Homeward bound

05 October – Moscow was not in a particularly good mood weather wise and with both of us nursing colds we only ventured out in the cold and wet to get fed and did not do any more exploring of this great city.

06-10 October – Our taxi arrived right on time and our anticipated journey out to the airport was just a little over 30 minutes not the 90 that we were expecting.  We had plenty of time for breakfast before boarding our flight to Oslo arriving 2 1/2 hours later.  The Flytoget fast train whizzed us all the way to Drammen in under an hour (Oh to have this form of transport in NZ!!) where our friend Roald met us for the final leg back up the hill to his house.

We had a few days of R&R with Roald with a little local tripping around – including a great visit to the Kon Tiki and Viking ship museums.  The Viking Ship had on display three viking ships which had been retrieved from burial mounds along with all the possessions that had been buried along with them.  One of the ships in particular was extremely well-preserved.

The Oseberg ship could be both sailed and rowed. There are 15 oar holes on each side so fully manned, the ship would have had 30 oarsmen. In addition, there was a helmsman at the steering oar and a lookout who stood in the bow. The oars are made of pine, and some of them show traces of painted decorations. The oars show no signs of wear, so perhaps they were made especially for the burial. The ship was built in southwestern Norway around the year 820, and is made of oak. Each of the strakes overlaps the one below and they are fixed with iron rivets. The side of the ship consists of 12 strakes. Below the waterline, they are only 2‒ 3 cm thick, while the two upper strakes are a little thicker. The deck is made of loose pine planks. The mast is also pine and was between 10 and 13 metres high.

This cart is one of the artifacts buried in the boat, composed of parts made of different types of wood. It can be dismantled for transport, for example by ship. The frame of the cart is of oak and the cart has two shafts made of ash joined by a short iron chain. The cart has probably been pulled by two horses, one on each side of the shafts.

11/12 October – All too soon we said our farewells to Roald with the hope that he might come back to NZ for a visit.  The Flytoget had us back at the airport in good time for our flight to the USA – unfortunately via Munich which added about 4 unnecessary hours on to our flight time.  A nighttime arrival in Washington DC wasn’t the best for trying to find our way to the hotel, so we were rather tired by the time we got settled in.  The location was good though for our visit the following morning to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.  Housed in a huge hangar was a nicely laid out selection of old and new planes as well including a the Enola Gay, a Blackbird,  and the space shuttle Discovery.

  

A good few hours later we set off for Severna Park near Annapolis for our visit with friends Scott and Donna who kindly put us up in their lovely cottage apartment.

13 October – Scott and Donna had suggested prior our arrival that we might like to visit the Harley Davidson museum up in York, Pennsylvania and had pre-booked for us all the Steel Toe tour.  A pretty hour’s drive north to York and the HD factory – the tour was interesting as were taken right through the assembly process and able to get up close and personal with all that was happening.  We were very impressed with the quality testing that is performed throughout the process.

14 October – Scott and Donna took us for a visit to a property their son had recently bought which requires renovation.  Built in the 1950’s, it was never properly finished and despite being lived in, fell into disrepair, but on a beautiful waterfront site in a tidal inlet off Chesapeake Bay. Quite a project for them to get their teeth into, so must go back again in a couple of years to see the finished job!  We followed this with a visit to an Amish market and wow what a store – it was divided into different sections – bakery, meat, cheeses, preserves, prepared meals, fruit and vege and was so busy.  The market is only open 3 days a week – the Amish travel in from a few hours away – getting up in the wee small hours to bring in all the produce but the majority of the cooking was done on site – so the smells were very tempting.

In the afternoon Scott took us all in their boat for a trip up and down the Severn river right up to the Naval Academy in Annapolis.  The houses that back on to this river are magnificent – on large tracts of land with equally large houses.

15-28 october – On the road again we had a good drive up to Michigan over the next few days, getting to Harpers Ferry in an hour and half; enjoyed the historic ambience there and did some walking up the old C&O Canal towpath for a while after lunch.  Took the old National Pike Hwy 40 up to Uniontown, Pa. in just over a couple of hours for the night.

We put away the GPS and used the map book to follow scenic and interesting byways through some of small town America.  Surprised at the number of Amish in West Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio.  Stopped for lunch at the only cafe in a little place called Liberty Centre in Ohio and found the owner to be an ex P51 pilot active in the Korean War who said the Australian/NZ pilots there taught him so much about combat flying!!  What an interesting man, who was delighted with a couple of foreign banknotes we gave him to brag to his friend.  He responded by saying the lunch was on him and wouldn’t take any payment!!  It’s so much more fun on the back roads than always driving the interstate.  Finally made our way up to Stockbridge just north of Ann Arbor, MI for a visit to old friend Suzi who has been president of the US Norton Owners Club for many years, and for Bob to catch up with an old biker friend Joe in Lansing.

There was a big deceased estate motorcycle parts and books auction there last week, so Bob got to have a private viewing of the lots one day while I helped out Suzi at the local market.  That sounds like a fair division of opportunity doesn’t it?  Still haven’t heard what Bob bought at the auction after giving Joe his top prices!

Had an easy run on back roads from Stockbridge over to Plainwell to stay with Dave and Dixie in their luxurious RV, who we met three years ago in Arizona – very pleasant scenery and little traffic, without having to go through any large towns.  Visited the Gilmore motor museum at Hickory Corners with them the following day, we visited here last time we passed through but the displays are always changing so a lot of new vehicles were on display, plus a few more buildings had been built.  Lunch at the little diner on site kept us fortified for the rest of the day’s viewing.

Next we carried on south towards Lafayette, stopping at Auburn, Indiana to inspect the Auburn/Duesenburg Museum for a couple of hours; very interesting with good information and examples through the ages of Indiana built vehicles.  A surprise was several other museums all in the same town – auto/trucks, V8 Fords, airplanes, carriages, local history, etc.  You could stay a couple of days in Auburn to do them all justice!

Got to Lafayette in good time and went to the Speedway museum at Indianapolis with Judi and Colin who we met a couple of years ago at Mullins in LA.  The tour included a circuit of the track, by coach unfortunately, but did get to ‘kiss the bricks’.  The spectator stands at this complex seat over 370,000 people!

Quite a good collection of past race winners in their museum, but not much on all the drivers except AJ Foyt for whom there was a special display.  It is clear that kiwi Scott Dixon is held in very high regard, one guide telling me that he thought Scott was the best driver around by far!  When you see film of the crash he had recently and survived almost uninjured, it is a credit to the current rules and safety measures.

Colin has built an eight cylinder engine from two Suzuki motors which he is putting into a 1935 Bugatti Type 35 kit-car!  An ambitious project which we need to go back and inspect once the first test run is organised!

The following day was quite a long drive to end at Maquoketa north of Davenport, Iowa, but it put us in a good position to reach the National Motorcycle Museum at Anamosa the next morning.  Rumour had it that after the recent death of the founder it was likely to close up, but we were assured that the benefactors were intending to keep it in operation for the foreseeable future.

This museum is really good, not as big as Barber or Maggie Valley but with lots of diversity of machines, memorabilia, mannequins in period gear, toys, models, posters, tools and workshop equipment from the post WW2 period.  Perhaps a little light on earlier models except for Harley-Davidson, Indian and Flying Merkel, but well laid out and we rate it overall one of the best in the country, if not in the world.

Then it was on to Madison in Wisconsin to put us in a good position to get to the Harley Museum in Milwaukee the following morning which was another great experience, although Bob isn’t yet convinced that he needs one, then on to O’Hare for our flight to Seattle Saturday.

Fortunately the traffic on the way out of town in the morning was a little more user friendly than that on the way there the previous afternoon.  We decided to drop off the rental that evening rather than having to mess around early the next morning.  It was a good move apart from having to wait in the really chilly evening air for the shuttle back to the hotel.

28 October – Very cold start to our day as we shuttled back to Chicago O’Hare which wasn’t too busy for our flight to Seattle – with our TSA precheck it meant that we didn’t have the tedium of queuing through security and divesting ourselves of shoes, belts etc.  American Airlines was on time leaving – a very full flight and very scenic as we neared Seattle going over the ranges with a slight dusting of snow and alongside Mt St Helens and Mt Rainer.  Arrived in Seattle to be greeted with a lovely clear sunny day, picked up our rental to head north to our friends Joan and Eric.

 

Cossacks, Cruising and Caviar

23 Sept – Ian & Tiffany had duly arrived just after midnight from Paris so they were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come breakfast time at the hotel.  We had a few ideas of things that we could do together which were not going to be included on the boat tour – so first up a walk up to the streets alongside the Fontanka Canal for a visit to the Faberge Museum.  Who could have guessed that behind the rather plain façade of the building lay such a treasure trove of Faberge items.  The workmanship was outstanding – as well as a display of eggs there were all manner of little trinkets – cigarette cases, desk clocks, all in arranged in cases  according to the colour of stone or gem.  There was also an abundance of gold, silver and enamel worked treasures.

 

 

With our appetite for the exquisite and expensive sated, it was off to satisfy the craving for coffee in an amazing theatre deli/café for morning tea.  The shop had everything from dried meats, caviar, chocolates to vodka and all manner of alcohol, fantastic sweets  and pastries.

We then hopped on a canal boat for about 90 minutes.  It was a great way to see the city as the boat took us round a series of canals and out into the Neva river – an English commentary was provided.  It is called the Venice of the North because of all the canals, but the houses here do not sit straight on the canals here – they are all have a street between them and the water.

Lunch was in the USSR café – recommended to us by the taxi driver who picked us up at the airport. This café was furnished like a 50’s eras soviet apartment.  Somewhere on our journey I managed to lose my camera – fortunately I had downloaded all the pictures only the previous day so had only lost the current day’s photos.  Ian kindly loaned me his small camera to take us through the rest of the trip.

Mid afternoon it was time to catch a taxi to the Port area to get on board the MV Tolstoy our home away from home for the next 10 days.  Pleasantly surprised with our cabins– the pictures on the website had not been updated recently and did portray the rooms as being very dark and quite spartanly furnished – they had obviously been renovated and were now light and nicely furnished.  Our cabin was a junior suite with everything in the one room, whilst Ian and Tiffany had the full-blown suite with a separate lounge area.  First dinner of the trip – we got our permanent seating for the duration – Ian & Tiffany, Bob and I plus Ed and Zi-ZI an American-Cuban couple from Miami.

24 Sept – Today was the included city tour and visit to the Hermitage.  The bus tour gave us a different view of many of the places we had visited when doing our own thing plus a few more churches.  We were then all bussed to a big hotel for a buffet lunch before hitting the Hermitage for a guided tour of just a few of the one thousand rooms of art works that this magnificent palace houses.

Nearly two hours of very informative touring later we emerged with weary feet and blown minds after viewing so many precious art works.  Back on the boat at 5pm gave us a short break before we had to turn around and go out again for our pre-booked Folk Show.  What a brilliant show – Cossack dancers, woman folk dancing, singing – an extremely energetic performance – lovely costumes.

25 Sept – Last day in St Petersburg was just a quick trip into town via the shuttle bus and Metro to give Ian & Tiffany a taste of travelling in the underground.  Got up into daylight in the city centre for a bit of retail therapy and the obligatory coffee and cakes before doing the reverse trip back to the shuttle bus stop and a visit to the local supermarket to stock up on goodies for the days ahead to keep us nourished in between those times when we are not eating!!  Food has been impressive so far – we get to choose three courses each night but on top of that extra treats also seem to get served.  The food is a mix of traditional Russian fare (modified probably for our tastes) and normal stuff.  Each course in itself is not too large so we don’t feel too guilty having a taste of each one.  The boat set sail early evening and we were finally on our way!

26 Sept – Our first Russian lesson with our onboard guide Konstantin was a fun session as we tried to get our tongues around some of the unfamiliar sounds and come to grips with the Cyrillic alphabet.

Overnight we had sailed through the largest lake in Europe and into the Svir River towards our first embarkation point of Mandrogui – a small reconstructed village on the river bank.  The reconstruction is of a provincial Russian lifestyle with log cabins and other interesting wooden buildings.  Artisans were busy making local souvenirs – carving wood, painting matryoshkas (and this was fascinating – the detail on the dolls was so fine and the very best had up to 20 nested dolls with the smallest not much larger than a grain of rice), woolen felting, herbal concoctions and a musical instrument maker.

Of course a huge tourist trap but nevertheless was very interesting.  Lunch was a BBQ served in the village followed by another short walk around the surrounding forest area.  The two vodka connoisseurs in our party  took a tour of the Vodka Museum and were suitably impressed by the tasting session and came back with a few bottles of the local brew.

The weather turned to a very grim 8deg with no sign of sun or blue sky, so the walking needed to be brisk to keep the circulation going.  Back on board and sailing off again at 4pm – the river was quite narrow through this stretch – passing through forested areas and small settlements with the odd wood processing mill.

No sign of birdlife at all on this part of the river – can only put it down to pollution as we were told that Lake Lodoga was a dead lake and I guess some of the adjoining rivers have suffered the same fate.  Experienced the first lock as we started to climb up towards Moscow.  The large lock took two of our boats with the process completed in about 30 minutes.

27 September –  Our trip up through the river and lake systems has taken us through a fairly sparsely populated region – lots of trees – pines and birch mainly.  Another Russian lesson got Bob and I through the first part of the morning whilst Tiffany managed to get along to the Matryoska doll painting lesson to experience the intricacies of decorating these little dolls, I was delayed by the Russian lesson so just got to sit in on the exercise.

Into Lake Onega and Kizhi for a visit to the open air museum – many of the structures had been imported in the park and reconstructed, but the wooden Transfiguration Church was built on site in 1714 and was one of the tallest structures of its kind in the world.  The whole area was a UNESCO Heritage site.

Our guide took us through several of the buildings so that we could get a feel for how life was like a couple of centuries earlier.

Back on board for a real treat –the Russian Vodka tasting session. Four good shots of different types of vodka each along with caviar and pancakes – the only problem was that we had another Russian lesson after that experience so poor Konstantin couldn’t get a lot of sense out of his students.  Meal times seem to come around very quickly – but a good brisk walk around the boat after dinner is a good countermeasure for all the food.

28 September – Another long period of cruising through to the White Lake and the tiny settlement of Goritsy, known for the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery – reportedly Europe’s largest monastery in it’s time during the 17th Century although now only populated by 10 monks with 6 nuns in the nearby convent.  Our tour guide took us through many  rooms full of icon paintings (admittedly after seeing one room that was more than enough to get the idea) and into the church.

The village itself is just tiny – only 600 people living there on fishing and farming. The dwellings all made of wood, some brightly painted –no higher than two stories but more often just single storied.

The path to and from the dock was lined with souvenir sellers – this time mainly furs – coats, hats, scarves and fortunately it was cold that I had to resort to buying one little reminder of the area – a fur head warmer.

Returned to the ship for a traditional Russian tea ceremony – all the restaurant staff were dressed in folk dress – and we were plied with a series of little cakes to go with our very nice black minted tea.   The cakes were stuffed with cabbage, grated apple and there was also a small apricot pastry.

29 September – Have hit civilization now as we join the Volga, much more residential development, shopping centres and factories.  Received our diploma from Konstantin pronouncing us fully fluent in the Russian language!! Grey skies seem to have followed us from the start of the cruise with the temperature dropping each day – so it is hats, scarves and coats whenever we venture out.

Docked around 3pm in Yaroslavl – still quite grey and cool as we got into our bus for a short city tour.  Yaroslavl was founded in 1010 and is one of the most ancient cities in Russia and also one of its greatest river ports. The city has had a chequered history over the intervening years – including the Time of Troubles (1589-1613) when they were occupied by Poland and later there were bloody battles between the Red and White Armies in the early 20^th century.  The city these days is an important industrial centre with a population of 600,000.  We had a couple of treats on this tour – the usual Cathedrals but also a visit to a 19^th century merchant’s house.  Here we were met by one of his ‘daughters’ and given the grand tour of her father’s house. The tour concluded with entertainment in the ballroom – a pianist, violinist and cellist playing us the dance music of the era.

 

It was nearly dark when we came out of the house and then on to another small church for a recital by 4 male choristers – what beautiful voices they had as they sang unaccompanied.  A walk around the park on the banks of the Volga finished off the tour.  By this time the buildings were beginning to be illuminated-a nice end to the city visit.

30 Sept – Early morning wakeup for breakfast as we were docked at Ugilich by 9am and off for another city tour.  This time on foot.   Our guide was the best we have had on the trip – very informative, with a great sense of humour.   We had to run the normal gauntlet of souvenir sellers as we got to the main street for, yes you guessed it, another visit to a Church and their iconostasis.

The only saving grace was another musical performance by 6 singers this time – what a joy to listen to.  We were also shown around a collection of hand-painted lacquered boxes which were so intricate and quite exquisite with prices to match!

Ugilich’s most well-known historical event was the mysterious death of Dmitiri, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible who met a rather unpleasant end at the end of a knife at only 9 years of age.  Boris Godunov’s agents were accused of his death and these people were killed by enraged townspeople.  However, an official enquiry by Boris Gudunov deemed that Dmitri had died when he suffered an epileptic fit and fell on his own knife when he was playing.  The tribunal condemned and punished the people of Ugilich for killing Gudonov’s agents – executing some and exiling hundreds to Siberia.

We finally got to hear a little bit about life in Russia on this tour.  In the smaller cities – an average wage is about 15,000 roubles per month ($350NZ), a 1 brm apartment would cost $1m roubles ($24,000NZ) whereas in Moscow the wage is around 50,000 roubles ($1,200NZ) and  a similar apartment $5m roubles ($120,000NZ).  If they want a loan for a car they would be paying 15% interest and about 10% for an apartment.  Central heating is turned on, on 05 October each year (they have hot water piped into each house – the pipes go through the walls of the house), this heat can be supplemented by private means of heating (oil, electric etc.). The country has come a long way since the Soviet era – the shops have everything that we can get at home and by and large, supermarkets are well stocked and Vodka is very cheap!!

The weather really turned to custard by the time our tour was over, so it was just a little look around the few shops in the town and back through the alley of souvenirs (we didn’t quite make it out unscathed) and on to the ship to warm up –hot mulled wine served on arrival was most welcome (although I had to give this a miss as I had already had some on our coffee stop and would have been incapable of getting up the stairs!).  Ugilich was the last of our stops before Moscow. The Ugilich lock was negotiated just outside of the town as we started on the final leg of our journey to Moscow.  The houses on the banks of the river have got increasingly more prosperous as we got closer to Moscow.  They certainly wouldn’t be out of place in NZ.

01 October – Our session this morning was a Q&A about Russia with Konstantin where he attempted to answer questions we all put to him about life in Russia.  Russia today is certainly not what we are led to believe – they can and do talk freely about anything.  The views about Soviet era verses now are mixed depending on the age of the people you talk with.  Konstantin didn’t grow up in that era so couldn’t really comment, but our tour guide later on seemed to be very much in approval of the Soviet era. Life today is very much like any western country – unemployment is quite low at just over 1%; health care is provided by the State but they don’t think much of it and are prepared to pay for better care; schooling is free until you get to University where it costs 120,000 roubles for a 3 year course.  The state currently encourages couples to have more than one child with a 500,000 rouble gift for a second child and free land if you have a third.  Tax here is a flat 13.5% for everyone and VAT is 18%.  Travel outside of the country is possible for everyone but of course visas are just as a problem for them as they are for us entering Russia.  Private enterprise is active everywhere.

We docked in Moscow just after lunch to be taken on a city tour by bus. Wow what a beautiful city – brilliant buildings – very colourful, Red Square was immense with the walls of the Kremlin on one side and St Basils Cathedral on the other.  This square is where you see all the huge military parades on the TV.

The city has seven Stalin skyscrapers which dominate the inner city landscape – not skyscrapers in the sense that they reach the heavens like today’s ones, but just very imposing buildings very much in the style of the Empire State Building but not as high – built of course during Stalin’s time.

As we were taken around the major landmarks could not get over how clean the city is and fortunately it was Sunday so the reputed traffic jams were not in evidence.  The area around Red Square was very busy with locals out for their Sunday strolls.  Were let loose inside the old GUM store which used to be the Soviet State department store, but it has now been revamped into a very upmarket shopping centre with individual boutique very high-end shops – the interior is still magnificent with glass ceilings covering the three galleries.

With several more scenic stops on our tour we made it back to the boat in time for dinner.  Tiffany and Ian got offered the chance to go on the Moscow by night tour, so they set off again later in the evening.

02 October  – Another cold and very grey day for our tour to the Kremlin.  Our bus dropped us off at the Kremlin walls and then we proceeded to queue along with many other hundreds of tourists to get through security and into the inner workings.  Our guide, although very informative was a bit hard going after a while as she painstakingly took us through the history of each building.  With our tour we just got to visit the interior of a couple of cathedrals – one where all the Tsars were buried and another with a very elaborate interior.  The walls and ceilings of Orthodox Russian churches are always covered with frescoes and do look quite impressive.

Apart from the churches there are quite a few state buildings which you can’t enter and a couple of museums which we did not get to visit this time around.  What can we say about the Kremlin – it is enclosed by thick walls – 15m high, inside the fortress the tallest buildings are the church spires. The walls have several gate towers – the site occupies quite a good position overlooking the Moskva River.

With our tour finished inside the Kremlin, we opted to stay in the city to do a little more exploring – hitting an underground shopping mall for some warmth and a spot of lunch before heading off for Arbat street. On a nice day this pedestrian area would be really nice, on a cold windy day not so great but we did walk the length of it – antique shops, outside artists selling their wares and loads of souvenir shops.  Caught the Metro back towards Red Square and back to the Gum Store – a lot less crowded than on Sunday but still just as expensive. By 4pm we were all walked out so made our way back on the Metro out to the Port Area and to the boat. Metro travelling very simple once you establish which line you need and the stations are something else.   Ian & Tiff got to experience some of the stations on the night tour – we just did a couple on this excursion.  Super clean and the marble and artwork are fantastic.

03 October –  All packed and ready for the next escapade.  We have all thoroughly enjoyed the cruise – with only 170 people on the boat it is much more relaxed travelling than on a large cruise ship.  Our meals have been different but on the whole good.  Our guide Konstantin was great, the included tours went to a few too many churches for our liking but we did get to see a lot of both the big cities.  Although there is not much to see as you are cruising down the waterways it still made for an interesting trip.

Our taxi arrived to pick the 4 of us up at 10.30 to take us into the city – 3 nights for us and one for Ian and Tiffany.  The Moscow Point Red October Hotel is an experience – the hotel is situated in part of the old Chocolate Factory Plant – one the banks of the Moskva River with views across to an impressive gold domed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

We had a while before we could get into our rooms so set off on a little exploration of the area – and managed to find some very luxurious supermarkets as well as drugs to dose Bob’s cold.  The temperature was down to a chilly 6C with an even chillier wind blowing.  While Bob enjoyed the warmth of the hotel room, we three went out later in the afternoon to have a look around Gorky Park which was not too far from our hotel.  The park was quite a surprise – all manner of statues were placed around the gardens – a lot based around the struggle against communism but also many modern works.  With the gloom descending we returned back for wine and chippies before heading out to dinner in a very trendy restaurant.

Moscow Point is not the place to be at the weekend as on all sides of the hotel are huge night clubs which would be pumping out very loud music all weekend long.  Moscow Point also has one of the most impressive statues we have seen to date – a monument to Peter the Great which stands over 90m high and weighs in at 1,000 tons.

04 October – Looked outside and for the first time in days, there was actually a bit of sun to take the edge of the chill.  Tiffany and Ian left us mid-morning to start out on their next adventure – 5 days in the Ukraine with a visit to Chernobyl.  They were the guinea pigs for the airport transfer as we have heard horror stories of the traffic jams – it took them 75mins to go the 35 kms with 20 minutes of that waiting to get out from the side road at the hotel.  The fine weather didn’t last too long with the sun giving way to rain. Nothing to do but stay inside so that Bob can try and shake his cold and use the time to catch up on blogs and bookings for the next part of our journey.  Russian TV stations not very useful for us except the sports channel where we were able to follow the World Rowing champs and watch some NZ victories.

Overall impressions of Russia – a great place to visit and would come again despite the hassles of obtaining visas.  The cities are so clean and vibrant – could be any western city really.  Using the public transport was easy and cheap.  The food was varied – lots of opportunites to sample the more local cuisine and the prices varied as well. In the trendy places you play top prices, but the more basic restaurants and cafes are quite reasonably priced.  The streets all felt quite safe to walk around even at night.  We were expecting to see loads of very drab Soviet era buildings – but what a surprise – the ones built in both St Petersburg and Moscow from that era were very stylish.  The only drawback has been the weather – a few weeks earlier it might have been a bit warmer but that is the luck of the draw.

From Bangers and Mash to Blinis and Baboushkas

03-05 Sept – Arrived in Liverpool on time and after overnighting at a barely adequate hotel in Runcorn on Saturday, we headed back to Higham-on-the-Hill for a couple more days of R&R.  I got to go out once again with Margaret and her walking buddies for a pleasant amble alongside the canal by the Atherstone Locks and through the village, ending back at the local pub for a hot drink before heading back home, whilst Bob set off to visit the Birmingham National Motorcycle Museum to get his bike fix for the day.  Home catering and a nice meal out at a friendly pub in Market Bosworth one evening took care of the inner man over this time,  whilst our luggage was organised for the next stage of our journey.

06 Sept – Said our goodbyes to Margaret and Michael, then drove the Fosse Way south-west again, this time headed for Somerset and overnighting at the local pub in Sparkford, the village where Haynes motoring manuals are produced.

07 Sept – The Haynes motor museum at Sparkford was our first port of call – another great collection with which to spend a few hours.  They even had a special room for the red car collection and one for motor scooters over the years.

 

Motoring through the West Country to Witheridge past Tiverton in Devon occupied the afternoon and then we visited a Norton Owners home nearby where Bob was again able to indulge the Norton disease.  I have to blame Mark for arranging this, especially as it appeared to be aimed at letting me know how fortunate I was that we only have ten of them!  Our host Ian has seventy including some very rare models and it was an eye-watering display for the Boys.  Lovely evening meal at a local pub kindly shouted by our host, then back to our pub digs in Witheridge for the night.

08 Sept – Had arranged to meet the rest of the boys group at Sammy Miller’s museum at New Milton at lunch-time.  An awkward cross-country journey, but we got there in time for yet another indulgence of the motorcycling disease and a shared lunch before they headed off for their digs in Brighton.  Ours were with family friends Jan and Tim at Cheriton near Winchester.

9 Sept – Goodwood Revival Day.  We had a nice easy drive to get to the Goodwood Estate and luckily didn’t encounter any of the delays which people had told us to expect.  We were parked up on the paddocks a little over 30 minutes from setting off.  The rain which had been falling quite consistently over the last few days made the grass parking a little muddy but not too bad.  We had about a 10 min walk to get to the track and associated activities.  With our “cheap” basic tickets we didn’t have access to the grandstands or the interior pits but nevertheless were able to secure a good spot to watch the racing including Bob’s mates on the motorbikes.  We could view the flasher racecars from the outside of the paddock fences, whilst some of the race cars and all the bike pits were completely accessible so we could get up close and personal there.

The special feature this year was the Celebration of the Fiat 500 Bambina, and 150 of these lovely little cars paraded around the track in all their glory.  Bob was able to catch up with all his racing friends that were there, which was nice.  The little people were not forgotten here – a fully fledged race for pedal cars had a field of about 50 cars – all drivers kitted out with full racing overalls and their own pit area.

 

10 Sept – Spent a nice day with Jan & Tim with lunch at a nearby pub followed by a drive to a little local steam train museum to have a look at the restorations being done by the local railway enthusiasts and watch a couple of the restored trains pass through.

11 Sept – A quick blat up in the direction of Gatwick to historic Brooklands museum to meet up with Bob’s cousin Gareth for a catch up and a quick look around the historic exhibits, track and site.  A small part of the original banked track is still intact and able to be walked on.  The steep pitch at the top made it difficult to stand upright so you definitely wouldn’t want to stall a vehicle at that angle.  Had to leave Brooklands too soon really but an overnight at Ashford in Kent was awaiting, to be well placed for Folkstone the next day.

12 Sept – Cheerio to Old Blighty as we tried a different form of transportation over to France – this time on the Channel Tunnel.  Bit of a different sort of experience as we drove on to the car carrying carriage and sat in our car for the next 30 mins until we popped out over in France.  You could get out of the vehicles but not a lot of point as you would just be standing in the carriage and there is nothing to see.  A few hours later we drew up outside the home of international vintage motorcycling friends Harry and Nel de Boer in Grubbenvorst, Netherlands for a warm reunion.  Only heavy traffic around Antwerp prevented us from being there much earlier.

13 Sept – The boys went off to Dutch Lion in the morning for a look at what was on offer this time around and then I joined them for the visit to Yesterdays and another amazing collection of one of Harry’s connections with over 300 bikes.  Yesterdays had quite a few different bikes on display from the last time we visited and just as impressive.

14 Sept – The day started off nice and clear but as we set off for a tour of the canal docks, but it turned quite cold and windy so we were able to enjoy the drive but didn’t venture outside for too long.  Dinner was over the border in Germany to a Chinese restaurant that is a favourite with Harry and Nel, which made a pleasant end to an interesting day.

15 Sept – Nice relaxing day getting things sorted out for the next few weeks of travel topped off with a walk around Grubbenvorst town after dinner culminating in dessert at the local ice-cream shop – wow what a selection of mouth-watering delicacies we had to choose from.

16 Sept – Farewelled our fine hosts Harry and Nel (I fear we are a few kilos heavier after all the lovely food we have been eating), and set off on the road once again.  Through the green farmland of the Netherlands and into Belgium where the villages we passed through were very austere compared to their Dutch equivalent.  We were heading for the Passendaele Museum and the Tyne Cot Cemetery.  Came to the cemetery first up and what a stark reminder of how many lives were lost in just one battlefield.  Both of Bob’s grandfathers survived this dreadful period in history and returned home safely.  On to the museum which detailed the horrors of the battle complete with reconstructions of the trenches and the dugouts where the soldiers gained a little respite from the rigours above ground.

 

17 Sept – Chantilly was destined for our attention today and what a lovely spot.  The château, horse stables, hippodrome and huge gardens easily filled several hours of our time.  With our first stop at the stables which themselves were in a massive building, walked through the old stables with their fill of fancy horses as well as donkeys and mini Shetland ponies.

 

Out in the courtyard we watched a few of the horses being put through dressage training and then wandered through their museum devoted to the horse.  Opposite the stables was a very nice looking horse race track which was getting set up for a big upcoming race meeting.  Walked back down to the Chateau itself to join the hordes doing the tour of the Chateau (this weekend was a special event countrywide to promote French museums with special reduced rates – hence loads of visitors).

 

The château’s art gallery, the Musée Condé, houses one of the finest collections of paintings in France (after the Louvre). It specializes in French paintings and also many book illuminations of the 15th and 16th centuries were on display in the immense library.

 

We had time for a short walk around a little part of the gardens before the weather packed in and we returned to the car.  Getting out of the carpark was another issue as we could not get the automated machine to accept either our ticket nor our credit card so finally some kind local intervened and pressed the help button at the gate and got them to remotely open the barrier for us – problem solved!.  Our accommodation was just a few km’s away in a nice little rural B&B.

18 Sept – Left the peace of Chantilly behind en route for Paris.  A quick stop-off at local sporting store to get a few warm clothes for the next leg of our journey and then on to our hotel near the CDG airport.  Premiere Classe?  If that was correct then I would hate to see Deuxieme Classe. Rather overpriced but that is the price you have to pay for being close to the airport.  At least it was clean even if you couldn’t swing a cat in it.

19 Sept – Paris for lunch!!  Had arranged a few days prior that we would meet Ian and Tiffany on their first day in Paris, so off we trundled via airport shuttle, local train and les pieds to their rather spiffy hotel in downtown Paris.  We met a couple of rather jet-lagged wee kiwis who had not yet been able to get into their room despite arriving at 6am and were just lounging about in the lobby.  Having sussed out some interesting eateries during our walk down to the hotel – we made our way back to an interesting restaurant for a spot of lunch.  What a busy place Paris is at lunch time but by 1.30 the restaurant had thinned out and we could hear ourselves think.  Escorted the weary travellers back to their hotel by which time their room was ready and we were able to see how the other half live!!  and left them to recuperate from their long flight.  Out on to the streets of Paris we walked down to the Seine through the Louvre buildings (didn’t venture inside due to the queues) and over the bridge to catch a metro over to Le Tour Eiffel for a brief looksee before heading back to the airport by metro, train and shuttle.

20 Sept – Bade a fond farewell to our little Peugeot as she was dropped back to the Peugeot depot – the agent did a little double-take when told the mileage travelled was 18,700 kms.  No scratches, dents or anything untoward had occurred during our trip.  Shuttled to the airport for the usual palava that entails checking in and getting through the border control which only left us a few minutes to grab a Maccas then head off for boarding.  New experience for us – flying Aeroflot/Rossya Airlines.  Started off from the parking spot at the terminal to the runway, only to be returned and told they had some technical issues to sort out before we could take off – 2 hours later we finally got off the ground.  A very novel item in the online catalogue caught my attention – a meter to test your vegetables for nitrate and radiation levels (I guess that would be an essential item to have in this part of the world).

Uneventful flight so they must have solved their issues as we landed in St Petersburg just as dusk was falling.  Clearing passport control was easy – no questions asked and our visa obviously was satisfactory.  We did wonder if our pre booked taxi would still be there – but there was Andrey with our name on his sign board waiting to take us to the city.  Roadworks slowed the trip a little, but it was an interesting trip.  Only 5 million people live in the city and from the air it did look very large.  The main thoroughfare into the city – Moscovy Prospect is 9kms of straight road – lined with buildings either side and very flash looking shops and eating places.  Our hotel was duly found tucked away in a little side street in the heart of the old city.  Outward appearances were deceiving as the hotel occupies the 4th and 5th floors, but the entrance and first few floors looked a little grotty. Very nice room – the view not so good as we look out into a courtyard, but it has all the comforts of home – including about 80 channels on the TV all of them Russian, on which Mr Putin seems to be a regular sight.

21 September – Breakfast at the hotel was adequate but nothing flash – but hot porridge and croissants keeps you going for a good part of the morning.  Armed with street maps – it was off down the main street of Nevesky Prospect towards the Neva River, crossing over several small canals and through extremely clean streets with well-kept buildings.  Our first stop was to look at the Winter Palace – no chance of good photos as the whole of the square was taken up with over 600 winter street cleaning machines of all shapes and sizes on display for their annual review before winter sets in.

 

Down to the river bank to view the palace from the other side and then over several more bridges over the river to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

 

A walk around the interior of the fortress followed by our first genuine Borsch soup which sustained us for the return leg of the walking tour back past more magnificent buildings and home (up those 5 flights of stairs again!) for a cuppa and rest.

This is sunbathing Russian style

In the old part of the city there are no high-rise buildings – the highest they reach is 5 stories – no shortage of high-end named stores, as well as all the fast food joints that inhabit the rest of the world.

 

Dinner was at a Russian Pub – nice grub with local beer and mulled wine went down well ($35 for dinner and drinks was not too bad for a very touristy area).  Winter is sure on it’s way – after dark the chill was very noticeable so the investment in a few more warm clothes paid off.  I can’t imagine what the locals wear when it gets properly cold as they are already decked out in warm jackets, hats and scarves and it is nowhere near the -10deg C that they get in the winter.  Nice walking out and about after dinner – plenty of activity in the streets – the buildings certainly come to life at night with their lighting.

A little bit of window shopping in the local souvenir shops to marvel at the incredible range (in artistic styles and prices) of Matroyshka dolls as well as many other types of interesting looking handicrafts.  The pavements either side of the main roads are lovely and wide, the only problem would be when it is raining as all the rainwater discharges out of huge pipes off the roofs right on to the footpath – no underground drains for them to disappear into.

 

22 Sept – A bit of rain overnight and a cooler start to the day.  First target today was the local market – it was not as large as I would have expected and there were not very many buyers but it had the full range of veges, meat and fish stalls.  It is always interesting to visit these places and see the different produce on sale.  The vege stalls had a decent selection of staples – spuds, carrots, greens, tomatoes and fruit – not as exotic as markets we have seen further south. The meat section had a lot of dried/processed meats and they were not cheap – salami was going for about $20 per kilo and basic luncheon looking stuff around $10.  Limited range of hard cheeses and these seemed to be mostly imported, but there was a separate area selling homemade soft cheeses.  Fresh meat looked reasonable – all sorts of different cuts- pork, beef and rabbit.  Sturgeon, salmon, herrings and other odd fresh fish as well as pickled herrings.  Was only conned into buying some grapes so got off lightly.  Outside the market were quite a few old ladies selling what looked like homegrown veges.

Yes they still do have Lada’s here although they are fighting a losing battle with all the top European and Japanese marques

Had a good walk around the area surrounding the market – well away from the tourist areas so the streets a little narrower and the buildings not quite so grand.  The upside of this is that things are a lot cheaper – we had morning tea in a spotless little bakery – tea and coffee plus two pastries for $4.

Next target was to try out the Metro – the stations here are reputed to be very beautiful.  We didn’t get to the old line which has the best ones, but did manage to get ourselves across the city for the grand sum of $1 and the stations we saw were extremely clean, well lit – walls lined with marble and interesting artwork.  We got out of the Metro at the Admiralty station – the deepest underground in the world and yes it sure was deep – the escalator to get us up to ground level took 2 minutes and it wasn’t a slow one!   The Admirality building is back down on the banks of Neva, just a block away from the Hermitage (which was now clear of all the snow clearing machinery) and from there we walked along the river bank for a while before making what seemed a long trek  back home for a much-needed rest of weary feet.

Isle of Motorcycling Man(ia)

24 August – Our introduction to Peter and Andrea’s island hospitality started off with an amazing breakfast to kick-start our day.  Orders were taken for anything from a very adequate continental to the ‘full IoM’.  The latter makes a ‘full English’ seem quite tame in comparison!

We were destined to share the home-stay accommodation with a group of motorcycling enthusiasts, Kiwis Mark and Paul, Germans Martin and Walo, and lone Englishman Neil, for all the common reason for being there being the Classic TT & Manx GP race series.  The first couple of days there was practicing each evening for riders to learn the lines of the 37 mile track on closed roads around the mountain circuit.  Bob watched the practice at Parliament Square in Ramsey.

25 August – Mark was not feeling too well on arrival in the Island and on visiting the Ramsey A&E was quickly whisked by helicopter to Nobles Hospital in Douglas where a blood clot on the lung was diagnosed, a consequence of dvt from flying from New Zealand to Germany ten days previously.  We made the trip into Douglas to visit Mark, taking the backroad route via Laxey as the roads were still closed for practice. One night in hospital, a CAT scan for confirmation and a few pills was sufficient to see him back on his bike to enjoy the rest of the tour – probably quite a lucky chappie.

Several of Bob’s racing friends from NZ were over to compete or sponsor a rider, with ambitious targets of their own.  We met up with all in the pits during the day before racing got underway next day on the Saturday.

26 August – Neville Wooderson had the ambition to see his BSA Gold Star complete the first 100 mph lap by one of these bikes and rider Chris Swallow did not disappoint him, with an excellent 10th place finish in the Senior Classic TT.  Three times he circulated above this speed and also achieved a total race time over the magic 100 mph average, so Neville goes home a happy man.  Dave Kenah’s rider got the Manx Norton around in this Senior race with impressive average speeds 0f 107 – 109 mph before losing a footrest, forcing his retirement.  The afternoon’s Lightweight race was won by kiwi Bruce Anstey in record lap and race times, apparently unreported in the kiwi press, unlike Grant Dalton’s fall in practice on his 750cc Kawasaki.  Uninjured in the fall, Grant did compete and finish in the Lightweight event.

This first day of race viewing was at Stella Maris – a spot just outside of Ramsey before a sharp hairpin.  We were able to set chairs on the grass outside a house being renovated right above the course, with good views as the riders came around a couple of right hand bends known as May Hill  before heading into the Ramsey Hairpin.  The unexpected arrival of a race bike up the house driveway, stopping just behind us was a novel moment!

27 August – Jurby display day today.  What a huge crowd.  The carpark was probably just as interesting as the displays inside the grounds – there must have been in the order of two thousand bikes parked.  It was really difficult to move around inside and view any of the trade displays but we did stop and watch some of the bikes doing demonstration laps on the circuit.  We probably didn’t stay for more than a couple of hours before giving up and returning back home, where Andrea and I prepared a meal for the boys.

28 August – Monday and the second day of racing.  Went went to view at the Gooseneck just outside Ramsey, but low cloud and mist on the mountain eventually forced a cancellation for the day.  After returning to Jurby, Bob went into the local motoring museums whilst I decided to walk back to our accommodation – must learn to read the map properly, as it took longer than expected!  With the pub kitchen out of action, our hosts’ family surprised everybody with a great and quite unexpected evening meal.

29 August – A reserve day for racing, so we returned to the Gooseneck for the first race, the Junior TT for under 350cc bikes from the Classic era, and seated just inches away from them as they entered this slower corner.  Cameron Donald on kiwi Ken McIntosh’s Manx Norton was right up there with the leaders until a misfire caused him to drop back out of the top ten by the finish.  For a change of pace, Bob then went along to the Grandstand via a dodgy little country lane to view the pit stops and I got him to drop me off on the esplanade at Douglas so that I could take the electric train back along the coast to Ramsey via Laxey.  Quite a novel and enjoyable experience which involved finding a bus for the rest of the journey back to Andreas.  Best kiwi performance in the afternoon’s Classic Superbike racing was again Bruce Anstey, who came away with second place.

30 August – Decided to view the first race from the Bungalow today on top of the highest part of the mountain circuit.  An expansive view of 2-3 kms of track.  The wind was bitterly cold, but some protection was found behind an old building.  For the second race of the day we took the scenic road down to Sulby and viewed from Ginger Hall.  It went from struggling to hear the loudspeaker commentary at the Bungalow to being almost deafened!  It seems that many found the pub on this corner to be as interesting as the racing.

Mark had organised a joint meal out with our hosts’ extended family at a Ramsey bistro, to thank them for their great hospitality far exceeding the call of duty.  A nice evening with a large table of new friends.

31 August – Free day for exploring a bit more of the Island.  We headed first to Kirk Michael to view the collection of bikes at the ARE private museum, then on down to Peel.  A quaint little harbour town with a castle overlooking the town and out to sea.

From Peel the drive down to the southern end of the island was very scenic and we timed it just right to arrive at Port Erin for me to hop on the steam train back to Douglas – leaving Bob to go and explore the town and view another little bike museum near Castletown before meeting up again at Douglas.  My little train journey was just over an hour – winding through green farmland before coming to the coast at Douglas.  A nice leisurely way to explore the island.  Back at Douglas I had time to walk around a bit more of Douglas.  The gardens on the foreshore in the town are just lovely – nicely maintained and so colourful.  One long pedestrian street runs parallel to the seafront promenade. Rendezvous with Bob was successful and we made our way back home – via Ramsey for fish and chips on the waterfront.

01 September – Last race day for the Senior Manx Grand Prix and our viewing site of choice was the Ballaugh Bridge.  Got a good spot on the stairs behind the hotel, which was an exciting place to be as the bikes did a very awkward angled leap into the air over the bridge.  The techniques were varied with some nailing it much better than others – fortunately no mishaps here or elsewhere on the course.

Our now tight little group of enthusiasts decided on a final meal out at a local Indian restaurant to end a great stay in a wonderful island full of charm and interesting things to do.  A return trip should involve much more walking and a proper exploration of the various attractions.

02 September – With fond farewells we headed off back once more to Douglas and with time to spare paid a quick visit to the Manx museum – they had a tribute to Mick Grant, one of the legends of the TT race track, as well as many other exhibits relating to the Island’s history.  From there it was down to the harbour to join the queue for the ferry – a little more efficient loading at this end – and off over the Irish Sea on very calm waters for the 2 1/2 hr run to Liverpool.

Limericks and Leprechauns

09 August – Didn’t quite know what to make of the bright light in the sky today but assume that summer has finally arrived in Ireland.  Had a gorgeous drive today – this was much more of the Ireland scenery that I was expecting.  First popped up to the Charles Fort which was on the opposite side of the inlet to the James Fort – much more substantial and with even more impressive views.

View over the Bay from Charles Fort

Charles Fort

Then we were off around the coast through magical sounding little towns and villages – Clothkilty, Rosscarbery, Skibbereen and Ballydehob leaving the coast to cross over the Caha “mountain” pass and down into Bonane and our lodgings at “The Ford” for the next couple of days.

The road up and over the pass had gorgeous views back over the coast going up and down into a verdant valley on the other side with little cottages and farms dotted around the hills.  On a sunny day like today it was so pretty.

Our lodgings were a little on the remote side – in that we had to go about 5km off the main road on one of the more interesting narrow country roads – where you can’t see around the next corner for the high banks and hedges and with only room for one car it means taking it easy.  That said it was a lovely setting – very reminiscent of home with the green paddocks all around us.

The nearest town of Kenmare was about 10km and what a busy little place – tourists galore with loads of shops selling Irish crafts – Aran knitwear, woven stuff and of course sheep soft toys not to mention a pub or ten.

We found one that had an Irish music night going on so were treated to some dancing, singing and beautiful harp and accordion melodies.  Thought it was about time to sample the local brew which I do quite like and seeing as Bob was designated driver it was OK to partake.

10 August – Two unrainy days in a row – not sure we can cope with that.  Just down the road from our lodgings we took a walk around the Bonane Heritage Park to view some of the archeological wonders of the region.  First up we came to the Ring Fort – The Ring Fort, was used as a fortified dwelling some 2000 years ago. The deep perimeter ditch and double earthen embankment (foss) were constructed manually with primitive tools.  Its circular construction is thought by archaeologists to be for defensive purposes but may have had a spiritual significance.

In later centuries, many superstitions were associated with them and it was considered unlucky to cultivate or interfere with them. Ring forts are also known as Fairy forts from the long-held tradition that they are home to the fairies or “little people”!  These forts are small with room for one or two families.

Next was Ireland’s answer to the hangi – a fulacht fiadh the ancient cooking pit dating from the Bronze Age.  Fulacht fiadh is generally located beside a source of water, a pit or hole was constructed and filled with clean water. The water was heated by placing heated stones in it and fresh meat wrapped in straw was boiled in this manner.

A Bullaun Stone is a large rock where a basin or bullaun has been carved out.  Normally, the bullauns face upward but this example was unusual in that the bullaun was on the side of the stone.  It is unclear as to the original purpose for bullaun stones but they may have been used to mark astrological alignments.

Probably the highlight was the Stone Circle dating from the Bronze Age, was associated with druidical rituals or used as ceremonial site, as part of an ancient calendar based on the lunar and solar cycles.  This Stone Circle is one of the most significant examples of its kind in Ireland as it has eight solar and lunar alignments.  The most interesting alignment was with a cairn on the ridge of the hill a few kms away with the rising of the moon once every 18.6 years.  How on earth did these early peoples have such an intricate knowledge of these cycles?

Back on the road and up and over the Caha range again to join up with the Ring of Beere road for an interesting drive around this peninsula.  The road took us through Castletownbere which is currently one of the 5 main fishing ports on the island of Ireland. It is the largest fishing port in the country and supposedly the 2nd-safest natural harbour in the world.  From here the road turned into a slightly more challenging drive as we went right down to Garnish Point –  a tiny cable car operates from here over to Dursey Island but with a capacity of six people or one large animal it was fully booked up by the time we got there so after a quick looksee we continued on around on the coastal road – slow going as it way fairly typical of the minor roads here – mostly single lane with the odd passing places.  The scenery was quite wild – rocky moss covered hills but a lot of colour from pink and crimson heathers, yellow ragwort and gorse and wild red fuchsias and the coastline very rugged.  Completed the full circle back at Kenmare and back home for a break before dinner.

11 August – The Irish “mist” descended on us again.  Nothing to do but soldier on.  We took the road via the Killarney National Park to Killarney.  Fine weather would have made this an impressive drive – but the low cloud spoiled it somewhat – it did lift a bit so that we could get views of the lakes – it felt a bit like being in Norway with the rocky lined shores.

Killarney was a buzzing town with gift shops galore and many jaunting cars (horse drawn carts) taking tourists for little rides.  We decided that we would give the Ring of Kerry road a miss and instead head around the next peninsula up out to Dingle.  Mixed scenery with farmland, coastal and little villages along the way.  From Dingle we took a road over the a small pass – going up the road was great – two lanes – easy bends but the mist really closed in on the top where the road down turned into a single lane road carved into the rocks for a few kms  – that was fun just a pity we couldn’t see any of the views.  Travelling via Tralee, Listelow we hit the coast again at Ballybunion our stop for the night.  This was a local seaside holiday town complete with fun fair and several mobile home holiday parks.

12 August – On to Foynes Flying Boat museum for the first visit of the day.    During the late 1930s and early 1940s, land-based planes lacked sufficient flying range for Atlantic crossings. Foynes was the last port of call on its eastern shore for seaplanes. As a result, Foynes would become one of the biggest civilian airports in Europe during World War II.

Surveying flights for flying boat operations were made by Charles Lindbergh in 1933 and a terminal was begun in 1935.  The first transatlantic proving flights were operated on July 5, 1937 with a Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 service from Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador on the Bay of Exploits and a BOAC Short Empire service from Foynes with successful transits of twelve and fifteen-and-a-quarter hours respectively. Services to New York, Southampton, Montreal, Poole and Lisbon followed, the first non-stop New York service operating on June 22, 1942 in 25 hours 40 minutes. The museum provided a good insight to the importance of this little town.  In its heyday if you were to sit in the local cafe you could get to see the great movie stars, royalty and world leaders as they criss-crossed the Atlantic.

With Foynes done, we backtracked to Tarbert to catch a little car ferry across the Shannon Estuary to Killimer to continue around the coast through many little seaside towns and stopped off at the Cliffs of Moher.  They rise 120 metres above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag’s Head, and stretch eight kilometres to the north where they reach their maximum height of 214 metres   The cliffs rank amongst the most visited tourist sites in Ireland receiving approximately one million visitors a year and even late in the afternoon it was still buzzing with people.

 

Our stop for the night was inland at Ennis – the town was gearing up for its huge annual musical festival where they get 400,000 visitors over the week so was starting to close off streets and setting up outdoor stages.

13 August – Another hearty breakfast got us underway from Ennis to first explore the Bureen.  The Burren has around 560 square kilometers of exposed limestone hills and pavements, part of the Burren lies within a National Park but the majority lies outside the park and is farmed and settled.

Glaciers expanded and retreated over the region several times. Of the last two periods the first was the more pronounced, covering the whole of the Burren. The result is that The Burren is one of the finest examples of a glacio-karst landscape in the world.

It certainly is a very unique landscape and unlike anything we have seen in our travels.

We followed the Bureen to the coast at Ballyvauhan and around the coast for quite a while before headed inland and up to Gallway.  We had a brief look around the city – for a Sunday afternoon it was fair humming – loads of buskers in the streets.  The city centre was a maze of narrow streets lined with pubs, pubs and pubs and a few shops as well.

It was just a short hop from Galway to our stop for the night at Oughterard.  A little outside of Galway we were pulled over at a Customs and Excise checkpoint.  They were doing checks on diesel-powered vehicles – we were exempt being in a rental vehicle – but they obviously have a problem with illegal diesel production. It looked like a fairly crude sort of testing they were doing but must have been enough to find the illegal fuels.

14 August – Only slightly overcast beginning to the day.  A good breakfast got us started then it was off westwards to begin exploring the region.  We made a stop at Glengowla Mines for an informative tour of the underground lead and silver mine.  Buried beneath the Connermara Mountain we were taken down 40 metres through the caverns of marble studded with lead and silver where our guide lead us on a journey on the working conditions the miners worked under before the mines closed in 1865. The constant dripping of water, the ‘miners breath’ would have made life very unpleasant for the workers.  Up on the surface there is no real sign of what was lurking below.

