Day 15 – Sandy
In the morning, Sandy told me that she couldn’t warm up all night. She had the chills, a slight fever, and an upset stomach. She had an infection that she was familiar with and knew that she needed some antibiotics. She also wanted to stop at a tire place and get a new tire for her van, so she asked me to drive her to a local medical clinic – in her van.
First, let me say that, compared to my van, hers is a monster. She also has a Roadtrek but it is the largest model they made. It is four feet longer and at least a foot wider. It is also a Chevy; I have a Dodge. Everything was different about this van: its length, its girth, its instrument panel, its field of vision. I felt like I was driving a yacht in uncharted waters.
We managed to find the Medical center without too much problem and as I pulled into a parking spot, scraped one of her storage compartments up against the curb. I felt horrible; she said not to worry about it. We weren’t in the Medical center long when she came out and said that she had to go to the hospital immediately. Her blood sugar was sky high and the medical staff thought that her infection, an abscess on her abdomen, needed surgical attention.
So, with sweat pouring down, I backed her behemoth out of the parking lot and mangled my way through San Antonio’s streets looking for the hospital. I left Sandy off at the Emergency entrance and told her I would be in as soon as I found a parking spot for the beast. The parking lot was FULL. I drove around and around and finally ended up parking in a handicap parking spot. I felt guilty because I am not handicapped, but it wasn’t my van and Sandy did have a handicap sticker, so I took advantage of it. The one spot that was empty was under a low lying tree which I did not really see until I heard the branches scraping the hell out of her roof. Oh, boy. More guilt and stress.
I was impressed with the hospital, or as impressed as anyone can be with any hospital. The staff was far quicker and attentive than any Emergency room staff I’ve seen in any hospital in Connecticut. Perhaps they weren’t; perhaps it was just my dull, denial, “I don’t want to be here doing this” mood. My emotions were all over the board. I didn’t want to leave Sandy laying in an Emergency room in a strange city, but I didn’t want to be there, either. Who does want to be in an Emergency room?
I stayed with her for three hours before she kicked me out and told me to go take care of Hope. When I left, her condition was not good. Her blood sugar was still elevated, her white blood count was elevated, and they didn’t know the prognosis of her abscess. They wanted to do a CAT scan on her to find out if they could just cauterize the sore or if they would need to surgically take care of it.
So, once again, I had to maneuver around San Antonio and find my way back to the campground in Sandy’s behemoth. Before going back to the campground, I stopped at a tire store and got the spare taken care of for her. At least, that would be one less worry for her once she got back on her feet.
When I got back to the campground, I backed Sandy’s van into her spot and backed right up into a tree. Oh, God, I can’t stand it. My nerves are now shot. I have had her van for a total of five hours and have managed to nearly destroy every inch of it. On top of that, I noticed that the brake or parking lights were on. I couldn’t figure out how to turn them off. Her headlight knob on the dashboard is nothing like mine. It had weird pictures. Eventually, I tore her van apart looking for the operator’s manual, getting more stressed by the moment because I couldn’t find it and felt like a voyeur opening all of her drawers and cabinets. I eventually found it in an overhead compartment over the windshield. After all that work, it was no help. I don’t know what I did, but I eventually got the back lights to turn off.
Sandy has a little Chihuahua named Cody. She is a cute little thing and very quiet. When I got back to the campground, I brought Cody into my van but Hope intimidated her and Olly made ugly faces at her, so I brought her back home to her own van. I spent the rest of the day running back and forth between the two vans taking care of everyone.
By bedtime, I felt bad leaving Cody alone in her van, so I brought her in with us and had her sleep next to me. I don’t think I got much sleep that night. Everyone left her alone, but she shook all night. I vaguely remember Sandy telling me that Cody shook all the time. Still, I worried about her and kept wrapping her up in blankets and holding her against me. She eventually stopped shaking when she fell asleep.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
AZ Day 14
Day 14 – Downtown San Antonio
Sandy and I ordered breakfast at the Chuck Wagon here at the KOA. It was a clear day today, but the temps were only in the 50’s and the wind was still brutal. As we brought our breakfast back to her van to eat, I noticed that she had one very dead flat tire. She had far better luck with Good Sam’s Road Service than I did. They showed up within half an hour to replace her tire. The tire was not repairable as the inside sidewall separated, so before leaving San Antonio, she wanted to get a new tire as a spare.
The campground is right on a bus route, so we were able to leave the vans at the campground and take the bus into the city to see The Alamo and the River Walk. I hate Texas; I have hated just about every part of Texas I have ever been in except maybe the Hill Country. San Antonio, as Sandy says, should have some redeeming qualities to it. It does – well, at least downtown San Antonio did. The River Walk was awesome. One other thing I must say about Texas before I forget: their highway bridges are spectacular, especially those at major intersections. They are all bright sand and rust colors with ornate, modern pillars. All through San Antonio and Katy, each pillar had a large bronze Texas star on it. In El Paso, there was one bridge that had pillars made to look like high-rise adobe houses with little windows in them. I so wish most of these sights were not on major highways because I would have loved to take pictures of them. I have to teach Hope or Olly how to use the camera.
We went to The Alamo first. I was disappointed in it at first. What was funny was, we sat through a movie of the history of the Alamo and the guide said, “When I first came here, I was very disappointed, but soon learned of its history and now I work here voluntarily one day a week.” I knew absolutely nothing about The Alamo except that it existed and had some kind of war history. For those of you who do not know, I will try to explain it here as best as possible.
The Alamo building is not a fort. It was originally a home to missionaries and their Native Indian converts built in 1724. . I think, in time, the building was later abandoned. When war broke out between Mexico and Texas, the Texans decided to use it as a fortress and headquarters. They knew that, in the case of battle, it would not sustain any heavy fire power.
War eventually did break out due to General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a dictator currently ruling Mexico. William B. Travis was the commander of the Alamo at the time. He knew he needed more troops to fight off General Santa Anna’s forces, so he sent out pleas all over Texas for help. In all, only 32 men came to help, one group being Davy Crockett the famous frontiersman and congressman from Tennessee with 12 men and also Jim Bowie (the knife maker). There were only 200 men to defend the Alamo against General Santa Anna’s thousands. The siege lasted less than 10 days with all 200 men being annihilated by Santa Anna’s army.
The Alamo building was eventually purchased by the Daughters of The Republic of Texas. It receives no government funding; it is staffed and maintained strictly by volunteers and private donations.
After we toured the Alamo, we decided to see the River Walk and have lunch. As I said, the River Walk was awesome. The walkway is on both sides of the San Antonio River with plants and pools and shops. Many of the restaurants have outside verandas where you can sit and eat right at the river’s edge. There was one Mexican restaurant we wanted to eat at, but it involved climbing a steep set of stairs, crossing the river, and then climbing back down. Sandy was not feeling quite up to par and said she couldn’t handle the staircases, so we ate at a small Mexican restaurant just past the staircase.
I had taco soup for the first time. It was quite good and not anything like I expected. Sandy had a typical Mexican meal which consisted of Spanish rice, refried beans, and an enchilada or something. She shared the rice and beans with me because she was served far too much. They were also excellent.
The back of the Menger Hotel abutted against one of the entrances of the River Walk. I was enthralled by the contrast of the old 19th century brick building against the 20th century modern glass building.
The River Walk with shop fronts A guy feeding pigeons
Another view of the River Walk Weird tree stumps
As nice a day we had, the wind was brutally cold which chilled us both. By 3:00, we decided to head back to the campground. Sandy was chilled to the bone and just wanted to lie down and take a nap before dinner. By dinner time, she still wasn’t feeling quite up to par, so I just chilled for the rest of the night. I walked Hope, caught up on three days worth of my blog although never got to post it because my Wi-Fi connection was useless, then ended the evening by watching a movie. Our plans were to pull out in the morning and start heading out to our destination: Amado, AZ.
Sandy and I ordered breakfast at the Chuck Wagon here at the KOA. It was a clear day today, but the temps were only in the 50’s and the wind was still brutal. As we brought our breakfast back to her van to eat, I noticed that she had one very dead flat tire. She had far better luck with Good Sam’s Road Service than I did. They showed up within half an hour to replace her tire. The tire was not repairable as the inside sidewall separated, so before leaving San Antonio, she wanted to get a new tire as a spare.
The campground is right on a bus route, so we were able to leave the vans at the campground and take the bus into the city to see The Alamo and the River Walk. I hate Texas; I have hated just about every part of Texas I have ever been in except maybe the Hill Country. San Antonio, as Sandy says, should have some redeeming qualities to it. It does – well, at least downtown San Antonio did. The River Walk was awesome. One other thing I must say about Texas before I forget: their highway bridges are spectacular, especially those at major intersections. They are all bright sand and rust colors with ornate, modern pillars. All through San Antonio and Katy, each pillar had a large bronze Texas star on it. In El Paso, there was one bridge that had pillars made to look like high-rise adobe houses with little windows in them. I so wish most of these sights were not on major highways because I would have loved to take pictures of them. I have to teach Hope or Olly how to use the camera.
We went to The Alamo first. I was disappointed in it at first. What was funny was, we sat through a movie of the history of the Alamo and the guide said, “When I first came here, I was very disappointed, but soon learned of its history and now I work here voluntarily one day a week.” I knew absolutely nothing about The Alamo except that it existed and had some kind of war history. For those of you who do not know, I will try to explain it here as best as possible.
The Alamo building was eventually purchased by the Daughters of The Republic of Texas. It receives no government funding; it is staffed and maintained strictly by volunteers and private donations.
My first flowers. Don't they make you feel warm and toasty?
The Alamo Cat
After we toured the Alamo, we decided to see the River Walk and have lunch. As I said, the River Walk was awesome. The walkway is on both sides of the San Antonio River with plants and pools and shops. Many of the restaurants have outside verandas where you can sit and eat right at the river’s edge. There was one Mexican restaurant we wanted to eat at, but it involved climbing a steep set of stairs, crossing the river, and then climbing back down. Sandy was not feeling quite up to par and said she couldn’t handle the staircases, so we ate at a small Mexican restaurant just past the staircase.
This is the Menger Hotel, built in 1859. It is between the River Walk and the Alamo
I had taco soup for the first time. It was quite good and not anything like I expected. Sandy had a typical Mexican meal which consisted of Spanish rice, refried beans, and an enchilada or something. She shared the rice and beans with me because she was served far too much. They were also excellent.
