The Adventures of the Bray Family......

If You Want To See The Journals of 2006 Click HERE

6/3/05: We’re Off!

After several weekends of shake down trips, we are finally ready to go. My good friend Charlie came down from Chicago yesterday to finish installation of my sky router. That device will ensure consistent internet access while we are traveling around the country. I investigated Satellite systems to a great degree, and decided on Charlie’s solution due to a low start-up fee and more dependable speeds. We tested it at 659K upon installation, and that is indeed exciting.

We stayed up until 5:00 AM packing the bus and what was left in our home. Thousands of decisions had to be made over the past few months on what we were taking, what was being stored, what was being sold and what was being donated. It is certainly not for the faint of heart. We got back up at 8:30am and headed out of town. At around 9:00 AM, one of the datacenters in Indianapolis where many of my customers have service had a massive power outage! It was a crazy way to say goodbye to Indy. We had to take the bus into the dealership to have some repairs made, so we went to King’s Island to pass the time. Not a bad way to do it! We got back just in time to pick up the bus and get back to Cincinnati and hook up prior to the sun going down. It is not easy to park and set up in the dark.

6/4/05: King’s Island and Star Wars III

Our first night was very calm, and we slept in to make up for the night before. We got up and went back to King’s Island for most of the day. Thomas (my 9-year-old) rode Face Off for the first time today. He was scared to do it, but the excitement won out over the fear and we did it. He loved it, and I think I may have been a bit more scared than he was. I told Thomas about how facing one’s fears is a huge deal and that he has accomplished something millions of adults refuse to do out of fear.

We took a break from the rides and heat and watched Star Wars III. Traci (my wife) didn’t want to see it so she saw Longest Yard. Thomas and I enjoyed SWIII, but were surprised how violent it was. Overall it was a good movie, but mostly I am glad the series is now complete. We both agreed that Lord of the Rings was better than Star Wars. We hit the park for a while after the movie and came back to crash. Tomorrow we are going to sample one of the local churches and go to the water park for the afternoon.

6/5/05: Work and golfing with Thomas

Today was what I would consider more of a normal “work” day. I was up and working around the normal time, and able to knock a bunch of stuff out. The Skyrouter is working well and my Internet and Cellular connections are entirely sufficient. That is indeed great news.

After work, Thomas and I golfed 9 holes at Jack Nicholas’ Grizzly course at King’s Island. It is a beautiful course. Due to limited space, we limited our souvenirs to one Grizzly golf ball. Being that it is Eastern Time here, we could have golfed past 9:00 PM if we wanted to. Thomas got tired, so we went to La Rosa’s pizza for dinner. Afterward, we came back and shared a camp fire with some neighbors.

6/7/05: We got lost but found Jungle Jim’s

On Tuesday I worked a full day and we went for a drive in the evening to find something of a tourist attraction called Jungle Jim’s. We got lost on the way there, thanks to a young gal who gave us directions. It was OK, in this area you can’t be really lost. It’s just not that big. We finally made it to Jungle Jim’s. It is a store very much like Trader Joe’s but the size of a Super Wal-Mart. It is such a big deal it made it into the tourist book for Ohio. We enjoyed it, especially the bathrooms that had “port-o-let” facades along with a fake one for dogs. My son loved it. Any kind of joke about dogs is A#1 for Thomas.

6/8/05

I worked a full day from da’ bus today, and things are going really well. I think my customers and associates are starting to believe that I’m going to keep working, and that I’m not just on a year-long vacation. Don’t I wish! I knocked off at about 4 and went back to King’s Island. We finally got to ride The Italian Job roller-coaster (designed for the movie with the Mini Coopers). It was not the most intense coaster, but it was fun. Be careful about bringing the kids along if they don’t like dark places. This ride had a long stretch that was pitch black. One more thing checked off for the trip.

On the way out, we decided to hit one of those cheesy shows in air conditioning, considering it was 92 degrees today. Wow! Simon Cowell would have stopped the show after 2 minutes! I don’t know if I have gotten more picky as I’ve gotten older, but wow was this a bad show! The show was called School of Rock, after the movie. The thing that most amazed my wife and I was not the loud music or the heavy metal guitar, but the female backup singers! I think their dance trainers came from the Red Light District! I think they need to be reminded that this is a FAMILY amusement park! We were very happy when it was over.

The subject of campfires is on my mind tonight. Tonight we are keeping to ourselves, and enjoying the comforts of our “home”. Traci is watching the Food Network and I’m doing my blog thing. Last night my very introverted better half accepted the second invitation to share a campfire with our “neighbors” Joe and Cathy from Alabama. Their grandkids Andrew (nicknamed Bama) and Ashley (nicknamed Peach) joined our son Thomas for a little marshmallow destruction party. Things went really well, and we learned some valuable “full-timer” information that will benefit us for the rest of the trip.

The amazing thing to me is that my wife Traci is so out of her element on this trip. She does not care to talk to strangers. She does not care for campfires. She doesn’t like bug spray (a necessity) and she doesn’t like smoke. Adding all of these things together at one time is actually a bit amazing. The fact that she said yes to a second campfire in three days just floored me. This is going to be an exciting year!

Another thing we are absolutely enjoying is having no yard, no landscaping, no grass cutting, no pruning, no bug spraying, no fertilizing, no yard work at all. After only one week on the road it is amazing how much of a relief that is. We lived in a neighborhood where you MUST do all of those things, or our neighbor would walk by and make comments just loud enough for us to hear, and it drove Traci nuts. The gal once mistook me for the “gardener” and made some very judgmental comments about me not realizing I was her new neighbor. It is a hoot of a story, and one I’ll tell anytime anyone asks.

We’re headed out of Cincinnati on Friday morning on the way to Columbus.

6/10/05

We rolled out of Cincinnati early today on the way to Columbus. I think we finally figured out the towing thing. Joe, the one armed man from Alabama, told us about a company who made an adaptor kit for my Infiniti to allow it to be towed four wheels down. I called the company to confirm it, and they do make it! It won’t be a cheap endeavor, but it will be a good investment in the trip to minimize frustration. We have to use a company in Columbus to install everything, so I have to call them on Monday. We got through to our new campground easily enough, although the TV reception is non-existent, which is not good according to my 9-year-old. Work went well today, with lots of new projects getting started and moving through the pipeline.

6/11/05: COSI

Today was a wonderful day of exploring the COSI museum in Columbus. It is a huge science museum with a strong emphasis on children. My son loved it, especially the unicycle you can ride off of the 2 nd floor over the patrons below (see attached picture). Traci’s favorite was a display of the decomposition of preservative-free versus preservative-full food. For example, they had fresh fruit versus fruit cups and homemade chocolate brownie versus a Twinkie. As you can imagine, the Twinkie was virtually untouched by the decomposition process. My favorite was the fireworks display, where the gal explained and showed us how fireworks work. She played with Liquid Nitrogen and showed us what it will do when under pressure. It was extremely cool, and ended with three very loud explosions of balloons filled with Nitrogen gas.

They had a huge Titanic display with many rooms filled with artifacts from the ship. They handed out cards at the beginning so we could pretend that we were someone from the ship’s roster. We could identify the decks they probably slept on, and what menus they ate, and what dishes they used. It was very emotionally charged, and at the end, we determined whether our “pretend” passenger lived or died. It is well worth the trip to COSI just to see this. We also found out that we can now visit Science Museums around the country as part of the COSI membership. We will certainly do that as part of Thomas’ home school effort.

6/12/05: The Santa Maria

There is a life size replica of the Santa Maria tied up on the river in Columbus. I didn’t pay much attention in World History in high school, and after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean and Master and Commander, we were much looking forward to this. It amazed me how romantic sea life looks in the movies, but in reality it must have been just miserable. To believe 40 men worked and lived on that tiny ship 24/7 with no relief just amazes me. They explained life on the ship as if the person was a member of the crew. What question do you think eventually came up? You got it! Where did they go to the bathroom? 40 guys, eating mostly beans, working constantly in that climate, how did it work? Well, my son thought they went on the so called poop deck. However, that’s not correct. They actually stood on the side of the ship and did their business off of a 6” plank of wood alongside! You ask, what did they use instead of toilet paper? They used something called “the bitter end”. It was pretty much a wisk broom. No leaves, no paper, just a wisk broom! Did each guy have his own bitter end for his journey? Nope! Four bitter ends were shared among the 40 guys! It was tied to a string and dragged in the ocean water while not in use. The tour was very enlightening, considering the fact that we kind of feel like we are on a ship that travels down the highway, and we are “roughing” it because our entire bathroom is only a few square feet. I can say that I am thankful for my little rolling bathroom!

This evening, we went on a journey to a Super Wal Mart and stocked up on some items. We may end up staying in Columbus for another week or more to wait for the towing equipment to be installed. We also discovered that our leveling jack system is not working properly. We knew we weren’t perfectly level, since none of our doors will stay open, but at least the jacks went up and down, until today. We changed slips in the campground, and the jack system went haywire. We called Fleetwood, and they gave us the name and number of a dealer here in town that will be able to fix it. I’ve got lots of calls to make tomorrow!

6/13/05: Mechanical Problems and Lost in the Middle of Nowhere

Wow! What a day. We realized our hydraulic jack system on the bus needed repair. It refused to act properly when we changed slips in the campground. I called Fleetwood and got the names and numbers of local dealerships, but the first one refused to do the work! We are learning that to try to take our bus to a dealership other than the one that sold it to us is a challenge. Fortunately the second one said he would fit me in. I had to leave immediately and take it in. After 1.5 hours, I was finally there, and he indeed did have someone do it on the spot. Much kudos to RCD Sales in Hebron, OH. They fixed it, but are concerned that the problem will return. I’ll just have to try my luck at the next city. That experience took up most of the day, but the wireless Internet connection certainly came in handy again. I worked from a truck stop while eating lunch, and was back up to speed by the time the end of the work day rolled around.

We decided, based on my suggestion, to go ahead on to Cleveland after dinner rather than waiting until Tuesday morning. Since I had never driven the bus in the dark before, this was indeed going to be an adventure! We started out smooth, and tanked up on the way. I never let the bus go below a half-tank, since I don’t want to get caught in an emergency with no fuel. Diesel was $2.37 a gallon, and the bill was almost $90. Ouch! The nozzle overflowed on Traci’s hands, so she was not pleased. She is a trooper!

The Yahoo directions have been pretty reliable over time, but this time they were NOT. We didn’t double-check a map prior to leaving, which was a mistake. I just wrote down the directions and took off. We arrived in the Cleveland area at about 11:00 PM Indiana time (Midnight Cleveland). We got to the exit where Yahoo said to turn, but there was NO street on which to turn. We went on ahead about 10 miles thinking we would get there eventually. We got deep in the heart of a National Forest south of Cleveland and got worried. We turned into a Visitor Center parking lot to fire up the Internet connection and see what went wrong. I must have written the directions down wrong. The Internet connection worked well, but Yahoo was still wrong. I was right this time. Trying to pull out of a pitch black parking lot designed for cars in the middle of the night was quite a trick. I almost took out two posts and a tree, but escaped unscathed, except for the flexible flashy sticks in the concrete. I plowed those down but they popped back up again. No harm, no foul.

We decided to go back the other way across the Interstate and see what we could find. After driving for another 20 minutes or so, we saw an Interstate 80 sign and jumped for it. There was a Pilot Truck Stop there and I stopped and asked for directions to the nearest Wal Mart. The gal was irritated, but very helpful. At 2:00 am we dragged into our first Wal Mart “boon docking” experience. We brought water in the tank, so we could wash and brush, but pretty much collapsed after setting up the beds. We were parked among several other RV’s - some smaller, and one huge 45 footer as well as several commercial rigs. I wish they would shut off their engines at 2:00 am! All in all it was easy, and we shoved off first thing and called the campground and got right to it. It turns out had we not stopped at the Visitor Center we would have eventually reached the campground. Yahoo had .03 miles rather than probably 13 miles or something like that. We were never far from our destination, just driving around it in big RV like circles. Live and learn!

6-14-05: Work, Schedules and Tow bars

Today was a full day of work. Things went very well. I am very enthused about the responses I’m getting from my customers about the trip. We have yet to have anyone get negative or say they don’t want to work with me because I’m not in Indy every day. It has actually been quite the opposite. There are a lot of “closet” RV people out there who want to travel but don’t know how. Sit tight folks, you too can do this but you just need to wait until we get back. More on that later.

We finally found a shop who will install the towing equipment on our car and bus so Traci doesn’t have to follow in the Infiniti. You would think folks would be lining up to sell this much gear to people who need it, but this is the first shop we’ve called out of 5 who agreed to do it when we needed it. We have to stay in Cleveland an extra day, and rent a car for a couple of days, but when we leave here, we will be towing the Infiniti and Traci will no longer be on the other side of the cell phone. That is indeed good news.

Also, we made our reservations for the week of July 4 th at Niagara Falls. The campground had one 50 amp full hookup pull-through open. I was stunned. Folks we talked to around the camp fire said you have to make July 4 th reservations months in advance, especially at popular destinations. I think we may end up extending, but we’ll see. We are very excited. There is also a King’s Island type place there, so it will be a busy time. I may take some “vacation” time that week.

6-15-05: Work, family adventures

Today was a full work day. Things are progressing very well. I can’t praise the guys who designed and installed my Internet connection enough. Today I clocked the connection at 80K up / 1094K down. That is unbelievable to me. It has enabled me to be efficient in my work, and as usual, my Verizon cell phone is working perfectly.

We’ve had a ton of rain here in Streetsboro. Traci and Thomas went to the Cleveland Zoo today, and got rained on pretty well. They really enjoyed the zoo, especially the large numbers of monkeys they had. Thomas felt right at home! They also had a large number of big cats. One had just had a baby, and another one had just caught a rabbit. Traci didn’t know if it was put there on purpose or if a wild rabbit got in by mistake. Either way, it is now big cat food.

We stayed in the bus in the evening and read a lot. It’s awesome not to have a lawn to think about.

6-16-05: Work, and a huge McDonald’s

Today was a very quiet day in the Bray bus. Thomas and Traci hung around all day and played or read books. They don’t often do this, and I was glad to see they were relaxing. I worked a full day, and continued to enjoy it. Everything is working well, and I’m actually getting through a large to-do list I brought from my old office. It feels good to be getting some of the old stuff done.

After work, we took the advice of an author we read to go see “The Most Magnificent” McDonald’s in Ohio. It was two stories tall and actually had a glass elevator. They had a player piano under the atrium with a McDonald’s character “playing” it. I don’t know why, but the piano was not on tonight. It was probably the furthest we have ever driven (about 30 minutes each way) just to go to a McDonald’s, but it was fun. The food was normal, so we tried to eat as well as we could. Thomas wants me to say they had a Nintendo Game Cube system so he got to play Mario Golf for a while. Not that he doesn’t have the system and game in the bus, but it was neat to play it at McD’s. After dinner we relaxed and watched TV, since it is now raining again.

6-17-05: Work, R&R HOF, Yours Truly

I worked a full day today, and things are proceeding well. After work we ventured into downtown Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There happened to be an Indians game, so the traffic was a bit thick once we got down town. Not withstanding, it was still pretty easy to get there. We didn’t actually go into the Hall of Fame, but we walked all around it and took pictures. Traci and I like music well enough, but we were forewarned that it is not exciting or even suitable to a 9-year-old. We went down to the waterfront and watched some kids skateboarding and biking at the special park they have set aside for these guys. I think Indy should do something like that.

We decided to go back to Hudson to eat dinner since we would have been overwhelmed by the Indians fans at the downtown restaurants. We ate at a place called Yours Truly. It was a neighborhood family restaurant featuring “Fish Fry Friday”. They advertise to call ahead to reserve your portion. We thought they were kidding, or at least being a bit dramatic. We showed up a bit late for dinner since we came in from down town. We got a table in about 15 minutes, and proceeded to order our fish. A look came over the waitress’ face that was one of alarm. She said she didn’t know if they had any more, and she scurried off. She came back with a huge sigh of relief saying they had four left, and ours was two of them. We had not run into a situation where the restaurant ran out of food. The fish arrived. Traci got fried and I got grilled. Mine was OK, a bit tough though. It tasted pretty good. Thomas tried some and liked it. One of our goals on the trip is to get my 9-year-old to try new foods, at least once per day. However, by the time I was done with it, it was downright chewy. Unfortunately Traci’s experience was not as favorable as mine. She actually had to put lots of stuff on hers to make it taste good. She only ate about a third of it and handed the rest off to the waitress, who was astounded that we didn’t want a to-go box. Had the waitress asked Traci one more time, she would have told her flat out that she didn’t like it. Traci loves fish. This fish was just tasteless and chewy. This would not have been a popular opinion in this restaurant where you have to call ahead to reserve your portion.

However, we have to make a huge mention about the apple pie and cinnamon ice cream for dessert. Traci and I are ice cream fanatics 100%. If I didn’t care what I looked like, I would have ice cream at every meal every day. I could weigh 300 pounds on ice cream alone. This cinnamon ice cream was the only cinnamon ice cream we have ever had, and it was in the top three of all ice cream we have ever had. It was incredible. We could not have cared less about the apple pie, or the fish, but the ice cream was worth the trip. We must go back before we leave to have the ice cream again. I’m sure their other food is good.

We also have to say we are extremely impressed with the town called Hudson, OH. This place is covered with trees. Every street looks like the neighborhood in Father of the Bride. It is as if they have never had a thunderstorm or tornado through the area. The trees are huge, and they are everywhere. The neighborhoods are simply built around the trees. It is as if they never cut a tree down to build a house. In among the trees, the houses are HUGE. Not just a few huge ones, or just a huge house neighborhood, but huge houses everywhere. There is big money in this town, even though the town is smallish and in between Cleveland and Akron. There are several factories around town tucked in among the trees. I don’t know if executives work in Cleveland and come in, or if they work for the companies in town and live here. How ever they do it, they have some mongo houses.

6-18-05: R&R

We slept in this morning and we then went into Hudson to stroll around. They have an excellent O’Malia’s type of market there that was just packed. We got all kinds of fresh food and a couple good bottles of wine. We are fortunate that we don’t live near that, because we would do nothing but eat. Traci has actually gotten me to like a mild type of sushi called California Rolls. I’m not one for raw fish, but these are really good. They had some excellent ones in this market.

We went to Aurora, OH to a huge outlet mall. We did some shopping for small stuff like books, candles and a good wine opener. We left ours in Indy and have been struggling with a cheapo ever since.

We came back and ate dinner and had our own camp fire. It was very relaxing to drink a glass of good wine around the fire.

6-19-05: Father’s Day: GRSC, Cuyahoga and campfire

We went to the Great Lakes Science Center today for a good part of the day. We were very impressed by the outside of the building. It is a very cool place. When we got in, we found that the membership Traci bought in Columbus got us into this place for free. What a deal! We got the “basic” access to the place, and initially thought it would be a quick trip, because it only covered two floors. Our son was enthusiastic, and dived in immediately. We eventually discovered that the place was HUGE. We were there for hours, and we actually had to drag Thomas out of the place. It was well worth the parking fee. The unanimous vote for #1 exhibit by the Bray family was the golf ball wall. (See picture.) It is like the pool ball exhibit at Science Works at the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis, but better. You can actually control the fate of the incoming golf balls, and Thomas got really good at hitting things with them. It was extremely cool.

We then went to Cuyahoga National Park nearby and did some hiking. We didn’t do as much as I wanted, but we still enjoyed the scenery. That place is huge, and very primitive. We came back and had another camp fire, sans the wine. It was a beautiful evening, and we called our fathers to wish them happy dad’s (grandpa’s) day. Back to work tomorrow!

6-20-05: Work, chores and rental car

Today was a very typical “life” day. I worked the whole day, we did chores, which are present whether you live in a bus, or in a house. I took my baby (2000 Infiniti I30t) to Summit Trailer Sales in Akron to have the towing equipment installed, as the first phase of the process. They came highly recommended by the manufacturer, so I can only trust in their abilities. The place is an old shop, well worn with time, and not at all impressive. However, the people seem to be sharp and good at what they do. I’m fearful, but leave my car anyway and have Enterprise pick me up. I rented a Malibu for two days, and boy is it a piece of junk. I really like my car. I got lost again on the way back, but eventually make it to the camp ground and finish working for the day.

We pretty much spent the evening getting ready to leave in the morning, with the exception of an unplanned camp fire, thanks to my son Thomas, who convinced me it was a good idea. Once it was lit, and aflame for a while, Thomas retreated to the bus to evade the mosquito invasion, and Traci and I were left out to be eaten alive by the evil blood sucking menace. Even after Deep Woods Off, we were no match for the persistent desire for these pests to eat. It was still fun, and relaxing, and Traci and I eventually put out the fire and came in for bed.

6-21-05: Left Streetsboro, Boon Dock at Walmart and found Summit

We finally left Streetsboro! The water there is the worst Traci or I have ever smelled, even during college, Spring Break in Cancun, you name it! It was horrible. We stank like metal, all of us. Our normally leaky hose actually stopped leaking because the rust built up in a matter of days and plugged the leak. Amazing! Everything outside the bus had rust all over it. How anyone lives there and drinks that stuff is beyond me. We had to drink distilled water the entire time. They must ALL have commercial water treatment systems.

I took the Infiniti to Summit Trailer Sales (in Akron, OH 3330 S. Main St.) yesterday and we need to go back and pick it up today. I was honestly scared silly about how my baby would look. I have driven my Infiniti for 5 years and over 100,000 miles and I want to keep it for ever! I don’t think any man has ever enjoyed driving his car more than I do. I feared that it would look like Frankenstein’s car. I pictured towing gear sticking out of the front of the car, and the look of it being ruined for ever. I’ve seen some cars so butchered for the sake of towing that I was fearful. When we arrived at Summit, I was stunned. Unless I bent down and stared into the grill, I could NOT tell that this was a “tow car”. I can’t describe how relieved I was to see my baby. It was awesome! I can’t say enough about the excellent world-class-work that Summit did on our behalf. If you are in Akron, OH and you need ANYTHING to do with towing or welding, or electrical work, call them. They are da’ bomb!

I worked in the afternoon out of the Wal Mart parking lot. I had the wonderful fortune of submitting the largest proposal thus far of 2005 while boon docking in a Wal Mart parking lot in Akron, OH from a wireless Internet connection. That experience was a defining moment in this trip. I got lots of other work done, but that was a big deal. I will report back as to the outcome of the opportunity, but I’m optimistic.

We took the rental car back and went to dinner at Friday’s and went to see Madagascar. Traci and Thomas had already seen it, but I hadn’t, so we all saw it again. It was very funny and I highly recommend it. We moved the bus to Summit so we wouldn’t have to do it in the morning. The extension cord they left out for us to plug in was an old ratty cord that was taped up at the end. I was fearful, but all was resolved in a moment because as soon as we plugged in, their circuit breaker blew, and we had no power. We hit the generator for an hour and went to bed.

6-22-05: Boon bock with Harleys, Tow Bar and Trip to Sandusky

Wow! We learned the hard way why people boon dock at Wal Mart. For the most part, Wal Mart parking lots are quiet at night (with the exception of big rigs idling). Well, we had to learn that the hard way. We boon docked in the very small parking lot of Summit which borders a rural road that leads to a boating community nearby. Everyone who owns a Harley in that part of Ohio had a parade up and down the hill past our bus (or so it seemed). Who rides a Harley at 2:00 am on a school night? They were zooming past us all night, and no matter how cool they sound in daylight, they are terrible when your bed is 3 feet from the road. Fortunately, the rain came and chased all of the Harley riders in doors. We got almost no sleep the entire night!

We were up early, especially because Kimberly (from Summit) was knocking on our bus just before 8:00 Ohio time ( 7:00 Indiana time). She told us they needed the bus and it was time for us to go to breakfast. We went to IHOP and then to Kohl’s for Traci to shop while Thomas and I sat in the car relaxing.

We got back to the bus and got to watch the guys at work. I actually took my laptop to my car and pulled and sent emails wirelessly from the front seat of my car. It is still amazing to me that it works as well as it does. When they were ready they did the tutorial on how to operate the entire system, front to back. I whipped out my digital camera with the built-in video and shot the entire lesson. The system is pretty easy to understand, but I wanted to be sure. It is another amazing technology to me when I can tow my Infiniti four wheels down when the “experts” told me it couldn’t happen. All of this is an investment in the rental gig since I wouldn’t expect anyone to equip their car to be towed. We even purchased an automatic breaking system for the car that will help me stop in an emergency. You can’t be too careful! You also can’t have too many tax deductions!

Off to Sandusky! Again, I have learned a valuable lesson about Yahoo maps! We need to double-check our directions. This time it wasn’t nearly as bad as last, it just cost us about 10 minutes of lost time and diesel. We arrived mid-afternoon and was able to get the car unhooked easily and camp set up quickly. We are glad to be away from the water in Streetsboro! This water doesn’t smell and that is a gift. I was back to work and actually got some important work done from this new town. Opportunities are rolling in and I didn’t miss a single one! We did, however, realize that our DirecTV receiver is dead and they need to bring us a new one. We have the good fortune of camping in a park that has free cable TV service. We had purchased a run of Coax cable just in case, and Thomas was able to enjoy his cartoons this evening without interruption.

The evening was relaxed and Traci and I went to Meijer to get some more wine and food. Off to bed. Good night!

6-23-05: AM Work and PM Dragster!

I worked all morning and we hit Cedar Point in the afternoon. Overall we had a good time, but I had much more fun than Traci and Thomas. We hit the Raptor after a few warm-up rides, and Thomas loved it. That was a good start. However, after a couple of other tame rides (they had the BEST carousel there—it had race horses and it went around at 14 MPH) Traci got a headache. We stopped for lunch at Johnny Rockets—the best experience we have had at that restaurant—hoping that Traci’s headache would clear. Unfortunately it didn’t, and Thomas got tired. We have to build up his endurance! However, I had waited 14 years to come back, and I wasn’t about to give up without a fight! I hit the Millennium, the Mantis and best of all, the Top Thrill Dragster. I was shot 420 feet in the air and returned to earth in a tailspin going 120 MPH. It took us 3 weeks to get there, the wait was about 45 minutes and the ride lasted about 5 seconds, and it was ALL worth it! It was extremely cool. We got back to the bus after dinner, and I caught up on work stuff. Balancing work and play is the theme of this trip, and today was an excellent opportunity to do so!

6-24-05: Work and Putt Putt

Today was a normal work day. I hit it hard, and got a lot of projects closed up. The month is shaping up and there are lots of good things to come next week. Thomas convinced us to go play Putt Putt after work, and we did it. The good news: the course was fun and not too expensive; the bad news: it was 92 degrees out. Thomas ran out of steam at about the 12 th hole and we wrapped up quickly. We went to Coldstone Creamery for desert based on the recommendation of a local. It was a lot like Maggie Moo’s in Indy. It was way too much ice cream, and we probably won’t go back. It’s time to get ready for the trip to Port Huron tomorrow.

6-25-05: Trip to Port Huron and Herbie Reloaded

Today was mostly transport. We got up, got ready, and shoved off to Port Huron, Michigan. It is our half-way point between Sandusky and Toronto, Ontario. Yes, Ontario! We are heading across the border tomorrow after making a flurry of phone calls to finish up some housekeeping and saying goodbye to friends. The cost of Verizon in Canada is $.69 per minute! My cell phone will be off until at least we reach Naigra. My cellular expert out of Chicago said we should be able to get Verizon and Sprint back as domestic service when we are Niagra since we are so close to the border. I hope so! If not, the campground in Toronto has free wireless internet, and I’m going to have my VoIP phone ready to use there. It should be quite the test!

The trip was pretty smooth, except for hitting a huge traffic jam at Detroit. We made through well, and didn’t hit any barriers or other vehicles. I had a gal cut me off as I was changing lanes, and I tried out my gigantic diesel horn. She actually jumped in her seat. The people in the back seat gave me the evil eye, but didn’t dare play chicken with me. At least she knew that I wasn’t happy with her driving.

Once we set up camp and unhooked the Infiniti, we hit Herbie Reloaded. It was a funny movie, and much appreciated by a guy who really likes his car. I don’t expect I’ll ever race mine in a Nascar race, but it was fun. They did a good job updating this classic. There were obviously some impossible tricks in the movie, but my son Thomas loved it. That’s what really matters.

Back to the bus and getting ready for bed.

6-26-05: Trip to Toronto and settling in

We got up and had breakfast in Port Huron and did some housecleaning stuff. We got the oil changed, car washed, and tanked up. Unfortunately we realized that our jack system is leaking again, and it took us a few tries to get the jacks to retract. We won’t be able to get them fixed until New York, so we’ll have to tough it out. Hopefully the next two camp sites are level. We got the Infiniti hooked up quickly (we are getting good at this) and headed across the bridge.

We had been warned that it could take an hour to cross the border into Canada. We crossed the big bridge and stopped at Customs. We saw others going through relatively quickly, and we began to be optimistic. We ended up talking to a very nice lady who asked a bunch of questions about weapons, firewood and our plans for Canada. She quizzed Thomas about his participation, and assured him that if he ever needed them, the border crossing was a “safe” place. She let us through after only a few minutes, and we were on our way! The roads in Canada are better than Michigan, that’s for sure! There was a little construction, but nothing serious. The trip to Toronto was smooth and easy. The directions we had were right on this time, and we weren’t lost for a minute.

We drove into the campground, and were very pleased. They have free internet access (fast too) and they didn’t charge us for Thomas, which is pretty standard in the industry. We think it’s a rip off, but no one cares. With the exchange rate, this was indeed a bargain. The place looks brand new. Even the fire ring next to us has never been used. Everything is clean, the laundry looked new. It’s not very full either. There are a line of big rigs and a bunch of tent camping, but not much else. It’s probably only 25% full, which is very unusual in the summer time.

I know it’s hot in Indiana right now, but it’s also hot in Canada. It hit 95 degrees today. They are having record electricity use in Toronto right now. I didn’t think it got this hot this far north. I guess it’s hot everywhere.

6-27-05: Work and Canada’s King’s Island

I worked until about 2:00 and then we departed for Canada’s King’s Island. It was HOT! I don’t think we have been at another park when it was 95 degrees. I can’t remember being that hot for quite a while. Thank Goodness for sports clothing that keeps you cool. Unfortunately the biggest ride in the park was down for repairs. We still had a great time. We rode their version of Delirium, which is a giant wheel on a giant stick that swings back and forth while it spins slowly. Thomas and Traci loved it.

I think the hit of the day was a ride we didn’t even ride. It’s called Cliffhanger. Two rows of people strap into the system and take off their shoes. The ride rises up, flips over both slowly and quickly, pretty much making you dizzy to the max. At the same time, it sprays the riders with blasts of water. Everyone on the ride pretty much gets soaked. There is lots of screaming, and even the audience gets a little wet. That was the good part, since were roasting. We rode a couple of smaller coasters, but nothing to “write home” about. The most amazing part to my wife and I is that they have no rules regarding apparel. People were wearing just about everything around the park. They have a water park as part of the entrance fee, so everyone wears their swimsuits to the water park and stay in them all day. That includes the skimpiest of bikinis and speedos.

We stopped at a “farmer’s market” on the way back to camp. It was very large, and in a permanent structure. It was on the edge of a farm, which impressed us greatly. However, when we went in, we realized that it is a produce store, but in no way a local farmer’s stand. There were vegetables from Mexico there! I would say the majority of the produce was imported. We did get some Ontario potatoes and zucchini.

We headed back to the bus and had dinner at Tim Hortons, which is a mixture of a Duncan Donuts and a Subway. There are many of them in Michigan as well, so we don’t know if it is a Canadian chain, or a US chain. The food was very good, and their coffee must be as well, but we didn’t get any.

6-28-05: Work and dinner.

I worked most of the day today. The month is shaping up nicely. I am going to take some time off next week for July 4 th at Niagara, so I hope to have a few more things closed up prior to then. After work we went grocery shopping, and found a decent sized town west of here a way. The town closest to us has an IGA and a liquor store, but that’s about it.

The big grocery store was something of a study in sociology for the Bray’s. Everything looked mostly the same to a Marsh or Super Target in the States. The portion that caused the most confusion and discussion was the dairy section. The gallons of milk are presented in 4 liter bags of milk. Not plastic jugs, but plastic bags. They sell reusable plastic pitchers that you use to pour your milk, but no plastic jugs like the States. We were fascinated. We don’t have enough room for more than one big gallon any way, so we ended up buying a half gallon carton. Another point of confusion was the prices on the walls of the produce section listed everything in both price per pound and price per KG. However, when it rang up, it rang it in the KG version. I guess they had to choose one or the other, and since they have the metric system here, they chose metric.

The prices here are decent, comparable to other small towns. The stuff is a bit less than in the States, considering the exchange rate, which at this point is about $.84 per Canadian dollar. However, gas prices are quite a bit higher. They price everything by the liter here, and it’s hovering at about $.85 per liter. That’s about $2.85 per gallon after the break for currency. Wow! Gas is actually a bit MORE expensive than diesel, which is very backwards to the States. We hope not to have to tank up prior to hitting New York state around 7/5. The trip to Niagara is a couple hours drive, for which we have plenty of fuel.

The other piece that has taken some getting used to is having the temperature in Celsius. I can quickly translate KM’s into miles, but it’s taking me a bit more time to do the math on the temperature. I found an easy website that does it for you, so I’m working it out.

There is another observation that Traci and I have made here in Ontario. There is a golf course on just about every exit off the highway. They are everywhere! These Canadians must be avid golfers. There are so many courses, I can’t imagine there being enough people to support them all. The countryside is beautiful, so the courses must be as well. Thomas and I will probably hit a driving range and 9 holes before we leave.

The other landmark around here that has created some conversation is the “family nudist campground” close to here. When we go to Toronto I’ll get a picture of the sign on the way back. We have no interest in going there, so we won’t get live pictures. Sorry folks! However, just the thought of a “family” nudist campground is extremely creepy to us. To me, there is nothing family oriented about a nudist campground. We’ve seen plenty of old men in Speedos in the campgrounds at which we have stayed (as well as King’s Island), and we certainly don’t want to see anything that would be covered by the said Speedo. We saw a post card saying that the mosquito is the official provincial (state) bird of Ontario. I guess these folks would have to take special precautions with their DEET.

Traci just cooked up BBQ chicken and the Canadian veggies and we had a wonderful meal. We purchased a bottle of Canadian wine at the store, and we’ll be enjoying that later.

6-29-05: Ontario Science Center, CN Tower and Richtree Markets

Today was a wonderful day in Toronto. We did the tourist thing big-time today. We ventured down town to visit the Ontario Science Center. It was huge! We were very impressed with the size and scope of the operation. Thomas had a great time. It had a wider scope than the one in Cleveland, and we could have stayed there for two solid days. Fortunately it was part of the same system as the COSI in Columbus, so we got in for free.