Continuing on westwards we turned down towards the coast and circumnavigated the next two little peninsulas through Kilkieran , Glynsk, Roundstone, Ballyconeely before hitting the main road back at Clifden.  Just love this Connemara scenery through the boglands and rocky coastal areas – very colourful with the heather, gorse and green moss against the grey rocks.  Loads of little stone cottages dotted throughout the countryside, as well as little farms with drywall fences to keep livestock enclosed.  It would be nice to hire a little cottage in this region and stay for a couple of months.  At Ballyconeely we visited the spot where Alcock and Brown landed on the first trans atlantic flight as well as Marconi’s transmission station.   We have now been to both ends of that historic transmission and incidentally Wanda was again at the Nova Scotia end just a few days ago.

Local sheep

Piles of cut turf drying out

15 August – A bit of a bleak start to the day but the mist did lift so that we could enjoy reasonable weather and views for the rest of the day.  Decided to do a series of circular drives so that we could make the most of the Connemara National Park and its surrounds.  The first small road took us from Maum up through a natural bog between a couple of ranges of hills. Very desolate through this area with no habitation just the peat bogs with little streams and lakes with a thick reddish brown grass growing on it.  Plenty of evidence of turf cutting though – the peat turf still seems to be a fuel source – it is cut into “logs” which are about 30 x 2 cm each weighing about 500gms.  The peat is also used to fuel some power stations in Ireland instead of oil or coal. Once we came out of the bog area we were into cultivated farmland again- the farms here are very small (a herd of 50 cows seems to be enough to sustain a farmer because of the EU subsidies that they receive) mostly sheep farming in the region with the odd herd of cows. With all the stone around – the fields are divided by the dry stone walls and do make for a picturesque drive.

We returned via another smaller road down the other side of the ranges – greener and a different type of bog, greener with grasses that are able to sustain sheep.  Some very pretty loughs (lakes) as well.  These smaller roads have little or no traffic on them and for the most part are double-lane so easy to drive on.  I must say that having a left hand drive car is quite useful here on the very narrow roads as it is so much easier to hug the left side of the road without having to judge how close you are to stone walls etc.

We joined the main road at Glynsk to do a little westward circle via Cliffden and Letterfrack where he had hoped to have a little look around the Connemara National Park Visitor centre but couldn’t get a park anywhere near – it was just so busy with visitors – we gave that a miss and made our way instead overland to Leenaun where the weather had cleared sufficiently for us to embark on a boat trip up the Killary Fjord.  The 90 minute ride was quite informative as it took us between the two totally different shorelines – the south shore was green and farmed whereas the north short was rocky and bleak.  The fjord had a lot of mussel farms in the lower part of the fjord and nearer the ocean a few salmon farms.

As it was still too early to arrive at our next stay in Westport we opted to take another minor road which took us around this northern shoreline for a short while before heading through the Doolough Valley – what a spectacular drive as we drove alongside the fjord and then entered into the valley proper up over the Doo Lough Pass between the Mweelrea Mountain and Sheeffry Hills.

We drove over heaths which were so much like the North of Scotland although we weren’t very high in altitude.  This area would be a fantastic place to have a small campervan with so many gorgeous spots to pull off and have an overnight stay in the wilderness.

We hit the coast again for the short drive into Westport and our next B&B experience.  On the whole the B&B’s here have been OK, some are more like guesthouses which are better than just a room in someone’s house but the breakfasts are always good – scrambled eggs with smoked salmon are my favourite.  The smoked salmon here has a very delicate flavour – not too salty.  The town of Westport was just a short 15 minute walk – what a neat little town – around it’s Octagon were streets lined with terraced buildings containing all manner of little boutique shops and of course pubs.

16 August –  Lovely brekkie to start the day although the weather didn’t quite match.  Margaret our hostess suggested that we go out to Archil Island so we did attempt that drive but got as far as the connecting bridge but the “Mist” was so low and dropping the wet stuff that there was not a lot of point in continuing. We headed instead to Castlebar for a visit to the National Heritage Museum which kept us occupied for a couple of hours as we viewed the exhibitions of early Irish life. Just a little further up the road there was a little local railway museum which we also had a quick flit around.  Back home in time for dinner – we went down to the Quays area for a nice feed at the local bistro.

17 August – Moving on again – we stopped off at Foxford to have a look around the local woollen mills which have been in continuous operation for 125 years.  The mills were started by a nun from the Sisters or Charity who was so distressed at the standard of living of the local people that she decided to create employment.  The mills had a fire in 1907 which destroyed most of the mill but they managed to recover and in the 80’s they went into liquidation but were bought by a local businessman who is still running the mill.  They make upholstery material, throws, scarves, and small blankets. We were able to have a look at the looms in action – fully mechanised but it still requires manual input when warp or weft threads break and they still have to thread the looms by hand – a task which takes two men anything from a few hours to all day.  Managed to escape their lovely showroom/shop with my wallet in tact although there were some beautiful pieces.  Up the main road to our next stop just a few kms out of Donegal town.

18 August – A little circular tour to get to Derry (Londonderry) via Killybegs, Ardara and Glenties before heading inland via Letterkenny.  Once away from the coast the landscape was much like home except for the style of the houses.  Found a park in the city centre but the weather was pretty bleak as we embarked on a little walk around the old city walls – managed about half of it before the rain decided to dump it down.  Can’t say that the city did anything for me.  The conflict which became known as the Troubles is widely regarded as having started in Derry with the Battle of the Bogside. The Civil Rights movement had also been very active in the city. In the early 1970s the city was heavily militarised and there was widespread civil unrest. Several districts in the city constructed barricades to control access and prevent the forces of the state from entering.  Violence eased towards the end of the Troubles in the late 1980s and early 1990s but it still seems to be raw in the memories here.

Made our way to home for the night which was a pleasant B&B in the countryside about 10 minutes outside of the city.

19 August – Another short travelling day so had a lazy start to the day as we made our way to Bushmills via the coastal route. Treat for the day was the tour of the Bushmills Whiskey distillery which has been making the amber liquid since 1608.  Can’t believe the amount that comes out of this distillery each year (8 million bottles).  We were given a little sample of their 12 year old vintage at the end of the tour plus a voucher for another of our choice – mine was a hot toddy, Bob chose the 15 yr old.  Not bad drops at all, at all.

Our stop for the night another very nice B&B with country views out our window.

20 August – Finally a reasonable day for us to have a little explore of the Bushmills area.  For Game of Thrones fans (of which we aren’t) there are apparently a lot of areas where scenes have been shot, we did go to one – the Dark Hedges which to be really appreciated you need to see them as dark is falling – they still look quite interesting in daylight but we did have to compete with loads of other touro’s.

Did a couple of little scenic routes before stopping off at Ballycastle – a tiny little coastal town with quite a nice beach.  The weather had bought out all the motorbikes in the region – the coastal drive does make for good riding.  Returned back to Bushmills base for a cuppa and break before heading out for dinner.  Thought Portrush would be a good bet but the town was just nose to tail traffic with not a chance of finding a park so Plan B came into effect and it was up to the Giant’s Causeway Smugglers Inn for dinner instead.  Got a huge feed of mussels in a sweet chilli cream sauce (the mussels would be called very premature in NZ – the shells were only about an inch long and the mussels no larger than a broad bean) – consequently there were about 5 doz in my pot and they all got eaten!!  The Giants Causeway is the main tourist attraction here and our kind hostess told us to make that sure we arrive there after 7pm so we don’t have to pay the 20 pound entry fee – that was a good move as we also avoided most of the 5,000 visitors that they had during the day.   Nice walk down the coastal path to view and walk over these incredible formations –  40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he. Fionn’s wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the ‘baby’, he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow.  Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal’s Caveon the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.

21 August – The worst day weatherwise we have had since leaving home, too wet to stop off and explore anything so just made our way down the coast road to Belfast to arrive in time to watch the two semifinal matches of the women’s RWC on the telly.

22 August – The overnight storms had somewhat blown away leaving just a murky sky but dry enough for us to go down and visit the Titanic Exhibition on the Quays.  What an absorbing museum – we we were there for over 4 hours taking in all the history of that tragic event.  Unfortunately it was really busy making it difficult at times to get a proper look at some of the exhibits.  Outside the museum are the original slipways where the Titantic and her sister ship the Oceanic were built – they were certainly sizeable ships for their day. Alongside the Titanic museum was also the Nomadic – a small tender that was originally used to ferry the White Star passengers to their ships in the Cherbourg harbour.  It was furnished in the same style as the Titanic to give their passengers a taste of what they were to expect as soon as they boarded the ship.   We didn’t feel the need to do anything else in the city so returned back to our hotel for the evening.

23 August – Time to farewell the Leprechauns and head off over the Irish Sea.  Can’t say that we were too impressed with the organisation or lack thereof of the Isle of Man Steampacket Co. ferry.  It took forever to just check in and it was quite a mission to get the vehicles on board the vessel – the number of bikes going over was astounding.   A lovely smooth crossing had us docking in Douglas 2 1/2 hours later to warmer sunny weather.  Our lodgings for the next 10 days at Andreas was about a half hour’s drive north, some of it over the mountain part of the actual racetrack.  A nice warm welcome awaited us from Peter and Andrea and we were soon settled in to our comfy abode.

It’s a long way to Tipperary

16 July – Farewell to Switzerland as we headed down the mountains to Lake Geneva – what a gorgeous sight with the rocky mountains framing the blue lake.  Once down at lake level it was not quite so nice as we had to wend our way along the lakeside ribbon development, very crowded with summer holidaymakers.  We turned off at Thonon and  to head up the valley to St Jean D’Aulps and up a little higher to the little village where Shaun and Natasha had their chalet.  Great to meet up again with all the family including their newest addition 15month old little Neriah – a little blond curly bombshell.  First up a guided tour of their new holiday home followed by a walk up the road to see where the boys had built their little den by the river.

17 July – A nice summer’s day was spent at Lake Montriond – the boys got to try out their new inflatable kayaks while we enjoyed a relaxing time in the sun followed by a walk around the lake later in the afternoon before heading back home to play Monopoly and Destination London with Ben and Lucas.

18 July – Jacob and Lucas had tennis practice at Morzine so while they were getting their exercise for the day Ben took us on a tour of the town with a mandatory stop at the lovely patisserie to sample the local fare.  Every other shop in the town seemed to be mountain bike related – the region has been able to make the most of the summer season by utilising winter ski runs as well as creating a large number of tracks of various levels for the mountain bikers.

19 July – Les Gorges du pont du Diable beckoned today – we got there for the first guided tour of the day through this spectacular canyon giving an insight into the power of erosion where Morzine’s Dranse River dives into a deep fissure beneath an impressive archway.  The walkway through the narrow gorge on paths suspended off the side of the rocks was an interesting engineering feat.

20 July – Just a five minute walk from the chalet was the cable car station,  operating once a week in the summer up to the first level.  We all piled in for the short ride with great views as we were transported up the mountain.  Once out of the gondolas it was time for a trek further up the mountain to the point where the ski lifts stop and with views all the way over to Mt Blanc in the distance it was pretty magical.  We could have been in a scene from the Sound of Music as we came to the alpine meadows – we had all the ingredients to complete the picture – children, cow bells and endless mountains.  From the top it was a steep winding walk down into the neighbouring valley to Graydon for a spot of lunch before continuing on the path back to the village.  A great days walk in the lovely fresh alpine air.

21 July -A short trip back down the valley to the Abbey to have a look around the old ruined monastery and the small attached museum.

22 July – Our stay at chez Hayton had all too soon come to an end and it was time to hit the road once again.

23- 30 July – A  quick flit through to Calais to board the ferry to Dover for a smooth 90 minute float across the channel and onto British soil and the rain.  Destination for the first night was near Duxford but that entailed getting over the Thames via the infamous M25 and the Dartford tunnel.  What a painful exercise as we crawled along for miles until we finally cleared the tunnel.

The Imperial War Museum at Duxford took up the next day as we explored the hangars and displays all based at the old airforce base.  The centenary of the base was being celebrated this year with a special sound show transmitting narrative voices, signals and music representing memories from Duxford’s past.

The following day involved a visit to the Shuttleworth collection before heading up to Bob’s sister at Higham on the Hill for another relaxing few days and catch ups.

30 July-03 August – A short tour of Wales was in order as we had some time to spare before our ferry across to the Emerald Isles.

30 July  – First day’s journey took us from Higham down the Fosse Way (an ancient Roman road) down to Cirencester then southwards to join up with M4 to cross over the Severn river on quite an expensive toll bridge into Wales where our stop for the night was near Newport just a short drive from Cardiff in a nice small hotel.

31 July – First up we headed into Cardiff to have a quick look around.  Managed to find a parking building close to the city centre for a little explore.  The immediate thing that struck us was the large number of homeless people sleeping and begging in the streets.  Not too much of interest in the city for us so after a quick bite to eat we headed back to the car and on around the coast through Swansea – that was a real nightmare with nose to tail traffic for the best part of an hour so we flagged trying to stop and settled to go on to our stop for the night at Milford Haven.  We had a bit of a strange B&B there – a typical terrace house with three small rooms over two stories.  The host was a bit of an oddball and although generous was quite overpowering and couldn’t stop going on about how little money he was making from letting out his rooms.  Milford Haven itself was nothing much to write home about – we were just a short walk from the harbour and it’s marina with a local pub for dinner.

01 August – The weather has turned against us since leaving France – shorts are out – longs and jumpers are in and if the rain persists we might even have to resort to buying an umbrella!  We had set ourselves quite short mileages between stops to give us time to take to the minor roads and minor some of them were as we wove our way through little country lanes sunken down between hedgerows and squeezed through between drywall fences – not something you can do at and great speed as passing places for oncoming cars were limited.  Down on to the coast via St Brides and Little Haven, pretty little seaside villages but very busy with local holidaymakers.

Had to go inland a bit to Haverfordwest before we could get back on the next little peninsula and St Davids where we stopped off to have a look at their very historic cathedral.

 

It is certainly hard to understand why such a huge cathedral was built in this region as there would have been such a small population at the time and even now it is fairly sparsely settled.  With our cultural experience done for the day it was off to our next stop which was a great improvement on our previous night.  Just a few km’s out of Cardigan our stay was a room in a pleasant family home with a much more amenable hostess.

 

02 August – Bleak and wet start to the day made up for with a nice cooked breakfast before setting off.  Made a couple of coastal stops along the way at seaside towns along Cardigan Bay – rocky beaches with the only attractions being the rock pools as they would not have been suitable for swimming.  Turned inland after Aberystwyth for a change of scenery into the Snowdonia National Park.

Very much like being in the highlands of Scotland – barren rocky hills, little meandering streams and misty due to the low cloud cover.  Nice B&B in the tiny village of Llanuwchllyn near Lake Bala.  There was a little narrow gauge railway running from there to Bala (about 25 minutes away) but we had missed the last train for they day.  The village was a bit of a family affair with our B&B and adjacent campground run by the children and the local pub and restaurant run by the parents.

03 August – The weather still not nice enough to take the little train so we headed off by car through more of the park and even tried to go for a visit to the local slate mine, but being summer holidays you needed to book in advance to get a place on one of the tours so had to flag that.  Down from the hills and back on to the coast we again did a little tiki tour around Angelsea and then on to Holyhead – our last night in Wales.  Holyhead was probably once quite a nice town, but now is quite run down with not much to recommend it apart from being where you have to catch the ferry.  B&B was another substandard operation.

04 August – Time to head over to the Emerald Isles on the Irish Ferries quick catamaran.  The sea had a little bit of movement for the first hour but then last half of the journey was calm.  The ferry docked in downtown Dublin and it was a bit of a journey to get out the other side of the city to our accommodation as roadworks and traffic accidents took us on detours.  We managed to find our B&B for the next couple of nights without too much trouble – in a very nice neighbourhood at the north end of Phoenix Park – at 707 hectares (1752 acres) is one of the largest enclosed recreational spaces within any European capital city.  The Phoenix Park was established in 1662 as a Royal deer park for Charles II.  About 30% of the Phoenix Park is covered by trees, which are mainly broadleaf parkland species such as oak, ash, lime, beech, sycamore and horsechestnut.  A herd of  Fallow Deer has lived in the Park since the 1660’s when they were introduced by the Duke of Ormond.  Dublin Zoo also resides within the Park’s boundaries.The residence of the President of Ireland, dates from 1750 is located in the centre of the park adjacent to the United States Ambassador’s residence, which was built in 1774.  It is a beautiful asset for a city to have and is certainly well used with cyclists, runners, walkers and families all able to enjoy the surroundings.

05 August – Left the car behind today and took the bus into Dublin’s centre.  Split in half by the River Liffey there was plenty for us to walk around and explore before the rains decided to come so ducked into the National Museum and spent an hour or so being enthralled by their exhibition of archeological findings from the bogs of Ireland. Going back over the last 4,000 years – the Irish have hid their treasures in the bogs and as the bogs have been drained over the ensuing centuries they have revealed incredible caches the most spectacular being the gold jewellery.

The rain was still persisting so a spot of lunch was in order and then it was on to the Natural History Museum to have a look at the display of Irish birds, fish and mammals – specimens collected in the late 1800’s and preserved in various manners.

The weather manged to improve enough for us to head back to the river so we could take a little diversion by way of a river cruise which gave us a different view of the city and docklands.  It was from these docks that the emigrants set sail in the “famine or coffin” ships in the hope of finding a better life in North America.  About 30% didn’t survive  the 6 week journey on these crowded disease ridden ships – but the risk must have outweighed staying put and starving to death.

We enjoyed a nice meal before heading back on the bus to our digs for the night.

06 August – Southward bound today via Bray, Arklow, Enniscorthy before turning inland to Cahir.  Our hotel took a bit of finding as we didn’t have GPS co-ords for it and it was out of the town a way. Eventually we came to it – a rather tired ex hunting lodge built in the 1900’s – quite a bit of poetic licence and Irish blarney on their website when regaling it’s attributes “exceptional en-suite bedrooms all with their own unique charm combining contemporary & period styles and charming antique furniture”.  It was in a picturesque setting however but the low mist spoilt it somewhat.

07 August – Cahir Castle was our first top for the day – what an interesting site.  The core structure of the castle dates to construction in the 13th century.  Granted to the powerful Butler family in late 14th century, the castle was enlarged and remodelled between the 15th and 17th centuries. It fell into ruin in the late 18th century and was partially restored in the 1840s. The Great Hall was partly rebuilt in 1840.  Full of narrow spiral stone staircases it must have been hell trying to negotiate around it when you needed to defend it.

On from Cahir, we moved on to Cashel  to visit the No 1. Trip Advisor attraction for the town – it’s museum.  All we can say to that is that there obviously wasn’t anything else of interest in the town as it was a really manky little affair but it did have a very enthusiastic curator/owner.

It’s a long way to Tipperary and what a disappointment it was – grimy main street lined with terraced shopfronts and grotty pubs with only one serving food so we had just a quick lunch stop before heading on to Kinsale.  It was the end of regatta bank holiday weekend so the place was humming when we got there.  Our B&B (sans Breakfast) was another overpriced outfit but within a few minutes walk to the town was at least well placed. Quite a tourist town renown for it’s foody outlets of which there were plenty.  We enjoyed a walk around the town and the harbour before settling on an Indian for dinner.

08 August – Weather still on the cool side with the odd bit of rain passing through.  We made the most of the dry spell to do one of the walks out to one of the two forts in the area. A nice stroll around the water front and up to the James Fort with nice views out over the outer harbour to the Atlantic in the distance.  Kinsale is the start of the  Wild Atlantic Way walk which follows the coast westwards for over 2,000 kms.

Drum Bun Romania,Willkommen in Deutschland

30 June – Focsani served its purpose as a waypoint for our journey northwards but had nothing else of note to interest us.  The road today followed a river valley for ages with not very inviting looking towns until we finally climbed out into more rolling countryside.   We had a little trouble finding our accommodation with the address listed so resorted to the GPS co-ordinates and found it.  It was out of the town which sits at the foot of a huge dam we went up and over to find this “motel”. First appearances were not deceiving – it was grotty.  The complex had quite a few little cabins and a “motel” block – three floors with about 10 rooms one each floor.  Grotty from the outside and tacky on the inside.  Decided to go for a drive around the lake – what a horrible road – we bumped along for about 20kms before calling it a day and returning the same way. Did however find a gorgeous pensiune offering meals, so stopped off dinner and had we known about this place it would have been much much better than our ‘motel’.

 

01 July – Not such a great night in our grotty motel – awoken by screaming and what we thought was an argument but turned out to be a medical emergency as there were two ambulances outside when we ventured out.  We had decided the night before that we would ditch the second night we had booked  – it was just too cheap and not cheerful for comfort.  Back down into the outskirts of Bicaz before heading off through the Bicaz Gorge.  What a spectacular drive through the narrow canyon with high rocky outcrops – it was spoilt a bit by all the tourist shacks lined up along the sides of the road selling “souvenirs”.  We climbed up and out of the gorge over a couple of pretty passes and through various villages. The local handicraft in this region is wickerwork with loads of little stalls selling baskets, chairs, brooms and other odds and sods.

 

Made it into Sighisoara and breathed a sigh of relief to get have a “nice” place to stay – it was an old villa built in early 1900’s, renovated nicely within a short walk of the old city up on the hill.   We made the pilgrimage up to the top, little streets with quaint buildings and a nice square for refreshments to sit people watch.  Moved to another place for our dinner – that was a surprise – I ordered Transylvanian sour bean soup which came served inside a huge hollowed out loaf of bread – very tasty and oh so filling.

 

Back home to base in time to watch our own sound and light show going off in the way of a thunderstorm.

02 July – After a comfortable night in our pensiune, spent a little time before setting off trying to figure out the next leg of our journey through to Germany.  Leaving Sighisoara behind we got into some lovely countryside with rolling green hills dotted with little villages.  It is so much more pleasant driving than on the hot plains.  Turga Mures was our target for our first break.  This town was so similar in layout to Arad, the first town on our entry into Romania but poles apart in charm.  The buildings were clean and tidy, the pavements in good condition and a very pleasant area to walk around.  A nice little patisserie for our refreshment stop and then back on the road.

 

Stopped at little local restaurant in the countryside for lunch – nice vantage point to watch the horses and carts venturing out into the fields.  We then had a short hop on more scenic roads through to Bistrita and our hotel for the night just a short walk from the town centre.  Another pleasant town square – again with a large pedestrian street lined with outdoor tables and seating areas.  We walked around all the interesting old parts of the town before dining in a restaurant offering traditional food – sadly we didn’t have room for dessert but they sure looked inviting.

03 July – Heading north today towards the Ukrainian border.  About 200kms – the first half was on a typically bumpy road, so slow going but then it improved markedly as we headed up into lovely rolling hillsides and neat little towns.  Our destination – Sapanta – a fairly rural little village but renown for its “merry” cemetery to which tourists flock to. We had a lovely local pensiune right opposite the cemetery. Ileana the owner’s mother was a very gracious host.

The pensiune was in a typical house which had been converted into rooms for accommodation.  We had a nice clean room and if you overlooked the bright pink bath and toilet it was a neat little place.  Took the visit over to the cemetery – what an interesting place.  In the late 30’s a poet/writer decided that the people buried in the cemetery deserved something fitting to show for their lives so he started created these carved wooden grave markers, painted bright blue with a carved picture of the deceased person showing their profession or what they did in their life (eg. weaver, homemaker, miner, fireman etc.) then under the picture was a carved poem about their life and death.

 

Reading through the translations afterwards – some of them were not very kind about the deceased – ie. he was far too fond of the drink and it got the better of him; others detailed the hard life they had suffered and there were even a couple of curses attached to graves of children killed in car accidents directed to the drivers of the cars.  All in all a very illuminating visit.  Even more outstanding was the new church that was being built on the site (how a town which would be way smaller than Cambridge could afford such a building beats us) and this was not the only church being built in this small town – just down the road the Catholics were in the process of building a wooden church and then about 1km away the local monastery had also built a fantastic wooden church with a 75m spire along with new quarters for the monks.  Did a quick search on google and found that there were 400 monasteries in the country with about 3500 monks and nuns so it they must still be getting new recruits coming through the ranks.

04 July – Last full day in Romania. Ileana showed us her special heritage family room used for special events – weddings, funerals, Christmas etc.  Two of the walls were lined with brightly covered hand-woven rugs, the other two were hand painted with red flowers on a blue background.  She had a couple of display cabinets with old china and some very finely decorated eggs.  She then showed us her loom and demonstrated hand spinning.  Their sheep’s wool is very coarse and they don’t do too much in the way of carding out all the flotsam and jetsam.

The tourist buses had arrived bright an early to start their visit of the cemetery.  We set off first to have a look at the monastery with the wooden church – the workmanship required to construct these churches is amazing as it was stunning.

With that done it was one the last leg of our trip. We travelled within spitting distance of Ukraine for a while – we were on one side of the river and just on the other side was Ukraine.  Went though a bit of forest and then it was down onto the plains again – fortunately the temp has dropped a few degrees so a little more pleasant.

Saw our first gypsy caravans today – just two of them and very distinct – very grubby covered horse-drawn wagons (a bit like the pioneer wagons in the USA) with all manner of things hanging on the outside and crowded inside with grubby looking kids and adults, quite different from the few other Roma we have seen in the towns – the women wear very bright coloured long skirts, white blouse and an equally bright headscarf.

Stopped off at a supermarket to pick up some lunch supplies then it was on to Oradea our stop for the night.  Here was yet another lovely surprise – coming into the city it looked to be fairly typical, bland apartment blocks and boring buildings and even the street where our hotel was located was not particularly inspiring.   The hotel itself was in a new building, nicely furnished and a very comfortable room for our last night.  Went out to explore and just a couple of blocks away we came into the town centre and boy what a contrast – some gorgeous buildings, lovely pedestrian streets and a really nice feel.    Since joining the EU, Romania has received grants to assist with beautifying their cities and where they have  this grant they seem to be making real inroads into bringing these cities back to life.

Dined in the courtyard of one of the very old early hotels – this one still needed renovation but would have been very grand it its day. The biggest surprise was when we opened the menu – first thing we saw was Monteiths Summer Ale and Pilsener available as well as Old Mout Cider on the drinks list and then one very expensive cut of meat from New Zealand (it was in the grill section and when translated back at base – it came out as Cattle Muscles from New Zealand so have no real clue as to its cut).

05 July – Our attempt to find the nice patisserie we had seen in town the night before failed so it was just a tea and coffee instead before heading off in the direction of the border and a new country.  The border was only about 30 minutes away from Oradea – manned by both the Romanians and Hungarians – they checked our passports and made us open the boot to ensure we hadn’t got any stowaways and then we were waved off.  Flat going all the way through to Budapest – this part of the country a lot more prosperous than the little corner than we covered earlier on.  Managed to get to our accommodation right in the middle of the city with not too many hassles although finding parking was a bit difficult as we couldn’t get enough local coins to feed the parking machine.  It is a good thing we don’t easily get put off by outside appearances, as the apartments were in a very old and distressed looking building and up the first two flights of stairs was particularly dark and dingy, but once into the apartments themselves – bright, airy and very modern.  9 rooms most with their own en suite facilities and a very up to date kitchen area.

Within walking distance of the Danube they were certainly a good find.  We ate a quick dinner in before heading off to see Budapest come alive by night – this place seems to be a mecca for young tourists – bars were crowded with 20 somethings making the most of cheap booze.  Down on the river, had to wait a while for darkness to fall, but once it did the buildings and bridges all came to life with lights.

06 July – Quick blat on to Vienna.  Arrived mid afternoon to our nicely placed hotel which enabled us to just hop on the tram for the short ride into the centre.  Armed with the local map were able to cover all the interesting sights to see.  What  a lovely city – compact centre with elegant buildings and very clean.  To really appreciate this city you need to come for a week or so, armed to the teeth with a load of cash and take in all of the different theatres and museums.

We were happy though to just wander around and admire its beauty.  Of course we had to sample Weiner Schnitzel for our dinner.

07 July – Another day another capital.  Prague today – again arriving mid-afternoon.  Our easy to find hotel was again right next to a tram stop with a short ride into the centre.  The last time I had visited Prague – so many of the buildings were being restored and covered in scaffolding and there was hardly a soul around.  Fast forward 30 years, the buildings are visible and the tourists are there in throngs.

Very interesting areas on both sides of the Danube.  After a wander around the inner part of the city we crossed over the historic Charles Bridge for a break in a little bar to people watch for a while.  Nearby we chanced upon a really lovely walled garden before having to find refuge from a thunderstorm in a local restaurant.  When the skies cleared we were able to amble back to the centre and catch our flash tram straight back home.

8 July – Another day another country – Germany today and our stop for the next few days – Lake Wannsee just 20 minutes from Berlin.  We knew our hotel was going to be close to the railway station, just didn’t realise that it was just outside our window (all five lines of it).  Oh well, them’s the breaks.

09 July – The train into Berlin was a relaxing 20 minute trip. Berlin is not as compact as the other three capitals, so we made use of our day travel ticket and sampled trams, underground and buses.  Ticked off the big things Brandenburg Gate, remains of the wall and checkpoint Charlie.  At the remains of the wall there was a very moving timeline of Berlin’s history prior and post war and the fall of the wall.

10 July – Wet and miserable start to our day.  Spent our day visiting with Torsten, Lydia and two of their five children – their two sons Jonathan and Florian.  We had met Torsten when he was still a student in the late 80’s in Czechoslovakia when at that time he was living in the then DDR and over the years we have kept in touch, at our last get together Florian was just a toddler and now he is a bright and bubbly teenager and his brother Jonathan is about 16 and a very fine young man.  The family were staying in their caravan just about 30 mins from our hotel at Wansee at another lake – so we joined them there first before venturing out for lunch at Ferch and then on to Potsdam.

The first stop was at San Soucci Palace for a wander around their impressive gardens then into the old town for a delicious stop at a local ice-cream parlour.  We then spent an hour or so in the early evening enjoying the ambience of the old town before farewelling our friends.  How fortunate we are as we travel around the world to meet such lovely people and to be able to share joint experiences.

11 July – Monique led us a fine little dance this morning as we headed south and ended up going through the middle of Potsdam before finally getting us on the autobahn and a straight blat down to our destination – a tiny little village Eisenbuhl and a divine apartment to stay in.  Came prepared to cook our own dinner so it was a nice relaxing evening.

12 July – Regensburg was today’s target – and with a diversion to Bamberg arrived at another of our friend’s place mid afternoon.  Tom and Gabi once again made us feel so welcome in their lovely home as we settled in and caught up on their news since seeing them 18 months ago.

13 July – Tom and Gabi had discovered a new museum for us to visit, so it was off to Neumarkt and the Maybach museum.  This was quite a new museum, very nicely laid out with a good display of Maybach cars and bikes – everything was explained in both German and English.  The company originally developed and manufactured diesel and petrol engines for Zeppelins, and then rail cars. Its Maybach Mb.IVa was used in aircraft and airships of World War I.  The company first built an experimental car in 1919, introduced as a production model two years later at the Berlin Motor Show. Between 1921 and 1940, the company produced a variety of opulent vehicles, now regarded as classics.

We had a short break out of the museum for lunch and returned to finish the last exhibits before returning home. Dinner in the local beer garden made a pleasant end to the day.

14 July – Said our farewells and it was on the road again down to Munich and the BMW museum situated in the Olympic park.  Very impressive museum with a very large temporary exhibition celebrating the centenary of the company and then their permanent display of their vehicles.  We managed to spend a good 3 hours before having to tackle Friday afternoon Munich traffic.

Fortunately we had only 90 odd kms to get to our next stay for the night but we did have quite a lot of very slow spots. We did feel for the folks in their cars travelling towards Munich as they had to deal with a large nose to tail pile-up accident which backed the traffic up for miles.  Mindelheim was the stop for the night – another pretty town with some very attractive old buildings in their town centre.  Our small hotel was a renovated water-mill used to mill flour in days gone by.  Quite a lot of the original woodwork still in existence and also the belts and pulleys were a feature of the restaurant.  The countryside in this region is so pretty – very green fields and forests interspersed with quaint little villages.

15 July – Another autobahn blitz – through the very green German countryside, followed by a short stint of about 10kms through Austria before finally hitting Switzerland.  They really do exploit the visitors using their roads.  We had to buy a vignette to use the motorways (all other countries have short tem ones – ie. 1 week or a month) but the Swiss make you buy a pass for a year and at 40 euro it makes it an expensive exercise for just a couple of days motoring.  We needed to break our journey through to France so it was a little town called Biberist that got the tick for our stay for the night.  Nice and orderly as you would expect from the Swiss – streets are clean and countryside very green.

Romanian Rhapsody

20 June – Not too far to go today – destination Sibiu.  We managed to go on the motorway for a short distance, but then it ran out and we were stuck with the heavy traffic that leaves you no option but to trail along in a queue as passing opportunities are few and far between, mainly because there is no break in the oncoming traffic.  Can’t believe how many trucks there are on the roads.  I have to take back my initial observation that Romania was a poor relation to Hungary – in fact it seems much more prosperous – the houses and surrounding properties are of a much higher standard and apart from Arad the cities are also bustling and much more westernised.  There is still very much a mix of the old and the new, with the rural areas still coming into the modern age of mechanisation.  On the whole the driving is quite good, but there is the odd crazy overtaking on blind bends which makes you heart miss a beat or two.  Found our accommodation very easily, and with parking in the garage underneath the building it was a good base.

21 June – Way too hot to venture into a city for walking around so opted to visit the open air historical museum which was a good choice.  Set in 93 acres in the Dumbrava forest just a few kms out of the city, it had houses which had been bought in from all over the country from all different walks of life – potters, millers, wheelwright, peasant farmers etc. and laid out in separate areas.

Several exhibitions along the way including a good array of fruit presses and another of local types of carts.  In the middle of the complex was a traditional restaurant so we had a good feed there before finishing off our wander past the windmills and little farming areas.

Have a look at “Farmer Bob”

22  June – Left our DaVinci residence after two very comfortable nights.  The main roads (equivalent to our State Highways) are well-engineered but as Romania is slowly getting its infrastructure into place, if there isn’t a motorway you are subjected to end to end trucks and this was the case as we had to head off towards Bucharest.  Fortunately it was only a short stretch this time, then we were on to a country road to take across to Curtea de Arges.  Slow going, in that the road surface was not so good and a lot of villages but a very pretty drive.  We were into a much more rural area, still a lot of horses pulling carts and manual work being done in the fields.  There are tractors doing some of the hay cutting, but it seems that the hay is still picked up by hand and first dried in little conical stacks before being transported to the farmers hay barns.

OSH would have a field day in this country – people riding atop the piles of loose hay as it is taken back to the farms (with one very incongruous sight – a women sitting up there chatting away on her cellphone).  Made it to our next lovely accommodation where we have finally got the views from our rooms as promised.  Very nice setup with a bar downstairs and rooms on the next two levels,super clean and good wifi.

Walked down into the town and ventured into the Monastery gardens which were a real surprise.  The main church was built in the 1500’s and what a work of art inside. Lavishly painted on the walls, ceilings and right in the top of the domes.  The last King and Queen of Romania were buried in the church – the Queen being Marie, Princess of Scotland – Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.  Nice gardens surrounded the entire monastery which is still in use today.

23 June – A full day of motoring today on Ceaușescu’s Folly a road renown as one of Europe’s most exciting roads.  From Curtea de Arges we first had 70kms of slow winding road as we followed the contours of a large hydro lake before we finally got into the road itself.  What a magnificent piece of engineering climbing up to just over 2,000m with continuous steep hairpins and long s-bends winding up the side of the mountain and down the other side.

Built mainly by military forces, the road had a high financial and human cost. Work was carried out in an alpine climate, at an elevation of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), using roughly six million kilograms (5,900 long tons; 6,600 short tons) of dynamite, and employing junior military personnel who were untrained in blasting techniques. Many workers died; official records state that only 40 soldiers lost their lives, but unofficial estimates by workers put the number in the hundreds.

The road itself was easy to drive, no long drop offs as you went from bend to bend, plenty wide enough but you could only average about 40kph – which was fine as it gave you plenty of time to admire the views.

Watch part of our drive on this magnificent road

It is on the list of bikies must do’s and we saw bikes from many nations tackling the curves, including three very serous looking trike conglomerations from Hungary.

The interesting bit of the road was about 40km long, crossing over the Carpathian mountains.  The road had only opened four days ago for the summer and just the day before there had been a serious rockfall just before the tunnel at the top.  It is a bit hairy going through the areas of potential rockfalls as some of the rock faces do look incredibly precarious and about to let go at any moment.   Having both had a drive on this masterpiece we stopped off for a picnic lunch on the way down – it looked a good spot, signposted as a picnic area but as soon as we stopped we realised it was a private area with four grotty caravans parked and some little tables.  Immediately the little man came up to tell us we would have to pay (depending on how long we were stopping) and would we like to stay the night in one of the caravans.  He turned out to be quite knowledgeable and a we did have a good conversation with him.  When it came time to go he wanted 100lei (which is more than we pay for a room for the night) so all he got from us was 10 lei and that was really more than enough.

After leaving home at 10am we got back to base just after 4pm – in time for a nice cold beer and a light snack of cheese, biscuits and cherries for our dinner.

24  June – Only a relatively short distance (on the map) of 135km to go but the going was very slow.  We first headed out for about 50km on a secondary road which was full of pot holes and patched road (I hate to think what the suspension will be like when we finish our trip) through a fairly flat valley and then we joined up with the main road hoping for an improvement.   It was slightly better and was through some of the prettiest scenery we have had yet – up and down through mountain valleys with little villages dotted along the way.  The alpine meadows very lush and saw our first herd of cows (about 40) all with bells on and managed by a single cowherd who was happily chatting away on his cellphone.  All along the way there were little shacks with local produce for sale – lower down fruit and veges, as we climbed further up it was honey, cheeses and dried meats.  You could even buy mountain dog puppies from guys sitting on the road.  Plenty of manual labour was being employed in the fields in this area – scything the hay by hand, tilling the land etc.

The style of building has changed – houses have little turrets on their roofs and instead of the brick and plaster have seen some wooden clad houses as well.  We had only one visit planned on the route which was Bran Castle (more commonly known as Dracula’s Castle).  Not quite the fairly tale looking castle but impressively built on a pice of rock.  We are now coming into tourist season and boy was it busy, we just had to follow along in a queue for the entire walk around inside.

The castle had been gifted to the Romanian Royal Family in the 20’s to use as one of their many residences.  It would have been a nightmare to live in with loads of narrow staircases to get from area to area, the rooms were all fairly compact but comfortable.  Had enough of the crowds so settled for an ice-cream in the local park before heading to Brasov.  Quite stop start trip along the flat valley as road works were in progress – the enterprising locals were out in force at each traffic stop trying to sell strawberries or raspberries.  Brasov itself was another pleasant surprise – it is a lovely city, by far the best we have seen yet.  Our hotel was about 10 mins walk from the centre with a lovely open square surrounded by interesting buildings and quaint streets plus of course the obligatory church or four.  A little classic car show was happening in the square which was creating quite a bit of interest.

Travelling through the countryside is like going through Americas bible belt with at least one massive church in every town.  We again managed to be provided with “views” from our little balcony – overlooking a smaller square and out to the hills beyond.  Found a delectable coffee and pastry shop for a brief interlude before heading back for another nail-biting Americas Cup session.

25 June – Sunday today and a lot cooler, so it was join the locals and just promenade around the city.  We took the recommended route around the city walls, first along the base of the Tampa mountain then down into the town and around the other side.  With that done, it was into the nice old town centre with its pedestrian streets and the main square.  The main street was lined with tables, chairs and umbrellas in the middle so that you could partake of the local cafe/restaurant culture – we were forced to sit down and have crepes and a drink while we watched the world go by.

The Romanians are a real mixed bunch – from the very swarthy to the very light-skinned. Have only seen one Roma (gypsy) so far – a woman begging with her children but we have figured they must have a very good welfare system here as there are no street bums and at most we have seen about three old women begging all outside of churches. The Roma only make up 1% of the population – they must have all moved to bordering countries where they are much more obvious.  Romania feels very safe, no threatening looking people lurking in their cities and just ordinary people going about their daily lives everywhere.  No real language problems as English is widely spoken and if not the language has latin roots so many words are distinguishable.  Dined in a small Italian restaurant before heading back for the obligatory AC session.

26 June – Heading towards the coast today but first it was up through a couple of mountain villages which were very much holiday destinations judging by all the little touro stalls on the side of the road.   Quite impressive views of some very dominating rocky mountains as we wound through the valley and then it was out onto the plains again.  200kms of very flat agricultural plains – more commercialised with much larger paddocks and more mechanised but there were still the odd horse nd cart trying to compete on the busy road with big trucks whizzing by.  The style of housing has changed markedly – mainly single story homes with tin roofs as opposed to tiles, the towns were not very inspiring and I did wonder what our next stop was going to produce but it turns out that Amara is a little lakeside tourist resort (and if you rely on google translate for info – then it is famed for its sludge!). Our hotel had been built with funding from the EU and local govt. in a bid to promote tourism in the region.

A little montage of Romanian driving

Nice and clean and half the price of Brasov without dropping too much in comfort. The heat wave is continuing to follow us around with temps heading up in the mid 30’s plus humidity so not conducive to a lot of walking around.  They had a restaurant on site serving “International” cuisine – I chose Shanghai chicken – not sure which part of the chicken was from Shanghai but it was about 10 little tenderloins deep fried (no sauces, no rice) and if it wasn’t for the salad ordered as an extra it would have been a very dry argument.  Bob had grilled trout which was probably the better bet.  Finished our meal just on time to hear the final AC race and poor Jimmy Spithill’s defeat.  What a great effort by our guys and really nice to be able to stick it Oracle.

27 June – Mostly agricultural scenery today with one little bit of forest for a change.  In that forest there happened to be loads of beehives – but more interesting were the mobile hives in trucks.  They obviously just move around to follow the flowers as they come into bloom and probably don’t have to pay for the privilege as they just park up in public parking spots.  Crossed over the Danube via a toll bridge and then it was into the huge expanse of the Danube Delta and a little village at the end of the road to stay at a nice Pensiune.  In this area we have noticed many storks nests atop power poles still with chick/s and their parents.  Many of the houses now are sporting thatched roofs – with reeds readily available from the delta this makes a sensible altenative to steel and tiles.

28 June – Today’s  treat was a boat trip out on the Danube Delta.  We had chanced upon a local guide who offered a reasonable deal so agreed on a duration and were duly picked late afternoon to embark on our exploration.  Five minutes into the trip a huge thunderstorm was bearing down on us, so it was quickly out at the first available stop and into a bar to shelter for nearly an hour until the rain passed.  With the storm out of the way we then proceeded – first crossed over the Danube river and into one of the arms before hitting a series of little canals and trails through the delta.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and a great spotter of the wildlife as he motored us about in his small outboard driven boat.  The bird life was quite varied with egrets, storks, cormorants, ibis, heron and even pelicans.  We ventured into a couple of lakes the first lined with water lilies around its edges and then through a very narrow passage out into a larger lake, this one covered quite comprehensively in a float planting – bit like a the leaves of a pineapple plant.  Both of the lakes very quite shallow and had extremely weedy bottoms which was creating a bit of a problem for his outboard – at one stage I had visions of us stuck out in the middle of nowhere as it did seem to stutter for while until he finally managed to clear the prop.

There are villages in the delta area which can only be reached by boat – they one we passed used to be a fishing village but had been turned into a little tourist area but didn’t look very appealing.  We also passed by one of Ceaușescu hunting lodges – it turns out that he decided one day that he wanted to have this lodge for himself and in the middle of the night turfed out all of the tourists who were staying there.  Our guide’s mother had to go in the next day to clean up and she told him that the people had had to leave so quickly that most of their possessions were left behind.  The overriding feeling as you motor around is one of decay – both from the smell of the very dank water that pervades the whole of the delta and the abandoned buildings and projects. During Ceaușescu’s reign he had a lot of the delta drained to make more farming land and that changed the landscape dramatically.  Also hard to imagine as we puttered around in hot humid temps that most of the waterways freeze over in the winter including the lakes and the Danube itself.

29 June – Stinking hot day again with a drive over very hot plains to boot so it was nice to arrive at our destination of Focsani and break the monotony.  Not much to see along the way except cornfields, sunflowers and wheat with the odd little rural town thrown in. The last town we came through had a series of little tables outside of the houses with plastic bottles filled with homemade wine for sale – needless to say we passed on buying them.

Trulli something else

10 June – Another glorious day heralded in Bob’s big day.  Breakfast was typical Italian,  extremely basic and certainly not the value for money that we have come to expect.  Today’s destination was over on the east coast, so it required a mix of motorways and ordinary roads to achieve that objective.  Hit the coast at Sibari and followed the coast almost to Taranto.  Must say that we find this coast much more pleasant than the much-lauded Amalfi coast – maybe because it was far less hectic and easier to travel about.  Had  a few side trips down to coastal villages looking for lunch – took a few tries before we found somewhere open.  First go we ended up at a very exclusive marina resort which was a no-go, but on our second try we found a lovely little restaurant – whitewashed with blue trim and a little blue boat parked outside on the pavement.  Nice relaxing meal – very tasty although I am not quite sure I like my pasta as al dente as the Italians cook it.  Lunch over it was time to head inland again to get over to the eastern coast just south of Bari to Alberobello.

The countryside was very pretty as we headed away from the coast – mile after mile of dry stone fences surrounding smallish paddocks, olives, fruit trees and hay being cultivated here.

I had read about the place and their interesting houses but did not expect it to be so stunning.  The little studio apartment I had booked was just on the edge of the town – in a very narrow street with lovely whitewashed houses.

First stop after settling in was to go up on to the terrace and we were certainly not prepared for the view from up there – surrounded on 3 sides by hundreds of these little trulli houses (not visible as we drove in) with their conical stone roofs – it was just magical.  Just a street away from our lodging, the old town began – tiny streets all with perfect whitewashed tiny houses and their funny little cones.  It was so pretty and like nothing we have ever encountered before.  It was quite a tourist trap with the usual little souvenir shops selling tiny trullis and other artisanal handcrafts but still managed to keep its charm.

A street vendor selling all manner of olives, dried and fresh fruits managed to part us of some cash as we sorted out a sumptuous antipasto dinner for later on – olives, fresh figs and gorgonzola along with french pate purchased early on in our travels.

11 June – Can’t believe how early people have to get started when taking coach tours – I had gone for an early morning (not really early mind – about 8.30am) walk to find some yoghurt for breakfast and the tour groups were already wandering around the little streets.  They would have bussed in probably from Bari.  I managed to find my yoghurt – a necessity to go with figs that I had stewed the night before.

We had nearly 400km to knock off today so we didn’t hang around too long – back out through the pretty countryside for a while before hitting motorways to knock off some of the distance.  Only made one stop – Termoli.  Parked in the port area and took the stairs up to the old part of the town to have a little walk around.

Carried on to just north of Pescara to our fairly ordinary hotel for the night.

12 June -More coastal scenery today as we went further up the coast.  Stop for the night was Rimini and made a bit of a blue here.  I booked what looked like a relatively quiet seaside area, but oh dear it was like Billy Butlins on steroids – mile after mile of built up area – hotels on one side of the street, beach complete with brollies and chairs on the other side as well as little fairground rides interspersed among them.  It was awful, quite busy during the day but everyone seemed to come out of the woodwork at night.  Not the nicest of hotels either, but it was somewhere to put our heads down.

13 June – Breakfast surpassed itself in expectations so we were well setup for the day ahead.  First stop, back towards Rimini and the Nazionale Museo del Motocicilo (how did we manage to pass a whole month and not visit one of these?).  Quite a little gem – situated in a little backwater on the side of the airport it housed quite an exceptional collection.

They only had a couple of display buildings but managed to cram in a large number (around 250) of very original machines – not just Italian marques but a few Nortons, Sunbeams etc.  About 20 sidecars, quite a few scooters and other bits and bobs.  Not very many visitors seem to make it to this museum.

Museum done, it was off to San Marino (a little country enclave just inland from Rimini).  The only country in the world with more cars than people.  The drive through the countryside was just beautiful as it wound up through the hills – wish I had booked up here instead of down on the coast.  Parked our car at Borgo Maggiore at the foot of the aerial tramway and rode the very short steep gondola up to the old town on the top of the peak.

It was quite magical up there, with little fairytale castles, tiny streets and super views.  Very high end shopping – tax free perfumes,watches, leather etc.  Had a little spot of lunch before heading back down.  Had another 3 hour drive to get to Venice, which part way along Monique decided to turn it into a 4 hour drive by taking us off the autostrade and on to the state road (it did look like she had foreseen traffic delays).  From there it was a very slow 150km along the coast road with nose to tail traffic in both directions averaging about 70kph at best.  Anyway we made it into Venice with no difficulties, staying at Quatro D’Altino on the norther end of the city.

14 June – Venezia beckoned.  We caught the train from near our hotel for the 30 minute ride into the central station.  Nice little journey, through countryside first and then through residential areas.  Busy central station, but easy to find our way around. Caught the vaperetto, which is the waterbus that runs on several routes, but we took it right around the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco and then set about walking back to the station.  Very busy of course around the square, but it was quite easy to get away from the crowds and get to more enjoyable areas.

A lot of interesting little shops, particularly the antique and print shops.  Shops selling masks of course abounded as well as the Murano glass.  We just had a leisurely walk around with the mandatory coffee, lunch and gelato stops. The canals are super busy with water taxis, buses, gondolas as well as all of the trade boats which have to service everything within the city.  How nice to have no vehicles whatsoever and being able to walk with ease.  Most of the buildings around the canals have definitely seen better days but would have been grand in their day.  Must say that it was nice to be able to walk around with dry feet (when I came here in the lat 70’s I was wading through knee-deep water throughout the streets).   The gondoliers look quite cute in their striped shirts and little hats and were doing a reasonable trade despite it not yet being peak season. Well satisfied with our wander around it was time to get back on the train home.  The forecast thunderstorm came in just as predicted whilst we were on the train and was in full force when we had to get off.  Haven’t experienced such heavy wind and rain for quite a while.

https://youtu.be/fzi8UzcBfeo

We had to get off the train on to an uncovered platform and the dash to the subway was such fun.  We did have parkas but that didn’t a lot of good and we were little drowned rats by the time we got to cover.  Sheltering in the subway until the rain eased didn’t last long as the rain swept down into the ramps and made it unpleasant.  Another quick dash to our car then a short drive through very flooded streets back to the hotel to work out how to get soaked clothes dry overnight.

15 June – The thunderstorms had well and truly gone, replaced with yet another hot sunny day.  With not too far to go, it was at a leisurely pace that we began our day.  Trieste – just about an hour’s drive up the coast was our lunchtime stop. What a different city that was – wide open plazas, clean and tidy and relatively calm drivers.  Managed to find a park on the waterfront, right in front of the main square with the huge P&O ship the Oriana berthed right alongside.  Spent ages in a little book shop trying to find a decent map book of Europe, in the end settled just for an individual Romanian map which should be adequate for our next leg of the journey.  Lunched in a nice little Greek café just back from the main touro areas before it was time to retrieve the car and head out of Italy.  I didn’t realize that we were quite so close to Slovenia, only 11km up the road and it is like being in another world.  We climbed very steeply out of Trieste and on hitting Slovenia the first thing we noticed – spotlessly clean, no rubbish at all on the sides of the road, road verges were mown and there were footpaths that you could actually walk on.  I had booked us into a hotel right on the border – didn’t really dawn on me when I had booked it that is was a casino – I guess the name should have given it away – Safir Casino Hotel.  Anyway it was much better priced than anything I could find in Trieste, very comfortable with the most luxurious beds and of course the Casino.  I was forced to try that out and managed to come out with a huge 10Euro more than I went in with – that’s a first for me for a while.  We didn’t need to have an evening meal due to the large and late lunch that was consumed earlier – so we went out for a little stroll instead.  We weren’t close to any shops or the like, so it was just a pleasant walk on footpaths that actually let you walk unimpeded.  Slovenia is just so different from Italy, how is that two cultures living side by side are so diverse.  Driving the short distance we had made it into the country was so much more relaxed – the roads seem to be top class as well, houses neat and tidy (more Austrian in appearance).

