UH - What Day Is It

Well, time does fly when you're having fun.  We're six days down the road from DC and no posts since then. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so pictures it will be.  (With occasional acerbic comments where warranted.)

First, a note on retirement.  Got a call last week from the guy who owned the company I used to work for and who sold it to the present owners for $350 mil cash. (Public information.)  He asked if I wanted to go back to work for his holding company that is managing the investment of that $350 mil to help with their accounting software implementation.  I did the quick math comparing what I would get on an hourly basis with what a divorce attorney would charge  .....  and said no.

Friday the 7th 

A travel day, the first task being to figure out how to get out of Metro DC.  Val driving and me navigating, the worst looking obstacle, the I-395/495/95 interchange, (AKA Medusa below)

Its a wonder we didn't end up in New Hampshire

Actually, it wasn't too bad since we were doing a straight through and after that it was easy.  Just stay on I-95 until the temp got to 60.  (We set the bar pretty low.)

Got to Myrtle beach by about 7 pm and hotel'd it one more night since the Funmobile had not been de-winterized yet, (i.e. no water or sanitary facilities 'cause everything would freeze).

Saturday the 8th

A short hop down the road to Huntington Beach State Park where we stayed on our trip down the coast a few years back.  Temps in the 50's - 60's.  not tropical, but better than home and warm enough for the aforementioned de-winterizing.  After chores we got a walk on the beach and the back-dunes.

Beach Bum

Tree Hugger

Sunday the 9th

 Nice day in the low 70's.  Road bikes to Brookgreen Gardens.  The dream project of a starving artist who married a REALLY rich guy who bought three defunct southern plantations so she could turn them into a humongous sculpture garden.  Very cool place actually.

Plantation House Gone - Trees Still There

LIVE ACTION VIDEO BELOW

Feeding Time At The Aviary

Monday the 10th

Down the road a ways to the Hampton Plantation.  A long history from 1730 to the end of the Civil War as a rice plantation, when it went belly up.  Then to share-croppers until the mid 1930's when a descendant moved back in,  He eventually sold it to the State of SC for a park.  

Wishful Thinking

Soooo... Big

Swamp walk on the Grounds

Things That Live On the Swamp Walk

Tuesday the 11th

Another travel day down the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Destination Little Talbot Island Florida (near Jacksonville).  The only excitement being a low tire pressure warning that both back tires had 1 psi pressure.  Since we weren't in a ditch, I figured it was a technology failure.  (A regular occurrence around some people we know.)

Wednesday the 12th - Little Talbot Island SP

Road bikes and walked on beach  -  Its Florida, what would you expect?

Too Crowded

Frog In Drinking Fountain  (Dirty Feet)

And Good Night From Little Talbot Island

Brad & Val

HER FINAL ADVENTURE

This post is mostly for the family of Helen A (Mom-Mom) Davidson, who made her final journey to rest beside her husband, Ernest A (Pop-Pop) Davidson in Arlington National Cemetery.

The morning was sunny and cool when we arrived at Arlington at 9:15 am on Thursday 6 March 2014.  Whisking through the main gate on our perpetual pass, (thank you Pop-Pop), we were met by our civilian guide and our Army Chaplain at the administration center. As they walked us through the preliminaries they were extremely warm and kind but with the military precision you would expect.

The Family "Grieving Room".

With Mom-Mom's passing having been almost a year ago, we are all beyond the grieving and more about the remembrances of not only her life, but of this same event we experienced a couple of years ago with Pop-Pop.

From the Admin Center we follow the guide's official vehicle to Pop-Pop's grave site where she will rest.

Past row after row of those who have gone before and who have been recognized for their service to their country.  Not only service members, but their spouses as well, who sacrificed as much, or oftentimes even more.

The service is short, with the Chaplain delivering a personalized eulogy recognizing Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop's long marriage, her contributions to her family, her friends, her husband and her country.  

Although the air is bitingly cold, the over-riding atmosphere is almost one of warmth.  It is calm and the sun is bright and everything is as it should be.