We headed down town to the CN tower after the museum. We had heard of the CN Tower, but really didn’t know what it was. It is the tallest stand-alone structure in the world. We went up in the elevator all the way to the 1,485 foot observation tower. It was a dizzying experience. It was overcast, so we could not see very far off the coast, but it was still impressive. They have one part that has a glass floor, and all of the teenagers were jumping up and down on it and frightening their friends. Thomas was barely willing to lay on it and get a picture taken, but he finally agreed (see picture). It was intimidating, even for us veteran roller-coaster fans.

We were starving and looking for a good dinner and we were sent to a place called Richtree Markets by one of the CN workers. It was about a 15 minute walk to the restaurant, but it was worth the effort. We went in and got seated and handed cards to have punched as we went along. Each vendor had different types of food and/or drink available, and we decided what we wanted, and they prepared it fresh in front of us. The prices were actually pretty good, not even considering the exchange rate. Everything was fresh, so it was really good. We ate well and splurged on strawberry cake for dessert. It was the best meal we had in Toronto.

We headed back to the camp ground and got lost for the first time in Toronto. The roads in Toronto are similar to Chicago. We tried to back-track and find the way out the way we came in. However, we didn’t succeed. We ended up going the wrong way on a major highway for about 30 minutes prior to finding our way back. It was a bit stressful, but we made it without major incident. We came back to the buss and went to bed.

6-30-05: Last Day of the Month and on to Niagara

We got up early and shoved off for Niagara. It turns out we had to take the same route to Niagara that we had taken back to the camp ground after getting lost last night. It helped make the trip a bit more familiar. I have to pause to make a couple of observations about life in Canada right here. Firstly, do the Canadians make any of their own cars? We have only seen the standard automobile dealerships we are used to in the states. With one exception, the cars on the roads in Canada are the same ones as on the road in Indiana. I don’t know what I expected, but I thought it would be at least a little different. Not so. Also, what is the British connection with Ontario? They act like they are a British Colony. Everything has Queen Elizabeth in it, even the highways. The QEW is the main highway from Toronto to Niagara, and it’s named after her. All of their money has her picture on it, some as a young lady and others as an old lady. It puzzles us folks from Indiana.

Overall, the trip to Niagara was smooth, with the exception of a few traffic jams. It seems the Canadians don’t give themselves enough time to merge when a lane is ending. In the States, I think we have a mile or more to accomplish that task. Here, everything is in Kilometers, so they only have about 6/10 of a mile (1KM) to do the same thing, and it causes huge back-ups. We would sit in a jam for quite a while only to realize it was just four lanes merging down to three. We made it OK, and found the camp ground relatively easy. The cell coverage here is very poor. I had 30 minutes of solid coverage right after we set up camp, and then I couldn’t get it until we went down to the river. I was able to wrap up the month on a high note, making both my wife and my carriers happy.

This place is kind of like Gatlinburg, TN, but not quite as concentrated. There are scores of little tiny Motels up and down the strip, and amazingly a lot of them are fully booked.

We were also amused by the proliferation of “gentlemen’s clubs” this side of the border. They are everywhere! It must be quite the attraction to all of the visiting Yanks because they are all huge with neon signs. There is even an apparel store nearby that caters exclusively to dancers. I tried to get Traci to let me take her in there or take her picture in front of it, but she declined both offers strenuously. Darn!

7-1-05: Big Day at the Falls!

Happy Canada Day! Today was the big day at Niagara. We purchased tickets to the big attractions and did the official tourist stuff. We even rode in a double-decker bus! I got lots of pictures and it was indeed a blast. We started out by going to the “Whirlpool”, which is a natural happening here, where the Niagara river goes into a big bowl and makes a 90 degree right turn. In the middle of the bowl is sometimes a huge whirlpool. This time it wasn’t as obvious, but it was still very cool. The Aero Car was down for the day due to heavy winds, so we’ll have to come back and do it on Sunday.

The next event was the “Flower Clock”. It was pretty, but not a huge deal. Their love of their gardens in Niagara runs deep. They are very proud of them. We left there and went to the greenhouse where they grow all of the plans to plant around the place. The “park” area covers over 4000 acres, all owned by the Canadian Government.

After that we went to the “Journey Behind the Falls”. This was the lesser of the two incredible experiences for the day. We went down elevators to tunnels behind the Canadian side of the Horseshoe Falls. In this equation Canada got the best of the deal, hence why everyone told us to camp on the Canadian side (The exchange rate is good too.). The view from the Observation deck (see picture) is closer to the huge Falls than is the US side. It seems like we can just reach out and touch them. 34 million gallons per minute is quite a site. We had seen all of this on a Travel Channel program, and feared they would make it seem bigger than it is. Fortunately that is impossible. It was one of the coolest things ever.

We then went to the Big Event, the Maid of the Mist. We got in a large boat with 300 other people (fortunately we were close to the front of the line, so we got to the front of the boat, Titanic-style) and headed off for the Falls. We had watched this from the road several times, and expected it to be cool. We had heard about it from friends, and seen the Travel Channel show, but were not prepared for the experience. We had our complimentary ponchos on, but they only stayed in place for a while. The obvious impact of the ride is the actual water coming off of the falls. The mist travels several hundred feet up and down river, sometimes interrupting traffic flow in the winter. The not-so-expected factors were the wind and the sound. I know the falls are loud, but I had no expectation of the impact of all three factors at once. It was amazing. It was also hard to breathe, because I knew I was breathing in lake water the whole time. It was 15 minutes I will never forget as long as I live. Traci feels the same way. (see picture) Thomas liked it, but wasn’t as impressed as we were. Once the boat turned down stream, we were back in no time.

Once that was done, we jumped back on the bus and came back to the camp ground. We had a few hours to rest and eat before going to the Canada Day (like our July 4 th) fireworks that evening. We did get some pictures of the Falls lit up by big spot lights, but it wasn’t as exciting as people made it out to be. We strolled down the river, and ended up on a curb about 10 minutes prior to show time. It turns out we could not have picked a better spot from which to watch the show. The style was a bit different than shows in the US as far as bomb types and tempo, but it was still a great show. There was a symphony right behind us playing music to match the sequence. On the way back to the car I realized I lost Traci’s cell phone during the fireworks. I don’t think anyone lifted it, but just in case I called Verizon when we got back and suspended the account. We’ll get another phone once we get to Buffalo, NY on Tuesday. I’ll be glad to have cell coverage and wireless internet back.

7-2-05: Rest and Relax

We used today to do housework and rest up. We did laundry, dishes and just chilled out a bit. We ate at a restaurant called Mick and Angelo’s. It was a local Italian restaurant and was it excellent! It was a bit pricey, but it was wonderful, and the portions were huge. We both brought home more than half of our meal for leftovers. We are making our plans for the next leg of the trip. This is as far as we had planned prior to leaving, and now we’re making it up as we go. We have reservations in Disney in November, and that is the next thing we’re committed to. As we go along we have to check on cell coverage from both Verizon and Sprint. We have learned a valuable lesson in our two weeks in Canada. I was still able to work, but was frustrated by the lack of connectivity.

7-3-05: Marathon Bike Ride and our first medical event

Today is kind of a “free” day in the Bray Road Trip. We normally don’t have three weekend days in the same park, but this week we do. Since tomorrow is July 4 th, I won’t have to work, and we aren’t leaving until the 5 th. We hit the big stuff already, and are just knocking around the camp ground.

The one thing about which I must pontificate today is “the camp ground as a destination”. Here we are in Niagara Falls, one of the true wonders of the World, with at least a week or two of solid sight seeing opportunities with experiences that one may never forget for their whole life. However, when we look out at all of the people that are milling around this camp ground, I would swear they never leave the place. There are 400 sites in this camp ground, and most of them are full. The camp ground certainly doesn’t want the people to leave, and they went to great lengths to prevent that from happening, and I think it worked. The (Hawaiian) agenda for the weekend included Hawaiian Crafts, Limbo Contest, Scavenger Hunt, Wagon Rides, Hawaiian Bingo (whatever that means), Hula Contest, Family Fruit Relay, a Beach Party with a Live Band (until Midnight!!! Right across from OUR Bus!!!), a Coloring Contest, Hula Hoop Contest, Costume Contest and a showing of The Pacifier (movie). Their employees even performed as a steel drum band each day from 2-4 PM. Everyone is up at the crack of dawn (we could hear them) and they stay up late at night, and the whole time they are sitting outside of their campers shooting the (90 degree) breeze. Everyone has a camp fire every night and the smell of smoke is thick. The other piece is that everyone walks everywhere, and they don’t give a hoot that they are strolling down the middle of the road in their flip flops and speedos in front of a 40 foot diesel pusher trying to get to its slip. Then, just to make things as complicated as possible, they rent out these incredibly dangerous three-wheel bicycles that are no taller than 48 inches. The kids zip around at high speeds in and out of traffic, not heeding any obvious RV related dangers. No one seems to care, but as far as we know, no one has been seriously injured (while we were here) on these glorified skateboards.

We did decide, however to go for a bike ride today. It wasn’t too hot, so we hopped on the bikes and headed for the Falls (3 miles away). The lay of the land is that between us and the Falls is one giant hill, hence the poor cellular reception. We rode about 1.5 miles up the hill, which wasn’t too tough, since we are on the smaller side of the hill. Thomas was a bit frustrated by the time we hit the top, but we all made it with flying colors. At that point, we had to stop and get some cash. We can use our debit card at ATM’s here and most don’t charge a fee, which shocked us. The exchange rate is automatically figured, so our $100 withdrawal shows up in the checking account as $80, very cool! Since we were on bikes, I had to walk up to the ATM. I did not notice that there was a car parked in the other ATM lane, full of younger adults playing loud music. Just as I started my transaction, a 20-something male stepped out from the back of the ATM and, let’s say, invaded my “personal ATM space” very quickly. Needless to say, it frightened me. I looked back at Traci, making sure I had my back covered in case of an altercation. Fortunately the girlfriend of the young man stepped out behind him, which was a good sign. I got my cash, pocketed it and took off. It was a good lesson learned. I need to check the environment before I hit the cash machine from now on. From that point, we simply rode down hill and tried not to hit anyone on the sidewalk. We made it to the Falls, and it was beautiful, as usual. We hung out in the park for a while and had ice cream. We decided to make the trek back to the camp ground, and boy, was it a challenge. Thomas needed me to walk his bike up the giant hill right by the river but after that we were on our way. At the top of the last hill, Thomas was just about out of steam, so we stopped at Tim Horton’s for lunch. The ride down the sloping hill back to the camp ground was fun, except for the occasional stop for a car turning right into a parking lot.

Meanwhile, back at the camp ground, Thomas was on his bicycle racing a younger child on his mini-bicycle, when the youngster decided to play a dirty trick and cut Thomas off as they were heading for the finish line. Thomas T-Boned him and flew off of his bike, his knee catching most of his weight (see picture). I applied anti-bacterial ointment, and he limped around the rest of the night. All in all, he survived his first big spill pretty well. No doctor’s visit needed, thank Goodness.

7-4-05: Happy Independence Day!

Today we felt like we needed to do something to celebrate July 4 th. We knew we would be wrapping up tonight to shove off tomorrow, so we couldn’t be out late to see fire works. We decided to head off to wine country north of the Falls to a place called Ontario on the Lake. The tour guide had told us that Winston Churchill said that the drive was the most beautiful in the world. We couldn’t argue with Winston! We headed off with no particular end in mind, although we knew we wanted to stop and buy some wine along the way. The drive was indeed beautiful. About every 100 yards someone drove their car up on the grass and were picnicking and enjoying the view of the river. I was surprised this was allowed. The views of the river were outstanding. We hit a winery and did some tasting, with Thomas in tow. They not only allow children in liquor stores here, but they encourage it. They offered Thomas some grape juice, but he respectfully declined. We got out two bottles of local stuff, and headed north.

We were just pulling into the quaint little town of Ontario on the Lake and oogling at all of the huge homes in the area when we spied a huge wooden fort. We parked and headed toward it, thinking Thomas would like it. It turns out that it was Fort George, used by the British and Canadian forces during the War of 1812. Since I know nothing at all about the War of 1812, I was clueless. We grabbed lunch at a small local shop and then moved our car over to the Fort and parked there. We did a walking tour of the Fort, learning lots about the war and times of a soldier.

The highlight of the tour was a musket demonstration by a chap named Peter. He was indeed an expert in both musketry as well as all war history. He has worked there for 25 years, starting at age 13 in the Fife and Drum Corp. He was incredible. He explained where the term “lock, stock and barrel” originated (the three parts of the musket) and also “flash in the pan” (a misfire of a musket). He showed how the musket operated, how they loaded it, and why they are so inaccurate. He actually got it loaded and shot it within 15 seconds. It was incredible. He also explained that they had no use for camouflage because due to the excess of smoke on the battlefield, they needed to be able to identify friend from foe. The inaccurate nature of the musket required them to line up in long lines to shoot at their enemy, because they had to lay down a blanket of lead since no one or few shots were accurate enough to hit anything. He said the American Civil War revolutionized warfare because the technology of the bullets and rifling made guns much more accurate.

After that we hit the rest of the buildings and got some education about living conditions and hit the gift shop. We bought some books and headed back to the bus. It was about 90 degrees, and I felt so sorry for the folks who worked there since they were dressed in several layers of clothing native to the time period.

After that we hit the Falls again just to look around and try to find a T-Shirt that we had spied earlier in the week. Unfortunately they had sold out. It just so happens that a local 65 year-old gentleman (we call him Luke Skywalker) makes his living walking a high wire between the local casino and another hotel next door. We got to see him do his thing, and it was pretty cool. Our necks hurt so we had to move on. We grabbed dinner and headed back to the bus. We have some chores to do prior to leaving in the morning.

My pontification for today is Annabella’s Massage Parlor across the road from the camp ground. I believe the laws in Canada regarding “adult” activities are a bit more liberal than in the States, but I didn’t think it extended to massage parlors. They not only have a huge sign out front advertising the nature of the business, but they also draw in patrons by having young (loosely labeled) ladies cantering about on the huge wooden deck out front in bikinis and very high heels. There are several mattresses on the deck where I suppose the “massages” take place. All of this is taking place right across the street from a huge family campground teeming with children. Usually American spas are places of tranquility with calming music, aromatherapy and clean white sheets. I don’t think that having a massage on a nasty mattress outdoors on the edge of a busy four-lane road by a bikini-clad strip-club reject would be very relaxing. Maybe it’s just me. Now we’re off to Bar Harbor, Maine. We will be on the road for about three days, boon docking at Wal Marts along the way.

7-5-05: Back in the USA! Stop in Batavia for a water leak.

We got up relatively early preparing to go across the border back into the States. We had been warned (by whom I don’t remember—note to self not to listen to them again) that the trip across the border would take an hour or more as there would be a huge line and they would search our entire vehicle. We drove across the Rainbow Bridge headed for Buffalo expecting the worse, but experiencing the best. The line was short, and moving quickly. The drug dogs were pacing up and down the lines of cars checking everything out. Once we got to the booth, the policeman came aboard to check out our stuff. He asked a bunch of questions, including how long we had been in Canada. We actually forgot and told him since the 30 th! We went suddenly brain-dead. He asked Thomas if he was really our child, asking if he was coming across voluntarily. Everything checked out, so in about 20 minutes we were headed down the highway on the US side. What is funny is that the guy told us the toll-booth down the highway would take our Canadian currency. When we got there the toll was $1.75 US and we gave her a Canadian $5. She gave me a really cheesy smile as she gave me my $.75 in change back. We knew we had been ripped off, and she knew it too. We were happy to be rid of the Monopoly money, but decided the rest of it would hit the scrapbook.

We hit Batavia, NY (about an hour away) expecting to work a bit and hit the local Six Flags park in the evening. We realized as we parked at Camp Wal Mart that we had a fresh water tank leak, and that it was coming out so quickly that we would not make it to Bangor without hitting a camp ground each night. That was no good so we headed off to the local Home Depot. I have to say that Home Depot has been almost as friendly as Camp Wal Mart, and in one case in Port Huron, MI, they were better. Wal Mart would not give us fresh water because they said they had a water bill to consider. I almost returned the groceries we had just purchased, but instead, smiled and left. They have saved us big $$ on this trip thus far, so I moved on. Lowes said no as well, and the third call was to Home Depot. They said “no problem, come on over”. Back in Batavia, we had no other choice for “home” repairs. The valve Fleetwood put in our bus was lame to say the least. I had used it all of 10 times since we bought the bus, and the handle broke and it would not hold water. Fortunately it wasn’t the black tank for all of you Dave Matthews Band fans out there (they dumped their Black tanks off of a bridge in Chicago recently and rained down their refuse on a boat full of tourists), but fresh water is very important. We called an RV repair shop in town and although they could not come help us, they told us what to do. Armed with my new knowledge and a spirit of adventure, we headed out. We found the plumbing department, and after a few New York Minutes of looking, I decided to cut to the chase and flag down a worker. Unfortunately she changed our course immediately and decided that plugging the offending pipe was better than doing it the way the RV dealer recommended. I nodded my head like a puppy and we searched for the parts to complete the task. I had measured the pipe, so I thought I had enough information to succeed. After three trips back and a couple hours later, the original recommendation worked and we were set for fresh water. Fortunately this time Wal Mart let us fill up again, and we could take showers. Unfortunately by this time the trip to Six Flags was cancelled so we wrapped up and went to bed.

7-6-05: Rochester, NY for new phone.

We headed East on I90 headed for Albany, NY where we were to spend the night at Camp Wal Mart for our second of three nights. We are getting very comfortable camping in this manner. As long as we have enough fresh water, we are truly good to go. We find that most if not all nights, we are among several RV’s in any given Camp Wal Mart, and most of the time, the others are bigger than ours, which is comforting in some strange way.

Those of you who know me well, you know that my phone is my constant companion, sometimes to the chagrin of my family. Well, my trusty cell phone died once again, and wiped out all of my data. This time I couldn’t restore it. I was without my extensive phone list, and unable to make many personal or business calls because I simply didn’t have the numbers any more. Plus, that phone’s batteries are horrible. I have gone through several in the time I have had it, and I had just had enough. Since we had to go to the Verizon store in Batavia to get Traci’s new phone (I lost hers on Canada Day) I thought I would check out the models for one for me. I found one I really liked, called a Treo 600, but they were out of stock. I called Verizon and found that the only store that had one (since the NEW 650 had come out, with no additional features I wanted) was in Rochester, NY. Fortunately that was on our way, sort of, so we took the exit and headed for the store. While I was buying my phone (Verizon stores are always slow and overloaded, and this one was no exception) Traci and Thomas went to the used video game store close by. It was a Thomas Paradise. He loved it, and asked the gamer dude lots of questions. Gamer Dude asked Traci why we were in town, because he said “no one comes to Rochester. You either live here or you don’t see it.” He said the pollution was the worst in the country or something like that, and that everyone in Rochester was going to die of cancer. Thomas got a “vintage” Game Boy game and was thrilled.

We headed back out on the road again, headed for Albany. We stopped at service plazas along the way to stretch our legs and for me to pull email and make some calls. I can talk on the cell phone while driving the bus, but it is still a struggle and I would rather not do it. It still amazes me that we can stop and plug in most any where and still be in touch. Traci had used Map Quest to find our next Camp Wal Mart in Albany. We took the appropriate exit, made some turns and found ourselves in a very bad part of town. For the first time I thought I would turn down Camp Wal Mart. Well, it wasn’t there! The directions took us to down town Albany, right by the Government Center. There were museums and office buildings, but no Camp Wal Mart. Highly frustrated, we stopped in a long line of parking spaces near the Government Center (it was nearly dark at this point), hit 411 and called the Wal Mart in question. It turns out that the Camp Wal Mart was at 146 Washington AvenueExtension, NOT 146 Washington Avenue, which was down town Albany. The Wal Mart Atlas we have didn’t say anything about an Extension, which is “up town”. I drove the bus through very hilly and narrow city streets with car in tow, which was an experience that both scared me and built my self-confidence. At least I didn’t hit anyone.

We got directions to our correct destination and got lost trying to get out of down town. With a couple of more calls and about two extra hours total, we were finally there. However, we encountered something we had not previously encountered with the towing system: the battery in the Infiniti died. We had to call the motor club to come jump the car in the morning so we could head on to Bangor, ME. We figured out that my Infiniti is just a little bit different in towing than other cars. In order for the breaking system to work, I have to leave the key in the ACC position, which also activates the automatic headlights if they aren’t manually turned off. The lights were on, and it didn’t hit me because I thought the entire car was powered by the bus. Another learning experience.

7-7-05: Oh, Deer!

Today was a marathon driving day. We drove from Albany, NY to Waterville, ME. All in all, we drove about 6 hours today. We were tired of travel and just wanted to get to Camp Wal Mart in Bangor, ME. Well, for most of the day, we just did the New York, Mass and Maine Turnpikes. We actually touched 4 states. We stopped at truck stops for a while and I worked in between. I managed to get some stuff done, and answered some calls. It’s getting old, and that’s why we decided to push until Bangor rather than stopping after the normal four hour stint. However, Mother Nature had different plans. Last night, while in bed, I caught up on an old Men’s Health magazine from April. The issue was huge, as usual, with everything that a man should know about life, health and relationships. I know I sound like a commercial, but I mean it. It’s the best magazine ever. There was a funny article in there about deer accidents. The wit was good, and I actually read it to Traci out loud. The author explained the best way to handle a deer accident. He said not to try to dodge a deer, because many more people get killed dodging deer than get hurt hitting deer. He said to square up, hold the wheel tight, hit the brakes and punt the deer off of the road. We were driving at 10:30 pm local time up I95 near Ellington, ME when Bambi decided to do a little dance in the middle of the road. We were alone on the road, but it was very dark. The article jumped into my head. I held on tight, hit the brakes and pow! the deer went flying. Traci screamed, and Thomas, looking up from his Game Boy, said “what happened?”. The deer decided to take my right front headlight array and about an 18 inch square of fiberglass with it into the ditch. I didn’t stop, because now there was a truck behind us. I went on to the next exit, with a distinct knock in the front-end. I feared that Bambi had lodged itself under the bus and I would go out to find fur and blood every where.

At the next street light above an exit, we stopped on the slow side of the exit to inspect the damage. I grabbed a flashlight and cringed. The hole was impressive, and the bump was actually the turn-signal flapping in the wind. I grabbed a bungee and wedged it in tight. I reluctantly looked under the bus and to my delight and surprise, there was no structural damage to the bus. The entire front façade of the bus will need to be replaced, but the very expensive generator just behind it was untouched. The deer had flown free and had NOT gone under the bus nor had it hit the Infiniti, which was another big fear. All in all, it was a clean hit, and the bus was still drivable, with only one headlight and two fog lights to work with. In Low Beam status, all three lights were on, but the left headlight was now pointing down toward the ground, so the road immediately in front of the bus was illuminated but nothing very far down the road. The other choice was one high-beam and no fog lights, which looked like a cone of light about 15 feet straight down the road and nothing to the sides. It was very eery. We decided to hit the nearest Camp Wal Mart for the night. We made one wrong turn and found ourselves on what Thomas nicknamed “dead-end drive”. It’s hard enough to maneuver this rig in small towns, but at night on a pitch black stretch of road with no headlights it’s almost impossible. Fortunately we found an intersection where the road did indeed go to a “T” and we swung it wide to the left and got back to the highway with no harm. We found Camp Wal Mart, put out the slides, hit the generator and chilled our frayed nerves. There would be no Bangor tonight.

7-8-05: Cross-Country RV’ing and Bar Harbor

We hit the road, still slightly upset about the night before and headed for Bar Harbor. Little did I know that a deer accident is considered a “comprehensive” claim by GMAC Insurance, and therefore won’t count against my record. Shew! I am much relieved by that knowledge. I thought I saw 5 years of perfect driving go down the drain with Bambi. We hit 1A, which is the coast road heading for Bar Harbor and our KOA for the weekend. Fortunately we stopped at a truck stop just before 1A and filled up and dumped our tanks. Boy, were we glad we did that! About half way through 1A, the highway disappeared and became, literally, a dirt road. Unlike in Indiana, where I assume our construction companies don’t like to be held liable, and/or they know what they are doing, this construction company threw the baby out with the bath water! They didn’t just skim off the top layer of asphalt to re-pave, they dug it all up! We went what seemed like a hundred miles on an uneven and extremely rough dirt road. What was worse, is that traffic was going both ways on this path, and the lanes were not even. Some spots favored our lane, others favored oncoming traffic. The bus was twisting and turning like a huge caterpillar. I think we actually sprung a leak due to that terrible road. We’ll add that to the list for the repair shop Monday. I could not imagine driving on that road when it was raining. Thank Goodness it was dry for our trip across Maine circa 1870. I’m glad we tanked up before hand, because even though the distance wasn’t enough to chew through 40 gallons of diesel, we didn’t have to worry about it either.

Once we got to the KOA, there was a bit of confusion as to where our slip was. One guy said we were in 131, and another guy said there was no such slip. It turns out that they were so jammed, they put us in the employee section of the camp. We got the bus (we nick-named her Brown Bess, or Bessie for short) in OK, but realized the water hookup was 25 feet away to the opposite side of the bus, and the electric was about 15 feet away on the correct side. After fighting off the dive-bomb mosquitoes, I finally got the hoses hooked up, with no length to spare. A hose I purchased a Home Depot was so terrible I decided to discard it. It was only $5. I now know that I need to purchase another hose for this situation. Our cord for the power was entirely sufficient. Since all they had available was a 30 amp site, we could only run one A/C unit, or the microwave, or the hair dryer at once. It’s a tough life, I know. We are used to this boon docking thing after this week, so we hooked up the sewer, but left the tanks closed, trying to determine the likely fill rate for the future.

However, we don’t have Internet. Sprint doesn’t come this far over to the sea, and that is not a good thing. Fortunately I’ve only lost a half of a work day, and my phone works great. Flexibility is the key to success!

We ventured out of the bus down to the “beach” to check out the sites. It was very foggy all day, but it was still beautiful. We had a smooth boat-ramp like hill going to the edge of the water, with thousands of rocks to choose from. Thomas asked me to show him how to skip rocks, and fortunately many perfect throwing rocks were provided. After about a half hour of demonstrations and lectures on skip-ology, Thomas pretty much perfected his throw. He got one to go about 20 feet with 5 skips. He was thrilled. Now every pile of rocks is inspected to find flat, round stones fit for skipping.

We headed into Bar Harbor, after making a reservation with a whale/puffin/lighthouse watching boat tour for Saturday. It was very beautiful, in a dreamy kind of way. Thomas described the fog as being “bright darkness”. I thought it was an amazing description by an almost 10-year-old. We walked around looking at the main dock area where from which we would depart for the trip. We hit some shops close by and decided to head to dinner since the rain was starting. We ate at Pat’s Pizza, a local joint that had pizza, pasta and fish. I enjoyed my Haddock meal, fish which tastes like Cod, but maybe even more mild. Traci had lasagna and Thomas had his normal chicken fingers and fries. He is going to sprout feathers on this trip! We headed back to the bus to wrap up the day.

7-9-05: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It rained all night last night, and it’s raining all day today. The boat tour was cancelled for today. What a bummer! What do you do when you don’t have to work and it’s raining all day? We went to a movie! There is a tiny little movie theatre in Elsworth, ME that had first-run movies. We were amazed. They had Fantastic 4 and War of the Worlds. We hit Fantastic 4. It was pretty good. Thomas loved it, and that’s what was most important. The plot left something to be desired. Fortunately all of the suggestive jokes went over Thomas’ head. When the Invisible Woman was convinced to take off all of her clothes in the middle of a crowd and suddenly became visible in her underwear, Thomas thought it was gross. Let’s keep it that way for a little longer. He will be 10 in August. J

After the movie, we went for a drive to Bar Harbor looking for post cards and a pet shop affectionately known as Bark Harbor. Thomas liked it, but it made him miss his dog. Traci bought some treats for the pooches back home, let’s hope they make it in one piece! We ate lunch in a restaurant called Route 66 in the shopping district. It was obviously themed after the famous road, with lots of memorabilia about cars and the 50’s. There was a doorbell in the men’s restroom that had a sign under it that said “push button for maximum pleasure”. I didn’t even notice it when I went in there (Traci wasn’t surprised) but the waiter told the next table about it. Thomas insisted on going in to try it out. It is hooked to an old car horn that blares so everyone on the first floor can hear it. Everyone who works there thinks it’s funny. It reminded me of the bathroom we went into at a private restaurant/museum in San Diego on an SBC trip a couple of years ago. Right above the urinal the owner had placed a circus mirror so when you looked at it everything in the mirror looked REALLY LONG. Needless to say when the intoxicated patrons left the bathroom, they had a new appreciation for the owner’s sense of humor.

On the way back from the movie, we saw a sign for The Great Maine Lumberjack Show. The show was at 7, rain or shine! We headed in not knowing what to expect. Fortunately the seats were under cover, and we brought a blanket to sit on. There was an Emcee named Sandy (a guy) who narrated the action as three Lumber Jacks and one Lumber Jill competed with one another for glory and applause from the small audience. We learned about Lumberjack equipment, sports and technique. For all of you who know my affection for trees, it wasn’t the most agreeable pastime to me. You know the saying, when in Rome…I did buy a bag of firewood which was a byproduct of their competition. It was only $2.00, and it was a huge bag. At least it fits into the “Reuse” part of the recycling pyramid.

We hit the bus and read the rest of the night. One thing I can say is that we are reading much more on this trip than we did in our “normal” lives.

7-10-05: Finally, the Sun! Just in time to leave.

We took it easy this morning since it was still wet when we woke up. We got out around noon and finally got to see the Sun today. We went into Bar Harbor to find a bank and hit the mini-golf course on the way back. It was a nice one, with a full pirate theme, including tidbits of history. We decided to go back to the bus and pack up, since we need to be in Bangor at 7:30 tomorrow morning. We took a different way back (fully paved) from Bar Harbor, and with the exception of a bit of rough road, we had no problem at all. We found Camp Wal Mart with no problem, and didn’t even get lost! This was the one we were supposed to visit prior to Bambi’s decision to run in front of us.

Once we got here we went to dinner at Bugaboo Steak House. It was a mix between Outback and Loon Lake Lodge. It was good, and the prices were reasonable, unlike Loon Lake Lodge. After that we went to Borders to get some books for Thomas and I hit the T-Mobile Internet Café to catch up on email. It’s amazing how frustrating it is to be without my broadband!

After that we hit the bus and bedded down. Three other large RV’s pulled in with us, so we feel right at home. Tomorrow we head for the repair shop, where the insurance adjustor will evaluate the damage. I expect and fear that Bessie will be in the shop all week. Most likely we will have to get a hotel room, which is not something we wanted to do. Oh, well. We can take long hot showers and we WILL get one with broadband!

7-11-05: Bad News and Good News

We actually got to Harvey’s Trailers on time, yes folks, 6:30 am Indiana time. They looked over the bus and called Fleetwood to determine an ETA on parts. It turns out that the façade for the bus will take THREE WEEKS to arrive, and they need another week to prep and paint it. A month! We had not planned on being here that long. We expected to be in Philly by that time, on our way to Indiana in September and Florida in November. On top of that, the jack system that has given us so much trouble over the past month is working perfectly! They can’t find a thing wrong with it. Talk about frustration.

However, the good news is that we can have our bus back for the waiting period! No hotel needed. Bessy is still our home. We decided to stay in Bangor until we can get a new headlight array (hopefully Friday) and then we would head North rather than South for the next three weeks. We hadn’t planned on exploring Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with the exception of Bar Harbor, but Mother Nature changed those plans. We need to hit the Web to find out where to go and make our plans.

The other good news is this quaint little “RV Resort” we found near Bangor called the Pumpkin Patch RV Resort. I found out that RV Resort means they don’t allow tent camping. Why they call it the Pumpkin Patch is not readily apparent, but the place is nice. The people are very friendly, and they have free cable (a huge relief since our DirecTV is down again) and almost free Broadband. Three cheers for that! They have a nice restaurant next door and we are thrilled. We are happy to be here and look forward to the week. Work is going well. July is already shaping up to be a good month.

7-12-05: Work, Camp Fire and Reading

I worked a full day today. Things are cooking in Indiana, and I’m very thankful for the folks on the ground who are helping to make it happen. I have yet to have a prospect or customer get angry because I’m not in Indiana. I’m prayerful that this will continue. After work we decided to stick around the bus and have a camp fire using the wood from the Lumberjack show in Bar Harbor. Unfortunately it was soaked through by the rain, so it burned cool and low. No matter what we tried, we could not get it hot, but were able to cook the obligatory hot dogs and marshmallows. It turns out that we have one of only two sites in the park that have a fire place. Normally, RV parks have these 60” fire rings that sit in the grass and have been seated by repeated burnings and rain. Here they don’t have them. Ours is actually on cinder blocks and looks like a deck fireplace. The wind was strong the whole time, so it was hard to get a proper fire burning in this thing. The fire actually went out shortly after we retired to the bus, which has never happened before.

We are all reading much more than we did in “regular” life. Traci is recovering from her task-oriented life by devouring books at a blistering pace. These aren’t just cerebral popcorn or “chick” books, she is reading everything. She just finished Tommy Franks’ autobiography. I can’t wait to read it. I am a slow reader, so it will take me months to get through my collection to hit Tommy. I highly recommend the newly released book 1776. It was awesome. I did read that one quickly. I could not put it down. I’m on to one about Alexander Hamilton. Unfortunately the writer doesn’t have quite the ability to grip the reader like the one who wrote 1776.

7-13-05: Work, Mini Golf and R&R

I worked most of the day today, although we hit the local miniature golf course in Bangor. It was themed like the one in Bar Harbor. These folks in Maine seem to have a pre-occupation with pirates and Blackbeard in particular. I guess it is just life on the coast. I hope there aren’t 100 of these down the East Coast. Thomas wants to go to all of them, and I’ll gag if they are all the same. As usual, Thomas made it about 12 holes before getting bored, but he kept it under control and finished the round. They also had batting cages, so he hit a couple of dozen balls, and once he got his timing down, he killed it. I took my turn at a dozen, and did OK. I tried not to try hard. Didn’t want to hurt my back; us old folks need to be careful! A nice family gave us a free rock climbing coupon, so Thomas did that to wrap up the visit. We made new reservations for Friday afternoon to go on the whale watching tour. Let’s hope the weather cooperates this time. I promise I will take my camera and take tons of pictures!

They have a nice chain of grocery stores here, and we stocked up before heading to dinner. The restaurant next door offers all you can eat haddock dinner for $6.95, and the food was good and plentiful. How anyone can eat more than one giant plate of that stuff amazes me. It was fried, to my disappointment, so we skipped dessert. After dinner Thomas and I played Game Cube and we hung around in the bus. I actually worked a bit more while the family watched TV. July could be a banner month for BrayTel. I’m very excited about it, and cautiously optimistic. G’night folks.

7/14/05: Work and Swing Practice

I worked most of the day today. July continues to develop as an excellent month for BrayTel. The campground we are in has excellent broadband. We continue to enjoy and appreciate the little haven we have found. Hopefully the bus will get a new right eye on Monday and we can head out.

