has a group camping area and a rv camping area which are far away from everything else so it is quiet and peaceful and very beautiful. Jet loves all the squirrels which I have to thank for lengthening my right arm by an inch as Jet takes off after them at the end of his leash, yanking my arm longer each time.
I sideswiped a pine tree getting here, and luckily no damage just a bit of pitch to get off.



The first two days we went to DC and visited the Smithsonian exhibits on African Art, Quebec, Jamestown, and Santa Fe the different explorer countries landing in America and their different results. Very interesting as we had been to Quebec and Plymouth recently and could fill in the lines. Then it was the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American Art which were super. All changed since my last visit ten years ago. Then we had a tour of the Capital with the new Vistiors center. My our tax payer dollars were spent wisely on this beautiful addition that allows us to visit the capital.



We were interrupted one day by a presidential limo parade that blocked all the roads for half an hour. Think the president was making a hamburger run.



Little side story on our tour of the capital building. Because I have been so voiciferous with my Idaho congressman, they were not anxious to hand me out any special passes, so I dropped Suzy off near the visitors center and went to park. Had to go all the way past Washington monument to park. As I get out of the car Suzy calls and says she has tickets for the 10:20 tour and it is 10:00. So I decide I have to run to make it. It’s a long run in jeans and polo shirt but I made it just in time. Got some funny looks from the guards who thought anyone perspiring as much as me must have a bomb wrapped around him.



We also have visited the air and space museum out by Dulles which is huge and has the Enola Gay and a Space Shuttle Colombia on display along with an SST, lots of MIGs, and others from one man gliders to the first Boeing 367-80.



Waiting for Meg and Rusty to join us today for a night. Meg has conference in DC this week. Jet will meet Barley and test the 5th wheel for lab capacity.



Cheers

The Corn Maze

The path from Lancaster, PA to Washington, DC was supposed to be a simple drive of 180 miles. Little did I know that there were road mazes out there at this time of the year that made your barnyard corn maze look like a beginners navigation class.


What do you do when your GPS, your brain, your map and your wife’s intuition all suggest going a different way then your 50 foot long rig is headed? I throw up. My hands that is. What do you do when you get hopelessly lost in the first 15 minutes in rural PA and you have to get to a major metropolis later in the day? I think about spending the night in a corn field.



That is where we found ourselves the other day. I think it might have been a black hole for the GPS. No matter which way I turned it wanted to go back in a half mile. The map didn’t have the detail we needed and all the Amish horse carriages were going the other way. Confusing to say the least.



The secret for getting re-oriented turns out to just keep going toward roads that have more vehicles on them. Pretty elementary I would say. Anyway, I made a note to not start out again without a firm plan on getting to the next major road. Turns out we went about 20 miles out of our way but that seemed like a hundred and the hour we lost seemed like an eternity.



Happy Straight Trails

Wet and Rainy in PA

Valley Forge

A cold rainy day is the only way to really begin to understand what the Continental Army endured during their winter at Valley Forge, and it was a cold and rainy day we embraced as we arrived at the Valley Forge National Historic site 20 miles west of Philadelphia.

The site is dotted with small clay chinked cabins that were made to resemble the originals built by the army in the fall of 1775. The cold rain and wind were helpful in giving us an idea of the suffering endured by the army over the winter. Of course we had layers of high tech fabrics, umbrellas, and a warm heater in the pickup. So I guess we really didn’t get it.

It was clear though, that if Washington didn’t hold the army together over this winter and spring the independence of our country wasn’t going to happen. A good Prussian, Von Stuben, arrived to train the troops and reinforcements in the spring brought the better trained Continental Army to 20,000 troops and ready to kick some British butt.

More on PA

What is with these early colonials naming their towns? My favorite is the small farming town where we experienced a Dutch PA smorgasbord the other day. The town is called Blue Ball. Complete with the Blue Ball Bowling Alley, the Blue Ball Gas Station, etc..  As cold as it is lately around here, I am beginning to get a sense of why they named the town what they did.  Then there is Intercourse, PA and the Best Western Intercourse Village Inn. Didn’t know there was a best western way of intercourse but you learn something daily on this trip.