As nice a day we had, the wind was brutally cold which chilled us both. By 3:00, we decided to head back to the campground. Sandy was chilled to the bone and just wanted to lie down and take a nap before dinner. By dinner time, she still wasn’t feeling quite up to par, so I just chilled for the rest of the night. I walked Hope, caught up on three days worth of my blog although never got to post it because my Wi-Fi connection was useless, then ended the evening by watching a movie. Our plans were to pull out in the morning and start heading out to our destination: Amado, AZ.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
AZ Day 12-13
Day 12 – Visiting with Shirley and George
There isn’t much to say about today as I didn’t do much except hang around with Shirley shooting the bull. Because Shirley has six cats, it was best to leave Hope in the van for the day, so I took her for a walk around the neighborhood every couple of hours. The day was cold and windy, but at least it was clear with no rain.
I slept out in the van because Shirley and George’s house was under mass re-construction due to being hit by Hurricane Ike last summer. Although they rolled in a cot from their son’s place which is right across the street and also where I parked the van, they didn’t know where their sheets and blankets were. I told them not to worry because the van was all set up plus I had Hopey and Olly and the furnace to keep me warm.
During the evening before going to sleep, I got involved in watching PBS’s Colonial House on a DVD that Frann lent to me.
Day 13 – Cleaning, Lunch with Leslie, Traveling
I had plans to meet Leslie for lunch at 1:00. Due to a late rising, I didn’t really have much time to pack up, clean up, and finish visiting up. Clean up – oh, boy! I’ve been using Feline Pine kitty litter. It is a new clumping type that is basically sawdust with guar gum added to make it clump. Well, for some reason, Hopey jumped up onto one of the front seats. When I opened the van door, she jumped down right into the litter pan which I put between the two front seats while I’m parked. Litter went EVERYWHERE! It took me an hour to sweep and vacuum out the van.
It was my first gorgeous, gorgeous day – at least for the morning. I’ll get into the afternoon later. The sky was clear; the weather was 60-degrees and there was only a slight breeze. It was a wonderful day to keep both Olly and Hope tied up outside while I cleaned the inside of the van. After the clean-up was done, I brought Olly back into the house one more time to play with Tyler, Sir Charles, and Red – Shirley’s LaPerms. Spot didn’t want to join them; he’s a bit more shy. One thing about LaPerms is they are, for the most part, very laid back cats. They meet each other without spitting hissy fits.
One thing that Shirley told me is that LaPerms tend to stay put. When she brings them to shows, her cats will stay in their crates with the door open. They’ll peak out at the world to see what is going on, but they won’t jump out. Although I don’t show Olly, I have noticed that he does the exact same thing with the van. I can open up the back door and he will remain seated on the bed. I used to be terrified of him jumping out and having to run after him. I am a bit more at ease now. Opening the entry door is another story altogether, though. I do have to watch that he doesn’t walk out ahead of me.
I was going to call Leslie to make sure which Chili’s in Houston we were going to meet at. Do you have any idea how many Chili’s are in the Houston area? More than I can count. As it turned out, I got out of Shirley’s almost too late and what happened? I ended up at the wrong Chili’s. By the time Leslie figured out a better place to meet that was somewhere between the two of us, we were only half an hour later than we originally planned to meet.
Leslie is a co-worker that I used to work with at AT&T. She is the database administrator for a system I was the local support DBA for in Connecticut. Three years ago, when I came out to Houston to spend Christmas with Shirley and George, I was surprised to find out that Leslie lived and worked in the same town that Shirley and George lived in. This world is so small!
By the time we finished lunch, it was later than I wanted to leave the Houston area. I figured I would be in San Antonio way after dark. Damn! Another day of driving and setting up after dark. A storm front came through while traveling the 3 ½ hours from Houston to San Antonio. I had to pull off the highway twice because the rain came down so hard. It was bad enough that the wind was brutal the whole trip, but the driving in torrential rains forced me to stop for close to an hour.
The sunset at about 6:30 was beautiful. Because the storm front was on the horizon, the setting sun lit the sky in a horizontal ribbon of red and orange. I pulled into the KOA in San Antonio at 7:30. Sandy was already here. She, also, was forced to pull off the road for over an hour to wait out the storm.
We strategized about what our plans would be for tomorrow while snacking over tea and ice cream, then hit the sack for the evening.
There isn’t much to say about today as I didn’t do much except hang around with Shirley shooting the bull. Because Shirley has six cats, it was best to leave Hope in the van for the day, so I took her for a walk around the neighborhood every couple of hours. The day was cold and windy, but at least it was clear with no rain.
This is George and their largest cat, Boss. He is 31 lbs.
I woke up late, we had breakfast around 10:00, chatted and caught up with each other all day, went out to dinner during the Super Bowl, chatted a bit more after dinner while I caught up with some of my e-mail, then went to bed.I slept out in the van because Shirley and George’s house was under mass re-construction due to being hit by Hurricane Ike last summer. Although they rolled in a cot from their son’s place which is right across the street and also where I parked the van, they didn’t know where their sheets and blankets were. I told them not to worry because the van was all set up plus I had Hopey and Olly and the furnace to keep me warm.
During the evening before going to sleep, I got involved in watching PBS’s Colonial House on a DVD that Frann lent to me.
This is a picture of a house in Shirley and George's neighborhood. I took the picture because of the POSTED sign. I don't get it. Posted for what? No Solicitors? Watch Out For Dog? No Trespassing? Nothing -- just POSTED
Day 13 – Cleaning, Lunch with Leslie, Traveling
I had plans to meet Leslie for lunch at 1:00. Due to a late rising, I didn’t really have much time to pack up, clean up, and finish visiting up. Clean up – oh, boy! I’ve been using Feline Pine kitty litter. It is a new clumping type that is basically sawdust with guar gum added to make it clump. Well, for some reason, Hopey jumped up onto one of the front seats. When I opened the van door, she jumped down right into the litter pan which I put between the two front seats while I’m parked. Litter went EVERYWHERE! It took me an hour to sweep and vacuum out the van.
It was my first gorgeous, gorgeous day – at least for the morning. I’ll get into the afternoon later. The sky was clear; the weather was 60-degrees and there was only a slight breeze. It was a wonderful day to keep both Olly and Hope tied up outside while I cleaned the inside of the van. After the clean-up was done, I brought Olly back into the house one more time to play with Tyler, Sir Charles, and Red – Shirley’s LaPerms. Spot didn’t want to join them; he’s a bit more shy. One thing about LaPerms is they are, for the most part, very laid back cats. They meet each other without spitting hissy fits.
One thing that Shirley told me is that LaPerms tend to stay put. When she brings them to shows, her cats will stay in their crates with the door open. They’ll peak out at the world to see what is going on, but they won’t jump out. Although I don’t show Olly, I have noticed that he does the exact same thing with the van. I can open up the back door and he will remain seated on the bed. I used to be terrified of him jumping out and having to run after him. I am a bit more at ease now. Opening the entry door is another story altogether, though. I do have to watch that he doesn’t walk out ahead of me.
I was going to call Leslie to make sure which Chili’s in Houston we were going to meet at. Do you have any idea how many Chili’s are in the Houston area? More than I can count. As it turned out, I got out of Shirley’s almost too late and what happened? I ended up at the wrong Chili’s. By the time Leslie figured out a better place to meet that was somewhere between the two of us, we were only half an hour later than we originally planned to meet.
Leslie is a co-worker that I used to work with at AT&T. She is the database administrator for a system I was the local support DBA for in Connecticut. Three years ago, when I came out to Houston to spend Christmas with Shirley and George, I was surprised to find out that Leslie lived and worked in the same town that Shirley and George lived in. This world is so small!
By the time we finished lunch, it was later than I wanted to leave the Houston area. I figured I would be in San Antonio way after dark. Damn! Another day of driving and setting up after dark. A storm front came through while traveling the 3 ½ hours from Houston to San Antonio. I had to pull off the highway twice because the rain came down so hard. It was bad enough that the wind was brutal the whole trip, but the driving in torrential rains forced me to stop for close to an hour.
The sunset at about 6:30 was beautiful. Because the storm front was on the horizon, the setting sun lit the sky in a horizontal ribbon of red and orange. I pulled into the KOA in San Antonio at 7:30. Sandy was already here. She, also, was forced to pull off the road for over an hour to wait out the storm.
We strategized about what our plans would be for tomorrow while snacking over tea and ice cream, then hit the sack for the evening.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
AZ Day 11
Day 11 – The Louisiana Bayou and The Hell Hole Called Houston
This morning was spent exploring the Fairview-Riverside State Park in the Louisiana Bayou. It was also warm enough to finally de-winterize the Van of Discovery. Yeah! I have running water once again.
I walked Hope along the river and also down the “Swamp Trail” which was a boardwalk through a swampy area along side the camping area. There was something about the smell or sound or something of the area that made Hope very skittish and a bit difficult to walk her. With time, she settled down.
This morning was spent exploring the Fairview-Riverside State Park in the Louisiana Bayou. It was also warm enough to finally de-winterize the Van of Discovery. Yeah! I have running water once again.
I was able to leave the park at 10:00. Why is it I cannot get out any earlier than that? The drive through Louisiana was uneventful. Man, is Louisiana a long state. It took four hours to get to the Texas border. What began as a rather cool, raw, wet day turned into a beautiful one. Just after the LA/TX border, I pulled into a rest area. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temps reached into the 60’s. The wind, though, was fierce. I had a lot of trouble keeping the van on the road.
Before leaving the park, I checked the air pressure in the tires and found that all four were at least five lbs over-inflated. I let the air out to their normal 50 front/65 rear and then I had trouble keeping the van on the road. I will probably never know if it was just the wind conditions or if the tire air pressure had something to do with it, too. I may just inflate the tires back to 55/70 and hope for as windy a day somewhere to see if the added air in the tires makes any difference.
I neglected to look at a map to see where I was going, instead, relying on my GPS. For some reason, my brain insists that Houston is located in TX further north. Every time I come this way, I think that once I hit the TX border, I have to drive north. Unfortunately, the true reality is that I-10 comes into Houston from the due East. My destination was Spring, which is north of Houston. If I had looked at a map earlier, I could have gotten off I-10 in Beaumont and taken Route 90 across.
Just after I realized my mistake, I decided to take Rt 61 north and hit Rt 90 a few miles west of Beaumont. I got off the highway and apparently missed a turn that was not marked. I ended up driving along side I-10 for five miles. Just as I reached FM 563, which would also take me north to Rt 90, I saw that I-10 was at a dead stop and half of the traffic got off onto FM 563 with me.