Thomas and I hit a driving range nearby to practice our swing. Since Thomas did the batting cages, his back hurts a bit, so he didn’t want to do nine holes. We drove up to the club house just to check things out prior to getting out our clubs. It turns out that you have to purchase the tokens at the club house, but you have to actually drive to the driving range. It’s about a half mile away. It’s the first time I have ever seen that. We bought two tokens and headed out. We took a very narrow gravel road back behind the course to the range. I have never seen a driving range that has hills, a creek and really high grass in it. Bordering the right side of it is a densely wooded area. I know this because of my Bray Family Slice, I hit several balls into it. It has to be a bear to collect all of those range balls. I honestly don’t know how they do it. They must have a lot of cheap labor available. As you will see later, it is not cheap immigrant labor either.

Thomas and I were able to work out our kinks and get some really solid hitting in. I was for a moment disappointed that we weren’t on the course, because I finally straightened out my shot. I was enjoying myself, which is not easy for me to do on the driving range. Then came the thunder. Just about the time Thomas got bored and started hitting three balls at a time with his driver, we were “motivated” to finish quickly and get back to the bus. It rained and rained and rained. It rained so much that we had our first leak. I’m not going to try to get it fixed unless we have the same leak twice. So we chilled out and watched the free cable TV and went to bed.

7/15/05: Work and Whale Watching

Today was a wonderful day. I worked until early in the afternoon and then we headed out to Bar Harbor to take a whale watching tour. I have always wanted to do that type of thing, but when we were in places ( Hawaii and San Diego) that had tours, we were always on SBC’s schedule. This time we could do it when we wanted to. We were supposed to be there at 3:45 PM to pick up our tickets. I had a last minute customer issue that made us leave late, and we mis-judged the route we had to take, so we literally pulled up at 4:30. Since parking is at a premium, we were panicked. We zipped around the extremely slow-driving tourists and fortunately spied a tiny little spot in front of a UPS truck which was unloading a shipment. I did some scary parallel parking and we were on our way. I cut in front of everyone in line for tickets like people do at the airport when their flight is ready to depart. The gal was very nice and took care of me right away, while telling me that the previous cruise came in late, and that the 4:30 would not shove off until about 5. I calmed down at once, and really appreciated her help.

We got on the boat, or ship, and since we were last in line, we were last to find seats, which meant we chose seats inside the galley. We simply had to stand at the rails instead of sitting behind people standing at the rails. Although Thomas was unhappy it really didn’t mean a thing. We had about a 45 minute ride out to the whales while the Naturalist In Charge named Sasha told us tidbits of trivia about the area. We saw hundreds of lobster traps, several different types of birds, gray seals, harbor porpoises, one light house, three Bald Eagles (very unexpectedly) one Humpback Whale and about 6 Fin Whales. When we saw the Humpback I thought Sasha was going to jump into the water and kiss it. She was squealing like only a Naturalist who lives in Maine could be in that situation.

The funny thing about the whole adventure was all of the photography going on when ever a whale would even surface to breathe. Sasha would holler over the PA system that a whale was sighted 300 years to the port bow. Captain Larry would swing the rocket-powered water yacht around and head toward it as quickly as is appropriate in the situation. Everyone on the boat would scurry over to that side of the boat, hoping to get a picture. The first few spouts people were content just to see it and cheer. After that they wanted proof. They would all congregate either on the bow and struggle to get a view of the huge mammals. I think a few of them would have thrown others over just to get a better shot. Unfortunately I didn’t have a good handle on how to work my digital camera in the face of whale sightings. I had three different Fin Whales pop up right in front of my face and I only caught one on camera, and it was the one who was furthest away. I finally got it, but only after two dismal failures. It was still very magical to see these giants of the sea letting the boat get close enough to identify them by the shape of their dorsal fins.

After the trip we hit a local lobster house for dinner right off the dock. The food was excellent and not too pricey. Traci had lobster quesadillas, I had fresh halibut, and Thomas had chicken fingers - again. We couldn’t even come close to finishing it so we took our doggie bags and headed for the bus. Thomas is no longer comfortable driving in Maine at night. I assured him that we would not hit another deer in the Infiniti. Fortunately none tried to dance with me that night. We got back safe and sound and hit the sack.

7/16/05: Canoe Hullabaloo and Trip Planning

We decided to check out some of the local sights around Bangor today. The tourist guide recommended we hit the Canoe Hullabaloo in Old Town, the “oldest and largest” builder of canoes in the country. We really didn’t know what to expect, but there were banners along the road advertising the event. We drove up I95 to Old Town and headed down town, on the river, where the event was being held. We literally drove right past it and didn’t see it until we were around the bend. We went back and found a parking spot right up front, which gave us a hint. As we walked up to the event grounds, announcers came over the speaker to warn us to get off of the sidewalk because the racing teams would be coming right by us. We paused for a few minutes and from the other side of the grounds, two guys carrying a canoe came running by, scaled down the river back, jumped in and started paddling away. The second team (out of five, it turns out) followed closely and stayed right with the first. Teams 3 and 4 came out a few minutes later, and team 5, if you call two overweight people huffing and puffing very slowly down the sidewalk a team, brought up the rear. They looked like they were going to have a heart attack but finally made it into the water and slowly made their way downstream. It turns out that the teams had to paddle to a bridge down stream and paddle back to this spot. Once they got back they had to circle this island in the river and do something else and then they won. We doubt that team 5 ever made it back from the bridge down stream.

After that excitement wore off we gathered our wits and strolled around the very small event grounds looking for something interesting. It turns out that painting small canoes is a bit of tradition in these parts, and the artists had their canoes on display for all to see. We still don’t understand what the Hullabaloo was, but some of the canoes were very well done. Some were cheesy, but others were beautiful. Being that Traci is a very talented artist, she appreciated all of the hard work that went into the painting. Other than that, there were a few booths and a burger stand, but that was about it. We decided to head out and go to the floating boardwalk down stream in the next small town.

When we got there, it looked like a ghost town. The guide didn’t tell how to get there, just what town it was in. We headed to what we thought would be their waterfront, and lo and behold, we saw two guys carrying a canoe running up the road! We think it was team 1 preparing to head back up stream. What are the odds of that? We never did find the boardwalk, but hey, we almost hit team 1! I could just see the headlines: Indiana Tourists Sabotage Hullabaloo.

We headed back to the bus to figure out where we are going from here. We mapped out the route and made some reservations. Neither Vermont or New Hampshire have many campgrounds, which really surprised us. It was a bear trying to find a site with 50 amp electric and Internet. I guess they assume that everyone camps in a tent in these parts, and don’t make plans for folks in RV’s. We also found a church to go to tomorrow. We try to find bigger venues so we don’t stick out like a sore thumb when we arrive. So far we have had good luck and we look forward to going tomorrow.

7/17/05: Church and Charlie’s Chocolate

We found a church to go to this morning in a small town outside of Bangor. The pastor was young, but he was to the point. It was very quiet in the place during a few points in the sermon. He was challenging the congregation on R rated topics and I was just waiting for a hundred questions from Thomas on the way home. I think he is either processing it, or wasn’t listening, because he didn’t ask one question. I expect the topics will come up over the next day or two. The other big item to remember from this guy is that he is the only singing preacher I have ever heard. This guy has a phenomenal voice. He should seriously record Christian music. I was blown away by his voice.

After church we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Speaking as a big Wonka fan, I recommend you save your money and go see something else. It was one of the strangest movies I have seen. It still paid homage to the original, but it was very cynical, and for some reason they wrapped the whole story around Willy’s relationship with his Dentist father. In the original you felt like Willy had everything under control, but not in this one. It has been a while since I saw the old one, but I just remember it as being much more entertaining.

Tonight we just rested, read and got ready for shoving off tomorrow.

I feel this is another time to pontificate on a few of observations of Maine. Firstly, there are very few “nice” cars in Maine. We have seen only a very few high-end vehicles the entire time we have been here. Usually when one goes to the Mall or attends a big church like the one we went to this morning, there is a good mixture of Corvettes, BMW’s and Mercedes in the parking lot. Not here. I don’t know why this is the case. Maybe it is too difficult to strap a kayak or canoe to a BMW or they just don’t want to add “travel accessories” to such a streamlined “beauty” car. Whatever it is, it certainly caught my attention, and that’s saying something.

Another point the preacher brought up this morning is that Maine has an extremely high concentration of Caucasians. In Thomas’ forth grade class in Fishers, less than half of the children were Caucasian. There were children from China, Japan, Korea, India as well as African Americans. In Maine, we have seen only ONE minority person in 10 days. We have gone to lots of touristy areas where there were a LOT of people. We thought it was just us, until the Preacher said the same thing this morning. It is amazing.

My last point of observation today is that Indianapolis is a big city. For some reason, people make fun of Indiana because there is supposedly “nothing there but corn”. I must beg to differ. Indianapolis is a very cosmopolitan city. I think if all of the critics spent some time in Maine, they would have a better appreciation for what Indy is. No, it’s not Chicago, and I’m glad of that, but it is certainly not small-time.

7-18-05: Another Day in Bangor

Well, Harvey’s didn’t have time to work on Bessy today. So, we extended our stay at the Pumpkin Patch and I worked most of the day, which was good. July is picking up steam, and anywhere I can get a good internet connection is a good place. Late in the afternoon Traci and Thomas and I headed into Bangor to visit their Children’s Museum. Upon entrance, we realized that it was a bit too young for Thomas. He had fun, and we stayed for a while, but he did get bored and we headed back to the bus. There just isn’t much to do in Bangor, ME if anyone is curious.

This time we spent the evening preparing to leave tomorrow. We just had to have one more piece of blueberry pie from the campground restaurant before leaving. We were not disappointed!

7-19-05: Bus Patched, Travel and Full Moon at the Beach

Wow! What a day. We began early by dropping the bus off at Harvey’s to have her new right headlight put in so we would be legal driving until all of the repairs are done. It turns out that the jack system acted up this morning, and the jack alarm was BEEP BEEP BEEPing all the way to the shop. Fortunately it allowed them to figure out what was wrong, so they finally ordered the part to fix it. That was a homerun. It took quite a while, so we had breakfast at Governor’s, which is similar to Perkins. The food was excellent and not too pricy. The blueberry pancakes Traci ordered were over a foot in diameter. She couldn’t even eat one let alone all three. It was very comical looking. They hung over the side of the plate and almost touched the table. You think the waiter would have warned her when she ordered the stack of three.

After breakfast we went back to Harvey’s to check on Bessy. The headlight was in, but they were arguing with the company who made the jack system about what was wrong. They went back and forth for quite a while and finally determined what it was. That is the third or forth time it has been looked at, and finally a solution! I had good wireless connection at the dealership so I was able to catch up on calls I had to make. I actually carried on a call while walking through the parts department on a large deal that may bring me back to Indy for a short visit sooner than I expected. That’s OK though. What ever it takes.

Once Bessy was ready we headed south on I95 toward Old Orchard Beach, ME. A few days ago I called all of the campgrounds in the area trying to find a slip for a bus our size. Since this is peak summer season for tourists (it seems all of Quebec comes here in the summer), we are finding it hard to find openings in the campgrounds. There are 13 campgrounds in the area and I called every one of them to find a place to park for the few days we plan to be here. I ended up finding two places for two nights each. I wrote down all of the information, and thought all was well. It turns out that I wrote down the wrong camp ground for our first two days. We were trying to find the wrong one and called for directions. The lady on the phone was very rude to Traci and swore that we didn’t have a reservation. Rather than drive around this heavily populated area, we headed back up the highway to the nearest Wal Mart and regrouped. Fortunately Sprint has coverage here (hallelujah!) and we were able to get on line. I got to return some emails and catch up a bit. We checked our credit card statement and found the correct camp ground from the deposit they took over the phone. Finally! We called them, confirmed the reservation, got directions and were here in no time.

Old Orchard Beach is the “ Daytona Beach” of Maine. There are tons of cheesy shops hawking T-shirts and the like, but with the lobster shops thrown in too. There are millions of people walking around in their swim suits and towels and cross-walks everywhere. Not quite the place you want to drive a 38 foot bus. We hit the camp ground and got set up quickly. I did some more work and we headed out for dinner. After dinner we came back and decided to go for a walk down to the beach. We thought the road at the back of the camp ground was at the beach, so we grabbed our flashlights and headed off. I was wearing sandals, Traci and Thomas tennis shoes and socks.

Once we got the end of the park, we found that it led to the back of town, near the beach. We walked a couple of more blocks, and lo and behold, there it was! It was absolutely beautiful. There is a full moon tonight and the humidity must be near 100%. The fog was over the water, but you could still see the moon clearly and the waves all reflected its light. It was breathtaking. There was a young family near by lighting sparklers and the children were squealing with delight. Someone down the beach was shooting off bottle rockets, which didn’t bother me at all. I headed down to get my feet wet, just soaking in the ambiance. After a few small ripples of water through my sandals, I was so relaxed and just loving the scene when a very large wave came in and almost knocked me down! It was like the ocean was just flirting with me to come to the water, no, come closer, further, that’s it… and POW! I yelled and Traci and Thomas turned tail and ran for higher ground. I had worn my water wicking clothing, but I had two sets of keys in my pocket with key fobs. I quickly got them out and made sure they were dry, and laughed my backside off (along with Traci, to be sure).

After a while longer, and some more, not so big waves, we walked back to the car. I went ahead to a bath house in the camp ground and washed my feet off, and Traci drove us back to the bus. I got a call from one of my carriers telling me that a large contract had been signed by one of my customers and mailed directly to them, rather than faxed to me. It was delightful news. I love it when things happen like that. Today has been a bit hectic, a bit frustrating, a bit boring, but exciting, full of promise, and very peaceful too. That’s the way life usually is, if we stop to think about it. We’re just doing it in Maine this week. We’ll be here for three more days, and we can tell by the looks of it that it will be full of surprises!

7-20-05: Hard Work Day, Evening at the Beach

Today was a very challenging work day. One of my primary carriers had an outage due to the negligence of another company, and I spent the day trying to do damage control. I hate it when things are out of your control but you feel the pain when friends and customers are out of service. I hope to never have another day like that, but that is the thing about telecommunications. No carrier is perfect.

After work I was ready to head back to the beach. We drove down and parked and walked to the center of it all. We decided to eat, so Traci had a wonderful lobster roll and I had haddock. If you don’t know what a lobster roll is, I’ll explain it. They take a fresh lobster, chop it up in medium sized pieces, mix in a little mayo and tuck it in a hot dog bun with the slit across the top rather than through the side, like they have in Indiana. She loved it. It was better than the one we had at an expensive restaurant in Bar Harbor.

After we ate, we headed out on the beach for another evening stroll. I needed it. The one thing about this trip is that I can do stress-relief in places like this, rather than just walking around my neighborhood in Indy. I had tennis shoes on this time, so I took them off and carried them. Again, I was seduced by the beckoning of the ocean, but I didn’t get nearly as wet when she smacked me with a big wave. The cool thing about this walk is we got to see the full moon come up over the ocean. At first I thought it was the setting sun, but duh, we’re on the East coast! It was deep yellow and huge and just starting to peek above the clouds on the horizon. I wished I had brought my camera! It was magic. As it came up, the reflection on the water was striking. It was like a golden stream of light leading you across the ocean. We loved it.

We also happened upon a gal with a little 5-year-old boy who had dug out a huge hole in the beach. It had to be over three feet deep and about 2.5 feet in diameter. Thomas was thrilled. He and the other boy jumped in and came back out the well-cut stairs the gal had carved into the sand. We hung around for probably 45 minutes while the boys played and the tide approached. As the tide finally overtook the hole, Thomas decided it was an oceanic hot tub, except that it was cold water. The water didn’t phase the little one. He just kept jumping in and running out yelling “look at me!”. I’m sure he had a long bath when they got back to their hotel.

After our walk, we had ice cream and headed back to the bus. We wrapped up and got some reading in and went to bed. The new camp ground has cable, which is a blessing because we have not been able to get our DirecTV to work yet.

7-21-05: Work, Sandcastles and the Pool Hall

Today was a much better day at work. I started the day working, checked out of the camp ground and parked at a Wal Mart for a few hours and worked. We moved to the new camp ground, set up camp and I worked some more. We then shipped off to the beach.

The view during the day is much different than at night. Firstly, since we got there late in the day, there was a multitude of sun-burnt people. They were everywhere. Why people don’t wear sunscreen amazes me. I can appreciate a little color, but it is like these people have never heard of the stuff. Also, the tide was out and we couldn’t believe how far out it was. Thomas had to run 50 yards further to get wet, but it didn’t intimidate him one bit. He was bent on digging an ocean hot tub like the one we saw last night. He chose one spot and started digging with new gear we got from Toys R Us today. The area below the hill of the beach must soak up water all night when the tide is in and then slowly release it throughout the day. The entire plain between the hill and the water was covered with running water, but it was coming from the bean, not the ocean. The spot Thomas chose for the structure was in this wet area, and he quickly got frustrated because his creation was filling up with water before he wanted it to. I convinced him to head to higher ground and start over. Before we started digging, Thomas decided he wanted to go into the surf. It was a blast watching him wade out as far as he dared, since this was his first time in the ocean. We have been to Typhoon Lagoon at Disney a few times, and they have the best wave pool we have ever seen. The waves here are smaller, but much more plentiful. Thomas loved it. Once I dragged him back in, we started excavation on the hot tub.

He quickly got bored and tired, and dad took over. I worked like a dog digging a deep hole with high sides. I smoothed out the walls and started building sand-bucket turrets to give it the “castle” look. Thomas encouraged me as I slaved away in the hot sun. I finally got the mix of water and sand right, and things moved quickly toward completion. Thomas wanted to go wash himself off after all of the hard work, so we headed for the water again. Just before we went in, he decided to plop down and build a mound of sand near the water and enjoyed watching the tide come in and destroy what he was trying to build. That lasted for ever! It is times like this when I realize he is still a little boy. Patience is a virtue! Finally it was time to leave, and reluctantly he agreed to come up and get dried off. We headed back to the bus to get cleaned up and have dinner.

After dinner, Thomas wanted to learn how to play pool. We got our cigarettes and leather jackets and headed to the pool hall in the camp ground. It’s more like a game room, and we don’t smoke or wear leather jackets, but we did play pool. I helped him get a feel for shots and how to hold his cue. A mean looking couple claimed the table by putting their quarters on it, so we had to stop. I forgot about that tradition. I should have loaded it up myself. Overall he did very well, and we had some quality father-and-son time. After that we wrapped things up and planned out tomorrow’s activities.

7-22-05: Work, Speed Golf and the Clam Bake

Today was a much better day for work. There were no network issues and a couple of deals came in today, which is awesome. I have some fabulous people on the ground in Indy, and I can’t thank them enough for their assistance. After work we went for a bike ride around the park to check everything out. Again, this park is designed to be a destination for campers, and not merely just a place to park. It was so hot we decided to hop in the car and head out to the mini-golf course. Now that we are getting to know our son and how he responds to different situations, we devised a way to ship the normal boredom that happens around the 12 th hole.

We decided to play what we call “Speed Golf”. It was a kind of “best ball” where we all tee’d off as usual, and used the best shot to aim for the hole. We decided to take it up a notch and have all three of us tee off at once and play bumper balls to the hole. It was a blast. Thomas stayed with it until the very end. We now have a new game to play in all of the future requests to play golf.

After golf, we decided to head off to a local establishment whose parking lot is ALWAYS packed. It is called the Clam Bake. It is a cafeteria-style seafood joint with a wide array of both fried and baked food. I ordered lobster and shrimp, Traci ordered clam chowder and a lobster roll, and Thomas ordered chicken fingers. The entire bill was over $50. I can say without hesitation that it was the worst seafood we have ever eaten. Usually at least one meal in the family is usually at least a little bit good. In this case, everything was 100% terrible. It seems the smaller the place, the better the food. We’ll keep that in mind going forward. I tried like crazy to choke down the shrimp but just could not make it happen. We agreed that it must be used as a parking lot by the locals just to look like it is busy. I was amazed. I almost asked for my money back.

After dinner, we chilled out in the bus and listened to the rain hit the roof until bedtime.

7-23-05: Short Trip, Shopping and Dinner

Today was a very relaxing day. We slept in until our incredibly noisy neighbors decided to have a screaming fit all together right outside of our bedroom. There was something that was of utmost importance to one of the children and you would think he was dying a painful death. For all of you who know me, it’s hard to drag me out of bed on a Saturday. The rukus going on outside kept up for so long I just couldn’t go back to sleep.

Once that was over, we got up, ate breakfast and prepared to shove off. We are getting pretty good at that part of the routine. Traci and Thomas went to take out the last trash and I unhooked all of the tubes and wires that connect our home to the places we visit. We are leaving Maine, temporarily, to venture south then north to New Hampshire and Vermont. We decided to hook the car up inside the campground rather than in a mall parking lot. Once we got it started and moved the car, it was up to me to pull the bus out of our skinny slip without hitting anything. Everyone was watching to see if I would take out a light post or hit another vehicle. Fortunately neither of those things happened, and we succeeded in hooking up the Infiniti and heading out to I95 South. We went about 40 miles south to a town called Kittery, Maine. It is on the very southern tip of Maine and it has a huge outlet mall. Traci needed to do some shopping, and this was the perfect place to do it. For lunch we stopped at a small roadside stand and Traci got a lobster roll and I got a haddock sandwich, both were excellent and very reasonable. It seems the smallest places have the best food in these parts.

We finally got our satellite system running again, and Thomas is thrilled to have his Toon Disney channel back. After that we headed off to Camp Wal Mart in Newington, NH. Once there we unhooked the car and went to purchase an external hard drive to use as a backup device for my laptop. After that we ate at Longhorn Steakhouse. It was one of the best dinners we have had on this trip. Every part of it was first rate. We have eaten at many other restaurants that were much more expensive than this that were no better. We tip our hats to these folks. It was outstanding.

After dinner we hit the bus and watched National Treasure and hit the sack. It is very cool out this evening so we won’t need to use our generator. Tomorrow we are heading to our next destination, Barrington, NH.

7-24-05: Ft. Constitution and the trip to Barrington, NH

We are amazed how easy and comfortable it is to sleep at Camp Wal Mart. We were again not alone in our big corner of the parking lot as at least one other big rig pulled up and staked their claim to a dozen or so parking spaces. We were able to sleep in without interruption. We had no screaming children, no barking dogs. If I didn’t know better I would think we were in the middle of a calm wood. Nope, we’re at the edge of 20 acres of blacktop in Portsmouth, NH.

We discovered that we were not able to check into our new campground until after 2:00 PM, so we had some time to kill. On our way in I spied a sign pointing to the waterfront, but we didn’t have time last night to check it out. I also found a green spot on the map that said Fort Constitution. Could it be as good as Fort George? The area is amazingly easy to navigate, so we unhooked the Infiniti and headed out. We ate brunch at Panera and pointed our car east. It didn’t take long to get there, it seems all roads lead to the ocean here. We stopped at the visitors center and told them we had a few hours and asked what we should do. We have read in our RV books that these places are a plethora of information and that we should not miss a single one. They are right on the money! We got our brochures and maps and started across the street at the “tall ship tour”.

We didn’t know which “tall ship” it was, but really didn’t care. It is an actual working Portuguese fishing boat called the Gazela Primeiro. Its home is Philadelphia, but different local groups bribe them to sail to different places to show off the boat and draw in crowds. Well, I can tell you it was much bigger and more fancy than the Santa Maria in Columbus, OH (see above). However, it wasn’t nearly as interesting nor gross either. We hung around for about a half an hour, read all of the captions, talked to the crew, and took off. It was interesting, if you like fishing boats, but there wasn’t any mystique about it like the Santa Maria. It even had two modern bathrooms in it. How fun is that?

After that we headed through town to hit Fort Constitution and a lighthouse. Hey, we haven’t been up close to a lighthouse yet, so this should be fun! The drive through Portsmouth was in itself an adventure. The roads are really narrow, and historical homes are everywhere. Add to it the obsession that Maine has with crosswalks, and you have quite a mess. The shops looked really cool and there were thousands of people everywhere. We finally made it through town after taking a couple of wrong turns—the map wasn’t particularly clear and the roads are confusing—but everything is so close that we couldn’t be lost for long. As we finally found our path we passed a gigantic, I mean gigantic hotel and golf course on the water. It was beautiful. However, there was no sign indicating what it was. We weren’t sure if it was for the country club or what. Later we found out that it is a Marriott Hotel. I’m sure the rooms are more than $38.00 per night in that place! We’ll stick with Camp Wal Mart, thank you very much.

On past the snippety doo dah day part of town we finally saw a sign for the Fort. That’s all we saw. There were free parking lots—cheap, but they made us wonder if we were at the right place—and a Coast Guard building. We parked and walked to where the sign pointed us, not really sure just yet. We finally found the Fort Constitution “welcome” sign, and the big blue line on the concrete leading us to the Fort. After going to Fort George with its paid parking, dozen actors and admission fee, this was a bit underwhelming. It is actually what is LEFT of Fort Constitution. There are a few buildings and signs explaining a bit of history, and the lighthouse on the coast. We walked through the Fort stuff pretty quickly and headed for the lighthouse, hoping to make the best of it. Well, so did a hundred other people. The line looked like it would last an hour, so we ditched it. It was pretty, but it was getting hot out, and we knew Thomas would not want to stand in line that long to see a lighthouse.

He wanted to go down to the shore and skip some more rocks. Fortunately we agreed, and hit upon the best part of the day. As Thomas was searching for rocks and looking in tide pools, Traci and I sat out on the rocky coast and just relaxed. We got to watch the sailboats, kayaks, birds and happenings in complete solitude. Everything was in view, the breeze was blowing and it was perfect. The sound of the ocean, the beautiful homes on the shore, the lighthouses (there were two nearby) and the boats sailing by just made us feel like we were participating in a post card scene. We stayed as long as we dared, a bit worried that Thomas would either fall in or twist his ankle on the rough terrain. Fortunately neither of those things happened, and we headed back to the bus.

Traci led the way to the camp ground in the car and I lumbered along in the bus. It seemed like we drove for ever to the camp ground. We drove so long she called to make sure we weren’t lost. By the time we got there, I thought there was NO way we would have Internet or cellular service. We got a full hookup with cable this time, and that is good because there is a full canopy of trees which prevents any satellite system from working. Back in Bar Harbor, when I had zilch for Internet access on my Sprint system, I was honestly envious of the dude in the 45 foot coach with the satellite Internet system on board. I drooled as we rode by on our bikes, because I hate being out of touch. Fortunately we weren’t there for long, so business didn’t suffer. However, for the past week, we have been in campgrounds where the most expensive dish systems are dead in the water. My Sprint system hasn’t been as fast as it was in previous areas (one place I got over 1 MBps), but I have had consistent coverage, and this place is no exception. I was shocked to see our green light come on and stay on. I have to say I have been extremely pleased with our system, and I’m glad I purchased it. I can’t say that about everything we purchased for this trip, that’s for sure!

We got settled in, did laundry, and had a camp fire. We went to dinner at a local seafood shack and did some grocery shopping. Their seafood chowder was excellent, as was their lobster bisque. The entrees weren’t as good as the shack at the beach, but I doubt we’ll get that goof of food anywhere up here. Traci and I agreed that we are getting a bit sick of seafood after eating it every day for a couple of weeks. We look forward to heading south to get a change in menu, but for now, we are forced to eat lobster. I’m sure you feel sorry for us, don’t you?

Plans for our stay here are 9 holes of golf, canoeing, paddle boating, horseback riding and working out. We’ve got three days, and I’m going to work. Let’s see if we can get it all in. Wednesday we shove off for Burlington. It’s a three hour drive from the far southeast corner of New Hampshire to the far northwest corner of Vermont. It is so strange being in states that are so small compared to Indiana. Gas consumption must be pretty low per capita up here, because there isn’t far to go and everyone drives Subaru wagons. Until tomorrow, g’ night folks!

7-25-05: Work and Canoeing

I worked a full day today while Thomas and Traci went out and puttered around the campground. They rented a paddle boat and went out into the rather large lake nearby. They had a good time with a little excitement when they bounced off of a small island near the beach. They were worn out by the time they got back so we just relaxed and had dinner. After dinner we decided to try our hand at canoeing. I had a lot of experience in Cub/Boy Scouts, so I was fully prepared to paddle hard and have a good time. Thomas got worn out quickly and just rode along while the parents paddled. We stayed out for about an hour and headed back. We killed two birds with one stone: we worked out and checked canoeing off of our list. After that we read a lot and went to bed.

7-26-05: Work, Fat Belly’s and a Campfire/Traci and Thomas go to the Science Museum

I worked a full day today, with one deal hanging in the wind. It went back and forth a couple of times, and I think there is a good chance of getting it. One of my challenges is to work within my sphere of influence and not get frustrated when I can’t control the outcome. I couldn’t control the outcome when I was in Indy, and I have to remember that. My ego just makes me think I could just drive over and make someone sign a piece of paper. I know that just isn’t true.

One of the beauties of this trip is that after a frustrating work day I can close my laptop, jump in the car and go to the beach. We did just that tonight. We went back to the Science Museum on the coast where Traci and Thomas visited earlier in the day. They said it was the smallest of the ones we have visited, and was not very good. The one thing they did see that is pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime thing is a blue lobster. One of the local guys caught it and rather than selling it he brought it to the museum and donated it. The experts on site said it is either a one in five million or a one in ten million type of creature. Traci said it was sapphire blue with different hues and shimmering down the side of it. She said it was beautiful. She didn’t take the camera, so I don’t have proof of its existence, but I believe her :).

We sat out on the rocky shore and just relaxed as the waves came in and the tide went out. Thomas was disappointed that the tide was going out. He wanted to see it at high tide like we did in Old Orchard Beach. However, he said just sitting there watching the water was better than any video game he could play. Now that’s what I like to hear!

We got hungry, so we went to a local restaurant in Portsmouth called Fat Belly’s. The food was better than average and the pricing was par with other places we go. Traci got a ravioli dish that had tons of vegetables in it, a bit surprising. I got the chili which was very good and we had sweet potato fries as an appetizer. We have seen those in several places here, but never back home. They are not as good as they sound. I would rather have them whole with butter and cinnamon sugar. However, I did get two of their Fat Belly’s T-shirts, one for me and one for Andy back home. I don’t think anyone will argue with him when he wears it! ;-)

After dinner we came back and had a camp fire. While watching the flames scurry up the wall of the fire pit, Traci told me that she is just loving this trip. Another bit of very positive feedback. That’s two in one day. I’m a lucky guy. It’s time to read more about Alexander Hamilton and hit the sack. We are leaving tomorrow around noon to go to Burlington, VT. It’s a three hour drive through two states top to bottom. It would take me 12 hours to drive from Evansville to east of Cleveland. I like three hours much better.

7-27-05: Off to Vermont, Oh Dear part 2

Today we got up and prepared to leave Barrington, NH. I got a little work in and was able to get some key stuff done prior to pulling out. The departure was flawless, and we found our way out of the area easily. We feel like we are getting good at this RV stuff. We headed northwest up I89 toward Burlington, VT, home of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. I got a lot of practice driving in mountainous areas! Vermont is pretty much one giant rolling mountain range. I have never seen so many trees in my life. I don’t know who owns all of this wooded land, but outside of Hoosier National Forest, there is no place like this in Indiana. At the crest of every hill the next valley opens up before us and we gasp with awe as we take it in. The postcard people must love this place, because every bend looks like it should be in pictures. We wondered if the people here just get used to it like we do Indiana and think, so what! We assume they have terrible winters here, because if it wasn’t hard to live here there would be a lot more people.

We took the wrong exit off I89 and ended up going through the thick part of downtown prior to finding our way out to Apple Island. More practice for Daniel! I have to say I am getting more confident in my ability to drive Bessy in difficult surroundings. We made our way through town and on to the island. As we approached the island, Traci spied a DEER on the side of the road having lunch. Fortunately she did not decide to tussle with us and stayed where she was. Shew! We were relieved.

We pulled up to the camp ground and were underwhelmed with the appearance of the place. Do you remember when I have sort of complained about camp grounds being destinations for people rather than a place to base camp while seeing the important stuff? Well, this place is NOT one of those camp grounds. We cautiously pulled up to the office, and the inside looked worse than the outside. I was getting a bit worried. I do remember the gal who made our reservation said that we had a lake view and 50 amp power. I hoped this was more than some retention pond and started asking questions. The gal pointed out that we had actually PASSED our site already, and had to turn around to get to it. We were very puzzled. We turned around to see where our site was and were taken aback with the beauty. Our camp site is technically outside of the camp ground, on a bluff overlooking the marina on Lake Champlain. We were pinching ourselves and glad indeed that we came to this place. It was raining when we arrived, but it let up as we were setting up camp and shortly thereafter the sun shot through the clouds and lit up the far shore across the bay. A rainbow followed the sun just as I got the camera out to take some shots (see picture). Needless to say we were thrilled with our new “home” for a few days. We got carry-out at the restaurant a block away, took a drive around the island, and retired for the evening. We knew this was going to be an awesome time.

7-28-05: Work, Teddy Bear Factory, History Museum and Ben and Jerry’s

Since it is nearing the end of the month, I needed to work all day to attempt to herd all of my cats into the barn before close of business Friday. However, that didn’t stop Traci and Thomas from having fun while dad was looking over the marina from the RV. They went to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory for a factory tour. We bought a book prior to leaving that listed most of the companies in the US that offered tours of their facilities. Today we visited two of them. They enjoyed the place (with the exception of the bear jokes) and Thomas got a small piece of teddy bear fur as a parting gift. After that they went to Shelburne Museum, which is kind of like a gigantic Conner Prairie. Traci was blown away by all of the stuff they had there. They had a giant ferry, a covered bridge, a round barn and lots of other stuff. Thomas wasn’t quite as impressed, but they had a great time. Traci regretted not bringing the camera.

After they returned, I was ready to stop working and go get some ice cream. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream that is! Good old Ben and Jerry started their ice cream empire in nearby Burlington, VT. They built a decent sized factory just south of here as they were hitting the big time. (see picture) Traci and I have eaten their ice cream for most of our 12 years of marriage, so many of the names and flavors were familiar to us. We saw a movie about the history of the company, got to watch pint containers getting filled in a large manufacturing room, and got to taste two popular flavors of the ice cream.

After that we bought our cups of ice cream and headed for the playground. Thomas romped in the kids’ area and Traci and I went to the “Flavor Graveyard”. This was actually the coolest part about the trip, except for the view (look at picture again). They had all 20 or so flavors that have been released and “retired” or buried in history. Traci’s favorite flavor was there, so we finally got to find out what happened to our beloved ice cream. It was a hoot. After that Traci and I sat in the sun, enjoyed the view and talked while Thomas played with other children at the playground. To top it off, we actually got to see three real B&J’s cows in the pasture outside the plant. That made the trip for Thomas. For some reason, he loves cows.