The smorgasbord was recommended to us by people in our Lake of the Woods RV park. We were tired and I wasn’t in a cooking mood so we dared it. The place, Shady Maple Smorgasbord, was as huge as were many of its patrons. For 28 bucks the two of us were unleashed on a plethora of cafeteria items, supposedly indicative of Dutch PA cooking. So from this I deduced the Dutch PA folks invented cafeteria food. It was great people watching and we were amazed by the pencil thin lady in booth next to us make dozens of trips to the food bar and consumed 5 plates. Amazing. Suzy thinks she will not eat now for a week and be back next week.

PA turnpikes are something else. So few exits that once you do successfully get off one of them after paying a modest toll, you have to back track over most of the roads in the state to get to your destination. Not real energy friendly.  But a good way to see the backroad areas of this pretty agricultural area.  Lots of Amish farms as noted by the long lines of clothes hanging out and the meticulous grounds, to say nothing of the carriages and the beautiful horses pulling them.  The carriages are fully enclosed with glass windows and blinking red lights behind.  Still see the Amish on their bikes in the rain up the hills.  I feel a bit like a weeny having not ridden my bike in a week cause of the weather.

A Day in Le Fevre Country

We arrived in south central Pennsylvania and established our base camp in Bowmansville just outside Lancaster. We are about midway between Gettysburg and Valley Forge in the heart of Dutch country PA and the Amish country. Great spot to camp on the top of Yellowhill as the leaves desperately try to cling to the branches and preserve the colors for another week.




My distant relative, Isaac Le Fevre arrived here outside Lancaster in 1708 and settled 2000 acres of land that William Penn had gifted him. His family all being killed as martyrs back in Strasbourg, France, young Isaac made the journey alone. Mary Ferree looked out for him and years later he took as his wife, Catherine Ferree, Mary’s daughter. Isaac settled on this land on Pequea Creek just outside Paradise, PA. Here he raised his family and began the long line of U.S. LeFevers that eventually became LaFavers and eventually bequeathed Margaret Georgine La Faver Slining, my mother.



We spent a couple hours at the Lancaster County Historical Society in Lancaster doing research on the LeFevers and on General Reynolds whom we had followed the previous day at the battle of Gettysburg some 60 miles away.



The Historical Society holds the famous LeFevre Family Bible that was printed in 1608 in Geneva in French and which Isaac brought to Pennsylvania when he came over in 1708. There is a story about how Isaac baked the Bible into a loaf of bread to smuggle it out of France as the Hugeunots were being killed when caught with the Bible.



The history behind this story only goes back into the 1930’s and it is presumed that it is just that, a great story. One of the reasons the story doesn’t hold water was evidenced by the size of the Bible. It would take a HUGE loaf of bread to hide this bible. We were shown the Bible by the archivist at the Society, a great gal named Heather who donned her white gloves and showed us the Bible, in its leather cover, and its pages of cotton or linen paper. Heather shows it to any La Faver family that comes by and apparently many of them make the pilgrimage. She knows the history of the Bible by heart and all the interesting footnotes inscribed as well. Heather even showed us where someone had written in English the recipe for a flu tonic. She had made the tonic herself for one of the Ferree family reunions and kept a bottle in the refrigerator at the Society. She brought it out and gave Suzy and me an eye dropper full of this alcohol, honey, vinegar and spice tonic. Suzy and I thought it didn’t taste bad and maybe our secret defense against the H1N1.



Armed with all the new found family history we headed for the pastures around Paradise and Strasbourg Pennsylvania in search of the cemeteries and land of the LeFevres. We found the Le Fevre cemetery outside Paradise next to an Amish school. An old one room school house was just letting out, and the horse carriages were pulling up in the rain and picking up the bonneted girls and straw hat boys after their day of class. The play yard at the school abuts the cemetery. Actually the boy’s outhouse is connected to the fence surrounding the cemetery. Only LeFevres can be buried in this cemetery as evidenced by the headstones, many going back to Isaacs’s sons. There was on recent headstone of a teen age LeFever buried in 2004.



