Vote early, vote often!

Tue. Nov. 2: Election Day. Since we had voted absentee, we didn’t have voting to worry about. We ate breakfast and hitched up the trailer to the truck down at the Club House where we had parked them. After loading up our stuff we bid a fond good-bye to Chuck and Mary and hit the road for the last time at about 9:30. We weren’t sure if we would stop to camp on the way home or do the whole thing in one day. There had been a heavy frost and the temperature was barely about freezing when we left. But it was sunny and not a bit windy, so it was a fine day for driving in the mountains of Pennsylvania in late autumn. With no hold-ups we decided by lunchtime that we’d go all the way home today, taking short breaks along the way. We stopped in Saline to say a quick hello to my mom and made it home by 10:00. It had been a really nice trip and we felt like we were gone longer than two weeks. We paid from $2.59 to $2.94 for gas, and saw it as high as $3.03 in Bethesda. We averaged 17 miles to the gallon getting to the Parkway, 14 miles per gallon in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and about 16 miles per gallon coming home today. We had seen a lot of family and good friends and all in all are quite content with our second Autumn Adventure of Retirement.

Monday, Monday...

Mon. Nov.1: We didn’t hurry to get on our way this morning. Then, just before we were ready to go, we realized that we had lost ability to connect to our email through ATT. A bit of research showed that we hadn’t paid the bill which had come due while we were gone. Marv paid it with credit card and it was re-established within a few hours. When we hit the road Chuck and Mary first drove us by a Mansion/Inn they had wanted to check out. We found it but they weren’t serving lunch on this Monday and it was early for us to eat anyway so we just drove by to see it. It was a gorgeous day for driving through the lovely and historic countryside. We dropped by the Nissley Vineyard and did their informative self-tour. Nissley’s “Rhapsody in Blue” was featured at the Democratic Convention and dedicated to Barack Obama. Mary and Chuck have three bottles of it in their collection! We followed the tour with a wine tasting and Marv and I ended up buying a case (unheard of for us) of four different wines we liked. Then they took us to their favorite furniture place, George’s Woodworking. Anthony gave us an in-depth tour of the showrooms, workshop, and “museum”. His affection for the late George and the intimacy of the operation were clearly evident, and the workmanship of the pieces is outstanding. We spent a long time there before winding our way back for Chuck and Mary to set-up their Democratic table at their local precinct for tomorrow. We had a quick lunch of Sloppy Joes and then went out again. This time we drove to a favorite toy store of Chuck’s, which features a huge selection of tractors and farm equipment. We then went to the 125 year old Wilbur Chocolate Factory in Lititz. After watching their video on all things chocolate and looking at their modest collection of memorabilia we each bought a bag of their chocolate “Nibs”, yummy little kisses the shape of chocolate chips, but about 3 times bigger. We finished there and walked around the historic town but, since it was after 5:00, most of the shops were closed. They had hoped to eat at the General Sutter Inn, but it was closed on Mondays. Instead we drove home and relaxed a while before going to Gus’s Diner for supper. After that we went home for a hot game of 3-D Blokus, which the engineer in the group (Chuck) lost big time!! It had been a really fun, relaxing day.

Goblins, Alley Cats, Witches on brooms....

Sun. Oct. 31: Happy Halloween!!! We got up in a leisurely manner with the advantage of knowing that Lou was making a big breakfast for us. We could take our time putting things away and packing up the camper. Lou made his special potato pancake and sausage and veggie scrambled eggs. Yummy!! Then we took down the camper and parted ways with our dear friends. We headed over to Hank and Janis’ house, where we hung out and talked while Janis made Eggs Chesapeake and Bilinis for a late lunch. Connor joined us and we ate on the back porch in the warm sunlight. After cleaning up we took Jinx for a long walk over to Connor’s high school so Hank could check the sponsor banners for which he is responsible. Then we circled back through town by the fountains that Jinx loves to romp in. It was 4:30 by the time we got back to the house so we needed to begin our drive to Mount Joy, PA to stay with Chuck and Mary. On our way out we passed the campground we originally had a reservation for and felt vindicated for the change to Lake Fairfax because it would have been farther away and not nearly as convenient. Our usually reliable GPS didn’t have Mount Joy in it so it took a little finagling but we finally managed to get to Chuck and Mary’s around 8:00 or so. After a tour of their lovely new home, chatting a while, and having brownie sundaes, we got to bed about 11:00.