One piece of trivia for you: Ben and Jerry sold their company to Uniliever in 2000. They sold out and have nothing to do with making ice cream any more. I’m sure they bought one of these mountains around here and sit in their deck chairs and look at the scenery and don’t worry about anything else.

We came back to Bessy and had a campfire over looking the marina and thoroughly enjoyed our hot dogs, corn on the cob and other assorted veggies. We read and hit the sack, expecting a big day tomorrow.

7-29-05: Ferry to Lake Placid, NY and the bobsled run!

The first thing we did today was call Harvey’s to see if our beloved Bessy would be fixed on Monday as expected. Unfortunately the answer was NO. It would be another WEEK of waiting for parts to arrive. We were not happy with this! Didn’t Fleetwood have any concern for our need to move on from this very beautiful place and start heading south? I guess not. Now that we knew that, we needed to make different plans for the coming week. However, today’s plans were already “in the can”. We got out early and headed into Burlington to ride the ferry over to Port Kent, NY for the drive to Lake Placid (Thank you Matt Burke for the reminder on this day-trip!). We decided to skip breakfast to save time, since they supposedly had food on the boat. We quickly found out that the food was a joke. It was popcorn, chips and assorted drinks. We ate almost nothing, looking forward to a good meal in New York…not! Back to the story…I had never been on a boat like this before, and certainly not WITH my car. It was cool to the extreme. The ride took approximately an hour from load to unload, and the voyage could not have been nicer. Traci and I stood outside the car while Thomas played his Game Boy in the car (after getting bored of the water) and just let the wind blow in our hair. We talked about the future and decided if it were not for Thomas, we would not come back. We would stay mobile for the foreseeable future. But, alas, we love our son, so we are planning to come back to the Indy area next Fall so he can finish out high school. Once he heads off to college, we are going back on the road, that’s for sure!

Upon arrival in Port Kent, we followed TWO, count them, TWO sets of directions that told us to take Highway 9N to Highway 86. Now, being from Indiana, 9N means 9 north, right? Not in New York! 9N is a road that goes south, 9 is the northern direction of said road. No, the dumb Hoosiers took 9 north a kagillion miles out of our way, trying to find this elusive Highway 86. We neglected to bring our atlas with us, since we have TWO, count them, TWO sets of directions that matched perfectly. So, after passing more than one entrance to I87 (not 86) we decided to stop and ask for directions to Lake Placid. The very nice people at the Organic Restaurant said to take I87 to exit blah blah blah and follow the signs to Lake Placid. We were now a full hour behind schedule, and with the ferry trip, we were at risk of missing the 4:00 pm cutoff for the bobsled ride, which was still a secret kept from our son. Fortunately we were not driving Old Brown Bess. We were in Speedy, my Infiniti I30t. Fortunately Speedy makes short work of Interstate Highways and every other road for that matter. We were at the exit in no time and stopped for a long-awaited bite to eat. After wolfing down Subway, we got back in Speedy and headed for the bob sled run. I really had no idea what I was in for. Fortunately my car and tires are in excellent shape, because I was in an extreme hurry. The entire day would have been marred if we didn’t get to ride the sled.

Although the speed limit was officially 55 on that road, only the most focused drivers could keep 55 without kissing the guard rails. I threw Traci and Thomas with a couple of “G”’s and apologized if I was making anyone car sick. Fortunately no one was, so I pressed on. Little did we know that the cartoon map of the area we were given at the boat was not at all to scale. Three inches in one part was about 5 miles; in another part it was 20 miles. It was very frustrating, and we did get considerably lost at one point. All in all, I didn’t get a ticket or wreck, but the engine was fully cleared of deposits before we got there.

We finally got to the center with about 45 minutes to spare. I expected there to be a huge line and to just get on at the end, but I guess no one else was quite as excited about this ride as I was. We got our tickets and pins (one more for the board) and got in the escort van for the ride to the top. The medic fitted us with helmets and put us in the car (see picture) and introduced us to our two escorts for the trip down. We pushed off, and ended up going 70 MPH and hit 4 G’s on the curves, which felt like the drive from Port Kent. It was very fun, and a bit scary, because the only restraints are loose seatbelts.

After that we did some shopping and ate dinner at a restaurant in the shopping district. The food was terrible. There is no more to say about it. We had to eat again later. We paid our tab and headed back to the boat. This time we found the correct way back, which was still a haul, but we didn’t have to break any land-speed records to make the trip back to Vermont. We were unsure of ourselves for a few minutes (drat that cartoon map) so we stopped in a little town to decide what to do. Within two minutes a local policeman pulled up behind us and checked our plate. You can’t be too careful in the middle of no where! Fortunately our plates checked out (not on the lamb) so he pulled up to give us directions.

We made it back OK and got to enjoy the ferry at dusk, which was very different, not to mention there were only about 7 cars on the boat this time. I got a shot of a lighthouse that I think is the best picture thus far on the trip, although the rainbow picture from Thursday was good. We got back and ate and collapsed. Another fabulous day. I even had a very good order faxed in while I was gone, which is always a good thing!

7-30-05: Drive from Vermont, over Monument Hill, to Lake George, NY

Since we have another week to burn in this beautiful area, we decided to rearrange our schedule and go to Lake George, NY. We had planned to go there, but that was later in the trip. I was sold by a brochure to go see the historic battlefield at Hubbardton, VT. Let me say again, it was MY idea to go see the battlefield on top of Monument Hill. No, I didn’t call ahead to see if they had RV parking, and no, I didn’t look at a topical map, we just took 7 south to 30 south to Hubbardton. Here is another question I have about Vermont, where do they come off naming a north/south road with an even number? That goes against all logic. Oh, well, back to the story. We headed down 30 and finally hit the turn to go to the actual battlefield. We started up Monument Hill and Bessy started moaning and groaning. We were, in fact, towing Speedy behind, so it was quite a heavy load. It was 6 miles straight up winding, twisting, uneven, narrow roads. I was fully regretting the decision to come, and still the hill got steeper and steeper. I couldn’t believe a major battle happened here so long ago. How did they get up here? I can’t even drive up a paved road with a huge diesel engine, how did they get up it with no roads with wagons and cannons? I thought this must be so cool if it is so hard to get up here.

Well, just as we crested a part of the hill and turned the corner, we missed the tiny little driveway into the visitors center. There was no place to park a rig of this size, even if I could get it in, I probably couldn’t get her out. I stopped in great frustration just after the driveway, and after a few minutes of moaning and groaning, we just went on. Fortunately the drive down the OTHER side of the mountain was short, and we were on highway in a matter of minutes. I was exhausted, Bessy was relieved, and Traci was proud of my driving under very difficult circumstances. We headed to our final destination of the night, Camp Wal Mart in Rutland, VT.

We didn’t have exact directions to the store, just the main highways that meet there. We found a mall, set up the bus, and went in to get directions. It turns out that there was a “Sidewalk and Ethnic Fair” in downtown Rutland, right on the edge of Camp Wal Mart. The parking lot was packed, and there was no where for us to park (the first time that has happened). We headed back to the mall, and unhooked the car because we had some errands to run. We did go into the fair and look around. It was, needless to say, an interesting example of white people trying to emphasize what little ethnicity they have in their area. The booths consisted of different type of ethnic foods, all prepared by white people. There was what looked like a Hebrew line dance going on at one of them, but that was about the extent of it. When you compare this to Black Expo in Indianapolis, it is truly laughable.

We decided that the mall was not where we wanted to stay the night, so we planned our drive to Lake George, NY for tonight instead of tomorrow morning, which was the original plan. We pushed off on route 4 west and took it all the way to Lake George. We passed our camp ground for Sunday night on the way to Camp Wal Mart. This one was on the web site, but not in the Atlas, and is still under construction. We got our supplies and set up camp. This place is awesome. We will be here at least four days, if not more. From here we will return to Bangor to have Bessy fixed and spend a few more days in Bar Harbor prior to heading south.

7-31-05: Lake George RV Park: Wow!

There are RV parks, and there are RV parks. This one is the best so far. They have three pools, one of which is indoors. They have two full-sized movie theatres, one showing kid’s movies, the other PG-13 and R rated movies for adults only. They have free paddle boats on their own pond, a bass fishing pond and bike trails out the wazoo. They have the customary BINGO nights which are a staple in the campground diet around the country. However, they also hire professional entertainers to come in and do their acts in the full-service theatre they have on site.

After work, Thomas and I hit the outdoor pool right by our RV slip. Traci did laundry at their state-of-the-art laundry room, and we had dinner afterward at the bus. While we were at the pool, they made an announcement that tonight’s entertainment was a professional hypnotist. Neither Traci nor I had ever been to one of these shows, so we decided to attend. Thomas was so excited, and hoped he would be one of the people who were hypnotized. He was so focused on being chosen, that he went to sit in the third row with an elderly couple rather than sitting with us about half way back. It was amusing to see him talking to them like he had known them all of his life. I’m sure they got a kick out of it too. Unfortunately for his attitude, the age limit was 14 years old.

However, we were very glad that he didn’t participate. The guy brought everyone up who wanted to participate and began his hypnotic routine to see which of the participants were best suited for the show. He hand-picked about 20 people to come up on stage to complete the process. At first I thought he was just picking out the attractive young ladies, because most of the first 10 fit that category to some degree or another. Once everyone was on state he took them the rest of the way to being hypnotized.

That’s when the fun started. This guy was good. He did not do anything that lacked integrity, but he encouraged those people to make fools of themselves on stage. Two people left the state shortly after it started, obviously not having been hypnotized to their satisfaction. One gal left about 15 minutes into it, and the guy went into the audience, not missing a beat, and retrieved her. He knew she was under his control, but tried to bolt. Needless to say, this guy was a professional, and he knew his stuff. He suggested that they all forget their first names, that one guy act like Tarzan, and that everyone was repulsed by their own body odor. One particularly hypnotized young lady seemed to be out in front all of the time. When he did the body odor thing, she performed a front tuck to smell her own crotch and I almost fell out of my chair. When he convinced them they were all jockeys on horses, this gal “galloped” out in front on her chair and literally jumped off of the stage. He yelled “sleep” a second too late and she banged her head on the way down. Traci and I thought sure she was a plant, because she was so funny. When he told everyone they won a “dirty dancing” contest, and that they had to show the audience their routine, one mom got out in front and shook her bootie for everyone to see. I’m sure her husband will NEVER let her live that down. One of the other guys came back to his parents’ right next to us and said that the hypnotist didn’t do much and that it was kind of lame. His parents smiled and began to tell him just how much he did on stage.

After that we came back to the bus and relaxed, read and went to bed.

8-1-05: Wedding Anniversary, Bike Thief and Bad Temper

Today is Traci’s and my 12 th wedding anniversary! To all of the people who never thought it would last: booya! You see, we started dating in August of 1992 and got engaged in December of that same year. I had been in an ugly relationship just prior to meeting Traci and everyone thought I was “on the rebound”. 90 days was just too quick for the vast majority of our friends and family. I don’t blame them though. I probably would have thought the same thing. However, we knew that we knew, and no one could change our minds. We got married the following August and never looked back. Now we’re on this crazy RV trip and having the time of our lives.

However, sometimes we make stupid mistakes and we pay for them. Today, after working, we jumped on our bikes and headed down a local bike trail not quite knowing where we were going. We just knew we wanted to go far. The bike trails around here are asphalt, and go through the most beautiful and peaceful wooded areas. I loved it as soon as we got going. We headed through the park, and after a temporary delay to adjust Thomas’ bike, we got loose of the park and hit the county bike trail. We rode and rode, and eventually found ourselves at the top of a huge sloping hill. We plunged ahead, and eventually after lots of wind in our faces and bugs in our hair, we ended up at the beachfront of Lake George. We were exhausted, and looking for a drink or maybe some ice cream. It was then when Thomas spied a cool mini-golf course and begged to play. I had reservations, since we hadn’t brought our bike locks with us. Traci and I have been spoiled by the camp ground lifestyle where everyone leaves their bikes out 24/7 and no one touches each others’ stuff. We pulled our bikes up to the rack across from the mini-golf course and Thomas and I played while Traci watched us and the bikes. Not more than 10 minutes into the game, Traci noticed that her bike was gone. I ran out to the rack, and yes, someone had stolen her bike and left her helmet behind. I was furious. I grabbed mine and Thomas’ bikes and parked them inside the golf course. The longer I played, the more angry I got for being so stupid. Her bike was not cheap, and it was an excellent bike. Traci yelled at us to come quickly, so we abandoned our game and ran over to her. She said she saw someone approach the bike stand looking for the other two unguarded bikes. She wanted to follow him, but didn’t want to bolt and us not know where she was. She described him and I went out looking for him, and she went on foot. We never found him, but she was convinced he was the one who took it. It was best that I didn’t catch him, because I probably would not have handled myself properly if I had.

After that we needed to go back to the bus, so Traci decided to walk while Thomas and I rode the 6 or so miles back. Eventually I got impatient, and felt bad for Traci having to walk (since my bike is too big for her), so I did an old middle school trick and put Thomas on my seat and I stood up while riding the rest of the way back, and Traci rode Thomas’ bike. We arrived back at Bessy safe and sound, but thoroughly drenched with sweat. We went to the Log Jam for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. The food was good, but not great, but it was pricey. The most notable thing about the meal was the old lady from a table around the corner that was so drunk she could hardly walk to the bathroom. She had to come right by us, and Traci’s eyes lit up as she stumbled by. She started laughing with the waitress, and I had missed the whole thing. I spied her coming back out, and I wasn’t sure if she was crippled, or terribly drunk. The waitress said the bartender had to cut her off! You certainly don’t’ see someone in their late 60’s or ealy 70’s drunk as a skunk in a snooty restaurant, that’s for sure. On another note, Traci and I don’t enjoy going out to eat nearly as much as we used to. I expect that we’ll be doing even more cooking in the bus in the coming weeks and months.

After dinner we relaxed and read and went to bed.

8-2-05: Work, errands, and buying bikes

I got up and worked in the morning prior to running errands at Lake George. Their post office is right in the middle of the historic district, but there is no parking lot. You have to find your own spot on the street or in someone else’s parking lot. We were amazed. In light of the “great bike theft of Lake George”, Traci and I ventured out to the local Dick’s Sporting Goods to purchase a bike for her. We found a very cool small men’s bike, which is necessary because of the bike rack on the bus only holds men’s bikes. It’s a Diamondback 21 speed, which is kind of funny since Traci uses 2 or 3 gears, max. The guy in the bike department at Dick’s was a veteran bike guy, and he did an adjustment to every screw and pad on the machine. When Traci took possession of it, it was truly set for her body to ride it. We got it back and she is very pleased with it. This is now her “official” anniversary present from me, since we hadn’t planned on getting each other anything.

Late in the afternoon, we decided to hit the same bike trail that lead to the shore of Lake George, to prove to that thief that we will not be turned away. We got about a half mile up the trail when Thomas’ bike got stuck in 4 th gear. I had already adjusted the shifter the night before, and it worked that time. I was still a bit frustrated by losing Traci’s Marin, and I got on Thomas’ bike to teach it a lesson. I twisted the shifter mechanism so hard it broke, thus rendering it impossible for Thomas to ride. We made it back to the bus, and headed out to Dick’s once again. This time the bike guy was very busy so we went over to Target to see if they had anything. They didn’t, so we went back to Dick’s and waited…for ever. We finally got the right bike for his size, and he picked the colors—it is a Schwinn—and he was very happy. Again, the bike guy did everything in the book, and eventually, we were allowed to leave. We had dinner at Subway and headed back to the bus and had a camp fire and went to bed. It was a very relaxing way to end a frustrating day, and Traci is really getting to love these opportunities to sit and stare at burning wood. We are on the same page on so many things. This trip is wonderful.

8-3-05: Bike Ride, Work and Rodeo

Today was a funky day. Today is the two month anniversary of our departure from Indianapolis. We both feel like it has been just a few days, and we also feel like it has been a year already. I know this next 11-12 months will fly by, but we are very much relishing every day while we are out here.

I got up and worked in the morning as Traci and Thomas slept. I know this will make you all sick to hear this, but we are getting much more sleep each day than we ever did at home. Traci has finally gotten used to the lack of demands on her time, and she is sleeping in well after I get up every day. In our previous lives, She was always the first one up, and neither Thomas nor I were allowed to stay in bed once she was up and at ‘em. After catching up on business, we jumped on our bikes and headed for Lake George on the same path we took the other day. This time we brought our new 6’ bike cable and lock, and chained our bikes to a bench right outside of the personnel office at Fort William Henry, so NO ONE would touch them. We took the tour of the fort, which was used in the 1750’s as a British/Colonial outpost. The French and Indians came south out of Canada and attacked the fort, leading to its eventual surrender and destruction in 1757. The attack and massacre of the inhabitants of the fort was brutal, and certainly fueled the hatred of the Indians by the Colonial Americans. It’s amazing that just a few short years later The Colonials and the French were allies in ousting the Brits from American soil. The tour was good, and we got to see a musket and a cannon being fired, sans ammo. The guy narrating was not nearly as talented a storyteller as the guy at Fort George in Niagara Falls. We left a bit disappointed, and the 90 degree sweltering heat didn’t make it any easier. Overall it was neat to see, but not nearly as cool as Fort George. We made it back to our bikes (which were safe and sound) and rode the path back to the bus.

We arrived back early afternoon and while Traci was doing laundry, I continued my work, finally completing ome overdue stuff to one of my carriers. By the way, at the end of last month, the contract I had prepared and submitted from the truck stop in the middle of nowhere was signed and sent in. It was very gratifying to hear that my customer did not give a hoot that I was on the road. July ended up a very strong month, for which I am very thankful. After work, we went to a BBQ place/rodeo called the Painted Pony. I have to lay some ground work on this one. Neither Traci nor I would have volunteered to go to a rodeo. Traci just loves a gal on the Food Network named Rachel Ray. She has a show where she reviews food from different parts of the country. She lives here in Fort George, so she did a show on the Painted Pony. Traci was enamored with the show, so we went, lock, stock and barrel. We did the full boat, with the chicken BBQ and tickets to the rodeo. Unfortunately we came to the conclusion that Rachel must be friends of the owners and wanted to brag about her friends, because the food was not at all good. I have had better BBQ at a number of chain restaurants in Indy. We hoped that the rodeo would make up for it.

Neither Traci nor I have been to a real rodeo. I had attended some of the rodeo exhibits at the Monroe County Fair in Bloomington, but not real competitive stuff. This was a real competition. It seems to me to be like NASCAR. They rove from haunt to haunt around the country and gather points and prize money in their circuit. Unfortunately in a competition there are a few good riders, and lots of bad ones. Most of the rounds were people who goofed while doing their thing, and it got very boring after a while. Thomas also had major sympathy for the cows that they roped and wrestled to the ground.

To top it off, at intermission they had something that defied all logic in my mind. Had I known what it was, I would have opted Thomas out entirely. They made a call for all children under the age of 12 to come out into the field for a “boot and shoe” race. We had no idea what it was, but to Thomas any type of race is an opportunity to show his stuff. He’s a pretty fast kid who enjoys a good sprint now and then. We encouraged him since what seemed like a thousand kids were filing past us on to the field. Remember, this field had been used for the last hour as a rodeo, complete with large piles of horse manure. The race should have been sponsored by Tide laundry detergent. The kids went down onto the mud, sand and poop laced field, took off one shoe, ran to the other end, and awaited directions from the rodeo clown. The point was to return to the large pile of shoes, retrieve the abandoned shoe, put it on, and run back down to the clown. The winner got $5 in free merchandise at the rodeo store, yehaa! Thomas is not a “take your shoes off and run in the mud and poop” kind of kid, but he did it anyway, since a hundred other kids did it without thinking. Traci and I were dismayed, and regretted our decision to send him off to his undergarment’s demise. It seemed like the locals didn’t give a hoot about this. I guess horse poop is no big deal to rodeo families. We realized some of the older and more experienced kids had their plans laid prior to going on the field. Theyu knew exactly where to put their shoe so they could retrieve it quickly and win the race. Thomas didn’t even come close, but in my book won the best attitude award, because on the way back down the field, knowing he had lost by a mile, he did the “Six Flags old man” dance the entire way back in front of a crowd of 500 people. He was all alone out there doing HIS thing. I have it on video. I’m such a proud papa.

We left during intermission and headed back to Bessy. We had our fill of rodeo for the night. We read and snacked, since the dinner was so bad. I went to the laundry to wash Thomas’ shoes and I ran into the hypnotized gal from Sunday night and one of the other guys at the pool They were terribly embarrassed by the whole thing. She did hit her head on the way off the stage, but it wasn’t bad. I seriously doubt that they were in on it with the professional, since they are still here on Thursday and he left on Sunday.

I’ll use this time to pontificate about the books I’m reading on this trip. Just before we left Indy, I promised myself I would do more reading while on this trip. Men’s Health magazine, the best in the world for men to read, recommended a book called 1776 by a Pulitzer Prize wining author whose name escapes me right now. I bought the book before we left with the great intention of reading it. Well, this time I read the book. I couldn’t put it down. I loved it. I highly recommend reading it to anyone who is interested in sharpening their appreciation for good story telling as well as the sacrifices George Washington and others made to win our independence from the Brits. It lead me to a book about Alexander Hamilton, who placed a crucial role in getting our Founding Fathers to wake up and write the Constitution, as well as create the structure of our government and the banking system we all know and love today. Other than the $10 bill, I knew nothing about the man and I am lucky to have stumbled across a biography about him in Canada of all places. I am now thrilled about reading the other books on the Revolutionary War Heroes I have purchased locally and ordered off of Amazon. I never cared for US History in high school, and now that I’m old enough to appreciate it, I’m thrilled about the prospect of reading it all while seeing it live in person. On the bike trip today, we actually came across the path that Henry Knox took to bring the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga down to Boston to oust the Brits in 1776. It was a huge part of the story in the 1776 book and it was amazing to stumble across it without prior expectation. I look forward to many more such “discoveries” as we explore Boston and other east coast cities in the coming weeks.

8-4-05: Leave Lake George, Drive to Lebanon, NH

I worked this morning and lost track of time for our check-out. We barely made it out of the camp ground on time. After a few rounds by the “checkout Gestapo” truck, Traci was urging me to pull up camp quickly. Since Thomas’ bike was disabled, I removed the seat and placed it in the bike rack near our camp site and bolted. We want the seat for his new bike since it has built-in lights. I hope someone can find a good home for it.

We drove back to Rutland, VT to hit Camp Wal Mart since it was a good stop over for the trip to Portsmouth. We are familiar with the area, since we had been there before. We thought sure the parking lot would be clear, since the Street and Ethnicity Fair was over by now. However, to our dismay, it was still packed, and there was no where for Bessy to hunker down. The fair was indeed over, but it seems that everyone uses the parking lot as their overflow parking for the entire area. Thus, we decided to push on to Lebanon and shorten our drive for tomorrow.

We found Camp Wal Mart in Lebanon, NH which shared a parking lot with a grocery store and a Borders Book Store. Once we got to Lebanon, I worked more and caught up on my projects for the day. One customer who has had me quote out more than 25 circuits over the years but never actually bought one because one valid reason or another called today and I handled the quote, contract and signature all over cell phone and cellular Internet access. It was wonderful. It was a great way to wrap up the week. We did some grocery shopping, ate dinner in the bus and went to the book store for our field trip. We decided to park on the street side of the parking lot since it was well lit, had clear access to the satellite TV and was out of the way of the shoppers. Unfortunately that street was pretty much a 24 hour thoroughfare. It was very hot, so we had all of the windows open in the bus. The loud trucks and Harleys kept waking me up all night, but Traci and Thomas slept like babies. I certainly can’t complain because CWM doesn’t charge us to set up camp.

8-5-05: Drive to Portsmouth’s Camp Wal Mart

I worked most of the day today and when things calmed a bit, we left Lebanon, NH and pointed Bessy at Portsmouth, NH. The countryside here is just beautiful. We drove up a rather large mountain, and Bessy was huffing and puffing the entire way up. Once we hit the top, the ride down was nerve racking! At one point we had all three sets of brakes engaged, and I was exhausted by the time we hit Camp Wal Mart in Portsmouth, NH. It was like a moving post card the whole way. As you may or may not know, there is extremely limited billboard advertising in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Sometimes it is very frustrating because while driving the bus, we have no advanced warning for restaurants and attractions, and we end up missing them because we miss the entrance and there is no where to turn Bessy around to go back. One funny thing we saw was New Hampshire’s way to “hide” a cellular phone tower. We were coming down this large hill into a beautiful valley when we noticed that one “tree” was about 15 feet taller than all of the others. At first I thought it would be a huge lightening risk, but then I realized it was actually a cellular phone tower. It was silly looking once we actually looked at it, because the “branches” were the radios for the cell signals painted green.

Once we arrived in Portsmouth, we went back down to the shore where Thomas and Traci had been a few weeks earlier. This time someone was getting married, and having their pictures taken with the ocean as the backdrop. It must have been very romantic, except for the tiptoe trip through the jagged rocks in their gown and tux for the bride and groom (see picture). The thing we were very curious about was their fully catered meal right on the sea coast. If anyone has eaten in the present of one or more seagulls, you know how determined and bold these creatures are. I could just imagine once one gull eyeballed the food, he would attract literally hundreds of other birds since this is their home. It reminded me of a time when we were in San Diego at Sea World. We sat down for lunch, and I threw a French fry to one of the gulls. About 10 of them gathered around for more, and Traci quickly put a stop to the feeding of the gulls. One of the birds decided that he wanted more, so he swooped down on our table and pooped in Traci’s hair. The poop slid down her shirt and landed in her meal. The bird then landed about 3 feet away and made a loud squawking noise that sounded exactly like laughter. Needless to say, I have not offered any more gulls french fries, ever! I hope they made arrangements to keep the gulls out of their food!

We also bought a bike rack for the Infiniti so we can transport the bikes without Bessy. This is indeed exciting. There have been many times when we wanted to bring the bikes, but couldn’t or didn’t want to drive the bus. Now we’ll have them anytime we want. Very cool. After that we all got haircuts at the mall, ate at our favorite Longhorn Steakhouse and retired to the bus.

8-6-05: Drive to Bangor, Cleaning and Prep

We stayed at Camp Wal Mart last night, and the weather was perfect for boon docking. We had all of the windows open in the bus all night and it smelled like we were in the middle of a forest. The parking lot cleaning guy had the early shift, which meant he cleaned at 10:00 PM, rather than all night, so we slept soundly. We got up late and had breakfast at Panera and shoved off for Bangor. Today’s drive was the most peaceful in several weeks. The roads were wide, and mostly flat. With the exception of toll booths, it was a fine drive through New Hampshire and Maine. We had been this way before, so it was also familiar, which is comforting.

We checked into our cozy Pumpkin Patch RV Resort and were escorted to our site. Today is the day we prepare our Bessy Bus to get her face lift, tummy tuck and rear repair. We dismantled the towing mechanism and stowed everything in the basement. Monday morning we drop Bessy off to Harvey’s to complete repairs. We took the bikes off of the bus and stowed the tow bar in its proper position. We’ll attach them to the Infiniti for the trip back to Bar Harbor. We didn’t have enough time there the first time to do everything we wanted, so since we have to leave Bessy at the dealership for a couple of days, we have reservations at a hotel just outside of Bar Harbor.

Traci cleaned the entire bus while Thomas and I went to the driving range. Tomorrow Thomas and I are going to play 9 holes so we can go live with the things we learned from our Golf Pro Butch. I called a friend from High School who lives in Connecticut and made loose plans to go visit him and his family when we head that direction. We haven’t spoken much since Traci and I got married. I look forward to seeing them and getting caught up. He does cancer research at Yale.

8-7-05: Church and R&R

We went back to the same church in Bangor with the singing preacher and enjoyed our selves once again. This time he led the singing for the entire service, and Traci and I had goose bumps the whole time. He should really do a CD. He reminds us a lot of Todd Agnew. The service wasn’t quite as PG-13 as last time. After church we headed back to the bus. Since we really didn’t have anything to do today, we literally lay around and snoozed, read and watched TV. It was very relaxing, although we felt like we should be going somewhere or doing something productive. We simply faced the fact that Bangor is boring and we have done everything there is to do here.

Tomorrow is the big day for Bessy and we have everything ready. We put the new bike rack on the car and stowed all of the towing stuff in the “basement”. We are excited about going to a hotel and “living it up” for a couple of days. Living it up means Traci and Thomas get to take baths. I’d rather stay in the bus. If we could live in her while she was being fixed, I’d be all for that! Oh, well, the things we dads do for our families! J

8-8-05: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I got up early this morning to do a little work prior to calling Harvey’s to “verify” that all is ready for Bessy’s surgery. Well, the news was not good. Fleetwood had not shipped the part after all, because the first one shipped from California was defective or so they say. The new one arrived in Indiana today and was being put on a truck bound for Bangor. I asked how long it would take to be delivered, and he said “as long as it takes to drive from Indiana straight to Bangor”. The part is so big UPS would not ship it, so it had to go private freight. We were furious. The guy from Harvey’s said he had called me on Friday to tell me, but I didn’t answer, so he didn’t leave a voice mail message. Needless to say, I could not understand his logic. We had spent the weekend making our plans for the coming two weeks after Bessy was fixed. We called ahead and made reservations for Boston and New Jersey, and all of it was ruined, temporarily.

I called everyone and either cancelled our reservations or pushed them out a week. It turns out that it will work better for my Yale buddy Mike, because his family is free the following weekend and we can spend much more QT with them. All in all, it didn’t cost us any extra money, but it sure messed up our plans. We decided to stay in the PP one more day to regroup and work. That we did, and not much more happened the entire day. We were angry and frustrated, but eventually got over it.

We decided to leave the PP and head for Rockport, Maine. It is on the rocky coast of southeastern Maine and everyone says it is beautiful. The main reason we want to go is that it is over 90 degrees in Bangor, and 75 in Rockport. That’s all I needed to hear. Fortunately an RV resort there had a slip available, so we made plans to head south once more.

8-9-05: Drive to Rockport, Work, Breakwater Light House and Dinner at the Rockland Café

What a drive! We got up early so I could get some work in prior to leaving the PP. Once I got caught up, we did our last minute chores, unhooked the bus, and headed off. We were to drive toward Bar Harbor, but take a turn half way there and head further south. Unfortunately the drive this time was worse than last. The Maine DOT had the brilliant idea to dig up another road in our path, both lanes, down to dirt. I’ll have to admit that it wasn’t as riddled with huge rocks and pot holes as the last one, and it was much shorter, but I can’t for the life of me understand why they go all or nothing on road construction here. We should loan them some experts from Indiana to teach them how to re-build roads with less disruption in traffic flow.

We made it past that point and headed over a gigantic bridge in the middle of no where to Rockport. Another hour later we were there. It certainly didn’t seem that far on the map! Traci had the path at every turn and every cross-street, so we knew we weren’t lost. Eventually we arrived at Camden Hills RV resort. It is much smaller than the PP, but they have free wireless and cable. It’s more expensive, but the extra $20 per night is well worth the treasure trove of things to do here.

We got camp set up and I continued working until dinner time. We decided to head out and see one of the local light houses and find dinner. The place is beautiful. It seems much more “authentic” Maine here. The scenes look like the walls in Red Lobster, but it doesn’t look they are trying, like they seem to in Bar Harbor. This is much less touristy, but you can tell there is money here. At one point, 7 of the 10 millionaires in the entire country lived here, making their money building boats. There are huge homes everywhere, most of which have been converted into romantic Bed and Breakfasts.

We found our second light house of the trip, called Breakwater (pop quiz: where was the first one? At Fort Constitution in Portsmouth, NH). In the late 1800’s the locals felt like they needed a wall to protect the harbor from violent storms that plague this area. It took them about 7 years to build it, but it was finally completed. It is 1.4 miles long and 45 feet wide at the base. The entire wall is made of granite! I can’t imagine how many counter-tops’ worth of granite are laying in the ocean in Rockport, ME. I’m sure it would be worth millions of dollars. It is beautiful (see picture).

At the end of it is the Breakwater Light House. It is unmanned at this point, but they open it up on weekends for tours. Since we’re here on a Tuesday we just get to enjoy the view, take pictures and listen to the fog horn they have running. It’s annoying at first, and then more annoying once you get to the building (see picture). However, it’s worth it. The view of the bay is outstanding. I took over 50 pictures of the place. We even saw a bunch of star fish living on the side of the levee. You don’t see that in Indiana.

After that, we were hungry from our long walk out to the light house, so we ventured into town to find something to eat. We looked at several restaurants, most of which were already closed for the day. Why they close a restaurant at 5:00 PM makes no sense to me. We found one open and it was packed. It is the Rockland Café, and it was full, and hot, but the food looked good so we stuck it out. We were glad we did. I had the best haddock I have had on this trip, Traci had a crab salad and Thomas had—get ready—ta-daa, chicken nuggets. We all agreed that the food was excellent, and we enjoyed it greatly. It was inexpensive too, which is always a bonus. We highly recommend it to anyone in the area.

After dinner we retired to the bus, read and went to bed. Traci and I watched a show on Discovery channel called Dirty Jobs. It was one of the funniest shows we have seen in a long time. This guy had to do most of the nasty chores at a pig farm. We laughed until we cried. It made me very happy I had the job I do. I highly suggest it to everyone, except the ones who can’t handle gross, or who aren’t exposed to hell, damn and poop. We learned that crud is a mixture of crap and mud. We never knew that before. J See ya’ tomorrow!

8-10-05: Two Lighthouses in one day!

Wow. Today was a fantastic day. I began the day working as Traci and Thomas slept. Things are picking up sales wise, which is wonderful. We were able to steal away late in the afternoon to go back to Breakwater Lighthouse. This time it was high tide (we checked the tide schedule) and it did indeed look different. I got a picture of it from the dock moored nearby (see picture). This time the horn was off for some reason, so it was very peaceful. We just sat on the rocks and watched the waves pour in after each boat had come and gone. It was very peaceful, and we had a very relaxing time.

After Breakwater, we headed off to another light house that was across the bay from this one. It’s called Owl’s Head. It took about 20 minutes to drive there, but it was well worth it. We pulled in to find a state park, but without the entrance fee. The light house is actually part of the Homeland Security Department. The “keeper’s” house is next to it and someone lives there full time, so the place is in perfect shape. Everything is clean and well painted. We climbed the stairs as I took pictures and literally got our breath taken away when we went behind the light house to look at the ocean. It is by far the best view we have seen on this trip.