We found Isaacs gravesite in the old Carpenter cemetery near Strasbourg next to the rail road tracks. A steam engine came by as we were arriving; full of tourists and then two minutes later a couple of Amish horse drawn carriages came along. All of this served to put us in the proper historical perspective. Isaac is buried next to his mother in law, Mary Ferree. Couldn’t find his wife, Catherine’s grave.

General John Reynolds and Gettysburg

I have always yearned to see this famous battlefield in Pennsylvania. In 7th grade, Mr. Kryznarich had us memorize the Gettysburg Address and I remember it to this day. When I think of Lincoln the words just start coming to my lips.




As we drove to the visitors center I was immediately drawn in by the countryside. A former infantryman is first always looking for defensive positions when he looks at landscapes. After he has these put away in the back of his mind, he can go on enjoy the sites. The grounds surrounding the visitor center were a good example of the rolling topography of the area and one could see the highground highlights even though high ground in this area is rarely over a couple hundred feet.



The visitors center had a great film on the civil war and the battle of Gettysburg and then you went upstairs to what they called the Cyclorama, which is a recreation of the famous portrait by a French Artist of the battle. It is done in a 360 degree room and the foreground is actually models of the battlefield which blend into the painting as you look out. Amazingly real looking, even hard to tell where the painting ends and the models begin. They narrate the opening days battle using sound and light and it is realistic to whatever degree a real battle can be duplicated without the carnage.



As we went through the museum we found many references to Major General John Reynolds, commander of 1 Corps. A Corps being composed of three divisions which are composed of three or more brigades composed of three or more battalions composed of 4 companies, each made of 4 platoons, each made of 4 squads, you get the idea, it’s a whole lot of men he commanded. And he led his Corps into the battle on the first day July 1, 1863 near McPherson Barn. What is unusual about this? Many things, first of all, to me, a Corps commander on the ground with the troops is amazing. Most of these general guys were in the rear, safe and away from harm. (This is also true of generals in my experience in Viet Nam) Also amazing is that he decided to initiate the battle of Gettysburg at this point. This point allowed him to room to engage, size up the enemy and then slowly move back to the high ground on seminary ridge and then cemetery hill. This plan insured control of roads leading into the battle, buy time to allow the rest of the Union Army to arrive, and more importantly gain the high ground which the Union Army would successfully defend in the next three days.



General Reynolds was shot through the head as he led his troops into battle and we visited the approximate spot on the battlefield where this courageous general fell. The spot is marked by a monument. He was the first general shot in the battle of Gettysburg. He was also a distant relative on my mothers’ side of the family, the LaFavers. Gen. Reynold’s grandmother was the granddaughter of Catherine LeFevre. Catherine was married to Isacc LeFevre who was our ancient ancestor that escaped persecution in France (around Strasbourg) when his parents and 6 brothers and sisters were martyred as Hugeunots. Young Isaac came to Pennsylvania in the late 1600s. (more on Isaac and the rest of the LeFevres in another post)



I can’t tell you how this distant relationship with a brave Union general, brought the battle alive for me. It seemed to breathe air into the history and bring it closer to home. This battle was the deciding battle of the Civil War. Had Lee won the battle the union would most likely have been split and we would be living in a divided country.



It is hard for us to imagine the country at this time, but with the help of good history and many artifacts, the National Park at Gettysburg allows us to go back and dwell on one of the most important moments of our country’s life.

Storm King

While wandering around the Hudson valley on Columbus Day, we came across the Storm King Art Center. Storm King is a 500 acre museum celebrating the relationship between art and nature, which has always been one of my interests. There are over 100 post WWII sculptures by internationally renowned artists scattered artistically over the beautiful landscape. The landscape includes over 80 acres of native grasses which eliminate the need for mowing these areas.