It was 13 miles from the I-10/FM 563 intersection to the FM 563/Rt 90 intersection. That 13 miles took 90 minutes with the average driving speed of 5 mph. To make matters worse, there is NOTHING between those two intersections. After an hour, I was finally able to pull into the parking lot of a Baptist Church so I could relieve my poor bladder and make something to eat. It certainly is nice to have your own traveling bathroom, but you still have to find a place to pull off the road if you are both pilot and co-pilot. I really need to teach Hope to run to the back of the van and grab me food whenever I am hungry.
It was getting dark as I hit the Rt 90 intersection and I still had 45 miles to go. What caused the 13 mile/90 minute back-up? Two traffic officers who seemed like they were not communicating with each other. I think the traffic would have flowed much better if they just let the traffic light do its job.
As I reached the intersection, cop #1 was just standing in the middle of the road. Cop #2 had his hand up in the air and was turned looking at traffic coming from my right. I didn’t know if I was supposed to go or stop as he wasn’t looking in my direction nor was his arm doing anything but hanging high over his head. When he finally did turn around to look at me, he gave a filthy look and yelled at me to move. Cop #1 turned around to look at Cop #2 and just shook his head.
I turned onto Rt 90 and miraculously traffic was flowing. In fact, most of the traffic completely disappeared for five whole minutes – then WHAM! Dead stop again. My stupid GPS had me zigzag through tight residential streets, but as I looked up the road back toward Rt 90, at every intersection, there was a police cruiser with its lights flashing.
When I finally reached FM1960, where I had a good 30 mile drive in front of me, the sun set. I felt like all of Houston was on this horrid road. It was dark, the area was congested, the road had three lanes then two lanes then four lanes then two lanes then three lanes and inevitably, as much as I tried to stay in the middle lane, I’d end up in a right lane that was ending. The congestion of stores and lights and weaving traffic and idiots trying to cross six lanes of highway got my stress level to full-blown panic. Once off FM1960, the GPS, which I forgot to reset back to “fastest, most popular route,” had me again zigzagging through one tight neighborhood after another.
At one point I came out of a residential area to another major highway. The angle of the road made visibility of on-coming traffic to the right difficult and I was to make a left-hand turn onto a busy road. Instead, I turned right, crossed the highway, and turned into a parking lot, at which point I started screaming at the top of my lungs at the stupid GPS. I wanted so bad to rip the damned thing off the dashboard and throw it down the length of the van, but I needed it and I needed my back windshield intact. It was now 7:30. I had been on the road 9 ½ hours. I was tired, hungry, totally stressed and blind. I had one more mile to go when Shirley called to find out where I was.
Shirley and George waited until I got there to have dinner. We went out to a Mexican restaurant. The food was very good. It wasn’t Tex-Mex; it was true southern Mexican cuisine which isn’t as hot as your traditional northern Mexican or Tex-Mex food.
Shirley and George finally got to meet Olly. They have four LaPerms: Silver, Tyler, Sir Charles, and Red. Olly is an orange LaPerm like Red is, except Red has a large lion mane around his neck. Tyler is a brown tabby as is Sir Charles, except that the only thing long and curly on Sir Charles is his tail – and I don’t mean the fur – I mean the tail itself. Sir Charles curls his tail around body. Silver is black and white with a pure white mane and white toes. They also have two other cats: Tex, who is plain ol’ red tabby and Boss, a 31 lb black & white tuxedo. Yes, you read that right; Boss is a 31 lb cat. I tried to take a picture of him, but it didn’t come out too good because he wouldn’t stay still.
Tomorrow I will be having lunch with an old work mate and then will be meeting my fellow Connecticut traveler, Sandy, in San Antonio.
Friday, February 05, 2010
AZ Day 10
Have I been gone ten days already? Have I had thoroughly crappy weather for ten days? Yup. Today was another one. It rained off and on all day long. It has rained so much here, that all of the rivers are over their banks.
It was a good day for traveling. Today was a long haul – about 360 miles. I made pretty good time, though, as I kept my stops light and quick and stayed away from department stores. I left Pat and Eddie’s exactly at 10:00 and arrived in Madisonville, LA at 5:00. Again, I stayed on the Interstates, so nothing exciting happened on the trip. It was probably one of the most boring travel days so far. I really don’t like taking the Interstate because you miss so much of the heart of what America is – the small towns, the local attractions, the little things that make you want to jump out of the vehicle and take a picture.
I think it is Madi Gras time; I am not far from New Orleans. I am staying at the Fairview-Riverside State Park in Madisonville, LA. As I came through town, there were many vendors pushing carts full of hats, balloons, neon necklaces, and beads. People had their chairs out by the side of the road and I realized that a parade must be coming through soon. I wanted to set up camp first, to make sure I could even get a site. I contemplated going back into town to watch the parade, but it would have meant driving through all that traffic again, finding a parking space, then afterward, fighting traffic again and having to set up camp in the dark. I hate setting up camp in the dark. I decided to stay put and relax instead.
I have another long driving day tomorrow with the worst part being driving through Houston, TX just before rush hour. I hope I can get my butt out of here at a decent hour in the morning so driving through Houston won’t be so bad. So far, I managed to bypass NYC, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Driving through Raleigh and Charlotte, NC and also Birmingham, AL were not bad at all. Atlanta, GA, on the other hand, was atrocious, and I drove through that at 3:00 in the afternoon. I don’t even want to try to imagine what rush-hour traffic is like in Atlanta.
It was a good day for traveling. Today was a long haul – about 360 miles. I made pretty good time, though, as I kept my stops light and quick and stayed away from department stores. I left Pat and Eddie’s exactly at 10:00 and arrived in Madisonville, LA at 5:00. Again, I stayed on the Interstates, so nothing exciting happened on the trip. It was probably one of the most boring travel days so far. I really don’t like taking the Interstate because you miss so much of the heart of what America is – the small towns, the local attractions, the little things that make you want to jump out of the vehicle and take a picture.
I think it is Madi Gras time; I am not far from New Orleans. I am staying at the Fairview-Riverside State Park in Madisonville, LA. As I came through town, there were many vendors pushing carts full of hats, balloons, neon necklaces, and beads. People had their chairs out by the side of the road and I realized that a parade must be coming through soon. I wanted to set up camp first, to make sure I could even get a site. I contemplated going back into town to watch the parade, but it would have meant driving through all that traffic again, finding a parking space, then afterward, fighting traffic again and having to set up camp in the dark. I hate setting up camp in the dark. I decided to stay put and relax instead.
Street vendor in Madisonville:
I have another long driving day tomorrow with the worst part being driving through Houston, TX just before rush hour. I hope I can get my butt out of here at a decent hour in the morning so driving through Houston won’t be so bad. So far, I managed to bypass NYC, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Driving through Raleigh and Charlotte, NC and also Birmingham, AL were not bad at all. Atlanta, GA, on the other hand, was atrocious, and I drove through that at 3:00 in the afternoon. I don’t even want to try to imagine what rush-hour traffic is like in Atlanta.
AZ Day 9
A day with Pat and Eddie. First, I want to say how great Eddie looks. The first time I came down to visit with them, Eddie had been very ill and was recently hospitalized. I think the second time I came down, Eddie just had his knee operated on. Since then, he lost over 60 lbs and started walking every day. I am amazed and elated at how great he looks. And, because he is nearly back to his old self again, he is also king of the kitchen. As he called it, it’s his playground. If my pictures make me look fat, it’s because Eddie fed me too much good ol’ homemade southern cooking.
We were going to go to the park where Eddie takes his walks, but it poured all day. This made my walks with Hope about as quick as we could possibly make them, which also ended up being about once every two hours to keep her from pee’ing on Pat and Eddie’s carpeting. Sigh!
Pat’s neighborhood is overrun with stray dogs and/or owned dogs that roam. Some are quite menacing – especially the St. Bernard/GP monster. They roam the neighborhood in packs of three or more and, I noticed on nearly every one of our walks, BU made sure he was between us and them. He would chase them off barking at them, but never, ever left our side. He truly is an amazing little creature. Unfortunately, he was nowhere around when we were taking all of our goodbye pictures. I’ll have to ask Pat to take a picture of him for me.
Basically, the day consisted of eating, crashing in the living room shooting the breeze and watching TV, and taking Hope out for her many, many quick walks. Although we were stuck indoors because, at times it rained so hard it sounded like the roof was going to cave in, I had a good visit with Pat and Eddie. I brought Olly into the house during my stay. He stayed in the bedroom and ventured out into the hallway once or twice, especially when I went into the bathroom which was right next to the bedroom, but he wasn’t too keen on staying in the living room with us. He did OK, though, for a guy who is usually afraid of his own shadow.
Hope's usual spot sleeping on the sofa. Eddie is in the background:
Hope waiting for a snack -- the snack being a few day's old baby squirrel that Pat is rehabbing:
We were going to go to the park where Eddie takes his walks, but it poured all day. This made my walks with Hope about as quick as we could possibly make them, which also ended up being about once every two hours to keep her from pee’ing on Pat and Eddie’s carpeting. Sigh!
Pat’s neighborhood is overrun with stray dogs and/or owned dogs that roam. Some are quite menacing – especially the St. Bernard/GP monster. They roam the neighborhood in packs of three or more and, I noticed on nearly every one of our walks, BU made sure he was between us and them. He would chase them off barking at them, but never, ever left our side. He truly is an amazing little creature. Unfortunately, he was nowhere around when we were taking all of our goodbye pictures. I’ll have to ask Pat to take a picture of him for me.
Basically, the day consisted of eating, crashing in the living room shooting the breeze and watching TV, and taking Hope out for her many, many quick walks. Although we were stuck indoors because, at times it rained so hard it sounded like the roof was going to cave in, I had a good visit with Pat and Eddie. I brought Olly into the house during my stay. He stayed in the bedroom and ventured out into the hallway once or twice, especially when I went into the bathroom which was right next to the bedroom, but he wasn’t too keen on staying in the living room with us. He did OK, though, for a guy who is usually afraid of his own shadow.
Hope's usual spot sleeping on the sofa. Eddie is in the background:
Hope waiting for a snack -- the snack being a few day's old baby squirrel that Pat is rehabbing:
Two pictures of Pat and Hope:
AZ Day 8
Between getting to bed well after midnight, my brains swimming, and Bailey’s alarm clock waking me up at 5:30 a.m., I didn’t get much sleep. Add on top of that a heavy breakfast and it was a tough day of driving.
Before leaving Gastonia, Cathy and Kevin brought me to IHOP for breakfast. I ordered poached eggs which make our waiter do a double-take. I guess people don’t order poached eggs in the south too often. He teased me and assumed that I would order hash browns instead of grits, but I surprised him and ordered the grits.