16 June – Just a few kms down the road was one of the first stops for the day – the Lipica stud, horse stud of the famous Lippanzer horses – the beautiful white horses which you see in both the Spanish and Austrian riding schools, but which originated from here.  Entry fee included a guided tour which we participated in – very informative and a good background to the stud.  It started in 1580 and in the 1800’s was part of the Hapsburg’s estate.  It covers 350 hectares of beautifully treed pastures, stables, historic area and their riding school.

Hadn’t timed it right for a performance at the school, but managed to have a good walk around, see the beauties up close and just enjoy the area.  They had a new batch of foals, just a couple of weeks old which had been let out in the open air for the first time along with their mothers.  They are born black and as they age they slowly turn white with the exception of about 1% which remain black or brown.  Their bloodline is a mix of Spanish, Italian and Arab.  Only stallions are used for the performances – and it takes about 5 years to train them to the “Stage of Excellence” that they must reach.  The mares on the other hand are relegated to pulling the carriages.  When the foals are born, they stay with their mother for about 7 months and then are split off into their gender groups –the males are sent off to a different farm for about three years and then return to start their training. The mares have foals every 3-4 years, and this year’s brood produced 15 males and 8 females.  On the way out of the complex encountered a large group of mares browsing the paddocks.

With that done, it was on to the next visit – the Military museum.   What a pretty drive through the wooded hills, quite narrow roads but hardly any traffic and through a couple of small villages to the site of the museum, lovely vistas from its sit atop the hills – unfortunately too much heat haze for any photos.  Outside temp was up to 38C. Indulged in a spot of lunch (we ordered hamburgers expecting a small meal – they were huge – the patties alone the size of bread and butter plate with about 5 slices of bacon, lettuce peppers and onion as well as the bun part) which will also pass for dinner.  Left Bob to his own devices to look around whilst I had time to catch up on blog and reading.  Continued on to Ptuj our stop for the night.  We opted for the motorway to get us around Ljubljana and it took us an hour to go 30km – so painfully slow and masses of trucks.  Getting out the other side we then branched off onto another motorway which was traffic free and we were then able to zoom along again hassle free.  Our accommodation for the night – Panorama Rooms – was a family run B&B in a large house overlooking the town.  Set in lovely gardens and a very friendly hostess.  Our room was quite small but it did have a “Kitchen” – clean and basic.

Had a little wander down the hill which was the site of an old roman town although nothing to see now.  Very patchy wifi, so fortunately no Americas Cup coverage needed.

17 June – Wholesome breakfast complete with eggs cooked to your choice.  Rosemarie gave us a recommended route to get to Hungary and so began a very long drive. We left soon after 10am and didn’t arrive in Baja until 5.00pm but the drive was interesting.  Through the balance of Slovenia we wound through their wine growing area, very picturesque, clean and green.  Houses and gardens are all very tidy, nicely painted and colourful.  Mainly two storied houses on quite large properties.

Crossed over into Hungary and immediately a noticeable difference.  Within less than 1km from Slovenia the difference began.  Houses very poorly maintained, mainly single storied with no garaging on the property.  Houses built right up to the road.  No more nicely trimmed road verges but still reasonably clean.  Our journey then took us through a series of minor roads which were well maintained in the most, but the main problem was that nearly every 2km was a town which required slowing down to 50km so it was a quite a slow drive.  We had received a call from our accommodation asking if they could transfer us from an apartment to their VIP room with breakfast for the same costs – no problem for us so happily agreed.  What a room – the bathroom was bigger than many of the places we have stayed in recently complete with a spa bath, nice shower and very spacious.  Beautifully appointed room, with top class furnishings and great wifi.  We dined in their very nice restaurant with Bob sampling for the first time goose liver which was cooked to tender perfection.

18 June – On the road again and off to Romania.  Only 200km and all of that was through flat, flat, agricultural land.  Hay, maize, sunflowers and wheat were the main crops – good roads but boring.  Stopped off in Szeged for lunch and a little look around before crossing over the border 50km later.  We had to actually have our passports stamped and car papers checked before being let in.  Purchased the obligatory road tax necessary to travel on any of their roads and just another 30km to get to Arad.

Romania is a further step down the chain from Hungary, buildings very run down but the motorway system is  brand new.  Found our stay for the night relatively easily – it was a bit hectic getting though the centre of town as there was a big street food festival happening.  We were just outside of the centre and our ‘’apartment’’ is in an old building – it did have a kitchen and although everything was a bit second-rate still clean enough and suitable wifi to listen to the next installment of Team NZ.  The centre of Arad would have been impressive in its day – a wide boulevard stretches for a couple of Kms, tram line through the centre, wide pavements both sides and two lanes of traffic in either direction.  The buildings were very grand but extremely run down – the streets quite unkempt  compared to both Hungary and Slovenia.

19 June – Another hot day.  Had a little walk back into town to get some cash (they don’t use Euro here so needed some local lei) and see what the tourist info office could advise.  Turns out – not that much.  We had seen all the notable buildings.  Headed off on the road down to Timişoara – a nice quick ride on the motorway (these motorways are so new that they haven’t got their service areas organized yet) but they have managed to put toilets in them but no gas stations.  With no real expectations of Timisoara it was a pleasant surprise.  We were able to drive right into the city centre and find a parking spot.  Only problem was we couldn’t work out how to pay.  In the end I collared a young woman who had just parked her fancy Jag and asked if she spoke English – her answer was yes and then she proceeded to take me through the payment process.  The sign had a number where you texted your car rego to and for each text you would be charged for one hour of parking. Duly sent two texts and we then hit the centre.

A large area of the historic centre is made over to pedestrian only making it such a pleasant way to explore the area. The main square was surrounded by impressive buildings lined with cafes and restaurants with interesting streets leading off in all directions to various other smaller squares.  Had a nice lunch and another little walk before heading back to our car.  It seems that the text must have worked as many cars parked around us had been ticketed.  Off out of the city and on to our final destination for the day – a small town called Lugoj.  A little better standard of accommodation but right on a busy intersection so might be noisy overnight.

Drove back into town to see what it had which was not a lot but there were nice views from the river front.  Home for dinner – chicken schnitzel with nice boiled potatoes and a tomato/cucumber salad.

 

 

Sicilian Sampler

01 June – Our first few weeks has passed very quickly and still not a drop of rain.  Checked out our local surroundings before breakfast – not a lot around here, just a mix of villas/apartments and cultivated fields.  Olives and grapes seem to be the predominant crop, but figs, oranges and artichokes are also plentiful.  Headed into Sciacca later on – caught the mad lunch time traffic not made much better by navigator making a wrong call on the parking entrance and ending up having to trail around a series of one way streets before we could finally get back to the parking area.  Needed to buy an envelope – thought that would be a difficult task but the first shop (a tobacconist) had them for sale so it was then off to the post office to get the letter sent.  Post offices seem to be a real social place here – as you enter you take a ticket from the machine and then wait until your number comes up and in the meantime they seem to catch up on the local gossip with each other.  With that chore done, we had a little walk around the town, as always plenty of churches.  Some of the buildings going back to the Norman times.

A nice little park overlooking the harbour, but not a lot else.  Came back to find a parking ticket on our car – sometimes it is a pain when you can’t understand the language.  It seems that the car park attendant goes on his siesta break from 2-4pm so during that time you can’t pay and it seems that if you know that you are going to be there over that period then you have to prepay.  Our host back at the apartment offered to sort it the next day – we did have to pay the fine of 5euro instead of just the charge for the couple of hours we were there.  Lesson learnt!

02 June – After a nice lazy start to the day, made some sammies and set off in the direction of Trapani about and hour’s drive away.  As we neared the city, we noticed a much more interesting looking place high up on a hill (2500ft) overlooking the city. Called Erice, it was a fortified medieval town and another neat place to walk around. Seems it was Republic Day Holiday so the locals were our in force, but we did manage to find a parking spot close to the city gate.  Ceramics are a huge thing in this area, very gaudy and not at all to our liking but they must sell as there were so many little shops packed to the gunwales – most of them are hand painted and each shop had its own little workshop.  Walked up and down the little streets, the paving throughout the little town was amazing – divided into 40 cm squares – the inside of which were bits of stone laid on edge,then surrounding each of these squares were four oblong flat marble stones, each dovetailed to form a larger square.  Very hard to walk on, and would be a nightmare in heels or when wet.  Can’t imagine that it would have been very easy for horses either as the streets were quite steep.

Visited a very cute display of Erice in miniature, series of diorama depicting early life complete with little mechanised figures going about their work – ie. blacksmith, baker, musician at the restaurant, butcher etc.

We had our first few drops of rain, so ducked into one of the churches until it stopped.  It is always a surprise, from the outside these churches look plain and uninspiring but stepping inside it was bright with a very fancy altar and the usual Catholic accoutrements.

Once the rain eased we headed to have a look at the castle then back into the town square for a sit down and taste some Sicilian delicacies.  That was well-timed as there was a special medieval procession taking place with a band of incredible young, vigorous drummers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuXbx6f7u6o

Back down to our car and then down a different little road laced with switchbacks – getting used to these now – they would make great hill climb roads but with opposing traffic you need a bit more care!  Came home via a different route, between Sciacca and Trapani the rolling hills are very heavily cultivated – olives and grapes mainly but also many hectares of greenhouses growing capsicums (they thrive here and the ones you can buy in the markets are huge).  On the outskirts of the towns you find little trucks laden with produce for sale – in season at the moment are melons – huge watermelons and all sorts of other ones – too much for us to cope with, we have to be content with cherries, apricots and peaches.  Back home to Sanmarcomare and a home cooked meal for a change.

03 June – Moving on again – destination Marina di Modica via Agrigento.  Agrigento is home to the Valley of the Temples – a bit of a misnomer as the Temples are all along a ridge – this a World Heritage site with excavated and partially restored temples from the 6th & 5th C BC they constitute some of the largest and best-preserved ancient Greek buildings outside of Greece itself.  A couple of hours in the heat of the day walking up and down the ridge was enough for us – certainly an impressive site.

Back to the car for a spot of lunch then on the road again for the last couple of hours of our journey. This time we have a small villa, with a couple of bedrooms upstairs and kitchen, bathroom and lounge/kitchen downstairs with a lovely covered patio  – we are in a small subdivision called Residence Bougainvillea – the colourful plants are in full bloom and along with scent of other tropical flowers it is very nice.  Inside to welcome us was a full fruit bowl, a fridge full of goodies including wine, cheese, sweet things and eggs.  A short drive to the supermarket to pick up dinner things for the next few days and then time to settle in and listen to the Americas Cup transmission from Radio Sport NZ.

04 June – Stay put day with just a walk down to the beach – crowded today being a Sunday.  Very shallow beaches here but the water is clear and clean. Don’t think I have ever seen so many speedos!!  Picked up some nice fresh bread to take home for lunch.We have temps getting up into the low 30’s now, so really should be joining the locals and having our siesta from 1-4pm but somehow not quite managing to co-ordinate ourselves for that.

05 June – A drive into Siracuse today – only about an hour from our base along a variable state road – in places nice and smooth but at times the surface very broken up and not good for the car’s suspension.  Travelled through Nota but after getting taken around a series of one way tiny streets with no hope of finding parking flagged it and headed on Siracuse via Fontana Bianca for a morning tea stop.  Sampled one of the local Sicilian delicacies – canolo which looks like a brandy snap, but the shell is made of a nutty chocolate concoction filled with whipped cream, more chocolate and pistachio – extremely sweet and rich.

On into Siracuse where we found a great public car park close to the old town so set out to have a good explore.  A compact area – separated from the main part of the city in the old port area surrounded all around by water.  Docked along the main waterfront parade where a nice collection of fancy yachts and launches were moored (not as flash as St Tropez or Valletta in Malta) but a couple from Aussie and one very large one from the Cayman Islands.

Down one of the little side streets we came across a neat little museum devoted to Leonardo and Archimedes – inside were a about 30 of their models which had been recreated, many of which were interactive so you could have a little play to check out their workings.  The inventions were such marvels of engineering brilliance – they were certainly well ahead of their time.  Finished our visit with a meander around the maze of tiny streets before heading back to the car.

A large cruise ship was moored out in the harbour but the passengers must have mostly been whipped off to other places as there wasn’t too much sign of them in the town.

06 June – Our first rainy day, but with not too much planned other than moving on to our next destination it didn’t really matter.  With only a couple of hours driving to Piazza Armerina our next stop  – were able to have a very relaxed start to the day.  Drove inland this time, still very highly cultivated, the hills were a little more pronounced but every scrap of hillside seems to have some sort of cropping on it.  To begin with the hillsides were divided into paddocks with stone walls, which I guess at once stage contained grazing animals but today the walls are in various states of disrepair and the land seems to used for making hay.  Ragusa was our first stop, but we didn’t quite manage to get ourselves in the historic Ragusa Ilba, but a spot midway between that and the new town much higher up.  Embarked on a walk down to the old city, but upon reaching a suitable overlook of the town decided that the view was just fine from where we were, it wasn’t necessary to descend down to the lower depths as we would just have to walk all the way back up again.

Contented ourselves with a little spot of lunch in a nice little cafe – Sicilian speciality for me – little deep-fried croquette filled with rice, cheese and spinach – very tasty.  Getting out of Ragusa entailed going uphill very steeply for a distance before emerging out onto a high plateau, the views from the top out over the next huge cultivated valley were spectacular.  Down into the valley, through the huge areas of cultivation – grapes and olives mostly (three-quarters of the island is given over to horticultural production). Drove through the valley and then up through little more winding roads to get to Piazza Armerina and our next little sojourn – Apartment Sant Andrea.  I could see Bob’s mind working overtime when we took the turnoff to the northern end of the town – straight into narrow streets with very dingy looking apartment blocks and Monique advising us that we only had 500m to go.  500m that made a huge amount of difference – our apartment was set in a huge garden, up a little cul-de-sac of about 6 villas – a veritable oasis.  Giulia our hostess was there to take us through our apartment – this has to be the best stay yet – immaculately furnished with white walls and furnishings in greys and reds very stunning and all for 52 Euro a night – very good value.  A little kitchen and dining area and a nice bottle of local red wine to welcome us. Giulia insisted on taking us around the gardens – the perfumes from all the flowering trees and plants was very heady.  A few lemons plucked off the tree for us followed by an explanation of what we must see tomorrow then we were left to settle in.  A quick search on google showed that in amongst these little streets of dingy buildings were various little shops for us to re-provision.  A tiny grocery store, the butcher next door and the baker a few doors down.  It is really nice that the big supermarkets have not dealt to these neighbourhood businesses as they have done in so many other countries.  For the grand sum of 3Euro we had our dinner sorted.  It was then time to settle in to listen to the disastrous events of the Americas Cup happenings – poor Team NZ doing the nose dive is probably not the best way to get match racing practice.

07 June – Giulia’s recommendation that we must not miss the Villa Romana del Casale was taken on board, so we duly set off before it got too hot to find this Unesco World Heritage site.  It was only about 10km from home, nestled in a tree studded valley and wow what a place.

The villa was constructed (on the remains of an older villa) in the first quarter of the 4th century AD, probably as the center of a huge latifundium (agricultural estate) covering the surrounding area. How long the villa had this role is not known, maybe for fewer than 150 years. The complex remained inhabited and a village grew around it, named Platia(derived from the word palatium (palace). The villa was damaged and perhaps destroyed during the domination of the Vandals and the Visigoths. The outbuildings remained in use, at least in part, during the Byzantine and Arab periods. The site was abandoned in the 12th century AD after a landslide covered the villa. Survivors moved to the current location of Piazza Armerina.

The villa was almost entirely forgotten, although some of the tallest parts of the remains were always above ground. The area was cultivated for crops. Early in the 19th century, pieces of mosaics and some columns were found. The first official archaeological excavations were carried out later in that century.  What they unearthed was this villa which largely still had its mosaic floors in tact – The Great Hunting Scene, in a corridor almost 200 feet long, portrays a fanciful  jungle in which lions, tigers and leopards hunt game and are in turn hunted by rearing horsemen in embroidered tunics and colored cloaks.

Blood drips, and one all but hears the screams. Circuses, chariot races and mythological scenes abound along with scantily clad female athletes performing olympic style sports.

Our visit began however with the bath houses complete with steam rooms, plunge pools and larger swimming pool, ingeniously heated from air forced through under raised floors.  From there we entered through into the villa’s porticoes quadrangle – a three phased fountain in the middle, surrounded by gardens then the covered portico, off which were various guests rooms.

Off the large corridor with the hunting scenes were the master’s northern and southern apartments – again with lavishly decorated mosaic floors.  It seems that the internal and external walls were all plastered and painted with scenes as well (some were still visible) but in later years these had been covered up with marble facings.  The amount of work in the mosaics just beggars belief – the mosaic pieces were sourced from marble from all around the Roman Empire – reds, blues, greys, whites and yellows and some poor devils must have had the job of breaking them into the 10mm squares, whilst others the painstaking work of actually making them into scenes.

The colours looked quite dull until the little man mopped them over with a damp mop and then they came to vibrant life.  The villa walls have been extensively reconstructed and the entire villa has been roofed and walled to protect the mosaics with a walkway installed around at ceiling level so that you can look down on each of the rooms.  A massive project –  reportedly it contains the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world.  Got ourselves in sync today so that we were back home in time for siesta.

Headed back out into the wide world to have a peek at the other of Giulia’s recommendations – namely the Greek ruins at Morgantina.  Monique had fun with us again getting us out there, I don’t know how she manages to find the most obscure little crappy roads but she does.  We did eventually make it to a road that at least fitted two vehicles and wound up through the hills to the site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4TyIKD_Xe0

For a Unesco site it was very run down and overgrown.  Over the years various excavations had been done but it seems that the money kept running out as they were in quite a sad state.  The site covered a large area the most interesting area was the main public square with a small theater and adjacent to it another meeting area with more seating where the people gathered to listen to their councillors.

There were the odd bits of columns outlining areas where porticoed streets would have existed.  The shopping area was visible with the walls of individual shops partially in tact.  There were nice views of the entire valley from the higher points of the town.  Odd floors still had some mosaic remains but they were not covered or protected in anyway so just left to the elements and were deteriorating quite badly.

Back home via the little hillside town of Aidone to the peace and calm of our nice little apartment.

08 June – A very vigorous farewell from Giulia as we set off for our last night night’s stay in Sicily.  Decided that we would drive around the base of Etna – first off via the motorway then as we neared Catania headed off to a minor road  that would do the circle trip for us.  Coming down the motorway we had fantastic views of Etna – smoking away out of a couple of fumaroles.  It certainly dominates the landscape.  The landscape coming down the motorway was dominated by fields of wheat then as we headed off around the base, the sides of the mountain turned green, with the lava flows covered with trees – the trees were mainly pistachios, planted in little spots where stones have been cleared.  Just amazing that anything would grow in this harsh environment but they were certainly flourishing.

Out of the relative calm of little farming villages and down close the coast where once again it was built up.  Our stop for the night – a little different – an Agriturismo called Antico Borgo.  It seems that it is an old converted villa – our room is OK but not quite sure where the promised Etna or sea views are but perfectly adequate.  The agriturisom bit means that we are in a little farm – surrounded by citrus trees – lemons and oranges, olives, peaches, figs, mulberries and grapes.  I was pleased to finally solve the answer to a tree that I had been seeing in plantations with bright orange flowers – turns out that they are pomegranates which are also growing here.

09 June – A lovely array of fresh fruits and jams straight from the orchard along with freshly squeezed orange juice made a nice finish to our Sicilian adventures.  With a backward glance at Mt Etna, it was off up the coast and back to the madness of Messina to catch our ferry back to the mainland.  We managed to have trawl 7km through the whole waterfront of Messina and the erratic drivers before coming to the embarkation wharf.  Just missed a ferry so it was a wait in the hot sun for about 30 mins for the next one to arrive.  Efficient loading and unloading at the other end and we were off up onto the freeway making our way north for the night.

Cosenza was meant to be our destination and here we struck the first hiccup in our bookings – can’t really work out what happened, but we went to the address of our hotel, the picture looked exactly like in the booking but everything was all closed up, and workers next door said the hotel was closed. We called the number I had but only got a message so we went to plan B and headed off to look for somewhere else to stay – we think it must have moved to a different place, because the later on we got an email asking where we had got to.  In the meantime I had contacted booking.com to tell them we couldn’t find the place and to make sure that we didn’t get charged – they confirmed that we wouldn’t so that was OK.

Our alternative accommodation was a bit of a budget blowout, but it was Bob’s birthday and it was very nice.  High up on a hill in the village of Contessa was this very spiffy hotel complex open but not really geared up yet for the season so we were the only guests.  They had a nice restaurant – we were joined by some other local couples who seemed to be there to critique the menu items as they all had pens and paper and the chef kept coming out and asking them about their courses.  The complex had all a little mini farm complete with one sad donkey, a couple of black piggies and all manner of chickens and birds; nice swimming pool complex (not open for the season), venues for weddings and functions; nature walks and lovely views out over the countryside.

 

 

Rome to Sicily

25 May – Set off on the metro into the centre of Rome – a relatively easy trip as we didn’t have to change lines.  Popped out of the metro right in front of the Coliseum – in the past there used to be a hectic road circling this amazing monument, but now it is mainly pedestrian areas so you can walk right up to and around it.  The area was bustling with tour groups all following their allotted flag bearer – we were content with viewing from the outside, having been spoilt over the last few years in seeing many splendid versions of these.

We then proceeded to walk around the many other highlights that Rome had to offer – quite amazing that so many great buildings remain and with so much new construction going on – the lengths that they have to go to to protect them.   Covered most of the important places in the vicinity of the Coliseum, then got back on the metro to head over to St Peters Square and the Vatican.  The queues waiting to get into the Sistine Chapel were snaked right around the square.  Although the area was busy it was nothing like it can get when the Pope is doing his thing.

Fortunately we managed to miss Trump by a day – but the remnants of his visit were still visible – with roads still closed off, seating areas being dismantled and still quite a big police presence.  All of the busy areas had visible security around – either police or army.  Next stop it was Trevi Fountain – the mass of crowds here was just as bad, so it was a quick look and then off to find some more peaceful streets to wander around.

Found a little Sicilian restaurant for lunch, nice to get out of the head and away from the masses.  Suitably refreshed, we made our way down to the Tiber, to promenade along the bank for a few kms. Not much of a river – dirty looking, a few boats running tourists up and down, some interesting old bridges crossing and what looked like a few permanent houseboats moored.  A cool off with a refreshing ice-cream before heading back to the tube station and back out to our hotel in the burbs.

And here the drama began!!  The first line we boarded was so busy, we were packed in so tight it was a real mission just to get inside the train doors and equally as hard to get out – having to physically push and shove to get off.  We felt sure that this would be the place we could get done over but we managed to get off unscathed.  We changed over to the line that would take us home and fortunately this had much more breathing space on it.  In fact the carriage only had about 8 people in it – I got on and went straight to a seat but Bob got waylaid by two women who wouldn’t let him past.  People were shouting at us but we couldn’t understand what was being said – turned out they were telling us that the two women were pickpockets and that Bob had just been robbed.  They hopped off the train before the door closed and disappeared into the wild blue yonder.  Quick stock take once we realized – quite lucky really – the pocket that they had raided also had Bob’s passport and our car papers but fortunately they left those behind – just filched his small card folder containing two credit cards and his drivers license – this from inside a pocket with a velcro flap on it.  Grrr!!

Got back to our hotel and had to make the necessary phone calls to NZ to stop the cards, but can’t do anything about the license though fortunately he still has his International one.  Quite lucky with the ANZ card as we could immediately put a temp hold on it via internet banking, and then make the necessary phone call.  Quite a rigmarole when you phone with having to prove your identity but we finally got everything sorted.  New cards will be sent to England and luckily we have enough backup options with us but it is still pretty galling when it happens.  So our adventure in Rome did not go quite as planned but it could have been worse.  The metro may be an easy way to get around, but boy is it dirty – the carriages are all covered in graffiti, the stations dark and dingy and not at all pleasant when busy – what a complete contrast to Shanghai.   We were not at all in the mood to venture out in the evening so it was apples and nice NZ kiwifruit for dinner.

26 May – Destination Salerno today – no real option for us but to take the motorways as we had a reasonable distance to cover and the coastal route would have taken too long.  Did pick up on the map that we were going to go past Cassino so that merited a stop off.  They have a war museum there of which they are very proud.  It can only be visited with their guide and the hour long tour goes every 20 mins.  We were whisked around the various exhibits by a young woman who translated everything for us as we went – it was a bit difficult to understand her at times but she did have a good depth of knowledge about the battle and all the subsequent consequences.  The main part of the museum was explained to us as a 3d spectacular which had been put together by top Italian Oscar winning producers. It wasn’t that flash but as we went from room to room there were various types of displays from original footage of the bombing of the monastery to dioramas of the region showing just where the Germans had their defensive lines and the how difficult a task the Allies had to break through.  The whole story was told of course from the Italian perspective and the utter devastation that it had wreaked on Cassino town and all the surrounding towns.  The town of Cassino was 95% destroyed as were a couple of others whilst the remaining villages had differing levels of loss.  The devastation was such that when the war ended the townspeople just emigrated in their droves – mainly to the UK, Canada and USA, with smaller numbers to Australia and South America.

The monastery which was so needlessly devastated has now been rebuilt and is a massive structure that towers way above the town.  We drove the steep windy road up to the top to get a feel for the enormity of the task that the Allied forces faced.  When you look around from the height of Monte Cassino, you can see just how difficult the terrain was – huge mountain ranges looming up from the plains which Hitler had flooded to make it nearly impossible for the tanks to make any impression.

Back down the winding road and onto the motorway to take us to Salerno.  Monique is pretty good at finding places which is just as well as our map would never have found our B&B Bellavista – very aptly named as we have great views down over Salerno, out to our right to the Amalfi coast and to our left the toe of Italy.  Nice place, we have our own room and bathroom with a shared lounge, kitchen with one other room.  The local restaurant was highly recommended by our hostess, so we trundled off for dinner.  Hard to get used to the hours that the Italians keep – everything closes from 12-3, shops reopen from 3-7 then they don’t hit restaurants until 8pm onwards.  We got there at 8 and were the first patrons, we left well after 10pm and people were still coming in to eat.  We were singularly unimpressed with most of the meal especially our mains – my roast chicken was as dry as could be, and Bob’s weird cut of steak was tough.

27 May – This was a day for exploring the region around Salerno, in particular Pompeii and the Amalfi coast.  Pompeii was only 30 mins drive away – surprisingly easy to find and also managed to get parking on the street just down from the entrance.  Paid for 4 hours parking thinking that would be ample time to look around – 30 mins of that was wasted just waiting in the queue to get tickets.  Once through the gates and armed with a map – we began our exploration of this once buried city. Set over 40 acres, it had a population of 15-20 thousand at the time of Vesuvius’s eruption in around 80AD.  17 years prior to the eruption a huge earthquake had caused quite a bit of devastation and the town was still being reconstructed when they were engulfed by the ash and gasses from the sudden eruption.

The town remained buried under the ashes until the 1700’s and over the next 300 odd years continuous archaeological excavations have unearthed it to what we were able to see today.  What an incredible site – from the moment you enter the gates – a large arena one side and a colonnaded building on the other.  These were the outskirts of the town and from then we wound our way through paved streets lined with houses of varying degrees of reconstruction and varying degrees of wealth.  The streets had footpaths on both sides; the road had worn chariot ruts in places where the paving stones were obviously softer.  At most intersections there were huge stones in the middle of the road, placed so that the chariot could pass over them, but they must have been something to do with water redirection or perhaps stepping stones to cross the road.  Many houses seem to have survived pretty well including wonderful paintings on their walls, mosaic floors and water features.  The more money you had, the larger your water features.  We passed through streets lined with shops, the shop counters still visible including amphora set into the counters which would have held things like olives, fruit and vegetables.

 

The writing on the walls of some of the shops was still visible.  There was a huge piazza in the middle of the town, the streets leading to it were colonnaded and these would have been covered porticos.  Various temples and places of worship in the centre.

Other places of interest were very well preserved baths – the women’s especially so – complete with lockers, marble mosaic floors and a marble baths.  Apparently the rooms were very hot, heated from hot air underneath and too hot to walk on in bare feet, the women had to wear sandals which did not grip too well in the steamy heat resulting in quite a few broken legs and ankles.

Brothels were also commonplace – the prostitutes were Greek and other foreign nationalities and could not communicate with their Roman clients therefore very graphic pictures were painted on the walls above the beds to enable their clients to choose their service, these pictures were still well preserved on the walls.

Gymnasiums were also common – men were the only ones allowed to exercise, and these gyms had indoor and outdoor swimming pools and various other rooms.

We used all of our 4 hours to get around the site and took in all that we could. There were quite a few guided tours going around, so from time to time we could listen in on the commentary.

Back to our car, it was then on for the next little excitement – a drive over to the Amalfi coast.  By over – it meant that we had to climb over a small mountain range – “lovely” winding narrow road, up and over to the other coast and then we hit chaos.  The coastal road – this coast is mainly high cliffs, coming at odd times down to little bays – was even narrower, with a lot of crazy drivers in both cars and on scooters/motorbikes.  Parking was a nightmare near Amalfi, so we opted to turn back towards Salerno, stopping off at Minori where we lucked a decent parking spot and decided that we would stay put and have dinner before braving the elements back home.

Our choice of restaurant was rather a costly ordeal, our host insisting that we kept trying Mama’s homemade specialties – her spaghetti was homemade and dessert- “Mama’s surprise” was profiteroles filled with a chocolate cream. Ate way too much but the food was better than the previous night.  The 22km that was left to go on our journey took a whole hour as we dodged and wove around bend after narrow bend. Finally made it back home without incident and were able to relax for the rest of the evening.

28 May – Bade a fond farewell to Isabella our hostess then it was off on the motorway again with about 350km to our next destination of Lamezia Terme – not chosen for any particular reason other than it was a decent way down towards Sicily.  There were no tolls on the whole of this section of motorway, a lot of the road had just recently been finished, so the surface was excellent, the tunnels pristine and the engineering a marvel as per usual.  With brief stops at the various service areas along the way, we arrived at Lamezia around 3pm, no-one home at the B&B we had booked, so had a little wander around the area – very grubby which seems to be the norm in Italy.  By the time we had returned, our host there to greet us and settle us in.  Again a spotlessly clean room – our “garden views” were out over the parking lot to the next buildings, but comfortable enough and the price was good.  Ate out at “Mary’s Pub” – good food at a fraction of the previous night’s cost.

29 May – Decent breakfast to start off our day then wasted nearly an hour trying to get a document printed on our host’s printer – all to no avail.  Quick stop at the supermarket then off on the trusty autostrade (motorway) to the “toe” of Italy to catch our ferry across to Sicily.   A bit chaotic getting on the ferry then a short 30 min journey across the straight to Messina.  If we thought that it was chaotic when we boarded the ferry it was nothing compared to the absolute mayhem in Messina.  It was pure bliss to finally find the motorway and get away from the crazies.  We only had about 60km to get to our destination, most of that was on the motorway with about 10km off on the state road.  We couldn’t put the address into Monique’s brain for some reason so ended going about 6km beyond where we were meant to be.  After some messing around with her maps and finding a place with similar co-ordinates as the booking conf. said, back-tracked and finally reached it.  Well worth it, the B&B has only been open for 2 years, everything is still nice and new – with our own little private patio, a flash shower and a comfy bed with breakfast included all for 40Euro.   Just on the edge of the town of Patti, it was a nice short stroll into the main part of the town and beach.  Stony beach, but beautifully clear water.  The town is lacking in any sort of maintenance which seems to be typical.  Projects seem to start out nice here but soon turn to tack from complete neglect.

The little supermarket had a nice little treat in store for me – Limoncello cream for $10NZ a bottle, I don’t think it will last very long!

Returned home and managed to listen to the Americas Cup racing on NZ Sport Radio (we bet Artemis) before heading back into town for dinner.  Nice little restaurant – or it would have been if it wasn’t for the birthday party that was in progress for a 10 yr old girl – a dozen little Italian children sure make an awful lot of noise.

30 May – Not too far to go today so we took the coastal road to Cefalu – certainly an improvement on the Amalfi coast road.  Made a couple of stops along the way, morning coffee outside a nice little hotel on the waterfront; not far from the coast, there are a series of little volcanic islands, from our seat on the terrace we could see about five.  Stromboli is one of the active ones, pictures showing it glowing at night are quite impressive.

Lunch was interesting in an abandoned coastal development.  A lot of money had been invested in putting a lovely paved walkway along the length of the beach, every 50m or so, pillars which would have had showers on them all rusted and now missing most of their vital parts.  I guess it was about 1km in length but all overgrown and completely neglected.  Unfortunately Italians do not seem to have much pride in their environment – rubbish is strewn down both sides of the roads, every parking spot is even worse.

Quite a few seaside towns down this part of the coast – the sea is beautifully clear, some beaches are sandy, but most are small pebbles.  Our stop for the night was just a few km before Cefalu, but with a very tricky drive up to it, had to go a few km beyond before we could turn around and come back and tackle the drive from a better angle.  Another good choice, lovely views from the shared terrace and a nice clean room.  Our hostess welcomed us with a hot drink and gave us the run-down on the town.

Had a little rest up before heading into the town, public parking was available on the beachfront just a short walk from the old town.  Spectacular setting, with a steep rocky cliff looming over the old town.

Our first stop was the local Polizia to see if we could get an authenticated copy of Bob’s passport so he could apply for a replacement driving license. No luck with that – were told to come back the following morning as an English translator would be there.   Set off to walk around the medieval town, and what a neat place.  Tiny paved streets occasionally opening out into little piazza.  Loads of very touristy shops but still interesting to wander around.   The shopkeepers are not pushy and there were no touts or hawkers trying to get you to buy watches etc.

Its main attraction is a Norman Cathedral which was built in 1131.  It must have been a very imposing feature when it was built.

The old port had a tiny beach with houses built right down to the sea, in many places it was obvious to see that they had just been built atop the original city wall.  Our hostess also ran a restaurant with her husband in the old town so we decided to dine there – wow what a lovely meal (for me it was the best meal I have since leaving home).  I had very thin fillets of swordfish which were wrapped around a filling of sultanas, breadcrumbs, pine nuts and lemon – lightly dusted with more crumbs and deep fried.  It was just getting dark when we headed back home for the night – just in time again to listen to the Americas Cup racing.

31 May – Spoilt this morning – scrambled eggs on top of cereals, fruits, yoghurt and sweet things.  Back down into Cefalu to try again for the authentication.  Polizia sent us up to the Municipal Offices.  They found someone to help us out and from there it was quite an excursion for Bob and him as they trailed back and forth from the Municipio and Polizia and back to the Municipio where they were finally directed to a Notary who spoke perfect English, knew exactly what Bob wanted, signed the form and all was rosy.  It only took a couple of hours to get it sorted!!  In the meantime, I had returned back to the car to extend our metered parking and had a nice time people watching.

Bob had managed to glean quite a lot of info from his escort who was a retired policeman.  He was forced to retire as he had got shot in the leg.  He explained that the mafia still exerts a very strong influence on the island while the police do not have much sway at all.  Apparently the crime rate is very high on the island, but it is organised crime not crime directed at tourists.

Getting out of Cefalu and on the way over to Sciacca was not too difficult – had motorway for about 60km to Palermo, a hectic interlude getting from the motorway to the state road and then a wonderful road up and over the spine of the island and down into a very fertile valley – very sparsely populated, growing almonds, grapes and different ground crops.  The roads are realy colourful in places as they lined with flowering oleanders in white and all shades of pink.  By the way it is apricot season now – $1NZ per kg and cherries about $4NZ.  Monique then decided to have a bit of fun with us and turned us off the lovely road onto a little road running through all the fields  It was sealed but a little rough – it did come out right near out accommodation though so worked out fine.  You do wonder as you are heading off in the middle of nowhere if you will ever make the destination, but just have to keep the faith!!  We are stationed for the next three nights in Sanmarcomare, which is about 5km from Sciacca on the south coast.  We have a little self contained apartment with a balcony looking out towards the sea in the distance, were welcomed with a Limoncello which was a nice start to our stay.

Apparently just a 10 min walk down to the beach so will explore that tomorrow.  We needed to stock up on food for the next few days, so it was in towards Sciacca and a small but well stocked Lidl supermarket.  It is interesting wandering around and seeing what delights you can pickup.   Weather has been superb since leaving home – sunny days with temps constantly in the high 20’s with cooler mornings and evenings.

 

 

Shanghai to Siena and beyond

18 May/19 May – spent our last day in Shanghai experiencing the Metro – what a great service.  There are over 600km in the 12 different lines that service the city.  We ventured down to the one closest to us – spotlessly clean, easy to use ticket booths featuring an English option – our ticket for a one way journey – $3 yuan (less than $1).  Bob was really impressed when the locals kept giving up their seats for him (being an old bugger sometimes has its benefits).  All announcements on the trains are given in Mandarin and English and also bilingual signs made it a breeze. We did make sure that we didn’t “frolic” in the station and kept the public order!  We didn’t want to do too much due to the late flight we had to take so just wandered around one of the old international concession areas, had a coffee and cake and returned back to the hotel for a couple of hours before setting off for the airport.  We had decided that we wanted to sample the Maglev train back to the airport, so it was a short taxi ride to the train station.  The Maglev is the only commercially operating magnetically levitated train in the world running 30km out to the airport.  The speed indicator starts the moment you set off and in no time at all we reached our running speed of 301kph – that 30km got us to the airport in just 8 minutes.  Auckland could do with one of these!  Again the train and station were all spotless.

Lufthansa was our airline for the flight to Nice via Munich – it was nearly an hour late leaving due to the long queue of flights waiting for their turn.  That time was pretty well made up by the time we got to Munich which was just as well as we used the full 2 hours of our connection time just getting through customs and immigration controls.  A short hop to Nice had us touching down at 8.30am then an easy walk to find our new car ready and waiting for us.  Neat little red one this time – the paperwork was quickly dealt with then in was out into the world of French chaotic driving (Shanghai was very calm and collected in comparison).  I had booked a hotel just 14km from the airport which on paper looked quite short, in practice it was up in the hills reached by quite a narrow windy road – thank goodness for a small car, I had forgotten just how tight the roads are in these hillside villages.  Monique our GPS found the hotel without too much drama – OK place with great views from our tiny balcony, up the valley towards the Maritime Alps, down the valley to the coast.

After being on the go for well over 24 hours with not very much sleep, a comfy bed was very much appreciated and needed.  A few hours kip was enough to shake off some of the jet lag to feel somewhat more human again so that we could have a little explore of the local environs.  We are based in La Gaude, not a lot here – a supermarket, petrol station, boulangerie and a couple of restaurants.  Stocked up with a few essentials – wine and chippies etc.  and an electric kettle as many of the places we will be staying at don’t have them in the room.  Dinner was at the local Chinese restaurant – we were their only customers – good food and reasonably priced compared to the other local restaurant.

20 May – Time clocks out of kilter again so up with the sparrows.  The clouds over the Alps had cleared this morning revealing snow-capped peaks. Breakfast in the hotel had a nice selection of eats but the ambience was rather spoiled by a bus load of Indians lodged at the hotel, extremely loud as they tried to make video calls back to India via the wi-fi in the lobby – totally inconsiderate of any other guests.  We set off early for a little exploration – we had espied a poster advertising a model exposition up in the next village of St Jeannet, so it was in with the address into the GPS so that Monique could guide us.  Grrrrr!  Will have to learn to ignore some of her instructions as we ended up going through the old part of the town – barely single lane alleys where as Murphy’s law would have it, we meet oncoming traffic and have to back up.  After a few attempts we did manage to find a parking spot and also the hall holding the show.  We got there before opening time, but were warmly welcomed by the organiser.  It was just a little affair – some large model planes, smaller model planes, boats, a train setup and an incredible display of drones – these were designed and made locally – the designer/owner of the company was on hand to explain the process.  Nice views from the town over to Cagnes-sur Mer and Antibes with a towering rocky outcrop making a stunning backdrop behind the town.

Set-off back down another windy road to Cagnes sur Mer to visit a medieval castle and museum.  First stopped off at the local market – as always, so impressed with the range of produce available, fresh and such good quality.  Can’t believe how manic the traffic is as the locals all head off at noon for their lunch.  We stayed put and had a bite to eat until it had all calmed down, before driving up to the old town and the castle.

The present castle was built in 1309 by Rainier Grimaldi (Lord of Cagnes and an admiral of France) – a distant ancestor of the present ruling house of Monaco. Later it became the residence of the Governors of the province. Following the French Revolution, it was used as barracks and later as a hospital. Now owned by the city of Cagnes.

Built upon a hilltop, the castle towers over the town. Constructed in the local stone, it retains many of its original medieval features and motifs, it is machicolated with crenelations surmounting its towers and keep. The castle is built around a triangular courtyard. During the reign of Louis XIII (1610 to 1643) the castle was altered, and the principal rooms made more comfortable and redecorated in the contemporary taste. The great hall has a painted ceiling depicting the Fall of Phaëton, completed in the 1620s by the Genovese painter Giulio Benso while the chapel has a ceiling painted with folk scenes.  Great views from the tower, looking down to the coast and back inland.  Having fulfilled our cultural intake for the day, we drove back to our hotel for a nice snack of local produce in lieu of dining out.

21 May – Destination Italy.  As we had quite a distance to cover, and the fact that the coast is so built up, opted to use the toll road to Recco. You can’t help to be overawed by the amazing road building skills the Italians have.  The road was a combination of viaducts and tunnels for the whole 215km – speed limits vary from 90-130kph although no-one seems to care about that – it does come at a price though – 21Euro to drive that distance.  We did a little side trip down to Monte Carlo and managed to cover a little bit of Grand Prix Circuit – although it is a bit lame to have to travel at 50kph.  There were some flash villas, all the top end shops and flash cars around, but mainly it was quite ordinary.   Gave up trying to find a carpark and headed back to the motorway on into Italy.

Recco was easy to get to, our little hotel was perfectly adequate even if it was squashed in between the road on one side and the railway track on the other.  Took a little drive back 20km into Genoa along the coast road, very slow going with scooter riders on a death wish, ducking and diving in and out of the cars.  Sunday in downtown Genoa was fairly quiet, parked in a central square and then walked the length of their main drag.  Grand buildings from more prosperous eras are now quite tawdry.  The main shopping street about 1km long and for the length of this you are walking under covered porticos, on tiled pavements, these would have been spectacular in their day.

We had to resort to Maccas to find clean toilets – that is one thing that Italy does not do well.  Our drive back to base at Recco was in the face of heavy traffic – can only surmise that it was the Genoese returning home after the weekend – would have to say that scooters outweigh car numbers in this area – you can see why when the roads are so narrow, it makes them the perfect mode of transport – nippy, easy to park and cheap to run.

22 May – Couple of hundred km’s to cover today with the main aim of exploring the town of Pisa and of course it’s leaning tower.  First up though we had a wander around the local market happening in Recco- these are fairly standard affairs throughout Italy and France – stalls seems to sell the same range of things – clothes, bedding, shoes, local produce.  Got onto the motorway towards Pisa, came off on the coast for a break then back on again and from there it was a relatively easy drive to get to the main tourist area in Pisa with good parking just a short walk from the sights.  The tower itself was quite different to the last time I saw it which must have been nearly 40 years ago when travelling through Europe on a freebie Contiki tour courtesy of the travel agency I was working for at the time. It was quite grubby back then, but now it is bright and light.

There were a lot of tourists, but nowhere near the number there will be during the peak season.  We had paid for 2 hours parking – in that time we managed to get the obligatory photos, walk around the town and experience a nice little degustation lunch.  There was a joint blonde/senior moment when it came to finding our car – we missed a vital footpath on our way back and just couldn’t find the parking lot.  Ended up doing several circuits of the area until we finally retraced our steps, found the right alleyway and were soon back at the car – rather relieved to say the least.

Out of Pisa and back on a non-toll motorway in the direction of Florence, but stopping about 30km short of the city in the smaller town of Empoli.  First attempt to find our lodgings didn’t quite work- confusion of the street name entered into Monique’s brain had us  down a dead-end street and no sign of where we should be staying.  A rethink and reprogramming of Monique, got us on track – our booking mentioned free public parking is possible nearby (realise now that is real estate speak for “you just park on the street”).  Our B&B had no advertising signs, but luckily did have its name on the list of letterboxes and a ring on the bell bought out our host.  Our room was on the 3rd floor, nicely laid out with a spotlessly clean bathroom and shared kitchen facilities.  Chosen for its proximity to the train station and reasonable price – it seems to have been a good choice.  Dinner in town at a very nice Japanese restaurant followed by a stroll back home.

23 May – Awoke to the tragic news of the Manchester bombing – a cowardly act at any time but to target young kids is really despicable.

Italian breakfast this morning (with the promise of a more suitable one tomorrow now that the owners know we are not Italian).  Easy walk to the train station and with trains leaving every 20 mins we were quickly speeding our way into the central station at Florence.  Double decker carriages gave a good view of the countryside.  The station is within reasonable walking distance to all the main attractions, so over coffee we set about on our plan of action for the day.  First up we took the road to the Pitti Palace, behind which we noticed on the map were the Boboli Gardens – covering a huge area it looked like a good place for an easy stroll – how wrong we were – great gardens yes, but they are on the side of a steep hill, and all paths seems to lead upwards!  The reward was great views out over the city.

 

By the time we had covered  as much our feet could handle, it was time for lunch.  What looked like a little basic Trattoria turned out to be quite an upmarket affair but we bit the bullet and enjoyed a tasty ravioli in a butter and sage sauce.  Fulfilled and recharged it was off to do battle with the hordes and cross over the Ponte Vecchio – both sides of this covered bridges were lined with little jewellery shops and sidewalk artists plying their trade.

A short walk along the riverside, got us the Piazza Uffizi –  and also the Uffizi Gallery home to David (the original inside but a copy resides outside – today with the Union Jack draped in his hand and sporting a black armband.  Even more hordes here and with huge queues for the gallery is was an easy choice to give that a miss and just walk around the piazza instead and admire the myriad of statues and take in the grandeur of the gallery buildings.  The police presence was certainly more pronounced here, but you do wonder how they would ever spot anything untoward when there are so many people milling around.

Were in need of another break, so a little gelataria with seats nicely placed for people watching was the ideal spot.  Purchased the three scoops plus a macaroon option and with over 20 different sorbets and ice-cream to choose from we were certainly spoilt for choice.  I settled for lime and basil sorbet, fig and walnut ice-cream and a dark cherry ice-cream. A lovely refreshing break – with the temp topping 30C certainly not conducive to racing around.

The last leg of our walk around this city, took us back via the Santa Maria Cathedral and that was just mind-blowing in its magnificence.  Faced in white and green marble with intricate carvings and statues, it certainly dominated the surrounding square.  Large queues here if you wished to visit the interior, but not for us – just happy to view from the outside.

Soon back at the main train station and back on board a train to Empoli – quite weary from pounding the streets.  Very nice to finally get home and chill out.  With a little shared kitchen available at our lodgings we settled for dinner in – ham, cheese and tomato toasted sammies washed down with the last of our French merlot made for a satisfying finish to our day.

24 May – On the road again after stocking up at the supermarket.  Opted for a non-motorway route down to Siena (about 60km) but it was quite slow going as the road went through town after town for the first part before opening out in farmland.  You could really be in NZ with the rolling green hills but instead of animals grazing the land, there is cultivation – grapes and vegetables mainly and the houses of course are typical Italian – terracotta roofs and plastered walls.  Many of the roads into and out of the towns are lined with trees making a very pretty drive, but does require concentration as they are very close to the side of the road.

Hit the motorway to make the final 200 odd kms to Rome – not too much traffic and nice to zip along at a nice clip as it was mainly a 130kph speed limit.  Joined up with the large ring road which circumnavigates Rome – our exit was to the north and we had only about 6km to go once exiting. That 6km was a little fraught – road works all the way.  Monique found our hotel, but it took us 3 circuits to finally work out where to park.  Hopefully the car will be OK as it just parked in the street below the hotel.  Hotel chosen again for its proximity to the Metro, we are about 10 stops from the centre of Rome so will venture out there tomorrow.

 

Shanghai continued…

16 May  – Much clearer air in the big city today.  Jet lag had us awake at 5.30am so a little time to kill until the city came to life.  From our window could see the locals getting into their early morning tai-chi exercises so guessed we would be able to find somewhere open for breakfast.   A great coffee shop around the corner did a mean scrambled eggs which gave us the energy to get on with some serious sightseeing.  First stop was the “Tourist Tunnel” which took us under the river to the other side.  We hopped into little capsules running on rails through the tunnel with a little sound and light show on the tunnel walls as we went through it.  Came out the other side to the commercial area, beside the iconic Pearl TV tower.  Hard to believe that this is a city of 24 million people as we had the river path to ourselves while we watched the hustle of barges steaming out to the mouth of the river.    Had a walk around the area for a while and returned via the tunnel to the Bund.

The hop on/off bus seemed like a good option for today’s exploration and with three routes to explore, started off with the red route taking us through older parts of the city, the French Concession. Swapped over to another route to get to the Jing An Temple.  This temple has had various reincarnations over the years (first built in 220 it was then relocated in 1200 to it’s present site; during the Cultural revolution it was converted to a plastics factory; 1972 burnt to the ground; reconstructed in the 80’s and finally reopened to the public in 1990).  It houses some iconic items- The jade Buddha has a height of 3.78 meters (about 12 feet), a weight of 2.6 meters (about 9 feet) and a weight of 11,000 kilograms, a 15 tonne silver buddha, a 3 tonne Ming Dynasty copper bell.  The main temple is constructed in Myanmar teak – 49 huge solid columns and interior carvings.  It was quite an impressive building and very incongruous in amongst all the highrise buildings.

 

After a spot of lunch, it was back on the bus to do another loop and get off at YuGarden area.  We decided to head off the beaten track around here so have a little peak at the more original Shanghai – much more reminiscent of backstreets of Hong Kong.   Narrow alleys, tiny shops, multitudes of wires overhead mixing in with the washing drying on poles.

Had intended to visit Yu Gardens, but by the time we reached that stop they were already closed so it was back to the hotel for a break with the plan for taking the blue route over the river to see the nightlights.  That plan also scuppered as the last blue bus turned out to be at 5.30pm not the 8pm we were expecting.  Plan B was implemented with a walk along the bund to watch the lights come on along with the thousands of very excited Chinese – wedding photos seem to be a favourite on the Bund with the nightlights in the background.  Walked back up Nanjing Road to our hotel.  What a complete contrast walking around in the evening – Shanghai really comes to life, the main preoccupation seems to be shopping and the streets are just seething with Shanghai-ites.

 

Opted for a local restaurant for our dinner – just nice to get out of the hustle of the main shopping areas and happened to share our table with a very interesting Australian working in the fire service who was currently on a round the world  10 week Winston Churchill funded scholarship studying his field of expertise – fire fighting/evacuation plans of fire services around the world.   Yummy dinner sampling little delights such as steamed prawn and meat balls, wonton soup and chicken – washed down with the local beer – well fed for a fraction of the main street prices.

17 May – With a few hours still left on our bus tickets, we got to take the blue route over to the other side, over an impressive bridge and through the financial centre of Shanghai.  China’s highest building Shanghai Tower dominated the landscape – this miracle of architecture is the second tallest building in the world, creates 10% of its own energy needs and incorporates all manner of energy saving features.  It only cost 2.4billion US to build.

Swapped buses to get back to People’s Square with the intention of going to the Shanghai museum – after about an hour of walking around we finally found it.  Had a good few hours to explore some of their impressive collections – jade, coins, calligraphy and bronze.  The museum is set in a lovely building, four floors with a central atrium.  Walked back home for another welcome break before heading out for dinner in a Thai restaurant.  A lot of places will not accept non-local credit cards, so we have had to make sure that we have enough cash on hand.

Shanghai Surprise

14 May – Our new housesitter John, kindly drove us up to the airport so that we could embark on our next little adventure. An 11pm flight on our national carrier was full the to the brim and cattle class seats are getting even more cramped. Despite that did manage to get a few hours kip, watch two movies (Hidden Figures – a great watch, and our classic Pork Pie for a bit of light entertainment).
Arrived in Shanghai without incident and a little early but someone obviously didn’t pay the terminal fee as we were parked up way out in the cargo area and quite a bus journey from there to the arrivals terminal.