The big treat was finding one of my favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy, works. He built a permanent rock wall called Storm King Wall that weaves itself through the trees and into a pond and out the otherside. Goldsworthy is a British master at natural materials and most of his works are built and photographed and then nature dismantles them. The wall is permanent and was built by a crew of “wallers” brought from England to build this piece. It is featured in his “coffee table books” and has been one of my favorites, so you can imagined how excited I was to “stumble” across it at Storm King. Another noteworthy piece is by Maya Lim, artist of the Viet Nam Wall. She did the Wavefield at Storm King, a field of grass knolls that resemble waves across the land.



Suzy and I agreed that the fall is the perfect time of the year to walk and view the art of Storm King. So if you are ever in Mountainville, NY you owe yourself a tour of this wonderful place.



For a picture of Goldsworthy’s wall go to www.ssawbridge.blogspot.com and see the inset picture.

New York is so Much More then the City

Sitting in our beautiful spot on top of a hill outside Florida, NY, I was thinking how impressed we have been with the state of NY. Beautiful hills and trees, the Hudson which has to be as big as the Colombia, and the cute little villages in the woods. It is knock out gorgeous. This has to be the best week of the year for the color.

First off, our spot on top of a big hill is heavily wooded and home to a dozen wild turkeys which are fun too watch out the window. There are also a dozen big white tails roaming the grounds along with some really small yearlings. The fall winds keep leaves in the air and fresh air in the nostrils. The park is so quiet as it is only 20% occupied and the folks seem to be in the city (60 miles away) a lot. Mostly big motor homes here for some reason. A few big 5th wheelers and one small, scamp like wedgie wedged in between us.

After going up the Hudson to Hyde Park the other day we went down the Hudson to West Point. What beautiful grounds. All buildings made out of the local rock, granite, and everything in order (surprise). The old protestant chapel on the hill was spectacular, with its stained glass windows and gothic architecture. Actually all WP buildings are of the garrison Gothic example. Except for the new library which is the same old rock but a more modern design. Small statute of Gen. Patton outside library. Patton took 5 years to graduate from the 4 year school and explained he had trouble finding the library. So now his statue stands holding binoculars near the library.

While standing overlooking the Hudson at Trophy Point on the cadet campus we were taken by the Battle Monument dominating the spot. The monument holds the names of the West Point grads killed in the civil war. 55 of the 60 major battles of the civil war were led by an officer from the academy on opposing sides. Around the monument are cannons buried barrel down symbolizing never again against each other. Amazingly, the first name I noticed looking at the monument is Col. John Reynolds. He was the first high ranking officer killed in the battle of Gettysburg. He was also a cousin of us La Favers. Brother Esly tells me he was a general but the monument lists him as a colonel. We will research this when we visit the LaFaver cemetery and the “Book of LaFaver” outside Lancaster next week. Anyway, it was exhilarating to have his name staring back at me this hallowed ground.

Our travels into the city have been interesting and a bit hectic. Yes, I broke the cardinal rule, “Do not drive into the city.” Friday we visited the upper Westside and Central Park. Today we did Greenwich Village and SOHO and all their activities of a Saturday morning. Lots of vendors and markets and dogs being walked. Traffic isn’t too bad, as I find the NYers better to drive with then their cousins from Boston. However, as advertised, there is little parking, but we managed to find free parking both days. A miracle!

The Mecca for Democrats in the U.S.

