Sunday, October 12
Big V on her last morning at Bethel Outdoor Adventure and Campground, Bethel, Maine...
We had every intention of getting up this morning in time to attend the 9:00 am service at the local Methodist church and then come back to hook up the car and take off in Big V as soon as possible. Those intentions went out the window when we both woke up around 3:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep until after 5:30. When the alarm sounded at 6:00, we turned it off and went back to sleep, waking around 9:00.
It took about an hour to get ourselves ready for the day and Big V and the car ready for travel, and at 9:58, we pulled away from Bethel Outdoor Adventure and Campground and headed east on Highway 26, retracing the route we followed when we left Portland on Tuesday.
It was a beautiful morning (although a little crisp at first), and except for a few miles of bad highway near Oxford, we enjoyed our last views of Maine countryside.
We stopped at Oxford to enjoy a "real" breakfast buffet, It might not have been on our approved diet, but it sure did taste good! Then, it was back on the road to I-95 and south through Portland on the Maine Turnpike, catching the end of the "Fall color season."
Saying "goodbye" to Maine, we crossed over the Piscataqua River and entered New Hampshire...
We then drove a few miles down New Hampshire's Blue Star Turnpike until we reached Greenland and our favorite NH TA Truck Stop, where we pulled off to give Big V a drink early so we wouldn't have to stop in Massachusetts.
Back on the road, we soon crossed into Massachusetts and almost immediately turned off on I-495 to work our way around the Boston area. We had decided early on that we were not going to drive I-95 down through the New York City area...been there, done that, and still have the frazzled nerves to show it.
Instead, we followed I-495 and I-270 down to the Mass Turnpike (which was crowded with holiday weekend traffic today)...
And then across to I-84 South into Connecticut...
Once we entered Connecticut, Barbara took off her photographer's hat and returned to her navigator chores, trying to locate a suitable campground for us to stay in tonight.
Surprisingly, even though Connecticut is prime tourist country, there ave relatively few campgrounds and RV parks along I-84. We did, however find the Wilderness Lake Campground, which looked good on paper and had an opening for tonight, so we set our sights on West Willington, Connecticut.
We thought the road leading to the campground was slow and difficult to negotiate with Big V, but it was a luxury highway compared to the roads in the campground. It wasn't primitive camping, but it wasn't far from it. We got a fairly level site, hooked up the electricity, and settled in for the night, listening intently for the sound of Dueling Banjos that was certain to be close by!
In all fairness to the campground, the rowdiness of the group across the road from us ceased at 10:00 pm, which was the beginning of quiet hours, and we did enjoy a very peaceful night's sleep.
++++++++
Monday, October 13
Today was going to be a l-o-n-g day of travel, so we woke up at 6:00, had a quick breakfast and got ready to move out, taking one last look at where we had spent the night, which was surprisingly beautiful and peaceful in the dawn's early light.
Our route this morning took us west on I-84 through Hartford. Luckily for us, we got there fairly early and it was the Columbus Day holiday, so traffic, even though tight in some places, wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
We continued the drive down I-84 through Waterbury and Danbury, enjoying the beautiful fall scenery.
And then entered New York, staying on I-84, but breaking away from a large part of the commuter traffic that turned south on I-684 toward the city.
Fall and its colors are no respecters of state lines, so we continued to enjoy the foliage as we traveled this first leg through New York.
We also began seeing the ubiquitous "Text Stop" signs that had been so prevalent along the New York Thruway (but that Barbara hadn't been able to shoot).
When we reached the first Text Stop/Rest Area, we decided it was time for a rest break. In addition to being a good place to stop, it was also a good site for more photos. The top photo shows the beginning of a long drop down into the Hudson Valley.
Since we failed to get a photo of Big V at the campground either last night or this morning, we decided that this would be as good a place as any to show her off in a New York setting.
Feeling rested and refreshed, we continued down I-84 into the Hudson Valley and crossed the Hudson River near Newburgh.
The beautiful scenery continued as we neared the end of our journey through New York...
We left New York and entered Pennsylvania as we crossed the Delaware River between Port Jervis, New York, and Matamoras, Pennsylvania. We weren't quick enough with the camera to get a shot of the river, but Barbara did get geared up for shots along the highway.
Note that this part of I-84 was literally cut out of the mountain rock.
We also experienced highway construction/repairs...miles and miles of it!
When we weren't dodging highway department trucks or worrying about concrete barriers, even I got to enjoy the beauty of this part of Pennsylvania.
The beauty of traveling in Big V is that wherever we stop is home, even if it is for just a few minutes and a quick lunch while at a rest area.
The weather and traffic cooperated with us as we continued on I-84 toward Scranton, where we changed to I-81 South through Wilkes-Barre.