It was after 10:00 by the time I hit the road. The sun actually poked its head out for a bit and it finally got warm – like close to 50 degrees. By lunchtime, I was dragging. Between the heavy breakfast, lack of sleep, and the warm sun beating down through the windshield, I could barely keep my eyes open. I stopped at a Cracker Barrel and tried to take a quick nap to ward off the heavy sleepiness. I don’t know if I actually fell asleep or not, but was awakened by the phone ringing. It was Pat wondering about when I would be arriving. I thought I was behind schedule and wouldn’t get there until around 6:00, but as I crossed into Alabama, I also crossed into the central time zone, so I gained an hour’s travel time.
To try to keep awake and alert, I rented a book-on-CD from Cracker Barrel. It is a Dean Koontz story, so it should keep me pretty riveted. I drove the Interstates the whole day, so there is nothing to report as far as scenery or exciting stops.
I got to Pat’s at exactly 5:00. I think it was raining. If it wasn’t, it was pretty wet there. If it didn’t rain that night, it certainly did the whole next day and three-quarters of the way into Friday. Did I say yet that I don’t think I’ve had one decent day of weather since I left home? As I pulled into Pat’s driveway, I was greeted by BU (pronounced Boo) and I laughed out loud at the site of him. BU, which stands for Butt Ugly, is the worst mess of mixed dog breeds you’d ever want to see. His legs are too short, his head is too big, his nose is too big, but he is the sweetest little guy you’d ever want to meet and, as we found out, extremely protective. More on that tomorrow.
Before leaving Gastonia, Cathy and Kevin brought me to IHOP for breakfast. I ordered poached eggs which make our waiter do a double-take. I guess people don’t order poached eggs in the south too often. He teased me and assumed that I would order hash browns instead of grits, but I surprised him and ordered the grits.
It was after 10:00 by the time I hit the road. The sun actually poked its head out for a bit and it finally got warm – like close to 50 degrees. By lunchtime, I was dragging. Between the heavy breakfast, lack of sleep, and the warm sun beating down through the windshield, I could barely keep my eyes open. I stopped at a Cracker Barrel and tried to take a quick nap to ward off the heavy sleepiness. I don’t know if I actually fell asleep or not, but was awakened by the phone ringing. It was Pat wondering about when I would be arriving. I thought I was behind schedule and wouldn’t get there until around 6:00, but as I crossed into Alabama, I also crossed into the central time zone, so I gained an hour’s travel time.
To try to keep awake and alert, I rented a book-on-CD from Cracker Barrel. It is a Dean Koontz story, so it should keep me pretty riveted. I drove the Interstates the whole day, so there is nothing to report as far as scenery or exciting stops.
I got to Pat’s at exactly 5:00. I think it was raining. If it wasn’t, it was pretty wet there. If it didn’t rain that night, it certainly did the whole next day and three-quarters of the way into Friday. Did I say yet that I don’t think I’ve had one decent day of weather since I left home? As I pulled into Pat’s driveway, I was greeted by BU (pronounced Boo) and I laughed out loud at the site of him. BU, which stands for Butt Ugly, is the worst mess of mixed dog breeds you’d ever want to see. His legs are too short, his head is too big, his nose is too big, but he is the sweetest little guy you’d ever want to meet and, as we found out, extremely protective. More on that tomorrow.
AZ Day 7
The next morning, it was still raining. As Hope and I walked around the campground trying to find out which building was the office, I ran into a guy attempting to shovel ice away from one of the buildings. It wasn’t labeled, so I asked him if this building was the office and told him that I pulled in late last night and wanted to pay for my stay. He told me that he was the one to pay. The owner of the place recently had back surgery and needed help, so the owner asked this guy, who full-timed, if he’d come help. He laughed and said, “Yeah, we came up from Florida to live in this mess (meaning the weather) until the owner recuperates.” I paid my monstrously high fee of $12.50 and walked back through the rain, ice, and slush to the van.
Today’s destination was Cathy & Kevin’s in Gastonia. It was supposed to be approximately a 3 ½ hour drive, so I had lots and lots of time. Again, I think I left around noon – maybe 11:00. I avoided the interstate and took Rte 24/27 that crossed NC from Cameron, about 30 miles south of where I was staying, to Charlotte. It was a great route with almost no traffic.
I drove past acres and acres of areas that were clear cut of trees, then more acres of areas where southern pine trees were replanted. In fact, a good lot of North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi are the same. I drove through the Uwharrie National Forest and saw a sign that said something about some Indian mound. Unfortunately, the sign didn’t say how many miles down the road it was. I turned off Rte 24/27 and drove about 5.5 miles, never seeing another sign about the Indian mound, so I turned around and went back. Now as I look at the map, it was the Town Creek Indian Mound and looks to be about 10 miles from Rt 24/27. I really should look at the map more often.
The area I drove through was a community for pottery makers with many signs pointing to pottery stores or exhibits. I knew that to have such a large gathering of pottery makers, there must be a lot of clay in the area, but I couldn’t tell by looking at the terrain. Finally, I drove past a newly made driveway and could see the deep red clay of the earth, which confirmed the reason for the high concentration of potters.
Just beyond the Uwharrie National Forest, I drove over the Pee Dee River. I don’t know where this river starts or where it ends, but every single time I come out this way, I end up crossing the Pee Dee River somewhere. It was the deepest brownish/red I had ever seen of a river. Just past the bridge, I was able to turn off into a residential area and get out of the van to take some pictues. The road was high above the river and I discovered a path that lead down to the river’s edge, so I took Hopey for a quick walk.
Today’s destination was Cathy & Kevin’s in Gastonia. It was supposed to be approximately a 3 ½ hour drive, so I had lots and lots of time. Again, I think I left around noon – maybe 11:00. I avoided the interstate and took Rte 24/27 that crossed NC from Cameron, about 30 miles south of where I was staying, to Charlotte. It was a great route with almost no traffic.
I drove past acres and acres of areas that were clear cut of trees, then more acres of areas where southern pine trees were replanted. In fact, a good lot of North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi are the same. I drove through the Uwharrie National Forest and saw a sign that said something about some Indian mound. Unfortunately, the sign didn’t say how many miles down the road it was. I turned off Rte 24/27 and drove about 5.5 miles, never seeing another sign about the Indian mound, so I turned around and went back. Now as I look at the map, it was the Town Creek Indian Mound and looks to be about 10 miles from Rt 24/27. I really should look at the map more often.
The area I drove through was a community for pottery makers with many signs pointing to pottery stores or exhibits. I knew that to have such a large gathering of pottery makers, there must be a lot of clay in the area, but I couldn’t tell by looking at the terrain. Finally, I drove past a newly made driveway and could see the deep red clay of the earth, which confirmed the reason for the high concentration of potters.
Just beyond the Uwharrie National Forest, I drove over the Pee Dee River. I don’t know where this river starts or where it ends, but every single time I come out this way, I end up crossing the Pee Dee River somewhere. It was the deepest brownish/red I had ever seen of a river. Just past the bridge, I was able to turn off into a residential area and get out of the van to take some pictues. The road was high above the river and I discovered a path that lead down to the river’s edge, so I took Hopey for a quick walk.
Despite all the stops I made and having a leisurely hour-long lunch, I still arrived in Gastonia about 20 minutes earlier. As it was, I was at Cathy’s pretty close to an hour before she got home. It was great seeing Cathy, Kevin, and Bailey again. Later, Jess and her boyfriend, Jesse, came over. They forced me to watch three hours of “Lost,” as it was the first show of the last season. The first two hours were recaps of the previous five seasons’ shows. I figured out why the show is called “Lost.” It has nothing to do with what happened to the people on the island; it is a description of what the viewer experiences. I may just have to rent the series now so I can figure out what happened. There were so many twists to the plot with far, far too many characters for my piddly little brain to keep track of.
AZ Day 6
Day 6
Where am I and where did I leave off? I have at least three days to catch up on, so I may end up leaving out some stuff. I left Rob and Gabrielle’s somewhere around noon-ish. I can’t seem to get my act in gear and get out too much earlier than 10:00 a.m. If I took the Interstate, my GPS had me go all the way back up to Chesapeake, VA. Instead, I decided to cross straight over to I-64. The GPS had me take roads I had no business taking that van on. Many were back county roads that were curvy and not plowed. Why is it that when the road was nice and straight, it was also clear, but when a rather sharp curve came up, the road was covered with snow and ice???
This was a traveling day. There isn’t much to report on except some of the sites. Because of the road conditions, I couldn’t chance pulling off to the side to take pictures of some of the things I saw. I assumed the shoulders would either be too icy or too mucky to risk getting the van stuck.
The only wildlife I saw were birds and dead deer – lots and lots of dead deer. I saw a great blue heron standing in a ditch not more than 20 feet off the side of the highway. I also passed a field of geese. There had to have been 100 or more geese in this field. Expecting them to be Canada geese, I was surprised to see that they were white. Could they have been snow geese?
Most of the day was pretty uneventful. My destination was the Popular Point Campground which is part of the Jordan Lake Recreation area outside of Raleigh, NC. I got to the campground just before dark, only to find out that it was closed. This is not only a campground that was open all year; it also had the hours posted on the main gate: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It was only 5:30. Now, it was getting dark and I had absolutely no idea where I was going to stay. I pulled out my 2-inch thick Passport America campground directory to see if I could find a campground close by. I came to the horrible realization that, although the directory had a lot of information about its campgrounds, including their e-mail and web addresses, there was NO phone numbers listed. Who would put together a campground directory and not list phone numbers of the establishments????? I was lucky that I had a “smart phone” with Internet access and I was even luckier that I had service.
The nearest campground was about 20 miles away. As I was getting directions from the owner, he said, “Be careful on such-and-such road. I was just told it is very icy.” Just great! Just what I need. Driving in the dark in an unfamiliar area on icy roads – and, it was raining. The owner wasn’t kidding about the icy roads. Luckily, I got behind a tractor trailer. I figured, if I was going to go sliding off the road, so was he and I also figured, if he was safe, so was I.
We both turned down the road that the campground was on. About a mile in, he turned off into the lot of some kind of refinery. The place was all lit up and looked like a space shuttle launch with all its Erector Set-type construction. The campground was about a mile past the refinery. It was dark. The road into the campground was so icy, I couldn’t tell what was road and what wasn’t. I ended up pulling into the first spot I could find and figured I’d worry about paying for the site in the morning. All I cared about was having electricity so I could have my electric blanket on.