After a little confusion where to go for our visa processing, were directed to the special visa desks. Suprised how few people were taking advantage of their 144hr visa free period. Only about 20 off our flight were staying on. The two officers on the desk certainly took their time to get through us – once we got to the desk, were told that we needed to fill in more forms – so back to the back of the queue again – no worries as we had a nice social interaction with fellow travellers.

When we finally got through immigration – our flight had all picked up their bags and the carousel had been shut down with no sign of our bags. A walk up and down the hall finally found our bags in a roped off area all safe and sound. Out in the arrivals hall and expectations that it would be a seething mass of people was quickly changed – hardly anyone around!

I had previously investigated how we would find our way to the city and my pick of the Egobus was a good choice but a bit of a wait was in store so we finally got out of the terminal 3 hours after arriving. Egobus are electric minibuses – a really smooth ride and we missed the rush hour traffic so it was a speedy 50 minute ride to our hotel.

First surprise was the standard of housing in the outskirts of the city – was expecting masses of high rise apratments, but these suburbs were made of terraced houses in blocks of threes – two to three storeys high, all looking neat and tidy. A lot of greenery and quite a few waterways criss-crossing our path. As we neared the city,then the buildings did start getting higher and of course right in the centre, there is some amazing modern architecture blending in with the colonial buildings.
Fortunately we got straight into our hotel room, nice view overlooking Nanking Road and a welcome rest to recharge faded batteries.
Batteries recharged it was time to head out and see what was around us. The Bund beckoned, accessed down the pedestrian mall that is Nanking Road. A spot of lunch/dinner to bolster the energy was welcome.

 

   

The Bund was busy, but not uncomfortably so, great views across the river – a lot of action happening on the river with barges, ferries and tourist boats. Surprise No. 2 – it is so clean!! There is no rubbish on the streets, feels really safe walking around and a shopping mecca for those needing retail therapy.
We couldn’t hang out on the Bund until it got properly dark as we were waning again, so back to the hotel and watch the city lights come to life from our window instead and rest up for some newchallenges tomorrow.

French Follies, Maltese meandering and English excursion

25 November – We had hardly cleared the port of Ajaccio in Corsica when we started to get some movement on the ship as it headed towards Toulon. The movement increased steadily and we were grateful for a cabin to try and minimise the effects.  For the next few hours it was quite a roller-coaster ride, but calmed down eventually so sleep was finally possible.
26 November – A wake up call on the loudspeakers at 5.45am signalled our imminent arrival into port, so dragged ourselves out to breakfast only to find that for the next three hours we were sailing up and down the coast waiting for the port authorities to let us berth.  It seems that the high winds were causing problems, made evident when we finally did get near enough to dock, as it took three attempts to get us in.
Bienvenue a Toulon.  Despite the supposed increase in security following the Paris attacks there were no formalities here and getting out of the city was not too difficult; before long we had left the big city behind and were in Hyeres where we tried in vain to find parking to explore the town.  So, on to La Londe les Maures instead, where there was a nice little port with a newly opened cafe for us to try.  Tossed up whether to take the coastal or inland road to St Tropez; the inland route won and we were in St Tropez in less than an hour.  St Tropez is so much smaller than I anticipated but very much a town for the rich and famous. There are no $2 stores here – all the big names Gucci, Dolce & Cabana, Dior, Bulgari etc.etc. were here in abundance, although being winter they were sadly all closed.  The boat harbour had quite a few very big toys moored in the basin to give us an idea what it would be like in summer.

There are certainly a lot people in this world with an obscene amount of wealth.  The inner part of the town is interesting to walk around, being full of little streets loaded with these high end stores.  In the town square a large gathering was happening with heavy police protection; we quickly realised that it was a memorial service for a local woman who had been killed in the Paris attacks.

Finished with our exploration of the town so it was time to find a supermarket and stock up with items for our three day stay in the hills above the town.  Good job we did that, as it was a little difficult, to say the least, to get to this villa.  After leaving the main paved road we had to navigate a series of little dirt roads to find our eventual destination.  Gorgeous location, perched on a hillside overlooking St Tropez with the sea way in the distance, with loads of villas and small vineyards dotted all around.  We definitely won’t be going in and out to town from here but we can do some exploring on foot.
27 November – Nice and warm today; sitting out on our deck to read books made for a very relaxing morning.
Notre Dame de Miremar was our little excursion for the afternoon.  On the next hill over from us, after an hour’s stiff walk was the site of this little church with even more expansive views than we have from our villa.  Surrounding the church was a developed garden and treed area, which would be perfect for picnics in the summer.

28 November – A cold windy day didn’t lend itself to outside activities so it was catch up time for my blog, internet bookings to get us home and a visit with our Dutch neighbours in the adjoining apartment.
29 November – We stayed around until after lunch to meet with the apartment’s owner who had been over in London for a few days.  Edwourde is a Dutchman who had moved permanently to this remote area of Provence along with his wife, who is still splitting her time with work in the Netherlands and life here in France.  Edwourde is an artist and designer who is able to work online from this pleasant but remote location.
Set out on our way up through Garde-le-Freinet – the closest village about ten minutes drive from the villa – and then had only about 20km of winding rural roads until we hit the peage motorway.  A nice change to be able to fly along at 130kph, although you do pay quite handsomely for the privilege.  We had about 200km to our destination of Orange north of Avignon for 15Euro.

I had booked a B&B in the suburbs; our GPS managed to get us there where our hostess Therese and her husband Eddy were on hand to greet us, give us a welcome cup of tea and spend a bit of time socialising.  Into the centre of town for dinner and what an amazing surprise.  Unknown to us, Orange is a very famous Roman town with one of only three remaining theatres in the world of its kind.  The town was all decked out with Christmas lights and looked so pretty.  I didn’t know about the history of the town when I booked our night’s stop.  Definitely will be worth a visit in the daylight.
30 November – A nice breakfast was served in our room before we hit the town. First up a visit to the theatre and museum.  The museum housed some artifacts from the theatre excavations and the surrounding area, including part of a mosaic floor and two cartifacts – huge engraved stone tablets arranged so that each portion represented a part of the city – detailed on it was the amount of land allocated and it’s owner.  On the upper floors were interesting artworks, especially a series of huge paintings depicting the indienne material works – how dyed and printed material were produced in the 1700’s.

With the museum done, it was over the street to the theatre.  Wow, mind boggling how something so large could have been built nearly 2,000 years ago.  The theatre seated 10,000 people on stone tiers; it even originally had a covered roof to keep the sun off the stage and spectators.  The hierarchy of the population was evident here, with officials and high ranking people seated in the lower portions separated by walls from the rest of the public, with slaves and foreigners only allowed on the top levels of seating.  The Romans had it right though – 100 days a year were set aside for productions at the theatre.  Plays, tragedies, mimes and music featured here.  Today, with it’s fantastic acoustics, it is still an important location for opera and modern groups.
It is one of the best preserved of all the Roman theatres built in the old Roman colony of Arausio, established by the soldiers of the Second Legion which was founded in 40 BC. Theatre played a major role in the life of the citizens, who spent a large part of their free time there.  It was also seen by Roman authorities not only as a means of spreading their culture to the colonies, but also as a way of distracting them from political activity.
Mime, pantomime, poetry readings and the “attelana” (a kind of farce) was the dominant form of entertainment, much of which lasted all day.  For the common people, who were fond of spectacular effects, magnificent stage sets became very important as was the use of stage machinery. The entertainment offered was open to all and free of charge.
We had a very good audio guide as we went around the various parts of the theatre.  Lunch beckoned when we completed our visit and then it was northward to Beaune.  400km of motorway got us through the countryside quite quickly – three and a half hours and several more euros later, we arrived in Beaune as darkness fell.

01 December – Up bright and early to make sure that we arrived at Sauvigny de Beaune Chateau for opening time, as we had read that they closed for lunch from midday till 2.00pm, only to find that their policy now was to stay open right through the day.  What an eclectic mix of “stuff” – in one of the farm buildings were housed the Abarth cars, out in surrounding fields were about 80 aircraft many of French origin, in other buildings early rural farm furnishings, several fire-engines, farm machinery, aero-engines and in the dilapidated chateau itself was the large motorcycle collection.  Although there were many fine exhibits amongst them, much appeared to be slowly decaying away through lack of proper conservation or protection.

02 December – Short hop into Mulhouse to catch the opening of the French National Car Museum (formerly known as the Schlumpf Collection).  The fine collection, whilst vast, lacked much imagination in it’s presentation, so was a little bit of a disappointment in that respect.  The number and variety of pre-1900 vehicles though was impressive, as was the large number of Bugatti vehicles.  It took us a few hours to walk around it all – laid out in chronological order but all quite close together with a small description on some of the vehicles.

With that done we headed back beyond Bavallier to visit the Peugeot museum which was quite a contrast.  Nicely displayed vehicles in little groups but also displays of all the many other things that Peugeot makes – coffee grinders, garden tools, blenders, washing machines, sewing machines, motorcycles, pepper mills, guns, dishwashers, razors – so much variety.  The cars started from the 1900’s up to their present day models and was far more imaginative in presentation than the National Car Museum.  Headed back to the same Chambre in Beaune for another night.

03 December – Foggy and frosty start to the day.  Decided that we would stay off the peage toll roads as we had all day to go the 300kms to our destination.  The fog stayed for a couple of hours as we made our way southwards again, finally clearing when we stopped for morning tea along the way.  The Thursday market was taking place in the small town square – mainly clothing for sale in the stalls with just a few selling food produce.  Continued on through the lovely green valleys, exchanging ploughed fields for vineyards yet again.  About 1.00pm decided that it would be good to make a lunch stop when coming across a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  Note to self – restaurants in these areas only do the ‘plat du jour’ at lunchtime, which means an entree, hot dish and dessert, so it was two fairly full bods after that feast.  Our entree was a piece of quiche, a hot dish of rabbit stew with chips, followed by creme caramel.  Not our usual lunch fare for lunch and more than enough to see us through to breakfast tomorrow with just cheese and crackers for supper.  The temperature topped out at 12C then dipped quite suddenly as we hit fog again going into another valley.  We were in and out of fog until getting to Messimy sur Saone and our chambre d’hote for the night in a renovated 17thC farm house.  Our host’s teenage son came and chatted with us for a while to practise English he had learned from a Japanese boy whilst on a student exchange in Russia, while his proud Mum looked in on us from time to time.
04 December – Coolish start to the day again. Avignon was the destination – we were happily zapping along on the motorway when we spied a sign to a car museum.  With plenty of time in hand we followed the signs which took us to a small town north of Lyon and very surprising little museum in a much more wholesome chateau than our visit to Sauvigny.  This had a lovely array of pre-1900 cars and vehicles on several floors of the chateau, nicely displayed with just a few vehicles in each room.  Looking at some photos it seems that the cars had to be completely taken apart to get them into their rooms and then reassembled once in place.

Created by Henri Malartre in 1959, it became one of Lyon’s museums in 1972. Henri Malartre (1905-2005) was the son of Victor Malartre, an automobile enthusiast who ran a local boiler-making and steel frame business.  There are 150 exhibits in the château dating from 1890 to 1986, twenty of which are unique models. On the first and second floors: early cars, 40 motorbikes from 1903 to 1955 and 31 bicycles from 1818 to 1960.  In Gordini Hall: racing and touring cars: in the Public Transport Hall: trams, trains and the “Ficelle” funicular from Fourvière.  All together, more than 120 period posters, engines and old accessories (nearly 1000 collector’s items).
Ended up having to drive right through the middle of Lyon – quite impressive buildings along both sides of the river.  Out the other side it was on to Avignon and our hotel for two nights right inside the old city walls.  Good timing – the city was having their Christmas Market over the weekend.  After settling in to the hotel, we were able to walk into the city square as darkness fell; the Christmas stalls were getting set up and the area was humming.  We were told that Lyon had cancelled their Christmas market due to the Paris attacks in a bid not to have too many crowds. So plenty of people were expected.   One stall was offering all things gingerbread, others with Christmas decorations, local artists’ work, local produce.  Around the main square were many pedestrian streets, with interesting little boutique shops and amazing confectionery and patisseries.
05 December – Sur le Pont d’Avignon.  We got to walk over what is left of this famous bridge and see a 3D recreated image of what it would have been like in the 1500’s.  On returning to the main square were able to enjoy some entertainment related to their annual telethon.  Had hoped to visit the Papal Palaces but there were so many people trying to get in to avoid light rain that we gave that a miss.  Had an interesting wander around the little streets within the city walls instead. In the 15thC the city had a terrible reputation as being the dirtiest in Europe- they have improved it somewhat since then but “drains” are still an issue in places. Finished off the day with a Vietnamese meal for a change, which was quite tasty.

06 December – Our car had to be returned back to her handlers today – we only had to get to Marignane which is the airport area of Marseille just an hour away from Avignon. Booked a hotel nearby (Ibis Budget), which was very budget but it served its purpose.  Returned the car to Peugeot on time and we just had to repack bags to redistribute weight for our flight to Malta with Ryanair the next day.
07 December – The regional terminal for Marseille was fairly basic.  We didn’t quite make the 15kg limit on our one checked bag (just 0.4kg over so it was a fairly good guess on our part) but they didn’t seem to mind.  They don’t enforce weight limits on the cabin bags so long as they fit in the allowable dimensions.  It took me a couple of goes to get through security – first my boots set off the detector, so it was off with them and back through, then the camera hadn’t been taken out of our backpack so another run through the machine before finally getting out the other end.  Our flight was on time and only just under two hours later we were in Malta.
George – the owner of the apartment we had booked was there to pick us up and take us on the twenty minute drive to Marsascala, the small fishing village which was to be our home for the duration of our stay.  Our little apartment has great views over the harbour from one balcony and the countryside from the other.  We have a ten minute walk to get down to the harbour (hills again!!) and no lift working in the apartment building, but it is only four floors up. Neat little harbour, quite a lot of traditional little fishing boats moored and plenty of cafes and restaurants along the harbour front.  Sussed out where to catch the bus for tomorrow’s outing – then headed back up the hill to enjoy a relaxing evening.

08 December – Down the hill to catch the bus into the capital Valletta.  25 minutes and 1euro50 each had us in the city centre – a special feast day meant the town was teeming with families – most of the shops were open – plenty of sales and many opportunities for Christmas shopping bargains.  The city is within a fortified peninsula – all streets are an orderly grid pattern within the fortifications, so very easy to find your way around.  Very up and down within the city, lots of tiny streets, barely wide enough for one car.

Spent a very interesting hour or so visiting the Casa Rocca Piccola.  The history of Casa Rocca Piccola goes back over 400 years to an era in which the Knights of St John, having successfully fought off the invading Turks in 1565, decided to build a prestigious city to rival other European capitals such as Paris and Venice.  Palaces were designed for prestige and aesthetic beauty in most of Valletta’s streets, and bastion walls fortified the new sixteenth-century city. Casa Rocca Piccola was one of two houses built in Valletta by Admiral Don Pietro la Rocca. It is referenced in maps of the time as “la casa con giardino” meaning, the house with the garden, as normally houses in Valletta were not allowed gardens. Changes were made in the late 18th century to divide the house into two smaller houses. Further changes were made in 1918 and before the second world war a basement air raid shelter was added. The Casa Rocca Piccola Family Shelter is the second air-raid shelter to be dug in Malta. In 2000 a major restoration project saw the two houses that make up Casa Rocca Piccola reunited. The de Piro family archives (Archivium de Piro), are housed in The Archive Room at Casa Rocca Piccola. They contain detailed records of family and state business dating from the late 16th century to the present day. These include business contracts, marriage contracts, bills, wills and court cases. The archives have been used for research projects at the University of Malta and the University of Oxford and also for research for articles in publications.  We were taken on the tour by the Marchioness de Piro herself and she was a wealth of information on the history of the house and the family.  Walked around more of the city with a visit to watch the firing of the noon day gun (at 4pm!) then back on the bus back home.  Still have a lot of things to see in Valletta so will be making another trip in tomorrow.
09 December – Back into Valletta on the bus again.  First stop was the War Museum and Fort Elmo – wow, what a place. The museum took us through Malta’s very turbulent history from the Knights of St John who settled here in the 1500’s when they were expelled from Rhodes by the Ottoman Turks, through to WWII and the pivotal part this tiny island played in assisting the Allied Forces.  We spent a good few hours here so it was early afternoon before we got on to other things on our to-do list.  We took a ride on the local ferry across to the Three Cities, had a little walk around and came back. Very impressive yachts and big toys moored in this marina – I checked up on-line on one of them – it was 250ft long and belonged to a Kuwaiti businessman – comes complete with it’s own helicopter and the usual swimming pools etc.

We were about done when we had finished that excursion, so after a nice little break in the cafe overlooking the harbour it was back to the bus station and our ride home.  It was dark before we finally got back so got to see many of the Christmas decorations on the houses and in the towns as we drove through – our neighbour Clive back home would be very impressed.
10 December – George had arranged a rental car for the next few days so that we could get out and explore further.  A little drive out to the coast and the Blue Grotto – quite a rugged bit of coastline here – a small village catering for the tourist trade with several restaurants, boat trips and souvenir shops.  Lunched at the local restaurant rather than the touro ones for a good value meal.

On the way back home we noticed a sign to a falconry, so popped in there to have a look at what was going on.  Several aviaries with raptors from all over, then several smaller areas with falcons and owls on running lines so that they could sit out in the fresh air or under cover.  A very nice young man explained the various birds they had and then let us hold one of the barn owls as well as a little brown owl – quite cute little creatures.  Back home via our GPS and interesting roads.

11 December – Mdina today – only about 20 minutes away.  Our first attempt at finding a car park failed miserably as we ended up on very narrow one way streets through the centre of Rabat (the neighbouring town) and not Mdina.  Second go and we found a park right outside the city gates.  What a little gem this tiny walled town is.  Spotlessly clean, nicely maintained and restored limestone buildings.  Mostly pedestrian-only streets with many little nooks and crannies to explore.

The view from the ramparts across to Valletta was impressive.  Visited a couple of exhibitions – The Knights of Malta and The Mdina Experience.  The Knights was a series of dioramas depicting the Knight’s history, while the Mdina Experience was an audio visual presentation of the history of Mdina. Lunched on a typical Maltese platter which was full of nice little nibbles – goats cheese, local sausage, olives, sun dried tomatoes and nice bread and dips.
On the way back Bob noticed a sign for an aircraft museum so we stopped by to find that it had already closed for the day, so perhaps will be able to go at another time.  Walked down into town for evening dinner – what a lively place it becomes once the sun goes down, with the locals all our enjoying the bars and restaurants.

12 December – Our little adventure for the day was to go over to Gozo, one of the islands in Malta’s territory.  It first entailed getting up to the ferry terminal in the north – it is only 35km but there is no direct way to get there from where we are staying so it took nearly an hour (and the speed limit is mostly only 60kph).  We got straight on to a car ferry for the 25 minute trip across the channel.  Was surprised at the difference from the main island – it seemed much cleaner, no rubbish in the streets and generally a lot brighter.  We drove through the main town of Victoria and then out to the coast on a road that got narrower and rougher as we went and this was a numbered road so not quite what we expected.

We now know though why the shocks on our little rental car are so shot (and it has only done 13,000km).  After a look at the nice views down to the rocky shoreline and a walk around some of the terraced paddocks we returned and took another road out to another landmark – a hole in the rock and little inland sea.  Lunched at a very nice restaurant overlooking the water and tried rabbit again – very nice.  Nicely sated, we  drove back to the ferry to be back over the other side soon after 4.00pm – nicely timed to get us back home before it got too dark.  Even with a GPS it is quite a convoluted task to find the right roads, as it seems to get confused very easily and can’t make out roads which are close together.

13 December – Last day with the rental car so we headed down to Marsaxlokk for their famous Sunday market.  Very busy with well over fifty different stalls, fresh fish, vegetables, local produce as well as the usual assortment of clothes, shoes, bags and miscellaneous junk.  Limited our expenditure to a couple of nice harbour view sketches plus lunch, before venturing over to the Three Cities again.  Found good parking near Victoriosa (visited a few days ago by ferry from Valletta) exploring their city walls, followed by the maritime museum until closing time and a promenade around the harbour.  Back home in the dark, but at least being a Sunday there was not too much traffic.

 

14 December – Handed back our little car to its rightful owner and then spent the rest of the morning down in Marsascala walking their promenade along the harbour until it was time for a leisurely lunch. George was on time to pick us up and take us back to the airport for our flight on to the UK at East Midlands.
15 December- 30 December.  Life at Higham-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire was a nice break for us both.  Staying with Bob’s sister Margaret and her husband Micheal, we were made very welcome.  A busy agenda quickly filled up our days.  Margaret belongs to a village walking group, so my first day out in the fresh country air was a pleasant stroll through the fields and paths that England is so lucky to have enshrined in their culture.  Interesting fellow walkers made up for the less than lovely weather.
The following day was turkey plucking day for me.  Michael and Margaret raise over 1600 turkeys for the Christmas market, saving a few for family and friends – these needed dealing with in preparation for dinner a week away.  Michael did the dispatching and then it was on to the real task of getting all the feathers off a still warm bird.  About an hour and a half later my bird was reasonably naked although not quite as pretty as Michael’s bird.  The turkeys have to hang for a week in the cool before being dressed (I was surprised that the innards remain inside during this time).

Bob had a few social engagements over the next few days including a visit to the Norton motorcycle factory at Donington and a reunion with some of his original bikie club mates.  I got to sample the marvel of British Rail with a trip to Milton Keynes to meet one of my newly discovered cousins, enjoying a very pleasant lunchtime catch-up with her and her husband.  English weather has lived up to it’s reputation with a swathe of very windy weather and the usual grey skies but very mild temperatures.
We got a treat one day as a brace of pheasants were delivered by the next door neighbour, so I volunteered to see if I could cook them.  Having never eaten or even cooked pheasant before, they didnt turn out too bad with enough meat for the four of us and enough left over for a pheasant pie the next day.
No white Christmas today – just a very mild but grey day.  The turkey was cooked to perfection by Margaret and along with Bob’s brother Keith, we all sat down to a very hearty Christmas dinner with all the traditional trimmings.
Boxing Day was an outing for Bob and I along with Michael to the traditional clay pigeon shoot at a local farm. I guess there about 30 shooters competing – all enjoying themselves with some more serious than others, despite the very cold wind.  Bob and I were scoring for Michael and his neighbour Roger, to see who would take the honours this time. The day finished at the local pub for the usual chinwag and tall tales.

Met up with Bob’s other sister Sally and her man, Eddie, on Monday for a get-together lunch.  We met halfway between where Sally and Margaret live, somewhere to the south in Buckinghamshire at a golf club offering dining to the public.  A bit sad watching the poor blighters trying to play golf in the murky weather – they didn’t look to be enjoying themselves that much.  Certainly lovely to catch up with Sally and for all the siblings to be together for the first time in several years.

All too soon our relaxing stay in the little village of Higham-on-the-Hill had to come to an end and it was off to Birmingham to drop off our car and get on another metal bird destined for the other side of the world.

Islands in the Sun

06 November – Time to pack up and leave our nice apartment.  Another fine day with clear blue skies as we set off – this time for the central mountains.  The road through the Agriate mountains was a re-run of the first stage of a previous trip to Calvi, then much easier going towards the interior and Corte than the road we took from Bastia over to St Florent a few days ago.  Arriving around lunch time we had plenty of time to explore the town and its surrounds before having to check in to our next stay.  Corte has a bustling centre-ville; mainly one long main street with the old part of the town higher up.  Walked up to the citadelle only to find that it was “lunchtime”, therefore the tourist office and museum were closed for a couple of hours!  Back down into the town for a bite to eat – a small bar advertising crepes which took our fancy.  I think they had to grow the wheat for the flour judging by the time it took for our very basic meal to arrive but it was okay when it finally came.  Anyway, it killed some time until we could go back to the citadelle.

The tower from the 14thC built by the Genoese housed an interesting museum with artifacts showing the progression of settlement and life in Corsica. There was also a temporary exhibition about “Islands” and their unique position within the world at large.  Back down the narrow cobbled streets – these cobbles are not your normal flat ones, but made up of round river stones set in concrete – not easy to walk on and would be an interesting exercise in high heels.  Just out of the town was our nice chambre-d’hote accommodation, where we were the only guests and had the choice of rooms, settling on a large room with terrace.  Everything very new and nicely appointed.
Back into town for dinner, and after a bit of investigation found a very charming local restaurant offering Corsican specialties.  In a vaulted basement, it had a nice ambiance and our waiter, black as the ace of spades, was excited to learn we were from NZ as the All Blacks were his heroes.  Ordered our meals and then were presented with a complimentary entree – cheese deep-fried in a sort of batter and very tasty.  A bit of local wine with dinner was followed by another little gesture from the restaurant – shots of limoncello liquer – mmmm.  Managed to find our way home easily enough.
07 November – Breakfast in the little dining room was basic but enough, with croissants, baguette and jams plus a little pot of yoghurt.  Our hostess suggested that while in the district we visit the Gorges de la Restonica just a short distance away.  Found the road easily enough and it started off quite nice – a little narrow but room enough for two cars as it headed up into the hill country.  It was fine for about 20 minutes, before a notice that the road was going to decrease to 1.9m wide for the next 10 kms.  A couple of km’s of that was enough for me, as the drop-offs got steeper with very few places that two cars could pass each other.  Managed to find a turn-around spot and got a good view of the dramatic rocky canyons with the most beautifully clear river tumbling down it.  Stopped again on the way down at a camping area, closed for the season and much closer to the river.  Very pretty with the autumn leaves in amongst the evergreen pines.

Back through Corte and out via more river gorges to the east coast at Aleri.  After a spot of lunch in the patisserie we found an ancient site with an early citadelle, as well as quite extensive Roman ruins.  In this citadelle there was an interesting museum displaying the contents from tombs which had been excavated from a necropolis site nearby.  These tombs were from the 5th-3rd century BC and had a lot of pottery buried with the funerary urns, the majority of them black glaze with paintings in relief.  In all they had uncovered around 120 tombs.

A walk around the Roman ruins was equally fascinating – although from a later period, 1stC AD, it didn’t take too much imagination to work out what was what.  It had remains of the collonaded porticoes where markets would have taken place, a sizeable forum, villas and of course the Roman specialty – baths.  Our bed for this night was near Travo, in the local hotel.  Fairly basic room, but served it’s purpose and with a restaurant downstairs that made life easy.
08 November – A coastal wander down to Bonifacio, stopping off to walk to another Martello tower with commanding views up the coast towards Bastia, followed by a lunch break in the small port town of Porto Vecchio.  Surprised how much air pollution there was further north – a big brown pall which must have been coming from Italy as there is no significant industry in Corsica.  The little port of Bonifacio was wonderful – a town perched on the top of tall cliffs dominated the peninsula with walls all around it which would have been quite impenetrable.  Driving around was a bit tight but fortunately they had the sense to make a lot of the narrow streets one-way only.  This being a Sunday, everything was relatively quiet and parking was easy.

Finding our accommodation was a little more difficult as it was out of the main town and it didn’t feature on our GPS – making sense of my hand-written instructions taken off Google Maps took a little while, but we made it.  Our rooms were out on the lighthouse road, with lovely views from the garden back over to the town.  Made do with cheese, fruit and biscuits for our supper.

09 November – Back down into the town for breakfast on the marine promenade – mostly closed up for the season but a few restaurants were open to capture the late-comers.  Some spiffy boats moored in the small harbour.  Drove back up the to “high” town and had an explore of the city walls and views over to Sardinia – our destination.  By the time we had crepes for lunch it was time to head down and get in line for the ferry.  Not a very big one and probably only about 20 cars and a handful of trucks were ready to board.  Not quite a roll on-roll off, so Bob had to back into his space being given rapid directions by excited French crew members.  A very quick hour had us over the other side to Italian Sardinia at Santa Teresa and we were soon off the ferry, my pre-written instructions working a treat.  The drive in to the farmhouse, with a little block of 6 rooms, was easy and our hostess with her limited English got us settled and advised where we could eat later on.

We have to get used to the different way of life here – siesta seems to be from about 12-3 and restaurants don’t open for dinner until after 7pm.  We set off in the dark with only about 5kms to go back into Santa Teresa, our little map in hand, finding the recommended restaurant without difficulty and settling in for a very pleasant meal – we both had grilled sea bass with a crust of grated potatoes accompanied by grilled eggplant and courgette.  A nicely balanced meal and not too heavy, leaving room to sample the dessert menu.  I had a local dish which was a huge deep-fried ravioli filled with a sweet soft cheese and covered in honey – that was tasty!  Found our way back without trouble.
10 November – After an interesting breakfast (chocolate cake at this time of the day is a bit strange!) we got away for another relaxing drive towards Porto Torres, stopping at some interesting spots along the way.  Nice little towns with gaily painted houses and pretty harbours.  One side turn we took was down to a very exclusive resort with houses neatly built into the hillsides so as not to stand out too much, but it was like visiting a ghost town, hardly a soul in sight and all the villas closed up for the season.

We got to Porto Torres in the early afternoon and after identifying our accommodation for the next couple of days, went further up the peninsula to Stintino finding gorgeous beaches and turquoise water.  Just offshore is an island run as a national park which would have been nice to visit, but it seems the ferryboat only runs during the summer.

Back down to Porto Torres and booked into our apartment – quite nice to have a bit of room with a little kitchen and even a washing machine.  We are on the top floor with views out over the port from the balcony.  A nice little supermarket just around the corner – so I spent a little while deciding on what to have for dinner – always interesting to see what there is when you visit a new place.  Lashed out on wine at 2.39Euro a bottle and picked up a few other goodies to keep us going.  After dinner we got the next couple of days accommodation sorted out via my favourite site – Booking.com.
11 November – A nice quiet night in our little apartment.  Good to have proper breakfast ‘chez nous’ before setting off towards Porto Conte National Park.  It was quite industrial getting out of the Port, but then we were into typical farmland for this region – mainly small holdings growing veges, some sheep and a few cows.
After seeing so many nice beaches and clear water over the last couple of days I thought I would be prepared with swimming togs and towels – but of course that put a jinx on the weather and the sun didn’t really show itself for most of the day.

Out on to the headland at Capo Caccio we saw that tours were going to the Grotta di Nettuno on the hour – had just missed one so booked for the next along with about 10 others.

This cave is only accessed from sea level – that meant a descent of 654 (going on 10,000) steps down the side of a sheer cliff with the brilliant coloured ocean below us.  Down at the bottom we had a short tour into the caves – some interesting formations but nothing to write home about.  The caves were discovered by fisherman in the 1500’s but it wasn’t until 1954 that the path down the cliff was put in – before that you had to enter via the sea and getting off a boat in even the small swell that was running at the time we were there would have been quite difficult.  With the caves being “open” for over 500 years there has been a lot of destruction of the stalactites and stalagmites, but the untouched ones were quite massive.

With the tour done we had to go up all those darn steps again – that was definitely our exercise for the day.
Around the bay a bit to Port Conte in search of a gelataria – no luck as everything in this area was closed for the season, so nothing left but to head back for another leisurely evening and home cooked meal.
12 November – Packed up again – the nice girl at the reception kindly let me print out our bookings for the next few days before we got on our way.  First stop a pre-historic ruin on the road to Sassari.  It was a temple and an altar site from 5,000BC.  A large altar table made from one huge piece of stone was the focal point of this site – the sacrifices made here were thought to be all of the animal variety – pigs, goats, sheep, cows and deer.  Being the only visitors so far for the day, hope they get more people through during the summer months, as it must be very boring for the curators.

We bypassed Sassari in favour of Alghero for our lunch stop – another little port town and a little more lively than the ones we had visited in the last few days (less touristy and more locals).  An old city again dominated the headland with it’s narrow streets, towers and city walls.

We had another hour’s drive to our night’s destination of Bosa.  Found our B&B but couldn’t get in – no-one was around but finally a local man came and got “Mama” from next door – turns out it is her son that owns the B&B, so while we waited for him to arrive she took us into her lush garden and chatted away quite happily in Italian to us.  Could make some sense of what she was saying – she found keeping the garden up hard but rewarding work.  The son duly arrived and let us in to our digs for the night.  There are three rooms but we are the only guest with a nice shared lounge all to ourselves.  The view from the terrace looks right up to the castello on the hill.  Armed with all the necessary info to get in and out of the building, we were left to it.

Walked down into the town around 7pm to have a very pleasant surprise – the little shops were all open, there were people all around and the little town was just gorgeous with narrow cobbled streets, wrought ironed balconies and a couple of nice little piazzas.  The restaurant suggested by our host was a small local one, in a vaulted room.  The menu translations were again amusing – the course I ordered was Pork and Beef in a traditional sauce with a taste of Mediterranean shrub.  Basically ground up meat in a tomato and herb sauce.  Bob’s shrimp in wine sauce were prawn size.  Lemon sorbet and saedas (the fried ravioli stuffed with cheese and drizzled with honey) were our choice for desert followed by a complementary local digestif called Mirtol – strong enough to knock your socks off but very tasty – good job we walked to town.  We haven’t seen any sign of the baddies that you are warned against in Southern Italy – everyone here is just very normal.
We finally seem to have got our American bank in step with our travels and have not had our credit card stopped with the crossing over into Italy – they are extremely pedantic so we have got wise and given ourselves a day’s leeway when advising a change of countries.  They really want to know which town we are going to be in and on what day but I can’t seem to get through to them that we just don’t know where we will be and they have to be content with the country as a whole.  Fortunately credit cards are much more widely used and welcome here than in the Netherlands and Germany.
13 November – Up to the Castello for a walk around – great views over the town.  It was built in the 13thC by a very wealthy merchant who wanted to protect himself and the villagers from the marauding Saracens.  Later a little church was built within the walls – the frescoes had been covered up with lime and only recently discovered – vibrant colours and quite well preserved.

Back down into town for morning coffee and chocolate (the thick stuff seems to be the norm) followed by another walk around the narrow streets and along the riverfront before starting on our way south again.  Visited a few non-descript coastal villages and then the interesting Phoenician and Roman ruins at Tharros, before arriving at Cabras and our accommodation in the centre of the quite confusing old-town.
14 November – Breakfast was not too bad with some fresh fruit and yoghurt as well as sweet things.  Got the next few days booked ahead before we headed for the local archaeological museum.  Very nice little museum with artifacts from Monte Prama, Tharros and a very early local shipwreck from 1st C BC.  The statues on display were from the Nuragic period in the Iron Age and very basic in form, but very significant archaeologically; the team that undertook their excavation and restoration were awarded a significant United Nations award.

The shipwreck that was found was carrying nearly 1,000 lead ingots, each ingot weighing in at 33kg and most of which were marked as being made in a Sardinian foundry with lead ore from Spain.  The anchors for this ship were massive although only the lead parts now remain; it seems that there were four anchors, each one weighing in at probably something like 1 tonne.

With our cultural fix for the day completed it was on to a rather twisty few hours of driving over a couple of small passes through Guspini and the small town of Fluminimaggiore.  Our lunch break was novel – we stopped in a little layby on the downside of one of these passes and were in the process of getting our cheese and biscuits together when a little three-wheel ute came up the road and pulled in for a visit.  Lovely little old man came and chatted for a little while, then beckoned me down to the back tray of his ute where he had a tray of apples.  He offered them to me and I took a couple but he insisted that I have the whole lot – what on earth am I going to do with 30 odd apples?  Well there was no way that he would take no for an answer so I had to off-load them into the back of the car and accept his very generous offer.  We then all sat down, he peeled a few of the apples for us and proceeded to chat to us.  We could understand that his name was Pepino, he was 89 years old, had four sons – one was in the Police but not sure what the rest did.  After about 30 minutes, he said his farewells and pottered back down the hill in his little truck.

Just after Fluminimaggiore town we sidetracked to visit some ruins – the Punic/Roman Temple of Antas and a Nuragic village.  They were in a small valley, seemingly miles from anywhere so a bit hard to understand why they were in such a remote place – perhaps the nearby iron and lead deposits.

Sidestepped confusing Iglesias before turning off towards Portoscuso where we made landfall at around 4.30pm and found our hotel easily. The smaller towns down in this corner of Sardinia are very basic, the farming areas just small blocks, with many growing artichokes.  Small flocks of sheep, some still being managed by shepherds and loads of little three-wheeled trucks. The lovely woman on the reception got us sorted with her very limited English and our room – basic but clean – overlooks the small port.  I managed to offload all the apples on to the reception lady with the help of google translator and got the gen on the local restaurants.  A nice walk along the waterfront after dinner.  Very impressed with how clean and tidy it all was – the promenade was lined with date palms, nicely paved and not too much doggie-doos around (that is a real issue in most parts we have been to).

15 November – I think I made a friend for life with the reception lady – she was so thrilled that I gave her the apples.  Next step of our journey was a drive down the coast and out on to the little island of Sant’ Antioco reached by a small causeway.  At Calasetta right on the north tip of the island we had a look around the little tower and it’s display of early pottery urns before meandering around the small streets of this very quaint town – very Mediterranean feel with whitewashed houses and some nice pedestrian-only streets.  Being a Sunday, everyone was out promenading in their Sunday best and even saw one woman in very traditional dress.  A bit of people watching while we had our morning tea – the only problem is that if you sit outside then you get to sit with the smokers of which there are lots.  Surprised how many young men and women smoke here.

 

With loads of time to kill, we spent the afternoon back on the mainland down on a little beach at Porto Pino – relaxing in the warmth of the autumn sun.  Destination for the night at Pula on the road to the capital city of Cagliari was reached via a mildly twisty road through a small mountainous area, before hitting the coast.  This stop was an Agri-turistico B&B with it’s own roosters still set on daylight saving time, fairly basic but nice and clean, although quite cold during the night as the heat pump wasn’t heating.  The recommendation of a little restaurant just down the road suited nicely – an amenable host was very interested in where we were from and what we had been doing during our travels.
16 November – Breakfast was enough for about 10 people, nicely presented with some fresh scrambled eggs as well.  Got the next lot of bookings printed out before we set off for the city of Cagliari – what a nightmare driving in that town – felt like being in Rome with mad drivers who believe that, lanes and red lights are things to be ignored.  Parked by the train station which was central for all we wanted to do.  A walk up to the old town for a look at the view over the city, then popped into the Cathedral to be astounded once again at the amount of effort that has gone into building these places and how grand inside they are.

Very narrow streets in the old part of the city, driving vehicles around them is a real art.  Walked back down to the old maritime quarter – the main streets have lovely covered walkways.  Saw the first beggars since leaving the Italian mainland as well as loads of very black African peddlers selling knock-off bags, shoes, watches, etc.  Lunch in a local pizzeria – like their way of making them with very thin crusts.
Thought we would get out of the city while locals were off on their siesta; unfortunately there were two streets of the same name that we were looking for and not paying too much attention, we entered the wrong area – a bit obvious though when you are looking for no. 23 and the numbers finish at 19!  After a bit of messing around we finally got sorted and out to Quartu Sant’ Elena on the eastern side of Cagliari and our B&B.  What a tremendous welcome we got from our hostess Gianna, with a little bit of English and French she got us duly sorted in our room, with tea and coffee to revive us after the harrowing journey through the city.  We have a lovely room with a comfy bed (after last night anything would be an improvement) looking out over Sant’ Elena to the sea beyond.  Our host’s house is on a small parcel of land with fruit trees and a small garden.
17 November – Off around the coast through Villasimius and a visit to Capo Carbonara before making for San Vito near Muravera.

Casa Camille – our home for the night was a little difficult to spot as we drove through the town of San Vito, but on a second try we found it.  I don’t think that it had been in operation all that long, the couple running it were still coming to grips with hospitality things.  It was a bit of a hoot as Luca had a couple of friends with him to try to explain things while his wife was working in their supermarket beside the B&B.  One of the friends was the local policeman who could speak reasonable English; he complimented us on how clearly we spoke English and how easy it was to understand us compared to English people!  We got the gen on local eating places (there was only one!) and then had to wait until it opened later in the evening.  They eat really late here – we invariably have the restaurant to ourselves when we turn up soon after 7pm, with local patrons not wandering in until closer to 9pm.
18 November – Another sweet Italian breakfast with the addition of some cornflakes and yoghurt got us set up for our onward journey.  From San Vito we headed back to the main road and followed this for quite a while before heading off down to the coast.  Gorgeous bit of coastline with some nice little beaches – with only us and a few people fishing from the shoreline, it was quite idyllic.  Inspected the towns of Tortoli and Arbatax before heading back inland to take the scenic route through to Dorgali.  Wow, what a road!  Must have had about 70kms of continuous squiggle up and over several mountain passes – the highest at just over 1,000m.  For the most part the road was quite  narrow but with good guard rails on the drop-off side, so not too taxing to drive – you just keep a steady pace at around 50-60kph.  Some of the views from the mountains were stunning, great expanses of grey rocky peaks looking down into wooded valleys.

Had our share of local wildlife on the road, wild boar, goats, sheep and cows.  Stopped for lunch at the top of one of the passes and it was so quiet that you could hear the tinkle of the sheep and goat bells from the valley below.  We could see Dorgali from a long way off – a town of 8,500 it was perched on the hillside.  Steep streets are the norm for this area, with many senso unico’s (one way streets) you need to have your wits about you so that you don’t go the wrong way up any of them.  We found our B&B and this would have to be the most stunning one yet.  We were greeted by Fabiola – taken into the kitchen and given afternoon tea.  Her son Elia came and translated for us as Fabiola didn’t speak English, but that didn’t matter so we got along just fine.  With an invitation to return after dinner and spend some time with the family, we settled into our very nice room.  I had a walk up and down some of the streets to get a feel for the town and sussed out a place for dinner as there was no way that we were going to drive in this town in the dark – we would never find our way around!  Apres dinner we were entertained by Dino and Fabiola and their daughter Leria (11) who was working on her English homework, so I got to help her out with that.  With the wonderful assistance of Google translate we managed to have a very interesting evening, complete with homemade Limoncello (I have the recipe so will be making some when I get back home) and Mirto.  Dino is a tiler by trade but he is an extremely able builder as well – their house was built by him including all the masonry work. Nearly all buildings here are built of stone or blocks, then plastered over.  The quality of his workmanship was superb.
19 November – After a walk around the town centre we headed off northwards along some scenic roads to San Teodoro, then along the coast to Olbia and our destination just to the east of the town in Pittulongu.  Coming into Olbia we went through the middle of a huge marble and stone quarry.  Can see now why building in stone is so commonplace. Booked an apartment for 3 days to catch up on washing and have a general relax.  Our little apartment is beneath the owner’s house, cosy with a little kitchen, dining and lounge area all in one.  Pittulongu seems to be primarily a summer town, not many permanent residents but not as empty as many of the resort towns that pervade this coastline.
20 November – Nice lazy day, getting onward bookings made to take us up into mainland France and just a little foray out to get food and more importantly, money!  Not sure what is up with our debit card this time but our attempts to get cash out of the wall twice failed, so it was Plan B and try one of the credit cards instead which did work.
21 November – First day of rain for quite some time, so just went out for a little drive up the coast to Golfo Aranci and then around to Porto Cervo.  Very pretty coastline and full of very flash settlements of stone villas but not a soul around – it is like driving through ghost towns.  This is a very much a seasonal coastal area – the marinas have a few boats moored but there are certainly berths for many more visiting boats.

22 November – The cold snap that has hit Europe has made it’s mark here as well – rainy again and temperatures dropped by over 10 degrees C.  Packed up once again and off on the northbound road to Palau.  With plenty of time to spare, we decided to hop on the car ferry over to the Archipelago of Maddelena for a quick look around.  What a neat place – very rocky – so much like a miniature Utah, with a myriad of interesting coves and beaches.  The main town was so clean and tidy, a lot of moneyed people must be in residence here during the summer months.

The sun finally came out so that we could have a little wander around and find a spot for lunch before driving around the rest of the island and also over to the adjoining island of Caprera by causeway.  We happened upon a little museum celebrating the life of Garibaldi who was quite an important figure in Italian history, living in these parts for more than twenty years.  Didn’t have time to explore it fully as we needed to get back for the ferry.  Once at sea, 15 minutes had us back to Palau, then it was only about 30 mins up to Santa Teresa Gallera.

This time we had a B&B (without breakfast as it is the off-season) booked right in the centre.  Learnt from our hostess that the ferries to Corsica had all been cancelled yesterday and today, so fingers crossed the sea is a bit calmer tomorrow or we will be totally messed up with all our bookings.  Nice modern room, overlooking a small piazza in the middle of the town.  Finished off the day with a nice meal at the only restaurant open in the vicinity.
23 November – Good news – the ferries will be running today.  Our 11am sailing was on time and just over an hour later we arrived back in Bonifacio, Corsica.  The sailing was a little rough, the odd wave nearly stopping the ferry in its tracks but certainly nothing like we have experienced on many a Cook Strait crossing.  Crepes back on the menu for lunch and drinkable hot chocolate once more.  We only had a short hop up the coast a little way to Propriano – a small port town with quite a few fancy toys in their harbour.  Our little hotel overlooking the port was quite nice.

Had a walk around the town – a bit dirty in places, many of the restaurants closed for the season but a nice marina area.  Our choice of restaurant for dinner was a little different – Chez Jojo et Nadine.  I think Jojo had long died but Nadine was soldiering on – she must have been well into her 70’s.  She had to chase her two dogs out of the restaurant before she could get us seated.  We were the only clients for the night as we sat down in a very dark and dated dining area.  It was outfitted like an old hunting cabin, with dark stained logs and beams.  The food was surprisingly good but she pointed out that she doesn’t do modern cooking so we had very hearty sized portions – way too much for us.
24 November – Another short journey to Ajaccio, but back into typical Corsican roads winding up and over several passes.  What a surprise as we came around one particular pass to have a view of snow-covered peaks in the distance – this must have happened in this recent cold snap coming down from Europe as there was no snow on them a couple of weeks ago.

Found parking in the centre of the town so that we could have a good look around.  Nice leisurely walk along the corniche, followed by a sumptuous lunch of savoury crepes in a little creperie.  Drove out to the end of the peninsula – built up a lot of the way but a nice natural park right at the tip with good walking and nice views of the coastline.  Found our hotel for the night just a little out of the city centre, but nice rooms with a view from our balcony, along the beaches and around to the town and harbour.

25 November – Had a day to fill in so took off up the coast and over some little mountain passes out to Cargese.  The French roads on the windy parts are not as well-engineered as their Italian counterparts which have guard rails everywhere and we came across one car which had gone off the road on a steep section with no railing but fortunately some trees had broken it’s fall.  Not such a great day for sightseeing, rainy from time to time and quite windy, but with stops for morning tea and lunch managed to get through most of the day.

 

Look what I spied walking around a ridge on the city walls

We had to hang around until 7pm, or so we thought, before we could board the ferry.

Turns out we could have gone on a lot earlier as there were plenty of cars already on the ferry.  Everyone with reservations must have turned up early as we set sail 15 mins before the stated departure time of 8pm.  We knew we were leaving the port as a very rousing piece of music started playing over the speakers!  As it was an overnight voyage we booked a basic cabin for the journey so that hopefully we could get some sleep.

European Escapades

07 October – Our SAS flight to Oslo was just over 2 1/2 hours – full again.  Arrived on time and we got to sample the Flytoget fast train from the airport all the way through to Drammen.  Very impressive – so smooth and must be in excess of 180kph judging by the way we whizzed past the cars on the motorway. Very green countryside with many trees, fields and small farms.  Roald was at the station to meet us and take us back up to his home in Konnerud.
8-9 October – A nice time catching up with Roald and enjoying his company.  Sadly Malfrid his wife is in full time care now, but we managed a couple of visits to see her.   A dramatic change from the last time I had seen her which is very sad, but she did seem to remember us.  A nice walk through the woods one afternoon for a scenic view out over Drammen got us out in the fresh air.
10 October – Time to say our farewells to Norway; we had such a nice stay with Roald remembering times past.  Took the local train from Drammen to Oslo and changed to the express to speed through the countryside first to Gotenburg in Sweden, where it was again necessary to change, this time to a local train to Malmo.  Couldn’t believe the number of begging gypsies in the train station at Gotenburg.  Our trip from go to whoa took us about 6 hours and made a pleasant change from being in a plane.  Claus and Adriana picked us up at the train station in Malmo and then it was just a short drive to their home in the nearby town of Oxie.  Samantha, their daughter, last seen at Wanganui in 2013 had blossomed into a bubbly 13 year old.
11 October – The weather not co-operating very nicely at the moment but at least it wasn’t raining so, being a Sunday, we were taken on a nice drive out on the coast to the southern most tip of Sweden before heading inland to their summer house.  Wow – this was an 18th Century farmhouse complete with thatched roof.  Inside it had been re-modelled into a cosy dwelling, but with all the character remaining including the very low ceiling beams.  Extensive gardens surround the house and in summer they make full use of them.

Also picked up Claus’s Karmen-Ghia from storage and inspected his newly acquired La Salle purchased from America.
12-14 October – Work days in the Moller household, but we had the loan of Claus’s BMW to go tiki-touring.  Helsingborg to the north of Malmo was our destination for the first day.  An old city centre with a castle and interesting buildings kept us occupied for a while until it got too cold, so back home via country roads and nice scenery.

Tuesday we followed some of the route from the Sunday drive, intending to take lunch at a restaurant we had been shown, which was unfortunately found to be closed for the day. Plan B was more successful and we did manage to find a small pizza cafe nearby.

Wednesday and another try for lunch, this time at a highly regarded fish restaurant near Fasterbo, on a nearby peninsula in the Oresund Passage.  Closed again, this time for the season, but we did find a charming cafe in the village which provided the necessaries.
This part of southern Sweden is full of tiny villages with lovely old cottages and thatch-roofed houses – very reminiscent of England, but tidier looking countryside.

15 October – Malmo, here we come.  Took the bus into the city as it has a good walking centre and not easy to find suitable parking.  Spent a few hours taking in the different highlights including Malmo Castle, which had some good displays and one very macabre one about prisoners in the jail there in former times.  Also an exhibition recording the city’s past history after WWII in caring for refugees, which they are now having to do again.  Bussed back home – a whole day without rain but it was still not all that warm.

16 October – Farewells again after another hospitable sojourn, before Claus dropped us off at Copenhagen airport and we had a leisurely check-in with time to spare, before boarding SAS to Amsterdam.  A very full flight again, but only 1hr 30.  Touched down in a wet Amsterdam and had to set about finding a phone to call for our shuttle to our waiting Peugeot Eurolease car.  That was easier said than done, but finally managed to work out how to use the public phone and get through to the right person.  Ten minutes later our van arrived and we were taken south of the airport to pick her up – only 1.8km on the speedo – she smells lovely and new and quite a sporty little machine.  Not sure that we will need the sun roof though, but the heated seats are sooo nice.  Got the GPS sorted with our address for the night.

I had booked a B&B before leaving Sweden to make sure that we didn’t have too far to drive when arriving.  The Amsterdam traffic towards Utrecht made the trip longer than anticipated and it was a bit of a struggle to find our accommodation, but we finally arrived around 6pm and found it to be a nice place.  We were their first guests ever, so it was all a bit new for our hosts but they did a good job.  We had to find a place for dinner and that was the big challenge for the day – the town was only a short walking distance away but it was rainy and cold so we took the car.

Yvette had a real problem distinguishing between cycle roads and roads suitable for vehicles but we finally found the centre of the town.  A night market was going on with meats, cheeses and all sorts of other things for sale.  We found our booked restaurant – good food but back to nouveau cuisine – the only time we have been hungry enough to eat a horse and we get small portions!  It turned out to be satisfying enough and was especially nicely prepared.  “Go back home” challenged Yvette, but we did eventually made it back and were so glad we had decided not to walk – we would still be searching!
17 October – A nice breakfast awaited us in the morning with a good selection of fresh fruits, cereals, boiled eggs and breads.  Getting out of Ijsellstein was much easier in the daylight.  Using rural roads we ambled down around Eindhoven towards Grubbenvorst, which was a challenge as our map is not of a very large scale and Yvette was fighting us all the way to get us to go on the freeway – can’t yet find where I can turn off that feature!  Found Harry & Nel’s place very easily – a lovely little village.  Bob & Harry went off to explore sheds later in the afternoon, while Nel took me for a walk around the village.
18 October – Grey and miserable day, so Harry’s suggestion of visiting the Ooberlong WWII museum was a good move.  What a surprise that was – we spent nearly all day there, walking first through the documentation area which had vivid descriptions of the big tank and infantry battle that occurred in the vicinity and also of the great civilian hardships under the German occupation.  After lunch we then had the huge display of vehicles and armaments to look at.  What an amazing collection that was – the large building housing them had tanks, trucks, guns, boats and a couple of planes – many staged as they would have been when facing action.