The house itself, like the first one, is barred and locked so you can’t go up, so after taking lots of pictures, we lingered for a little while and made our way back down. Thomas had spied a sign on the way up that indicated a swimming spot was off to the left of the light house. He wanted to go see it, and we agreed, although we were all tired and very hungry by this time. We wound our way down the dirt path shaded by huge trees and saw a picnic table in the distance. We made for it and got more than we bargained for! The view down here was almost as good as up at the light house, and there were thousands of skipping stones. We wandered along the beach for a while as Thomas threw everything he could get his hands on into the ocean. I skipped a few stones as Traci uncharastically wandered off and climbed a huge rock nearby. She was up there so long I went along and joined her, wondering what she was doing. The view of the lighthouse was amazing (see picture). We spied an island nearby that appeared to have a colony of puffins living on it, but we couldn’t see it well enough to be sure. There was a large quantity of bird life on that island, that’s for sure.

After breathing in the sea air and the wonderful vistas and the beautiful light house, our hunger pangs got the best of us. We had to eat, and now. We stopped at Wal Mart to pick up a few items we were out of, and grabbed a couple of candy bars to tide us over. We stopped at a local market and got dinner take-out, and stopped at another shop to get a quart of fresh, locally grown blueberries. They are fabulous. I can’t wait for breakfast.

We returned to the bus and added hot dogs over the camp fire to dinner and had a feast. The best, however, was the roasted marshmallows. For some reason they were 10 times better tonight than ever before. We laid out plans for the time between now and Saturday when we return to the Pumpkin Patch to get Bessy ready for her surgery. Thomas’ birthday present will be waiting there for him when we arrive. He will be surprised. Today was one of the better days of the trip. Maybe this is why we were delayed. We hope this whole week of Light House hunting will be as good. We both agreed that Canada Day in Niagara was the best single day of the trip. I look forward to seeing what will be better.

8-11-05: Work, Lighthouse #4 and dinner at the harbor

What a day! I got up and worked while the family slept in, and got a lot of work done. It was very exciting as a new deal came to life today that has an excellent chance of closing this month. In the midst of making calls for work, I called Harvey’s to ascertain the status of our long lost front façade. Well, guess what? It’s in! They are ready for Bessy to come in for her surgery. We were thrilled. We had a choice of bringing her in tomorrow morning first thing and getting Bessy back mid-day Monday, or taking her in Monday morning and not getting her until late Thursday. Duh! We immediately trashed all of our plans for the weekend and decided to go back to Bangor tonight so we could take Bessy in first thing tomorrow.

I have to take a little time here to tell you how lucky we feel at this point in time. We had seen an advertisement for the “Blueberry Wing Ding” in nearby Lincolnville this coming Saturday. When we see blueberries, we’re in. We were fully planning to camp here Friday night so we could go enjoy the festivities on the beach on Saturday. Well, with the change in plans, we would have to get a hotel room here for Friday night. We reserved a room down town Bar Harbor for Saturday and Sunday nights for $120 per night. The normal rates were $175 to $200, but due to persistence and my refusal to pay this much, one of the gals admitted that they had an area called “the annex” that had a room with two queen beds for $120. We were set. With this in mind, we started looking in our immediate area for Friday night’s room. Add to this the fact that our camp site fee is roughly $40 per night here. We have paid as little as zero (Camp Wal Mart), $16 per night at the Pumpkin Patch, and everywhere else between $16 and a high of $55 at the Bar Harbor KOA. We didn’t know how good we had it. Every hotel room within 40 miles of here was at least $350 per night!!! A long weekend would pay our bus payment for the month! This place is nice indeed, but it’s not the Waldorf Hotel in NYC. We checked out the Wing Ding a little more carefully and found that it is simply a blueberry pancake breakfast with some baked goods for sale. The locals said not to bother. It reminded us of the Canoe Hullabaloo from back in Old Town. We learned from our mistake and decided to extend our stay in Bar Harbor for another night and save the $230.

However, the change in schedule did not spoil our plans of going to see another lighthouse. Once I finished work, we jumped in the Infiniti and followed the cartoon map to Port Clyde, ME. On the way we unexpectedly came across the museum dedicated to Henry Knox, one of George Washington’s generals in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t have time to go through it, but I was able to stop and get a few pictures (see picture). We continued ALL THE WAY to the lighthouse and were amazed how far it was. We felt like we started near the edge of nowhere, drove and drove and drove, and were now way far away from anywhere. We saw beautiful houses all over the place—certainly people who LOVE their privacy.

After two construction zones with single lane traffic, we finally made it to the lighthouse. Well, we’ll have to say it was well worth the hard drive! The place is impeccable. They have turned the “keeper’s home” into a museum. We didn’t go through it, but took lots of pictures of the house and the vista. We could climb on the huge rocks all the way down to high tide, and it was just gorgeous (see pictures 2, 3 and 4). A few huge fishing boats came by and I’m sure it looked much more romantic to us than it did to the guys hauling in the catch. We lingered a little while until I remembered that I promised my customer I would call him at about this time. I had 2 “bars” at the lighthouse, so I gave him a call. We worked out some details and agreed to have another call on Monday to finish negotiations with an associate of mine. It was a phone call I’ll probably never forget.

We jumped into the Infiniti and zoomed back toward the bus, knowing that we still had to break camp and get out of Dodge this evening. Fortunately traffic was non-existent on the way back, and the construction guys had wrapped for the night, so there were no longer barriers in our way. We decided to eat at a self-serve seafood counter called Cod End in Tenant’s Harbor. Traci ordered a lobster roll (what else) and I ordered a haddock sandwich (what else) with high hopes. We sat and watched the guys bring the catch into this working harbor for processing (see picture 5). What we got blew our minds. The food was by far the best we have had since our arrival in Maine. It was modestly priced, and it was out of this world! Anyone who doesn’t care for lobster would like it after tasting this food. My haddock was fried, but was outstanding. Even the French fries were great. We could not stop talking about it the entire way back. We decided that the best meals are the ones which evoke an emotional response. We have decided that unless we think we will be sincerely impressed by the food at a restaurant, we should just eat at Subway or have PB&J at the bus. We had never been able to quantify this before. It was awesome food.

We got back quickly after dinner and broke camp and drove to Camp Wal Mart (2 nd time) in Bangor, ME. We did a bit of shopping, watched a movie and went to bed. Tomorrow will be an exciting day.

8-12-05: Harvey’s, Drive to Bar Harbor, the “Annex” and Bass Harbor Lighthouse

This time was the real thing. Harvey’s was ready for Bessy and we were thrilled to finally drop her off for her repairs. We weren’t crazy about staying in a hotel room for three days, but we really want to continue on our journey. They said they would have her ready around lunch time on Monday. We loaded the bikes onto the new bike rack on the Infiniti and pointed it to Bar Harbor. We were determined to do the things we didn’t have time to do the first time there.

We checked into the “annex” at the Quality Inn. Needless to say, this was a sub-standard room. The only three pronged plug they had was in the bathroom. We couldn’t even plug in the laptop. It smelled like lard and I think the walls were made out of paper. We immediately went to the drug store and purchased cleaning supplies and a plug-in air freshener. Traci was very hesitant to even agree to the room. Any time you are looking for a hotel room and are offered an “annex” room, I recommend looking elsewhere. We were going to try to change rooms and pay more, but they were turning people away at the door because they were sold out. Oh, well, we made it through all right.

We went to lunch at one of our favorite chowdaa houses here and enjoyed it very much. Traci got a BLT with crab meat, which was unusual but quite good. After that we retired to the room and I worked for a while in the lobby of the hotel. Again, no wireless internet was available in the “annex”. That, by the way, was contrary to what they told me on the phone. Not a good thing.

After lunch, we drove what seemed to be a thousand miles to Bass Harbor Lighthouse (#5 on the trip). It’s supposed to be the most photographed site in Maine. I don’t know if I believe it or not, but it is indeed pretty, but not as pretty as #3 in our book. The path down to the lighthouse was well constructed and the rocks on the shore look like fake Disney rocks in the Dinosaur Dig exhibit at Animal Kingdom. All of the other rocks around here are dark, but these are yellow. It was strange, but beautiful. Also, this lighthouse had a red light rather than the white lights of others we have seen (see pictures).

All in all Traci and I are not going to venture far to see any more light houses while in Maine. You could say we’re kind of “burnt out” on light houses. Sorry, I couldn’t resist! After that we had dinner and retired to the room for the evening.

8-13-05: Three Hour Tour, High Tide and chowdaa house for dinner

We had breakfast at a little coffee shop at the harbor and were pleasantly surprised. The food was very good, and inexpensive, which is hard to find here. After that we started what would be an innocent little stroll down the beach at low tide. Well, after about 5 minutes, it turned into a three hour rock climbing expedition around Bar Harbor. I had worn my hiking boots, feeling like a weenie for doing so, because my feet hurt from our last walk on the rocks. Fortunately my ego didn’t prevent me from wearing them, because we needed them badly.

We watched as others found some starfish sunning themselves on the rocks (see picture) as well as small crabs. This discovery lead to our continuing down the rocky part of the beach rather than the easy shore walk. Up and down huge rock formations that are all hidden at high tide. Thomas was having the time of his life. He said it was the best weekend he had ever had. He said it didn’t even feel like exercise because he was having so much fun. We weren’t hurrying, so it was pretty comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that I didn’t have my “sun burn” alert on in my head. Later I would discover that I had been fried deep red and didn’t even know it (Daniel the lobster).

We saw one huge rock and decided to climb it for a picture (see picture) and Thomas wanted to display his strength pushing another large boulder off of its foundation (see picture). The weather was perfect, the vista was beautiful, and we were all having a blast. The best parts of the trip are free. After the rock climbing expedition, we walked across the bar to Bar Island, which is only accessible at low tide. After all of the cool rocks we just climbed this was a bit of a let down, but oh, well, Thomas got to play fetch with a couple of beautiful dogs along the way (see picture).

I decided to take my bike into a local shop for a tune up this afternoon. I’ve wanted to do that for along time. Hanging on the bike rack on the back of the bus has taken its toll.

That evening, we decided to go back to the same area at high tide to compare to our earlier experience. We were amazed. (See pictures.) Since us Hoosiers don’t have to deal with the tide, the changes are fascinating to us land-locked folks. We had dinner at the same chowdaa house as lunch yesterday, and it was enjoyable. The main reason we went there is the pizza place was full and they had A/C. We were hot and sweaty and needed to cool off. After dinner we went back to the room and chilled out. Traci did go ask if they had a “real” room available for Sunday night, and they did, so we are “Movin’ on up, to the East Side!” and out of the annex. It made Traci very happy, and hey, that’s my job, isn’t it? J Tomorrow we are getting up before sunrise to go to Cadillac Mountain. We’ve got to get to bed!

8-14-05: Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain and Mini Golf

Yes, you read it right: Traci and I got up at 3:45 Indiana time to drive up Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun hit the first point in the United States this morning. As most of you well know, this is no small feat. There is two places where you can go on Cadillac to watch stuff like this. There is Blueberry Hill and the actual tip of the mountain. Some ladies told us in the pool last night that they went to Blueberry to watch the sunset the night before, and that it’s a good place. When we pulled up there, we were the only ones there. We could not fathom that we were the first ones to arrive, so we headed further up the mountain. Just as we pulled out, two cars zoomed past us and we knew our instinct was correct.

Once we got to the crown, we were among 50 or so other people who got up early to see this event. We chose our spot carefully and I brought my tripod so I would get a clear picture. Unfortunately two Asian folks decided to sit in front of us and spend most of the time taking pictures of each other as they were photographing each other. Traci and I mentioned how funny it was that they were living out the stereotypical idea that we have of Asians and their cameras. (see picture)

The sky was cloudy this morning, so it wasn’t the most spectacular sunrise, but we got it anyway. (see pictures) We knew this is something we just had to do while we were here, clouds or no clouds. We planned to go up for sunset, but it was raining, so we knew there would be nothing to see. We expect there will be many other sunsets we’ll be able to shoot by the end of the trip. We were thinking Sugarloaf Key at Christmas. We decided after sunrise to come back to the restaurant in the hotel, have blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and go back to bed. It was wonderful. We slept in until 10.

After we got up, we went back to Pirates Cove to play mini-golf to celebrate Thomas’ upcoming 10 th—the big 1-0 birthday tomorrow. You’ll have to ask him what he got for his birthday. It is a big deal. We agreed to temporarily suspend the moratorium on mini-golf in light of the occasion. This was the most enjoyable game we have had in a long time. It was still overcast, so it wasn’t too hot. We had some slow-pokes in front of us, so we had to take our time. Traci got a hole in one. I didn’t get one, but was able to make up for it and tie the round. After mini-golf we had lunch and went to the LL Bean factory outlet store in Ellsworth. We had high expectations of the place, but were let down. They didn’t have any kids’ shoes, and that’s mainly what we went there for.

After that we came back and Traci did laundry and Thomas and I hung out. I picked up my bike once it was ready, and wow, did they do a great job tuning it up. I think when I retire from my current profession I would like to buy the shop in Bar Harbor and work up here in the summer and somewhere warm in the winter. They do a brisk business, and it’s mostly rentals. After that we ate at a local pizza joint, and it was the best pizza I have had in a long time. It was very inexpensive too. No wonder the place is always jammed. We got the last open table tonight and the last time we went they had none. That’s always a good sign! After that we read and Thomas played on the computer. We are good and ready to shove off tomorrow to get Bessy. We miss our bus very badly!

8-15-05: Thomas’ Birthday, Bessy’s Back, and Drive to Portsmouth, NH

I got up and worked at the hotel in the morning and had some exciting things happen back in Indianapolis. I got caught up and got a call from Harvey’s wondering if we were coming to get Bessy. I called back and told them we were on our way. We packed up, loaded the bikes on the Infiniti, and took off for Bangor. The drive seemed to take for ever, because we were so excited to get our home back. We finally arrived in Bangor, and checked out all of the work we could see. Everything looked good. Unfortunately they did not fix our fresh water tank, but didn’t bother to tell us until I asked. They also missed the fact that bambi knocked our right front hubcap off so it didn’t get replaced. I wasn’t highly impressed with the attention to detail by the guys at Harvey’s. The interior where the guys came in and out to drive the bus around was a mess, and someone must have gone four-wheeling, because everything in the cabinets was thrown around.

At least we have her back, and we were glad to be LEAVING MAINE! We jumped on I95 and drove south as quickly as I felt possible. I normally drive under the speed limit, but this time I was at or over it the whole trip. We got to our favorite Camp Wal Mart in Portsmouth and set up camp. We expected them to come out and charge us a fee since it was the third time we had stayed there in the past month. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse again to Celebrate Thomas’ 10 th birthday. It was a lot of fun, and they came out and sang to him.

We did a little shopping and retired for the night. We had a long drive ahead of us and needed the rest. We were thrilled to be sleeping in our own bed again. Those hotel beds are horrible! We opened the windows right above our heads and just enjoyed the cool air pouring over us as we snuggled in our comforter.

The cost of diesel fuel is really getting annoying. Fortunately, the balance to that is Camp Wal Mart. We have made a decision that every day we travel, we will boon dock at CWM. This saves us about $30-$40 per night in camp fees, and that’s about how much we spend to drive 2-3 hours in the bus to our next destination. We obviously can’t wait until the end of “travel season” so the prices will go down a bit. It won’t ruin the trip, but we would rather not spend the extra dough if we can help it.

8-16-05: Work, Leave Portsmouth, Drive to Middleboro, and the Jetty in Plymouth

I got up and worked until it just got to be too hot to stand it in the bus without the A/C on. One of the few drawbacks to boon docking is that in order to be cool, we have to spend about $2.50 an hour for A/C, using our diesel generator. We try not to do that when we can help it, so once Camp Wal Mart got too hot, we were on our way. We were thrilled to be actually driving into unfamiliar territory. That may sound strange, but after tooling around Maine for 5 weeks we were way too familiar with the place. We felt like it was becoming home, and we don’t want to live in Bangor.

Again, we had directions out of Mapquest for our trip to Middleboro. Now I have to tell you I was skeptical of the route, because I have heard the horror stories about traffic in Boston, and the route took us directly through the city. As we crossed the huge suspension bridge, traffic came to a halt, and our 28,000 pounds of bus plus 4,000 pounds of Infiniti were parked for a few minutes on the bridge. Traci and I were both getting a little jittery, but the traffic loosened up and we continued on. About 30 minutes of the trip involved a road similar to Fall Creek Road in Indy. I was worried that the 60 MPH traffic would come to a screeching halt, but fortunately it never did. I was amazed that other than the short stop on the bridge, the route was flawless. We got there in about 2.5 hours, just about what Mapquest said. We pulled into the camp ground, got our slip and started to set up camp. Unfortunately the slip was tight, and I was too far to one side, and when I put the drivers’ side slide out, I gouged the side of the bus on the water spigot and electric box. We had Bessy pretty for one day and I goofed again. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some touch-up paint from Fleetwood so I can make it look not-so-bad. I almost cried. It took Traci quite a while to get me out of my funk.

The good news was we got strong Internet connection here via my magic black box, and we had a clear shot of the SW horizon, so DirecTV worked just fine. I worked until it was time for dinner. We ate in the bus and decided to go explore Plymouth afterward. The first thing we saw in town was a jetty like the one in Rockland, so we parked the car and headed out to sea. To our disappointment there was no light house at the end. However, we got to talk to a bunch of fishermen and fisherwomen along the way and saw a decent sized striper brought in. The sunset was beautiful, and I thought you would like to see it. (see picture)

After that we went back to the bus and chilled for the evening. The temperature is low tonight so we are looking forward to sleeping with the windows open.

8-17-05: Plymouth, MA: The Mayflower II, Plymouth Rock and Forefathers Monument

I got up and worked all morning and caught up on some important projects. Going into today we thought hey, “we’re here, we might as well go see Plymouth Rock”. That’s the way we started, we ended the day with a huge reverence for what happened there and how it is presented today.

Did you know that the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown prior to going on to Plymouth? I didn’t know that. They stayed in P-town for 5 days and decided there wasn’t enough fresh water to support a colony, so they sailed across to Plymouth, and hit the famous rock. They used it as a stepping stone to exit the ship and land their passengers. They found an abandoned Indian village and decided to make it their own.

We arrived in town without a lot of expectations. We had seen the jetty the night before so we knew we weren’t going back out there. We did, however, know we wanted to see the Mayflower II. Since we toured two large boats previously, we wanted to learn more and compare this to the others. I can say that ship making had progressed since the days of Christopher Columbus. The passengers on the Mayflower had more room, and pots to pee in (as Grandma Lucy would say) and the ship was designed with a bit more comfort in mind. There were no “bitter ends” on this boat. (see picture)

They described the ways of navigation, speed, etc. They had large display where you could read up on the events leading up to the building of the Mayflower II. It was a gift from the Brits to the Americans for our assistance in WWII. The crew was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the entire town, being that most of them also worked at Plimouth Plantation, a recreation of the original village a few miles outside of town. We could ask all of the questions we wanted, and they were very patient with us. One of the amazing stories they told us was that along the way, a prominent passenger was actually thrown overboard in a storm, but amazingly so, his leg got caught in the rigging, and as the boat righted itself, he was thrown back up on board and lived to tell the story. What he was doing on deck during a storm was unknown and thought to be foolish. It was fun but we were ready to move on.

Our next sight was Plymouth Rock itself. (see picture) The top half of rock is actually pretty small by this point, being that it has been moved and subsequently dropped over the past 400 years and pieces of it were distributed to museums and used in the Forefathers Monument (not sold on eBay as far as we know). I don’t think they plan to move it any more, so as you can see it has a large canopy over it to protect it from further damage. Actually this coming Friday night, the moon will be full, so the Lunar Tide will be at its highest, and the rock will actually be under water. We’ll be there to see it!

After seeing and getting a piece of the rock (just kidding) we took the “narrated” trolley around town to see the sights. The problem with the narration is the guy had ADHD so his stories didn’t quite match up with where we were in town. He would start a story after seeing something, and would get distracted, or his cell phone would ring (and he would answer it!), and he would either forget to finish the story or would finish it 10 minutes later when we forgot what the point of the story was. I was able to follow him just fine, but for someone like Traci who is extremely detail-oriented, it was maddening. She almost screamed at him to hang up the phone and finish the story! I would just yell out questions as we went along, trying to fill in the blanks. This is something Traci would NEVER do. We nicknamed this the “speedy” tour. It was speedy because they were driving so fast that we didn’t have a chance to actually appreciate what they were describing. The most notable subject was the Forefathers Monument. This is indeed a “diamond in the rough”. It was erected from 1859 to 1889 as a tribute to the original passengers of the Mayflower. It was originally meant to be three times the size, but they ran out of money. It is still the largest granite statue in the world. The Statue of Liberty was actually fashioned as a “twin sister” to this monument. It is incredible. I will include as many pictures as I can, but they truly don’t do it justice.

What saddens us the most is that this monument is largely forgotten. There is one tiny little sign indicating the direction of the monument, but that’s about it. The place is in disarray, with weeds growing up all around, and the grounds unkempt. Its significance can not be over-stated, being that these folks were literally the beginning of our country. In our opinion, this monument should be one of the highlights of Massachusetts, with honor and upkeep equal to its significance. They have invested untold millions of dollars to show you bowls, spoons, and other mundane artifacts (in Plimouth Plantation) but they neglected to invest in highlighting what these people believed in and died for: faith, liberty, morality, law and education. It’s disgusting, but that’s just our opinion.

We came back to the bus so I could work more, and rest a bit from the heat. We went back out in the evening after dinner to explore the area on foot. We got to see the oldest church in the nation, (see picture). They have a complete record of every person who has belonged to this church for almost 400 years. That amazed us. We also explored the oldest cemetery in the nation, and got some ice cream (always a must). We were in awe of the history that is in this place. In a few years they will celebrate their 400th year! That is just incredible. We would like to come back for that. By the way, we asked why some of the time it is spelled Plimouth, and others Plymouth. Plimouth is Olde English, Plymouth is new English.

After dark, we returned to the bus and went to bed early. We have an early day tomorrow.

8-18-05: Boston, MA Freedom Trail and Trolley Ride

We are exhausted! We took the train into Boston this morning and bought an all-day trolley ride around the city. As soon as we hit town, we went to Faneuil Hall where they have a huge city market area. We had not yet eaten, so we were starved. Thomas actually wanted nachos for breakfast, and what is a good dad to do? We agreed, and decided to get a Mexican breakfast as well. Traci got a breakfast quesadilla and I got a chicken and egg breakfast burrito. We sat down to eat, and Traci and I just stared at each other. Our food was so good we didn’t want to talk. We just devoured it. We have to say if you are ever there, you MUST go to this place in the city market. We can’t remember the name, but it is the only Mexican food in the joint. It was very inexpensive, the service was outstanding and food was to die for. The owner called Traci “Bonita” the whole time, with which I fully agree. She is muy bonita!

We started out with the harbor tour, which gave us lots of historical information about the harbor. I had no idea that Boston Harbor is much smaller now than it was in revolutionary times. They have actually leveled out the surrounding country side, took the dirt, and filled in the harbor to create more real estate. Boston used to be a peninsula, connected by a small patch of land. Now it is one huge continuous land mass, obviously worth untold billions.

The tour took us to the mooring of the USS Constitution a.k.a. “Old Ironsides” which is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the entire world. (see picture) It was completed in 1798. It had fallen into disrepair and subsequent refurbishment over the years and is now kept in tip top shape by the US Navy and the Boston Historical Society. She has a crew of 50 who all serve in today’s Navy. The boat contains about 15% of its original wood, mostly under the water line. (The salt water preserves it.) They gave us a guided tour of the boat and told us about life onboard. They had indeed made much progress from the days of Columbus in 1492. The one exception to that was nutrition, which was still horrible. They still served grog to the crews, which was rancid rain water mixed with lime juice and whisky or rum. Many of the crew died of scurvy due to lack of vitamin C.

The hull of the boat was made of two types of oak (white and live), the “live” oak being the hard stuff that is found no where on earth other than the southern US ( Georgian Islands to be exact). That oak prevented most of the cannonballs from penetrating the hull, giving the boat the nickname Old Ironsides. That attribute was very handy during the time after she was launched, particularly during the War of 1812. She won every engagement she was in, and helped catapult the US Navy into the big leagues.

Once we left there we decided to hit the “Freedom Trail” rather than get back on the trolley or take the boat back. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile self-guided tour of the city. It goes from Boston Common to Bunker Hill. Had we had the full skinny prior to arrival, we probably would have skipped the trolley and walked the whole day. The trail led us out of the harbor area and on to the Bunker Hill Monument. (see picture) Did you know that the Battle of Bunker Hill was not fought on Bunker Hill? It was fought on Breed’s Hill. That was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War and although it was technically a British victory, they lost lots of men in the battle and realized the Colonials were a tough enemy. The only reason the British won the battle is the Colonials ran out of ammo and gun powder.

Just as we left the USS Constitution, Thomas decided he didn’t want to walk any further (although we hadn’t walked at all yet). He insisted that he didn’t want to go to the monument and he wanted to go back to the bus. Well, needless to say, Traci and I nixed that idea. It took us two hours to get here, and we had until 5:00 PM to catch our train back to Middleboro. After much grumbling, he reluctantly agreed to go to the monument, although he was going to sit outside and wait for us. Fortunately, when we got there they had a fan and water fountain inside. He ran in, and got enthralled with the place. When he heard that you can actually climb to the top of the monument, he was all in. Instantly he changed from reluctant to enthusiastic. He volunteered both Traci and me to make the climb too.

Considering the change in heart, we couldn’t refuse. The climb to the top of the monument was certainly a challenge. Since leaving Indiana, one of the frustrations of this trip has been how/when/where to work out. I used to jog my five mile trek around my neighborhood often, and really enjoyed it. I had a weight system in my house that allowed me to work out late at night. Well, I have none of that here. Often we are in areas with which we are not familiar, so jogging is out of the question. The extent of workout equipment we have is the playground. With all of that being said, we faced a sincere challenge going up all 294 steps of the Bunker Hill Monument (22 stories). Traci took the lead, Thomas followed and I brought up the rear, literally.

When we hit step 100, I was amazed how difficult it was. When working out at the YMCA, I spent much time on the Stair Climber. This was the real thing. I hadn’t huffed and puffed that much in months! Thomas even slowed down about half way up. Traci was born to climb stairs, so she was staying well ahead of us boys. However, her weakness is tight spaces. She almost passed out as we neared the top because of her claustrophobia. We joined together as we reached the top, expecting to get a fresh breath of air. Alas, to our dismay, the top is totally sealed, very hot and stuffy. I took three pictures and we bolted back down the stairs. (see pictures) Our legs quivered for about 30 minutes afterward, and I’m sure they’ll be sore tomorrow!

We got out and into the fresh air. I was able to purchase a Bunker Hill pin (Another one for the board!) and we headed further on the Freedom Trail toward Old North Church. This was the church that was used to signal the invasion by the British to quell the rebellion after Bunker Hill. They were to hang one lamp in the belfry if the Brits were attacking by land, and two if by sea. (see picture) When the two lamps were hung, Paul Revere jumped in his boat and started his historical ride to New York to tell General Washington the news. It’s amazing how much of an impact Paul Revere had on Boston. I purchased a book about him and it’s the next one on my docket. I can’t wait to read it. Also, the final scene in National Treasure was not actually filmed here because the roads are too narrow. They duplicated the outside of the building in California for the film. The gal inside the church said that part of the film was riddled with historical errors. It sounded good to me! I can’t wait to go to Philly.

The next stop on the Trail was Paul Revere’s house. He had 16 children, which was obviously cramped quarters, in any time and place. For this reason, the British could not place a soldier in his home, like they did with most everyone else, according to the Quartering Act. This made him the perfect candidate as a courier to the Sons of Liberty as they were planning revolutionary activities. This is why he was able to make his historic ride to New York. He was actually captured by the Brits that night, but was not arrested because he had no weapon. They have a huge statue in the commons area (see picture). He was a huge success financially after the war, being the coppersmith that provided all of the copper for Old Ironsides, which remains there today. Amazingly so, his company is still in business providing copper to the US Navy.

After Paul, we went back to the market, got dinner (nothing exciting), went to the trolley, and took the rest of the trip back to the train station. We realized along the way that we missed a whole day of activities in other parts of down town. We do not have enough time to go back for another day, and we are very remiss because of this. One day we’ll be back to finish it up.

We took the train back to Bessy. We are parked next to a $1,000,000 (yes, that’s a million dollars) plus Prevost coach owned by a cheesy sales guy who was prospecting the German people at the shuttle stop this morning. He sells tools that work on Corian countertops, and he said he has to work all of the time to pay the payment on the coach. I would imagine he has quite the payment. It’s a beautiful bus. It even has a compartment that holds a motorcycle UNDER the bus. He has that door open often, although we haven’t seen him actually take the bike out. We thought he was in Amway by the way he was talking to everyone. The funny thing about it was that other than us, only two of the people spoke English.

Tonight we just chilled out, made our plans for Cape Cod tomorrow and went to bed.

8-19-05: The Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown

I want to start this day’s writing out with one small note. One of my friends called me this week and asked me to start answering some technical questions in my blog about the trip. He wanted an answer to: How do we do our banking? If anyone who reads this has questions they would like answered, please email them to me at daniel@braytel.net. I’ll be happy to answer them as we go along. The answer to Lee’s question is that I have direct deposit set up with most of my carriers. Since not all of my income is handled this way, I arranged with our bank (Regions) to allow our checks to be mailed to a central contact person at the bank to deposit them in one of our two accounts. Traci pays all but a few bills on line and we mail the remaining checks out each month from the camp ground. We’ve gone through three months of this process so far, and it seems to be working well. Ok, back to the fun stuff!

I worked all morning today and we hit the road for Cape Cod right before lunch. We didn’t know much about this area, except that there is a large monument to the Pilgrims there (since they landed there first, prior to moving on to Plymouth) and that Provincetown had a couple of lighthouses we wanted to see.

We were told it would take about 1.5-2 hours to get there. We were confused, because it certainly didn’t look that far on the map. Oh, yeah, the map didn’t say anything about CONSTRUCTION! Yes, it did take about 1.5 hours to get there, and we were tired by the time we made it. However, the monument was worth the trip. (see picture) If you are wondering “hmmm, after walking up 294 steps yesterday at Bunker Hill, did they climb to the top of this beauty?” The answer is YES. We have a picture to prove it! (see picture) Yes, Traci’s and my legs were killing us. We thought, hey, what’s the best way to work out sore legs? Walk some more! Fortunately they learned from the Bunker Hill mistakes when they designed this puppy. It was open and airy, with lots of windows blowing fresh sea air throughout the building. The stairs were square, not spiral, and they also had ramps along the walls so our legs got some variety. It seemed like this one was financed by granite “advertisements” along the way up. I believe paid for by the cities and towns and organizations who wanted to say they were part of it. It’s kind of like the bricks in the sidewalk at Disney World, except for the fact that there were no individual’s names. Traci had no problem with tight spaces, and the walk up and down was a breeze. I was able to get another pin for the board. It’s looking spiffy with all of the new additions.

After the Monument, we decided to head into Provincetown to check out the lighthouses. We were told that some interesting characters hang out in P-Town, but we had no idea what we were in for. I believe the quote in the tourism book is that the residents “dress as they please”. As we approached the down town area, a tall man dressed in a tall blue feather hat and bikini with high heel shoes came trotting out of a house and down the street. Thomas asked “what was that?” and I answered it was Big Bird’s cousin, dressing as he pleased. Little did we know that it was but a small sample of what we were about to encounter. The best way I can describe P-Town is that it is Mardi Gras, with a twist. There were no beads being thrown by guys here. (If you don’t know about that custom, ask one of your friends who have been there.) This place was about 90% populated by folks who live “alternative” lifestyles. I would consider this to be “extreme alternative”. Please see picture of the local bank in town. Decide for yourself if you would bank there. After a little while Traci and I decided this wasn’t our scene and decided to go back to the bus. Although Thomas enjoyed the many dogs he was able to pet, and Traci and I got some Black Dog shirts and hats, we were very happy to be speeding back up the highway to the bus. We ate dinner and wrapped up the day. What a crazy day it was!

8-20-05: Off to visit the Hodsdon’s

We slept in and ate breakfast and checked out by 11:00am. The plan was to drive to New Haven, CT to visit my best friend from high school and college, Mike Hodsdon, and his family. They have two children, 8 and 4 and live near New Haven. After much driving we landed at the Wal Mart in town and set up camp. This was not the traditional CWM, in that the store was part of a larger strip mall rather than being off by itself. We were the only RV there (that wasn’t parked for sale), which from our experience is unusual, which should have given us a clue.

We called our friends and they came to get us. We had a great time catching up and seeing Mike’s science lab. He is a brainiac type who is on staff at Yale researching breast cancer. He got all A’s all the way through high school and college, and has a PHD/MD. Yeah, we hung out together! I was the comic relief.

We had dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant and just talked late into the night at their place. Thomas really enjoyed having another kid to hang out with, although the little sis was constantly chasing him around like so many girls do. Get used to it buddy!

We retired back to the bus, and that’s when the fun started. We hit the sack around 1:00 am, although neither of us had a good feeling about the place. We had the windows open since it was a bit hot out that evening. At about 2:00 Traci and I were ripped out of our sleep by a woman screaming so that she sounded like she was inside our bedroom. A couple had pulled up next to the bus (creepy) and were now having a domestic disagreement at the top of their lungs (super-creepy). She screamed, he swore at her and it went on and on. Traci and I were now spooked big-time. We sat up and watched, and listened. We noticed another truck had pulled up behind us, which made us even more nervous. Don’t these people understand “personal space”? I went and got my cell phone just in case this domestic thing got out of hand. I could just imagine her running from the car shrieking and this guy beating her up. After a while the truck left and the couple drove away, so we could get back to sleep. However, our sleep was not peaceful. We’ve learned a lesson about parking lots: if it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

8-21-05: Hodsdon’s and drive to Jackson, NJ

We did a quick walk-around the car and bus that morning half expecting graffiti to be painted all over the place, and to our delight, everything was in order. We were able to hang out with the Hodsdon family until about noon. We got breakfast at Panera and had a great time getting caught up and planning a possible meeting in the southwest next February. We bid our fair wells and went toget Bessy ready for the hard drive ahead. When we had unhooked the car the day before, we just let the tow bar hang down to the ground, since we didn’t plan on moving the bus prior to hooking up the car. Unfortunately it was pointed down at a steep angle when we released the jacks on the bus. The weight of the bus jammed the tow bar into the asphalt and twisted the V so we couldn’t get it hooked to the car. It has a pivot point that is supposed to twist, but had gotten stiff on the trip. I grabbed some silicone lubricant I brought with us, sprayed everything down, and hoped for the best. It took every ounce of both Traci’s (pushing down) and my (pulling up) strength on multiple tries to get this thing to straighten up. Fortunately it did, and we learned another lesson, and were able to get underway at about 1:00pm.

We pointed the bus down I95 to Da’ Bronx. We had to drive through this area and over the George Washington Bridge to get to New Jersey. I highly recommend driving over this bridge if you get a chance. Just try not to do it in an RV while towing a car. It was very impressive, and a bit scary. We made it though the area just fine, but with slightly frayed nerves. We had expected the worse, and fortunately didn’t encounter it. We made it south of town, and took a wrong turn and pretty much navigated our way using the atlas down to Jackson, NJ. We are camping at the Butterfly Campground there, which looked a heck of a lot better on the website than it does in person. We set up camp quickly and pretty much collapsed. We were tired from the lack of sleep and from the hard drive down. We are excited about the opportunities in Jackson and Philly.