Rest In Peace Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop

Good Night to all From Arlington

Brad & Val

WIMPY

Morning view from the hotel room 

Well, much a-do about nothing.  Snowed all morning but petered out by mid afternoon.  Total snowfall  was about 3" - 4".  

All government offices were closed for the day.  Let's see now  ...  there are about 600,000 direct government employees not counting lobbyists and other parasites, (but including politicians, who some might consider parasites), at an average wage of $78,000 per year.  That comes to  $ 128,219,178.08 productivity loss for a single snow day.

{Maybe if you net that against the amount of money Congress would have wasted had they been in session, we might have come out ahead.}

From the looks of the above picture, everybody else took a day too.  Except for the mailman.  Bless him for performing his appointed rounds delivering bills and junk mail to all those who decided to take the day off.

Hung around the hotel room reading, checking email and surfin' the internet.  Took a local walk in the afternoon, but the 15 degree temps and 15 mph wind kept that pretty short.

Tomorrow  -  Off to the National Museum of the American Indian and the Botanical Gardens.

Good night from Arlington VA

Brad & Val

Wofff!  -  It's Been A Long cold Winter

But now its time to kick off the 2014 Funmobile Season.  As usual, I'm a bit behind in postings.  Due to the 6 feet of snow piled out on the back deck, we decided to pull the beast out early and get the heck out of Dodge.

Of course on Feb 24, the Funmobile wasn't ready to come out of deep hibernation so we had a number of mechanical challenges to overcome, (dead battery and gummy generator carburetor).  But four days later we were ready to bug out.

The plan was to take Mom out to Arlington to be interred next to Dad on Thursday March 6.  With last year's sequester, we couldn't even start the scheduling process until December.  They offered a date in March so I figured that is almost spring and I felt really bad about putting the Arlington honor guard through the ceremony on a 105F August morning like Dad's.  

The original plan was to depart Sunday morning, to arrive in Dover Delaware Monday afternoon and have dinner with a boyhood buddy I hadn't seen in over 50 years.  The a day of genealogy research at the state archives and back to DC on Wednesday morning.  However, watching the weather forecast, it looked a bit dicey for Sunday - Tuesday travel along that route.  So we decide to move departure up to Saturday to try to get ahead of the brewing storm Titan.  

Saturday morning we awoke to MORE %@^&^$# SNOW.  By 11 am we finished all of the last minute "stuff" that always MUST be done before leaving,  (i.e. vacuuming the rugs????), and headed east.

The Funmobile has never seen snow  before.  and more importantly, I'd never driven it in the snow.  Fortunately, we ran out of the snow by the time we got to Indiana and it was clear sailing the rest of the day.  We made it to just east of Cleveland by 7 pm.  And YES I did stop, begrudgingly, at least twice I think.

That (Saturday) night I was intently planning the Sunday plan.  I appeared the snow would stay a bit to the south and if we got an early start, we should be able to stay just ahead of the front. the Delaware side trip was off the table as both Delaware and DC would would be under 8" - 10" of snow by late Monday.  

If we didn't make DC by Sunday night, we might not make it at all.  So it would be straight to DC and hunker down in a hotel until Thursday.  (I'm sure Jim Helt will appreciate the financial pain of a last-minute, 3-day hotel reservation in Arlington.)

So rise and shine at the break of dawn on Sunday morning and .....  MORE %@^&^$# SNOW.  Seems the another snow front snuck in from the north where I wasn't looking.  Against my better judgement, we took off anyway.  I figured worst case was spending a few days off to the side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike until the plows got through.

The first couple of hours were spooky.  Early Sunday morning and the Turnpike is nearly empty with moderate snowfall.  If it got any worse, it could be ugly.  However, as it turned out, we shortly got out in front of the storm again and made DC by about 1 pm.  All my anxiety was for naught.

So... here we are layed in for the duration.  Tomorrow is forecasted at about 8" - 10" throughout the day.  We may take the Metro into DC and take in some sights of it's not too bad.  If not, I figured out how to hook the tablet into the big ole TV and we can stream Netflix until our eyeballs fall out.