19 October – An interesting visit today to a collector of Norton motorcycles living just an hour’s drive from Harry and Nel in the township of Best.  Albert Heijden, the owner of the collection spent 3 hours with us going through his treasures and giving us some of the history of the special ones.  As well as Nortons, he also had some very early bicycles, many racing cycles and other bits and pieces.  As well as restoring Nortons, he had spent 10 years renovating the building they are housed in which was formerly his uncle’s family home going back several generations.

Our day was topped off by another visit to Harry and his boy’s large shed, to view their unique collection of very early motorbikes. The family has a real passion for early ‘bikes and for ‘less is best’ style restoration.
20 October – Bob had a visit first up with Harry to Dutch Lion, motorcycle dealers selling vintage and classic bikes in a range of conditions, but luckily came away empty handed.  Our afternoon visits consisted first of a treat for the gals – a kitchen showroom, and boy do I want to move to the Netherlands.  Amazing kitchens for a fraction of what we pay at home in NZ – this factory turns out something like 1500 kitchens a month, so that must account for the ability to turn them out so cheaply.  This was followed up with a visit to ‘Yesterdays’ – a motorcycle collector/dealer housing some very exotic machines in a museum atmosphere. Many of these were for sale with some equally exotic prices, like 87,500Euro for a Motoguzzi from the 1930’s.  Bob’s interest was taken by a 1952 350cc Manx Norton racer sourced from Finland at 41,000Euro.  Dreams are free!
Our day was finished off with a trip over the border to Germany for dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant which Harry and Nel often frequent.

21 October – More farewells to kind friends.  After an enjoyable few days it was time to move on again.  Harry and Nel were kind hosts and we will see them before too long back in NZ for the next M/C Rally.  Germany was just a few km’s from their home and you would never know that you had changed countries except that the road signs turn from white on blue to black on yellow.  Had a quick trip down the autobahn for a while before turning to follow the Rhine River.  What a gorgeous drive – the one consolation we have for the grotty weather is that the leaves are turning so it makes for some stunning scenery.  There is a road on both sides of the river and we got a surprise when we thought we would be crossing over by bridge to find it was a car ferry.

The river valley is very narrow with steep side – the towns are crowded into the small areas of flat land available and if the slopes are not too steep then they build up the hillsides, otherwise it is just one or two streets of houses.  Castles of course dominate the high vantage points every few miles and where there aren’t houses on the slopes then they are layered with grape-vines.  Finding somewhere to stay was a challenge to say the least – we made our way to a small town just beyond Boppard which seemed to have some suitable hotels but we they were not open.  This town was amazing – narrow streets like you wouldn’t believe and Yvette seemed to delight in taking us down them all – with only inches to spare on either side, it was fun!!

We had to turn around and go back to Boppard which had a bit more substance to it and eventually found somewhere with a room available – just across from the Rhine, but pretty pricey by our standards.  Walked into the town for dinner – what a surprise – a few streets up from the river were all sorts of very old houses,  from the mid 1550’s up, in narrow cobbled streets and emerging into a charming square.
22 October – Continued down the Rhine for about 50kms before heading back on to the autobahn to get around some of the bigger cities.  Noticed an auto-technik museum as we were passing through Speyer so that warranted a stop for a few hours to explore.  A mix of cars, trains, planes and other oddities such as an old carousel, farm machinery and automatic music organs.

Our destination was Sinsheim and again finding somewhere to stay proved a little difficult and we had to settle again for a pricey but very ordinary hotel in the nearby village of Rohrbach.  Had a walk around the village – that was a bit different – it’s origins must have been a farming area as there were many older houses with barns (some still in use and some converted) but these were interspersed with newer houses in their narrow streets.  A choice of two restaurants were on hand in this little village and we chose Zorba the Greek – good choice with a nice meal finished off very nicely with a complimentary shot of Ouzo.
23 October – Sinsheim Auto-Technic was the order of the day and we managed to spend the whole day exploring this amazing museum. A sister museum to Speyer from yesterday, but much larger.  Cars from all over Europe with many marques which we had not even heard of, motorbikes, trucks, steam engines and planes. We were even able to go inside an Air France Concorde and its Russian counterpart the Tupelov Tu144.  Not a lot of room inside either of them – 2 x 2 seating and a very narrow aisle in between.  To the fairly uninitiated, it did seem like somebody had almost copied somebody else in the design!  Weary bods return back to the same hotel for another night’s stay.  Zorba the Greek and the hotel’s restaurant were both fully booked this night, so we opted for the village kebab takeaway which suited just fine.

24 October – Neckarsulm was our first stop of the day so that Bob could visit the nicely presented NSU museum while I had a walk around the town.  Nice town square with a car free zone made for pleasant walking.  A few market stalls with fresh veges and cheese were attracting good business.  Bob says that as well as a very comprehensive collection of NSU products, their museum also held the largest display of pre-war English Brough-Superior motorcycles he had ever seen.

Yet another lovely bakery provided our sustenance for the next few hours.  Oh my – the range of goodies in these bakeries is not good for us – Germans really love their sweet pastries!  Our afternoon entertainment was finding a way on the back roads to our next destination, Wolframs-Eschenbach.  I got wise this time and booked a place online for us to stay, as it is too difficult to just rock up and find somewhere to stay.  It seems that a lot of the smaller guesthouses have already closed for the season.

A very pretty drive, through rolling farmland, interesting little villages and the one compensation for the cooler weather is the autumn leaves (just as nice as New England).  We seem to keep coming across closed roads and having to take detours which can be challenging for Yvette, but we made it to Wolframs. What a surprise this town was – a medieval walled town with some original houses from the 15th C, a huge church from 1600’s with a very special painted spire.  Much of the town wall from the 1600’s was still standing.  Inside the walls were cobbled streets and a small inner square – very quaint!  Our hotel was much nicer than the previous night for a much more reasonable price and we even managed to get the Rugby World Cup radio commentary via the Internet to listen to the gripping game NZ against the Springboks.  Dinner was good value in the hotel’s restaurant with their local region’s speciality of bratwurst particularly tasty.

25 October – Daylight saving has ended – that means that winter is not far away.  Luckily we have had warmer temps in these last few days and even managed to see the sun yesterday.  We went cross country again on our way to Regensburg, stopping off in Roth to sample yet another bakery and another small town with a local market.  More lovely rolling hills and these little pockets of villages.  Found our destination just north of Regensburg to meet up with Thomas and Gabi – it has been 9 years since we saw them last, so nice to be able to get together again.
26-27 October – Got to see a few of the sights around Regensburg with Tom and Gabi including a private auto museum with an interesting collection of mainly 1950-60’s cars and ‘bikes including a whole lot of tiny cars like the BMW Isetta, Messerschmidt, NSU Prinz and Wartburg.  We took the long way home, winding our way through picturesque villages.  Next day first stop a trip out to the stables where Tom and Gabi have a couple of American quarter-horses: they were duly fed and admired before the humans headed on to Walhalla, an impressive columned building high up above the River Donau – looks very much like a Greek temple.  Inside the building were busts of prominent scholars, musicians, artists, scientists and politicians. Marble was the order of the day for this building – a dark pink marble lined the interior of the building and it seemed that marble was also used for the columns and outer facing.  Had it been a clearer day we would have been able to see all the way to the Alps.  We headed back into Regensburg in the evening for a very enjoyable Indian meal.

28 October –  Off we go again, after yet another lovely break with friends.  A leisurely drive took us through more of Bavaria with it’s green fields and autumn leaves then as we neared Austria the Alps came into view and our landscape changed into more rolling countryside.  Our stay for the night was at Peiting, a neat little town to the south of Schongau.  Wiser now, we had booked a place to stay before arriving and a good choice, a nice Inn, very Bavarain with it’s wooden verandahs outside the rooms and pretty geranium filled window boxes.  Had a walk around the historic part of the town with it’s cobbled streets and of course the “church”.  Every town and village has one of these in varying degrees of grandness but always huge by our standards.  Dinner was in the Inn’s restaurant, serving Bavarian specialties.
29 October – Miserable grey day for our trip through to Italy.  Initially we were driving through the flat farm land but before long we came to the Alpine foothills.  A detour into Oberammagau was a must as in my previous life I had booked holidays for many people to this historic place.  The grey weather probably didn’t help but it was very touristy and full of shops selling religious artifacts – not very appealing really.  As we headed up through the Alps, the houses got more traditionally Bavarian, with more small farms dotted with little wooden barns.  The backdrop of the rugged mountains would have been spectacular had we been able to see them through the increasing mist.

With such poor visibility we decided it would be wiser to give the Brenner Pass high road a miss and opt instead for the toll road through the tunnel.  Eventually came out the other side to clearing skies with better views of the mountains.  The quick journey via Innsbruck and more of Austria soon had us in Italia – not a noticeable difference while we were still in the mountains, except the autostrade was quite narrow in comparison to the German autobahn.  Wound our way down for a long time and couldn’t believe the number of trucks on the roads.

With the skies finally turning blue we came through a very steep gorge and then out of the mountains and into the plains once again.  Now we can see a difference – Italian towns appear not nearly as prosperous as their German counterparts and quite grubby in comparison.  We left the Autostrade at Bolzano to take country roads towards Trento – much nicer to be out of the constant stream of trucks, but also much slower as every few km’s a new town is encountered with speed limit drops from 90 to 50.

Yvette got her revenge on me yet again in Trento – our accommodation was a vineyard up on the hills above the city and she delighted in taking us through a maze of tiny cobbled streets, including one which was barely wide enough for us, and certainly not for two – so of course Murphy’s law intervened and a car came the other way, now necessitating a reversal on my part back down until an alcove provided a passing space.  The accommodation for our night’s stay was very interesting – a 17th C villa looking out over the vine covered hills.  Very rustic, but comfortable enough and a lovely in-house restaurant on the lower floor provided us with a nicely cooked dinner, while ‘mine host’ assured us that our All Blacks would beat the Australians in the Rugby World Cup final.

30 October – After consulting Google maps I was able to outsmart Yvette and found us a very easy way out of town. Bob had noticed an aviation museum on the way in yesterday so we made for that with a little detour up a mountain road (unintentional).  Only a few exhibits but they were nice examples of very early planes with special emphasis on the work of Italian aviation pioneer Gianni Caproni. There was also a very good documented exhibit of Marshal Italo Balbo and his exploits leading his 1933 25 plane flying armada across the Atlantic to Montreal, Chicago, New York and back again to Italy.

We managed to fill the morning with that interesting little visit so it was then time to head for our next rendezvous at Modena.  This leg of the journey was again via the country roads and took us the rest of the afternoon. Slow traffic, narrow roads and lots of little towns made it quite tedious.  Verona caused us a few problems as we lost our way a bit trying to get through the jungle of intersections.  Signage was very confusing but we finally found the correct road and continued on the way to our final destination.  Daylight saving, which had come to an end last weekend, also hasn’t helped with the sun setting much earlier now so it was nearly dark when we found our B&B.

Very strange set-up and not quite what was expected from the reviews.  Our room was located off the owner’s kitchen, no windows to the outside or ventilation, but clean enough.  A small cafe next door was to be our dinner venue, only to find that they were having a special early Halloween night and wanted to charge 20Euro each for what was going to be a buffet of all fish dishes.  Didn’t want to drive in the dark back into Modena, but it was fortunate I had picked up some fruit and snacks before we left Germany, so that was our repast for the night as we listened to the radio commentary of the Rugby World Cup game between South Africa and Argentina, thanks to the marvels of the internet.
31 October – Our breakfast was arranged to be in the cafe next door but that turned into a bit of a shambles – my order of hot chocolate took several goes before it resembled anything like a drinkable version and Bob’s coffee was equally a battle.  We were told to choose something from their cabinet to eat – some choice!  Either a filled roll or a croissant.  Not a good start to our day, but at least we still had some fruit left to top up the tanks before we set off on our day’s sight seeing.

Imola – about 80km down the road – the world famous race track and small museum took care of the morning.  A special display of the history and past winning machines of the ‘Imola 200’ motorcycle race series (sometimes called the European Daytona Series) was Bob’s reason for visiting this shrine.  We were also able to watch what seemed to be a public track day for a while – the stands overlooking the final straight had no view of any other part of the track, but you could hear the cars’ screaming engines somewhere in the distance.

Opted to take the quick way via autostrade to and from Imola as the city of Bologna stood between Modena and Imola. Back in Modena again, we managed to find a place to park near the centre of the old town.  Very Italian – you don’t pay between 1.00pm and 2.30pm (lunch time) – the pay machine takes this into account.  Managed to find our way into the historic piazza centred around a large church, with a local market happening around the square.  Was looking for the indoor Abinelli market which I had read was in the same area – it took a bit of finding but find it we did.  Quite a small market, but an interesting array of fresh produce.

Decided to have a substantial lunch as we didn’t want to rely on the cafe next door being able to supply us with dinner at Halloween.  Fresh tortellini filled with ricotta and sage in a butter sage sauce – very tasty.  Had to make a quick trot back to our parked car so as not to overstay the pre-paid time.  Wardens were ticketing nearby cars as we arrived and our time was up!  Back to B&B Mollina to settle in to listen to the RWC final.  Halfway through the game we actually found that one of the Italian TV stations was going to play the delayed version of the game later, so we got to watch it as well.  It was certainly a bit nail-biting in the last 20 minutes but great that the AB’s were able to do it yet again.
01 November – Aware of our less than satisfactory experience the day before, breakfast was served in-house this morning and the poor girl did try, but I think we have to say that Italian breakfasts are not on a par with the Germans.  My hot chocolate was still a challenge – so thick you could stand a spoon up but at least this time there was water and milk to thin it down.  We were glad to depart this B&B and have come to the conclusion that Italy does not yet fully understand the requirements for setting up this sort of facility.

Headed for Maranello, home of the Ferrari museum and just 20km away.  Well there were some stunning cars on display in this facility – if you have enough money you can even design and have built your own one-off car – perhaps next week!!  Our next target destination was Livorno, on the west coast of Italy and just a short distance from Pisa.

Our drive to get there – memorable!  Bob got his chance to do his Ferrari stint as we had 90kms of squiggly mountain roads, complete with lots of switchbacks, tiny villages and only a few impatient Italian drivers.  We climbed up to a ski village at Abetone before crossing into the province of Tuscany.  Houses precariously perched on mountain sides were the feature of the drive – at 1300m the trees had lost all their leaves and winter was probably not too far away.  The signs were telling us that from 15 November, carrying chains was compulsory.

Our B&B was in yet another challenging area – about 7 kms above the town of Livorno – gorgeous views from our room and a much nicer set-up than our last one.  Parking is a real issue in these areas – we had to park on a very narrow verge away a bit from our accommodation – the street is only wide enough for one vehicle so one has to take things very carefully going around the blind bends.  Had a nice bit of exercise up and down the road to the local pizzeria – our first real Italian pizza.  We have found prices in Italy fairly comparable to Germany – a modest evening meal is averaging around 30Euro for two, with drinks and sometimes dessert, and our accommodation between 65 and 80 Euro a night.  With a diesel vehicle we at least are not using much fuel (although we have already clocked up 2500kms) and at around 1.30E a litre our tank fills are reasonable.
02 November –  Exploration of Livorno today.  First task was to work out how to reach the car ferry to Corsica and a good job we did that, as it was very confusing.  Parked not too far from the city centre and walked around the various points of interest.  The Little Venice Quarter was named with a fair bit of poetic licence – yes it had some canals with little bridges but that was as far as it went – it certainly didn’t have the charm of Venice.  Next stop their main street, the Via Grande – that was grand – both sides of the street were lined with covered walkways paved with marble.  We followed that up to the local market – got there just as everyone was packing up, so missed the best of it.  Then on to the ‘new’ fort on a tiny island in the middle of the city – mainly just the walls surviving.  It seems that a lot of Livorno including the old fort by the waterfront was bombed during WWII, with many of the other old buildings damaged.

With the city done, we drove south on the coastal road for a while, hoping to have a late lunch – that was a forlorn hope – any restaurant that we came to didn’t open until the evening, so it was back to Plan B – go back home and wait until later, then venture out to find dinner.  Did this and had a nice meal in a waterfront restaurant.
03 November – Up early to make the trip down into the Port of Livorno to catch the ferry. We had to be there at 7am although that was a bit optimistic – I have never seen such a dis-organised bunch of people trying to load the cars and trucks on to the ferry.  In quite typical Italian style there was much shouting and waving of arms, confusion and people jumping the queue, but surprisingly the boat did sail out of port on time.  With a 4 3/4 hour sailing time to Corsica the time passed quickly with very calm seas.  Getting off the boat the other side was much more straightforward.  Bienvenue a Bastia – a bustling port town.  Easily found the road out of town towards St Florent (only 28kms) but very slow going as it climbed up and snaked around the mountain.  Got caught in quite heavy fog at the top, which made it unpleasant going for a while not knowing how road-safety conscious local drivers were.  Down the other side we came into St Florent and followed the directions to our accommodation.  We had booked a small apartment for 3 nights – a nice change from small rooms, with the ability to cook our own meals for a change and have a decent breakfast courtesy of Leclerc’s supermarket.

04 November – First into St Florent – a small town with a pretty harbour.  Some quite expensive looking boats moored up for the winter.  Many of the hotels and restaurants are closed for the season, with just the local’s shops and businesses open.  St Florent has an old Genoese Citadel overlooking the town, but it is a little worse for wear – we couldn’t get inside – just had to be content to walk around the tower.

Decided that a trip up towards Cap Corse was in order – I guess we spent an hour or so winding along the coast road which had very few chances to actually get down to the water due to the rocky nature of the coastline with the road quite high up.  At Nonza we did find a little road taking us down to the “beach” – no sand here, just very large black pebbles but brilliantly clear water.  I dipped my toes into the “Med” but it was a tad cold.

The remains of a small Martello tower jutted out from the small promontory.  These towers were built by the Genoese in the 15thC and were so well built that Nelson copied their design in the late 18th C for the towers that still dot the English south coast.  Decided that we weren’t really going to see anything too different by carrying on so set sail back for home base and a touch of home cooking.

05 November – A trip to Calvi – further down on the West Coast was the task for today.  Only about 70kms but half of that on another small squiggly road which forces you to take it easy.  Lovely views as we climbed up into the rocky hills and down the other side to the coast with a clear blue sea.  First stop Ile Rousse – a bit larger than St Florent with a nice old town and port area.  Stopped for the obligatory coffee and cakes before a walk around the shopping area and out to the port.  Remains of an old fort perched on reddish rock was the distinguishing feature here.

Back on the road to Calvi – even busier, with a lively waterfront area and an impressive walled old city on a point overlooking the harbour.  Lunch was al fresco down on the beach – very deserted at this time of the year – nice white sand and again sparkling clear waters – it would be so nice to have a swim in these waters – might have to come back during the summer as the water is way too cold right now.  Returned back on the same roads to home base for a relaxing evening.  Enjoying much warmer climes now with temperatures in the low 20’s

Icelandic Idyll

27/28 September – Took off from LA mid-morning on-time on Alaska Airlines to Seattle with a change there and on to an Iceland Air flight to Keflavik, the international airport on the island.  12 hours later we were on the ground in a rather cold, wet and miserable looking Iceland – time change meant that we arrived at 6.30am having only had a couple of hours sleep.  Our poor old bodies thought it was bed time, so neither of us were all that bright.  Both flights were quite full with limited seating space, so not all that pleasant; the longer Iceland Air flight also made you pay for food or entertainment if you wanted it.

Entry into Iceland was easy – no queues so we were out very quickly.  Picked up our little Renault Clio rental and headed into Keflavik town for breakfast while we waited for our room to be available.  Found a nice little bakery in town with good coffee and run by a Columbian family.  Have decided that Iceland has a real thing about roundabouts – we have come across more in our first few hours than the whole of the USA.   A short visit to the local Viking museum filled in another hour and then we could hit the B&B and take a very welcome nap.
A few hours later, suitably refreshed, decided to go out and explore, taking a circular drive around the peninsula from Keflavik.  First impressions of this area – a lot of lava and very barren.  The lava flows range from bare black rocks through to mossy covered lava and then slightly more fertile areas with tundra like grass.  Down to the coast at Grindavik and back up via the Blue Lagoon.  Didn’t go in for a swim as you had to have a prior booking, but we could see the brilliant blue starkly contrasting with the black lava.  Back in town we found a small cafe for dinner before crashing out for an early night.
29 September – Body clocks not adjusted yet so it was wide awake time at 5am.  Breakfast was a mix of Scandinavian/European with cereals and fruit, as well as all manner of cold meats and cheeses – a nice start to the day.  Sorted out flights and trains by internet for the Scandinavian stage of our journey before checking out and starting on the first leg of our island adventure.  Fortunately, the rain had cleared for the most part and we could actually see the landscape around us – still quite chilly though.  Headed down a small road to the south coast, lava fields giving way to more fertile land which even had small shrubs and heather like plants growing.  The coast is very rugged.

Inland to join their major road (the only one!) Highway 1 to Selfoss for lunch in a nice little cafe.  From Selfoss on towards Vik, came into farmland with sheep, the odd cow and quite a lot of Icelandic horses.  These look rather like ponies but are larger than the Shetland variety and are true horses although very stocky, and come in all manner of colours.  Iconic little white farmhouses with red roofs dot the landscape. In places towering black cliffs loom above the green fields.  Waterfalls made up a lot of the special scenic stops on this route – the Western US could certainly do with some of the abundance of water we see here.

Our Nordic GPS found our accommodation very easily – a sheep farm with two blocks of rooms.  Very nicely fitted out with a shared kitchen, lounges and bathrooms for the eight rooms in our block.  Super clean with nice fast wi-fi to boot.  We had a hiccup with our debit/credit card whilst in Selfoss – first the cafe and then the ATM at the bank would not work.  The B&B owner kindly let us use his phone to ring the USA so see what was wrong.  Turns out the bank’s fraud dept had stopped the card because I had tried to pay online from outside of the USA this morning when booking flights, even though we had told them exactly where we were going.  They reversed the stop straight away and all is now working again.  A real nuisance – we couldn’t even make a collect call as in Iceland they are so up with technology that there is no international operator any longer to arrange it.
Decided to flag going out for a meal, settling for cheese (back to real cheese again, yeah!!) crackers and fruit which we had fortuitously picked up from the supermarket yesterday.
30 September – Body clocks almost back to normal – pretty murky start to the morning.  Scandinavian breakfast with plenty to eat in the dining room before setting off.  Quite surprised how many young Asian people are travelling here independently.  With 290 kms to go to our next night’s stop at Hofn, we set off soon after breakfast.  First up was a detour down to the coast at Dyrholaey and a cliff viewing point – wind was a challenge once out of the car and the waves were really kicking up a frenzy.  What a treacherous bit of coastline; there were the remains of a rocket launch site to a nearby island and a large winch which must have been used in the past for recovering boats.  Back up to the main road and on-wards, which revealed a huge variety of scenery today.

To start with we had quite a bit of farmland – cows, sheep and horses, with hay bales stocked up in preparation for winter evident everywhere.  Halfway through our journey we saw glimpses of the first of what was to be many glaciers coming down the valleys.  There were only a few settlements along the way so it was a challenge to find places to eat – morning tea and lunch were in restaurants of sorts attached to service stations.  A lot more lava fields in various states of regeneration of vegetation along this part of the trip.

The roads are built up about 15ft above the fields right through these areas.   The afternoon run continued for about 60kms with huge cliffs one side and flat black ‘sands’ stretching for several km’s out to the sea.  These sands are from the retreating Vatnajokull ice-field on top of the huge mountain.  The start of the National Park (which is said to contain the Europe’s largest ice cap outside of the Arctic) had us crossing this vast volcanic sand area laced with hundreds of rivers coming down off the mountains.

We stopped off at one area devastated earlier following an eruption in 1996 which started off a huge flood from a glacier – in just over 15 hours vast ice laden flood waters took out bridges and the main road isolating the region.  The power of the water had twisted the steel bridge beams like they were made of rubber.  Once through the sands, the mountains came closer to the road with glaciers around every bend.

The most spectacular had to be the glacial lagoon – a 20 sq km lake at the foot of a glacier, full of ice calved off the front of the glacier.  The colours were quite amazing – bright blues, black from the basalt and brilliant white.  The wind off the glacier was unbelievable – standing up was a challenge and the cold was biting, but despite this the clouds and gloom from the morning had blown away leaving nice clear skies.

We didn’t have too far go from there – our stay for this night was another B&B lodge just a few km’s from the town of Hofn.  Another spotless place – Scandinavian in design and very pricey but it was the only available place I could find when booking this trip a few months back.  We popped into the town to pick up a few supermarket items and I also needed a battery charger for my camera (had to leave the one I had in the US behind with Wanda’s new owners as it was not rated for the 220v here) – nearly fell through the floor with the price, but it was that or no photos so had to bite the bullet.
01 October – Body clocks have gone haywire – we nearly missed out on breakfast after sleeping so late!  With breakfast out of the way it was a battle to go the short distance to the car, the wind was so strong – move over Wellington, you are nothing compared to the winds here!  Another drive of greatly contrasting scenery – started off in the rain and murk following the coastline with huge cliffs on the land side and water on our right.  Great roads – nicely sealed and although not super wide, were quite OK for our small car.  On the other hand Wanda would have really struggled, especially with the high winds!  Followed the coastal road (which also had the odd farm) for most of the morning before crossing over countless rivers and through some very marshy areas.

Stopped off for morning tea at Djtipivogur – a little fishing village.   The rain had fizzled out but we were still left with a bit of wind.  Next up was a lovely drive up the first of our fjords, Benifjordur – I suppose we followed it up about 10 kms until we crossed over and came back down the other side.  Nice farming area – again mostly sheep.  Back on to the coast and at Breiodalsvik stopped for lunch – not many places to choose from, so settled for the only one open and managed to get soup of the day – a nice hearty dish on a cool day.  We had a choice when leaving to go over the top to Egilsstadir or via the coast – not looking at the right map we decided that the coastal road might be unsealed and looked a lot longer, so opted for the over-the-top version.  It turned out to be about 50km of gravel, but a good road and speeds didn’t have to go much less than 80kmh.  It was a spectacular drive though, first up this blind valley and at the top we were surrounded by high cliffs – it didn’t look like there was any way out of there, but the road led us up the side and over the summit.

The colours coming up the valley were gorgeous – autumn is well on it’s way and the heath and shrubs were all turning, so it was vibrant reds, yellows and oranges.  The view back down the valley from the top of the pass was also stunning – but getting out of the car was a mission as the wind was terrific.  I didn’t feel it very much when driving but once we had stopped that was another thing.  Coming down the pass the other side was equally pretty and it opened out into a fertile valley before hitting the top of Lake Lagarfljot and into Egilsstadir for our next little guesthouse.  This one was quite cute – again shared bathrooms but very clean, with communal kitchen.  On arrival the owner told us that the coastal road option was all sealed, would have taken about the same time and was the recommended route!
Took a nice little walk up the road to the local ‘forest’ – a pretty track alongside a small river and in among the birch trees.  Dinner was chez-nous again: after a big lunch we were happy to settle for fruit and cheese.

02 October – The wind had dropped right off and it was a cool start to the morning.  Today was a day of contrasts – from Egilsstadir we climbed up to the moors and lo and behold it had been snowing and was still lightly sprinkling as we drove through.  Made a short 100km detour down to Vopnafjord for morning tea.

En route were some historic turf houses to look at – warm probably, but rather basic and dusty (we are now into winter schedules for tourist things so we couldn’t go inside).

Back up the valley and continued over the moors before coming into the volcano areas – wow! what a difference – the flat barren moors gave way to craggy peaks everywhere and areas of geothermal activity.  Stopped at one area where you could walk around the fumaroles which were really hissing away with the pressure from below.

Another stop at Godafoss to watch crazies kayaking over a turbulent waterfall.  With temperatures today from -1C to a high of 5C it was certainly a bit of a change from the near 40’s only a week ago.

Went around the south end of Lake Myvatn which has little volcano formations poking up in the middle of the lake.  Our final destination was near Akureyri and a rather expensive hotel on the outskirts of the town, but with gorgeous views overlooking the fjord and the mountains beyond.  Can’t believe the prices one has to pay here – this hotel was nearly NZ$200 per night and was like something out of the 1960’s – clean but very outdated.  While watching the local news, found out that one of the volcanoes under the icecap had caused a huge glacial melt and flood-waters were threatening highway #1 where we stopped a couple of days ago to photograph the twisted bridge remains.
03 October – Beautiful clear start to our day – the views from the hotel over the fjord to the snow capped mountains on the other side were just lovely.  A short drive from the hotel took us through Akureyri – this is the largest town (pop. 17,000) in the northern part of Iceland. Today’s plan was to drive the coastal route which we thought would take us in and out of several fjords – turns out that the road now goes in tunnels right under the mountains and bypasses the coast altogether.

Not to worry, we got to go through some engineering wonders – the first a single lane tunnel 3km long – the traffic is not stopped at either end – the west to east traffic has priority.  Good thing there are passing bays every few hundred metres!  I followed a big truck through figuring that everything would get out of its way.  There was only one other car coming the other way so it wasn’t a problem.  Next tunnel was 7km and two way with the final one 3km again and single lane.  We are just amazed that a country of only 340,000 people can afford to build such great roads and even put through tunnels when far ‘greater’ countries can’t even fix their potholes.  As we were off the beaten track a bit today, didn’t see very many other cars let alone tourists, which was pleasant.

Again it is a long time between settlements so it was nearly mid-day before we found our morning tea stop at a charming town, with colourful houses and spectacular scenery all around.  We visited the local bakery/coffee house which was jam-packed with locals and had a very pleasant morning tea stop.  All the locals were wrapped up in hats, coats and scarfs – I didn’t think it was that cold and that is coming recently from temperatures well into the 30’s.  It was about 7C although the wind was quite chill.

Turns out that the snow had been laid on just for us, as this was the first snowfall of the year.  We finally got to go around some of the coast from here – so pretty and quite rugged but the west side sea was a lot calmer than the east.  The colours on the stark hills reflected the fact that autumn is well on it’s way here – small ground hugging plants turning red stand out brilliantly against the dark rocks.  The last part of our journey into Blonduos was through the moors going up to about 1700ft before descending down into another fjord and it’s small fishing village.

En route we noticed a ‘vintage vehicle museum’ so rocked on up to the farmhouse and barn to find that they had already closed for the season but kindly let us in anyway.  The cars had all been put away for the winter so were jam-packed inside and you had to fight your way around to look at them.  An interesting mix of mainly 1950’s onwards vehicles – many East European and Russian makes, but also some English or German and a few Yank tanks plus tractors and even a real SnowCat!  Anyway it was an interesting find in the middle of nowhere.

Our stay for the night was in a beautifully restored old schoolhouse – transformed into a three roomed guesthouse with lounge, shared bathroom and immaculate kitchen area.  We were sharing with just one English speaking couple from Taiwan.  Were fortunate that the only restaurant in town was just a quick walk down the road and still open (many places are closed for the off-season already) and enjoyed our first home-cooked dinner which made a change from cheese and biscuits!  A good thing that this guesthouse was much more reasonably priced (comparatively) than the previous night.
04 October – Had a nice chat with our co-visitors from Taiwan before we set off from Blonduos for more southern climes.  Grotty day with low cloud and rain didn’t make for a very interesting trip.  We journeyed via a few more fjords and moors but with not too much visibility.  Managed to find a nice cafe for our lunch at Bordeyn, a small fishing village (pop. 250), before taking the road to Borgarnes with a little detour up to some interesting waterfalls.  It was a very quick trot to the lookout and back to the car in the pouring rain – but these falls were different.  The water was coming out of the lava walls into the river below.

Made Borgarnes in the late afternoon and found our guesthouse for the night.  Another little charmer – this one right on the water’s edge with views out over the harbour to the old part of town.  Cold and windy, so nice to stay put in the warm and relax.  Just two rooms in this guesthouse and we are sharing with a young couple from Germany.  We have a hot tub plus communal lounge and kitchen area, which is all very nicely appointed.
05 October – After a nice leisurely breakfast with our housemates we drove on into downtown Borgarnes to have a look at the old town and visit the Settlers Museum.  That was an interesting insight into how Iceland was settled by the early Vikings and how the current inhabitants can trace their lineage back to these first migrants.  Iceland has a different way of naming their children – sons are given a first name but the last name is always the father’s first name (ie. Erick) followed by “son” – eg. Knud Erickson, daughters are called Erick’s daughter, ie. Maria Ericksdottir.  If a family wants to diverge from this standard they have to go before a board to get the name approved.  In cases where there is a single mother (Anna) then it is sometimes acceptable for the children to be named eg. Knud Annason or Maria Annasdottir.  There is also an app that is used when people start dating to check that they don’t share a close lineage – so if the joint ancestor is more than 7 generations back it is OK to date, but any closer it is not considered advisable.
The rain had kicked in again as we set off for our next destination but we had an interesting drive over more fells and into fjords.  Our map showed that we had to cross over the middle of a fjord and we thought it would be a ferry but it turned out to be an underwater tunnel – 7.5km which went quite steeply down to the bed of the fjord and level for a few km’s before climbing back up and all this for 1,000kr toll (about USD8).

A few km’s before hitting Reykjavik we turned inland again – the autumn colours were striking as we climbed over the moors and stopped at Þingvellir National Park – a place of special significance as this was where the original parliament sessions were held, starting over 1,000 years ago.  The gatherings were held out in the open and the law maker would stand high up on an elevated ridge and read out the current laws to the assembled as there was no written records back then – everything was oral.  The rain held off enough for us to walk around.  The continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks which traverse this region, we could walk in one of these cracks which was about 50m apart. Þingvellir is situated on the northern shore of Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake of Iceland. The river Oxara traverses the national park and forms a waterfall at the Almannagjá, called Oxarafoss.

Back on the road with the rain starting up again as we headed to Geysir to view another thermal area, then to Reykholt and another little guesthouse for the night.  A few more rooms than our previous night and quite full, with guests from Germany and the US.  There was a nice little cafe over the road which did us nicely for dinner.
06 October – Last day for sightseeing but again started off wet and miserable.  Headed back to Highway 1 near Selfoss and turned towards Reykjavik. The little Renault has heated seats which have been so welcoming on these really cold days! First stop was a visit to a horse farm for a short show followed by a tour of the barns where we could get up close and personal with the very calm horses.   The Icelandic horse is said to be the most pure breed of horse left in the world – very lovely nature and every colour type except Appaloosa.  They are small with a range 13.2 to 14.7 hands high.   Their winter coat is very thick and shaggy, some have gorgeous manes and tails.

Once in Reykjavik, the older part of the town was of most interest to us, so we parked near the harbour and walked around for a while, stopping for morning tea at an old renovated house which was famous for having held an historic meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev – said to be the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Finished with Reykjavik and headed back the 50km towards Keflavik for our final night.  Took a little scenic drive around the small peninsula before checking in to the guesthouse.  A very bleak area with lava fields and not a lot growing, and the odd small settlement on the coast.
We were pleased that we had chosen to do the drive right around the island.  In the summertime you could easily spend 2-3 weeks exploring and enjoying local activities.  In the cooler autumn weather at least it gave us a nice glimpse of Icelandic life and the scenery was definitely different, with so many volcanoes and lava strewn valleys, remote roads over the moors and a rugged coastline.

 

Farewell USA

10 September – Onward from Monterey – travelling through San Juan Batista again where we stopped off for some scrumptious pastries at the little bakery before heading into the Pinnacles National Park and were able to find a site with a modest amount of shade but more important power.  This would be the first day that we have just sat inside all afternoon with the air-con going – the temperature outside was 104 and a very dry wind as well.  The good thing was that it cooled down to a really pleasant evening as soon as the sun departed.
11 September – Decided that we would do a short hike before the sun got too oppressive and that was a good move.  We hiked through a lovely shaded area up to Bear Gulch caves and through them up to a small reservoir.  The caves had been formed by huge rocks falling into the the canyon during an earthquake and in places completely blocked out all light – so a torch (flashlight for the Americans!) was recommended and needed.  Two hours later a very hot and sticky couple of bods returned to Wanda and that was our day!!  That very dry hot wind and high temperatures had returned.  Only a handful of people camping in the park – this would be a stunning place to come in the cooler weather.  It is popular with rock climbers as it has a lot of sheer cliffs and interesting rock formations.  We met up with our immediate neighbours and had a very enjoyable pot luck dinner with them.  They had recently been to NZ and were full of praises for our wonderful country.

12 September – Off down Highway 25 joining up with 101 to Paso Robles for a supply stop at the local Wallies then down to Santa Margarita and the reservoir of the same name.  Again the water is hardly visible – being the weekend the campground was quite full so we had to make do with a fairly open site with a view of the empty arm of the lake.
13 September – Sunday, all the locals were heading back home so we moved into a nicer site in a little more shade for a lazy day of reading – fortunately there was some cloud cover which cooled the heat down nicely.
14 September – Southbound again and along the coast through Gaviota, Santa Barbara and stopping for the day at Ventura.  Tried out the country park which was a little different – only about 12 sites in a little valley, very tired facilities and in need of some TLC but it was quiet.
15 September – Back down to Ventura and Oxnard where in a visit to a motorcycle shop which was supposed to house a museum, Bob found that the museum was ‘virtual’ but there were a small number of interesting machines in original condition from the early days of American motorcycling on display – Thor, Indian, Big X and Henderson. After getting contact details here we made an appointment for the next day’s visit and took the inland road to Ojai and another of the county parks in about the same distressed condition but a nice shady spot.

16 September – A very eventful day.  We started off with a visit to Guy Webster in Ojai who previously had had a huge collection of Italian motorcycles but is now down to just a select 20 or so.  Guy is from the Webster Dictionary Family dynasty as well as being a legendary photographer of the rich and famous.  Interesting person – has a huge passion for Italian motorbikes and in his greatly reduced collection had some very rare examples of Mondial, Gilera, MV Agusta, Moto-Morini, Bimota and Ducati.  We spent most of the morning with him as various friends popped in and chatted including the motorcycle buyer for Bonhams Auctioneers.  Unfortunately he was currently wheelchair bound as he had a fall whilst recovering from heart surgery – he had enjoyed riding in NZ recently and was looking forward to getting back on his very fast Aprilia.

From Ojai we carried on to Santa Paula where the California Oil Museum had just finished having a display of Nortons and Bob called in on the off chance that they may be able to tell him whose collection they belonged to, in the hope of arranging a visit to them.  Well it got better – the bikes were in the process of being picked up by their owner Daniel Schoenewald who offered to take us back to his factory and show us the full collection.  A lovely self-made man who started his business off 30 years ago on his kitchen table and now is doing extremely well making motion control systems for all sorts of applications for medical, military and anything that moves. On the first floor overlooking the production area is a huge area where he has his bikes – wow, where do we look first?  Kawasaki triples – all models and colours made, Nortons, BSA’s, a Brough Superior, Steve McQueen’s Indian, Ducati’s, Bimoto’s, Suzuki and a quite a few other makes totalling 135 altogether.  With the bikes delivered it was back to Santa Paula to fetch Wanda and take Daniel up on his kind offer to park in his avocado orchard for the night.

17 September – Just a short drive today into the Simi Valley.  This valley is full of all manner of horticultural operations – lemon groves, raspberries, avocados and every sort of vegetable.  All grown with irrigation which on top of the huge population accounts for the very low reservoir levels in California – it has been several years since they have had significant rainfall and the last couple of winters haven’t even had much snow in the mountains.  The state is certainly in dire need of rain.  Our stay was at yet another Ventura County Park – Oak Park – nice and shady although right behind us was the railway line with the high speed Amtrak trains whizzing up and down with very loud horns!  These parks do seem to struggle with keeping the restrooms nice but at least we did have power.
18 September – Whilst travelling with Daniel he had told us about a building in Oxnard which used to house the Otis Chandler motorcycle collection, but now held some French classic cars.  That sounded interesting – enquiries showed that the building had been re-modeled and was now known as the Mullin Automotive Museum, a fairly exclusive collection of rare art-deco period cars and collectibles open only occasionally to the public.  Luck held as there was to be a special tour today which they were happy for Bob to join, and what a great treat it was to be.  Modeled on the Paris Auto Salon (the Grande Palais) of the 1930’s, the building now owned by businessman Peter Mullin holds some of the most exotic vehicles ever built for the road or track, principally by the hands of Bugatti, but also the likes of Hispano-Suiza, Delage, Delahaye, Peugeot, Talbot-Largo and Voisin.  The main touring and race car exhibits are restored to an extremely high standard, but the Brescia Bugatti recovered from Lake Maggiore in Switzerland after 70 years underwater is quite the opposite.  Proudly displayed just as it was raised from the muddy bottom, it is planned to leave it with all the patina intact.

To add some realism to the collection, a large number of Bugatti cars obtained from the Schlumpf Reserve Collection are also left as found, complete with rust, dents and old tyres.  Among the Bugatti family were many talented members who displayed their skill as artists, sculptors and furniture makers – many of their creations alongside Lalique crystal and Louis Vuitton leather bags are used to capture the art-deco atmosphere of this most impressive of museums.
19 September – Our penultimate journey in Wanda took us back through Santa Paula for a quick flit through the Oil Museum before heading up through Filmore (the county park there was only taking group bookings so on to Plan B) and to Lake Piru and the pleasant campground with yet another very low reservoir.
20 September – Wanda took us on her final run today up past Castaic and Pyramid Lakes before turning right and along the very straight road through the dry Antelope Valley to Lancaster and the campgrounds located at the local fairgrounds.  Went past a nasty accident scene only a few miles out from Lancaster (in all our 40,000 miles we have only seen a couple of accidents).  The cooler temperatures of the last few days are a thing of the past – back up into the high 90’s and 100’s.

21- 22 September – At Lancaster spent the last days of our long journey at the local fairgrounds weeding out the last of the goods to be sent home.  Picked up a rental car for our return to LA and to help make life easier whilst finalising Wanda’s handover.  Finally met up with her new owners, Helen and Michael, who had managed to find their way to Lancaster from LA using the Metro train.  How nice to finally meet them face to face after all the emails.  Wanda will be in fine hands.

23 September – Bob & Michael spent an enlightening morning at the DMV office (they referred to it as the cattle ranch) doing the transfer of Wanda, giving us the afternoon to assist with sorting out storage facilities and supplies for her new owners.  She will be wintering over in Lancaster in a very nice undercover storage site.

24 September – With Wanda happily settled with Helen and Michael we said our farewells and headed for the bright city lights of Los Angeles – not much to be said about that except that LA freeways are a nightmare, but being in a car made it so much easier.  Stayed out near Inglewood and LAX airport for the night to be within easy (that term is subjective when travelling in LA) motoring of West LA.
25 September – Peter Mullin also has a collection of brass era French cars housed in West Los Angeles which he calls ‘Autos de La Belle Epoque’.  Another stroke of good timing luck meant that Bob was again able to join a private tour of this normally closed venue.  Also modeled internally in the Paris Auto Salon style, this building in an industrial part of the city is another treasure trove of interest to the vintage enthusiast.  Tracing the history of early automobile development in one of the leading nations of the time, France, this fine little collection holds some great examples from the likes of Renault, Panhard et Lavassor, Darracq, Sizaire et Naudin, Niclausse and Delaunay-Belleville which he was able to enjoy at leisure.  The young woman docent at both this and the main Mullin museum was both knowledgeable and informative – perhaps being the daughter of a well known US motoring writer had much to do with this.

26 September – When back in Seattle some weeks ago we had been told of the ‘Planes of Fame’ museum at Chino in Greater Los Angeles.  With just one day available before we were to leave North America, this was a last opportunity to see yet more aeronautical history.  Bob found quite a collection here with many of the aircraft still flyable and an equal number of ambitious restoration projects underway, whilst many of the planes from later eras were merely in outside storage.  Several early Boeings featured as well as many of the iconic WWII American aircraft represented by among them the B25, B17, P38, P47, P51, F4, F7, F8, C46 and C47.  Surprisingly there were also some flyable British models such as the Gloucester Meteor, de Havilland Vampire and Folland Gnat as well as several German, Russian and Japanese planes from the war years.  An interesting couple of hours, but not so stimulating as some other collections seen here due to the displays being rather crowded and not following any particular logical pattern.  Battled the freeway traffic back to LAX airport, found our hotel (luckily for us Helen and Michael had their own GPS so we were able to keep Sally – navigating without one would have been very taxing) and then returned the rental car and settled in for our last night.

It is hard to believe that our time in the USA is up already, it seems only yesterday that we arrived here in LA and started off on our little odyssey.  We have certainly seen so much, met so many generous and interesting people and thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.

Winding down with Wanda

12 August – With not a lot to see and do in the Laramie or southern Wyoming region and with the aim of getting a service in Rock Springs, it was most practical to use I-80 all the way – big open plains, grassy to start with and then as it got higher, scrubby rocky areas.  Crossed the Continental Divide a couple of times, but hardly noticeable as it was only at 7,000ft.  At Rock Springs we found the Ford Service Center, but they were not able to accommodate our size of vehicle so that put paid to those plans.  Had to settle for their Walmart – not quite as nice as last night and so many overnighters, it was like a large campground except these people lacked the manners of campground stayers and kept their generators going until all hours!
13 August – More of the I-80 today as we head into Utah towards Salt Lake City and the nearest Ford service centre that can handle us.  Took one little detour to follow a bit of the Pony Express route and overland pioneer wagon route.  At Fort Bridger was an interesting collection of early buildings from the time of the army fort and the few years before.  The pioneers that came through this way were made of stern stuff, that is for sure.  The Mormon route also passed this way and their original settlers from Illinois came all this way pushing or pulling hand carts loaded with all their belongings – 500 pounds in weight.  Can’t imagine having to lug that over all sorts of terrain for months on end.

Rejoined the I-80 and buzzed along some more until we came to Wanship (we had been here before not so long ago) and to a small state park on the Rockport reservoir.  Annoying flies and mozzies have given way to biting ants – is there nowhere we can be bug free?  Booked the car service in SLC, so that will be tomorrow’s task.
14 August – A quick run down the mountain had us in SLC way too early, so we just had to wait outside the Ford Agent until our appointment time – at least we have the means to make ourselves a morning tea!  This was a much better organised outfit than some we have visited, taking us at the booked time and delivering Wanda out the other side in just under an hour.  With the afternoon to start making progress towards Reno, it was back on the the I-80, driving along the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake for a long way before coming to Wendover, the home of Bonneville Salt Flats.  We were able to take the 3 mile sealed road right to the start of where the racing happens, but because of all the recent wet weather of course Speed Week had been cancelled.  Where the road ended and the salt flats began there was a lot of water – enough for me to have a nice paddle up to my knees.

Despite the track being a little higher, we could see why it wouldn’t be possible to race.  The great expanse of the glaring white salt flats was incredible.  A few brave souls had driven their 4wd vehicles beyond the wet stuff on to more solid salt – not something you would want to try in a 2wd vehicle.  Had a taste of the salt water and boy it was far, far saltier than the ocean water.  There wasn’t much else to see at the end of the road – they must set up all the towers and timing checks just when they are needed as there was nothing of that sort visible.

Into Wendover and the state line between Utah and Nevada runs through the middle of the town – the line is marked in the middle of the road and the Nevada side has casinos right on the line.  After visiting the local airport and ex-military airfield which had been used to train wartime bomber crews, including those that dropped the first A-bombs, stopped off for dinner at one of the casinos.  Had intended to stay the night in the nearby truck-stop but there were just so many trucks, all with their engines going, that the noise would have been unbearable so we headed off into the sunset.  Quite by chance took an exit off the freeway at Paquop, which had nothing but a road going to a DOT depot one side and the other side a little forest road which we followed only about 100 metres and came to a great parking place for the night.  It was obviously a staging place for OHV trails but with only one other rig parked well away and hidden in some trees, was perfect for us.
15 August – We had a lovely quiet night and the next morning as we motored westward the smell of smoke was quite pervasive – as we came down over a summit we could see why.  A pall of thick brown haze hung over the entire valley – when we stopped off in Wells to have a look at their 49’er museum, the curator said it was either from the Idaho or California wildfires that are raging at present.  The little museum, along with the curator’s tales, was well done for a tiny town – population only 1200.  They had a large earthquake in 2003 which seems to have devastated the town – they lost most of their historic buildings and things looked rather bleak.  We had morning tea at Bella’s – Bella is the local madam (prostitution is legal in many counties in Nevada) and she owns the restaurant as well.  From Wells we returned to that marvel of I-80, where all you can see ahead of you is miles and miles of tarmac ribbon, with very bland scenery as well.  Stopped off at another excellent interpretive centre just out of Elko – this was centred around the California pioneer trails which passed through here and we learnt a lot more about the hardships that these pioneers endured to make their way from East to West.

Didn’t quite make our destination of Winnemucca as we came across a good rest area (Nevada allows stays at these of up to 18 hours) with not too many trucks, that looked like it might be a good prospect for the night.
16 August – Got a reasonable night’s sleep, with not too many comings and goings during the night.  Reno was our destination and it was a fairly long, tedious trip there along the freeway.  Atlantic Casino offered overnight parking right in the City, so that was the choice of accommodation for this evening.  Dinner at a small Chinese diner just across the road, then Jilly was let loose on the pokies.  Bob found a cool corner in the hotel reading lounge to ponder if he would need to mortgage Wanda before I came back out!
17 August – First up today was a trip to Harrah’s Collection, the National Automobile Museum in the heart of Reno.  Wow, this was another one of those impressive old car collections.  Originally owned by Bill Harrah of Casino fame, his collection was split up upon his death when his empire was bought out by Holiday Inn.  About a third of the vehicles were donated to the new museum, while the other 240 were auctioned off.  The 120 that remained were still a good cross-section of the unique and the exclusive – very nicely displayed with period costumes dotted around.  The highlight was the Thomas Flyer – the original New York to Paris race winner.  We purchased some raffle tickets for a 1980’s Corvette, so look forward to taking ownership of that on November 5th when it is drawn.

With that completed it was out of Reno following the I-50 towards Carson City, stopping off at a small Regional Campground at Davis Creek & Pond, although the poor old pond was all but dried up.  Nice to be in amongst trees for a little bit of shade to try and keep things comfortable.
18 August – Not a good start to my morning – after duly putting in the required coins for the showers, spent the next four and half minutes ducking in and out of freezing water – I was not impressed.  With a charge of $20 for a primitive (unserviced) campsite, it was really not up to scratch.  The restrooms didn’t appear to have been cleaned in at least the last week and were really manky.  They also expected an extra $5 fee to dump our waste – they didn’t get that out of us on this occasion although we did do a dump.  Carried on our way into Carson City to fill up with fuel and have a quick look around, but it didn’t particularly impress so we carried on our journey.  Before crossing our last State border, we ate anything that might cause an issue with California’s Agriculture check and cooked up anything that we couldn’t eat.  Turned out they were really only after fresh fruit, but not bothered by the few pieces that we had left.  Onwards now on the long downhill slide towards sweltering Mono Lake.   This is another of those very saline (3x more than the ocean), alkaline lakes with no outlet and a few small rivers flowing in which had been almost totally diverted to California in the 1960’s, but very slightly allowed to flow back into the lake via a mandate in the 1990’s, to try and save this unusual environment.