Pictures of Hope and Olly in their typical riding positions. Notice Olly's extended arm:
Where am I and where did I leave off? I have at least three days to catch up on, so I may end up leaving out some stuff. I left Rob and Gabrielle’s somewhere around noon-ish. I can’t seem to get my act in gear and get out too much earlier than 10:00 a.m. If I took the Interstate, my GPS had me go all the way back up to Chesapeake, VA. Instead, I decided to cross straight over to I-64. The GPS had me take roads I had no business taking that van on. Many were back county roads that were curvy and not plowed. Why is it that when the road was nice and straight, it was also clear, but when a rather sharp curve came up, the road was covered with snow and ice???
This was a traveling day. There isn’t much to report on except some of the sites. Because of the road conditions, I couldn’t chance pulling off to the side to take pictures of some of the things I saw. I assumed the shoulders would either be too icy or too mucky to risk getting the van stuck.
The only wildlife I saw were birds and dead deer – lots and lots of dead deer. I saw a great blue heron standing in a ditch not more than 20 feet off the side of the highway. I also passed a field of geese. There had to have been 100 or more geese in this field. Expecting them to be Canada geese, I was surprised to see that they were white. Could they have been snow geese?
Most of the day was pretty uneventful. My destination was the Popular Point Campground which is part of the Jordan Lake Recreation area outside of Raleigh, NC. I got to the campground just before dark, only to find out that it was closed. This is not only a campground that was open all year; it also had the hours posted on the main gate: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It was only 5:30. Now, it was getting dark and I had absolutely no idea where I was going to stay. I pulled out my 2-inch thick Passport America campground directory to see if I could find a campground close by. I came to the horrible realization that, although the directory had a lot of information about its campgrounds, including their e-mail and web addresses, there was NO phone numbers listed. Who would put together a campground directory and not list phone numbers of the establishments????? I was lucky that I had a “smart phone” with Internet access and I was even luckier that I had service.
The nearest campground was about 20 miles away. As I was getting directions from the owner, he said, “Be careful on such-and-such road. I was just told it is very icy.” Just great! Just what I need. Driving in the dark in an unfamiliar area on icy roads – and, it was raining. The owner wasn’t kidding about the icy roads. Luckily, I got behind a tractor trailer. I figured, if I was going to go sliding off the road, so was he and I also figured, if he was safe, so was I.
We both turned down the road that the campground was on. About a mile in, he turned off into the lot of some kind of refinery. The place was all lit up and looked like a space shuttle launch with all its Erector Set-type construction. The campground was about a mile past the refinery. It was dark. The road into the campground was so icy, I couldn’t tell what was road and what wasn’t. I ended up pulling into the first spot I could find and figured I’d worry about paying for the site in the morning. All I cared about was having electricity so I could have my electric blanket on.
Pictures of Hope and Olly in their typical riding positions. Notice Olly's extended arm:
The sun setting near Jordan Lake:
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
AZ Day 5
Day 5 – Digging out and the New Relatives
Pre-note: I'm sorry if I got some names mixed up. I had a lot thrown at me in a short amount of time. If they're wrong, I'll straighten them out later.
I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to get out today because of yesterday’s storm. Gloucester got somewhere between six and ten inches. It was fluffy snow so I tried to figure out what I had to at least scrape off Karen’s front steps. The only thing I found that might work was my mini dust pan. Well, mini or not, it not only cleared off Karen’s front steps, it also dug out the van. I brushed off as much snow from the van as I could and got it dug out along with digging out two tire paths to the driveway. I also broke my trusty little “shovel” halfway through the job, but managed to finish it, anyway.
After all that was done, I e-mailed those who were important and said I was hitting the road but that it would take at least two hours to pack the van back up again and take a much-needed shower. I wondered if it was a lost cause to even take a shower as I figured that after I pulled the van out of the driveway and got it onto the clean main road, I’d only need another one.
By 2:00, I had showered and the van was packed. So, gathering all the umph I had in me, and trying to be as careful as possible, I backed the van out of its parking spot. I didn’t have any traction so I had to try a couple of times. My biggest mistake was pulling out straight backwards. The driveway is at an angle to the way I parked. I don’t exactly know what I drove up onto and I am very lucky that I didn’t get stuck in the snow. I also came extremely close to hitting a tree. Luckily I missed this one by about three inches. It appeared out of nowhere in my driver’s side window.
My first stop was Wal*Mart to purchase a new electric blanket and mini-dust pan. I later cursed myself for wasting so much precious time because I wouldn’t need either for another day or two. As it turned out, I had no time on Monday to purchase them and I did need the electric blanket on Monday night.
Destination today: Moyock, NC, to meet Bob DeCastillia – a somehow relation to my father or grandfather, yet I did not know that relationship yet. It was a 90 minute drive and it took me only two hours. Imagine that! The roads were horrendous. Newport News didn’t plow at all. The roads were part packed snow, part six inches of slush, part six inches of water, and part cleared. The major highways were completely clear, but some of the ramps were not touched. Amazingly, the only time I felt the van slip at all was on a very small patch of black ice.
Bob’s home is amazing. It is on the corner of two or three canals that lead out to the river and onto the Outer Banks. The home is raised on stilts, so the view is awesome, even though it looks out over other homes. They have a dog named Rattles, who was very sweet and to whom Hope took too much of a liking to. She thoroughly pissed me off by trying to mount Rattles every 30 seconds. That was nearly 18 hours of telling Hope, NO! and separating her from poor Rattles. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to be passive or aggressive. She either had her rump in Rattle’s face or she was trying to mount him. We’d throw them outside so that they could romp and play and get all that energy out, and they’d sit there and stare at each other. Dogs!
Bob had half of his family over so we could meet. First, of course, was his wife, Gabrielle. His two brothers couldn’t make it because of the bad road conditions and his son, Danny, got the message too late. Nancy (who first contacted me two years ago) was there with her boyfriend, Terry, and their two kids Andrew (or was that Anthony?) and Zack. Bob’s son, Rob, was there with his wife, G(?), who is from Bulgaria.
After dinner and after everyone went home, Bob brought out all the pictures he had and some of the family tree/genealogy information that someone else had given him. The relation: our grandfathers, Walter and Carlton, were brothers, which made our fathers, Carlton and Everett, first cousins, which makes Bob and I second cousins or 1st cousins removed.
After looking through many, many pictures, I came across one of a little boy with two adults. I said, “That little boy looks like my father.” As I picked up the picture and looked at the grown-ups, I thought that the male looked like my grandfather. I turned the picture over and there it was: Uncle Carlton, Aunt Jeanette, and Carlton’s son. Later, we found a picture of my father in his Navy uniform. The relationship is solidified.
So, I found yet one more reason why not having my own computer sux. I had recently scanned lots of pictures, many of which were of my grandparents and my parents. If I had my own computer, I could have shown those pictures to Bob and Gabrielle. I tried to have Frann e-mail them over, but my PC, I fear, has completely bit the dust.
Through conversation we found out that both of our fathers Everett and Carlton, served in the Navy. They both played the harmonica and accordion. Everett also played the ukulele and my Dad played the guitar. They were both artists and they were both only children. We also noticed some genetic resemblances such as thin legs, blue eyes, and barrel chests.
We wondered why the two brothers (grandfathers) were not close. The only thing I ever remember of my grandfather’s family was that they lived with his sister Jean (Jeanette) in Florida when they retired and became snowbirds. They even spelled their names differently. Carlton spelled his as I do, with the small d and apostrophe (de’Castillia), whereas Walter spelled his with a capital D and no apostrophe (DeCastillia). We sort of came to the conclusion that my grandfather may have been the black sheep of the family – excommunicated because he eloped and hitchhiked across the country with his new wife. Although I am not sure, because I was never really certain whether my grandparents were married or not, there is a possibility that they had to get married because she was pregnant with my father. They told me they got married on August 4th, the day after my grandmother turned 18. My father was born the following April. Not to bring up my family’s dirty laundry, but the simple fact that he may have been excommunicated from the family could be because his actions disgraced his parents. I never knew their religious background or upbringing, either, because neither my grandparents nor my father were religious. They were Episcopalian.
The saddest part, I found, was that Bob grew up in Long Island; I grew up in the New Haven area. We were, literally, arm's length apart and never knew it. I have no recollection of my father ever mentioning, let alone seeing, any of his cousins, aunts or uncles.
I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to building a closer relationship with Bob and Gabrielle. It feels good to have paternal family connections again, especially since I lost that side of the family when my grandmother passed away. Coincidentally, after feeling rather separated from my mother’s family, I am slowly reconnecting with my cousins. Although we’ve always been a close family with annual traditions, because of marriages and living so far away most of my adult years, I missed a lot of those gatherings – like the annual spaghetti picnic and New Year’s Eve. So I am now not only reconnecting with my maternal side of the family, I also have a new connection with my paternal side. I am beginning to feel whole.
One last thought – no pictures. I never once thought to take pictures of Bob and his family or his home or his dog. How stupid of me! I don’t know why I even bother to carry a camera.
Pre-note: I'm sorry if I got some names mixed up. I had a lot thrown at me in a short amount of time. If they're wrong, I'll straighten them out later.
I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to get out today because of yesterday’s storm. Gloucester got somewhere between six and ten inches. It was fluffy snow so I tried to figure out what I had to at least scrape off Karen’s front steps. The only thing I found that might work was my mini dust pan. Well, mini or not, it not only cleared off Karen’s front steps, it also dug out the van. I brushed off as much snow from the van as I could and got it dug out along with digging out two tire paths to the driveway. I also broke my trusty little “shovel” halfway through the job, but managed to finish it, anyway.
After all that was done, I e-mailed those who were important and said I was hitting the road but that it would take at least two hours to pack the van back up again and take a much-needed shower. I wondered if it was a lost cause to even take a shower as I figured that after I pulled the van out of the driveway and got it onto the clean main road, I’d only need another one.
By 2:00, I had showered and the van was packed. So, gathering all the umph I had in me, and trying to be as careful as possible, I backed the van out of its parking spot. I didn’t have any traction so I had to try a couple of times. My biggest mistake was pulling out straight backwards. The driveway is at an angle to the way I parked. I don’t exactly know what I drove up onto and I am very lucky that I didn’t get stuck in the snow. I also came extremely close to hitting a tree. Luckily I missed this one by about three inches. It appeared out of nowhere in my driver’s side window.
My first stop was Wal*Mart to purchase a new electric blanket and mini-dust pan. I later cursed myself for wasting so much precious time because I wouldn’t need either for another day or two. As it turned out, I had no time on Monday to purchase them and I did need the electric blanket on Monday night.