Sanity Prevails!!

Sat. Oct. 30: What a Day!!! We got up and had eggs for breakfast since we had no idea when we’d eat again. While I took a shower, Marv talked to Elliott. They agreed that we would meet at the Wicks’ house and leave for the Metro together by 10:30. That was later than Marv had planned but then we ended up leaving the campsite about 10:30, so it became even later. We drove the 6 of us in our truck to West Falls Church station and encountered a mass of humanity. Thanks to Kathy’s directions we went through the bottom floor of the parking garage and found a spot to park next to the fence, where as other people were filling in the parking garage. We walked over and got in a line that people were saying was about 45 minutes to buy passes. It wound from the station down the block and doubled back on itself. Reconciling ourselves to the wait and treating it as the beginning of the rally, we talked with each other and others in line and enjoyed checking out the posters and costumes. I was in touch with both Ken and Linda through texting so they kept us apprised of what was happening at the Mall. After waiting more like an hour we were getting close to the station building when people who had been in line ahead of us began coming back out of the station saying that the cars were arriving crammed full and that there were thousands of people waiting on the platform, unable to get on the trains. Our plan to go to the other side and ride out and then back in was thwarted when we realized that others closer to town were doing the same thing so those cars were full, too. As we discussed our options we realized that we weren’t even seeing train cars pull up to the station. Just as we entered the station they announced that one of the Mall area stations had been closed because of a suspicious package. By then it was 1:00 or so (the rally had begun at 12:00) and we decided there was nothing to be done but to drive down to the Mall and try to find a parking spot near where Kathy had once worked. Once we got rolling the traffic wasn’t really awful and it felt more productive to be moving. It took a lot of searching but then Marv found a place on 4^th street, about 7 blocks from the Mall. We entered the mass of the crowd right near where the giant stage was set up. We joined the throngs of people and tried to work our way closer to see and hear what was happening. But it soon became apparent that we’d never make it so we headed across Virginia Street to where we could see giant speakers. In an instant we lost Jan and Lou but decided we couldn’t possibly find them so we’d just have to hope they’d meet us back at the truck. Cell phones did us no good at all, since the band width was apparently overwhelmed by too many hits. (We never could get in touch with Hank or Chuck and Mary so we didn’t know what was happening with them.) Luckily, as we walked along in the barely moving crowd, I happened to look up and see Lou and Jan. Our little sextet crossed the sidewalk, went under some trees and found a spot where we could sometimes see a bit of two of the giant screens that were showing what was happening on the stage and we could hear very clearly. As we settled in, Steven Cobert and Jon Stewart were beginning their “debate” on Sanity VS Fear. It was both amusing and provocative as they sparred with words and video but eventually Jon Stewart won and wiped out Cobert and fear. He then spoke inspiringly for several minutes about the meaning of the Rally, John Legend and Roots did a final song, and it was over. But as we made our way back to the truck we were thankful we had made the effort. We left town via the George Washington Parkway with very little delay. Back at their gorgeous house, Elliott had recorded the MSU/Iowa game so we began watching it on his giant projection wall, speeding through the commercials. Sadly, Iowa thoroughly thrashed MSU 39-6. L We ordered Chinese food and had a very enjoyable dinner, talking and laughing until nearly 10:00 when we drove back to the campground.

Go Bethesda Barons!!