An impressive feature of this lake is it’s tufa formations formed where underwater springs had entered the lake prior to it being lowered – we drove down to the South Side to walk to the lake’s edge and get up close and personal with these strange formations.
The afternoon was getting on and we had yet to hit the Hwy 120 road to Tioga Pass on the way to Yosemite.  With wildfires burning in the hills on the left side of the road we were climbing up, there was no stopping at the earlier campgrounds listed – all roads to the left of the highway were blocked off.  Had to go nearly all the way to the top of the pass, to Ellery Lake and a small NFS campground with just 13 sites, alongside a pretty little stream and majestic views fore and aft.  A real relief to be out of the oppressive heat of the valley below and at 9,500ft the air was cool and refreshing.  Managed to find a perfect site for us, but the late-comers were all out of luck. It was a fair climb up the pass and this should be the last one that Wanda will be doing for us – it’s downhill all the way to the west coast now!!

 
19 August – What bliss to have a cool, quiet night.  Still lovely and cool as we set off for a journey through Yosemite.  Reached the Tioga Pass at 10,000ft and queued for the entry through the gates into Yosemite.  The entry fees for these big parks seem to have gone up this year – we are on our second $80 Annual Pass which allows us free entry into all National Parks and Monuments, which has been worthwhile.  The current one had paid for itself by the time we had done Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyons.  At up to $30 a vehicle, the fees can soon mount up if you don’t have a pass.
The long descent down the mountain with gorgeous views, huge granite peaks and pine trees was very enjoyable, the more so because we were travelling on the inside of the mountain road – there was not much room on the outside of the road before it dropped off into the abyss.  Again, a road with very little beyond the white line.  It was a big drop from 10,000ft down to only 2,000ft in the Yosemite Valley.

We came here over 30 years ago and what a difference – the scenery is still stunning but the crowds were unbelievable.  We tried to park near the visitor centre but all five car parks were stuffed to overflowing with no chance of finding room for Wanda, so we hightailed it out.  Had a lunch stop further down the valley away from the people and then headed out, following the Merced River down through a narrow gorge.  Then the fun for the afternoon began as we hit Mariposa (we were here once before on this trip too, but in a much cooler April).  Temperature had climbed to 99 unrelenting degrees.  Sally decided that she would have some fun with us – we were heading to a COE camp at Eastman Lake.

Over 1 hour to do 30 miles – she was not kidding – we were taken on a narrow winding road for all of that 30 miles, at least it was relatively flat and the driving was not difficult apart from having to go very slow on the rough bits and the very windy parts. It was all through ranch land which was dry last year but now it looked even worse – many huge trees dying, parched land everywhere and no green to be seen.  After 30 miles we decided to have a rethink as the final part of the journey turned out to be 16 miles of dirt road – enough was enough and we found that we were actually very close to another COE campground at Hensley Lake which we had also visited last April, so made for there and joined the only other camper (the camp host) of the 50 odd sites.  Not much in the way of shade from the searing heat, but one tree which still had leaves and the luxury of power meant that we were going to stay put and just turn on the aircon and blob.  We have our own personal shower block – unlimited hot water and clean!! The water level of the lake looks to be about the same as it was eighteen months previously, which is really, really low.
20 August – Decided to make use of the power, enjoy aircon for a day, take advantage of the hot dry weather to get washing done and explore a little of the environs on foot.
21 August – Hit the road again – original plan was to go to the Pinnacles NP but as we journeyed further into California it got hotter and drier, so instead headed straight for Santa Cruz and the cool coastal redwoods abode of Ken and Sharon where 18 months worth of junk mail was waiting for us – the only non-junk was our registration tag which we had been without since it expired back in February.
22-24 August – Wanda has been spring cleaned from top to bottom and now trying to sort out all our accumulated stuff to see what needs to go back by mail to New Zealand and what can go to the good folks at the Goodwill store.  In between, generously entertained by Sharon and Ken, we are becoming quite the baseball officiandos of the Giants (the home team from San Francisco who take on rivals from all over the USA). Quite a punishing schedule that they have during their season – over 160 games and traveling all over the country playing 3-4 games at each venue as well as at home.
Joined Sharon and her friend Georgia on a car club run to San Juan Bautista with about twelve other vehicles ranging from a Model T (which set the pace) to late 1920’s Lincolns and Packards, right up to Sharon’s Camaro.  We got to see some really different roads in the area around Watsonville – travelling through a lot of lettuce, strawberry and raspberry farms before arriving at our destination for a nice lunch at a little Italian Restaurant.

Got to help out Sharon with her daughter’s classroom setup for the new school year – she is a 3rd grade (8yr olds) elementary teacher.
25 August – Following up an invitation from a couple we met while cruising back from South America, Seattle here we come – our flight was from San Jose and Sharon ferried us up there to their nice new terminal.  90 minutes after take-off we had arrived in the grand metropolis of Seattle and Joan and Eric were there to meet us and get us to their home to the north of Seattle.  They share this with their two cats and get nightly visits from a raccoon family of mum & three babies – so cute.

26-30 August – With the loan of a car and also making use of the efficient public transport, we managed to see a lot of Seattle and it’s surroundings missed on our previous visit.
A bus trip from close-by Joan & Eric’s house had us into downtown Seattle in just over ten minutes with our first stop the Pike Place Market – a bustling market with a small number of produce and fish stall,s but a large number of local craft stalls offering all manner of interesting art works.  Seattle is very much like Wellington with its hills and harbour, although the hill streets are a little more challenging.  We ventured down to quayside for a walk along the harbour front before climbing back up and hopping on the little monorail.  It was put in for the 1960 Seattle World Fair and runs from downtown to the site of the fair, which is now a lovely park with theatres and stadium.  A trip to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation rounded off our day – the foundation funds innovative thinking for solving some of the world’s problems and has had a lot of success.  With projects like eradicating Polio and other ghastly diseases, to helping people in poor countries improve hygiene or develop more successful farming processes, they have a wide reach and have made good progress.
A trip north the following day to Whidbey Island made for a nice day’s run – a very laid back island about 40 miles long with views of Puget Sound as you traverse it’s length.  A bridge gets you to the Island from the north and at the southern end there is a short ferry ride back to Edmonds.  Stopped off at a few little villages along the way with nice arts and crafts.

Back into Seattle downtown via the bus again the next day – then a lovely 30 minute ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island where we enjoyed a leisurely lunch before ferrying back to the city.  Then had an entertaining visit to Seattle’s Underground (not the tube variety but actually streets which were wholly underground).  In the late 1880’s a huge fire destroyed much of the city.  A plan had already been in place to level out many of the high hills and this provided the right timing to get started, the only problem was that the CIty Governors were a little tardy in getting the project started so businesses had already started rebuilding.  The city, in their wisdom, decided that because they owned the strip of land between the buildings they would build that up with the fill from the hills in places as much as 30 feet, so the reconstructed buildings found themselves with huge walls outside their ground floor windows.  The only way to cross the street was to climb a ladder up one side of the street and down the other  Eventually a footpath was put in at first floor level but was open underneath and the underground streets came to life. Apparently they were the domain of nefarious low life and were abandoned after about 20 years.  Our tour took us through these “streets” where in places you could still see the original glass skylights which shed daylight below and the remains of doorways, etc.

With a change of weather we decide to make use of the loaned car again and headed to the Paine Field,s Museum of Historic Flight which was running a flying day of German war planes.  Sadly the weather had something else to say about that – very strong winds had picked up and put paid to any flying display, so we had a look around the museum instead and watched them start the planes up to taxi for everyone to photograph, but not quite the same as seeing them in the air.

Bob wanted to check out Hinshaws motorcycle shop again, so we got on the freeway to go down to Auburn south of Seattle.  Big mistake – this storm was really letting go and falling trees were creating havoc.  We got stuck in slow moving congestion while they tried to clear the trees off the freeway.  Finally made it down to Auburn and the bike Bob had been dreaming about for eighteen months was still there – but they weren’t really ready to do a good deal on it, so it was back on the freeway to “home”.  As we came off on our freeway exit we noticed that a lot of the traffic lights were out – not a problem here in the USA as they have intersections called all way stops where everyone has to stop and it is first stopped, first off again.  So they just resort to that and the traffic manages to flow quite well, even if it does favour the minor roads and slow the main road.
Back home we found that Joan & Eric’s street had no power and was not set to get reconnected until the early hours of the morning.  Fortunately the local pizza place had power and were able to deliver dinner.
Power still had not been restored by morning, so Eric rigged up his generator in order that at least fridges could be kept cold and a little light could be shed on the problem.  That state of play lasted the whole of the day with deadlines being pushed out until they were told it would not come back on until Monday evening.  At the height of the storm nearly 500,000 homes were without power.
31 August– Time to leave Seattle and say farewell to Joan & Eric, but still no power.  Eric dropped us off at the downtown light rail station and we had a smooth and uneventful ride to the airport.  Somehow we have got a pre-TSA check for security which means a streamlined queue and you don’t have to take your shoes, coats, belts, etc. off.  Got what seems to be the usual for us, a gate change, but at least we were given plenty of notice and it wasn’t at the other end of the terminal.  Small Bombardier jet plane with Delta and there were some passenger grizzles as it couldn’t take wheelie carry on bags, so they were taken off us before boarding.  Two hours later, after a fairly scenic flight, we were back at San Jose with Sharon kindly waiting to take us back to Santa Cruz.
1-7 September – Putting the finishing touches on Wanda and in between a busy social calendar with Sharon has kept me busy.  Joined her down at the school again – this time with pupils, so got to see how things are done here.  Teresa had me sit in front of the class to answer questions about my travels and New Zealand, which proved to be very entertaining. We topped that off with lunch down on the pier.  A lovely evening was spent having wine and nibbles in their garden with some of their neighbours.
The following day Bob & I had the loan off Ken’s ute so we headed off to look at a car collection not too far away.  Impressive cars and an immaculate service bay – race cars, Porsches and even a few motorbikes as well as a used car sales room with even more Porsches and other exotics for sale.  Poor old Giants got thrashed in their match tonight, so a rather despondent household.

Sharon and I had another luncheon appointment down in Santa Cruz on Friday while the boys went to Gilroy to fetch a window which had been specially painted for their front porch.
Dinner at Georgia’s finished off yet another enjoyable day on Saturday.  Georgia has quite a menagerie – two miniature donkeys, two rather large horses, a dog and three cats.  Her gardens were a joy to wander around despite the very dry conditions.

On Sunday Bob and I had the loan of Sharon’s Mini Cooper to buzz down to the Roaring Camp train at Fenton and ride in style down to Santa Cruz.  Nice ride starting off through the redwoods before hitting downtown; with the train track running through the middle of traffic lanes it was an interesting exercise as the train got the cars to move out of it’s way.   Arrived down at the boardwalk around 11.30 and spent the time exploring the pier which extends a half mile out in the harbour and the boardwalk area which is home to the longest running amusement park on the West Coast.  A lovely old carousel running since 1911 together with all the other usual rides and sideshows, even a roller coaster on wooden trestles.

After a nice lunch out on the pier wandered back to catch the 4.15 train back to Felton.  Must say that the horrible Felton Empire Road (the one which Sally loves to take us on in Wanda!!) is much more fun in a Mini!!  Think I might need to have one when we get back home!
As Monday is Labour Day holiday here in the USA there is not a lot of point trying to go anywhere as the traffic would be diabolical.  Stayed home instead and watched the SF Giants get defeated again – this time in Arizona.  Finished the day off with dinner at the neighbours, Pat and Lonnie, over the road – another evening with great company and good food.

08 Sept – It was time to finally leave the nest, so organised to have lunch down by the harbour with Ken and Sharon.  We have had such a nice stay with them both, been thoroughly spoilt, enjoying their help and company immensely.  We then hit the road south to Monterey.  Having visited here last year, we knew that the Veterans Memorial Park campground was the best place to stay and even managed to get a spot with shade.
09 Sept – Monterey Aquarium day today.  Pat had very kindly loaned us her member’s guest entry cards which meant free entry instead of $70, which was great.  What an amazing place – so many sea creatures on show.  Got to see the penguin feeding, sea otters having a fun time playing with their toys, kelp gardens with huge schools of fish, jellyfish (called Jellies here) of all shapes and sizes, colourful anemones, octopus, ocean fish galore and adorable puffins.  We were so lucky to be able to see all these creatures close up.

Colorado Conclusion

24 July – Walmart was reasonable accommodation overnight, except for the gardeners who arrived in the wee small hours of the morning with their weed-eaters.  Back up the road to get the new windscreen fitted and less than an hour later and $140 lighter in the pocket we had good clear vision again.  Headed out of Colorado Springs and up past Manitou Springs on an easy climb for another 15 miles or so to Woodland Park.  This is a busy little town – full of holiday makers – must be good off-roading around here judging by the number of ATV shops.  Turned off the main drag of Highway 24 onto a quieter Highway 67.  Just 5 miles up the road we came to Southern Meadows Campground – another National Forest Camp – this one, one of the largest we have visited with 60 sites. We were coming up to the weekend, so were perhaps lucky to get the last site available.  Nicely spaced out sites – in among pines and of course the meadows not too far away.  Having already booked the Cog Railway up to Pikes Peak for Sunday, we checked in for three nights.
25 July – Nice to see that so many families take advantage of these campgrounds – they must come up from Colorado Springs in the most part, just for the weekends.  We did a little bike ride but again got beaten by the altitude – little hills down lower are no problem but these had us puffing and panting so gave that away after a couple of miles.  Drove back down to Woodland Park later in the afternoon in a forlorn search for a coffee shop, settling instead for a donut shop.
26 July – Today’s excursion had us driving back to Manitou Springs to pick up the Pikes Peak Cog Railway.  The town itself didn’t lend itself to large vehicles, but fortunately the railway had a special place to pre-book for parking RV’s.  Once parked and tickets picked up we just had a nice relaxing lunch before boarding the train.
What a neat experience – our departure had three carriages – two coupled and then ours which was a separate diesel powered one.  The 8 mile journey from 7500ft right up to 14,110 ft took about 1 hr 45 mins with many long grades of 25% taking us first through the forest with glimpses of the plains where Colorado Springs sits, up to alpine meadows complete with inquisitive marmots, up beyond the tree line into the granite lined slopes.  We had the best seats on the rain – right beside the engine driver’s seat with a full window in front of us.  The views were spectacular at the summit – the carpark was full of all the vehicles who had taken the challenge of the 20 mile road with 150 switchbacks and no guardrails (our way was so much more relaxing!). 360 degree views right over the plains to Kansas in the east and to the west more high mountain chains on the continental divide.  Colorado has 51 mountains over 14,000ft and poor old Pikes Peak only rates at no. 32.

The Pikes Peak hill climb is just the last 12 miles of the road up and the record for that is just over 6 minutes – reaching speeds of 179mph on the straight bits and 80mph on the hairpin bends.  We had about 35 minutes at the top – a nice cool 51 degrees compared with mid 80’s down below.  The railway was built in 1891 and has been in continuous operation ever since.  The current engine carriage sets come from Brown-Boveri Co. of Switzerland.  Chugging along at only 10 mph going up and 8 mph going down there was plenty of time to observe the wildlife (even saw some big horn sheep on the granite slopes) and also the plethora of wildflowers still in bloom – blues, pinks, yellows and whites growing in some really inhospitable areas.
We were so lucky with the weather as while we were waiting down in Manitou Springs a big storm passed through, but it was a short sharp one clearing out by the time we went up.  At the top it was way off into the distance and didn’t spoil our views.
We thought getting active at 9,000 ft was getting difficult, but at 14,000 ft it was really noticeable – just a little wander around was quite exhausting.  Back down at Manitou Springs there was no chance of stopping in the town – just nowhere to park and way too many people, so skipped that and headed back up to Woodland Park and Walmart carpark to pickup emails and provisions.  Back to camp in the meadows for the last night.
27 July – Westward again this time, back down to Highway 24 and up a very pretty valley with more alpine meadows, nice looking holiday homes and the odd ranch to Divide (not much there) and Florissant where we toured the Fossil Beds National Monument on foot.  Fossils from the Eocene period about 35 million years ago abound in this area including huge fossillised redwood tree trunks which would have reached 250ft high when alive.  Most of the other fossils have been found in the paper shale rock – most impression fossils are of leaves and small insects, but very valuable to the scientists.  Also part of the park was an original homestead belonging to Adeline Hornbeck – a single mother who bought up 4 children on her homestead ranch.

We had Ranger Ray give us a walk through tour of the buildings which was informative.  Weren’t too sure where we might end up for the night, but only a few miles up the road in the Pike National Forest we came across a sign for a campground – Round Mountain – the road in was a little rugged but it wasn’t far and we were rewarded with yet another neat camp with just 15 sites.  Apart from the host, we are the only other occupants and our site in among the Ponderosa Pines and granite rocks was really lovely.  Had an evening wander further along the road from the camp – it opened out into a mixture of meadows and pines with loads of ATV roads and dispersed camping sites, which we wouldn’t be able to make use of as the road was not negotiable by Wanda.
28 July – What a nice quiet night!  On the road again at a nice leisurely hour to climb over our first pass for the day – just a low one at at 9500ft but whammo when we came to the summit the views down the other side were astounding.  Green open plains with the backdrop of the mountains of the Continental Divide, some with smidgens of snow on their tops.  The range most visible was the Collegiate Range with peaks – Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc. all over 14,000 ft.  It was probably about 40 miles to cross over the plains – this was very much ranching country at 8,500ft, it must be too high for crop or even hay growing.

What looked green from above was fairly sparsely growing grassy stuff along with little shrubs and not a lot in the way of stock.  Up and over another pass down into Buena Vista and the foothills of the Divide – here it was a little lower and hay was being cut; although a much smaller valley it looked reasonably prosperous.  The valley floor was very green but the surrounding hills very sparse – very much like Otago.  Turned south at Buena Vista heading towards Salida following the Arkansas river – a rafters heaven if all the tour companies stationed along the road down were anything to go by.  Salida had some BLM land beside the river with about 20 odd free spots for camping, so we bagged one of those – nothing special, just parking on a clear bit of land a little off the highway but perfectly adequate for a night.
29 July – No noise from the highway overnight – into the metropolis of Salida for a walk around and morning tea.  Probably about the size of Cambridge, nice turn of the century brick buildings containing loads of antique shops and all sorts of quirky arts and crafts.  The river runs through the bottom end of the town and was full of kayakers and kids enjoying the rapids.  Tried in vain to find a propane dealer open and in the end gave up and continued on our way along Highway 50 through Poncha Springs and up and up and up to cross over the Monarch Pass at 11,300ft.  This road was an exercise in patience as they were doing resurfacing in several places, limiting the traffic to one way only.  Continued through to Gunnison and a bustling agricultural town where we finally managed to get propane.

About 30 miles from there the road enters into the Curecanti National Recreational Area which caters so well for the recreational market – it is based alongside a large reservoir and only about half way along we had already passed about five campgrounds, several picnic spots as well as a few boat ramps.  Chose a small campground called Dry Gulch with only 10 sites and managed to find a spot in the trees (comes with complimentary mosquitoes) where we will stay for a couple of nights.  There are still another half dozen campgrounds further along the road so we might stop at more as we progress.  Supposedly this is bear country (we have been in bear country most nights in Colorado but still yet to see any evidence).  All we seem to have here are baby chipmunks and rabbits.

30 July – Took advantage of the lovely sunny day to get the washing done – who cares if we look like a Chinese laundry.  With that done – R&R for the rest of the day and doing our best to avoid the annoying mozzies.  Took a little evening hike up the back of the camp on a horse trail, which led us up a narrow trail offering great views back down over to the reservoir.

31 July – Just a short journey – first stop Lake Fork campground to take advantage of their pay-showers, then following Blue Mesa Reservoir, up and over another small pass, down into Pleasant Valley and at Cimarron another campground in the Curecanti Recreation Area.  Only 20 sites and a nice host who rang up and booked a ranger led boat trip for us for Monday on the Morrow Point Lake which is a long narrow affair in a deep gorge, the dam being just up the road from our camp.  The boat trip starts a way back up the road by Lake Fork and a steep walk down from the car park.  We will have several days here and just go out each day.
01 August – Heard a lot of advertising on the radio for the corn festival in Montrose, so headed down the 20 miles to town; first up some shopping for supplies and while Bob was inter-netting I found their local craft supply shop to get some bits of quilting material and accessories.  No sign whatsoever of a corn festival, but the local county fair was on so went in there to have a look around instead.  Very much like a local A&P show – with cake competitions, flower arrangements etc. and animals.  Turns out it was the junior livestock judging day – so rabbits, pigs, sheep and cattle were on display.  After lunch the winners got to auction their animal – it seemed like mostly local businesses were bidding for them with some of the proceeds going to the local community.  Their auctioneer was a treat to listen to, even if you couldn’t understand hardly a word he was saying until the final bid was reached.  The prize pigs went for over $4,000 each and the rabbits reached $350.  With that done, headed for the tourist info and found that the corn festival was actually in another town about 10 miles away.  We flagged that and had a walk along main street instead – very nice with huge bronze sculptures scattered through the town which were on loan from a local rancher.  Two were cowboy related and the third was animals.
Back home to Cimarron and up the road beyond the camp to have a look at the Morrow Point Dam – very impressive double curvature concrete arch structure – not so sure about being camped beneath it though!
Our camp host told us there was a nice place to eat up the road a couple of miles, so we took him up on that – well, he must have been a country boy with a bit of poetic licence thrown in – it was the local county store which did meals of sorts, but their homemade fruit pies were excellent.  Back home to camp which is now about half full.

02 August – Most of the campers were up and on the way early so by the time we set off for the day only three campers were left.  Back down Highway 50 nearly as far as Montrose before taking the road up to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (not sure how many NP’s our annual pass has now taken us in to, but will do a count up one of these days). Five miles climbing up through some very innocuous looking hills we then came across the stunning canyon.  “Black” because it is so deep, with sheer walls and only a narrow gap between rims so very little sunlight ever penetrates down to the bottom.  The deepest part is 2,700ft down from the rim, which is the height of two Empire State buildings – when looking down it is very hard to get the perspective of the actual depth.  This compares to the Grand Canyon at over 5,000ft and the 3,000ft canyon that we saw in Yosemite, but is more dramatic being so close up.  Started our discovery off at the Visitor’s Centre (where our camp host works part of the week) and found that he was on duty today to give us some advice on what to see.

A good little 20 minute video on the history of the Canyon, the early pioneers who had surveyed it and the hardships that they encountered.  The original aim was to try and find a route for the Rio Grande Railway to go out to the Pacific West, but from Cimarron onwards this was eventually given up as being too difficult.  Following on from this the 10 mile drive along the edge of the South Rim had plenty of scenic look-offs, each with little walks to the edge.  At it’s narrowest it is only a quarter mile from side to side and for most of the drive we could see the North Canyon road on the other side.  Drove to the end of the road and at High Point took a longer hike to Warner Point, where the canyon is at it’s deepest, which gave us fabulous views right over the valley to Montrose and beyond.  This Park is one of the better kept secrets of Colorado – so very not overcrowded like the better known ones in Arizona and Utah, and much nicer to visit.

The various look-offs had jaw dropping views straight down the sheer cliffs to the bottom where at times you could see the Gunnison River flowing down at the bottom – the roar of the river did carry right up to the top.   A nice quote from from one of the early group of explorers sums up the canyon: “Our surroundings were of the wildest possible description.  The roar of the water … was constantly in our ears, and the walls of the canyon, towering half a mile above us, were seemingly vertical.  Occasionally a rock would fall from one side or the other, with a roar and crash, exploding like a ton of dynamite when it struck bottom – making us think our last day had come.”
We managed to spend the whole day exploring and although it wasn’t a terribly fine day – good weather for walking around.  The rain decided to make its appearance for real once we got back on the road to Cimarron and the campground.

03 August – Today’s excitement – a boat trip.  Back up the road to Pine Creek and down a windy narrow gravel road until we came to a trail-head to park.  Our real journey then began with a hike down 239 steps and along the Gunnison River bank following the old Rio Grande Railway alignment for about a mile to the boat dock.  Out boat trip was run by the Parks Service with room for 40 people and a good range of US States were represented with only us the foreigners.

Ranger Curt got everyone organised with their PFD’s and then it was on to the pontoon boat for our trip along the Morrow Point Lake (a narrow dammed irrigation lake) and through more of the Gunnison Gorge.  Our ranger was incredibly well informed about the geology and history of the Gunnison.  The railway stopped operating in 1949, the tracks were pulled up and the path of the narrow gauge railway was converted into a very narrow road.  In the early 1960’s most of the track was flooded when the dam was built.

The canyon walls rose above the lake – in places very steep and sheer cliffs – various side streams and waterfalls flowed into the lake and the most photographed site was the Gunnison Needle formation.  This was the logo for the Denver & Rio Grande promoted as a scenic railway.  We puttered up and back for an hour and a half and then it was all over.  Really pretty scenery and extremely good value for money.  After disembarking it was necessary to amble back to the carpark up all those stairs!
04 August – On our way again – first into Montrose and then out through Olathe (where the corn festival was actually held) – needless to say this whole Uncompagre Valley is heavily farmed, which is only possible because of irrigation from the Gunnison reservoirs.  Stopped for lunch at Delta – a farming town but like so many of the smaller towns, loads of empty shops, whilst the shops that are in business don’t seemed to have changed much apart from pricing since the 1950’s; our cafe was no exception.  Had a couple of options for camping up towards the McClure Pass on Hwy 133 and settled for NFS at just over 8,000ft – 10 sites, no fees, usual pit toilet and just a few sites occupied.  Set in the aspens, spruce and pines, we found a pleasant shady place to make camp.  Quite a bit of wildlife around – the mule deer are not at all worried by humans and you can get really close to them.  Hummingbirds just attacked the feeder as soon as I put it out and then started the hummingbird wars as they vied for territory.  One incredibly tame snowshoe rabbit appeared, along with the usual squirrels and chipmunks – the baby chipmunks are no bigger than mice and are just so cute.

05 August  – Stay put day today and time to catch up on blogs etc.  Walked back down the road to get a good view of the route that we had climbed only to notice in the little valley which goes behind our campground there was a small creek with about five beaver dams – they are a real work of art and the size of the logs that they use are not small.  We have interesting neighbours who are travelling in a restored 1950’s Airstream polished alloy skinned caravan which they are towing with a 1950’s Willys Jeep.  They have come up from Grand Junction for a few days and are exploring the 4wd roads in the area, some of which sound a bit challenging – 6 hours to go 15 miles!  They told us of a good car museum not to miss back near Grand Junction, so change of plans for tomorrow!!

06 August – Backtracking a little to find this great museum – first to Delta then through to Wildwater, before turning off on Highway 141 to Gateway – yet another surprise going up this road – it was like being back in Utah – a narrow valley with huge red cliffs on both sides.  We wound up towards Gateway and the only thing here is the hugely impressive Gateway Lodge complex along with their auto museum.

All this is owned by John Hendriks of Discovery Channel and what a set-up; you probably need to be quite a bit on the rich side to afford to stay at this establishment, but the museum was at least affordable for the likes of us.  Another example of OTT though – probably only 30-40 vehicles on display, but it was a money no object restoration display including the $3million dollar Oldsmobile F88 concept car – the only one of it’s kind in the world and it was pretty special.  A handful of early examples of American marques and the rest were mainly 1950’s – big fins, big bonnets and pretty colours but nicely presented.
Back down the scenic road we found a nice picnic area and decided to risk an overnight stay.  Pretty little spot with a small stream running by and rocky hills on either side.

07 August – After an undisturbed night set off back to Grand Junction and a visit to another small car museum – the private collection of Tammy Allen which was displayed with large amounts of 1940’s and 50’s period wax figures and memorabilia.

Now headed along the I-70 eastwards for a fast track ride whizzing alongside the Colorado River, through interesting canyons, tunnels and past Glenwood Hot Springs then Gypsum, before exiting at Wolcott for a tiny BLM campground on the banks of the Eagle River.  Only six campsites and we managed to pick one of the last available.  No shade but fortunately it is not too hot.
08 August – Stayed put – had internet coverage for a change so able to catch up on local and international news.  Noticed a railway track on the other side of the river so found the bridge where it crossed over and followed it for a nice afternoon walk.  The track – like so many over here – had not been used for very many years; completely covered by mud in places, and weeds growing up through the tracks.
09 August – Well the best laid plans can always come to grief.  We had aimed to follow the I-70 through to Denver to arrive around noon.  The freeway had other plans for us though.  After a brilliant drive up through to high passes and past very exclusive ski resorts of Vail, Copper Mountain and Frisco we came through the long Eisenhower Tunnel at the highest pass and then to a halt for the best part of half an hour while a truck vs. ute accident got cleared.  Our thinking that Sunday would be a good day to get into Denver was a a little misplaced as the traffic coming out from all of the ski resorts was very heavy, even though there is no snow.  We decided to get off the freeway for lunch at Georgetown, wait for the huge backlog of traffic to clear and flag away any hope of reaching the planned museum visit before closing time.

When we got back on to the freeway the traffic was at least flowing and finally picked up to a normal speed after about 20 minutes, then it was just normal all the way into and out to the west of Denver.  Our Wallies target turned out to be a no-no for overnight staying so it was a bit of a task to find somewhere to park – Bob spotted a line of trucks parked on a side road so we headed for that and slotted into a spot between them all.  Very noisy with traffic on the freeway right beside us, but the night passed without incident.
10 August – Two museums on the agenda for the day – first up was close by at the Forney Transportation Museum – a collection of cars, bikes, trains and wagons.  The Big Boy loco was huge – it’s wheels alone were over 5ft high and with its enormous boiler it must have been a sight to see as it ploughed along the tracks. The cars on display were quite an interesting mixture – from very early to the mid 1950’s – not your pristine ‘money no object’ deal here – these were real cars straight from use on the road, many of them totally original and so many obscure makes.  Together with the motorcycle display and a collection of carriages, we managed to while away a few hours there before setting off to the other side of Denver.

Fortunately the traffic had settled down from the morning chaos so it was an easy trip.  Cussler Auto Museum was our next stop – Clive Cussler is a prolific author of adventure novels and has amassed an equally interesting collection with a large emphasis on rare town cars and boat-tail models, as well as many very exotic marques.  The first room was full of 1950’s yank tanks in pristine condition, but boy when you moved into the other room it was something else.  Rolls, Bentley, Isotta Frachini, Mercedes, Hispano-Suiza, Packard, Duesenburg and other American makes – another MNO collection.   A lot of the cars have featured in his different Dirk Pitt novels which was quite a neat display angle.

Our day was suitably replete after those two visits, so we just had a short trip out of town a little way to a small county run campground on Standley Lake.  Pretty spot with lovely views out of the reservoir and looking back to the lights of the city.  Took advantage of the cool evening to sample one of their nice walking paths.  Also managed to book ourselves one final fling before we leave the US – we are going up to fly up to Seattle for a week to spend time with our friends Joan and Eric who we met on the cruise ship coming back from South America.
11 August – Treat day today – Bob had on his list of museums the Matthews Collection but we had been unable to find out it’s location or opening hours from their website.  So we emailed them and got the reply that they don’t open to the public, but where were we travelling from?  When they learned that we were from NZ we were asked to phone them to set up a time.  We duly arrived at the designated time and were met by Mark the son-in-law of Harry Matthews and he kindly spent the next couple of hours with us, taking us around their splendid collection – 1950’s Corvettes, only three McLarens (they did have 15 at one stage), several Vincent motorcycles, MG TF, Austin Healey, Jaguar and many other exotic American vehicles graced their spotless display room.  Mark was very knowledgeable and just a really pleasant and interesting guy.

With that done it was time to hit the freeway north for a quick and hectic blat as far as Fort Collins – 50 miles of wheat and corn fields and very heavy traffic.  So it was with a collective sigh of relief that we were able to find a quieter rural road to continue on to Laramie.  Freeways are fine to get somewhere quickly, but sometimes with the constant traffic and loads of big trucks, getting off them is so much more pleasurable.  Up on the plains there was probably more grass than we have seen for a while, but they could do with a bit of rain as it was looking rather dry.  More interesting rock formations as we headed over the state line into Wyoming into Laramie.  Not much in the way of camping available – but the local Walmart is a really nice rural alternative – clean, quiet and happy to accommodate us.

Colorado calling

05 July – Back down the mountain through Kamas and then on to Salt Lake City via a quite spectacular section of freeway I80.  We have a couple of nights of comparative luxury booked whilst we meet up with our friends Scott and Donna from Annapolis MD.  The Holiday Inn near the airport was our destination and after settling in to a room with a real bed and real shower we joined up with Scott & Donna and headed down into the town for a really nice Mexican meal.
06 July – Exploration of SLC today.  First up was the Temple Square and all things Mormon.  The Temple Square is as it suggests a square with the large Mormon Temple,(not open to the general public but a model was shown to us in the visitors centre) as well as a smaller Tabernacle and a large domed hall with impressive free span roof and good accoustics built some 130 years ago.  We opted to take one of their “tours” led by a couple of lovely young missionary ‘sisters’, one from Sierra Leone and the other from Sweden.  Well there wasn’t much of a tour, it was mostly 40 minutes of prostletizing, so we were glad to have the excuse that we needed to rescue the car from the parking meter.  With that done we went back to the square and just wandered on our own and took in the noon organ recital which was well worth listening to.  The gardens within the square were really colourful and the buildings interesting.  Next up we headed off into the downtown – very impressed with the layout of the city – wide streets, very clean and tidy.

Had a cafe lunch before getting back in the car and heading out to the Tracy Aviary which was one of the suggested highlights of SLC.  Situated beside a huge park, the aviary had a really good array of both local and foreign birds (including a pair of Kea).  With that done, our day had been well filled so it was back to the hotel and a nice little siesta before joining up for dinner again.  So nice to catch up with Scott & Donna – they had just been up to a Dude Ranch in Colorado with all their family (celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary) and had had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

07 July – Check-out day for us, but we left Wanda in the hotel carpark and joined Scott and Donna for another interesting day.  First up we tried to find a Classic Car Museum which had agreed to open up for us at 10am but no sign of anyone when we arrived so flagged that and headed up the mountain to Park City – home to the Ski-ing and sledding part of the 2002 Olympic Games.  We were able to watch the practicing of both learners and more experienced jumpers as they came down the artificial slopes and did their aerial tricks before landing in a pool of water.  Boy – they were impressive and also neat to watch the littlies just starting out. Non-residents can also train here, but have to pay for their time.

Hopped on a short bus tour which took us up to the top of the Nordic Ski Jumps and also around the sledding and luge tracks.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get out at the top of the jumps as there was a lightning warning in place and they insisted that people remain under cover until it was lifted, so it was just a view from the bus.  Great views from up the top, although with a few storms around the mountains, visibility not as great as it could have been.
Back down the mountain and into Park City – a very up-market area with a lively main street of nicely renovated historic buildings.  The art galleries were superb with some innovative and impressive art works and equally impressive prices.  Lunched and walked around until it was time to return back to SLC.  Timed it right as the rain decided to make a showing as soon as we had got on our way.

Had a final dinner with Scott & Donna and made a late exit out of SLC towards the north and Antelope Island State Park.  Interesting park jutting out in the Great Salt Lake, although the water level is very low at the present time.  It is reached by a long causeway and the smell as we went over that was interesting – must just be the minerals drying out in the sun.  The Great Salt Lake has no outlet, just evaporation which can cause a change in the levels.  Our camp had a brilliant overlook of the lake – we caught the last of the sun going down with bright red showing through a mass of quite dark clouds on the horizon.  The cloud cover has certainly cooled the temperature down to a pleasant level.
08 July – Black clouds on the horizon were still evident and had made their way over to us by the time we left.  Stopped off in Farmington to get supplies, with a quite heavy thunderstorm passing over us and a bit more of a dump of rain.  It was then on to Hill Air Force Base aviation and aerospace museum, where Bob got to spend some quality time wandering around their excellent indoor and outdoor exhibits.  Our journey then took us along a valley one mountain range away from SLC – what a lovely drive as we slowly climbed up into the Wasatch Range.  Past Kamas, we ascended up a narrow valley – very green with pine and aspen covered hillsides.  As it was getting later on in the afternoon the mule deer had come out to feed along the roadside, so had to take it easy in order not to scare them too much.

I had identified a possible campsite off Google Earth and it turned out to be the only suitable parking spot in the Uinta National Forest.  It was just above a tiny lake in a small turnaround, but room enough for Wanda for the night.  Birdsong filled the air later in the evening and the cooler temperatures were most welcome.

09 July – Had a good storm come through over night with a bit of thunder and lightning as well as heavy rain.  Set off down the other side of the mountain stopping off at Hanna for morning tea, then down to Duchesne (pronounced we learned as Duuchane).  In places the scenery was very reminiscent of the New Zealand South Island and then as we neared Duchesne, oil wells began to feature on the landscape.  Had a picnic lunch at our overnight stopping place in Ashley National Forest from a few nights previous, before going up and down again into Price.  Dramatic change to our vista after leaving Price south-east on SH6 – vast open plains with the odd ranch but mostly very desert like.  A great wall of black was looming way in front of us which we eventually caught up to at Green River.  Their small State Park was our stopping spot for the night – very pretty in amongst the cottonwood trees, with a small golf course out to the side of us.  The rain was preceded by a good blast of strong winds dropping the temperatures down to the point where jackets were required and we needed to rescue some nearby unattended tents.
10 July – On the list today – yet another National Park – Arches this time.  We only had to go about 15 miles from Green River before we turned south onto SH191 towards Moab.  The scenery started off with desert all around and large rock cliffs looming in the distance.  When we turned south it was like a switch had been flicked – all of a sudden there were sage bushes growing and the sand changing colour to reddish orange.  About 40 miles down this road is the turn-off into Arches NP and ‘wow’ yet another spectacular range of red rocks awaited us.  This time they weren’t all concentrated on the drive through the Park but were in patches with fairly flat bits in between.  The road climbed up and down giving some lovely views, and it wasn’t too long before the Arches themselves became visible.

It was an in and out road about 20 miles to the end with plenty of stops along the way and a few little walks into interesting sights. Fortunately the rain from last night made a good job of keeping the air much cooler than we could have expected which made for much more pleasant walking.  Only downside to this park was the hoards of people making parking difficult to impossible in many of the good viewing spots.
Back out of the park and we were soon in Moab – a real hive of activity – off roading is the thing to do in this area and there was business after business hiring out everything from Hummers to ATVs.  Coming out of Moab there was one huge thunder cloud right over the hills on our left and the rest of the sky was clear blue; we saw a great fork of lightning coming seemingly out of the blue sky down to the ground. Not far from Moab we headed inland a few miles to Ken’s Lake – a BLM campground with a gorgeous setting of red rocks out of our window. Waited until it had cooled off before going on a little hike up to a nice waterfall then settled back for a lazy evening.  We seem to have replaced mossies with nasty little black flies which bite with real ferocity, especially around ankles and toes. They do seem to slacken off once the sun goes down though.  Again being treated to yet another lightning display as I write this – in the distance is an extensive front shooting out a dazzling display – who needs fireworks when nature can give you a great show for free.

11 July – Back down to the highway for another 40 odd miles – thunderstorms and heavy rain forced a stop until it cleared.  The red rock cliffs had water pouring off them after that deluge.  Took the turn-off into Canyonlands National Park and drove the 20 miles to the end of the road.  This is the Utah in all the pictures – high red cliffs, green sage and cottonwoods making a neat contrast.  First stop at Newspaper Rock – a rock face with well preserved petroglyphs done by both indians and cowboys.  The canyon through here was sandstone and sandy coloured, quite narrow then opened out into the red sand and big vistas.  These parks just go from fabulous to stunning.

Canyonlands NP is at the last 7 miles of the road, and the canyons were everywhere – not particularly deep but the rock formations so different from elsewhere.  Had a few little walks with hardly anyone around, to get the feel of the place, again keeping an eye on gathering thunder clouds.

Back out of the park a little way to a perfect BLM free campground – Creek Pasture.  20 sites and only one other family camping.  We have red cliffs on one side and a green ribbon of trees along the creek.  Just got settled and a storm rolled in again, much growling of thunder and a good short burst of rain then it was all gone with blue skies once again overhead.  Lucky to get some gorgeous colours with the setting sun throwing its last rays on the red cliffs.

12 July – Back out of the park today and down into Monticello for a good coffee, then eastward to Cortez in Colorado to stock up on essentials before reaching Durango to meet up with Shaun, Natasha, Lucas, Ben and Azaria (only 16 months old so the first time of seeing her).  Jacob was enjoying time away at summer camp.  So nice to catch up again (three years since we had last been all together on the road to Alaska).  They had booked a lovely barn converted into a cabin just out of Durango, where we were able to park Wanda and stay as well.  Gorgeous views out over the fields an to the mountains in the distance with mule deer wandering around.

13 July – Early rising today as Mesa Verde was the target.  About 40 minutes drive got us to the park entry and then another 45 minute drive to get up to the top of the mesa.  We had booked a couple of ranger led tours to take us to the two most interesting pueblo ruins – first up was Balcony House – quite a strenuous walk down to the cliff dwellings occupied by the local Indians in the 1200’s.  We had the advantage of CCC paths and steps but in their time it was toe and hand holds carved into the rocks and I suppose basic ladders as well.  To get back out of the site a 30ft wooden ladder up the cliff side was interesting followed by several smaller ones.

A small drive further on and the Cliff Palace tour took us on a more sedate hike into this group of homes. The conditions that these families lived in was quite harsh – they had to carry all their supplies down from the mesa into their dwellings.  All the farming was done on the top so it must have been quite a daily trek needed to keep them all fed and supplied.  After a nice picnic lunch we were then at liberty to explore the remainder of the park on our own.  The Spruce Tree House was yet another set of ruins that we could venture into and then on the way out of the park were pueblo ruins from earlier times before the tribes moved down into the cliffs.  A very full-on day with a few tired bodies by the time we got home.

14 July – Into Durango for a quiet walk along the river front down to the fish hatchery where rainbow trout were being bred for release into Colorado’s lakes and rivers.  A small wildlife museum nearby showcased the diverse range of animals in the state.  Managed to avoid the downpours and wandered into the centre of the town for lunch at an old hotel.  Hopped on the trolley to take us back up to the car park at the end of the town and that was the end of another full day.
15 July – Durango beckoned again – this time a 6 mile hike along the Colorado Trail.  Very pretty walk up and down – following a small river and good exercise for the day.  Lunch at Denny’s satisfied hungry appetites before heading back home.

In the evening, Natasha, Luke, Ben and I went back into town to attend the evening’s rodeo. What a great night – to see the full complement of events starting with the Mutton Buster where the littlies take on bucking lambs – and I mean little, the youngest being 11 months old (albeit being held by Dad).  The winner was a very spunky little 5 year old who managed the whole 8 seconds and enjoyed every moment of being in the spotlight.  Saddled bronco riding was next up with only a few managing to stay the distance.  Barrel racing by the gals was an awesome event to watch as they hurtled around the three barrels at breakneck speed except for the youngest who can only have been about 5 years old and just learning the skills.  Bareback broncos and then the bull riding to continue the entertainment.  Of the 16 competitors only one managed to stay the distance in this event.  The bulls were particularly mean and how those riders escape being trodden is a miracle. The final event for the night was the team roping with 40 teams competing.  A great night out and the first full rodeo I had ever attended.

16 July – Up with the sparrows again this morning as we had to be in Durango for 7.30am to catch the Durango-Silverton vintage train.  What a journey – the steam train pulled us up nearly 3,000 ft over some very interesting terrain – perched on the side of sheer cliffs for a lot of the way.  The 3hr 45 min journey to Silverton seemed to pass by quite quickly.  A couple of hours at Silverton enabled us to have lunch at a Mexican cantina and a wander around the old mining town – like many of these tourist stops – full of souvenir and jewellery stores.  Back down to Durango – sitting on the other side of the train gave us a different perspective, to arrive back around 5.30pm.

17 July – Had Red Barn Retreat to ourselves for most of the day as the others headed off to meet up with friends and then pick up Jacob from his summer camp.  Caught up on washing and then had a general relax.
18 July – Time to say farewell to all the Saudi Hayton family as they set off south to New Mexico.  For us, we first stopped off in Durango for a walk around the town and the last good coffee for a while.  Attractive town with historic red stone buildings – several saloons decked out as they would be in the 1880’s.  A small farmers market had a nice range of fresh produce and arts and crafts.  On the road again heading east towards Pagosa Springs, stopping off at Chimney Rock National Monument but it was going to be too difficult to take Wanda on the road tour so we gave that a miss.

Pagosa Springs is a smallish town but humming with activity.  The San Juan River passes through here and it was obviously a great place for tubing.  Not too far on from there we climbed up a little higher, still following the San Juan river, to enter the San Juan National Forest and into one of their more formal campgrounds at East Ford.  What a nice setting – in among pine trees and with the sound of the river way down below in the valley.  Our timetable is much more relaxed now so spending a couple of days here.
19 July – With no formal walking tracks in the vicinity – we hiked up the road instead.  Following the river we ambled up the valley – rocky outcrops among the pine and spruce trees made for a pleasant walk.  The clouds started to roll in after an hour or so prompting a prudent return to camp.  Nice lazy afternoon catching up on reading.

20 July – Moving slowly on – we climbed very gradually up over the Wolf Creek Pass at around 10,600ft and then it was a swifter descent down the other side.  More pretty  scenery as went up towards the top but no places for us to find suitable dispersed camping so carried on to Del Norte.  The rain by this time had decided to grace us again with its presence so we made for the county campground on the edge of town – really just a parking lot beside a playground, but free is fine for us.
21 July – Eastward again today via Alamosa to Walsenburg – stopping off at both of these towns for a wander around.  Both very tidy towns but Alamosa in particular had a whole lot of empty shops.  We found the thrift store advertising books for sale so stocked up on some reading material to last for the next few weeks.  Walsenburg had a nice little main street with a good coffee shop so we treated ourselves to lunch there.  On again to the I-25, our first freeway for a while, and took this for a short distance before heading off towards Rye and the San Isabel Forest on Hwy165.  We chose a forest service campground for our next couple of nights – a little bit of a treat as they had power (which meant Wallies fruit pies could be on the menu for dessert!).

Lovely setting above a small lake surrounded by pine and spruce trees, with ever so tame deer wandering around the camp.  Had a nice little walk up to another forest camp and met up with a lovely old chap (John) on our way back.  Had a nice chat with him – he spends six months every year on world cruises with Cunard, a couple of months in his Colorado home and the rest in Florida.  He had been to NZ on several of his cruises and was very complimentary.
22 July – John had told us of a hike up to an old gold mine which we endeavoured to find but it was far too much uphill trekking and at over 9,000 ft we were starting to get a little light headed, so came back to camp for a lazy afternoon.  I took a walk down to the lake and back later in the afternoon, which was very busy with people fishing and enjoying the sunny day.
23 July – Colorado Springs here we come – Bob had a motorcycle museum on his list so we headed up and over another high pass before coming down into the huge plateau where Colorado Springs sits.

Huge mountains in the distance – one of which is Pikes Peak at over 14,000ft and a famous ‘hill climb challenge extraordinaire’. There is a road going up of course, but we have opted to take the cog railway so that we can enjoy the scenery and still have some fingernails left.  Coming out of the m/c museum we noticed that a large crack had suddenly crept across our windscreen – darn – new windscreen is needed!

Managed to find an auto glass company who will replace it in the morning so we had to head for Wallies nearby.  We had been really spoilt with the mild mountain weather the last few weeks but coming down to lower elevations the heat ramps up considerably, so just waiting for the sun to go down and hopefully drop the temperature for sleeping.

Utopia in Utah

17 June – Home at Red Canyon day.  First up we tried a bit of the cycle track which looked nice and flat, but looks are deceiving!  After going up for a mile or more decided that enough was enough – far too much like hard work in the heat, so turned tail and coasted all the way back to camp.  Spent the rest of the day recovering from that little exertion.  Later in the afternoon we went hiking instead – took a trail out the back of our site which wound up and up to the top of the hill, but it felt more like a mountain!  It was probably about 600 ft above the camp.  Were rewarded with glorious views back over the Red Canyon and way beyond into the valley below.  Met a nice German couple up at the top; a good excuse to linger and catch second wind before tackling the downhill leg.  Lovely sunset followed by a clear starry night.

18 June – Drove the 7 miles or so into Bryce Canyon and parked up at the entrance to board the shuttle into the park.  Good idea these shuttles because even though we could have driven in – seeing how full the car parks were we were glad not to have to worry about it.  Took the shuttle to the end of the run, to Bryce Point at 8,300ft – wonderful amphitheater with even more different rock formations and colours.  Walked the rim trail for 1.5 miles back down to Inspiration Point.  Lovely trail with a few ups and downs, but mostly down.

Back on the bus to Sunset Point where we hopped off – had a spot of lunch and then did a little foray down into the Canyon proper.  Heeding the rangers’advice, we just went about half way down, sensible in the heat of the day, quite enough to get a feel for what it is like and more than enough to have to come back up again.  Colours and formations are spectacular.

One neat thing about the parks throughout the USA is their Junior Ranger programmes – each park has a little book for children where they work through a series of tasks related to that park and things to look for as they go on hikes and explore the area.  When they have completed it and pledged the jr oath, they get presented their junior ranger badge from a fully fledged adult ranger.  It is great to see these kids racing around getting all the necessary deeds done to get their badge.

Bryce is not as busy as Zion so a lot more enjoyable.  Booked to do a 3.5 hour shuttle ride to the far end of the park tomorrow and then we hope to stay in some BLM land just outside of the park.  Were able to catch up on emails and news before heading back to Red Canyon for the night.
19 June – Up early (for the Hayton’s anyway!) to drive back into Bryce to catch the free shuttle tour to Rainbow Point.  It was a good choice – our driver was full of interesting information about the park, it’s geology and flora. The 3.5 hours was interspersed with stops at view points, with a little talk at each one.  Again the limestone formations, Hoodoos as they are known here, were of all shapes and sizes – colourful with iron leaching through the limestone to give them the red colour.

Big vistas which we could have expected were spoilt by a thick haze over the area which had come from wildfires all the way over in San Bernandino, California. With the tour done, we headed for a spot of lunch in the local diner before making our way up to our dispersed campsite – really nice spot in among small trees with nice views out over the meadow.  Plenty of sites, with most of them occupied by like minded economy travellers.
20 June – Off towards the east this time – passing by the Bryce turnoff through to the small town of Tropic for supplies and then through to Henrieville, small settlements with a nice backdrop of sandstone cliffs.  Took a small detour down to Kodachrome State Park – nine miles down a very ordinary looking valley and then all of a sudden you are into big exposed cliffs of reds and whites – and yet again a change of rock formations.  They have pipes and chimneys in the park instead of hoodoos.  Took a very hot hike around the valley floor – box canyons, weird rock formations and juniper trees.

How nice this would be to do in cooler weather.  The lower elevations are definitely hotter and with a dry wind it is not that pleasant.  Continued on to Escalante and into the northern section of the Staircase Monument.  Picked up a free camping permit at the visitors centre and just down the road settled on a dispersed site – sadly not a lot of shade, but nice views across the wide valley to mountains beyond, and still stinking hot.

21 June – After finally cooling off in the wee hours of the morning it didn’t take long to feel the morning sun’s heat so we took off bright and early and decided to have breakfast out for a change as there was a specially recommended coffee house nearby (the only one for many many miles).  The drive to get there was another surprise – we drove up and through a canyon of slick rocks – such incredible formations – this time sandy coloured.  Not far into the canyon was the Kiva Koffeehouse.  We actually arrived before they opened at 8.30am, but after a short wait were amply fed with eggs, bacon and oatmeal pancakes with good coffee for the second time this year for Bob.  The coffee house building was an architectural wonder – semi-circular with huge ponderosa pines used as the basis for framing and full glass picture windows.  Suitably replete, we carried on down through the canyon and up onto the Hogs Back – the name for the road as it travels along the narrow ridge line with nice dramatic drops either side of the road (and a real favourite with motorcyclists) before dropping down into a valley towards Boulder.

 

Not much going on in Boulder and shortly after, headed up the Burr Trail road and into Long Canyon with red slick rocks and some good drop offs, in search of some BLM land.  The sites didn’t pan out so we settled instead for a small forest campground at Deer Creek – just a few sites alongside the small creek but with plenty of trees around to provide a modicum of shade.  Made good use of the lovely clear creek to get the laundry done – dry air again dries everything real quick.  With the heat of the day up into the high 90’s a good chance to relax and read for the rest of the day.  The only drawback was the mossies, which came out in numbers at dusk forcing a retreat back inside.