Destination today: Moyock, NC, to meet Bob DeCastillia – a somehow relation to my father or grandfather, yet I did not know that relationship yet. It was a 90 minute drive and it took me only two hours. Imagine that! The roads were horrendous. Newport News didn’t plow at all. The roads were part packed snow, part six inches of slush, part six inches of water, and part cleared. The major highways were completely clear, but some of the ramps were not touched. Amazingly, the only time I felt the van slip at all was on a very small patch of black ice.
Bob’s home is amazing. It is on the corner of two or three canals that lead out to the river and onto the Outer Banks. The home is raised on stilts, so the view is awesome, even though it looks out over other homes. They have a dog named Rattles, who was very sweet and to whom Hope took too much of a liking to. She thoroughly pissed me off by trying to mount Rattles every 30 seconds. That was nearly 18 hours of telling Hope, NO! and separating her from poor Rattles. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to be passive or aggressive. She either had her rump in Rattle’s face or she was trying to mount him. We’d throw them outside so that they could romp and play and get all that energy out, and they’d sit there and stare at each other. Dogs!
Bob had half of his family over so we could meet. First, of course, was his wife, Gabrielle. His two brothers couldn’t make it because of the bad road conditions and his son, Danny, got the message too late. Nancy (who first contacted me two years ago) was there with her boyfriend, Terry, and their two kids Andrew (or was that Anthony?) and Zack. Bob’s son, Rob, was there with his wife, G(?), who is from Bulgaria.
After dinner and after everyone went home, Bob brought out all the pictures he had and some of the family tree/genealogy information that someone else had given him. The relation: our grandfathers, Walter and Carlton, were brothers, which made our fathers, Carlton and Everett, first cousins, which makes Bob and I second cousins or 1st cousins removed.
After looking through many, many pictures, I came across one of a little boy with two adults. I said, “That little boy looks like my father.” As I picked up the picture and looked at the grown-ups, I thought that the male looked like my grandfather. I turned the picture over and there it was: Uncle Carlton, Aunt Jeanette, and Carlton’s son. Later, we found a picture of my father in his Navy uniform. The relationship is solidified.
So, I found yet one more reason why not having my own computer sux. I had recently scanned lots of pictures, many of which were of my grandparents and my parents. If I had my own computer, I could have shown those pictures to Bob and Gabrielle. I tried to have Frann e-mail them over, but my PC, I fear, has completely bit the dust.
Through conversation we found out that both of our fathers Everett and Carlton, served in the Navy. They both played the harmonica and accordion. Everett also played the ukulele and my Dad played the guitar. They were both artists and they were both only children. We also noticed some genetic resemblances such as thin legs, blue eyes, and barrel chests.
We wondered why the two brothers (grandfathers) were not close. The only thing I ever remember of my grandfather’s family was that they lived with his sister Jean (Jeanette) in Florida when they retired and became snowbirds. They even spelled their names differently. Carlton spelled his as I do, with the small d and apostrophe (de’Castillia), whereas Walter spelled his with a capital D and no apostrophe (DeCastillia). We sort of came to the conclusion that my grandfather may have been the black sheep of the family – excommunicated because he eloped and hitchhiked across the country with his new wife. Although I am not sure, because I was never really certain whether my grandparents were married or not, there is a possibility that they had to get married because she was pregnant with my father. They told me they got married on August 4th, the day after my grandmother turned 18. My father was born the following April. Not to bring up my family’s dirty laundry, but the simple fact that he may have been excommunicated from the family could be because his actions disgraced his parents. I never knew their religious background or upbringing, either, because neither my grandparents nor my father were religious. They were Episcopalian.
The saddest part, I found, was that Bob grew up in Long Island; I grew up in the New Haven area. We were, literally, arm's length apart and never knew it. I have no recollection of my father ever mentioning, let alone seeing, any of his cousins, aunts or uncles.
I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to building a closer relationship with Bob and Gabrielle. It feels good to have paternal family connections again, especially since I lost that side of the family when my grandmother passed away. Coincidentally, after feeling rather separated from my mother’s family, I am slowly reconnecting with my cousins. Although we’ve always been a close family with annual traditions, because of marriages and living so far away most of my adult years, I missed a lot of those gatherings – like the annual spaghetti picnic and New Year’s Eve. So I am now not only reconnecting with my maternal side of the family, I also have a new connection with my paternal side. I am beginning to feel whole.
One last thought – no pictures. I never once thought to take pictures of Bob and his family or his home or his dog. How stupid of me! I don’t know why I even bother to carry a camera.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
AZ Day 4
Day 4 – Also known as the most boring day on earth.
I suppose I am thankful that I have a place to hunker down during this storm. Bobby used to tell me all the time that they haven’t had snow here since he moved down nearly 10 years ago -- and told me this story. When he and Kerry finally moved into their home and had their first snowfall, Bobby was out in the driveway breaking his back to get it all shoveled. As he was doing so, he noticed that not one of his neighbors was out shoveling their driveway. He soon found out why. By 1:00, all the snow had melted. After that, he mailed his snow shovel back to Connecticut. Well, this ain’t one of those normal Virginia Coast storms. I just took Hope out and I am guessing that there is at least six inches, possibly more and it is not supposed to stop until after midnight. It is deep enough to make it very difficult to walk in. Something tells me I won’t be leaving here until Monday. It is not supposed to get above freezing until Tuesday. Didn’t George Washington cross the Potomac in a storm like this?
This is a picture out Karen’s window at about 8:00 this morning:
The last time I stayed here, I nearly froze to death because the building has, what I assume is, a cement slab foundation. The floor is brutal cold. Last month, I had to get up in the middle of the night and drag my electric blanket in from the van. It still took all night and half the next day before my “bed” got warm. This time I was smart. I brought in the electric blanket first. But alas, it did not work. Again, I had yet another sleepless night because I could not warm up. I fear my little electric throw bit the dust.
This morning I rearranged the blankets so that the electric one was not directly on the carpeting. It’s been on all day and there is still no heat coming out of it. I guess I will have another sleepless night unless I sleep with all my clothes on.
Every day I find more and more things that I cannot do without my computer. Yesterday's and today's dilemma: no TV. I brought my TV receiver, but I did not bring the software disk. So yesterday, I spent a good lot of the day looking for freebe software that I could download so I can watch TV. Today, I have the software, but no antenna. I also cannot seem to hook up Frann and Lane's loaner computer to Karen's Internet, so I am using Karen's very slow, very odd laptop. And the electricity went out at least four times this morning.
Since Karen has not moved in yet, there is no food, no cooking utensils, no sofa to sit on, no TV. At least I have Internet service to keep me occupied. I tried to make breakfast this morning, which consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast. Apparently I didn't bring in everything that I needed from the van the first three trips out there, because as I tried to make breakfast, I realized there was no butter or oil and no toaster. I couldn't find the small frying pan I gave her last month. I found a very large, deep set frying pan in the oven. When I pulled it out, water splashed all over the floor. Will someone please tell me why you would leave a pan full of water in the oven????
I managed to make my eggs and semi-toasted my bread in the pan after the eggs were cooked. I then found out Karen has no eating utensils. I found a plastic fork, knife, and soup spoon and I melted the fork while trying to remove the bacon from the pan.
I am trying to do everything in slow motion today to fill in the day. Hope and Olly are snuggled up on my makeshift bed, with Olly lying across my legs. I may follow in their activities and take another nap. Bed time is a long ways away. Karen was going to stop in if the roads weren't too bad; but they are, so I doubt if we'll get together this trip. At least I have a semi-warm roof over my head and I am not out camping in this crap.
I dragged in about as much stuff from the Van of Discovery as I’m going to bring in. One of my friends e-mailed me and said, “Can you drive the van of discovery into the house? It might be easier.” What can be better than a friend with a sense of humor to cheer you up? If I bring in any more of my stuff, it will take me a full day to pack the van back up again.
To keep myself occupied, I took three naps, checked my e-mails, wrote up the last three days’ adventures for my blog, had fifteen cups of tea, walked Hope twice, and finally got my computer hooked up to Karen’s Internet access point. It is now nearly 6:00. I don’t know where the day went.
This is a picture of the Karen’s driveway at 4:00 this afternoon:
I suppose I am thankful that I have a place to hunker down during this storm. Bobby used to tell me all the time that they haven’t had snow here since he moved down nearly 10 years ago -- and told me this story. When he and Kerry finally moved into their home and had their first snowfall, Bobby was out in the driveway breaking his back to get it all shoveled. As he was doing so, he noticed that not one of his neighbors was out shoveling their driveway. He soon found out why. By 1:00, all the snow had melted. After that, he mailed his snow shovel back to Connecticut. Well, this ain’t one of those normal Virginia Coast storms. I just took Hope out and I am guessing that there is at least six inches, possibly more and it is not supposed to stop until after midnight. It is deep enough to make it very difficult to walk in. Something tells me I won’t be leaving here until Monday. It is not supposed to get above freezing until Tuesday. Didn’t George Washington cross the Potomac in a storm like this?
This is a picture out Karen’s window at about 8:00 this morning:
The last time I stayed here, I nearly froze to death because the building has, what I assume is, a cement slab foundation. The floor is brutal cold. Last month, I had to get up in the middle of the night and drag my electric blanket in from the van. It still took all night and half the next day before my “bed” got warm. This time I was smart. I brought in the electric blanket first. But alas, it did not work. Again, I had yet another sleepless night because I could not warm up. I fear my little electric throw bit the dust.
This morning I rearranged the blankets so that the electric one was not directly on the carpeting. It’s been on all day and there is still no heat coming out of it. I guess I will have another sleepless night unless I sleep with all my clothes on.
Every day I find more and more things that I cannot do without my computer. Yesterday's and today's dilemma: no TV. I brought my TV receiver, but I did not bring the software disk. So yesterday, I spent a good lot of the day looking for freebe software that I could download so I can watch TV. Today, I have the software, but no antenna. I also cannot seem to hook up Frann and Lane's loaner computer to Karen's Internet, so I am using Karen's very slow, very odd laptop. And the electricity went out at least four times this morning.
Since Karen has not moved in yet, there is no food, no cooking utensils, no sofa to sit on, no TV. At least I have Internet service to keep me occupied. I tried to make breakfast this morning, which consisted of eggs, bacon, and toast. Apparently I didn't bring in everything that I needed from the van the first three trips out there, because as I tried to make breakfast, I realized there was no butter or oil and no toaster. I couldn't find the small frying pan I gave her last month. I found a very large, deep set frying pan in the oven. When I pulled it out, water splashed all over the floor. Will someone please tell me why you would leave a pan full of water in the oven????