Fri. Oct. 29: The wind continued to blow fiercely and the temperature fell to 35°. BRRRR…! We didn’t get out our sleeping bag so I hovered just on the edge of being too cold all night, but not awake enough to really get up and do anything about it. In the morning we turned up the furnace and warmed up enough to get dressed. Then we had hot coffee and oatmeal and warmed up enough to break camp and be on our way. We stopped at the Visitors Center at the main road but found it wasn’t open and just walked through the Gift Shop. Lou and Jan led the way today and were lucky enough to have a black bear cross the road right in front of their van!! Jan tried to point it out to us out the window but we just thought she was showing us the huge boulder beside the road. We had many stops today for overlooks but with temperatures that didn’t get out of the low 40s until we left the Drive, strong winds that continued most of the day, and over 80 miles to cover at 35 miles an hour, we didn’t linger anyplace for long. But we did spend a while at the Big Meadow Visitors Center where they had a very nice display on the history of the Shenandoah National Park and the building of Skyline Drive, including two short videos that we watched. When we finished we drove on up to the historical lodge and had lunch there. Back on the drive we found that at the higher elevations the leaves were pretty much off the trees but as we descended and finally left the park at Front Royal the temperature was in the mid 50s and autumn hadn’t made as much impact. When I could get a signal on my phone we found messages from Kathy Wicks and Hank. Kathy encouraged us to camp at Lake Fairfax County Park near Reston, where they live. This would allow us to avoid driving on the Beltway. So after we did a bit more research on our own, we decided to do just that. Hank told us that Connor (#55) had an important football game at Churchill High School in Potomac and wondered if we wanted to meet then there to watch it. We got registered and set-up at the campground by 6:30. So with an address from Jan and Lou’s Streets and Maps program we entered it in the GPS and drove straight to the game, surprising Hank and Janis very much. Sadly, the Bethesda Barons lost the game. L But we felt great for having made the effort and found them. We had pizza and hot chocolate there and stayed to the end before heading back to the park. We unwound with Jan and Lou for a while and then retired to the camper to write and shower before going to bed around 11:30. We have a big day in front of us tomorrow!!

Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you...

Thu. Oct 28: We awoke today to a breezy and mostly sunny 61°. After a quick bowl of Cheerios and coffee we closed up the camper and drove down to the Peaks of Otter Visitors Center to see their displays. We found out that there was no Wi-Fi at the lodge, and the building isn’t historical, so we didn’t go to visit it at all. Just down the road we took the 1.6 mile hiking trail down to and along the Fallingwaters Cascade. This was a really beautiful and fairly rigorous trail that started out descending steeply to our first glimpse of the water, continued along the side of the cascade for a while, crossed a bridge and headed up the other side of the mountain on a longer but more gradual slope. The vistas were so lovely and the sun filtered through gold, yellow and red leaves. The last part of the trail actually took us above the parking lot level and across Flat Top peak before going back down to the vehicles. We took our time and didn’t push it too much so we were pleasantly tired but not exhausted when we got back. We drove on, enjoying many overlooks and vistas on a splendid day that just got clearer and clearer. About twenty miles after passing the highest point on the Parkway in Virginia (Apple Orchard at 3920 feet), we crossed the James River at the lowest elevation on the Parkway (649 feet). We stopped at the Visitors Center there and bought a National Park Passport that we will try to get stamped from now on, and fill in retroactively for a few spots we have seen since retiring and don’t anticipate getting back to see. Near the Visitor’s Center there is a restored Canal Lock that shows how they tried to fulfill George Washington’s vision of connecting the Atlantic seacoast to the Mississippi River system by way of locks and canals along the Potomac and the James Rivers. The railroad overtook the canals in efficiency before the plan was fulfilled but it was a considerable start on his dream. We enjoyed a picnic on the banks of the James River before climbing back in the vehicles to continue our journey. We continued to stop often to take in the amazing vistas and overlooks and exited the Parkway at the northern terminus about 4:00, driving west about 4 miles to Waynesboro. We found a Kroger and bought some groceries and then went to a McDonald’s for a snack and the Wi-Fi. I quickly updated the blog (without taking time to add pictures), and we each did a short email check and got on the Skyline Drive soon after 5:00. The two drives proved to have many similarities, but the Skyline was a bit busier and, because of an injection of stimulus money, has had a lot of updates recently. There are many more overlooks (75 along its 105 mile length) and things in general are better taken care of. Sunset was fast approaching and we were actually on the western side of the ridge to see that it was going to be very nice. As luck would have it, we came to a turn out just as we needed it. But—ARGH!!—our tax money at work, it was closed. We were relieved that another soon followed and we got some nice pictures there and again after the sun had set completely but the clouds were lit with pinks and purples. We got to Loft Mountain campground after 7:30 and it was quite dark. A herd of 5 deer watched us pull into the campground and then continued their grazing without concern for us. We picked out a large pull through site to share for $7.50 each because of Lou’s Senior Pass. It was right on the edge of the eastern facing ridge, overlooking a valley with twinkling lights far, far below. The Appalachian Trail ran right next to our campsite and in the morning we saw backpackers setting off on their hardy journey. We set-up quickly and decided against cooking our brats on a campfire because the wind was howling outside and the temperature was dropping fast. Instead Lou cooked then in their van and brought them to our camper to eat. We lingered over our simple supper and went to bed about 10:30.