8-22-05: Work, Superman Ultimate Flight

Today was very simple. I worked the whole day and then we went to nearby Six Flags to ride some coasters. Sales for the month of August are coming along very nicely, with quite a bit of business already booked. It is much better than last month, where everyone waited to the last stinking day to sign their contracts. I’m thankful they signed them, don’t get me wrong! I also made contact with another large opportunity which looks like it might wrap up pretty quickly. We are very blessed.

After work we made tracks for Six Flags, which was about 20 minutes away. We immediately got in line for Superman Ultimate Flight, which is a coaster Thomas was unable to ride until now due to height restrictions. Traci and I have ridden it before in Chicago and just loved it. We had to wait 90 minutes to get on, but it was worth it. Thomas loved it, and we got the ceremonial picture from the ride when we were at the apex of the upside-down-loop. It’s one of the best pictures yet. It will go in our roller coaster hall of fame. Thomas actually thought it was tame. That’s my boy!

After the ride, we were hot, and very hungry. For some reason we decided not to wait another hour (the park was packed since school here doesn’t start until after Labor Day) to ride any other ride, so we left. That’s the magic of season passes. You go any time you want, and you leave without guilt. We drove back to the bus and got ready for the trip to Philly.

8-23-05: Philly, Philly and more Philly!

Today was a magical day. I worked in the early morning and got ready and hit the road to Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. I had never been here, but I knew we had to go, and in a big way. The company Traci worked for when Thomas was a baby is headquartered here, so she had been here on business, but not with the family. I had directions from Mapquest to the official Independence Hall parking garage, so we were ready to go! We didn’t know what we were going to do, but we knew it would be spectacular, and with little exception, we were right!

Some people may think it’s crazy to just jump in the car and go without plans or reservations. We’ve gotten used to it and have both regretted better planning, as in Boston, and have benefited from just wandering, as in Fort George in Canada. Today we got the better end of the deal. As soon as we arrived, we parked in a garage and hit the Visitors Center. There is where we tried to plan out the day. Unfortunately the workers weren’t much help. However, the place was beautiful. It told many stories of the history of Philly, emphasizing religious freedom of the Quakers that founded the city so long ago. I need to study up on William Penn. He seemed to be quite the man. He designed the entire city and it still looks pretty much the same as the areas he founded in the early 1600’s. The Visitors Center was designed by Kevin Bacon’s dad Edward (I think that was his first name). He is very prominent in the architecture and laws regarding real estate in Philly. We decided to see the Liberty Bell, tour Independence Hall, go on the Super Duck water/trolley tour and see the Lights of Liberty presentation at 9:20 PM. Wow, what a line-up!

The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall tour was free of charge. Thomas wasn’t as into it as Traci and I were, but we all enjoyed the tour. Traci took a picture of Thomas and I in front of the Bell (not Alexander Graham). She wants to take more pictures so I am in some of them. I would say she did an excellent job, don’t you agree? (see picture) Those are handsome men! We learned all about the forging and cracking of the Bell and its significance in not only Revolutionary War times but in contemporary times of strife as well. The bell was last rung for the anniversary of Washington ’s Birthday, which caused the large crack in the bell we see today. Although that was the last time it was rung from the inside, the outside of the bell has been struck with a wooden hammer in order to boost morale with the American public – especially during WWII. The movie they show near it really gave us goose bumps. They would not be the only ones we would get today. Pop Quiz: Did you know that the City of Philly sold the bell during the depression for scrap metal? We didn’t! The buyer donated it back to the city for historical reasons. Duh!

After the Liberty Bell, we went through the heavily guarded area that led us to Independence Hall (IH), the building formerly known as the Pennsylvania Statehouse. It was nicknamed Independence Hall by a Frenchman long after the Revolutionary War. We got in line like the characters in National Treasure, and did the tour of IH. It was honestly amazing to be walking through the same halls and rooms that George Washington, Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton did so long ago. (see pictures) I got goose bumps all over as the Park Ranger gave the tour, and she hit on lots of details that I have been reading in my books. It makes me want to read more, and faster. The fact that National Treasure was filmed here didn’t hurt either, although now that I’ve been there I need to watch it again to try to figure out the scenes. I highly recommend the tour to anyone who goes to Philly. It was well worth the wait.

We had about an hour before going on the Super Duck tour, so we took a break from walking. We grabbed lunch in The Bourse, a historical building that was once the first commodities exchange in the country, then a homeless shelter, now an upscale tourist area with food and souvenirs. Thomas had his first official Philly Steak Sandwich. At one of the shops I got another pin for the board. At 4:00 PM we boarded the Super Duck tour bus for a historical tour of Philly. The tour was pretty expensive, so we were a bit disappointed in the quality of the narration, but mostly in the fact that they simply drove the “duck” down a boat ramp in the middle of no where, out into the Delaware River for a few minutes, and back to town. We expected some kind of water tour or event as part of the package. We found out later that the Duck Tour (sans the Super) is a better tour because they don’t have to drive 20 miles down the road to launch the water portion. They launch right off of Penn’s Landing right down town. The people in the other Ducks seemed to be having a better time as well—yeah, I know, the grass is always greener in the other Duck!

It was now 5:30 PM. We were starving. Everything we wanted to do was CLOSED. The place closes down at 5:00 PM. Little did we know that because our Lights of Liberty tour didn’t start until 9:20! We were told to walk to South Street to find food. We did that, and on the way stopped at Washington Square (not the shopping mall in Indy) so Thomas could pet the many dogs that congregate there. I spied a huge shrine to Washington’s troops there and hurried over to take some pictures before the sun went down. (see pictures) We had not known about this place prior to this time, so this was a lucky find.

We continued down to South Street and arrived there to find a funky, slightly threatening area. Traci wanted to return to down town, and I agreed that I wouldn’t want to be in this area after sundown. So we headed back. We arrived to find everything in the area closed except for the Visitors Center. I hurried in there, got the campground information for tomorrow night and called to make reservations. After that I asked the ladies at the desk for dinner suggestions. They gave me four, which I thought would be sufficient. Well, we walked to three of the four and found them to be hip martini bars full of the rich and beautiful looking for Mr./Mrs. Right. Neither Traci nor I were comfortable taking Thomas into any of the places in the area. We looked in every one of them. We were very frustrated at this point. When I get hungry, my patience level drops precipitously based on how long the food is delayed. We arrived back down town, tired and even more hungry. We decided to give our feet a rest and take an unplanned carriage ride through the old part of the city. Traci spied a takeout joint close by, and I asked if we could eat in the carriage. The answer was yes, so we were in business. We got our food—not the greatest—and hit the carriage. We thoroughly enjoyed our ride as we inhaled our food, and learned a lot about the area. Pop Quiz #1: Did you know that William Penn named the streets going one direction for number of streets from the river, and the cross-streets after fruit and nut trees? Do you know why he did that? He knew most of the people couldn’t read, so he had planted on each tree-named street the appropriate type of trees, so illiterate people could find their way. He also directed everyone on a particular street to paint their shutters a different color since they didn’t have addresses back then. We were amazed. They have obviously addressed everything and installed street signs, but the trees are still there and the shutters are different colors. If the buildings are more than 150 years old, they get a plaque stating so, and that plaque doubles the property value. The guy said that no home in the area is selling for under $900,000 and most of them are very small row houses with no closets. Pop Quiz #2: Do you know why they were row houses with no closets? The answer: to save on taxes. The Brits were taxing them for every exterior wall and number of rooms, and closets were considered rooms. You didn’t expect to get a history lesson, did you? Now you’ll finally get that slice of pie for history in trivial pursuit. The next time you see a picture of Philly with all of their row houses, think of the Bray’s!

The next part is an example of good old modern technology. It’s called the Lights of Liberty tour. It was the single most emotional event of the entire trip so far. We lined up at 9:20 to pick up our wireless headsets. We followed three ladies in costume out to Benjamin Franklin’s house. (see picture) From there we saw/heard/felt a multi-media presentation as we walked around the historic buildings where everything happened in the 1700’s. It began with the Stamp Tax, showed the formation of the Continental Congress, and progressed through all of the events of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and the writing of the Constitution. One of the two points in the program that brought the most emotion was when they had scenery and screens all around the tour participants, and the Redcoats lined up and (on the movie screen) shot a full compliment of musket fire right at us, complete with full sound effects. It was very impressive. The second was when the constitution was ratified by all 13 states and we all sung God Bless America behind Independence Hall. I’ll never forget it. My eyes were leaking pretty badly at that point, as were most everyone’s around me.

After that we walked back to Speedy, and came back to the bus. We did some housework and went to bed. What a wonderful day.

8-24-05: Work, Drive to West Chester, Work and Chores

OK folks, I have to fill you in on something that was brought to my attention today. Our ill-fated trip to Provincetown, MA was doomed to failure. We were informed by some enlightened people that the weekend we arrived was what is known in the alternative lifestyle community as “Carnival”. I guess we entered into the situation at a time when the behavior of the residents is at its most flamboyant. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that in case they want to visit the area.

OK, now on with the show! Today was not a day of play. We were still “hung over” emotionally from last night. The grand finale last night was something we will probably never forget. I just hope Thomas will remember it as we will. It was incredible. I got up and worked all morning. Things for August are finishing up with a bang. Normally I have to spend the last few days of the month chasing people down trying to get contracts in the door. This month the contracts are being signed early, which is very unusual, and extremely delightful. We left Jackson, NJ just before noon, and drove toward West Chester, PA. West Chester is near Valley Forge, of George Washington fame. We are going to hit Philly again as well as VF before we head to Washington DC.

The drive to West Chester was very challenging. Traffic was heavier than we expected for noon on a weekday. We finally reached the small town near the campground and the Mapquest directions just ended in the middle of town. There was no warning, nor any indication that they were not complete. We called the camp ground to get the directions for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately Traci reached a gal who could not provide accurate directions to save her life. Traci had to keep asking over and over again how to get there, and literally sat on the phone with her as we passed street after street recovering from a wrong turn she recommended. On top of that, the bridge near the camp ground was out, so we had to take a long detour to get there. As we approached an old bridge, there was a sign indicating that the weight limit was 30,000 lbs. I know the bus weighs 28,000 lbs, and the Infiniti a little over 4,000. Was it 30,000 for both vehicles, or for just one of them? Hmmm, I was a bit alarmed, but we pushed on, and fortunately had no cave-ins.

We got to the camp ground late in the afternoon and were very tired. We decided not to go to VF today, but to just do laundry and chill out after the busy week we have had. I worked more after arrival. We ate in the bus and had a quiet evening.

One of my friends asked me how I work out the issues relating to our trip and how I handle customers who want to see me in person. The answer to that is two-fold. Firstly, I had to get over the part of my ego that told me people could not get along without me. Once I faced that fact, it made my life on the road much easier. The second answer to that question is two-fold. The first answer is that a story is a powerful thing. The folks who have requested face-to-face meetings have gotten the full skinny on the trip and have thus far been very accommodating. It is obviously an unusual event in our life, and so far people who don’t even know me have supported our dream. The second answer to that is I have an incredible group of people who support me both as strategic partners as well as carrier representatives on the ground in Indianapolis. They have filled in for me where I could not be myself. As we approach the third month anniversary of our departure, we are savoring each and every day. Keep those questions coming!

8-25-05: Philly, part 2 and a Camp Fire

I got up today for an early conference call and worked through the morning hours. We got ready and went back to “finish up Philly”. We did several things that we missed on Tuesday since everything closes at 5:00 PM there. We started out with a tour of the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried with his wife. There are also five other people who signed the Declaration of Independence. There was one gal there whose husband and father both signed that historical document. After Thomas got bored, we handed our cameras to Traci and headed to the Philadelphia US Mint. They allow no cameras in the building, no matter what.

Needless to say, it’s much more fun spending money than it is watching them make it from 100 feet away. The tour took us past historical machines that they used to make coins long ago. There were many medals in cases commemorating lots of stuff in history. The rare stuff was displayed only in pictures and honestly it was pretty lame. While we were there none of the machines were punching out anything. Everyone was just standing around doing nothing. We kept it brief and headed down to the gift shop. What most caught my eye were the full sheets of currency for sale un-cut. The thing that ticked me off is that they charge almost twice face value for those bills. I think that was a rip-off! Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything. We’ll spend our $$ that they produced somewhere else! My question is that if we had spent any money, would they have just taken it to the back and add it to the outgoing stacks, or would they deposit it in the bank? Does the mint have a bank account?

After the mint, we went to Franklin’s Court, which has a museum with a movie about good old Ben, the foundations of his original house, and the first US Post Office in the country. I was indeed pleased with the experience. The movie was exciting, and helped us understand a bit more about the famous man. After the movie, we went into the post office and mailed post cards to our parents from the P.O. #1. We also got one stamped for our scrapbook. It was fun, although the lady working behind the desk could not have been less excited about her job. She would barely fog a mirror if it were put under her nose. I’m glad I ordered the latest biography of Franklin. Now that I’ve been in his courtyard it will mean so much more to read about his accomplishments there.

After Ben’s house, we went to Betsy Ross’ house. There they had a goofy pair of guys in costume called Joke and Dagger putting on a sword fighting exhibition. Their jokes were flying, and very corny. Needless to say, dad and Thomas could not resist speaking up to urge them on. Thomas had a great time, and really enjoyed both the swordplay and the jokes. (see picture) After the show we went into the gift shop and looked at all of the flag-related stuff.

Next, I insisted we head out to the Carpenter’s Hall. It is the building that acted as the meeting place for the Congressional Delegates prior to Independence Hall. This is where the guys first agreed to boycott British products until their rights were restored. We had seen the place in the Lights of Liberty presentation the other night, and I really wanted to walk around the place. It was a bit underwhelming in its appearance, but the importance of the place was monumental. (see picture)

Once we got done there we were ready to head home. We walked back to the car and hit I95 to come back to the bus. We felt that we had done everything we wanted in Philly, although we know we’ll be back to do it again at some point. We wished we had felt the same about Boston. We missed so much there and really regret not planning our time better. We highly recommend anyone who wants to literally walk in the footprints of our founding fathers to go to Philly and take it all in. It is like no where else on earth.

After Philly we headed back to the bus to have dinner over a camp fire. We haven’t had one since Lake George, and it was a welcome sight and smell. We cooked dogs and mallows over the fire and really enjoyed it. The serenity of a camp fire is like nothing else in this world. As we close in on three months of the trip, we reflected on our experiences and did some loose planning for the coming weeks. We’ll be doing dishes and taking showers tonight since we are pushing out to Valley Forge in the morning for a half-day in that very historic place. It will probably be the last Revolutionary War site we see on this trip.

8-26-05: Valley Forge and Drive to Gettysburg

As expected, we pulled up camp and drove to Valley Forge. Fortunately they had a huge parking lot with lots of space for Bessy. We toured the visitors’ center and I did my best to resist the strong urge to purchase more books. I did get another pin for the board though. The place was beautiful, and they had a free movie that explained the importance of the camp in the scope of history. I knew this place was a big deal, everyone has Valley Forge written some where in their brain from high school, but I had no idea why. I knew it had to do with Washington, but that was about it. We learned that this was a place of rest and recovery for a ragged Colonial Army. When the Brits took over Philadelphia, hoping to crush the rebellion, Washington settled 18 miles west in Valley Forge. He did so because his troops needed the rest, and he could keep an eye on Philly from there. The Brits were content with waiting out the winter of 1778-1779 in Philly where they had lots of good food and warm beds. Washington’s guys were sleeping in small huts quickly built in the first weeks they arrived. About 2000 of his men died during the winter of disease, but Washington insisted that the sick be evacuated up to 30 miles away so his remaining troops would not get demoralized. The spring brought lots of reinforcements and a Prussian General who trained the army into a mighty fighting force. This opportunity literally turned the tide of the revolution and we all owe a debt of gratitude to the folks in Pennsylvania. Serving with Washington there was an officer with the last name of Lee, also from Virginia, whose descendant will play a prominent role in Gettysburg. More about that later. Pop Quiz: do you know why it’s called Valley Forge? Because a rich family who lived there prior to Washington’s arrival owned a grist mill and two forges in the valley. Washington used one of their houses as his headquarters (see pictures) and unfortunately the Brits burned down the forges and mill when they discovered them. The home in the picture is 75% original from the 1700’s and is still solid as a rock.

We learned a lesson here. We paid for the $10 per head narrated tour on a bus. The tour guide was interesting, but we didn’t understand the rules prior to boarding the bus and I was unable to get good pictures of a few of the monuments. We could have unhooked the car and drove there, but time was running short, and I simply couldn’t get the shots. I was bummed when we were done, so we’ll make sure we control the flow the next time around.

All in all it was a wonderful stop over, and we were glad we came. We returned to the bus, pulled email, did a little work, and pushed off for Gettysburg, PA. I was worried about making the drive at rush-hour on a Friday, but traffic was actually pretty light. We made it to Gettysburg with no problem and found Camp Wal Mart and looked for a spot. Unfortunately, this is no Camp Wal Mart. It is Wal Mart sans “camping”. There were signs all over the parking lot indicating that there was a two hour limit on RV parking. We were at a loss. We had not a clue as to where a camp ground is in the area, and frankly, I didn’t feel like paying for one. So, we found the visitors’ center at the Gettysburg park and set up camp. I had read in a magazine that it was legal to boon dock on Federal land (at least in the Western part of the country) so I thought we were in good shape here. A knock at the door at about 9:30 pm indicated otherwise. Outside was the Sheriff informing me that we could not park there over night. Fortunately we were both nice people trying to be nice, so I asked him for advice. After suggesting we go to a CAMP GROUND to camp, he did mention that the Giant Food Store across from Wal Mart had no such overnight restrictions. He said that a local ordinance was passed that prevented boon docking at Wal Mart, but didn’t mention why. I took the clue, and we pulled up camp and were gone in 10 minutes. We drove back out to the Giant parking lot and found a nice level spot at the very front corner near a gas station. It was well lit, and we got satellite reception, so we were set. I did some late-night grocery shopping and went to bed. I’m sure he drove by later and thought “those crazy RV’ers”!

8-27-05: Gettysburg and Drive to DC

More history! Fast-Forward from 1778 to 1863. We are now at the visitors’ center of what was described as the most important single battle in the history of this country, and maybe the history of armed conflict. This visitors center is jam-packed with tons of stuff from the actual battle. The locals must have run around and collected all of the guns, ammo and supplies in the days following the battle. Pretty much everything you wanted to see and more from the conflict is on display there. We decided to buy the CD and do the self-guided “dramatic presentation” of the tour, which lasts two hours. The gal at the desk said we really need to see the “electronic map” of the battle ground to get a full appreciation of what we will see on the tour. As we walked to the room, we realized we needed to buy tickets. Wow! I thought if we have to pay to see this, it must be excellent! Everywhere else we have been the presentations have been free. With high hopes I whipped out the cash and joined Traci and Thomas in the map room.

Well, we learned another lesson. Just because you have to pay to see something doesn’t guarantee that it is a quality presentation. For those of you who have been there and enjoyed the map, I apologize. Here we are, Traci, Thomas and I, sitting in great seats right by the “control booth”, ready to see some CNN type of high tech map giving us all of the sights and sounds of the battle. I was stoked. I am very interested in this type of stuff and having read Grant’s autobiography, I was riveted. Well, riveted for about 10 minutes. This thing was extremely boring. Thomas and Traci were practically asleep, and I was fading fast. They must have paid for that entire facility many times over, because the whole presentation was done with little blinking light bulbs. There was an old recording of a narrator telling the story, and different colored lights would blink indicating camp fires, rebel troops, union troops and different land marks. Needless to say, we were ready to hit the tour in my car.

The experience was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I got to stop and take pictures as I felt appropriate (I’ll attach those later. I forgot my digital, so I had to buy a disposable, and we haven’t gotten them developed yet, sorry!), and also allowed Thomas to climb every observation tower on the route. The dramatic presentation was very well produced and large portions of goose bumps were had by all. The one thing that I thought was interesting is that there is a monument about every 10 feet on the entire tour. It seemed like every group or individual who had anything to do with the conflict devoted a large monument to the area. There must have been hundreds of them. For the first ten or so we were in awe. After about 50 of them, we started to wonder. By the time it was over, we really didn’t notice them any more, with the exception of the huge statues of Lee and Meade on their horses. They were on opposite sides of the battlefield called the Wheatfield that decided the outcome of the battle. It was breathtaking. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in military history. By the end of the tour, it was raining briskly, so we couldn’t spend as much time as we wanted to look at everything in this area.

We skipped the cemetery due to the rain and prepared to leave town. We had to hook up the car in the rain and secured the rest of the stuff in preparation for the 2 hour drive to DC. I haven’t driven the bus in the rain too many times, so I was much more anxious than usual for the trip. Traffic was medium, and we kept a good pace. One thing I can say about the DC area is that the roads are in excellent condition! They are wide and flat, and very easy for a bus like Bessy. We made it to our new camp ground with little trouble. It’s called Cherry Hill camp ground. I had called two different camp grounds to determine our final destination. This one was the least expensive of the two, plus the other site would have made us move the bus after two days to a new slip.

We were amazed as we pulled into the park. It is in the middle of everything—very close to DC—and central to lots of other stuff. It is huge, and they pretty much have everything we like in a camp ground. We have a full hook up, cable, my internet works well, and we even got satellite. Usually when they offer cable we can’t get satellite. They have two pools, a huge laundry facility and they recycle. We are thrilled. They even said we could extend with no problem for up to 30 days. Obviously we aren’t going to stay that long, but we expect to stay longer than the original reservation we made.

We set up camp and did some chores, and chilled out all evening.

8-28-05: Six Flags and Chores

Today we took the advice of Traci’s Mom and slept in—late—really late—until noon! There is no possibility that Traci would have done that at home! I honestly can’t remember the last time we did that. We ate breakfast, got ready and headed for coaster country, Six Flags America. Just in case you are wondering, we purchased season passes to all of the Six Flags’ locations in the country. It was only about $40 per person, which is a bargain considering a daily pass is around $25. We have immersed ourselves in history, history, and more history for the past few days, so we decided to do NO history today. Today was one of those magical days at a theme park. The weather was entirely too hot, but that was OK, because it chased almost all of the patrons into the water park section of the venue. We had dry land just about to ourselves. The lines were non-existent. We were able to ride every coaster we wanted to, with a maximum wait time of about 15 minutes. We were probably at the park for only a couple of hours, but we rode everything we wanted. They don’t have a marquee coaster like the park in New Jersey, but they had several high quality rides that, when ridden back-to-back, really wore us out. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and after the two hours were ready to go back to the bus.

We spent the evening doing laundry and cleaning up the bus. We had a chat with a couple who are our parents’ age in the laundry room about our adventures. They are doing our trip in reverse. They came up from the south and plan to hit DC, Philly, Boston, Maine, NH and VT in the coming weeks. We gave them our tips for good blueberries and lobster and what to avoid. The gal was writing notes as we summarized everything. It was very touching. They did say that we didn’t spend enough time in Gettysburg. I believe had it not been raining yesterday we would have finished it out. Oh, well, that is one place we can come back to.

This week will be really special because we have maximum flexibility with what we want to do and when. We are due back in Indy on September 9 th, and we figure it will take us three days to make the drive. We are indeed looking forward to this week in the Nation’s Capital.

8-29-05: Work and Exploring DC

Today was an excellent day of work. Fortunately my customers didn’t wait until the last two days of the month to sign paperwork for August. It made for a low-stress month, and for that I am thankful. I may yet have some stuff come in today or tomorrow, and it will just be icing on the telecommunications cake.

I knocked off mid-afternoon and we boarded the train downtown DC. We need to plan out our 10 days here, and we just want to try it out to see what we can do on foot and what we should pay someone else to help us do. We walked down the National Mall to the Washington Monument, the WWII Monument, the Lincoln Monument and the Viet Nam Monument. I have to say by the time we did the loop through, we were hot and exhausted. That’s not to say we didn’t love it, and get some awesome pictures, but we realized when we do this place for real, we’ll need to take a tour bus. There is just too much ground to cover. Toto, we’re not in Philly any more!

With my recent obsession with everything Washington, we made for his monument first. It’s HUGE! (see pictures) Unfortunately the tickets for the elevator ride to the top are given away early each morning, so we couldn’t buy our way in, nor could we cajole the police to let us go up. So, we just settled for a walk down the hill toward the WWII Monument. I had heard this was finally completed, after years of wrangling, but had no idea what it looked like. I have to say it is beautiful. I’ll try to do it justice with my pictorial essay. I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t been here to see this to make it a point to go in the next 12 months. It is outstanding! One of the really cool features is that it doesn’t take away from Washington or Lincoln. Actually when you look at Washington from Lincoln, the WWII Memorial looks like a decorative crown at the base of Washington. Everything was beautiful, majestic and awe inspiring. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, you must go. Thomas can’t believe I’m 38 and this is my first time.

We took a lot of time today to plan out the next 10 days. We’ll try to do everything on the agenda, including a trip south to King’s Dominion for one last day of coasters before they go on their Fall schedules.

We walked to the ESPN Zone for dinner. It is like the one in Chicago, and as usual we enjoyed the food, and the NFL news on the multiple screens around the place. We had our traditional Tollhouse Cookie Sundae. I highly recommend it. After dinner we came back to Bessy and watched TV and went to bed. We were exhausted.

8-30-05: Work and Shopping

Today was a full day of work. It was wonderful. Lots of wonderful things happened, and I’ve already got some stuff cooking for next month. Yes, a couple of my carriers are aggravating my customers, but hopefully I’ll be able to get them to straighten up. It’s been a great summer, even with the hectic schedule.

After work we went to a nearby mall where I got my hair cut and Thomas got some new shoes. We ate in the food court and came back to the bus. Nothing exciting. Just a low-key day.

8-31-05: Work, Smithsonian and Medieval Times

We are dragging tonight! What a day. I got up and got some important stuff out of the way for work. August turned out to be an excellent month for business. I have to say thank you to my customers, partners and associates who helped make it happen!

After we got ready, we boarded the train down to two of the many Smithsonian Museum buildings. Being just a simple Hoosier, I had no concept of what the Smithsonian was. I thought it was just a big museum. I had no idea it was 13 big museums! We went to just two of them today, and in about 5 hours we could barely scratch the surface of those two. Traci and I could have hung around the American History museum all day, but Thomas was getting antsy. There is just too much to write about. Needless to say—everyone must go there sometime in their lives! It’s incredible, and we pay for it with our tax dollars—no entry fees here—so you may as well go.

Once we ran out of steam at the Smithsonian, we hopped on the train back to Bessy. We arrived with just 30 minutes to spare before we needed to leave to go to Medieval Times for dinner. None of us had ever been there before, so we really didn’t know what to expect. I called the company to find out how much time we should give it, and they said to arrive an hour prior to show time. (What is this, an airport?) We took that advice, and zoomed down I95 to the huge mall complex housing the facility. The place was massive. They had the biggest Jillians I had ever seen. It was the size of a Super WalMart. They also had a 24 screen movie theatre that was likewise the largest I have ever seen. It just went on and on! They know how to entertain here in DC!

We showed our tickets and were immediately given a paper crown hat and escorted over to have our pictures taken with the King, or so we thought. When the large party before us moved on, the King moved with them and we got our picture taken with the Princess. We felt slighted. Were we not King material? When we got the developed picture in the pretty frame back, I looked too much like I worked at Burger King because my crown matched my Fat Belly’s Restaurant T-shirt I had on. We passed on the picture. We have no where for it to go anyway. I would venture to say we were the only family there tonight who live in a 300 square foot bus.

The only reason I can see for our 1 hour arrival prior to show time is to give Thomas enough time to wear us down on purchasing some of the outlandishly expensive gear, garb and drinks they have in the retail area. The first sign I saw was “Margaritas $19. With Alcohol $24”. I was stunned. That was just the beginning. Everything in the place was marked up several times more than you would find it any where else. A piece of costume that would run $8 in October was $30. Thomas tried his best, but went home with just the goodies that came in the package. I did get a pin for the board.

Tonight is the first night of our “fall” schedule. We are no longer watching TV until midnight and then going to bed. The TV goes off at 9 on most nights and 10 on the weekends. More reading, less TV, early to bed, early to rise—you know—all of that stuff. We know it will be painful, and there will be lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth, but hey, we’ve got to be mean some time don’t we? Summer is now officially over.

9-1-05: Work, Mount Vernon, Work

I got up and worked prior to going to see George Washington’s home called Mount Vernon. August was a very productive month for BrayTel, and I’ve got lots of paperwork to do to get everything processed. The drive to Mount Vernon was not too frustrating, other than construction got in the way at a crucial exit. We took a wrong turn and went into Old Town Alexandria by mistake, and stopped at a hotel to ask for directions. The friendly man gave me the simple directions and we were off once again. Fortunately we went the ‘back’ way to the farm and the drive was beautiful. I could just picture George riding his horse or being driven in his coach up this wonderful path along the Potomac River many times during his service to his country. It brought lots of goose bumps to my arms as we drove through. Washington was first a farmer. His family had been granted 8000 acres a couple of generations before George took over, and he took his farming very seriously. Ironically the farm is named after a British Admiral. In George’s early days he was in the British Navy, but when his country called, he obviously became Commander In Chief of the Continental Army.

Washington pioneered many farming practices that actually improved the quality of the soil like composting both animal and human waste. He re-used everything on his estate for the betterment of the soil and production of crops. He even figured out how to make the most profit possible from his wheat crop by building an innovative octagonal barn used to thrash the wheat. It was covered, and used horse teams to run around in circles, therefore pushing the wheat kernels through the floor boards to the room below, free of wheat chaff. The “horsepower” also pushed the grist mill, thereby grinding the wheat into flour. This practice of taking the wheat from raw form to flour cut out many points of profit-sharing, therefore he got to keep all of the “dough” from his operation. This is how he funded all of his lifestyle, along with the 300+ slaves he had on the farm. He was the first Founding Father to free every slave on his farm. He did it as part of his will. Also as part of his will he indicated that his family tomb be moved into bigger “digs” by the vineyard. After burial, an artist designed new sarcophaguses for both George and Martha for their new tomb. Unfortunately, the door to the tomb was too small for the new boxes and a whole new building had to be built in front of the tomb to house the sarcophaguses! Fortunately, a lady was just locking the tomb when we arrived, and she let me go behind the chain and get clear shots of both George and Martha (see pictures). We stayed and asked her lots of questions, and got answers to most of them. We have learned over and over to talk to the workers and ask questions. They love to talk, and will tell you just about anything. I shot pictures of the main house where Washington passed away. They would NOT let us take pix inside, so I had to settle for the front lawn. (see picture) It was very impressive, and I loved being in the place. The gal who did the part of the tour including Washington’s death bed took her job a little too seriously, but it was a great learning experience for the whole family.

We drove back to the bus, and I worked into the evening. We laid out our plans for tomorrow. It will be a busy day!

9-2-05: Capitol Tour, HOT, Tourmobile, HOT, Arlington Cemetary, HOT!

Wow! What a scorcher! It was 90+ degrees today, all day! Will summer never end? We went to Sen. Lugar’s office for a 10:00 am tour of the Capitol building. We were led around by a guy who had only been there 5 days! He did a good job of showing us around the buildings. He had lots of facts to tell us, and showed us lots of stuff. The first thing that impressed Thomas was the “Capitol Choo Choo” subway under ground that connected the Senate Office Buildings to the Capitol. (see pictures) I thought it was a monumental waste of money, but hey, they’ve got an unlimited check book, don’t they? Can’t the people just walk the extra 20 feet rather than take a shuttle? What do I know? I just drive a bus for a living.

The building is obviously one of the most beautiful in the country. No expense was spared, and history abounds here. No matter which political party you support, the place has a sense of Freedom and Liberty that just surrounds you. The art is wonderful, the statues are incredible, and the stories are endless. Pop Quiz: Did you know a guy from Indiana wrote the book Ben Hur? His statue is in the Capitol Building. There is also one of a Civil War General from Indiana. It was very moving. I could go on and on for pages, but I’ll just say that you need to go as soon as you can arrange it. If you have voted and haven’t been there, you are missing it!

Pop Quiz: what is the slogan on the DC license plates? Taxation without Representation. Do you know why? People who live in DC have Senators and Representatives, but they have no Electoral Votes. They can debate on the floors of the House and Senate, but they can not vote on bills. My hypothesis as to why was the case was confirmed by a very smart friend in Bloomington. When the government system was first established, the framers did not expect DC to be a big population center, and expected everyone there to vote in their “home” states. Therefore, the peoples’ votes only count in the “general” election, but we all know how important that is…NOT!

After the tour, we went to Union Station and purchased tickets on the TourMobile. On our previous trip to down town DC, we decided that we would not attempt to walk the city again on foot. Philly and Boston are so old-country that you can walk everywhere. DC is NOT! It is a full five mile round trip from Capitol Hill to Lincoln’s Memorial. It’s great if you are walking for exercise, but it was over 90 degrees, and we had to make it all day. Unfortunately, it was not much easier on the bus. They were open air, and seemed to attract large stinky buses. They didn’t go very fast, and stopped every few hundred feet, so we didn’t get much relief from the heat. We were bound and determined to go to Arlington Cemetery to see everything there. We stuck it out and stayed on the bus all the way there. We then hopped off the main bus and on to a bus that stayed in the cemetery. We made three stops inside: JFK’s tomb, the Tomb of the Unknowns and Robert E Lee’s pre-Civil War Home called the Arlington House. We skipped JFK and went right for the Tomb of the Unknowns being that the Changing of the Guard was about to happen. We arrived with just a few minutes to spare. It was very moving. Even Thomas was in awe as he approached the soldier and saluted him (see picture). It was very cool for a dad to see. The whole thing was very strict and the discipline was incredible. We were very moved and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only downside was that while I was shooting video of the inspection a bird decided to poop on my arm. At first I thought someone had dripped sweat on me, but when I looked up, there was no one near me, so I realized it had to be one of our flying friends. Fortunately Traci had a moist towlette with her and she cleaned me up. (Please enjoy my pictures of the place.)

By the time we got done with that we were totally worn out from the heat. We got back on the main bus and trudged our way back to Union Station. We jumped back on the train back to where I had parked the car. Just was we were ready to exit the station on the last part of the trip, the turnstiles would NOT let us leave. We inquired at the desk, and it turns out that the passes were NOT round trip tickets as we were led to believe. We had to put them back in the machines and add $.30 to each card to we could leave. It was a bit frustrating, but also funny, so we paid our money and got out of Dodge.

We relaxed this evening and cooled off in the bus.