I managed to make my eggs and semi-toasted my bread in the pan after the eggs were cooked. I then found out Karen has no eating utensils. I found a plastic fork, knife, and soup spoon and I melted the fork while trying to remove the bacon from the pan.
I am trying to do everything in slow motion today to fill in the day. Hope and Olly are snuggled up on my makeshift bed, with Olly lying across my legs. I may follow in their activities and take another nap. Bed time is a long ways away. Karen was going to stop in if the roads weren't too bad; but they are, so I doubt if we'll get together this trip. At least I have a semi-warm roof over my head and I am not out camping in this crap.
I dragged in about as much stuff from the Van of Discovery as I’m going to bring in. One of my friends e-mailed me and said, “Can you drive the van of discovery into the house? It might be easier.” What can be better than a friend with a sense of humor to cheer you up? If I bring in any more of my stuff, it will take me a full day to pack the van back up again.
To keep myself occupied, I took three naps, checked my e-mails, wrote up the last three days’ adventures for my blog, had fifteen cups of tea, walked Hope twice, and finally got my computer hooked up to Karen’s Internet access point. It is now nearly 6:00. I don’t know where the day went.
This is a picture of the Karen’s driveway at 4:00 this afternoon:
AZ Day 2-3
I don’t remember what happened. I will try to backtrack my brain to see if I can recall all the nothing that has happened in the last three days.
For those of you who have not followed me in previous travels with the Van of Discovery, we seem to have a bit of a problem getting anywhere. I could tell you that it is because of all the rest stops I make or that it is because of all the U-Turns I make or that it is because of the 45 minute stops in Wal*Mart or Target or a grocery store, but that would make far too much sense. First, I need to backtrack to bring you up to the real reason why it takes me three times longer than the average traveler to get anywhere.
I have an AKAI flat-screen TV at home. I got a good deal on it because it was the floor model at RadioShack. I have had it for three years, so it may be four years old or older. Still, that really doesn’t seem to be so old as compared to TV’s that used to last 15-20 years. The video card seems to be going on it as recently I’ve had strips of hieroglyphic messages pop up across the screen. They started in black and white and then in color. With time, they actually started to form real words, but not complete sentences yet. With time, I realized that the messages were coming across the screen via one TV station – ThiS network. Oh, BTW, I don’t have cable or satellite; I have the dreaded over-the-air, new-and-improved digital signal captured with bunny ears. After watching these messages for weeks and watching improvement in the messages for weeks and realizing that they were being transmitted and that the problem was not my video card, I came to the only likely conclusion that I was being contacted by aliens.
Now, back to the Van of Discovery and my three-times longer traveling problem: Yesterday, I drove from Midlothian, VA to Gloucester, VA – a 90 mile drive over thruways that should have taken me no more than two hours. The only stop I made was for gas and I managed to miss rush-hour traffic through Richmond. I swear I left Midlothian at 3:30. I wanted to make sure I got to Gloucester while it was still light because parking the van in Karen’s driveway can be rather tedious in the dark. I don’t know how it happened, but I arrived at Karen’s three hours later, pulling into her driveway at 6:30. I came to the realization last night that, the aliens trying to communicate to me through my TV were not telling me that they were coming for a visit; they were telling me that they had plans to come pick me up. Last night, I lost time because I was abducted by the aliens and it happens every time I get into that van. It is the only explanation as to why it takes me three times longer than it should to get to any destination.
So, getting back to where I left off with Day 1, I left Stevensville, MD at around 9:30. I had 160 miles to go and figured it would take me about 3 hours. I pulled into Midlothian at 2:30 in the afternoon. Another alien abduction must have happened, because my 3 hour drive turned into 5 hours. Midlothian is the location for the company I’ve been working for the past three months. I stopped in to see Dave and called Bobby who was working at home that day. Other than that, I didn’t get any work done. I was too wiped from lack of sleep the night before and a grueling five-hour drive. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, the wind was brutal. Roadtreks on Dodge chassis’ have a history of road sway, especially in high winds. I just spent big bucks having new shocks put on the van which helped immensely, but did nothing to help with the high-wind conditions. I had all I could do to keep the van on the road that day. I had five hours of white-knuckle driving.
My plans were to stay at the Kings Dominion campground just north of Richmond that night. It was about a 45 minute drive away. I suppose it is just as well I didn’t go there as I know it would have taken me 2 hours. Anyway, Bobby said it was too far away and that I should go to Pocahontas State Park which was only 18 miles away. So, I drove the 18 miles, which took about 45 minutes, only to find that the park was open but the campgrounds were closed. Now, I had nowhere to stay. What to do???? I drove back to Midlothian and set up camp in the parking lot at work. I was going to be there the next day anyway.
I took Hope for a walk, managed to wash my hair with about two cups of water, made dinner, and settled in to watch a movie before going to sleep for the night. When I went to bed, it was 60 degrees out with a slight, balmy breeze. When I woke up the next morning, it was below 30. The heat came on so often that I got worried about draining my battery too far, so I got up at 5:30 and started the generator. This makes sleepless night #2 – too much noise between the furnace, traffic, a freight train somewhere, and in the wee hours of the morning, the sound of the generator popping and gurgling underneath my head.
Although I was at work a full day, I didn’t get more than four hours work done. I had a meeting with Dave and Bob, had another meeting with Dave regarding a lost paycheck, caught up with four days worth of e-mail, wrote one or two e-mails out, and filled out my timesheet – which I forgot to hand in at the end of the day. The rest of the day was spent virus scanning Frann and Lane’s PC to make sure I didn’t infect it with my timesheet and looking for software so I could watch TV.
I will continue with Day 4 – The storm and the most boring day on earth. Oops, I forgot. I have one picture. Just above Williamsburg on I-64 was a car fire.
For those of you who have not followed me in previous travels with the Van of Discovery, we seem to have a bit of a problem getting anywhere. I could tell you that it is because of all the rest stops I make or that it is because of all the U-Turns I make or that it is because of the 45 minute stops in Wal*Mart or Target or a grocery store, but that would make far too much sense. First, I need to backtrack to bring you up to the real reason why it takes me three times longer than the average traveler to get anywhere.
I have an AKAI flat-screen TV at home. I got a good deal on it because it was the floor model at RadioShack. I have had it for three years, so it may be four years old or older. Still, that really doesn’t seem to be so old as compared to TV’s that used to last 15-20 years. The video card seems to be going on it as recently I’ve had strips of hieroglyphic messages pop up across the screen. They started in black and white and then in color. With time, they actually started to form real words, but not complete sentences yet. With time, I realized that the messages were coming across the screen via one TV station – ThiS network. Oh, BTW, I don’t have cable or satellite; I have the dreaded over-the-air, new-and-improved digital signal captured with bunny ears. After watching these messages for weeks and watching improvement in the messages for weeks and realizing that they were being transmitted and that the problem was not my video card, I came to the only likely conclusion that I was being contacted by aliens.
Now, back to the Van of Discovery and my three-times longer traveling problem: Yesterday, I drove from Midlothian, VA to Gloucester, VA – a 90 mile drive over thruways that should have taken me no more than two hours. The only stop I made was for gas and I managed to miss rush-hour traffic through Richmond. I swear I left Midlothian at 3:30. I wanted to make sure I got to Gloucester while it was still light because parking the van in Karen’s driveway can be rather tedious in the dark. I don’t know how it happened, but I arrived at Karen’s three hours later, pulling into her driveway at 6:30. I came to the realization last night that, the aliens trying to communicate to me through my TV were not telling me that they were coming for a visit; they were telling me that they had plans to come pick me up. Last night, I lost time because I was abducted by the aliens and it happens every time I get into that van. It is the only explanation as to why it takes me three times longer than it should to get to any destination.
So, getting back to where I left off with Day 1, I left Stevensville, MD at around 9:30. I had 160 miles to go and figured it would take me about 3 hours. I pulled into Midlothian at 2:30 in the afternoon. Another alien abduction must have happened, because my 3 hour drive turned into 5 hours. Midlothian is the location for the company I’ve been working for the past three months. I stopped in to see Dave and called Bobby who was working at home that day. Other than that, I didn’t get any work done. I was too wiped from lack of sleep the night before and a grueling five-hour drive. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, the wind was brutal. Roadtreks on Dodge chassis’ have a history of road sway, especially in high winds. I just spent big bucks having new shocks put on the van which helped immensely, but did nothing to help with the high-wind conditions. I had all I could do to keep the van on the road that day. I had five hours of white-knuckle driving.
My plans were to stay at the Kings Dominion campground just north of Richmond that night. It was about a 45 minute drive away. I suppose it is just as well I didn’t go there as I know it would have taken me 2 hours. Anyway, Bobby said it was too far away and that I should go to Pocahontas State Park which was only 18 miles away. So, I drove the 18 miles, which took about 45 minutes, only to find that the park was open but the campgrounds were closed. Now, I had nowhere to stay. What to do???? I drove back to Midlothian and set up camp in the parking lot at work. I was going to be there the next day anyway.
I took Hope for a walk, managed to wash my hair with about two cups of water, made dinner, and settled in to watch a movie before going to sleep for the night. When I went to bed, it was 60 degrees out with a slight, balmy breeze. When I woke up the next morning, it was below 30. The heat came on so often that I got worried about draining my battery too far, so I got up at 5:30 and started the generator. This makes sleepless night #2 – too much noise between the furnace, traffic, a freight train somewhere, and in the wee hours of the morning, the sound of the generator popping and gurgling underneath my head.
Although I was at work a full day, I didn’t get more than four hours work done. I had a meeting with Dave and Bob, had another meeting with Dave regarding a lost paycheck, caught up with four days worth of e-mail, wrote one or two e-mails out, and filled out my timesheet – which I forgot to hand in at the end of the day. The rest of the day was spent virus scanning Frann and Lane’s PC to make sure I didn’t infect it with my timesheet and looking for software so I could watch TV.
I will continue with Day 4 – The storm and the most boring day on earth. Oops, I forgot. I have one picture. Just above Williamsburg on I-64 was a car fire.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
AZ Day 1
I left Frann’s somewhere around 9:30. I wanted to make sure I missed the rush-hour traffic that goes south to Stamford. I had a couple of stops to make, anyway. One of those stops was to go to Costco to return one of the four mats I purchased for the Van of Discovery. Somehow or other, I missed Costco. Next stop was MickeyD’s for breakfast; then we hit the road. Traveling was fairly uneventful, which is good because the day before was not good and I did not need any aggravation.