As I approached the visitors center of the FDR Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY recently I met a couple of nice German guys from Hannover. I told them that for an American Democrat, a trip to Hyde Park to see FDR’s roots was equivalent to a journey to Mecca. They were astonished, but I assured them we American Democrats only have to make the pilgrimage once in a lifetime. On the other hand an American Republican’s visit to Hyde Park must be a living hell. What with all the Government programs that FDR initiated proudly being displayed on the walls and display cases, it’s a wonder they can hold their breath long enough to get out. The trip up the great Hudson River Valley with fall’s colors in their splendor and all the beautiful homes and mansions on display was worth it all by itself. The Hudson is just as I had envisioned it, wide with rocky walls and high rolling hills on both sides. Throw in the fall colors and it’s a trifecta. All the wealthy families from America’s early industrialization have large estates along the Hudson, including the Vanderbuilts. The Roosevelts’ wealth originated from a large sugar factory they started in NY city when they came over from Holland. Young FDR was an only child and quite spoiled being home schooled until he was sent off to a private English academy at age 14. Before he left he shot and stuffed over 300 different kinds of birds, many of which are still on display at the Museum of Natural History in NYC. One wall of the mansion has at least 40 from his collection. I think he was a better shot then I as a small boy. His mother dominated his life and could have been forecasted to be the mother in law from hell for poor Eleanor someday. FDR contacted polio as an adult when he attended a boy scout camp. Within 14 days he was unable to walk. He never admitted to anyone he couldn’t walk and made extraordinary preparations so that people visiting so no sign of his crippling illness. He used to drag himself down a beautiful tree lined path to the road daily to build strength. He was fanatical about recovering enough strength to regain walking. And I believe that if he hadn’t got I into politics he would have had the time to rebuild himself. So it was quite a sacrifice he made becoming a politician including assemblyman, governor and president. He married Eleanor who was a distant 5th cousin, Teddy Roosevelt Jr. was her uncle I believe. Anyway both Franklin and Eleanor came from much wealth so it is amazing to me that they became the champions for the less fortunate. I believe it was Eleanor who took the lead in this area and set the example for her husband. She continued her good works long after FDR died in 1945. The first hundred days of FDR’s first presidency set the bar far too high for any succeeding president to measure up to. And he just kept going from there to become one of the most influential presidents in our history. Our tour of the mansion which at only 17 rooms and 3 bathrooms was too small when FDR was born so additions were added making it 37 rooms with 9 bathrooms. Born at the mansion, the bed he was born in is still there. After marrying Eleanor they had 6 children, 5 boys, the oldest always moved to his father’s childhood bedroom. The Roosevelt property at Hyde Park was over 1600 acres and the National Park Service has saved 900 of those acres. They are full of first growth hardwoods and pines, all majestic and carefully planted in significant places. My favorite story about FDR was when the Queen and King of England visited Hyde Park. FDR was a collector and one wall of the house had a collection of political cartoons of England and the monarchy. FDR’s mother told him to take these down before the King and Queen arrived. Like a good son, he failed to do it, and the King of England upon entering the house, made a bee line to the wall with the cartoons where he studied them quietly leaving everyone in suspense. Finally he turned around and said, “You have some that I don’t have Mr. Roosevelt, wonder if I could have a few of those?”

Cape Cod and the Wild Snake Episode

The cape is a great place and we were glad we got to really see it over two weeks in the off season as there is ample evidence of the crowds during the summer. The traffic infrastructure is pretty old so there are backups even in the off season. Beautiful views on both sides and beautiful homes in the ocean view areas. Love the marshes that provide transition between the ocean and the land. Lots of cranberry bogs but couldn’t find one in harvest with the berries floating on top. Will have to look sometime over near Ocean Shores, WA where Ocean Spray has big area of bogs. Had fun visiting and touristing with Judy and Es for a couple days toward the end of our stay. We had also spent a day with the Vermie’s at the beginning of the stay over on Nantucket Island. It wouldn’t be a memorable visit though without the big toilet rinsing caper on the next to the last day of our stay. Suzy had showered and was air drying her hair in her underwear when I was servicing the sewer system. Every so often(once a month) I put a hose down the toilet and flush the system extra clean from the inside. I had brought the hose in and had the wand in the toilet and went outside to turn on the water. When I came back in, Suzy was screaming and water was squirting everywhere, as the wand had malfunctioned and was spraying water everywhere. I grabbed the writhing snake of a hose and tried to choke off the water telling Suzy to go outside and turn it off. She immediately flashed outside, around the trailer, turning it off and flashed back inside with only bra and thong accompanying her. I was wiping up the water when she arrived back in the trailer and she grabbed a towel and helped mop up the water. She said she couldn’t believe it didn’t bother her at the time. None of the neighbors complained either. So we got it all back together and good as new. Threw that leaky wand away too.