9-3-05: Paramount

We took the day off from serious stuff and drove about an hour to Paramount’s Kings Dominion. It seemed a funny title for a park so close to DC. We arrived around Noon and surveyed the park. We expected it to be empty since school had just started in the area. However, we were wrong. Traci wasn’t feeling well, so she opted out of all of the rides. Thomas and I rode the Volcano, which was a really good ride, although the line was about 45 minutes. It was shady for all of us, so it wasn’t too hard to take.

After that Thomas and I rode a slower older ride called the Anaconda. After that he was done. However, his old man was just getting started. This was the last park for the summer and I wanted to make the best of it. They waited while I rode the tallest Drop Zone in the country. Fortunately the line was only about 15 minutes. However, there was one more coaster I wanted to ride, for what reason I really don’t know. It was like a small “Dragster” from Cedar Point. It was a super fast launch coaster that shot you up about 100 feet and back down again. I thought it would be a good way to end the season. However, the line ended up being an hour or more long, and Thomas and Traci were waiting for me. It was not a good idea on my part. The ride was OK, but the wait was NOT worth it.

After that we departed the park and came back to Bessy. We spent the evening watching TV and doing house work. For some reason I started losing my voice. I didn’t have a sore throat, just voice failure. For a sales guy that’s not a good thing.

9-4-05: Archives and Night Tour

This was probably the best day in DC. We slept in and jumped on the train to down town around 2:30. When we arrived we first stopped at the National Archives. This is the place where National Treasure supposedly took place. We immediately realized that could not be the case. I asked one of the guards, and he assured me that the movie was not filmed in the building. The light is very low due to the sensitivity of the documents housed there. They did allow the producers to come in and get a layout so they could take the specs back to Hollywood to re-create the set there. The guy also said that the process they highlighted in the movie about how the documents were preserved was accurate about three years ago. Renovations they have made to the building required a massive change in infrastructure, so it is no longer accurate. He claimed not to know about the new process, and I assured him that I didn’t want to know either.

Considering my recent studies, being up-close and personal with the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and Constitution was very cool. I hope Thomas brings his children back to see them years from now. We were not allowed to use flash photography, so my pictures didn’t come out very clearly. One gal’s flash went off “by accident” and the guards just about tackled her. She had to give up her camera for the duration of her visit. We thought it was kind of funny. We certainly don’t want the documents to be damaged.

After that we decided to commit some time to the Natural History Museum. We didn’t originally plan to go there, but when the tour guide put the hard sell in on the stuff there, we decided to go see the place. As we expected, it had lots of dead stuff on display. However, in addition to that, they also had a huge display of gems of all types. They have a huge flawless crystal ball (see picture of Thomas on the other side) that is the largest in the world. The Hope Diamond is on display there, and Traci now has a new Christmas list. I thought it as funny that the women outnumbered the men in the area about three to one. Everywhere else in the building it was reversed. Hmmm, I wonder why!

We also did an extensive review of the Insect Zoo. They had lots of live and dead insects on display there, and Thomas and I enjoyed it. Traci’s skin crawled the whole time. They had a “Brown Recluse” spider there, so I tried to burn its image in my brain for future reference. Note to self: see this spider, stomp on it immediately!

Once we finished with the dead stuff, gems and bugs, we walked down to Union Station to inquire about our tickets for the night tour of DC. We thought we would have about 1.5 hours to have a leisurely dinner before the tour. Unfortunately the tour started earlier than we expected, so we had to grab a snack and jump on the bus. Traci and I have agreed that this was our favorite part of the trip. The monuments were glowing in the night. I took over 100 pictures hoping to get a few good ones, since I neglected to bring my tripod with me. I did succeed, as I hope you agree. (see lots of pictures) If you are coming to DC and don’t have much time, please do this tour. It was extremely cool. The Korean War Memorial was 100% goose bump material. They actually went into the archives and dug up pictures of some of the men and women who died in the war and etched their faces into the granite wall. It was hard to see at night, but when I shot it with my flash, the images glowed. It was amazing. (see pictures) We met some very nice people on the trip who are going to help us see the sights during our stay in Florida this winter.

We got back late and hit the sack quickly. We were exhausted.

9-5-05: The Fine City of Baltimore, MD

Today we slept in late. We enjoy doing that, especially on a three-day holiday weekend. We got up, did the quick get-ready, and buzzed 20 miles north to Baltimore. We had heard good things about it, and were looking forward to our last day of sight seeing prior to our trip West to Indiana.

We arrived at about Noon and sized up the situation by going to the Visitor’s Center. They have a popular Science Museum (always a plus!) and a semi-famous aquarium. We didn’t know how much time we would need at the science museum so we went there first and decided to do the aquarium next. Fortunately our COSI membership got us in for free. That investment has paid off very well on this trip. Thomas had a great time. He loves those places. He raced around from one thing to the next, and for the most part they had the same displays we have seen half a dozen times on the trip. We explored the rest of the building, but realized that it was primarily devoted to human body (boring) stuff. He gets creeped out by skeletons very easily, so this was not going to take long. We got out of there in under an hour so we had plenty of time do check out the fishes.

As we paid our fee to get in the aquarium I asked if the COSI membership provided any discount to the aquarium. In an amazing stroke of genius the gal looked at me and said “I don’t know, that will be $52.00”. I almost laughed in her face, but decided to be nice and gave her the cash. I have to say the place was worth every penny. The place was HUGE. We began by seeing different smaller tanks with displays, and each time we left a section we went up an escalator. Once we got to the top of the four story building, we went down a long sloping hallway back to the basement. On the way up, the tanks got bigger and bigger until we reached the huge shark tank at the top. They did a great job of providing excellent viewing capabilities to everyone there, but also had an eye on crowd control. Like cattle, we just kept looking and walking, and it was hard to stop a long time at any one display. When we got to the top Thomas asked a worker what was going on and he indicated that in five minutes, the divers would go in and feed the Manta Rays and would bring them to the window so we could see them up-close. Needless to say Thomas was all over it, and ran down to the big tank to see the action.

It was spectacular. The divers knew what they were doing. They gave the kids of all ages plenty of time to see every inch of the huge “wings in the water’. They even have a blind Zebra Shark in the same tank that was frolicking with the divers. They also have a huge turtle with only three flippers that loves to have his belly scratched. It was a blast to see all of this up close and personal. Thomas was having a ball. It was well worth the stop. Traci felt it was even better than Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. That is saying A LOT!

After that we had dinner at the ESPN Zone, a family favorite. We enthusiastically recommend the hot chocolate-chip-cookie sundae. If you are ever in the neighborhood, you MUST get one. After dinner Thomas and I played games in the arcade, and Traci hit Barnes and Noble. She surprised me with two more books on the people of the Revolution. I was thrilled. I’m making progress on my Paul Revere book, and am looking forward to reading the ones I’ve collected along the way.

After that we did some grocery shopping and came back to the bus to start the process of leaving on Wednesday morning. We feel like we have been here way too long. It was an important place to stop, and we didn’t want to short-change it, and as you can see, we succeeded, but we’re ready to leave. Tomorrow is a day of house cleaning and prep, and Wednesday we leave for Indy.

9-6-05 to 9-19-05: Two Week Summary

Wow! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. As far as the Bray family goes, it has been hectic, but great. I’m not going to go day-by-day like I normally do, so this one will be a bit longer, but it will cover the high points from 9-6-05 to 9-19-05. Stop me if I get too long-winded, OK?

As the effects of Katrina were felt in DC, we worried that there would not be fuel along the way back. There didn’t seem to be any lines or closings in DC, so we knew we would be able to get out of town OK. When I tanked up in DC I paid a whopping $3.19 per gallon. Ouch! It was over $150.00 for the first time. We laid out our course and told Bessy to go home! The drive from Baltimore to I68 was eventless, and went quickly. Unfortunately the drive through the mountains of Maryland and West Virginia tested Daniel’s driving skills, as well as Bessy’s powertrain. Many times throughout the trip I had the pedal to the metal going 40 MPH up one side of the mountain and 80 MPH going down the other. I figure Bessy’s 300 Horse Diesel should be broken in by now! Fortunately there were no incidents and with white knuckles, we made our way to Morgantown, WV, looking forward to a good night’s sleep at Camp Wal Mart. However, as we pulled in we discovered that the Wal Mart was in the local mall, and overnight parking was prohibited. That was the second time we couldn’t stay at CWM.

We ate at Subway and decided to push on to Columbus, OH rather than trying to find another place to stay. Traci already had the route, and it was ONLY another 3 hours. We have tried not to drive at night, but we decided to push on. With that decision, we made the planned trip to Indy in two days instead of three. On the 7 th we stopped at the Graeters Ice Cream factory for a tour. Traci and I had this ice cream while we were in Cincinnati and sincerely thought we would find something better along the way. We were wrong. We stocked up before leaving Columbus and looked forward to many scoops of Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip in the weeks ahead. I tanked up again outside of Richmond, IN. This time it was only $2.79 per gallon—ONLY! I never thought I would love the sight of $2 something a gallon for fuel!

On the 8 th we arrived back in Indianapolis and ensconced the bus at the KOA on Mount Comfort Rd on the east side of town. We used to live near there, so we knew the area well, and quickly stocked up on the stuff we couldn’t find on the road. Needless to say, the time spent in Indy was non-stop, very productive and we had a blast. The first reason we came back so early was that a buddy of mine named Rob Doll got married. Congratulations Rob! The wedding was beautiful, complete with the horse drawn carriage at the Village of West Clay. We wish the happy couple many happy years together. We got to catch up with friends and family, having lunches and dinners every day and night with said folk. I had non-stop appointments every day Monday-Friday of that week. I drove all over Indianapolis and even up to South Bend to meet with current and prospective customers.

I have to take this time to express my appreciation to the many friends, customers and associates I am blessed to have in Indianapolis. If it weren’t for these folks I would not be able to be on this trip. They look out for me and take care of things when I can’t be there. They give me advice and let me vent when I’m frustrated. They have my back when people try to get nasty, and they congratulate me when I succeed. The names are too numerous to list, but you know who you are! I’m so well supported, that someone I know actually claimed that I was back in Indianapolis and working full time. It made me chuckle. I am blessed, and I sincerely thank the folks who support me and make this trip possible. I also have to say I have the best customers in the world! Not a single one of them have balked at my decision to take my life and family on the road. Many of them read this blog each day, and for that I am also thankful. I hope I never let them down because of my schedule.

Ok, now on with the show! We decided to hit the road right after church on Sunday the 18 th. The water at the camp ground was sooooo bad that we would not even consider tanking up at the camp ground. Fortunately Traci’s parents live close, so we were able to use their water to do so. We were very glad to have that opportunity. It was also another time to say goodbye until they visit us in Disney in December.

Our schedule is to drive to Frankfort, KY to stay a couple of nights and then on to Charleston, WV at CWM. The trip to Frankfort was effortless. We were very glad to be on the road again, listening to our traditional travel CD once the Colt’s game was over. Go Colts! We were a bit wary of the camp ground as we pulled up, because it was in—you guessed it—a trailer park! We are now officially trailer park kings and queens. Billy Ray Cyrus would be proud! Once we got past that the camp turned out to be very nice. They have everything we need, with the exception of a huge tree between our satellite dish and the SW horizon. Oh, well, they have free cable.

On the 19 th I actually worked outside of the bus at the picnic table for the first time. The air was cool enough, and Traci and Thomas really wanted the space for home-school. I pulled it off for a few hours and really enjoyed it. As we get along into autumn, (will it EVER cool off?) I look forward to doing it more often. Working in the sun in 90 degree heat has not been on my list of things to do this summer. We also hit the local YMCA while we were here and got in a short work out. The place was sweltering, and not nearly as nice as the Indy locations we have visited. We are spoiled in Indy, that’s for sure! After that we retired to the bus for an evening of Monday Night Football and computer time. Tomorrow we go on to WV and CWM (we hope).

9-20-05: Frankfurt to CWM in Charleston, WV

I got up and worked the entire morning and prepared to leave Frankfurt. Fortunately the check-out time was 1:00 PM so we had plenty of time. We rolled out just at one, having enjoyed our time there. We drove three hours to Charleston, WV and found our Camp Wal Mart. As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a sign that said ‘no overnight parking’. We were concerned, but technically it was not actually IN the CWM parking lot. CWM was in a strip center, and that part belonged to another store. We searched the CWM part of the lot, and found no signs other than the fact that big 18 wheelers couldn’t dump their loads there. Traci was concerned, but I was all-in. Another huge bus—probably a 45 footer—was parked next to us, and three other smaller buses were clustered in the general area. I figured if someone was going to bother us, they would have an entire neighborhood to evict. Fortunately it was a quiet evening, with the exception of a few rednecks sitting in the back of a pick-up about 100 yards away having a party. They were a long way away, but it sounded like they were just outside the bus. Traci was having flashbacks of the parking lot in Conn, but I slept like a baby.

9-21-05: Charleston, WV to Charlottesville, VA

I got up and got some work out of the way, and we zipped up the bus as quickly as possible and got out of Dodge. I can not believe how stinking hot it still is! It has been in the high 80’s and low 90’s for almost the entire trip! Will cooler weather EVER get here?

We drove a full four hours to Charlottesville, VA, plus a few stops along the way for rest and lunch. Unfortunately a lot of the drive through the mountains did not have cellular coverage. However, for part of the trip I shut off my phone because the drive was so challenging. It wasn’t as bad as I68 back from DC, but Bessy still had a challenge going up the mountains. The last thing I wanted to do was wreck while on the phone.

We finally arrived at Charlottesville. Thomas got to choose the camp ground, and it was everything we had hoped. The rate is about $30 per night, and they have free wireless Internet and cable. We had a bit of a challenge getting to our slip, so we had to unhook the car and re-negotiate the turn to the site. About 20 people came out of their buses and cabins to watch me hit the big tree, but were sorely disappointed by Traci’s decision to unhook and allow me bring it in solo.

Once we got settled, I set up my work space and got busy. I had lots of emails to catch up on and a lot of phone calls to make. I worked into the evening and we ate dinner in the bus. After dinner we read and watched TV and generally relaxed.

9-22-05: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (pronounced Montichello)

I got up early and knocked a bunch of work out so we could safely leave the bus without having fires burning when we return. We ventured out to Monticello, which if you don’t know, is the home of Thomas Jefferson. We hit the visitor center and quickly realized we needed to drive up the mountain to the actual house. There was a lot to do there, but we didn’t have time to do it before everything closed. We would have to come back for this part. We drove up the mountain, paid for our tickets, and hopped in the van for the ride to the actual house. The tour lasted about 45-60 minutes, and we saw the inside, outside and beneath the famous mansion. If you want to see a picture of where we were, look on the back of your nickel. (see pictures)

The thing that stood out for Traci and I was the difference between Washington’s house and Jefferson’s. Washington’s was beautiful in its simplicity. Jefferson’s was opulent and very ornate. Washington’s was entirely American. Jefferson’s was inspired by the Greek and the French. Washington died a wealthy man and left tons of money and land to his family. Jefferson died $100,000 in debt and his estate had to be sold off to pay off his debts. Fortunately they were both opposed to slavery, and they went to great lengths to make sure the slaves they owned were taken care of before and after their deaths. The place is beautiful, and I sincerely recommend it to everyone. It is part of our country’s history, and whether you agree with his politics or not, he was a brilliant man who cared deeply about his country.

We stopped on the way back and got fresh veggies at a farmer’s market and made our way back to Bessy for our cookout. The camp ground had firewood for sale that was essentially seconds at the lumber mill. I had never built a fire of 2X4’s before. The wood was dry, so you can imagine how quickly it burned. One of our neighbors stopped by and asked if we planned to sit around the fire for a while. We replied, and he went to his own personal wood pile and grabbed a huge log and threw it on our fire. We thanked him and went back to our meal. Traci cooked the veggies over propane and I cooked the dogs over the fire. We had a wonderful feast. After dinner we had a return visit by the wood guy and his wife and ended up talking for probably 45 minutes. He works for FedEx and once their children grew up and married, he applied for “upward mobility” at FedEx, sold his home, purchased a 5 th wheel, and took off. They are living in campgrounds around the country as FedEx transfers him from place to place. I thought it was an excellent idea. They also told us that we were currently across the street from Dave Matthews’ (the rock star) home. He delivered packages there. We are also within driving distance of Sissy Spacek, Jacklyn Smith, and Neil Diamond’s homes. We had noticed some huge estates near by, but didn’t realize that many famous people lived in this area. Another neighbor stopped by with his dog and we chatted for a while. We haven’t had anyone visit our camp fires since we left Cincinnati, and tonight we had two.

After the fire we chilled out in the bus and went to bed.

9-23-05: Monticello in the Morning and Charlottesville in the Evening

I got up and took care of some important work I needed to do, and once I had covered all of the bases I needed to cover, we got ready and went out to watch the Jefferson film and tour the museum. I have to say I am amazed and inspired by all that Jefferson accomplished in his 83 years on Earth. It makes me feel like I have done nothing in 38 years and would have to become super-human to even begin to catch up. On the other hand, his wife died when he was still young and four of his six children died as well. I would rather keep my life, thank you very much. He never made it west of Kentucky, and we’ll go much further than that in our beloved Bessy over the next year!

The museum was very detailed, showing his interest in all things natural and scientific. It was a great follow-up to our tour of the actual home yesterday. One of the exciting things was that, during the movie about his life, we realized that we had been to all of the major places where he lived and worked during his life. As the scenes flashed by, Traci and I looked at each other and smiled because we had been to all of them in the past 3 months. We just hope Thomas will appreciate this trip at some point in his life.

After the movie, we were done with Jefferson, so we came back to the bus. I finished by work stuff for the week, and we went to explore Charlottesville. The trip back to Indy last week enabled us to come back via I64, which goes right past Monticello. We doubt that we would have come a few hours out of our way had we stayed on our original path to see the place, and we were very glad we did. It really put the icing on the Revolutionary Generation cake we have been baking since arriving in Boston. We both have a much stronger appreciation for the Providence, genius and sacrifice that these families endured on behalf of our country.

As we drove into Charlottesville, we decided to repeat our previous successes by going straight to the Visitor’s Center. We hit the parking garage and made a beeline for the office above the garage. We arrived to meet a very nice elderly lady and tons of brochures about Virginia. Once we picked up a few pieces, we approached the sweet old lady and asked her what there was to do in town. We were here on Friday afternoon, and were interested in seeing all there was to see. That’s when the fun started.

The lady was, shall we say, not in full control of her faculties. She seemed normal at the beginning, but we quickly realized we were in for an interesting conversation. We asked about the ‘Civil War Trail’ signs we had seen about town. She got a big smile on her face and said it was made to appear more than it really was. She said they put the thing together to tie all of the Civil War landmarks together on a driving trip. She said every little skirmish and house that was used in the war were on the trail. She said you could even visit this one plaque of a battle skirmish, but it was on the side of a Burger King.

After that, we asked what there was to do in town, and she kind of lost her train of thought. First she asked where we lived. We said Indiana, and that sent her into a hunt for a particular set of brochures, mostly about the Civil War. We were confused. We thought we were done with the Civil War stuff, mainly because none of it happened in Charlottesville. We had already established that. We also wondered which brochures she would have retrieved if we had said we were from Florida. Hmm. She went on for about 15 more minutes, to the point where we were getting embarrassed, because she didn’t complete one sentence during that entire time. We sincerely felt sorry for her. Thomas was getting antsy, and we just wanted to leave. Finally Traci steered the conversation back to the here and now, and she grabbed the local map and pointed out their historic square where Jefferson, Monroe and Madison all worked together as attorneys at one point. We were making progress, if only for a few seconds. She explained that it was where the “Civil War guy and the cannons” were at. After that she lost her thoughts again and rambled on about stuff we really didn’t understand. For the life of her she couldn’t remember the Civil War Guy’s name. Traci gracefully thanked her for her time and I mentioned that we parked in the garage. She jumped and said she could stamp our parking ticket to give us 2 hours of free parking. Traci whipped it out, got the stamp, and we were on our way! We weren’t sure where we were going, but we were out of there. Just as we were leaving, she blurted out that there was an ice skating rink nearby. Traci and I looked at each other in our shorts and sandals, and smiled and said thank-you in unison as we bolted out the door.

We found the historic square, took some pictures, read some plaques, ooohed and aaaahed and then looked for something fun to do. (see picture) Bless the lady’s heart, the statue was a generic one representing all of the soldiers from the area that fought in the war. No wonder she couldn’t remember his name. He didn’t have one! Based on the map, we made our way to the line of restaurants and shops in town which had a movie theatre at the end. We enjoyed the walk, Thomas petted a lot of dogs, and we checked out the movies. Unfortunately there was nothing for Thomas to see, so we decided to hit the local pizza joint for dinner. The pizza was good, but not great, so we ate and went back to the car. The place was really nice, but nothing unforgettable. The gal at the visitor’s center was the most memorable person we have met since we hit Virginia.

We went to the grocery store, and came back to the bus for computer time, reading and bed. Tomorrow we leave for Williamsburg, VA. We are sincerely looking forward to this area. We have decided we are going to hug the coast for the remainder of our trip to Orlando. Traci misses the sound of waves hitting the coast. We’ll be back there soon!

9-24-05: Driving to Williamsburg, Outlet Mall Shopping, Dinner at Outback

We got up, ate breakfast in the bus, and got ready to leave for Williamsburg. Things went smoothly, and we got out early. It was about a two hour drive over to Williamsburg, and fortunately the trip was very smooth. We decided to try out the huge outlet mall nearby, and ended up strolling around for a couple of hours only to purchase a shirt for me. We were glad to be here, tired of walking and getting hungry.

After that, we decided to have dinner at the local Outback Steak House. Little did we know that William and Mary (the local college) had a football game that day, and it must have been Parents’ Weekend because everyone seemed to be with their folks and the ENTIRE FOOTBALL TEAM decided to go to the same restaurant for dinner. They literally had two tables of 25 arrive at the same time as we did. Unfortunately it was a two hour investment just to eat dinner. The food was good, but two hours is a bit much for Outback.

After dinner, we checked out more of the surrounding area and headed back to the bus for a quiet evening. The camp ground is heavily wooded, so we have to depend on the cable system. It’s better than nothing, but it often times changes our “normal” evening routine of TV. We have been doing a lot of reading on this trip, which is a very good thing.

9-25-05: Jamestown Settlement, and Yorktown Battlefield Visitors Center

We slept in today, ate breakfast in the bus, and got ready to go to the Jamestown Settlement. We purchased a combo pass to both Jamestown and the Yorktown Victory Center. We hit Jamestown first, and were shocked, I mean shocked, to find out that Jamestown was settled 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown, MS. We totally bought into the idea that the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth was the beginning of the English Colonies. Oh, contrare! The folks at Jamestown were duking it out with the Indians long before the Pilgrims left England!!! What is worse—get this—is that the Pilgrims were actually “employees” of the same British Government sponsored Virginia Company that employed the folks at Jamestown!!! There was absolutely nothing in Plymouth that mentioned anything about that. The folks in Jamestown said the Pilgrims were there to make money, which was their ticket to Religious Freedom. This was the first place I have ever been exposed to that information. Why wasn’t that in the history books?

What’s more, had the one guy from Jamestown not figured out how to smuggle Spanish tobacco seeds into the area that settlement may have closed up shop and headed back to England. In the final analysis, the tobacco plant was the reason why they succeeded financially, and it’s also the reason why they began importing slaves from Africa. So, had they not done that, or had the growing of tobacco failed, quite possibly thousands and thousands of Africans would not have been enslaved, we wouldn’t have had the Civil War, and millions of people would not die of lung cancer every year. And, we would all be descendants of the folks in Plymouth. The idea that tobacco could be the source of so much evil in this country is just amazing.

The Jamestown Settlement was enjoyable, the weather was good, and we got to tour another ship of the 17 th Century. It is fun to do that now because we can actually compare and contrast the boats we have been on with their place in history and the technological advances each have displayed. Pop Quiz: Did you know that the “helm” of a boat did not enter the scene until the end of the 1700’s? Before that it was just a big stick that swung back and forth. Thomas got a good laugh from the folks on the boat calling it the “stick shift”.

The tour included folks in costume showing us an Indian village, complete with their huts lined with tons of real deer skins. Thomas, fresh from his experience on the trip, asked if any of the deer were the result of “road kill”. The gal laughed, and said none of the deer were, but there was a huge black bear in the next hut that had been brought in by a guy who drove a refrigerated truck. He was behind the unfortunate guy who hit the bear, and he was able to get it into the truck and brought it to the settlement. The people there literally prepared it and ate it according to the Indian traditions and used the skin to decorate one of their huts.

All in all it was a great experience. Thomas really got into it after we hit the boat, and asked lots of questions of the guides. Since he was the only kid in the audience, he got lots of attention.

After we left Jamestown, we took the Colonial Parkway straight to Yorktown. This road was a curiosity in itself. It was a road made entirely of exposed aggregate, and it was about 20 miles long. It served no other purpose than to connect these two historical landmarks. Considering that I64 is a perfectly good highway going the same direction, connecting the same places, we felt that this road was a huge beautiful waste of money. Oh, well.

We saw the Yorktown Victory Center, but passed it up to go to the actual battlefield visitors’ center. Little did we realize that we were walking into a political turf battle waged by the National Park Service and the State of Virginia. The Yorktown Battlefield is part of the National Park System. We walked into the museum with our Yorktown Victory Center tickets, and were told we were in the wrong place. Fortunately we have annual passes to the National Parks, so we didn’t pay a cent to get in. This park isn’t in the literature any where, because evidently they don’t pay commission to anyone to sell tickets. They also have a Jamestown National Park, but we totally missed it for the same reason. We didn’t have much time to spend here, so we watched the movie and purchased the audio tour for use tomorrow.

We ate in the bus (I love my wife’s cooking) and read and had computer time. Tomorrow will start the last week of the month, which is always an exciting time in the life a sales person!

9-26-05: Work, and back to Yorktown Battlefield

Today was pretty much a full day of work. September is shaping up to be another fantastic month in the life of BrayTel Communications, Inc. I can not express how grateful I am to the folks that support me on the ground in Indy. I am proud to be working with my partners in this crazy industry.

After work we ventured out to see the actual battlefield. We had purchased the tape for the driving tour and were eager to hear what it had to say. I have to say, the folks who produced the tape weren’t quite as adept at giving directions as the one in Gettysburg. Fortunately the big “audio tour” signs helped us get where we needed to be. There wasn’t as much drama in this one as Gettysburg, but the battlefield as no less impressive. They have done an excellent job of maintaining the different aspects of the battlefield as they were in 1781. With the exception of lots of trees growing where they weren’t back then, we really felt like we understood what it was like. They have left lots of cannons in place, which really helped us visualize the battle (see pictures). We literally got goose bumps as we walked through and talked about it. They even took us through the areas where the Colonial and French armies camped prior to the battle, and also where the surrender was signed. If you have never been there, I highly recommend it. This small town shaped the future of our nation due to the importance of the victory here.

After we toured the battlefield we stopped at a genuine Virginia ham store. We really didn’t know what we were getting into, but were excited to be trying out some of the local fare. The store was packed with what I would call “tourist food”. Not only did they have different pork products, but also lots of sauces, dips and other things Virginia was supposed to be famous for. The small ham we purchased (about the size of a Nerf football) was about $30, so we figured it must be like heaven to eat it. The gal gave us a brief warning about the saltiness of the ham, and suggested we slice it VERY THIN to get more ham taste and less salt taste.

Well, this brief comment was an UNDERSTATEMENT! This is the saltiest ham I have ever had in my life. They have a sign on the fridge that says “better than heavenly ham”. I beg to differ. Yummy, yes, but the best? I think not. I had to slice that puppy paper thin and put it in a zip lock bag and eat it sparingly so we don’t totally overwhelm our recommended daily allowance of sodium! They said it would last a month in the fridge, and I guarantee you we’ll be eating it come the end of October. Maybe we can give the rest away to a gullible kid on Halloween. Ham balls anyone? Just kidding!

We had dinner in the bus and watched the Broncos kill the Chiefs on MNF.

9-27-05: Work, Work, Yorktown and a Camp Fire

Finally! The month is starting to pick up from a sales perspective. I was up and working early and worked continuously until mid-afternoon. I had a conference call scheduled at 1:30, but it got postponed at the last minute. I did have one relatively large contract get signed and faxed to me today, which was a huge blessing! For what ever reason, my prospects are waiting until the very end of the month to sign their stuff. I’m positive everything will end up just great, but the timing of it has me a bit on edge. I also had an excellent conversation with a customer who is planning to move their office, and that took up the remainder of time I had prior to our departure for our trip to the Yorktown Victory Center. This is the portion that is sponsored by the state of Virginia that isn’t actually AT the battlefield.

Due to our late arrival they stamped our ticket so we could come back another day if we didn’t see the whole thing. Like in Jamestown, they had lots of folks in costume explaining what life was like at that stage of history. They had the every day life of a soldier in camp as well as a working farm from the era. Since we had seen lots of stuff like this we didn’t spend much time in that part.

We did, however, explore the museum and time line exhibit extensively and watched the 18 minute movie about Yorktown. In retrospect it was hard for these folks to put on much of a show regarding the battle itself like they do in Gettysburg. They try really hard to stretch it out and they emphasize the importance of the battle in US history. Try as they might, the battle was actually very short. Once both sides were arranged in their lines of battle, the allies (Colonials and French) just slaughtered the Red Coats and Hessions with thousands of rounds of cannon fire. It was literally a Colonial “Shock and Awe”. With the exception of the personal storming of two outposts called “redoubts 9 and 10” (in which my favorite guy Alexander Hamilton played a pivotal role in redoubt 10), it was pretty much a battle of cannons, and the allies outnumbered the Brits by 3 to 1. So the museum is not so much of a Yorktown Battle museum as a Revolutionary War museum with a section devoted to the battle at Yorktown. Don’t get me wrong, it is very cool, and allowed us to do some good summarizing of the history of the war with Thomas for home schooling.

After that we hit Wal Mart for some groceries and came back and sat around the camp fire with another couple not much older than us who are 3 months into a year-long RV trip with their 10-year-old son. We have criss-crossed the same areas, and even stayed at the same parks over the summer, and are both headed to Orlando in December at the same time. We both intend to go west and spend a considerable amount of time in the National Parks on the west coast prior to returning home for school next fall. We swapped lots of stories and compared notes on our children and our travels.

Afterward we came back to the bus, had a snack while watching our favorite Dirty Jobs TV show and chilled out. We are leaving here Thursday and still have Williamsburg to explore. We are sincerely looking forward to it!

9-28-05:  Work, Work, Work and Misc

September has certainly not hesitated to challenge my plans and expectations for this trip.  We have been in Williamsburg, VA this week, among some of the most important and interesting historical landmarks in Virginia.  Due to the high demands on my time this week, we have not been able to do two major activities we really wanted to do.  However, that’s what this trip is all about:  flexibility.  When work demands, I respond.  I am reminded often that this is NOT a vacation!  It is a working trip, and this week (as well as our time in Indy) has been much more work than traveling. 

Fortunately, once work is done, I get to spend my time in different places.  Today’s place was a huge outlet mall in Williamsburg.  It’s not highly exciting, but the Bray family needs some stuff, and we were able to get it all in one parking lot. 

We ate dinner in the bus, and got ready for our departure for Virginia Beach in the morning.  Fortunately it’s only about an hour drive, so Bessy won’t have to work hard to get there.  We are staying at a huge full-service camp ground with a pull-through concrete pad with full landscaping.  We hope it’s as good as Lake George.

9-29-05:  Yes, More Work, and Drive to Virginia Beach

I wish every drive could be this easy.  I got up early and caught up on email, unhooked, and boogied out.  The drive on I64 includes a smooth ride and a huge under water tunnel.  I don’t recall if I’ve ever been in an underwater tunnel before, but it was very cool.  The only reason we could think of for its existence is so the huge Navy ships built in Norfolk can get in and out of their slips.  I doubt they could build a draw bridge big enough to let an aircraft carrier pass.

We got to Virginia Beach before Noon and got hooked up quickly.  We felt like we had arrived at a spa for RV’s.  They call this a Super Site.  It is huge!  We were told the normal in-season rate for this site is over $80!  We would NEVER have paid that amount for this site, or ANY site.  Even the slip on the water in Sugar Loaf Key is only $60.  However, our rate was only about $45 including taxes.  It also comes with free parking down on the beach, which is very cool.

I worked all afternoon and we went grocery shopping and ate in the bus.  It was very similar to life in Indianapolis, except that the beach is only about 3 miles away.

9-30-05:  End of the Month, Virginia Beach

Wow!  What a month.  Fortunately enough contracts came in this month to pay the diesel bills for the next month, but some of my prospective customers just insisted on making me wait until October to sign their contracts.  Oh, the life of a sales guy.  My wife calls it “Sales PMS”.  For everyone who has ever been in sales, you know what she means.  I’m anticipating a strong October.  I did invest the day not only checking on active projects, but also starting more projects that will come to fruition in the coming months.

After work, we decided to venture out and explore the beach area for the coming weekend.  We parked at the campground parking lot, which is only a block off of the boardwalk.  Virginia Beach is the site of the annual Neptune Festival, which is their way of closing out the tourist season and celebrating “beach life”.  They have a huge beach  volleyball tournament, a parade, fireworks, and a sand sculpting contest.  We sincerely enjoyed looking at the sculptures in process, but forgot the camera.  It is amazing to watch these artists doing “their thing”.  We had Chinese take out for dinner and retired to the bus. 

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story of this day.  Our neighbors arrived back at their camper at 2:00 am and started partying.  They sounded like they were drunk, and were hanging outside of their bus and talking loud both in person and on their cell phones, and encouraging their dog to “sing”.  We were furious but did not approach them about their breaking every rule the park puts forth in their flyer.  “Quiet time” starts at 11:00 PM, and we were well past this point.  I considered taking out my two million candle power flashlight and lighting up their camp site, but my better half was concerned about a drunken retaliation to any thing we might do.  I called the office and left an angry voice mail, but could not reach any one live.  We finally got back to sleep around 3:30 and were obviously not happy about it.

10-1-05:  Saturday at Virginia Beach:  Priceless

Today was pretty much perfect.  We slept in, ate breakfast, put on sun screen and hit the beach.  It was sunny and in the high 70’s.  The beach wasn’t as busy as I had expected, but there were a ton of people walking down the boardwalk.  We made our camp near the crest of the sand that marks high tide.  Thomas immediately took his digging equipment and headed for low ground.  After a short time he made a new friend from Maryland named River.  They played together for the entire afternoon.  We had to slather extra sunscreen on Thomas because he had spent so much time shirtless digging in the sand.  They created a large hole in the sand which helped countless passers by wash their feet while walking down the beach.  When Thomas and River decided to hit the surf to play a lady walked by and gave Thomas a “boogey board”.  She said her son didn’t like it and he could have it.  Needless to say, Thomas and River spent the rest of the afternoon “surfing” in the Atlantic Ocean.  Traci and I totally relaxed and loved watching Thomas play in the surf.  We are sincerely remiss that there is no ocean in Indiana. 