Every other time I drove down to VA, I took Rt 301 around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. This time, I took Rt 213 which bypasses Baltimore. What a great ride. It was a practically desolate road that went through farm country and a few small back country towns. The map noted it as a Scenic Route.
I looked for a park that I could stop and make lunch at and also take Hope for a walk and hopefully and free romp. I looked and looked and watched and no park did I pass, so I finally stopped at a marina. It was kind of cool because the boats that were at this marina were mostly very old yachts and houseboats. Each one had its own “garage.” So Hope and I walked up and down the different docks. At the end of one, I took a picture of the draw bridge that I previously drove over.
Back on the road, I didn’t drive for more than two minutes when what comes up? A park. Jeez! I knew it!
The destination for the night was to be either Cracker Barrel, a commuter lot that I saw the last time I was down here, or back to the Duncan Family Campground. I opted for the commuter lot. It was huge and packed, so I figured there would be quite a few cars there overnight. After dinner and the bed were all made up, I checked out the parking lot again. At 7:30, it was nearly empty. There were maybe two cars in the lot.
This was my first experience with boondocking alone. Boondocking is having no hookups – no electricity, no cable TV, no sewer. Just park somewhere, spend the night, and take off the next morning. Many RV’ers boondock in Wal*Mart, Flying-J’s, Cracker Barrels, and even hospital parking lots.
For those of you who do not already know, my PC got a virus of death the day before I had to leave. This was NOT good timing. I had prepared my laptop with everything I needed for this trip: many camping and RV’ing websites in my favorites and worked on jailbreaking my iPhone so I could tether it to the PC. The laptop was already set up to use at work, including LAN printer access (more on this problem tomorrow). Frann’s husband, Lane, tried to fix the PC to no avail. It was dead meat, so Frann and Lane lent me their Dell. (more on this problem tomorrow, as well). As of tonight, the only gripe I had about it was that I couldn’t hear the movie I watched. I had to put the earphones on.
At about 8:00, I turned off all the lights inside the van so I wouldn’t be so conspicuous and I watched a movie by PC light. Sleep that night was not good. I put earplugs in to drown out traffic and furnace noise. My earplugs are custom make for my ears and they have these little handles for ease of removing them. The handles stuck out too far and made it very difficult to sleep with.
So, ends Day 1.
Every other time I drove down to VA, I took Rt 301 around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. This time, I took Rt 213 which bypasses Baltimore. What a great ride. It was a practically desolate road that went through farm country and a few small back country towns. The map noted it as a Scenic Route.
I looked for a park that I could stop and make lunch at and also take Hope for a walk and hopefully and free romp. I looked and looked and watched and no park did I pass, so I finally stopped at a marina. It was kind of cool because the boats that were at this marina were mostly very old yachts and houseboats. Each one had its own “garage.” So Hope and I walked up and down the different docks. At the end of one, I took a picture of the draw bridge that I previously drove over.
The destination for the night was to be either Cracker Barrel, a commuter lot that I saw the last time I was down here, or back to the Duncan Family Campground. I opted for the commuter lot. It was huge and packed, so I figured there would be quite a few cars there overnight. After dinner and the bed were all made up, I checked out the parking lot again. At 7:30, it was nearly empty. There were maybe two cars in the lot.This was my first experience with boondocking alone. Boondocking is having no hookups – no electricity, no cable TV, no sewer. Just park somewhere, spend the night, and take off the next morning. Many RV’ers boondock in Wal*Mart, Flying-J’s, Cracker Barrels, and even hospital parking lots.
For those of you who do not already know, my PC got a virus of death the day before I had to leave. This was NOT good timing. I had prepared my laptop with everything I needed for this trip: many camping and RV’ing websites in my favorites and worked on jailbreaking my iPhone so I could tether it to the PC. The laptop was already set up to use at work, including LAN printer access (more on this problem tomorrow). Frann’s husband, Lane, tried to fix the PC to no avail. It was dead meat, so Frann and Lane lent me their Dell. (more on this problem tomorrow, as well). As of tonight, the only gripe I had about it was that I couldn’t hear the movie I watched. I had to put the earphones on.
At about 8:00, I turned off all the lights inside the van so I wouldn’t be so conspicuous and I watched a movie by PC light. Sleep that night was not good. I put earplugs in to drown out traffic and furnace noise. My earplugs are custom make for my ears and they have these little handles for ease of removing them. The handles stuck out too far and made it very difficult to sleep with.
So, ends Day 1.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Bash Bish Falls
I used to go to Bash Bish Falls in Copake, NY, whenever my life was in turmoil and I needed to destress and re-contemplate my life. I don't remember if I've been there at all during my last marriage, but I find it hard to believe that it's been 14 years since I was last there. My recent life's contemplating efforts were always done at my cabin in VT, so I had no reason to even think about the falls. So much time has passed, that I nearly forgot about my favorite sanctuary. Someone, who very recently came through my life and left faster than the blink of an eye, brought that memory of Bash Bish Falls back to the forefront of my mind.
The last two days seem to be our January thaw. It was 42 degrees just before lunchtime today. Cabin fever hit hard, I was having Van Of Discovery withdrawal symptoms, and I had nothing better to do today, so I packed up a lunch and Hope and I took a drive to see what the falls looks like in the ice and snow. In one word: AWESOME!
I drove Rt 44 through Winsted, Norfolk, Canaan and Lakeville to get to Rt 22 in Millerton, NY. It felt good to drive thorough those small, country towns again. Copake was only 15 minutes north of Millerton. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I thought I remembered two entrances to the Taconic State Park. Well, there were, just not where my poor brain remembered. As I passed Copake Falls and the sign to the Taconic State Park, I thought this was the first entrance, so I drove another 15-20 minutes beyond that. Somewhere north of Hillsdale, I was driving up a hill and, as I glanced out over a cornfield below, I saw two animals playing with each other. They were up on their hind legs almost boxing like kangaroos. I pulled off the road quickly and saw that they were two foxes (foxi?). They spotted me get out of the van, so, unfortunately, they stopped their playing. Apparently someone else was enthralled with seeing them, as well, because they pulled off the road behind me and started snapping pictures.
I drove a bit further until nothing seemed familiar anymore, so I turned around and went back to the Taconic State Park in Copake Falls. That was the place.
The path from the parking lot to the falls is 3/4 of a mile. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon and I wasn't sure what time the sun set, but I figured I was pretty safe because the parking lot had about 10 cars in it, which meant lots of people were still on the trail. As soon as I hit the path, I knew it would take me forever to walk that 3/4 of a mile. My boots have absolutely no tread left to them and walking on the snow-packed trail was treacherous, at best. Note to self: buy yourself a new pair of Timberlands before going to AZ.
The 2-4 miles I walk Hope every day and all the x-country skiing I've been doing for the last month made the 3/4 mile hike seem like a piece of cake. It took me no time at all to get to the falls, despite slipping and sliding and taking baby steps the whole way. Note to self: Buy a new pair of Timberlands before leaving for AZ.
The last two days seem to be our January thaw. It was 42 degrees just before lunchtime today. Cabin fever hit hard, I was having Van Of Discovery withdrawal symptoms, and I had nothing better to do today, so I packed up a lunch and Hope and I took a drive to see what the falls looks like in the ice and snow. In one word: AWESOME!
I drove Rt 44 through Winsted, Norfolk, Canaan and Lakeville to get to Rt 22 in Millerton, NY. It felt good to drive thorough those small, country towns again. Copake was only 15 minutes north of Millerton. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I thought I remembered two entrances to the Taconic State Park. Well, there were, just not where my poor brain remembered. As I passed Copake Falls and the sign to the Taconic State Park, I thought this was the first entrance, so I drove another 15-20 minutes beyond that. Somewhere north of Hillsdale, I was driving up a hill and, as I glanced out over a cornfield below, I saw two animals playing with each other. They were up on their hind legs almost boxing like kangaroos. I pulled off the road quickly and saw that they were two foxes (foxi?). They spotted me get out of the van, so, unfortunately, they stopped their playing. Apparently someone else was enthralled with seeing them, as well, because they pulled off the road behind me and started snapping pictures.
Zoomed image (not much better):
I drove a bit further until nothing seemed familiar anymore, so I turned around and went back to the Taconic State Park in Copake Falls. That was the place.
The path from the parking lot to the falls is 3/4 of a mile. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon and I wasn't sure what time the sun set, but I figured I was pretty safe because the parking lot had about 10 cars in it, which meant lots of people were still on the trail. As soon as I hit the path, I knew it would take me forever to walk that 3/4 of a mile. My boots have absolutely no tread left to them and walking on the snow-packed trail was treacherous, at best. Note to self: buy yourself a new pair of Timberlands before going to AZ.
The 2-4 miles I walk Hope every day and all the x-country skiing I've been doing for the last month made the 3/4 mile hike seem like a piece of cake. It took me no time at all to get to the falls, despite slipping and sliding and taking baby steps the whole way. Note to self: Buy a new pair of Timberlands before leaving for AZ.
This picture is a view of Bash Bish Brook on the way to the falls:
Here, someone had a sense of humor. I assume it is a welcome sign. Either that, or a very large paw print:
After much snow-surfing, we reached the falls. Note to self: Buy a new pair of Timberlands before leaving for AZ.
There are two banks of stone steps to walk down to the falls. Luckily, there is a railing down the middle of them. The steps were more treacherous than the path. I managed to climb down sideways, draping my body over the railing and stepping on the edge of the steps where the snow was worn off. Finally making it down to the boulders at the river's edge, I tried to go down one more level and landed flat on my butt. Some guy was there with his dog which was making Hope extremely antsy, so I am sure she had something to do with me landing on the ground. I looked up at him and said, "I knew this was going to happen. I think I'll just sit here awhile." Note to self: Buy a new pair of Timberlands before leaving for AZ.
The falls from the boulders at the edge of the pool. Can you hear the roar of the water?:
Looking up at the top of the falls:
A view looking down river from the falls:
On the way up the steps back to the path, I met a woman coming down who did exactly what I did by hanging over the railings. I don't know what her problem was; she was wearing boots with cleats. Note to self: Buy a new pair of Timberlands before leaving for AZ.
This picture is supposed to be the sun setting on the river. I couldn't quite get the right angle and I certainly don't have the right kind of camera for shots like that.
This is the last picture I took. It is pack ice on the river.
I so wish that cameras captured the true wonder of what my eyes see. They miss the depth and sometimes the brilliant colors. Someday I will get myself a decent camera. Before I do that, I really need to buy myself a new pair of Timberlands.
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