So the RV season is off and running and as Jessica stated in an earlier email, Mom-Mom would be pleased to "go down in a storm called Titan".









Lastly - Ate dinner at an Afgan restaurant.  Food was kabobs and Afgan bread served American style (paper plates and plastic utensils).  Tasty, if not authentic.

Good Night from the Nation's Capitol and the home of Frank Underwood.

Brad & Val

Post - Posting

OK.  I confess.  I'm sure anyone who has been watching this blog has figured out that I've been post dating entries for the past couple of weeks.  When I started this process a couple of years back, I clearly stated no intention of being current, accurate, or otherwise responsible for any of the rambling content.  I've since proven that I pretty much as lazy as I suspected I might become.   So, in the interest of bringing this trip to a close, I'm going to crash through the last several days of the venture.

Nothing terribly exciting took place on this final leg and there were only a limited number of occurrences worthy of snarky comments.  (However, I will not let them pass.)

The last post left us over-nighting at Voyager Provincial Park just west of Ottawa Ontario.  Contrary to my preconceived prejudices, Quebec had turned out to be an enjoyable cultural experience and has even led me to explore the early history of the French presence in eastern Canada.

Moving into Ontario did however bring the comfort of being able to read the road signs a bit better.  And the feel of the countryside became more like "home", but with a certain frontier outpost sort of feel.  The run to Sault Saint Marie, (with an overnight in Sudbury Ontario), was a day and a half at our typically slow pace and the scenery, while not dramatic, was still pleasant.  A lot of woodlands and clear blue sky and lakes,

Sault Saint Marie Crossing

About mid-day we re-entered the US.  This is obviously NOT a flamboyant entry point.  No "Welcome to the United States" signs or waving flags.  You are greeted by a no-neck kinda guy with fu-manchu and a 2-day growth in a drab, no-nonsense grey uniform.  No smile, no welcome home, just that disinterested, (but not really), look that says without saying,  "You got any IED's in that rig?"   A look that probably derives from being too many months in places where that is a very relevant question.




Aside from the 500 lbs of Canadian rocks, we
had very little to declare at customs so we were on our way to Pictured Rocks National Seashore without further ado.









Now I have to say coming "home" via the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a little like coming home via Kazakstan.  Da Yoo-Pers, (as they refer to themselves), do speak a form of English in the presence of foreigners, (Fudgies).  I suspect however that in our absence, conversation is a series of grunts and growls interspersed with adopted words like "beer" and "fish", preceded by dem and de and always proceeded by Eh!,   They eat things like Cudighi and Pastys and have Quill Pigs for pets.

At a local bistro called the Bear Trap, out of curiosity I did order a Pasty, not sure that being a good idea in front of Val.  To my chagrin, it turns out the word is pronounced with a short "a", not a long one.  In any case, what I got probably tasted better than what I thought I might get.   The ATV guys sittin' nearby undoubtedly got a chuckle out of that.  All-in-all, the culture was more exotic, but substantially less sophisticated, than French Quebec.  And you can be DAMN sure they don't have sassy chickens.



A day at Pictured Rocks and a 28 mile bike ride (up hill both ways) in Minoqua, WI literally finished us off.  Head for home and the fun of cleaning out the Funmobile after 31 days and 5,964 miles.

Bear Skin Bike Trail Minoqua WI

FINALLY A @%@~#%^ MOOSE

I always feel a little guilty about babbling along about our trips but we enjoy sharing our experiences and thoughts.  It's not high adventure, but it is now a major part of our lives.

Love You All

Brad & Valerie

Good Night From Downers Grove

No, No, I'm Not Ready To Go Back!

Today is the official "turn-around-and-head-for-home" day.  However, this is the first vacation trip I've ever taken where the turnaround point didn't generate the same response you get from a stable nag when you turn her for the barn.