We finally had to drag him out of the water when we were starving.  Reluctantly he gave in, and we changed into dry clothes and searched for dinner.  We found a local pizza joint and totally enjoyed a BBQ chicken and Thomas had—what else—chicken fingers.

After dinner we spent quite a while inspecting the professional sand castle creations up and down the boardwalk.  The artists were truly incredible.  I took pictures of several of the creations (see pictures) and we were jaw-agape on almost all of them.  It helped to find out that the artists used a different type of sand to create their art.  It seems to be more like concrete than sand.  They were certainly able to do some incredible things with their art.  I’ll let you be the judge.

After the beach, dinner and sand sculptures, we came back to the bus for a quiet evening.  We relaxed around a camp fire in our “super site” and retired to the bus.  Fortunately our neighbors controlled their drinking and we had a great night’s sleep.

10-2-05:  Busch Gardens:  Coaster Madness!

Today was our first Bray Family visit to a Busch Gardens theme park.  Our first impression was that it was pricey.  We had checked all of the rides on their website, and decided to spend the money.  After we arrived, we were glad we took the chance.  The place was absolutely beautiful.  It had a European theme, and each section of the park was fashioned after a different country.  We loved it. 

For the first time in history, the entire Bray family rode all four big coasters of the park!  Three of the four were heavy-duty too.  Thomas can now brag to his friends that he has conquered a coaster over 200 feet tall.  I told him that there are millions of adults in the world who will never attempt that feat.  He was very proud of himself, and his folks were too.  If we all faced our fears like Thomas has, life would be a lot more interesting!  After the coasters, we spent the rest of the time visiting the smaller things.  I rode the haunted house ride solo since Thomas refused to ride (not interested in facing “those kind” of fears) and Traci decided to stay with him.  However, to my chagrin, it wasn’t worth the wait.  The ride broke down just as I was about to board, which added a good 15-20 minutes to the wait.  It was a combination of haunted house and 3-D simulation ride.  I tend to get queasy on the simulations, but this one was a bit tame, so I didn’t hurl.  The ride was cool overall, but not cool enough to make them wait almost an hour. 

We wrapped the day at an animal show which featured animals rescued from shelters around the country.  Each of them were in a different stage of training, and all did their part for the show.  They even had a trained rat and a trained pig.  It was wonderful, and Thomas had a blast.

Overall, the park was “three thumbs up” from the Bray family.  We thoroughly enjoyed it, and we rate it almost as good as Disney, and that’s saying a lot from us diehard Disney fans.  After the park, we drove back to VB, grabbed Chinese take-out and retired for the evening at the bus.  It was again quiet, for which we were very thankful.  It was a great weekend of fun and relaxation. 

Since we missed Colonial Williamsburg while we were camping there, we have planned to go back there tomorrow to finish out our tour of the area.  I’m going to take a vacation day to do so.  I really don’t want to miss that part of the trip.  We are sincerely looking forward to it.  It will be a great day of “school” for Thomas.

10-3-05:  Vacation Day at Colonial Williamsburg and back to the beach

Today is a day of change in the life of BrayTel.net.  The gal who has been doing my web site is leaving the country for a month!  I have neglected to line up a replacement, so my web site, and my blog in particular, has been suffering badly.  I apologize for not doing my homework and having Plan B in place before she left.  Sorry folks!

I took a day off of work and we drove back to Colonial Williamsburg and enjoyed a walk around the town.  This is a wonderful “Conner Prairie” type of environment, but much larger and of historical importance.  The tour started with a tour of the Governor’s Palace.  At first we were thrilled to hear that we could take all of the pictures we want.  Then we found out why.  It’s not an original structure.  They re-built it based on plans that Thomas Jefferson drew up while he was staying there.  Fortunately Jefferson was very interested in architecture and he took tons of notes where ever he went. 

The most impressive thing to both of us boys was the quantity of muskets that are housed in the building.  They are everywhere!  (see pictures)  The building was used as the Royal Armory before the breakout of the Revolution and they said that at least 200 of them were on the walls ready and loaded.  Ironically when the Royal Governor abandoned town at the outbreak of fighting, Patrick Henry used the armory as the source of guns for his Virginia Militia.

The rest of the town is well preserved, and very beautiful.  Depending on how you look at it, we arrived at the “wrong” time for maximum impact.  We are having a great time on this trip, especially after summer ended, because we are of the only people at all of the big-time attractions we have been visiting.  On one hand the lack of competition for space and lines has saved us a lot of time and has taken the “hectic” out of our schedule.  The other hand is that not all of the attractions have been open or at full staff.  The latter was the case at Williamsburg.  We didn’t miss anything important, but the feeling of the place was more like a museum than a “living” museum.  The pictures and videos of the place on the Travel Channel of course show lots of folks in costume walking around and greeting you at every turn.  Our experience was that we had to seek the people out and ask them questions.  We had to find which buildings were open and which weren’t. 

All in all, we really enjoyed the place.  It was fascinating to learn all of the details from the period.  We watched the Patrick Henry movie and learned what that guy was about.  He was essentially the “Sam Adams” of Virginia.  His name is everywhere there.  Thomas enjoyed it because there was little competition for time with the “residents”.  He could tell them about the RV trip, and could ask lots of questions. 

The thing we liked most about the place is that the “residents” did not act.  When we go to Conner Prairie, we get a bit creeped out because the people insist on acting like they are still back in the 1700’s.  At Williamsburg, they answer questions from a contemporary point of view.  They work off of what we know, and relate it back to the time and make it real.  We loved that part, and think the folks at Conner Prairie take themselves a bit too seriously and should lighten up!  But hey, what do I know?  I just drive a bus for a living (or for a life, depending on how you look at it!).

After Williamsburg, we went back to the beach to look at the sculptures and just soak up the atmosphere one more time before we left.  We sincerely enjoyed our time there.  They don’t have as huge of a beach as other places, but they surely take great care of it.  We were honored to be there during their end of summer celebration.

10-4-05:  Drive to Smithfield and Work

Today was a day of work and transit.  We drove from Virginia Beach to Smithfield, NC to stay at Camp Wal Mart.  The trip was smooth.  Once we arrived, we set up camp and got to work.  Traci and Thomas went to school, and I fired up my laptop and got to work.  I love my wireless connection!  Can I say that enough?

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and retired to the bus, complete with reading and computer play.  We kept a close eye on Tammy to make sure she didn’t want to change our plans.  Another wonderful thing about living in an RV is that we can simply drive away from something we don’t like.  We are prepared to do that in case it’s needed regarding this storm.

10-5-05:  Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We shoved off from Smithfield and headed toward Wilmington, NC.  We checked the web again prior to leaving to see how things were going there.  Fortunately it looked like things were winding down now that Tammy had spent some time on the coast.  We stopped at a rest area to have lunch on the way and checked the web again.  It looked like Tammy was slipping north toward Wilmington.  I called the RV park to see how things were going, and the guy said that it had been clear all day and the weatherman said it probably would not rain that day.

We pushed on with this advice and pulled into town with clouds but no rain.  We set up camp quickly and just made it back into the bus when it started raining.  And raining, and raining and more raining.  It rained all day and all night.  We ate in the bus and went about our “normal” business.  I worked, and Traci and Thomas had school.  I have to say, school is getting better and better each day.  Thomas is no longer fighting Traci every time she brings out the books.  Traci continually checks with her friends at home who have 5th graders to find out what they are doing in school.  I am proud to say Thomas is making excellent progress, and they are really clicking.  That warms my heart!

During a short break in the rain Traci and slipped up to the office to do some laundry.  As we were walking, I saw dark spots against the gray roadway moving.  I looked down and realized we were walking among hundreds of tiny little toads!  Traci shrieked because she was fearful that she would step on them, and several jumped on her sandaled feet.  I cautioned her on where to walk, and we carefully made our way to the laundry.  The facility was pretty good, and we sat and read while the clothes spun.  We looked like “real” full-timers, but with dark hair and less wrinkles, well at least Traci had darker hair.   
Thomas enjoyed his time alone while mom and dad went on their ‘date’.  Shortly before we returned to the bus it started raining again and continued—all night.

10-6-05:  Wilmington, Ditto Yesterday

Yes, thanks to Tammy, it rained ALL DAY today.  I worked, Traci and Thomas had school.  We bugged out late in the afternoon and caught the last matinee of the movie “The Greatest Game Ever Played”.  It was a wonderful movie, especially for a kid who likes to golf.  Thomas liked it too!

We started thinking about trading in our RV for the ComV from the Thornberries.  The big flotation device they could activate on that machine would come in handy!  The rain kept coming, and it had no where to go!  We were worried about getting out of the place in the morning.  We were also disappointed that we didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy more of the town.  We will certainly come back here on our next trip, because there is a lot to do and see there.  Wilmington is called “Hollywood East” due to the quantity of movie studios located there.  One of our favorites Forrest Gump was filmed there.  However, we had to settle on watching a great movie rather than go to where they are filmed.  We’ll catch you on the flip side Wilmington!

10-7-05:  Ahhh, Myrtle Beach

Today was the first time we have had to break camp in the rain.  And what a rain it was!!!  We were soaked, as was the towing gear and the Infiniti.  By the time we were done, we didn’t even bother drying off.  We showered and hit the road.

We struck out south on Highway 17 all the way to Myrtle Beach.  Our destination is Pirate Land (AAAAAArrrrgg), a huge RV park right on the beach.  To us the only thing that had to do with pirates was the name.  Nothing else in the entire park had anything to do with them.  Oh, well.  It was still raining when we arrived for check in.  I went in not remembering what type of a slip I had reserved.  It turns out I had reserved a “back-in” which requires us to unhook the car prior to pulling into the slip.  Considering what kind of time we had earlier, we really didn’t want to do that in the rain AGAIN.  I asked about a pull-through site, and the gal said it was a whole $3 per night more.  That was a done deal.  Better yet, we were only about 20 feet from the beach!  We had a concrete pad, and had a clear view of the SW horizon for the satellite TV.  We were in RV heaven.  Our total bill with Good Sam discount was a paltry $29 per night!  In Myrtle Beach!  It was unbelievable.

Once we got in, we got to work.  I fired up the laptop and started making calls, and Traci and Thomas started school.  It was a productive afternoon in the rain in South Carolina. 

FINALLY it stopped raining.  Traci and I took the opportunity to go for a stroll on the beach.  It was beautiful, and a great prelude to the weekend.  We ate in the bus, and this time DAD made dinner.  We used the great Virginia ham we had from Williamsburg, and a packet of pea soup mix.  It actually came out pretty good, if I say so myself.  I was able to balance the spices, and it was obviously a very nutritious meal.  I want to do that more often.

10-8-05 and 10-9-05:  Weekend on the Beach

What a beautiful weekend!  We could not have asked for better weather, and a more beautiful place to enjoy it.  The super-cool thing about this trip is that yes, I still have to work, and Traci and Thomas have school, but once that is done, we get to spend OUR time in the coolest places in the country.  Last weekend we soaked up the sun on Virginia Beach, this weekend on Myrtle Beach.  The weather was perfect.  High 70’s/Low 80’s and sunny.  We had plenty of sunscreen all around, so we didn’t get burnt. 

On Saturday Thomas tried his hand at boogie boarding with the board he scored in Virginia Beach.  The waves were a bit different here, and he was frustrated by the change.  He finally gave up, and after I tried to encourage him, he said “You do it!”  Well, being the dad I am, and being the kid I am, I grabbed his board and hit the surf.  I had never boogie boarded before, so I really didn’t know what I was doing.  I experimented on several waves, and finally figured out which ones worked and which didn’t.  I finally hit a few good ones, and had a great time doing it.  Thomas didn’t act like it was a big deal, but they never do, do they?  When Traci told him most dads wouldn’t do that, he casually answered without looking up from his sand work, “I know”.

He found some friends to work with, so Traci and I sat and talked to their parental figure that was there.  They own a permanent spot in the camp ground.  I really hadn’t thought of that before.  They essentially purchased a modular home and the ground beneath it for about $68,000.  He said similar setups in the campground just down the beach were over $160,000.  They live about 90 minutes inland and come there every weekend.  He likes Pirate Land because it isn’t as crowded.  He didn’t have to sell us on that one.  We loved it there.

On Sunday we again hit the beach.  Did I mention the golf carts? When I think of a golf cart, I think of the kind they have at the golf course. You know, the drab white and green ones that get you from one hole to another. You know--well, here (and at many other RV parks around the country, including Disney) they have supreme custom golf carts. They are amazing, and must fetch a pretty penny. Did I Traci and I had purchased some beach chairs at Bass Pro so we could be more comfortable and not look so much like “newbees”.  We sacked out, this time with less sunscreen.  Thomas dug and dug, and had a great time.  I almost think he is going to go into construction.  He always wants to dig.  He wants to dig big.  No small-time sand excavations for this kid.  He wants to dig and build.  However, after a while we all got a bit tired of the sand, and the salt, so I suggested we got to the pool.

This is where the place really hit us.  The pool was something out of a Disney theme park.  It was huge!  It had a water fall for the kiddies.  It had its own lazy river!  It was empty!  We had a blast.  It was a relief to be in the pool once again after feeling so sand-encrusted at the beach.  We love the beach, don’t get me wrong, but it was a nice change.  We all looked a little more like lobsters when we retired to the bus in the evening.

Once we cleaned up, we went to eat at our first family Japanese Steakhouse.  We are trying to get Thomas to explore new culinary experiences on this trip.  I don’t know how many scores of chickens he has consumed between Burger King, McD’s and Wendy’s, but it’s time he branches out.  It was the full meal deal.  The chef prepared the food at the table and everything.  It was fabulous.  Thomas had steak, which is not unusual, but it was a new experience for our family.  He did, however, to our great surprise eat the grilled shrimp appetizer.  We expected a nasty face and “you eat it”, but instead, he snarfed it down and wanted more.  We had a great time, and took LOTS of food home for leftovers.  I love leftovers.

10-10-05:  RAIN, Work, Shopping and MNF

It was a quiet day today.  I worked most of the day, while Traci and Thomas had school.  Thomas is really blowing through his studies now.  Traci and he are really getting the hang of it, and Thomas will be well ahead of his peers in the primary subjects by the time this school year is done.  For that I am thankful!  No repeating 5th grade for this kid.  We are seriously considering putting him in private school starting in 6th grade.  We’ll see!

After work we got out in the rain and went to a gigantic mall nearby.  If you haven’t been to Myrtle Beach, there is pretty much something for everyone here.  There are tons of restaurants, including every big name in the business.  They even have a NASCAR café here.  There is a mini-golf course on every block, and shopping galore.  Yes, they do have the ultra-cheesy beach shops with 10 tee-shirts for $10, and all of the trash and trinkets of a tourist trap, but they also have serious shopping for the well-to-do crowd.

We went to such a place, because my awesome wife is in search for a new swimsuit.  Where better to buy it than Myrtle Beach!  While Thomas and I played video games at EB Games and got our hair cut, Traci went on the often frustrating and emotionally wrenching search for the elusive “perfect” swimsuit.  When us guys to get a suit, we find one we like (or that our wives like), check to see if it’s a medium or a large, choose the appropriate one and go to the checkout counter.  We normally don’t even try it on.  We may hold it to our legs to make sure it’s not too short or too long, but that’s about it.  Not so for the female half of the population.  It is like two hours of “What Not to Wear” in the ruthless lights of a dressing room.  Fortunately, Traci found the perfect shop, and ventured in with a look of cautious optimism on her face.  The gals were extremely helpful, and honestly made Traci feel right at home.  They 1.)  Helped her pick out really the best suit in the place;  2.)  They helped her find the right size;  3.)  They lavished her with all kinds of praise on how it looked on her and how it complimented her coloring.  From one sales person to another, bravo!  Not only did she come home with the best swimsuit I have ever seen, but she did so with her dignity in tact and a smile on her face.  It was an excellent day indeed!

After shopping we came back to the bus and watched Monday Night Football.  This season is shaping up to be a rocking one with the Colts being undefeated and all.  The one thing about traveling is that we don’t always get to watch the Colts games unless they are playing the local team.  This week we had to watch the replay.  However, MNF was fun.  Thomas is starting to get into it, which is awesome.

10-11-05:  Rain, Work, Walk on the Beach

Yes, it rained again today.  So, as has been our custom, I worked, school was in session, and lots of things were accomplished.  I have to say I am thankful for my customers.  Almost all of the contracts that were supposed to be signed last month have already come in.  I expect the last one any day now.  I can stop worrying about the month and enjoy working on my new October business.  What a relief!

We went to the grocery store after work and got stuff for dinner.  We eat most of our meals in the bus now.  It’s very economical, as well as good for our beach look.  This is, again, a wonderful reason to live in a bus and not fly everywhere and stay in hotels.  Not only do we get an incredible slip for $29, we can spend $5 more and eat a wonderful, healthy meal.  I am now the official dish washer for the family.  I did it all though high school at a restaurant, so it’s old hat for me.  I actually enjoy doing it.  It makes Traci happy too, which is always a good thing.

We took another evening walk on the beautiful beach here.  The weather must have caused some changes in the ocean, because the beach looked like a great big shell monster had come and vomited all over the beach.  There was not nearly as much sand, and tons and tons of new shells.  Traci picked up several that had the colcolors she is hot on right now, and she’ll take them back for some kind of decorating or artistic idea.  Her mind is never in neutral!

10-12-05:  Work, School and Dixie Stampede—YeHaw!

Hey, no rain today!  However, life went on as usual.  I worked as Traci and Thomas did school in the laundry facility.  Did I say the laundry facility is first class here?  It’s incredible.  Our clothes have taken quite a beating on this trip, but this place has been kind to them.  Thomas is making incredible strides in not only school, but also his attitude and treatment of his parents.  We are helping him to realize how to deal with his emotions and what is and isn’t appropriate.  Without the influence of his friends, we are able to instill in him the things we deem are most important in life.  Sometimes he says something that just came out of our mouths a few hours earlier.  Fortunately, the vast majority of that is good, but when it’s not, we know we need to set a better example.  I am a better person because my example is being watched, 24/7.

We went to Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede for dinner. This is the one “touristy” thing we planned to do while we were here.  It is similar to the Medieval Times show we saw in DC, except for it was a contest between the North and the South.  The food was better, and the jokes were funny, but Thomas liked the swordplay and jousting better at MT.  However, we still had a great time.  Although the food was better here, they still didn’t have silverware.  I don’t get that.  They had silverware back in the 1860’s, why couldn’t we have it now?  Oh, well, we really enjoyed the horse tricks and pig races but our favorite was the ostrich race.  After seeing a profile of these birds on Dirty Jobs (the Bray’s favorite TV show), we knew how difficult it is to get them to do anything.

In the end, though a series of contests, the North won the epic battle and was awarded, well, nothing.  We just got to be happy with a win.  Traci purchased the picture they took at the beginning, because, it was quite possibly the best picture that has ever been taken of my wife.  I look like a dork in it, but she looks great, and that’s what counts.  Thomas looks like his normal happy self, which tipped the scale to the positive.  We were all happy, and retired to the bus for reading and sleep.  I finished my Paul Revere book, which was the third on the trip.  That is an amazing record for me.  I love to read, but I’m very slow, and I tend to choose long books.  The next one on the shelf is about Henry Knox.  He was the head of artillery for George Washington in the Revolutionary War.  We saw his house in Maine when we were there.  It’s a shame we didn’t have time to tour it.  Oh, well.  We’ll do that next time—after we get the incredible lobster rolls at Tenant’s Harbor.

10-13-05:  Work, School and Pool

Yup, another day for the Brays at Myrtle Beach.  I worked while school was in session, and since the weather was so very nice, Traci and I decided to go to the pool and work on our tan.  It was in the high 70’s and sunny.  The pool was perfect.  We had Subway for dinner and went for another walk on the beach.  It was wonderful.  More shells, the wind and smell of salt.  Hmmm, would I rather spend my evening mowing my lawn, or on the beach?  We could get used to this.  Back to the bus for TV and reading.

10-14-05:  Work, School, and Golf

The weather was perfect today.  It was about 80 and sunny.  It’s a welcome change after all of the rain we have had.  I worked most of the day, got some great stuff done, and after school Thomas and I went and played 18 holes at a PAR 3 course near the camp ground.  I don’t want to dwell on this too much, but I have to say I was extremely disappointed by my first PAR 3 course.  Thomas and I dubbed it maxi-mini-golf.  I guess it’s probably unusual that a man of my age has never been to a PAR 3 course before, but it is what it is.  I didn’t know what to expect, except that it was smaller than a traditional course.  I just didn’t know HOW much smaller.  The longest hole was 94 yards, and I think the second longest as in the low 80’s.  They simply criss-crossed 18 holes on a very small plot of land, and most of the time I wasn’t sure where to go next.  I think we skipped a hole or two on the front nine, because the tees were not clearly marked.  Finally I was able to relax, and I simply switched off between my 8 Iron, 9 Iron and Wedge.  I don’t get to use my wedge all that often, so it was fun to tee off with it.  I did pretty well, but since I wasn’t using my normal clubs, I couldn’t try out the stuff I learned in my lesson back in Indy.  I didn’t slice it, which was an improvement.  I actually hooked it a few times, which is rare for me.  The other thing I have to mention was that the course was packed with pecan and walnut trees.  It is more than a bit frustrating to look for your lost ball among hundreds of other round objects littering the ground.  To make Thomas laugh, I teed up a dried up pecan and actually hit it onto the green.  He thought that was a hoot.

Thomas was very frustrated.  He couldn’t use his driver either, because when he did, he overshot the hole by a mile.  He got that attitude he gets when he doesn’t handle a new situation well, and I did my best to keep cool.  He finally grabbed his putter and teed off with it.  It was amazing.  He actually got it on to the green more than once with his putter.  It was so funny that he lightened up and had a good time with it on the back nine.  The course snuggled up with an actual mini-golf course next door, and he begged me to let him play a few holes.  I told him it wasn’t honest to do so. 

One of the unexpected pleasures of the round was that a bunch of Harrier Jets buzzed the course in order to land across the road at the airport.  It was incredible how loud they were, and what power we felt as we were standing about 100 feet below them.  I thought they always landed straight up and down, like you see in the movies.  I guess it’s more economical to land them in the traditional way, because these guys were coming in long and smooth.  It was awe inspiring, and very loud.  The round was done in a couple of hours.  We rejoined Traci at the bus and ate dinner.  More computer time and reading for all and we went to bed.

10-15-05:  Drive to Charleston, USS Yorktown

What a day!  We drove from Myrtle Beach all the way down Highway 17 to Charleston, SC.  We are stopping here as a break in the driving.  Our next stop is Savannah, GA for one night and on to Jacksonville, FL.  We know this is a historic area, and hope to get some good sightseeing in while we are here.  Highway 17 is a very smooth, flat road.  We didn’t need to run the air since the weather is so mild.  Those two things add up to great gas mileage.  We made the entire trip in less than a quarter of a tank.  We are still running on the fuel we purchased a couple of weeks ago for $3.39 per gallon, so we’re trying to get every mile out of it.  Regular gas has dropped to $2.85 here, but diesel is still $3.15 or higher.  It is very frustrating.  What can we do?  We boon dock when appropriate, take it easy on the road, and hope the prices eventually come back down.

We found the KOA easily (it was on 17) and set up camp quickly.  We got settled and ventured out to see the sights.  We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant called On the Border.  Thomas tried out some new stuff, which made us very happy.  We now know we can eat out Chinese, Mexican and Japanese, and we’re trying to expand the list when ever we can. 

We did a little shopping at a huge outlet mall nearby and then ventured out to the river front.  The USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier is permanently moored here, so we toured it, and the Destroyer Laffy and a Submarine whose name I can’t remember.  The one thing I did wrong was forget my camera!  I was so bummed.  It was fun walking through pretty much all of those old ships, and imagining what it was like to serve on them.  The sights and smells really painted a vivid picture of the life on the sea.  Thomas wanted to sit in the gunner’s seat on the big anti-aircraft guns, but we weren’t allowed.  They had lots of old planes both on the top deck and on the mid-deck for us to see.  It was a lot of fun.  At one point Traci needed some fresh air, so we decided to go back to the car and head for down town.

We arrived in the midst of chaos in down town Charleston.  There were thousands of people walking around, and the streets were jammed with cars.  We realized we were the last ones into town for the evening, and when we realized there were no parking spots left, we bugged out and went back to the bus.  We’ll do this another day.  Thomas got a new video game he “needs” my help with, so I sacrifice my time and wisdom on his behalf.  I actually like it as much as he does.  After that, we read and hit the sack.

10-16-05:  At the Pool and behind the Horse

Today was a day of leisure.  We slept in and lazily got up and put on our swimsuits and lay out at the pool for a large part of the afternoon.  Thomas and I played Manning/Harrison with his water-proof football.  It’s amazing how quickly he is growing.  It’s getting tough for me to throw him in the air as he likes so much.  I guess that is what being a dad is all about.

After swimming, we got ready and went into downtown Charleston.  The new bridge is open and ready for business.  I believe it is similar to the one that goes over Boston, MA.  The downtown area is absolutely beautiful.  We took a carriage ride around the city in a large carriage with quite a few people.  Fortunately we were in the front seat, so we were able to hear the young lady explain the significance of many of the buildings in town.  We had no idea there was so much history here.  It has seen the worst of both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  This is where Fort Sumter resides, which is given the title as the Fort first shot upon by the nearby Rebel forces.  We didn’t have time to take the boat out to the Fort, which is another thing we will do when we come back.  This place has so much to do and we really didn’t plan on spending enough time here.

We ate dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp House, taken from the movie Forrest Gump.  It was very family-friendly, but Thomas wasn’t in the mood for experimentation, so he got chicken.  Traci and I really enjoyed our shrimp. 

10-17-05:  Work, and a walk down town Charleston

What a beautiful day!  The weather this week has been in the high 70’s and sunny, sunny, sunny.  It is just picture perfect!  We found out that a new hurricane is brewing in the Caribbean right now, and doesn’t seem to be heading this way, but the jury is still out.  We will keep our eyes on it very carefully, being that we plan to spend the next 2.5 months in lovely Florida.

I worked a full day, and enjoyed it very much.  You know what I mean, some days are just work, and some days are really fun.  Today was one of those fun days.  I have to say once again that I have some of the best support people in the business behind me in Indy.  Thanks to Greg and Andy, MJ, Ron, Connie, and Gary.  You all make my life so much easier!  October looks like a great month coming.  We will end it in Disney, and I’m very much looking forward to Halloween in that magical place.

After work, we went down town Charleston to enjoy a walk around at sunset.  I got a few pictures of the place, ending with one of the moon over the water at the “Battery”.  Traci and I have more than decided that this will be a place where we return to enjoy more time on another trip.  There isn’t much for Thomas here, but we just love it.

After that, we went back in the bus to watch the Colts stomp the Rams on MFB!  Go Colts!  6-0.  You gotta’ love it!

10-18-05:  Drive to Savannah, GA:  Paula Dean says “Hello Y’all”

We got up early today and bid an unenthusiastic farewell to Charleston.  According to the calendar it’s time to drive to Savannah, GA for a stop at Camp Wal Mart and on to Jacksonville.  Charleston is certainly a southern gem.  We look forward to going back there and spending some quality time with the old homes and Fort Sumter. 

We got up, ate breakfast and decided to shower and change at CWM in Savannah.  I have to tell you folks, until you take a shower in a Wal Mart parking lot, you haven’t lived!  We broke camp rather quickly under sunny skies and high 70’s and pointed Bessy south.  The drive was smooth and mostly flat.  Traci was very anxious to get to Savannah by 2:00PM local time.  Paula Dean, one of the chefs on Food Network, owns a restaurant in Savannah.  Paula raised her two boys as a single mom first selling food to others in town, and eventually opening her restaurant.  Now she is famous, and starring in Elizabethtown, a new movie coming soon to a theatre near you.

Once we arrived, we found our little alcove in the CWM parking lot and set up camp.  We just barely got ready in time to high tail it down town to the restaurant.  The folk begin lining up at 3:30 PM to claim their dinner reservation for that evening.  There are NO advance reservations.  We arrived just at 3:30 and the line was all the way down the sidewalk.  Fortunately most of the people wanted later dinner times, so we chose 5:00 PM because we were already getting a bit edgy since we had only one meal thus far in the day.  As we were standing in line at 3:30, most of the people were southern women with their accents and fancy clothes.  There were very few families in this first wave.  Once we got our time, we meandered around the down town in search of Nathanel Greene’s monument and burial place.  Fortunately it was only one block away!  I have finished my Henry Knox book and have now started on my Nathanel Green book.  Four books in five months is certainly a record for Daniel the slow reader.  For those of you who don’t know, Nathanel Greene was one of Washington’s Generals in the Revolutionary War from Rhode Island.  He was a Quaker, but ignored his upbringing and served in the war effort beginning outside of Boston in 1776.  He survived the war to great acclaim and fame.  He was given a huge plantation outside of Savannah for his service to his country, and of all things died of a heat stroke walking through his fields when he was 44.  Here is a picture of his monument there in Savannah.

Well, when we arrived back at the restaurant just before five, it was just short of a mob.  It seemed that everyone in the general vicinity had not eaten since breakfast, holding out for what they knew would be a huge “home cooked” buffet meal.  Unfortunately the darker side of the South came out in these folks.  They were standing in the streets, ignoring the poor motorists as they were trying to squeeze through the crowd.  The tension was honestly thick.  It felt like they were going to take out the guy at the host stand and cook him over an open fire of burning tires in the middle of the street. 
We were on the verge of hysterics at all of the people getting nasty for their Paula Dean buffet!!!  Finally the guy with the headset grabbed a huge iron triangle and went out into the street and rang it as hard as he could (I assume so he didn’t whack some of the bystanders) and yelled “Come and Git It!”  That’s when he started yelling out names and  everyone had to wait for their name to be called.

Needless to say, the food was wonderful, although the restaurant had more of a big city feel than that of a small southern town.  The menu was limited, and the prices were decent.  We’re not much for buffets, but Thomas got to have what he wanted and Traci and I ordered off of the menu.  I love chicken pot pies, but I have never seen one like this before.

Needless to say, we didn’t have room for dessert.  We retired, stuffed, back to the bus and our CWM.  There were about 4 or 5 other buses/campers in the lot with us that night, so we felt right at home.  We had called ahead to make sure they allowed it, just so we didn’t have any unpleasant surprises.  The air was cool, and we had the best CWM sleep we had had in some time.  We know that Wilma is churning up in the Carriebean and will make her way to Florida sometime soon, and we’re keeping a close eye on the situation.  We think we’ll be safe enough since we aren’t planning to go south of Saint Augustine any time soon.  Good night from CWM!

10-19-05:  Drive from Savannah to Jacksonville, Work and School

Today was a normal travel day.  We got up, ate breakfast, hooked up the car, got ready and bolted from CWM.  The drive was about two hours today, and it was much warmer than we had experienced for a couple of weeks.  We actually ran the air most of the way, which has not been the case.  The drive was smooth.  Since hurricane Wilma is threatening, we decided to go ahead and fill up on diesel since we were still well ahead of any issues.  We don’t plan to drive very far over the next weeks and even month, so this tank may very well get us through to Thanksgiving.  We stopped at El Cheapo (yes, that is the name of the gas station) and paid $3.13 per gallon.  Very painful indeed, but better than the $3.39 last time.

We got to Jacksonville with little discourse, and checked in, parked, set up camp, and got to work.  I fired up the laptop and Traci and Thomas got to school.  In the evening, we did laundry, played video games and went for a walk.  I finally got my software for the web site, so I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning updating two weeks of blogs.  I agree with my wife that I should have made plans earlier and not let it get so out of hand.  Sorry about that!

10-20-05:  Work and Shopping

Today was one of those “normal” days in the life of a bus driver.  We got up, had breakfast, I worked while Traci and Thomas went to the pool and/or watched cartoons.  I took a short break around lunch and joined Traci at the pool to work a bit on my tan.  We’re meeting friends in St. Augustine this weekend and I don’t want to look like the beached whale I look like, so I’m trying to get some of my color back.

Fortunately today was an awesome work day.  Many projects I have been working on for some months are finally starting to hit.  I’ve almost caught up on everything that was supposed to happen in September, and lots of good stuff is cooking for October.  It may push out to next month, but at least the important stuff is closing.  My stress level is much lower now than it was this time last month.

After work we went to a mall across town and tried to do some shopping.  We expected the stores in Florida to still have summer gear out, but to our chagrin, they are all stocked with long pants and sweatshirts!  Hello, this is Florida!  It stays HOT here.  Duh!  I guess we’ll have to go further south to get the stuff we need, since we plan on not seeing any cool temperatures until well after the new year.

After shopping, we retired to the bus for reading and computer time.  We have a couple of more days here in Jacksonville prior to leaving for St. Augustine.  We’re keeping an eye on Wilma.  Say a prayer for us.  If needed, we are prepared to flee to Atlanta.  Hopefully we won’t have to do that.

10-21-05:  Work, Dinner, Shopping and RAIN!

Most of the day was devoted to work.  The month is shaping up well, but I still have a couple of good sized deals hanging out there that I would love to close.  I’m optimistic about the successful conclusion of the month.  I have several smaller things swimming along, and also some awesome opportunities popping up for November business.  I am thrilled about that!

Traci cooked a wonderful dinner in the bus tonight, so we feasted heartily.  Eating in the bus is one of the true blessings of this trip.  Not only is it a HUGE money saver, but it also gives us the feeling that we are AT HOME in Bessy.  We have our food, and we cook it like we would in a traditional house.  It is wonderful.  It also allows us to watch our eating habits.  We don’t always eat what we should when we go out to dinner, but when we cook it, it is 100% good stuff.

We went shopping after dinner and hit the sack.  We are watching the progress of Hurricane Wilma with a skeptical eye.  They are now saying that our wonderful neighbors to the south are taking a severe beating on our behalf and she won’t reach Florida until Monday.  We have asked the locals repeatedly about our vulnerability and they say we won’t even feel a thing.  We’ll see!  However, tonight we had a huge rain storm just after we went to bed.  I had to pull the awning in mid-storm and it was very difficult because the water was too heavy on the tarp.  I waited long enough for it to die down so I could finally pull it in.  I was very worried about it.  I was able to get to sleep, but it was a very violent storm.  Hopefully this wasn’t a warning shot over Bessy’s bow.

10-22-05:  Drive to Saint Augustine, on the Beach with Friends

The day began bright and beautiful.  I worked a bit in the morning to catch up on email, and then we rolled out to Saint Augustine.  The drive was easy and smooth.  It took about an hour, which is the kind of drives we like!  I decided with the impending hurricane we had to tank up on diesel.  I tried in vain to find a good price, without success.  I finally stopped at a station called El Cheapo!  The diesel was $3.13 per gallon.  It was painful, but ya’ gotta’ do what ya’ gotta’ do.  Hopefully this tank of fuel will last us until we leave Orlando