22 June – After a nice cool quiet night it didn’t take long for the morning sun to take effect so we headed off back towards Boulder to carry on Highway 12 which meandered through a nice green valley before making a very steady slog up nearly 4,000 ft to be back in the forests of ponderosa pines and at around 8,500 ft we hit the quaking aspens.  It is nice to be up higher to take advantage of the cooler (well 20 degrees cooler than stinking hot feels cooler!) temperatures.  Terrific views from the mountain summit, though marred somewhat by the haze still around from the wildfires over to the West.  Stopped off for morning tea at a lovely spot in among the pines and decided to stay in the area, finding another forest service campground with about 6 sites right beside small but swiftly flowing Pleasant Creek.  This was once a hosted camp so there was still a facility to dump and fresh water was plentiful, so we took advantage of both to flush and fill the tanks and then settled in for the rest of the day.  The pines provide nice shade but the only problem outside are the flies which are really a nuisance.

Got to see real cowboys in action as they herded up some of the cows on the lower green pastures and moved them further up the mountain.  No internet for a while now and radio reception has been spotty, so not quite sure what is going on in the world around but I guess it is still there!  After a nice relaxing afternoon and dinner it was time for a little wander up the mountain road to enjoy the cool evening air.  Got great views out over the valley looking towards Capitol Reef National Park and the red rocks, before doing a bit more exploring along the forest roads.  Our peaceful camp has filled up with a few tenters and one other camper.  We are amazed at how many people tent camp in the forests in the USA, but I guess because of the ease of access to such neat places it really encourages people to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.
23 June – Down the mountain into the Capitol Reef National Park and yet another day of being absolutely blown away with the Utah scenery.  We entered into the park via Torrey and were met with red and white sheer rock walls, more amazing rock formations and the heat!!  Stopped off at the visitor centre to see what was worth doing – the scenic drive up to Fruita and 10 miles beyond was the suggestion that we followed.  The Fruita Valley was so pretty, green with loads of orchards (originally established by Mormon pioneers) and then beyond that we got right back into the canyon and rocky formations at the end of the road.

I continued on foot on the 4wd road which followed through a very narrow canyon, mostly following the wash, which had recently had a lot of water through it doing a lot of damage to the road surface.  That was enough exercise to do in the midday heat, so returned back to the van and back down the valley, stopping off at the historic house which had been turned into a bakery and store.  Picked up a peach pie for later and cinnamon rolls to devour immediately, before heading out of the park.

Back along the scenic Highway 12 through to Loa and then onto 72 which took us up and up again, this time into the Fishlake National Forest.  A bit different in this mountain range, no trees to speak of but sage bush growing everywhere.  At 8,000ft we found a boat launch and free camping area beside the Forsythe Reservoir and made this our stop for the day.  With no trees for shade we were lucky that it was a little cooler and with the awning out we got some respite from the sun.  A couple of other campers turned up later on taking up little clearings quite a way away from us, so with our lovely view of the little lake and mountains in the background, it was a pleasant end to the day.
24 June – Up and over the mountain and down into yet another world on the other side – the sage covered hills had given way to sandy desert conditions with just the odd bit of greenery.  The surrounding cliffs were all sandstone and bare with some sort of mining going on nearby.  The only green in the valley floor was from irrigated pastures growing animal feed.  The stock range pretty freely around the area, so you have to watch out for them on the road.  Followed Highway 10 through Castle Dale then on to Price.  The heat down in the valley is unbearable, so we headed indoors to have a look around their dinosaur museum.  Utah is an incredible source of dinosaur remains and must be a paleontologist’s heaven.

The mock-up skeletons that they had on display were fascinating.  Hard to believe that these monsters ever roamed the earth.  We managed to while away a couple of hours before we got thrown out at closing time, so headed for our backstop (as we had come across no camping possibilities on the way through) of Walmart.  Finally able to get internet again so caught up on emails and after a bit of investigation booked our flights to leave the US in September.  We have got tickets as far as Iceland, where we intend to spend a little bit of time before heading to Europe.  The heat finally dissipated very late in the evening.
25 June – Haircut was the first thing on the agenda for me – Wallies $10 cut is just the right price for me!  Bob checked out the local Ford agent to book a transmission flush for tomorrow and then we made for the hills.  About half an hour out of Price we took a BLM road up to the Price Recreation area.  What a road – up hill for 3 miles on a very narrow winding road before we finally came up into the trees and a small campground with about 10 sites but only a couple flat enough for us to park.  Chose our site and  with water available I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the washing done – with 12% humidity it is dry almost the moment it is pegged on the line.  With that done, then settled down to blob until it cooled off and we could do a walk to the local viewpoint followed by an interesting chat with a touring family from Wichita.
26 June– Off we go again – not very far just down the hill into Price – transmission service done and then out to Helper for a stop off in their historic part of town.  Not much of interest, but a very good coffee shop which satisfied Bob’s cravings for a while.  It was then off on Highway 191 up a long climbing valley until we entered the Ashley National Forest.  We had hoped to find a nice little possy along the way but the roads into any of the likely ones were just too rough to attempt, so had to settle for a little layby right at the very end of the forest border.  No shade – still really hot but cooler than lower down and we had a cattle stop right beside us.  Truck after truck carrying tanks of crude oil rattling over the grating didn’t make for a very peaceful sojourn, but at least the frequency finally became less as the evening wore on.
27 June – On through to Duchesne and onto Highway 40 westward passing through Fruitland.  Not much of interest along the way – quite desolate in this region but we know why there are so many oil tankers as there were loads of nodding donkey pumps at small oil wells all up this valley.  Climbed up again, this time into the Uinta NF and took advantage of a roomy Forest Service campground on Strawberry Reservoir.  Of the 60 odd sites we managed to get the one with the best amount of shade, with aspens on both sides of us.  Some really cute little furry critters are in abundance around here – about the size of a small rat but they are a cross between a gopher and a ground squirrel – the locals call them pot-guts.

They have just recently had babies so the little ones are scampering about all over – they live underground but come up to feed.  We have to be careful that we keep our screen door closed as they are not a bit afraid of us and very curious.  Another treat was a mule deer walking by us – they have a lovely ginger-brown coat and a beautiful face, with large mule like ears.
28,29 June – Stayed put as we have finally got a good internet signal and need to get the next leg of our odyssey sorted.  Spent all day just getting Iceland sorted – we are hiring a car and driving around the island for 9 days staying at guesthouses along the way.  From there we are booked to Oslo and plan to use the train down through Sweden to Denmark, visiting friends along the way.  In mid-October we hope to pick up a Peugeot Eurolease car in Amsterdam to travel south, which will take us through to mid-December when we plan a side trip to Malta, before heading to England for Christmas.  And then I suppose we will have to think about heading home.
30 June – Down the valley into the magnificent setting and nicely laid out town of Heber City, like an amphitheater in a large flat basin with towering mountains on all sides.  On into another range of mountains through Kamas and up into the Wasatch National Forest – heaps of forest campgrounds but also loads of dispersed campsite possibilities as well.  Stopped for the night at one of these near Yellow Pine but unfortunately the best shaded sites were already taken so decided that this would just be a one night stay here.
01 July – Moved another 15 or so miles higher up the valley into a more wooded area before settling on Shady Dell Campground and with the long Independence Day weekend coming, decided to secure a spot here until the 5th when we head back down to the heat of Salt Lake City to meet up with our friends from Annapolis.
03 July – Drove back into Kamas for a few hours so we could pick up emails and with the confirmation of our Eurolease car, were able to make the necessary bookings to get us back to England for Christmas with Bob’s sister Margaret – we will fly there from Malta on RyanAir’s ever so reasonably priced flights.  Kamas was a hive of activity – it is the crossroads for routes up into various mountain regions and with the holiday weekend looming it seems that everyone is heading out early.  Stopped off for a pub lunch on the way back and then settled back into our lovely shady campsite again.
04 July – The campground is humming with people celebrating the 4th of July.  Being a forest area no fireworks are allowed, but I guess later on there will be some merriment.  We finally figured out why so many people stop on the road outside of the camp and walk through to the forest on the other side of us – it is a Fairy Forest and must be well known as hundreds of families have come up over the years and built and decorated little fairy rings of painted river stones and tree hangings, and made all sorts of stone lined tracks through the forest – quite magical indeed!  We have been very appreciative of the cooler weather that these mountains afford and also astounded by the natural beauty of this region.

Grand Circle of Canyons

31 May – 02 June – After making our way into Winslow, spent these days kicking our heels whilst waiting for the Ford Agency to perform our pre-booked vehicle service. We had previously ordered new rear tyres which didn’t arrive when they agreed, hence our wait.  Fortunately Wallies was right next door so they provided our accommodation for three nights.  The town of Winslow, which in days gone by was on the old Route 66 didn’t have a lot to offer – Bob did manage to find a notary without any trouble to get a signature witnessed, followed by the highlight of the day, morning tea in the local diner.

03 June – Wanda now sports a brand new set of rear tyres and shocks all round, as well as new brake pads, so it was on towards the Grand Canyon, toute suite.  148 miles of very straight roads, but again the landscape kept changing so it wasn’t boring.  We went through Flagstaff on the I40 and then at Williams came to the end of our long pilgrimage following Route 66 and turned north towards the Canyon.  Flat ponderosa type ranch land up to Williams then you hit a line of altitude at which the prairie grasses turn into 2m high bushes and then another band at around 6,500ft where the pines kick in.  Battled strong winds all day today, especially on the interstate, which are made worse by bow waves from all the large trucks that fly past.  Stopped off at Walnut Canyon for lunch and a walk along the way, but with the wind worse than Wellington on a good day, didn’t hang around at the viewpoint for too long.  Just before Tusayan we spotted a National Forest Ten-X Campground and went in for a look see, found it to be very much to our liking so stayed put.  It was a large well spaced out camp and being a NF Camp, just the usual vault toilets and for the princely sum of $5 was good value.  These camps are non-reserveable so it is just pot luck whether you can find a site; had we arrived much later we would have been plum out of luck (we did have a backup option of boondocking nearby). With the lovely dry air of the desert, managed to get the washing done and dried before dusk. We were also greeted via email with the good news that we have a buyer for Wanda – a couple from KeriKeri will take over her reins in September.

04 June – GC here we come.  We only had a short drive up to the Canyon Rim through Tusayan which is the hub of all accommodation and food outlets for the area.  Thought we would have difficulty parking as there was plenty of traffic going into the Park, but some dedicated RV spots were still free, so in we popped.  First up a short walk out to the rim for our first glimpse of the canyon which is quite breathtaking – the only problem is the hazy atmosphere which doesn’t make for such good pictures.  A fantastic service is offered by the park – a series of three different regular shuttle bus routes take you to different areas along the rim with plenty of stops along the way so that you can get off and view the sights, wait for another bus or walk to the next stop. We did all of the bus routes interspersed with some nice hiking along the rim.  One of them was like that horrific Alpine Road we did all those months back – a narrow path with a sheer dropoff in places, but being on foot it wasn’t nearly as scary.  As we progressed westward along the canyon rim the views kept changing – at parts we could see right down to the Colorado River 5,000ft (about one mile) below.

Back to the Visitor Centre where we were parked for a bit of a break before heading out on the Eastern Loop bus.  Had intended to watch the sunset from the last point on this run, but the wind got up and it turned rather cool, so it was back to Wanda for dinner and then out to the lookout nearby to try and catch the sunset there.  Didn’t quite get the colour on the canyon walls we had hoped for due to cloud effects, but the sunset itself was very stunning.  With the Canyon done for the day it was back down to the Ten-X Camp – you have to be watchful after dark of the elk and deer that are in this region.

05 June – Returning to the Canyon Village, the Orange shuttle took us to South Kaibab trailhead.  The weather all around us was not too inviting with black thunder clouds to the west and rain clouds to the east so we waited for about 10 minutes to see what would eventuate and it turned out that we seemed to be in a clear area with both fronts passing around us, so started on our descent down into the canyon.  What a neat trail – first it descended down a sheer bluff by way of a series of switchbacks and then it was just downhill under towering cliff faces until we came to our target – Ooh Aah Point – some 800ft below the rim.  With rolling thunder echoing off the canyon walls it was quite an experience to stand on this exposed point while more ambitious hikers passed quickly onwards.  They certainly look a little more circumspect on the return journey!  To see the canyon from inside gives you a different perspective and it was very enjoyable.

The uphill return leg looked to be demanding at this altitude, but it turned out to be quite manageable – 30 mins down and 1 hour to get back up.  Got to see a mule train coming up the trail which had come from the bottom – 5,000 ft below and probably 13 miles of trail.  Feeling quite energised from this little hike we decided to walk a bit more of the rim on a nice paved trail with spectacular views along the way.  With a change in weather from yesterday, there was less haze around so the other side of the canyon was more clearly visible.  Every time you get a glimpse of the canyon it is from a different perspective and just as awe inspiring.  Got the shuttle back to the parking lot for lunch, followed by a look around the visitor centre and a film about the park before heading off to find some showers and finally back to our campground for a relaxing evening.  The radio suddenly sounded the weather warning alarms for a severe thunderstorm, which then started to rotate which means that there is a tornado possibility.  It turned out to be for counties to the south of us.  Internet access allowed us to look at the weather radar just to double check, which just showed rain on the edges of the system for us, but that didn’t reach our location either.

06 June – Time to move on around the canyon – just waited until a thunderstorm passed ahead of us before setting off.  Back through Canyon Village and out to the east towards Desert View.  The road skirted the rim for the 25 odd miles, with many lookout spots along the way and more glorious views.  A ruined Indian pueblo from 1100AD and it’s detailed museum display occupied us for a while – it was only a tiny one housing around 30 people.  Outlines of the rooms were excavated out so you could get an idea of what their living situation would have been like.  They had their gardens with corn, squash and beans which they preserved for the winter months.  The junipers and pines provided berries and nuts, and there were various bushes used for herbs or medicine.

At Desert View the Parks Service have a campground – we managed to grab one of the last spots and this was only just after lunch.  Another lovely campground – this one among the contorted pines and Utah junipers, just a short walk away from yet more impressive canyon views.  At the Desert View lookout a short walk from the camp, a 4 storey watchtower built in the late 1920’s was the focal point.  You could climb up to the top for expansive views of yet another part of the canyon.  The Colorado River was clearly visible from here as well as the North Rim.  Stopped off for an ice-cream at the store and met up with our neighbours from the campground, so spent a pleasant afternoon chatting with them.  A nice walk back to the campground and more nattering before the chilly evening started to set in.  Took a quick walk back to the canyon to see if the sunset would provide any nice colours on the rocks but it was in the wrong direction – might try and see the sunrise instead (Yeah Right!!).

07 June – I did it!! Up at 5am and a short walk down to the canyon rim to watch the sunrise and the light effects on the canyon walls as the sun climbed higher into the sky.  Nice clear day but still hard to get decent photos as the canyon walls are too far away; it was perfect though to sit in the peace and quiet enjoying the surroundings.

Set off along the eastern rim with another neat drive – first through flat open mesa, or it looked that way until you came across the deep canyons everywhere.  We were in Hopi and Navajo country and all along the road were dotted little handcraft stalls.  We stopped at one larger area which had about 20 stalls right above the Little Colorado River.  Had a chat with one of the Indian stallholders who made all the jewellery on her stand and I was persuaded to purchase a nice little necklace.  Pottery, woodwork and jewellery were the main items on display for sale.  We were in for another surprise as we carried on – cliffs started appearing on either side and we were back into the Painted Desert with stunning rock formations and colours, followed later by the Vermillion Cliffs.  These took us over the Navajo Bridge across the Colorado River and into the Glen Canyon Recreation area.  At Lees Ferry up a dead end road we found an idyllic serviced campsite run by the Parks Service overlooking the Colorado River, with red cliffs rising up behind it.  A perfect spot and all for $8 – it doesn’t get much better.
08 June – Started off the day with a walk along the river trail to the original location of the Lees Ferry, which was the only place to easily cross the Colorado for 600 miles.  John D Lee, for whom Lees Ferry is named, came to the crossing in 1870 with the goal of setting up a permanent ferry service for Mormon settlers heading south to Arizona. In 1857, Lee had taken part in the Mountain Meadows massacre, in which a group of Mormons and Native Americans attacked a passing non-Mormon wagon train from Arkansas, killing about 120 people – the few survivors were small children.  The ill-conceived attack was the result of animosity toward Arkansanians after the murder of Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt near Van Buren, Arkansas. Years after the massacre, Lee moved to the remote Colorado River crossing to take refuge from the law.  He arrived in September with two of his wives and his children, and created a small settlement named Lonely Dell. The ferry was formally established in January 1873, with the launching of the Colorado, the first of many boats that would cross the treacherous and fluctuating river at this point.

The location of the ferry upstream from the Paria River confluence required passengers to traverse a dangerous incline nicknamed “Lee’s Backbone” on their ascent up the south wall of the valley. Four years later, Lee was finally arrested by the US government and tried for his role in the massacre.  Found guilty, he was executed by firing squad at Mountain Meadows on March 28, 1877. He was the only participant in the massacre to be tried and executed out of the over fifty men who had taken part.  Nice trail alongside the river with red cliffs on both sides – even though we are in the desert it it so green and full of flowers at the moment.  Saw a little fox right on our trail as we were coming back – it stopped and observed us for a moment or two then took off up into the rocky hillside. By11am the heat hit us and it was a perfect excuse to do nothing for the rest of the day (almost nothing – I did take advantage of the nice dry Arizona sun and heat to wash everything in sight and get it all dried in no time at all).  Sunset on the red cliffs here was more what I had hoped to see in the Grand Canyon.
09 June – Retraced our steps a bit and crossed back over the Navajo Bridge stopping off to view the 1928 bridge running alongside the new one built in 1995.  Our route was then up and over an interesting pass through a slot in the hills towards Page.  Amazed at the terrain that roads get put through here – this road up the mountain side had really unstable rock formations to deal with and looked like they constantly have to battle with them – not just little rocks either.  Down the other side we were back on to a flat plain.

An observation point to Horseshoe Bend gave us a nice break – the walk down to the canyon was shared with loads of tourists (it is quite a change for us to be back in ‘the season’ after having roads and sights to ourselves for such a long time).  Anyway, the walk and the view were worthwhile.

Wallies in Page provided us with a stock-up of supplies and finally wine is available at the supermarket again.  Out of Page, we stopped off at the Glen Canyon Dam and booked onto their dam tour down to the power station.  A huge dam just a tad lower than Hoover Dam but wider across. The dam was constructed in the early 1960’s for irrigation, power and recreation – concrete was poured continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 3 years and 3 months – enough cement to pave a 4 laned highway from Phoenix to Chicago.  The new adjacent road bridge over the gorge was constructed first to aid with project transport, so the dam crest has never been used for traffic. We took a lift down 53 floors to the power station, where Bob was disappointed that we didn’t get to see any more than a brief overlook of the turbine hall and the 8 x 165MW generators.

A little further on we drove down to Lake Powell to have a look at the shoreline camping on the lakeside – it was so busy that we decided instead on a piece of free BLM land just opposite with a stunning backdrop of eroded cliffs.  Made it just before the rain started and looks like it has set in for a while.  The rain is very unseasonal here right now, but the desert plant life is really lapping it up – outside my dining room window I even have daytura plants flowering.  A few locals came in for a fireside get together – not exactly great weather – they were all sitting there under umbrellas to keep the rain off, but soon gave up and we just had one other vehicle for company.

10 June – The rain had cleared in the morning and our only other neighbour left quite early. We spent a little while exploring the intriguing rock formations around us before setting off.

First stop the BLM office to check out the dispersed camping.  The ranger advised against going on any of the marked BLM sand roads due to all the rain they have been having, making them unsafe for a heavy vehicle.  Picked up some info on Utah as we had crossed the state line yesterday, and enjoyed looking at their dinosaur fossil displays.  Wow the size of some of the skeletons found in this area was stunning.

A little further up the road we stopped off to do a hike that the ranger recommended, into the Toadstools.  The colours of the rocks as we entered into the big basin was so pretty – very distinct bands of red and white and bluish hues as well.  The toadstools were just that – large freestanding rocks which had eroded over time into toadstool shapes. Tall grey sheer cliffs towered up one side of the basin with shallow caves worn our by constant wind and water.

Wandered back to Wanda for lunch and then we only had another 20 miles to go before we found our campsite.  Have been able to follow our Frugal RV guides now we are back in Arizona and Utah, which have plenty of off-the-beaten-track places to stay.  We knew this one was only a half mile off the main road and didn’t have any worries about the state of the road in.  An absolutely perfect spot in a small bowl – sage brush all around with a nice flat area for parking.  With the awning up and the wine out, we enjoyed the late afternoon sun with the company of jack rabbits.

Bob’s birthday today so it was dinner a-la-desert, a gourmet meal of creamy chicken and mushrooms atop a bed of fluffy rice, with carrots and broccoli on the side (it’s a hard life out here!) washed down by Walmart’s best Merlot.  After the sun went down the clouds started massing out on our horizon followed by distant growls of thunder.  They moved closer to us during the later part of the evening putting on yet another sound and light display. Fortunately they stayed several miles away from us and we just got a bit of rain.

11 June – Another short hop as we headed first into Kanab to refuel with gas and propane then up the highway to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (what a mouthful) where we saw … coral pink sand dunes.  Did a little interpretive walk and surprised yet again just how green everything is at the present time.  Shrubs and cactus in flower and the trees thriving.  Still have stunning scenery as we drive along – forever changing around each corner.  Found a lovely little Recreation Area campground for our night’s stay and with only four others it was really peaceful.  Had a nice long chat with a German couple who were just doing the Colorado Plateau on a short holiday, but they had been very well travelled so it was nice to hear of their exploits.

12 June – Zion here we come – wow these roads just blow you away.  The entrance into Zion is via a 1.5 mile tunnel through the mountain and when you come out the other side it just takes your breath away.  Because we were over 11.5ft high we had to pay $15 so that we could have the traffic stopped at the other end to enable us to straddle the middle of the road and not wipe ourselves out on the sides of the tunnel arch.  We had climbed up quite high and the way down after the tunnel was full of switchbacks until we got into the Canyon proper.  At the park entrance notices stated that the campgrounds were full but we asked anyway on the off-chance and managed to get the last site.

Different from yesterday, with a full campground of 60 sites and a very busy visitor’s centre.  The same deal as the Grand Canyon – free shuttles run to take you up the canyon road with stops along the way.  We opted to ride the 40 minutes out to the end and do a riverside walk into the gorge, which had quite stunning views but loads of tourists.  We couldn’t even eat our lunch in peace beside the river as squirrels were a real nuisance – there are notices everywhere about not feeding the wildlife; just doesn’t percolate down to the masses, as these little beggars obviously get loads of food and don’t like taking no for an answer.
Back on the shuttle, made a couple of stops for viewing and then I left Bob on the bus at the second to last stop and did another river walk back to the campground – it was much nicer as I had the track to myself although it was out in the open and the heat was quite intense.  Had to get a wriggle on towards the end as the thunder was getting a bit too loud for comfort and you don’t want to be exposed should a storm come through.  Made it back with no rain to find that we had electricity on our site, so a nice cool RV awaited.

13 June – Decided to move from the busy park and left Zion, down the valley through Springdale and stopped at Hurricane to pick up a few supplies, before blatting on along on the freeway for a short distance to St George and then northwards to Veyo.  What a change again – leaving behind the majestic red mountains of Zion we hit a very hot and much bleaker desert area around St. George.  Right up the valley the vegetation had turned back to sage brush and sand.  After Veyo the road led up a narrow valley and climbed into paradise.  The desert disappeared – pine trees and green meadows unfolded as we climbed up to nearly 7,000ft and Pine Valley settlement.  At the end of this valley were several National Forest Campgrounds and we were lucky to find a vacancy for a couple of nights – being the weekend this is a popular escape for the the folks in St George, with a much cooler temperature than down on the flat land and a lovely little lake for fishing.  Although the camp was full – the space between sites was very generous making it feel much less crowded than Zion.

14 June – Another day in Paradise.  We did a pretty walk following the Santa Clara River further upstream – in among the pine trees, cottonwoods, oaks and firs it made for a very pleasant 2 mile stroll.  In the late 1800’s this little river had over 200 portable sawmills busy cutting the timber felled in the vast pine forest that must have been here.  It is still very wooded – but the current trees are probably only around 100 years old.  Back at home base, it was time for a bit of reading and cleaning as the weather got a little cooler. So nice to be able to sit outside and not be bothered by mossies – our only little visitors were hummingbirds making the most of my little feeder.  Gobbling turkeys could be heard in the distance, but that was about all the noise for the day.

15 June – Moving on today – back down the valley and through the Dixie National Forest to Enterprise and wi-fi coverage.  From here to Newcastle we came onto a very large fertile plain with acres upon acres of hay fields and the smell of freshly cut hay was a nice treat for the senses. Had a break at Cedar City for supplies and more internet catch up, as wi-fi coverage is fairly sparse through these mountain areas.  Turned on to Highway 14 for a fairly good climb up to 8,500ft to another basic forest campground at Cedar Canyon.  Hummingbirds and chipmunks entertained us for the afternoon.  At this elevation there is not too much inclination to get overactive.

16 June – Up and away – we still had further to climb and at 10,500ft came to the Cedar Breaks National Monument with yet more stunning rock formations – this area consists of a huge hillside amphitheatre with well weathered and eroded red limestone formations.  Decided that we would have a good cardio workout here and take the two mile hike out to  Spectre Point viewing area – still snow in the shady places along the trail and some steep dropoffs far down into the canyon below.  Many alpine flowers in bloom and with some gnarly spruce trees, made for a very enjoyable walk.

With our little bit of exercise for the day complete we carried on along a high level plateau with green meadows, mountain streams and more lovely scenery.  Dropped down to Panguitch before heading towards Bryce Canyon, stopping 7 miles before the entrance at Red Rock Canyon campground, at a slightly lower elevation of 7,900ft.  A bit warmer here than at the Cedar Breaks but it should cool off nicely overnight.  With over 60 sites, we were lucky to find a spare one for us and will use this as our base for visiting Bryce over the next couple of days.

Getting our Kicks

13 May – Route 66 here we come – armed with a whole lot of guff from the tourist information office we started on our journey along ‘The Mother Road’. For a lot of the journey today we were running parallel to the Interstate but ducking away from it as we passed through small towns. Already we are seeing evidence of the past life of the road – abandoned motels, boarded up restaurants and then the odd little surprise. Shaw Nature Reserve – in 1925 the Missouri Botanical Garden purchased five adjoining farms to create a safe haven from the dangerous smog of St Louis (this must still be a problem because the temporary sign on the freeway yesterday said it was a green air day) for the Garden’s renowned orchid collection. Since then it has evolved into an area with restored prairies, wetland glade, woodlands and their special wildflower gardens. We had a nice wander around the wildflowers – not very many in bloom at the moment but enough different ones to make it interesting. Followed that with a small walk out through their prairie to the pioneer style adobe cottage.

Onwards – we passed through several small towns – Gray Summit, St Clair and Sullivan before stopping at mural central – Cuba. With a population just over 3,000 they have created about 12 large murals on their old buildings within the town. We first had to sample the local deli – run by Menonites. Not only were their donuts extremely scrumptious, the store was stocked with all sorts of home made jams, pickles, sweets and spices. Bought some sorghum molasses to try as well as some lovely home-made soap.
A little further up the road was Fanning and home of the world’s largest rocking chair along with a little antique/souvenir store. They had a nice large car park, so got their kind permission to stay overnight.

14 May – Nice to have a quiet night and our wake-up call from the passing train wasn’t too early. Continued on through to St Robert then Rollo through mostly bumpy roads. The attractions listed in our little Route 66 bible have not yet been up to much. The old car sales yard was just a handful of very tired and rusted out heaps. The Mule Trading Post had an interesting array of antiques along with a lot of useless stuff. These places are still back in the 50’s and not quite sure how they make a living.

At Lebanon the local library had a very good little museum related to Route 66 with a lot of good memorabilia, a mock 1950’s road cabin interior and a soda store. Had to divert to the Interstate in a couple of spots where 66 was not passable due to unservicable bridges. Even had a little bit of 4 laneing on the original route put in for military purposes during WWII. There are a lot of old buildings on this route but probably no more than we have seen throughout the country on the back roads. Just out of Lebanon headed for the State Park at Bennet Spring – our first Missouri SP and quite nice facilities. Had a bit of time on our hands so we were able to get our tax returns filed on-line which is one task out of the way for another year.
15 May – Just at the time we were ready to leave the heavens decided to open up making a wet start to our travels. Stopped off in Lebanon to pick up supplies. The route today took us along through the little settlements of Conway, Marshfield and Strafford none of which had anything of interest to offer. On the outskirts of Springfeld a small Air and Military Museum attracted Bob’s attention, but didn’t keep him away for long. 66 then headed out through a lovely country run with much improved roads through to Halltown. A restored 1930’s gas station with a few old cars was our stop for a while. The guy who had rebuilt this had collected a lot of “old” junk which was mostly just piled up in his barn. He had passed away in January so it’s fate is now up in the air. His neighbour across the road had some lovely (for American cars) Corvair Corsas which were in really nice condition and quite cute cars which they proudly showed off.

Back on the road we had an unintended detour as we lost the unmarked route for a while, but back on track we stopped just outside of Carthage in a small truck stop.

16 May – Just a little back up the road we visited Red Oak II – a collection of old houses and buildings gathered together by a local artist, Lowell trying to recreate the ghost village of his youth… He has now run short of enthusiasm and has sold off individual houses to locals but a few of the old buildings remain to look around. As with most of the “attractions” parts of it were extremely tired.

Back en route we finished the last bit of the Missouri leg and hit the state of Kansas. A very bumpy first mile had us in Baxter Springs and a refurbished gas station with a little diner. This town was the inspiration for the Cars movie and they had the fire engine and breakdown truck in their forecourt which were the basis for a couple of the main characters. A little down the road was a local mining museum – a real mish mash of memorabilia from the period when mining was king in this area.

The next 13 miles in Kansas flew by and hey ho we were in Oklahoma. Stopped off at another local museum which was absolutely magnificent in comparison to our last stop. 22,000 sq feet of recreated town scenes, large WW1 WW2 displays. Wonderfully presented and a real surprise for such a small town.
Miami was our final stop for the day – we first sussed out the local RV park provided by the town – a large parking area by the river with a fish cleaning station (this seems to be its primary use). Satisfied that we could stay the night here in peace – back into the small town and their little nicely presented motorcycle museum.
Back at our parking spot and sweltering in the very humid evening checked out the weather report to note that there was a tornado watch in this very county along with a severe thunderstorm warning. By 11pm the storm was making its presence felt with lightning and thunder but no rain. Kept the weather radio on and kept listening to the updates. Bob had tried to get some shut eye but it was too noisy to get any sleep so I watched the spectacle in the skies instead. Soon after midnight the warnings on the radio changed – tornado watch turned into a tornado warning for our area – the warning tones were sounded every few minutes and just as I woke Bob to get him ready to move, the tornado sirens started blaring right outside our van. We had sussed out earlier that there was a fire station just over the road from us and figured that they would be sure to let us in so had got prepared earlier in case we had to take shelter. With the sirens still blaring we moved Wanda closer to the Fire Station and went inside for shelter. Turns out they have the only public shelter in this town and the basement was soon filled up with about 25 people who we can only assume must have come from local mobile homes. The whole system passed over us in about 45 minutes and we were free to leave and go back to Wanda. The local fireman had shown Bob on their radar how the potential for the tornado had been right over the top of us. Luckily one didn’t form but several did touch down in the county and strong winds did cause damage. We appeared to miss the worst of the strong winds.
17 May – There must have been some very heavy rain in the catchment areas as our river was flowing way more swiftly and much higher than last night with a huge amount of debris coming down in the way of trees and branches. That didn’t deter the fishermen and there was a steady stream coming down to try their luck. Off on the road again. Route today to take us from Miami through Afton where we stopped at a little resurrected gas station with a collection of mainly Packards.

Tried to stop in Vinita for a late lunch at a restaurant promoting calf fries but their Sunday hours had them closing at 2pm so that scotched that idea and so it was lunch a la Wanda.

We meet interesting people as we go – in Afton got chatting with a nice guy from Alaska who was riding the route on his Harley. We met him again near Catoosa at our next photo op stop – the Blue Whale. After a little stop there it was on through Tulsa – good to do this on a Sunday

as 66 winds a tortuous route through the city streets.

Out the other side it was just a quick trip to Sapulpa and Wallies. Route 66 has several old sections of the road which are not suitable for us to take Wanda on so through this area we have opted for the post 30’s routes which are still interesting.

18 May – After a nice quiet night left Sapulpa in the direction of Oklahoma City with a few stops on the way. We have been travelling through countryside so much like NZ but when we come into the little towns it is like going back 50 years. Many of the towns have really nice buildings but the shops are mainly closed down. Our first stop was the Rock Cafe known for it’s alligator burgers but 11am in not really the right time of day for that so we settled for a piece of pseudo pecan pie which was extremely sweet and sticky. A group of Germans on a Harley Tour of Route 66 had their bikes lined up outside the cafe in a very orderly fashion. On again and through the little towns of Depew, Bristow, Chandler and Stroud.

Not much to stop and see so moseyed along to Warwick and another little motorcycle collection in yet another old gas station. He had taste – with mostly non-American marques including a 1976 Triumph Bonneville still in it’s original packing crate. Some nice early bikes as well.

From here we started to see a slight change in the landscape – opening out more with less hills and more wheat fields. Spent the best $2.30 of our trip by paying to go on the toll road which skirted the city of Oklahoma which we had been warned might be a bad experience – what bliss, not a lot of traffic and it didn’t even pass within sight of the city. Out the other side it was back on to 66 and our stop for the night at El Reno. The local casino offer free parking with power so a good excuse to stop for the night and a little flutter for me kept me occupied in the evening.
19 May – A little more progress along the way. First stop was in El Reno for a look at their local museum – it wasn’t meant to be open today but the docent had come in to do some admin and happily let us in for a look around. The amount of local history that had been preserved was admirable – with loads of photos and artifacts from the early pioneering days and the land runs made by the first white settlers in the area. We didn’t have too long to linger as she had an appointment to keep, so we were soon on our way again bumping along to Fort Reno and another little museum. Fort Reno was established to keep the peace between the Cherokee and Arapaho tribes who had been resettled from their native lands further east. The Fort did not need to be fortified with palisades and it would have been an impossibility in this area as there were no trees for them use. The Fort was used as as WWII POW camp for Germans and Italians and then closed down in 1946 before local interest got some of he buildings revived for display. By the time we had finished at Fort Reno the weather had changed to wet and miserable as we pounded along more of the route. We have reached the praries good and proper now – wheat fields compete with oil rigs abound here. The wheat is nearly due to be harvested as it is turning a nice golden colour.

At Weatherford a small Air and Space museum featuring local boy Astronaut Thomas Stafford beckoned – I had a good book so sat to enjoy that whilst Bob was inside. A doozie of a storm passed through while we where there – a bit of sound and light show but much more dramatic was the heavy rain. Listening to the Weather Radio and the warnings that were given out, heard that we could expect quarter coin sized hail and damaging winds – we were fortunate that the serious part of the storm didn’t pass over us. I don’t think that huge hail would be particularly beneficial to Wanda’s exterior. The weather did do enough to stop our fridge from working on gas, so as we were nearing Clinton we sought out an RV service place to see if we would be able to get it looked at. They had officially closed; were still there but unable to help us out for at least a week as they were flat out getting everyone’s rigs ready for Memorial Weekend. We did get a helpful suggestion as to how we might solve the problem – just start our generator and run the fridge on electric until it heats up enough to dry out all the contacts. That worked – they kindly agreed that it would be OK to park outside their place for the night so that is where we stayed. The skies which had cleared earlier changed into nasties again and by 9.30 the sound and light show started again.

20 May – Back into Clinton to have a wander around their State Route 66 museum. Very impressive for such a small town – it took you through the decades of the route with a room dedicated to each decade complete with period vehicles and photos.
We continued westward through Oklahoma stopping off at little settlements along the way although there is not a lot to see and really the remnants of the 66 route are not too dissimilar to what we have been seeing in the backblocks of most states.

At Elk City was the National Route 66 museum and with the weather turning quite chilly it was good to get into the warm. Not quite as impressive as Clinton’s museum, but it did have a lot of old buildings in it’s complex. Back on the route we settled for Sayre as our night’s stop and their nice county park with the added bonus of power meant that we could have our heater going.
21 May – Didn’t start out till after noon as we spent the morning getting photos done for Wanda’s portfolio should anyone be interested in buying her. The road surface through this region has not been particularly good so we opted for more stints on the I40 to expedite our journey. The wheat fields of Oklahoma have been relishing the rain they have had in the last few weeks as it has broken their 5 year drought where conditions were rapidly becoming like the dust bowl of the 30’s. Several of the museum displays we have seen have had scenes from that era and it was devastating for both the land and the people. Over 60,000 people left the Oklahoma region heading for California and the promise of green and fertile lands with plenty of work on offer (how things have changed, I think they might be doing the opposite in the near future!). The pictures of the dust storms were just awful – huge clouds which could reach as high as 10,000 ft and cover 270,000 square miles rolling through the plains. Added to their desperation was that it was the height of the depression so these Okies were in a dire state as they headed for California. Picture of old trucks piled high with all their belongings, others in cars that were on their last legs and others with families just walking along the roads with their hand carts and the look of hopelessness in their eyes was very moving.
As we headed towards Texola, the last stop in Oklahoma for Route 66, we stopped off at the Tumbleweeds cafe (a bit of wishful thinking here on the owner’s part) – the only sign of habitation in this town of 36 people. Had ourselves a spot of lunch and so long as it you liked it fried you had plenty of choice. Crossed the state line where the wheat fields gave way to the scrubby range of Texas and cattle ranches began to appear. The rain must have encouraged the desert yuccas to flower as they are in full bloom. Shamrock was our first stop in Texas – their chamber of commerce had renovated an iconic service station which made a nice photo op. 20 miles on at McLean a museum dedicated to barbed wire was a fascinating look into the history of ranching in the region. Barbed wire was such an important innovation and changed the shape of the US farming that they hold it in very high esteem around here.
Texas allows overnight stays in their rest areas so it was to one of these that we headed for and shared the area with loads of trucks but several RV’s as well. We were able to get well away from the trucks so settled in for another wet night.
22 May – Got the promised rain overnight but had to wait until noon before the fog had lifted sufficiently for us to move on. On to the Interstate with a side trip into Amarillo to find a Post Office; that city didn’t do much for us so it was back on the freeway. Had to stick to the Interstate for most of the day with a few little detours. Conway had the Cadillac Ranch – buried Caddies which folks can add their graffiti to. It must be a first for a while as they were all submerged in water due to the excessive rain that has been occurring.

Glenrio had a few interesting old buildings and a little souvenir shop and then it was on to the New Mexico border and their rest area. Yet another change of time for us as we enter into Mountain Time. This time we weren’t able to get away from the trucks so settled in for what we thought might be a noisy night. Up on the high plains now at around 3500 ft and you can see for ever on the horizon in all directions. We actually had the clouds disappear to be replaced with blue sky and some sun. After all the cold and wet weather lately this was a welcome change.
23 May – We need not have worried about noisy trucks as in the wee hours of the morning we were treated to a series of thunderstorms passing through instead. I don’t know where they came from as there was no suggestion from the skies around that anything like that could have eventuated. The lightning from storms in this region is spectacular as it leaps from cloud to cloud or strikes down to the ground. The thunder is something else again – several times the claps were so loud and sudden that the whole van shook. By morning they had all gone away and it was time to head westwards again. Our landscape has now changed into scrubby desert, but with all the rain it is so green and the little wildflowers are now in great abundance. The once dry river gulches have terracotta coloured water coursing through them and there is even standing water in the paddocks. There are now long breaks between civilisation if you can call it that – many of the small towns that once were – are no longer – abandoned and falling to pieces.

Not far from Glenrio we pulled into the Russell’s Travel Centre to have a look at their little car museum only to find that they also had a laundromat – joy of joys to be able to wash our laundry in a clean and savoury place (nice not to have to compete with the deadbeats you can sometimes find in a town one). With clean clothes once more, we set off again on the I40. Diverted through Tucumcari to pick up some of the original road, but again not a lot of interest. It hasn’t been viable to drive on the original 66 in this area as the roads are rough and dip in and out of flash flood areas with a lot of water still sitting in them.

Cuervo was another ‘must see’ according to the “bible” – a real derelict settlement with just a few inhabitants but mostly old abandoned houses. 20 miles down the road was our stopping place for the day – Santa Rosa. Our hope of stocking up on provisions was diminished somewhat with only one food mart in the town and not that well stocked. A small motor museum with custom cars, hot rods and a few vintage cars was worth the look. Some were for sale at outrageous prices. Just a little north of the town the Santa Rosa Dam and Lake supplied us with our stay for the night, a COE park campground managed by the NM State Parks Dept. We were able to find a pretty site complete with our own covered picnic table and view of the lake for a reasonable price. What a joy to be able to sit outside and eat our dinner without being inundated by mozzies, no rain and pleasantly warm. Being Memorial Weekend we had expected that it might be difficult to find a spot but we had plenty to chose from. Hard to believe that this time last year we were in Yellowstone and were subjected to hoards of holiday makers.
24 May – Another nice quiet night with no storms to keep us awake. Had a nice little walk around the camp area to view the hundreds of very busy little swallows – there were masses of nests under a bridge span and these little birds were flying to and from them every few minutes to feed their chicks. Into Santa Rosa township and a look at the Blue Hole – a huge natural spring fed hole – 60ft in diameter and 80ft deep – a mecca for inland divers and today was no exception.

 

With that done we headed back onto I40 for a short way before we took off on Highway 84 towards Las Vegas (not the real one!) before picking up the original 66 route westwards. About 20 miles out from Santa Fe the old 66 turned north again and we took this up to Pecos and a National Historic Site on the ruins of an old Indian pueblo (village) and a church from 1727. A good chunk of the adobe church remained and the walk around the site was very informative. This area was a crossroads for the Indian traders and they would be camped out on a huge prairie below the pueblo. With that done and the weather closing in we got back on the road and travelled about 9 miles beyond Pecos to a forest service campground on the banks of the Pecos river. Luckily it seems that Memorial Weekend is not a drawcard for this area so we easily found a place to stay. We have climbed up considerably and at 7,000 ft the air has a distinctive chill to it. Temperatures are expected to go down to the high 30’s so it will be a cool night. We had a nice little bit of entertainment out our back door – a little gopher, completely unperturbed by us was busy digging out new tunnels. Also hummingbirds were buzzing around in the air – by chance I happened to see an abandoned feeder so moved it closer to us to see if we could get any takers, which did happen not too soon after putting it up. Will take it with us and hang it out whenever we get the chance.   Amazing what the altitude does to our sealed packet food.

25 May – Probably chose a good day to visit Santa Fe – the parking was easy and free and it was not too busy. Walked from the Visitors Centre into the old part of the town and around the plaza with all its very upmarket galleries as wellasthe local Indian artisans selling their mainly jewelery products in the shade of the covered walkways around the chamber of commerce building. Stopped for coffee at one of the galleries, only to find out that the owners were Aussies who new how to make flat white properly, so had a nice long chat with them about motorbikes, life in Santa Fe and the forthcoming ‘Iron Butt’ Rally which Olaf is attempting in June – 11,000 miles in eleven days! Time to move on and find a place for lunch. Chose a little Mexican restaurant and sampled the local tostadas which left us more than fulfilled.

With another little walk around headed back to Wanda to check on emails etc. as we have had very sketchy internet reception the last few days. Sadly I was to learn that my lovely donkey Zac had died a few days ago from a twisted bowel, so not a good finish to the day.
Our stop for the night was up at 8,900ft at a really nice National Forest Service campground in the Black Canyon north of town.

26 May – Quite a cold night overnight but a lovely day to follow. Took a punishing little hike up the hills behind our campsite before setting off on the road again. We were told to look out for the wildflowers coming into season – did see some clematis and yellow things. My little hummingbird feeder had an incredibly busy procession of birds sampling the sugar mix I had put out. Back down to Santa Fe then north on 64 up to Taos. What a lovely drive – the first part we drove through the Rio Grande Canyon and then climbed up out of that to be rewarded with quite a surpise. From the closed in rocky canyon we emerged on to a high plateau surrounded on nearly all sides by large mountains. The plateau is huge and flat – covered with sage brush and not a lot else. Further down in the canyon the rocky walls had pine trees perilously perched on their sides, and eroded canyon walls. The rocks are a pinky brown or pale terracotta and the dark green of the pine trees and creosote bushes make a nice contrast. Up into Taos for a walk around the historic part of town – not quite so upmarket as Santa Fe but still a tourist trap with shops selling all sorts of arts and crafts and of course souvenirs. Late in the afternoon we headed out of town to have a look at the bridge over the Rio Grande – 1,200 ft long and over a 500ft drop down into the river below. Quite impressive but of course only tiny in comparison to what we will see at the Grand Canyon. A lovely well serviced rest area overlooking the canyon with notices to say that you can’t stay for more than 24 hours was the easy option for our night’s campsite.

 

27 May – It was a good choice for the night with only one other camper coming in. Did a little walk along the rim of the canyon – a few wildflowers out and loads of sage bushes with new growth. The smell of the leaves is a cross between lavender and rosemary and not very sagey at all. Took the long way around to go back to Santa Fe and experienced a bit of different scenery. The plateau we were on at 7,000 ft was immense and we travelled along this for about 30 miles before descending onto another huge plateau. The landscapes keep changing as we go along – from relatively flat to rocky and hilly and always in the distance high mountain ranges – some with still a smattering of snow on them. In out of Santa Fe and onto the I25 for a quick blat down the freeway to Albuquerque and the northern tip of the city for a Vintage Car and Truck museum before parking up at Wallies just over the road. Quite a spectacular view from our van out at a very stark range of rocky hills.

28 May – Another museum to start off our day – this time the Unser Motor Racing Museum – a tribute to the Unser family and the many generations who have been successful in the racing arena. Nice display of cars from the different genres of racing from the Indy 500 to the Pikes Peak Specials. Even got to do a 5 lap simulation of the Indy 500 – took a lot of concentration not to hit the wall or go off on the grass – all the other cars in the race had overtaken me so I didn’t have to contend with them! Having to do that for 200 laps in a real situation must be hugely draining – the steering at the speeds that I reached of 170mph was so sensitive. That occupied several hours and then it was farewell to Albuquerque and off along the route on a combination of the post 1937 road and freeway. Stopped at Pareja for the night, courtesy of the Dancing Eagle Casino’s small RV park.
29 May – On towards Gallup today. The scenery changes so dramatically and is never boring in this high desert area. High plains that seem to go on for ever then suddenly they change into hilly areas and the semi grassland morphs into scrubby trees. Before Grants we passed through an area of lava flows which had been quite a challenge for the original road builders. After that we had huge rocky escarpments to both sides. The Red Rock County Park just before Gallup was to be our destination and what a stunning backdrop – big outcrops of red cliffs with interesting formations. As well as the camp ground, there was also a huge arena and stabling yards for the rodeos they hold there.

30 May – Different start to our day – steer roping was on so we headed over to the arena to watch the action. It was the Team Roping Competitions where two riders rope a steer – the first takes the horns and the task of the second is to rope the two back legs – great fun to watch. They get a time posted if they manage to get the horns and two back legs; if they only manage one leg they get a five second penalty. Rodeos are a big happening in this country – the rigs that the competitors take their horses around in to the different events are quite flash. This one had 140 teams competing with a range of ages from beginners to experts.  We were definitely not dressed right in our shorts and t-shirts – jeans, checked shirts, stetsons, silver belt buckles and spurs were the order of the day.

 

We watched that for about an hour before setting off into Gallup and a visit to their weekly flea market – this was a different one as there were not too many white faces – mainly latinos and Indians. Many of the stalls were selling the local Indian jewellery – very nicely crafted and turquoise found here in abundance was the stone of choice. Used tyres and tools seemed to be another staple of this market and this is also where you come to buy hay. Had to sample the Navajo fried bread which is their special delicacy and it was nice. Off on the road again towards the Arizona border and lunch at their welcome station, which wasn’t at all welcoming as they were closed on the weekends when so many people travel, so we couldn’t pick up any local maps.

Clocks back another hour and then it was off to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. It was like being back in the Badlands of South Dakota – weird and wonderful rock formations with bands of colours.

The Petrified Forest National Park claims the world’s largest concentration of petrified trees. You could get up close and personal on several of the different walks – the colours of the stones which had formed inside these trees was so pretty and the trees were huge. A good fossil display in the park’s museum had some awesome looking creatures which used to survive in this area including the jaw of a huge alligator which would have been a terrifying predator. This is the only national park in the ‘States through which Route 66 has ever passed – they have mounted an old Studebaker car adjacent to the original alignment to commemorate the fact. Just outside of the park a little gift shop and museum offered free overnight camping so that was where we finished up. The desert has seen our temperatures rise considerably but at least it cools off over night.

 

Blue Grass Country

29 April – Tennessee countryside would have to be some of the prettiest we have seen and today was no exception as we made our way towards Tazewell via 25E.

30 April – Followed in the footsteps of Daniel Boone as we hiked some of the Wilderness Trail up to the Cumberland Gap located at the point where the states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia all come together. This trail was the main road over the mountains in this area for settlers moving from the East through to Kentucky. About 300,000 pioneers and settlers travelled over the trail from 1775-1810. The trail in this area used to be the main road, but in 1996 a tunnel was put through the mountains so that the historical trail could be restored and preserved. Originally it was only wide enough to fit a couple of horses side by side but it did eventually get widened to take a cart. The settlers would mainly travel the trail, which is over 200 miles long, in the winter so that they would arrive in the land of milk and honey in spring, in time to plant their first crop.

The Cumberland Gap visitor centre had a good documentary video showing the history of the Wilderness Trail. From the Gap we entered into Kentucky for the first time and headed up towards London on a scenic road which followed the route of the original Boone Wilderness Road. Green wooded roads meandered over a series of hills before we finally came into a valley which opened out into green fields. We haven’t quite reached the Bluegrass Country here and the prosperity hasn’t stretched this far – a lot of very old decrepit barns lined the road.
Made it as far as the Levi Jackson State Park and booked in for the night. With a storm brewing and a distinct drop in temperature it is nice to have the luxury of power.

01 May – Got to start the day wandering around the yard sale that was going on right in the campground. Today and tomorrow the camp was booked out with people selling their wares – mostly junk – a lot of recycled clothing and other rather useless junk – my big buy was two books for $1. Left the campground before kicking-out time and headed up to London. This part of Kentucky is not at all prosperous and London, although it had a lot of very nice substantial buildings in their main street, they were nearly all empty and boarded up. 1st May must be some kind of Kentucky-wide yard sale day as even though it was a Friday, we passed masses of sales in people’s front yards and in front of all sorts of businesses. After London we continued on a scenic byway north-west through Mt Vernon and up to Crab Orchard, trying to find somewhere suitable to pull off for lunch. Eventually we turned off onto a side road and found the most amazing country discount store – parked in their carpark while we had lunch and then went in and got our bargains for the month. You could fill a banana box for $15 worth of end-of-line products, so we stocked up on cereals and tinned stuff and then also got another banana box full of snack bags for $5. We were surprised to find that we had landed in Amish country and the storeholder was one such young man. Passed several of their wagons as we drove around this area.

After packing all our bargains, set off in the completely wrong direction and ended up on an ever diminishing road until we decided that we needed to turn around and go back from whence we came. One couple stopped and proceeded to give us directions back to the main highway and we finally got on the right track. As we proceeded on the road through to Stanford we did see a lot more farms and the town itself was much better off than London. Continuing now south-west down the Cumberland Parkway we eventually came to the Lake Cumberland State Park and our destination for the night, a huge campground above the lake but only about 10 of the 150 sites were occupied.

02 May – Just a gentle tour through Kentucky rural byways. The farmland is not very extensively farmed in this region and the ones with stock have the most rumpty looking barns for keeping their animals in the winter. Throughout the drive today through Glasgow and on to Mammoth Cave National Park, the countryside has been littered with old barns which makes for an interesting landscape. Mammoth Cave is the site of large historical caves carved originally by water in limestone – 400 miles of length have been discovered so far – we opted to stay in the National Park Campground – very busy this weekend with over 100 sites and only a few free spots. RV’s are thin on the ground here, it’s mainly tent campers.