We saw some beautiful farmland...
And more mountains and valleys...
Somewhere south if the intersection with I-80, we began climbing mountains and encountering a pretty severe weather change. The fog became so thick in places that it was all we could do to see a car-length ahead of us; and since there was no place to turn off, everyone kept going...and going...and going...some faster than others.
The colors were still out there, but they were definitely muted.
Shortly after reaching the peak, where the fog was thickest, we began a 24-mile descent that gradually took us out of the fog, but into rain.
Finally, with nerves stretched as taut as they could be without breaking, we reached Harrisburg, negotiated the strangest set of highways I've ever encountered, and found our way to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Hesheypark Camping Resort.
After getting registered (the clerk who helped us was a former teacher from Cleburne, Texas...another small world incident since that is home to Barbara's sister and brother-in-law), we parked Big V, got her set up for a couple of nights, and then drove the car to Chocolate World (which looked nothing at all like it did the last time we were there in 1994 (but then, we probably don't look much like we did in 1994, either).
We took the mechanized tour (no more live tours, folks), then did some shopping, shop-looking, and mugging for the cameras.
When we were finished at Chocolate World, we got directions to Karns Supermarket, where we stocked up on some necessary food and miscellaneous items for our next couple of days in Big V. Then, it was back to the RV park to settle down and relax after a very long and sometimes tricky, if not treacherous, day of travel.
++++++++
Tuesday, October 14
We had two goals today. The first, since we were in the campground, was to visit the "general store" to see if there was anything we couldn't live without or something we could use for gifts, what with a major family birthday season, Thanksgiving, and Christmas coming up.
While Barbara was finishing up her shop-looking, I wandered out to the registration area to pick up some material on Gettysburg, which was our second goal. As I browsed through the material (keeping in mind that we would need someplace to eat, and didn't think McDonald's would be appropriate for such an occasion), I saw that one of the major sights in Gettysburg was the Farnham House Dining and Pub. Since one of our sons-in-law is Jim Farnham, I just knew that we had to go there to eat if we could find it. (Now, remember this, dear readers, because it is important to part of the story of today).
We finished our shopping, paid out, and hopped in the car to make our way back through Harrisburg and down Highway 15 to Gettysburg, which we had never visited.
We didn't have a very good map with us, but we followed the signage the best we could, and sure enough, there was the Farnham House...and there was parking just a few yards away...a sure "sign" that we were right where we were supposed to be.
We parked the car, filled the parking meter with quarters, and made our way to the restaurant, stopping to take pictures to send to Jim and Whitney to show them what we had found. (Are you paying attention?)
We went inside to wait to be seated, and when the lady came to show us to our table, I remarked that we had a son-in-law who was a Farnham and thought that maybe he was related in some way to the famous general. She looked at us, nodded pleasantly,and then got us to our table.
It was a busy place, so we had several minutes to look at the menu and decide what we wanted, then even a few more minutes before the waitress came to take our order. After ordering, we looked at some of the literature on the place and Barbara suddenly started laughing. "Jim," she said, tears of laughter starting to show, "This isn't the Farnham House...it's the Farnsworth House!"
I looked down, and sure enough, it said Farnsworth, just bigger than Dallas. How we had misread that all morning was beyond both of us. We even checked the photos that we took, and they showed us our mistake. What made it worse was that we had already text Whitney and Jim and sent the pictures from outside, so we text back and told them what had happened...what a classic boondoggle!!! Jim and Whitney both got a big laugh out of our experience and we did get a very tasty meal (although I don't recommend the Goober Pea Soup except for the fact that I can always say I tried it).
And that, dear readers, is how we began our Gettysburg Adventure. Thankfully, it did get much better.
After eating, and laughing some more about being two people who taught reading in one fashion or another over a combined 73 years, but evidently couldn't read, ourselves, we found our way out to the Gettysburg National Military Park, a series of sights that we couldn't have imagined in ten lifetimes
Many words have been used to describe Gettysburg, the sight of that horrible 3-day Civil War Battle in July, 1863, during which so many men were killed and maimed, with brothers fighting brothers in some cases. But, words are only words, and are so very insufficient to describe the feeling one gets upon entering the battlefield. It is a remarkably peaceful and beautiful area today, a marked contrast to the great and decisive battle that was waged there.
We took many, many photos during the day and have chose the following that stirred particular feelings of amazement, sadness, and even hope that because our nation once recovered from such a terrible rift, it might still be able to meet and overcome the obstacles that it faces more than 150 years later.
The battlefields of Gettysburg...even under leaden skies today, their beauty belies the horror that descended upon them during those three days...
Monuments and Memorials to those who fought here...beautiful and meaningful, but only small tokens to the death and destruction, and what might have been...