JFK Library and Museum

JFK Presidential Library and Museum is located on the campus of University of Massachusetts on Columbia Point in Dorchester. It is a beautiful building with great views of the harbor. It is also nice to be so close to a college campus. The museum is smaller then the other presidential libraries and museums we have visited due, obviously to his short time in office. It was hard not to imagine what the museum might have been full of if the assassination had not occurred. It also left me feeling a bit sad as we walked into the sunlight. What could have been. I found the replica of the oval office interesting as JFK had it mostly decorated with things from friends and family. They meant so much to him. They also had a replica of Bobby’s Attorney General office which was very interesting. Not as much on Jackie and the kids but a nice bit on how she nursed him back from back surgery right after their marriage JFK’s penmanship qualified him to be a doctor, but his wife’s was immaculate and beautiful. It was fun reading some of her letters. I really liked the way they handled the assassination. It was only shown on one wall with 15 small 12 inch tvs playing Walter Cronkite’s commentary. That was it, nothing else and it was very effective. Maybe too effective. The similarities to our current president when it comes to being charismatic were amazing and striking as we listened to some of JFK’s speeches. I think the Obama library and museum someday will finish the abbreviated JFK museum. Next presidential library will be FDR’s in Hyde Park, NY just forty miles where we are camped tonight. Looking forward to FDR’s as his was such a pivotal time for our country. We will also visit West Point that same day. Want to see what all this ring knocking is all about being an OCS product, you know.

The Plantation at Plimouth or Pilgrims survive despite themselves

Plimoth Plantation is located just outside Plymouth, MA and of course near the Plymouth Rock. The later is a bit of litter trap. Years ago I visited the Plymouth rock when in Boston for the marathon. It was covered in trash. Suzy and I visited it again the other day and the trash is now being kept down to a manageable level but people are still throwing their trash into the pit holding the rock. Is it some kinda custom? The rock is really a small boulder and a bit of a disappointment but a must see anyway, if only a chuckle. Now the plantation is a reenactment of the pilgrims village and the Indians camp. It is quite well done. I was impressed that the sign at the entrance gave the Indians (native people) credit for being there for 12000 years when the pilgrims arrived as the Johnny come lately’s. The native people are from the Manosquot tribe and they represent the contingent at the village. Pretty impressive, the same people, the natives are the “actors” in the camp. One guy was burning out a canoe from a large log. Just as they have done for thousands of years. They ran these canoes hundreds of miles north and south along the Atlantic shore fishing and hunting. Two gals, one with a baby were cooking a duck, and making a mush for breakfast. Others were weaving baskets. One complained of tarpel tunnel and I thought that the original natives probably suffered from it as well, but had no idea what it was. The native people and the pilgrims did not trust each other so they welcomed each other in their respective villages mostly so they could keep an eye on the other and get any warning if something was being planned. Give you a bit of a different feeling about Thanksgiving, it was really kind of a spying dinner, keeping eyes on each other. A few hundred yards away and surrounded by a parapet fence was the Pilgrim village complete with actors working on the fence, the fields and cooking. The paths between houses were complete with mussel and egg shells. A red tail hawk perched on a fence nearby, looking for handouts or mice. He was unthethered. One of the actors, about sixty years old, was so in character and so knowledgable it was easy to forget he was acting as he told the tale of the company that invested in the pilgrims trip to the new world and how they gave up on the pilgrims after they didn’t send back enough goods. Course they arrived in the dead of winter with half their number dead or dying but little things like that were not heeded in the analysis of the bottom line of the company. Course the company didn’t send the goods it had agreed to to the pilgrims either, leaving them really in the learch. Our earliest steps toward capitalism almost sunk the whole operation. When asked about freedom of religion, the pilgrims said they would have none of that, as they were tired of all the heretics from Europe, so there was only one way in the new world. Rice was more coveted then meat and in limited supply as it came from England along with things like butter. The guy playing CaptainStandish,was good, he even had real bad teeth. Spoke of Indians with disrespect accurately. We couldn’t help come away from the plantation thinking this grand experiment was very lucky to survive and stick with all the errors, mistakes, and awful behavior of the pilgrims.