In my past life it would have meant a 24+ hour marathon drive to get back to the office and deal with two weeks of neglected tasks.  To  be sure, there are a stack of things needing attention.  It's just that the urgency isn't the same as it used to be.

So instead of the minimum-stop run, we start the day at 9:30 and make a short back-track to St Anne's Canyon.

BUT - - - I must first relate last night's camping experience.  Since the previous day's activities were totally ad-hoc, I didn't try choosing a camping spot until late in the afternoon.  There being no parks along the route, I just pulled an RV campground out of my .... book... and hoped for the best. Named "Camping du Lac Something" it sounded decent.

As my trusty GPS said I was there, the only thing that appeared was what looked like a conventional trailer park.

After "discussion" with a guy who spoke English worse than I spoke French, I was assured this was Camping du Lac Something and that it was a very fine place.  As I followed the gentleman to our assigned spot, what had appeared to be a trailer park was in fact a trailer park.

Now Val and I spent the first year of our marriage as trailer trash, so we know it when we see it. Except this particular establishment had the added attraction of on-site entertainment.  It being Labor Day weekend, there was an all-hands party being held two sites away from where we were to park for the night.  Picnic tables lined up with pot-luck dining AND A LIVE BAND!

After endless crowd chants of "plus, plus, plus" at the end of each rendition of Proud Mary, The Macarena, You shook Me All Night Long and other timeless favorites, the crowd finally died from exhaustion about midnight.  My temptation was to just lay on the horn as we left in the morning.

Anyway, back to Canyon du St Anne.  Shortly after leaving the previous night's accommodations, about 1/2 mile back up the road we came in on, we pass a sign "Bienvenue a Camping du Lac Flambeau", which is really a quite attractive municipal campground only about 1/4 full.  I won't comment on my comments.

Although a privately owned attraction, St Anne's Canyon turned out to be quite spectacular in spite of the giant sized statues of bears, wolves, and woodpeckers (???)

OK.  You're probably right.
It's time to send him home now.

 
The falls are awesome, but access is a bit challenging.

The gorge contains a 150 foot cascading waterfall and is crossed three times with suspension bridges.  Not a large attraction, but well worth the stop.

From St Anne's, the drive continues west along the north shore of the St Lawrence with numerous quaint small towns until you approach Quebec City.  Fortunately it started to rain heavily so I had a ready made excuse not to venture into old QC winding streets in the 24 foot beast.  Unfortunately, the entire population of Montreal and Ottawa was returning from Quebec along with us on this last afternoon of the holiday weekend.

As if to apologized for the less than peaceful stop last night, our campsite at the mostly empty Voyager Provincial Park in Ontario with a beautiful double rainbow over the pond outside our back window.

Goodnight from Voyager Provincial Park, Ontario.

From France To Norway

Can Moose Swim?

Labor Day weekend of Saturday and Sunday found us moving inland from Tadoussac through Saguenay National Park.  This large waterway stretching some 70 - 80 miles from the St Lawrence into the interior of Quebec Provence is technically a fjord.  Although puny by comparison to the fjords experienced by the Lichon family on their recent Scandinavian trip, it never-the-less was magnificent with crystal clear blue water, endless forests and towering cliffs.



                                                                     

It's OK Hon.  I PROMISE not to
jump up and down on the bridge.

Ha Ha  - Kings X

p

Are We Still Friends?

Guess who found the only snake
in Canada?

For our last venture into the wilds of Quebec "we" chose a trail leading from Riviere du Enternity out around the headland figuring there would probably be a nice view of the fjord.  The map showed it following very close to the shore so a lot of nice places to dunk you feet in the water.

The trail follows the estuary for the first couple of km.

Then starts to climb to 180 meters

Then to 280 meters

Then to 380 meters.
ALL FOR A SWINGSET?

Turns out the trail was probably only 40-50 feet in from the shore most of the time, but your legs would need to be 1,000 feet long to dip you toes in the fjord.

Ran out of time, so back down the hill.

 By mid-day we made if back to the St Lawrence and began the quest for overnight stop.

Good night from Saguenay