The site of Pickett's Charge, where more than 12,000 Confederate soldiers marched shoulder-to-shoulder across the field for a final desperate, almost suicidal, attack on Union forces.
Views from the lookout tower...
Gettysburg in the distance...
Gettysburg National Cemetery...
Big Round Top, where, if the Confederate forces had initially established their presence, the tide of the battle and the war would have turned, and the world would have been changed forever.
And in the midst of all this reflection, a moment of frivolity...
Three final images that particularly stuck us from today...
Fields of battle...
And a peaceful farm home, almost surreal in the center of this great battlefield...
When our tour of the battlefields was over, we returned to the town of Gettysburg to take a short break before returning to Hershey.
And found Ernie's Texas Lunch. Now, we are both native Texans, and I have a brother named Ernie, so we stopped in to say, "Howdy!"
And then it was time to gas up the car and head back north to Hersheypark and start getting Big V ready for a run to Virginia tomorrow.
++++++++
Wednesday, October 15
Big V at Hershey Park Campground Resort...
Today was another travel day, so we got up early, prepared Big V and the car for some highway action, and hit the road once again. For the first part of the trip, we retraced our miles from yesterday as we went through Harrisburg and then took Highway 15 south toward the Maryland border. However, the weather was decidedly different today, with light to heavy rainfall and heavy clouds, so the landscape views were also different.
Oh, yeah...we didn't mention the wind...
As we were driving down Highway 15, I remembered this sign from yesterday's trip and gave Barbara time to shoot it...just had to wonder where we really were.
The farther south we went, the heavier the rain got.
When we crossed into Maryland, we found that, as with scenery, rain is no respecter of state lines and borders.
When the rains lightened a bit, even I got to enjoy some of nature's beauty, even if it was in somewhat subdued light.
We got our first mechanical scare of the trip along U.S 15 in Maryland. We were driving along and all of a sudden we heard, and felt, terrible rhythmic jolts from the area around the right front wheel. It sounded like a lug nut, (or maybe two) had come off and was rattling around in the wheel cover. We pulled over at a rest area to check it, but couldn't find anything wrong, so we continued down the highway, putting up with the noise and going through a mental checklist of all that could happen if we were having a major malfunction.
Suddenly, the noise stopped and the ride smoothed out...and we realized that we had been driving on a concrete highway with expansion joint much closer together than normal. Once back on smooth pavement, everything was good again. We took some deep breaths, said, "Thank you, God," and moved on down the road...still in the rain, but feeling much better!
As we got into the DC area on I-270, the volume of traffic started picking up...
We couldn't help but smile as we came up on this truck and started to pass.
The nicest thing we can say about the DC area is that at least it wasn't raining, and traffic was relatively light (for DC) as we passed through this morning. That isn't to say it wasn't nerve-wracking, but with God placing a hedge of protection around us, we made it unscathed (mostly).
Once we got out of the DC area and into Virginia, the drive smoothed out and the traffic volume lessened, but the clouds got darker and the rain began to get heavier.
We had hoped to visit our friends, Carrie and Norm, but they had prior commitments for the day, so we had to be content with waving to them as we blew past Dale City.
During a brief stop at the Virginia Welcome Center on I-95, we mapped out our course and plans for the remainder of the trip. The next stop, barring something unforeseen, would be for fuel and food at Flying J.
We felt like we were getting back into familiar territory as we crossed the Rappahannock River.
There was no rhyme or reason for the way the storm cells developed, but we definitely got our share of rain this morning!
We soon arrived at Exit 104 and the Flying J Truck Stop. I couldn't help but smile as I saw this sign, remembering fun times with fellow Texas band directors Bill Nelson and Damon Ladd when we worked with the Boy Scout National Jamboree bands at Fort AP Hill in years past.
While I fueled Big V at the Flying J, Barbara went inside and got us a nice hot lunch that we enjoyed in the comfort of our own home on wheels.
And then it was time to make the last leg of the day's journey. With a new storm cell taking dead aim on us as we re-entered I-95 South, I was looking a little grim.
And this is the reason why...
But, we finally ran out of the really bad stuff and made it safely through the highway change to I-295 around Richmond and onto I-64 East to Williamsburg.
We found our temporary home at the Thousand Trails Outdoor World park in Williamsburg, got Big V all set up for a few days, and then drove to the nearest Walmart (about 7 miles away) for supplies. And what do you know...right next door to Walmart was a Sonic, the first we'd seen in a couple of weeks, so of course we had to stop and get our Sonic "fix," before returning to Big V for the night.
++++++++
Safe and sound in Big V at the Thousand Trails Outdoor World near Williamsburg, Virginia,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