03 May – Took one of the Mammoth Cave Tours – opted for the historical tour. The tour took us along a couple of miles of the first discovered part of the 400 miles of tunnels in the park. Very different to go through a dry cave – no stalactites or stalagmites, but to see the path of a river which has carved out the tunnels. We had a whole range of passages – some huge caverns, a small keyhole pass called ‘Fat Man’s Misery’ and others where the height of the tunnel forced you to duck low. The ranger who led our tour gave us a glimpse into the history, but it could have been more substantive. An interesting fact was that without the salt-petre mined here for gunpowder (ironically by black slaves), the US may well have failed in their 18th Century Revolutionary War with the British. Back in the open air we were greeted with a warm afternoon to enjoy. Took a little bike ride on the rail trail but there were a few too many hills for a long ride.

04 May – Bowling Green here we come. Home of the Corvette Museum and the only factory where GM-Chevrolet build this iconic sports car. We started off doing the assembly plant tour – that was great for a mere $7. With an intern tour leader, we followed the construction progress of the Corvette from go to whoa. 180 cars are produced each ten hour shift for five days each week – each car is paid for before being built and each is individually tailored to the buyer’s needs from a small range of basic models. There is also the facility to build your own engine, overseen by their engineers. The finished products coming off the line were certainly impressive – it was fascinating to watch the numerous overhead conveyors and unmanned roadway trucks as they moved the parts around the building, delivering the appropriate bits to the correct stage for fitting. The cars themselves move around the plant on the line spending three minutes slowly moving through each work station for a particular piece or pieces to be attached – mainly by humans but there are a few robots as well, especially in the body shop.
On then to the nearby Corvette Museum – this is the famed sinkhole building which collapsed the floor of their main exhibit hall early last year. It is still being rebuilt – the cars that fell into the hole were on display and they showed a range of injuries from fairly minor to being completely crushed.

Our last stop was just across the road – a used Corvette/American car dealer. On display he had a 2000 Corvette for only $17,500 so I offered him to swap Wanda for it – he was quite receptive to the idea and had it been August and not May, I would have been tempted to push him further. Inside he had about fifty cars from the 1950’s up including a couple of very nice early Corvettes but the rest didn’t appeal – many of them were huge things with lots of fins. Went a little further down the road to Camping World to pick up a replacement vent cover as one disintegrated the other day and they were happy for us to park overnight; we hope to borrow their ladder in the morning.

05 May – Bob got the vent cover replaced early but our overnight stop was very noisy – right beside a busy freeway with truck after truck. Onward to a small m/c museum at Hartford where Bob enjoyed meeting with the eccentric owner and trying his best to understand the southern drawl which is so strong in these parts. Final stop for the day was at Central City, and Walmart again.

06 – 08 May – We entered an area called ‘Land Between the Lakes’ – the area was originally land between two rivers – the Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers ran either side of this large piece of land. Following devasting flooding over the years, it was decided that both rivers be dammed thus forming two lakes and displacing about 7,000 people. In the 1960’s Kennedy proclaimed that the area be turned into a National Recreation Area and the remaining people were moved off the land. The US has this act called Eminent Domain with which they can invoke to seize land for public use and this seizure still rankles with the people who were forcibly removed from this area.

The road runs up the middle of the LBL and there are various campgrounds, picnic areas, boat ramps and primitive camps. We opted for primitive – the permit was $14 for three days and we stayed in three of the camps – Taylor Bay, Birmingham Ferry and Twin Lakes. All were on the lake shore – plenty of vacant sites to choose from. Lots of boaties out fishing on the lakes. All sorts of hiking, biking and horse riding trails straddle the 170,000 acres that make up the LBL and they even have a small 700 acre wildlife preserve with bison and elk. We did the drive around this – managing to see about half of the bison herd and about a dozen elk. Further up the road was a small nature centre with a little more of the local flora as well as a few injured local fauna, in the process of recovery where possible. Our weather has been quite variable – the last few days very hot and humid with rain as well, so not conducive to very much activity.

09 May – Decided to see Kentucky off with a visit to the Kentucky Opry in Benton. We booked our tickets for the evening show with the intention of going down the road to Wallies afterwards, but the ladies at the Opry were kind enough to let us park overnight in their carpark. The show was great fun – the first half was their talent search semi-finals for beginners and juniors. We figured that the beginner class was for artists that hadn’t performed before – most of them were littlies with the first act off the block the cutest little guy (can’t have been more than 6 yrs old) dressed in cowboy hat, jeans and boots and complete with guitar. He sang Lonesome Dove and was just gorgeous. There were 5 other acts – four young girls with one standout who must have been only about 9 years but with an incredibly powerful voice and one other young lad about 12. The juniors had the same mix – 2 guys and 4 girls – all in their teens. A mix of talents but all very entertaining. The second half of the show was the Opry band – drummer, bass guitarist, steel guitar, electric guitar, incredible young woman fiddler, banjo player and a blind pianist who also doubled as the music director (she was brilliant) and a couple of backup singers. The lead was the show’s creator and venue owner (this Opry has been running for 27 years) – Clay Campbell (he had a great voice but didn’t come across as a very nice person). We had a great toe-tapping time – nice small theatre, very well patronised and it was a nice end to our stay in Kentucky.

10 May – Northbound from Benton we stopped off at a small historical Mississippian Indian Mound site at Wickliffe on the banks of the Mississippi River. The mounds were first excavated by a local couple in the 1930’s and they did quite a bit of digging to expose the layers of settlement that had been present in this area from around 900 years ago. A small museum showcased the finds from pottery to farming and hunting implements. Headed on up to where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers converge. Crossed over the Ohio and the Illinois State Line into the town of Cairo. Boy what a difference to Kentucky – Cairo was a very dead town – coming into town the welcome signs were faded beyond recognition and only just standing up. Travelling through the town showed businesses closed down, abandoned buildings everywhere and just a very sad area. Not too far from Cairo we headed off towards a little lake to experience the first of our Illinois State Parks – a bit sad and tired like Cairo but with running water I was able to get some washing done and nearly get it dry before a huge weather system came through with thunder storms and high winds. We need to keep a very watchful eye on the weather radar and reports now as we will be heading through Tornado Alley in the next two or three weeks and already the tornadoes have been doing damage in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

11 May – On to Highway 3 today with a short detour to get propane at Cape Giradeau then on up to Waterloo south of St Louis. The weather was quite overcast to begin our day, but as we got to more open farmland the skies cleared and we ended up with a nice fine day. Not much to see but a whole lot of farmland – corn, wheat or possibly sorghum were the main crops.

12 May – St Louis beckoned today – we made our way up to the city along the east side of the Mississippi – first stop in the city was the Moto Museum – a nice collection of mainly old and rare European motorbikes, as well as one S8 Sunbeam which had a NZ registration sticker from 1992. Bob was probably more impressed by the Triumph dealer in the building next door which had a very large number of new Triumph and Ducati bikes for sale.

 

As we were pretty close to the centre of the city we thought we would try and get to see the Arch. Well, due to road works we ended up over Eads Bridge (the original Mississippi River Route 66 crossing point) on the other side of the river. East St. Louis is in Illinois and the Missouri St Louis population regard it as being extremely dangerous and a no-go area! Just had to do a quick about-turn back over the bridge and couldn’t get close to the Arch due to more reconstruction work, so just had a fleeting glimpse as we drove by. Bob was particularly disappointed that the Museum of Westward Expansion at the Arch (featuring a substantial Lewis & Clark exhibit) was closed.

Headed out of the city to another collection – the Mungenast Motorcycle display on Gravois Avenue (more original Route 66) which had a wonderful range of mostly European and Honda machines reflecting the dealerships that the founder had operated over the years. Being the only visitor at the time, Bob had a personalised guided tour of their impressive displays (BSA Gold Stars, Triumph competition machines, Nortons, Ariels, AJS, Matchless and BMW to mention just a few).

With those two visits ticked off the list it was onto the freeway for a few miles before we came off to historic Route 66, where we stopped for the night at their visitor centre at Times Beach. Times Beach used to be a little riverside town promoted as a get-away from the big smoke. It suffered from flooding but it’s eventual demise was that the whole town became contaminated. The streets were all dusty and the local council had a contractor spray old oil to keep the dust down. Several years later it was found that this oil was full of dioxins so the whole town was razed, all the soil dug up to be incinerated and once cleaned, the area then became the State Park and was replanted and turned into a wildlife preserve.

Six months more!!

29 March – Arrived back in Fort Lauderdale and were berthed by 7am, along with 5 other cruise ships. We had a disembarkation time of 9.30 but that was delayed by about 30 minutes due to the congestion in the arrivals hall. We had been invited by Joan and Eric to spend the day with them; they were picking up a rental car as they were staying a few days before flying home to Seattle. We got off and into the snaking queues about 30 minutes before them, but with foreign passports we ended up being overtaken by them in immigration desk – we did try and see if they would let us stay until the end of the year but 6 months was the maximum they were prepared to authorise and that was not disputed. Joan and Eric were waiting for us outside and it was absolute chaos trying to get a shuttle or taxi to the airport, but luckily things fell into place and four seats became available on a shuttle so our wait wasn’t too prolonged. 20,000 people descending from the ships in one morning is a challenge for both customs and local transportation companies to deal with, but I guess it is happening a lot during the season so could be better organised. Just a short hop to the airport and we all got off at the Spirit Terminal, got our bags checked in and then we made our way to the rental car office. It wasn’t too long a wait and we were finally underway. We headed north to start with but the traffic was at a standstill so we did an about face and headed for Hollywood Beach and lunch. What an interesting area – the beach must be about 5 miles of paved boardwalk – nice clean beach and the sea was lovely. Being a Sunday, everybody was out so it was really buzzing. We were treated to a nice feed of fish and chips before enjoying a stroll for an hour or so down the beach. It was all too soon to return to the airport and say our farewells to Joan and Eric.

We so enjoyed their company during the cruise and on our trip into Cartagena, Colombia and hope that one day we will see them again, perhaps in NZ. Had a little time to kill at the airport but our flight left on time and even arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule – not sure how they do that when the flight was only meant to be 2 hr 50 minutes anyway. Spirit is one of those no-frills airlines and has only been in business since November. Seemed quite alright although the seats were quite cramped.
30 March – Reunited with Wanda!! She was meant to have been washed and ready for us, but that hadn’t happened; that was soon remedied and by the time we were ready to get on the road she was looking all spic and span and the service guys wouldn’t take any payment for cleaning her which was nice of them. We managed to get north of Houston, stocked up on food and out of the city just before rush hour. Headed for a State Park campground and were told that we could park in the overflow park for free, so opted for that and just had to share it with a few others who looked like they had been there for quite a long while. Nice enough spot alongside a small river with shady trees to park amongst.
31 March – Another day in the same spot to get unpacked and back to some semblance of normality.
01 – 02 April – I managed to pick up a nasty cold either from off the ship or the plane, so not very interested in doing much at all except observing the pretty scenery as we pass from Texas into Louisiana and then through to Mississippi. Spring had sprung in Texas and it was so green and lush with many pretty wildflowers dotting the roadsides. Stopped overnight near Woodville at a COE park which was not up to the high standard of previous Corps Camps. The following night was spent at a little forest service park near Gardner, Louisiana.
03 April – Finally starting to feel human again. Louisiana was traversed via interesting country roads before hitting the Mississippi River, crossing over into that State and heading for the State Park near Natchez. The River is quite wide here and still just as muddy as down in New Orleans. The spring growth on the trees is abundant and azaleas in the gardens around here are so vibrant.
04 April – Into the town of Natchez for an explore first up. This town was the third richest in the USA in the 1820’s – being right on the river it was an important port for the cotton trade. During the 5-6 months of the cotton season, a wealthy grower would be receiving as much as $17,000 per week for his cotton which would be a fine return on his investment – most of which would have been his slaves. Some fine examples of homes from that era still exist in the town so it was very pleasant to stroll around the streets. Had lunch in a nice little restaurant before heading off to start on the Natchez Trace Parkway. This parkway is 444 miles of dedicated National Park road – no traffic lights, cross traffic or commercial traffic and few cars so it is a real joy to drive on. We covered 80 odd miles to the first campground on the parkway, basic campsites only but for no charge. This first leg of our journey was very lush, in parts the roadway has trees quite close in but opens out at other times – very seldom does it go through farm land – I guess the land was all bought up to put the road through. The weather has finally cooled down a bit but beautifully clear and sunny during the day.

05 April – A short hike this morning to walk on an original part of the Trace (an historic trail from Indian times later developed for military and trade use) before getting back on the Parkway. All along the parkway are historical markers explaining all about the Trace and how it has been used over the last 200 years. Quite a bit of the original Trace still exists. We only got off to visit Clinton near Jackson as it had indicated an historical commercial area worth visiting, but not too much to see so it was back up to the Trace and on to Jeff Busby Campground for another free night.

06 April – After a wet night it was still a bit murky so a good day to try and get Wanda serviced. Headed for Tupelo and the Ford Agent took her in straightaway. With that taken care of, headed for the nearest State Park so that we can be in close range of Tupelo and their auto museum in the morning. We have come about 290 miles up the Trace and we are nearly leaving spring behind – the trees haven’t sprung into spring quite as much now.
07 April – Into the auto museum first thing – about 150 cars on display together with a club showing of Corvettes and Mustangs, with a few early US marques that Bob hadn’t heard of but not much in the way of history on each of the vehicles. Up the road to Corinth where Bob investigated an historic motorcycle display of about 80 ‘bikes in the Honda dealer’s showroom. Back south a little to stay the night at Tishomingo State Park – a pretty setting by a little lake with about 20 sites. Mississippi are kind to oldies and gave Bob a 50% discount, so we got a very reasonably priced site with power to boot.

08 April – There were quite a lot of walks on offer around the park – chose the ‘Rocky Outcroppings’ which took us over a swing bridge built back in the 20’s by the CCC and then up a little ridge where we followed the rocky outcroppings before descending back down to the small Bear River. Not much cover at all on the trees, but some pretty blossoms and heavenly scents from time to time from the spring flowers. Back on to the Trace for another 90 miles to the Meriweather Lewis camp – another free campground run by the National Park; I suppose about 20 campers parked up from all over the country and a couple of Canadians as well – we are coming across quite a few of them as they make their way back home after spending the winter in the south.

09 April – Carried on northwards on the Trace until leaving it south of Nashville to head towards Edgar Evins State Park, an incredibly engineered campground that had each wooden decked campsite built out on to a platform off the ground resting on huge concrete piles, as the camp was on a very steep hillside and flat land non-existent. The lake had a huge marina with boats still parked up waiting for the nicer weather. Got talking with some very nice guys from Johnson City – one in particular was a fishing guide in Alaska for 3 months of the year at a very nice looking lodge. He was part of a ministry that runs retreats there for wounded veterans and their wives and was telling us how rewarding it was to be able to help them out as often they come back from places like Iraq and Afghanistan both physically and mentally wounded.
10 April – The forecasted thunderstorm during the night didn’t amount to much but it did cool the place down a bit.  Had a gorgeous drive through Tennessee with the red bud trees (with puce coloured blossoms) in their full glory along with the white of the dogwoods.  This is so much like home through here – green rolling countryside, real farms with cattle eating grass and houses very similar to ours.  Passed through Maryville and Sevierville on roads that we had travelled the previous fall, before heading off to Douglas Dam and a TVA campground, which took a bit of finding but was well worth it.  Located on the tailrace of the Douglas Dam with sites right on the waters edge looking down the valley.
11 April – Spent a lovely spring day enjoying the weather and generally having a laid back day. This is a popular area for fishing although there didn’t seem to be many lucky fishermen around.
12 April – The hosts at Douglas Dam were so pleased that we could stay with them and sent us on our way with their good wishes. Not too far to travel as we headed to Dandridge then on to Erwin via Newport and Greeneville. The last leg of the journey took us over a small mountain pass and into a beautiful valley where the small town of Erwin was situated. George and Lesley – our friends from Grand Marais in Minnesota had moved here just a month or so ago so it was to their home we were headed. On a lovely little country road, with a mix of small farms and lifestyle blocks their new house had a nice little spot for Wanda to park. Spoiled again with their hospitality and so nice to catch up with all that has been happening.

13 April – Lesley had a garden that was suffering from a lack of attention and needed a little help to trim things up before summer sets in, so spent a day helping to get things sorted as many hands make light work. Bob got roped in too to do the heavier pruning.
14 April – Left Lesley & George’s after a nice little break with the first task to send back my faulty camera to Walmart under warranty as it has become too frustrating to persevere with. The aim was to start on the Blue Ridge Parkway but on entering North Carolina and getting the info from the Asheville visitors centre, found that the campgrounds on the Parkway don’t open until May so had to have a rethink and see if we could find alternative camping. Headed to a National Forest Campground we found listed which seemed to be in the right direction but we got onto a gravel forest road which started to get narrower and narrower as we progressed so decided not to go any further and just pulled off in a trail-head park. Met a local angler who had just recently been to NZ on holiday, so had a nice chat with him and got the gen on the local area.
15 April – The weather is still wet and miserable and not too warm. Headed back down into Old Fort and parked up there for a while to get emails sorted, and to make a call to HSBC to see why our debit card had been declined when we tried to fill up with gas. I was put through to the fraud department who informed me that they had put a block on it as a couple of transactions had appeared on it from Singapore; after confirming that we were not there travelling, they decided to cancel our cards and issue us with new ones. Great – we now have to wait until they get sent to George and Lesley’s before we can have access to cash again – luckily we still have a NZ credit card and also a cheque book for the account and it is often easy to pay by cheque here. We do wonder where our card got compromised, but thankful that the bank is on the ball. With that sorted we carried on to Marion and stopped off at their impressive Welcome Centre to pick up some blurb on the area and have nice hot soup to warm us up before heading through Shelby to Moss Lake and a county campground overlooking the lake. Not very nice facilities but at least we had electricity so that we could have the heater going for the rest of the evening, as it did get quite cool.
16 April – Nice lazy start to the day with rain still persisting. Our target was a truck museum down in Cherryville about 30 minutes drive from our campground. What a little treasure – just a small museum based on a local trucking firm – Carolina Freight – which grew from very small beginnings to be one of the largest in the country. The museum only had about a dozen trucks from the late 20’s to the 50’s – all very nicely restored and painted in their special red and black livery. I don’t think that too many visitors come through as we had a one on one explanation from the docent/curator for about 20 minutes and then spent another while chatting when we were done. Cherryville itself is very much a backwater town – like going back to the 50’s with not many shops in it’s main street. We did find a cafe come diner for a spot of lunch – very typical menu (burgers, fried foods and cooked breakfasts). The food was tasty enough but again plastic plates don’t do much for me.

Destination for the night was W. Scott Kerr Reservoir and a COE camp so it was on to Lincolnton then Hickory before turning off at Lenoir and east to the lake. Our GPS co-ordinates didn’t take us to the expected campground but to a parking area by a wildfowl pond, so decided to stay there for free instead – no signs to say that overnight parking was not allowed. The local sheriff came and checked us out but didn’t stop to talk to us so we assumed that if he doesn’t come back it is OK to stay. The miracle of the internet works in the back of the beyond so we spent an hour listening to Radio NZ and an interesting series of readings from 1915 of letters sent between a NZ Army officer in Gallipoli and his wife who was in Egypt. They were read by Ginette MacDonald and Sam Neil – very informative and entertaining. It is also a good source to get a decent news broadcast, as only occasionally can we get the BBC for a relatively non-biased outlook on world affairs.
17 April – Oops, spoke too soon – at 10.30 last night, two vehicles came into our parking spot and parked in front of us with their lights on – a bit worried to start with but then they announced that they were park rangers. Long story short, we couldn’t stay where we were and we were escorted (very politely) to the campground where we had intended to stay anyway. They fluffed around trying to check us in but in the end just took us to our site and we settled up when we left. Being a COE camp it was very well engineered as far as placement of sites, etc went and we seemed to be about the only ones there.
Had a nice stop for morning tea at a fresh donut shop not too far from the camp, before heading off towards Galax via Wilkesboro and Arlington. Thanks to Sally we had yet another of those white knuckle drives (for Bob that is as he was co-pilot) up and over a very steep mountain road, with no middle line so it was not very wide, some very sharp curves but fortunately didn’t have to pass much in the way of opposing traffic. Crossed under the Blue Ridge Parkway and down into Galax for a Walmart stop for the night after finding that you could no longer park for the night at the nearby cycling trail.
18 April – Nice fine day – just perfect for getting back on the Parkway. The elevation around 3,000 ft meant that spring is only just beginning but the grass was so lush. We had to depart from the Parkway due to road works and take a couple of detours – the last one we decided to stop in Boone at Wallies as there were no campgrounds available nearby. The road has been a joy to travel on, like the Natchez – no advertising billboards or cross traffic but a little narrower with no line to mark the edge of the road and no shoulder so does require some concentration or you might end over the bank and down the mountain.

19 April – Not moving today – the rain has come in and is set to stay for the day. Spent our time starting on tax returns and reading. Cabin fever got the better of us later on in the evening and braved the rain which was still bucketing down to have dinner in one of the restaurants close by. A Japanese restaurant with the strangest menu for supposedly typical Japanese fare, but we had a decent meal until it came to pay and our credit card was declined – we thought ‘here we go again’! Fortunately we had enough cash on hand. So once back in Wanda there was a call to NZ and Visa, only to find out that there is no problem – must have been the restaurant not wanting to be paid by credit card. That was a relief as we are down to only the one card and without that we might have a problem.
20 April – Yeah, the rain stopped overnight and the sun was making a showing so it was back up to the Parkway to do our final leg. This was lovely – we ranged in altitude from 3000ft to 5800ft with lovely vistas and ever changing landscape. Above 3000 ft then spring disappears and we were back to bare branches with the only greenery provided by the zillions of rhodo’s that line both sides of the road. This would be an absolute picture to drive through here in June/July when they are flowering. Soon after lunch we struck a little localised storm with heavy rain so pulled off and waited until it had passed through. Lucky we stopped where we did, as just up the road at the 5800ft pass it had snowed!! At first we thought it was remnants of hail, but no, it was definitely snow and the temperature had dropped quite considerably. It was then downhill all the way to Asheville from that high point, a lovely gently grade and not too windy. Asheville had yet another Wallies in the right location for touring the Biltmore Estate tomorrow. Finally received refund for my camera so with a bit of messing around managed to get a new one ordered on-line and hopefully when we get to Erwin it will be at their store.

21 April – Up the road to Hendersonville – Wanda’s fresh water pump had developed a leak and needed replacing. Managed to find an RV service place to fit it and now we are as good as new.
22 April – Nice sunny day so we set off for the Biltmore Estate and busted our budget for the year with the high entry fees, but everyone we had met said we shouldn’t miss it. The entry from the gate was about 3 miles on a tree-lined drive winding through the estate with the parking still a long way from the house. Shuttles provided from the car park took us up to the house and we arrived just on our allotted time for entry. Could not believe how many people were visiting. We did a self guided tour of the house which took us through many of the rooms and gave us a wonderful insight into the lives of the Vanderbilts. The house was built by bachelor George in the 1880’s – with 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, electricity, plumbing, indoor swimming pool and bowling lanes; it is a French Chateau style, was far ahead of it’s time and is still the largest private house in the USA. Artwork from the early masters, furniture and furnishings told of an unlimited budget. We made our way through dining rooms, sitting rooms, bedrooms and guest rooms on the upper two levels and then ventured down into the basement were the real work was done. There was also a special presentation of Downton Abbey costumes throughout the house which were very interesting and Bob said that he enjoyed that more than the house.

 

Once the house tour was completed we ventured outside for a stroll through the various gardens. Azaleas were all in full bloom but we had missed out on the spring bulbs by about 10 days. The estate has about 8,000 acres left of it’s original 127,000 acres – the Biltmore Inn is about 3 miles from the house site at Antler Hill and down from that is Antler Hill village and vineyard – very nicely done with nice eateries and boutiques. We managed to spend the whole day visiting the Estate – can’t say that it was really worth the money but we have ticked it off the list! Headed up to Waynesville for yet another Waldorf to be close to Maggie Valley for tomorrow, which houses the ‘Wheels Thru Time’ motorcycle and car museum.

23 April – Wheeled through time at the museum – dedicated to American Motorcycles with over 300 bikes and only 3 of these were not made in the good ol’ USA. Dale Waltsler, the owner, presides over this masterpiece with great pride in his domain, welcoming guests and making sure they get the most out of the displays. He was particularly encouraging to a group of about 15 or so teenagers from a local college. Many of the bikes run and several were fired up while we were there. From early Excelsiors and Hendersons plus lots of Harleys, to hill climb bikes, speedway and board racing bikes – he had it all and then some. Dale and his son also make a TV show – ‘What’s In The Barn?’- travelling around old barns and making many‘unbeliveable’ finds. Finished off our day with a leisurely drive back to Asheville and of course Wallies welcomed us again.

24 April – We had read about another car museum up in the hills to the north of Asheville, at Grovewood. Sally again did us proud – missing the last turn we needed to make altogether and taking us way out of our way on narrow twisting residential roads until we finally made the right place. Grovewood was once the home of Biltmore Industries – an engineering school for boys which morphed into a large woollen mill weaving first class woollen cloth (from NZ & Australian sheep no less) for all the well known dignitaries of the day and anyone else who could afford it. The cars were in the building that once housed the original looms – about 20 cars from the 1920’s to the 1950’s – a personal collection, but nothing apart from the American La France fire engine really stood out as being special. In another building a small museum was dedicated to the weaving and industrial school while the rest of the buildings housed artisans making top class works of art, from musical instruments to glass blowing, furniture to jewellery. Very impressive. Getting out of Grovewood was a little easier than getting in. We didn’t have too far to go across the border back into Tennessee and on to Erwin, then back to George and Lesley’s, with just $3 between us, to pick up our new debit cards so that we could be solvent again.
24-27 April – Nice relaxing time with George & Lesley and time to catch up on all the little jobs that needed doing, as well as putting together some photo books while the special offers were on – a fairly tedious and time consuming task but at least we end up with a nice record of our travels. Managed to pick up my new camera and our new debit cards had also arrived, which makes life so much easier.

28 April – Off again on the road – sad to say goodbye to George & Lesley but hopefully they will come down to NZ in the near future and we can return their hospitality.
Stopped off to refill our propane on the way to Johnson City before going on to Gray and their fossil museum. Not quite as impressive as the mammoth fossils from South Dakota – this site had much older fossils though, including over 100 tapirs, a red panda, rhino’s and alligators. Not far up the road from here on the road to Kingsport we checked into the Warriors Path State Campground – a bit of a disappointment after the Panther Creek Park we stayed at in the autumn – the facilities are very run down but the park itself is pretty enough.

Cruising La Viva Vida

Chile Done!! Lazy breakfast followed by a last little stroll on the Paseo Atkinson before our taxi arrived to take us down to the terminal. Several other couples appeared to be going on the same boat as us. Check-in proved to be fairly quick and straightforward; we were a bit perturbed though to find that they take your passports and don’t give them back until after Ecuador. Were told that we had been upgraded from our inside room to one with a window which was a nice surprise and we certainly were not about to turn that down. The departure terminal is some distance from where they actually berth the ships, so after clearing customs we boarded a bus to the dock and were allowed on board. The ship had just completed a 14 day sail from Argentina round the Horn to Chile so there were a lot of people getting off, many carrying on to do the next leg and many more joining here. It was finally about 3pm before we could get into our room and it took a few more hours for our luggage to get redirected to our new room.

Arica, Chile – first port of call. We had a tour booked to the Geoglyphs and Archaeological museum. The trip took us first up a large hill with a Christ Statue overlooking the town, before heading up a valley to view the geoglyphs. Arica is in the Atacama desert and it is a very barren place – all the hills surrounding Arica are sandy and rocky with no vegetation.

The valley we drove up had the benefit of irrigation so was very lush and verdant with market gardens, but where there was no irrigation it was back to bare sand. The geoglyphs were not that easy to see as they were on a hill a distance away from where the bus parked. It was then on to the museum where we got about 40 minutes to view some of the displays, with our guide trying to give us a commentary in English. The most interesting displays were their mummies which were way older than Egyptian mummies but it was a totally different process and there was not much remaining of the original person as they took out all the organs and even removed the bones which they replaced with twigs and then wrapped the body in rags. Amazed at how tiny the people were.

Bused back into town to visit their famous Cathedral which had been designed by Gustav Eiffel and built all in steel. It had been fabricated in Europe and shipped out to South America where it was destined for a totally different city but a storm forced the ship into Arica and there it stayed. Our other stop on the tour was the old customs hall but that wasn’t open so a bit of a non-starter.

Decided to have lunch back on the boat and then took the shuttle back into town to have a wander around on our own. Nothing really much of interest – there was a lot more poverty than we saw further south. A small souvenir market had been set up to capture the cruise passengers – selling a variety of different handcrafts – we bought a small penguin made out of lapiz as a little token with our remaining Chilean pesos.

Pisco, Peru – this stop was not on our original itinerary – it was meant to have been Lima but it appears that the port was overbooked so we got Pisco. The port was again in the industrial area and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We had another tour arranged – to the ruins of Tambo Colorado about an hour’s drive away. We are still in the Atacama desert so again a very desolate landscape. We passed through the small town of Paracas and then Pisco before heading up a fertile valley to the ruins. First impressions of this part of Peru – way poorer than Chile – the majority of the homes we passed by were extremely basic – lucky if they had a concrete roof mostly just concrete walls with a thatched roof and very tiny. Hundreds of tuk-tuks on the roads as very few seem able to afford cars. We were surprised to learn about the agricultural economy – exporters of asparagus, 2nd largest cotton grower, as well as corn, tomatoes and grapes (for making Pisco, an alcoholic beverage that goes into their special cocktail – Pisco Sour). Saw a few measly looking herds of cows and goats. Bit peeved that we had to stop to “view” a textile factory where they just happened to have a shop.

Finally made it to the ruins but learned that our trip had to be cut short as we had to be back to the ship earlier than expected. Had about 40 minutes to explore the ruins – Inca period which only lasted about 50 years but had a big influence in the whole region. Very hierarchical society with the nobs living higher up the hill in a fortified enclosure complete with indoor baths whilst the slaves languished down the hill in much less salubrious surroundings. Some of the original colours on the adobe walls were still visible and you could see the outline of the rooms but of course no roofs and as is often the case with sites like this – the building materials are “re-used” over the centuries by the locals so they are only a smattering of their former glory. Earthquakes have also not helped.

Back on board and the ship left the port at 2pm so it was back to more of the same – food, entertainment, trivia quizzes. So far very calm seas, a few passing whales, land in sight from time to time with the odd passing ship. Have met some nice people but we do feel at times very much like the novice poor relation, this being only our second cruise – it seems that many on this cruise do five or six voyages each year! Figured out that we probably got upgraded to our current cabin as our original cabin probably had sick people from the previous leg. They had a bit of a GI outbreak from the sounds of it and coughs/colds are also very prevalent. They had to give the ship a thorough sanitation at Valparaiso. Our “stateroom” is comfortable enough – we probably have a little bit more room than Wanda – nice comfy bed and a small couch with a TV that is going to show the live world cup cricket matches. We are on the starboard side of the ship so do manage to see land from time to time out of our nice window. Have been to a few of the shows which have been of mixed quality – they have a 7-piece live orchestra which seems to completely overwhelm solo artists so you can hardly hear them. The theater doubles as a movie theatre. There are about 2000 passengers from all over – have met several Aussies, one lot of Kiwis, Canadians, Poms and of course Americans. Lots of French, German and Spanish speaking passengers as well. The crew of 1,000 come from 64 different countries and are a very nice bunch – so polite and nothing too much trouble.

Manta, Ecuador – the equator crossing ceremony was held during the afternoon but I think the actual crossing is after Manta. Still calm seas and into port bright and early. Berthed again among containers and fishing boats so a free shuttle was provided to get you out of the port gates. Very busy harbour packed with tuna boats carrying helicopters and scores of little fishing boats. We decided to do our own thing and do a walking tour along the coast to first visit the fish market – always intriguing to see what sort of fish get caught in different waters. Squid, octopus, shrimp and tuna were in abundance as well as a very ugly looking fish which they call the dolphin fish but the Americans know it is mahi-mahi. We caught up with our fellow trivia teamsters at the market and spent a little time with them before they and we went our different ways.

Next to the fish market there were a group of local restaurants which were just gearing up to cater for Sunday lunch. On the other side of the market was the local boat building area – this was fascinating – the boats were being built right on the shore, and in wood, propped up on wooden piles with bamboo scaffolding. A mixture of new boats – fishing and surprisingly some very fancy looking large launches, as well as older boats in for repairs. The launches were being sheathed in fibreglass and I am sure there was not much in the way of safety precautions being used for that process. The beach was busy with locals enjoying their Sunday and apart from some very smelly run-off from streams feeding down to the shoreline we were impressed with how clean Manta was.

Walking back towards the port in 36 degree heat was a bit hot, so stopped off at a lovely little local shady park to people watch. Nice not to have too many tourists around and just observe their way of life. Even saw some mini-dragons hiding in the trees who were tempted down by a feed of lettuce before retreating back into their hiding places.

Nearer to the port a local handcraft market had been set up for the ship’s passengers – one of the stall holders said he had come all the way from Quito – a 2 hour trip – just to try and sell his wares. There was a nice mix of jewellery, especially pendants and ear-rings set in silver, woolen crafts and other bits and bobs. I did buy a nice pendant after some very hard bargaining. Lunch and the cool of the ship beckoned; even nicer it was to be greeted at the dock with ice-cold towels and a cold drink.
Set off from Manta just after 6pm, watching from the deck as the city lights came on with a lovely sunset as a backdrop.

Panama Transit – Up earlyish to make sure that we didn’t miss any part of the canal crossing. Reached the first dual set of locks at 8am and went through side by side with a sister cruise line vessel. Both go towards the Caribbean in the morning. The first two locks (Miraflores) took us up by 54ft. Interesting to have a ship beside you in the other lock as you get a better perspective of the workings. The helicopter pad at the bow of our ship was opened up for passengers and was an excellent place to view the transit on a fine hot day. Panama City’s skyline of hundreds of skyscrapers was visible to our right in the distance, but closer to the ship the land was mainly forested. About 30 minutes later we entered into the first man-made lake – Miraflores which had to be crossed before the last of the three raising locks – Pedro Miguel – on the Pacific side.

We were still side by side with the Azamara and the same process lifted us up another 27ft to the level of Gatun Lake. Leaving the locks, we followed Azamara via a narrow channel through forested hills for about 90 minutes before reaching the vast expanse of Gatun Lake. This huge lake took nearly 4 years to fill and is dotted with islands – the remnants of the hills that were in the valley before the area was flooded. The canal celebrated it’s centenary in 2014 – 100 years and it still functions so well! What incredible foresight those early engineers must have had.
It took until 3pm for us to get across Gatun Lake to the descending locks. About 10 ships were moored in the vicinity waiting for their turn – we sailed right in as we obviously had booked an appointed time. Three locks in succession here, each dropping 27ft. Once out the other side we sailed straight out into the Caribbean and reached it about 6pm; for the first time since leaving Valparaiso there was now some movement on the seas.

Colon, Panama – after spending the night out in the ocean, we sailed back into Colon and were docked soon after 7am. Our excursion was due to leave at 7.30 so it was an early breakfast for us. Again not impressed with the tour – this should have been a real highlight as we had chosen a trip which was to show us the current lock and then take us through the new expansion site where we hoped to learn in much more detail all about it. Our bus took us first to Gatun lock and we were able to observe a couple of boats transiting the locks from above on an observation deck – a bit of a different perspective from actually being in the ship. From there we were taken to the site of the expansion and we could look down on the works and saw a short video. A big undertaking which is due to be finished next year at a cost of US$7.5billion.

The citizens of Panama had a referendum over the extension and voted overwhelmingly for it to proceed. The new canal will be able to take longer and wider ships but it is only a single channel. The cost to go through is based on cargo or passenger capacity – the cruise ship paid $340,000 and a fully laden cargo ship pays around $150,000. Currently about 40 ships transit each day. We didn’t really get a lot of information on the expansion, or a close look or opportunity to ask questions, hence our disappointment.

The drive back through Colon was an eye-opener – streets and streets of dilapidated looking buildings hardly fit for habitation but were definitely lived in. Colon prides itself on having a tax/duty free zone with some 3,000 shops but I am not sure who shops there as not many off our ship seemed to visit it. The only tidy part of town was just over the road from the port.

Cartagena, Columbia – Another fine day for exploring. Met up with our trivia teamsters Joan and Eric and their pals Bruce and Chris to share a taxi-van ride around the city. Leaving the port gates we were bombarded with touts trying to get us into “their” vans and finally settled on a very reasonably priced one at $10pp for 4 hours who assured us that he spoke good English – only to find out that he wasn’t actually going with us!! No worry the driver spoke some English. With our preferences of “no shopping” explained, we were on our way. Just outside the gates – our driver’s “brother” hopped in and very soon he had switched with Alvaro and was now the driver. Not quite sure what was going on there, but I think it was so that he could talk to us without having to concentrate on driving (of which the utmost concentration is needed!) Traffic was rather manic. We got a tour of the different social levels that exist from 1-7, with 1 being the poorest. Chris had wanted to visit the vegetable market which happened to be in the level 1 zone, and Alvaro was adamant that he couldn’t take us there and be able to keep an eye on six of us and make sure we were safe. No amount of persuasion could make him change his mind, so we had to be content with just driving by. We drove around many narrow streets, with street vendors peddling fruits, veges and drinks while Alvaro kept pointing out the druggies to us. First stop was a small fort overlooking the harbour, it had been reconstructed in the 1940’s and had a small restaurant in a part of it. Back into the van and through another maze of streets, one-way streets and chaotic traffic to come to the old city – wow what a neat place – surrounded completely by walls and inside beautifully preserved and renovated houses with spotless streets.

Visited the fort from the outside, which was impressive, followed by a mandatory stop at the old barracks which have been converted into a row of little souvenir shops all selling the same things, for his first attempt at getting us to buy something – without luck! A lot of the streets were closed for cleaning until midday so we were taken to the new city where the level 7 people live in fancy apartments. Next stop was a “museum” which turned out to be an emerald shop, with admittedly an interesting museum where a knowledgeable lady explained the process of mining and processing the Colombian emeralds. On site they had their own jewellers crafting stones into lovely pieces of jewellery but again poor Alvaro didn’t have any luck with getting a kick-back as none of us were interested in buying. Back into the van to return to the old city where we finally got to walk around. We could have spent ages just wandering around the fascinating streets – flowered balconies, nicely painted houses and super clean streets.

There are no locals resident in this area – just hotels, restaurants and shops. Not quite sure what the object of the next “enforced” stop was – Hard Rock Cafe for a free drink – it was so noisy you couldn’t hear yourself think. We all escaped from there and were taken along to the Cathedral to have a look inside. Alvaro deemed that we had now done our dash so it was back to the port – driving here is really not for the faint-hearted; golden rule”don’t make eye contact” just barge out blindly!! Made it back to the port in one piece – all agreed it was a great experience and for us the best shore day yet.

Another surprise when returning was the mini zoo at the port terminal. In lush gardens monkeys, tamarinds, lizards, deer, birds and even bunnies were roaming freely with some other birds in cages. So cool to see maccaws and toucans at close range. Back on board with plenty of time to spare. The one thing you don’t want is to miss the boat as they don’t wait for stragglers if you haven’t booked one of the ship’s excursions and it wouldn’t be any fun to be stranded in a strange country as you are encouraged to leave you passport on board. Lovely to go out on deck to farewell the city to a gorgeous setting sun. Once clear of the port and surrounding islands it was back to lumpy waters and a gently rolling ship.

Sea days for us had been taken up with plenty of reading, participating in all sorts of trivia games and creaming loads of “super” prizes – we have enough playing cards, luggage tags and t-shirts to last for the rest of our trip. Dinner times we opted to share tables with other travellers and got to meet a lot of different people from all over the world.

 

Chilean Capers

Farewell to Costa Rica and BienVenido to Chile. Very long day – got to the San Hose airport at 9am and what a superb airport – didn’t appreciate it when we arrived, but their departure area is so spic and span and very modern. Had a couple of hours to kill before the flight, which was one hour to Panama City with another 2 hour wait there followed by 6 hours to Santiago, along with the usual hour or so to clear customs. With time changes along the way we didn’t make it to our hotel in Santiago until 1.30am. Fortunately we didn’t have to to do anything but walk outside the terminal and across the road to get to it and flop into bed.

Sorry about the pictures guys – my camera packed a sad for the whole of Chile so only had my little phone camera

Day 1 – With just a few hours sleep it was up and at it and before we knew it our transfer to Valparaiso had arrived. First impression of Chile – they have lovely roads – no huge open drains, wide and no potholes. Our route took us slightly northwest out of the city and very soon we were in nice countryside – very dry though but a little more prosperous than Costa Rica. Passing through some mountains via tunnels we came into a very agricultural area – vineyards, corn and veges growing. Valparaiso is yet another city built largely on top of a hill (42 hills to be precise). We did wonder where we were going to end up as we left the flat of the port area and headed up a series of steep, narrow, cobbled streets to finally arrive at our hotel. This turned out to be a tiny three storied late 19th C house, super elegant inside with small but tastefully decorated rooms, ours opening out on to a small terrace with a view of the surrounding area. Straight away, we were taken up to the roof for an even better view all around Valparaiso and over the port. The owners Judith (Canadian) and her husband Jaime (Chilean) just spend the six winter months out of Canada down here running the hotel – not sure if the hotel remains open during the Chilean winter.

Once settled, we ventured out into the maze of little streets and tried out the first of many trips on the old elevator cars that they have all over the city to get people quickly up to higher levels. When I say old – 1883 was the age of the first one we went in, extremely rickety but the locals all use them so obviously don’t have too many incidents with them. Five minutes down on the flat with diesel fumes, crowds and dirt was enough for sensitive stomachs so we shot back up on the same ‘ascensor’.

  

Not sure which is more disconcerting, going up or down, though the ride takes only a minute or so and costs just a few cents. Back into the cleaner air, we meandered around the very intriguing streets, buildings all jammed together, perching on impossibly steep hills, old and dilapidated in most cases but they must have been quite grand in their day. Tiny artisan shops, loads of cafes, restaurants and street art “graffiti”on the walls. Had lunch in an eclectic little cafe before returning back to our hotel for a siesta. Skipped dinner as neither of us had fully recovered from TD and just opted for a late supper in a quaint little cafe with live musicians popping in to entertain and for a tip, which they then spent on a meal!

 
Day 2 – Down into the city to pick up our car and head out of the busy city. Yes the roads are so much better than CR but without GPS almost as difficult to navigate. Getting out of Valparaiso took two goes – the first time ending up in a slum area atop one of the many hills, so it was an about turn and try again. Finally on the right route we took a pretty road to the coast at Algardo and through to San Antonio – made the mistake of not stopping there for lunch as it took us ages to find somewhere suitable to eat. It turned out well though – with no English spoken we did manage to figure out the menu which happened to be the plate of the day – what a huge meal. Soup followed by chicken and chips, finished off with a semolina pudding and all for about $7 each.
We had a very vague set of instructions with out tour vouchers, as well as a reasonable map, and managed to find our way to Santa Cruz and by luck to find the road out of there towards our lodgings. Instructions just said turn on to the road and look for the B&B (no indication of how far we had to go) so it was just by chance that after about 20kms we happened to notice the small sign tacked to a power pole. What a lovely little haven – Bella Vista – set in beautiful gardens with an enticing pool and about 8 guest rooms. Poor Bob got knocked out by something which put him out for the rest of the evening, The late lunch was very fortuitous as we didn’t even have to worry about an evening meal. Our 230km journey which should have had us arriving mid-afternoon took until 6pm to finally get there, as we struck an accident where a truck had rolled off the road which held up the traffic for more than an hour. Although the roads were mostly in good condition, they were quite slow going in places. We are in wine country around here and with harvest starting in a few days things will start to get really busy soon.

Day 3 – Nice breakfast to start the day with fresh fruit straight from the gardens outside. Decided to take a drive into Lolo – Sara (the manager’s assistant) had recommended a nice cafe for us to go to, but it turned out to be closed so we headed back and had a snack at a small olive oil growing hacienda. Empanadas are the thing to have here – basically a pastie filled with anything, but deep fried not baked. The owner spoke good English and told us that Vina Santa Cruz – the big winery down the road – had an automobile museum as well as some early civilisation exhibits. What a find! The cars/trucks ranged from a totally original 1919 Paige to a DeLorean. Several very early trucks as well as 20 motorcycles. A nice display and well presented. We took a short drive through the vineyard up to a very swanky reception area, with restaurant and wine shop, to get tickets for the short cable-car ride that they had up their hill to the other exhibits. There were some small displays on the local early way of life as well as on Easter Island. Treated ourselves to some wine to enjoy on our trip around. Found out later that the owner made all his money from arms dealing and the vineyard/museum was just his hobby.
Returned back to Bella Vista for a very delicious feed of fresh fruits, cheese, olives and salami – a nice substitute for a heavy dinner. The figs are to die for – their tree was just laden with these gorgeous black fruits and this area has no birds to raid the ripe fruit so they were able to ripen naturally – so sweet.

Day 4 – Sadly time to set off. Sara advised that going via Santa Cruz would not be possible as the wine festival will have the roads all closed off. She suggested an alternative route not shown on our map but a much better way to get to our final destination. Lovely new road through pretty valleys – growing all sorts of crops – apples, peaches, olives, tomatoes, corn and of course the vineyards. We hit the main road at Talca. From there is it was a short hop to Colbun, our destination for the next two nights. The little town itself we hit right on school closing time and what chaos – kids everywhere, taxis and buses blocking the streets and nowhere to park. Had to go out of the town a bit to find a park, walked back to the centre and found a little local diner and with no English and basic Spanish managed to get cheese/mushroom empanadas which were quite tasty. When we emerged half an hour later the streets were deserted. We had to take an educated guess as to which road we needed to find our accommodation on the shores of Lake Colbun and it turned out correct. We knew it was 10km off the main road and although the road number differed from our instructions we got there in good time for afternoon cocktails after following the slow dusty winding metal road. Chez L’Habitant was our abode for the next two nights – a small eco-lodge overlooking Lake Colbun – a large hydro storage lake which was only about half full. The room was cosy yet again but clean and tidy. There was one other couple staying, from Australia of all places, so we shared a pleasant evening over the dinner table.

 
Day 5 – Another sumptuous breakfast with fresh fruits, home baked breads and preserves fueled us for a morning’s walk around part of the lake, complete with sheep and horses wandering around and grazing on whatever green they could find. They were all in good condition so I guess they were owned by someone. Returned hot and dusty after a good 3 hour hike to spend the afternoon chatting with Christian and Teresa – the Chilean/Dutch couple who own and run the establishment. We asked them why they had a New Zealand flag flying at their adjacent campground; they told us that the first people that ever stayed with them were New Zealand Maoris – they thought we were only the second from the country.

Day 6  – Back down the dusty road until we hit the tarmac. Made a detour around Linares as something was happening in the town and traffic was crawling. Hit Ruta 5 (the Pan-American Highway) and it was then plain sailing to Chillan. A good motorway with a couple of toll stations and not a lot of traffic. We even found a serviced rest area to have our picnic lunch. The whole of this area between the Andes and coast is agricultural – vineyards, orchards, corn and olives with little roadside stalls selling fresh fruit and melons. It was a simple task to find our exit off the motorway towards Vina Chillan and our next two nights stay. A small accommodation block with 6 rooms opening out onto a nice pool area and surrounding by vines. Rudi the Swiss owner spent some time introducing himself and explaining about his vineyard. He has a Chilean wife and daughter who spend the week in Santiago and join him at the weekends. He has 17 hectares of vines which have been grown organically for the last 8 years. Pinot, Cabernet, Carmenere, Malbec, Sauv. Blanc and Vin de Pais were all grown. He exports 70% of his production to Switzerland in bulk, where it is then bottled. Had a simple dinner in their restaurant which is only open for guests staying in the accommodation, as he has found that he can’t make it pay as a local restaurant. A pity really because a lot of money had been spent to construct a really nice building, mainly due to distance from town and their strict drink/drive laws.

Day 7 – with a local map drawn by Rudi headed back into Chillan to explore the city, the heart of which revolved around the cathedral plaza and a few blocks with small department stores and the local market. It was a bustling place but not terribly clean. The market was fun to explore with all the fruit and vege stalls, meat and fish as well as general bric-a-brac, and loads of souvenirs which must have been aimed for the local tourist clientele as there were no other foreign tourists around. The local flower stall had the most incredible blue roses which we thought must have been dyed but we learnt later that they are a hybrid and do actually grow that colour. Gave the staff at Macas their amusement for the day when trying to order lunch.
Left Chillan and did a little drive around the Itata valley – pine forests growing on the hillsides but the valleys verdant with market gardens. Still the odd horse and cart working the fields but on the whole much more prosperous than Costa Rica here as well. Returned back to the vineyard for dinner – simple fare but tasty.
Day 8  – Had a quick look around the winemaking area before setting off. They had about 10 vats holding between 5 & 10 k-litres of wine each as well as a small room full of oak barrels. Rudi explained that he actually leases out half of his processing capacity to a French company and they were in the process of trucking out 12,000 bottles of their wine to the port. Back on the road, we returned north on Ruta 5 towards Talca before heading towards Argentina to take a more pleasant route down to Curico. All agricultural through here with fertile valleys but quite arid hillsides. Even got a glimpse of the Andes. Now and then we came across an area where the homes had been destroyed in their last big earthquake and new settlements had been built up in their place. Had another little challenge to find our hotel, which was a few km out of the town – nice enough, quite posh in comparison to many of the establishments in this area. Had a nice restaurant with a jovial waiter and good food.
Day 9 – Thought we would just pop into downtown Curico in the morning. Not as easy as it looked on the map – the traffic was diabolical and we could not pick up the right road to reach the centre – all the roads going towards the town-centre were one way, but not the one-way that we were wanting. After several attempts, gave up and went for a drive out in the country instead which was far more enjoyable – no traffic, nice green valley and even a lovely little local restaurant where we had their special of the day (we figured it was soup – but not what sort) – turned out to be a vege soup with big chunks of potato, corn cob, pasta and a hunk of meat accompanied with bread and salad. Found our way back to the hotel and enjoyed a lazy evening. The weather has been kind to us with nice clear warm days and cooler evenings.
Day 10 – Curico DONE! In hindsight one night would have been enough here for a stopover on a longer journey. Heading back on Ruta 5 northbound then down towards San Antonio and the coast. Stopped off in the small town of Las Cadres as we had chanced upon a local market. The usual things – cheap clothes and shoes, hardware, bric-a-brac – all tacky and chinese made. There were also some local farmers stalls with their fresh produce, which is of much more interest. Must be onion and pumpkin harvest time as they were the most abundant vegetables for sale. Tomatoes and the standard produce that we are used to were also available. Ventured into their small town square and found a small bakery in town where we got some bread and cheese for a picnic lunch. Back through the market for bananas and “a” tomato. Poor woman was astounded that I only wanted one. Even managed to understand what the cost was correctly. With our goodies sorted we thought it would be easy to find somewhere to stop for our picnic lunch as there was a decent sized lake on our map – we did a drive right around one side of it but it was all built up with private homes and no sign of any public places to stop. Back on the main road we spotted a little local park with a playground so stopped there and made do. Back on through San Antonio and our destination of Lo Abarca was another little challenge, as our map didn’t quite tie up with the roads (new roads had been added after the map was printed). Finally saw a sign to Lo Abarca – a tiny village and on the outskirts was Vina Casa Marin and where we thought we were to stay. It turned out that our little B&B abode was back up the road and into the middle of the vineyard proper, accessed by the farm roads where there was a cottage with a commanding view of the region.

Breakfast for the next morning was delivered to us later in the afternoon. Lovely cottage – 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lounge/dining area and a kitchen with a nice deck. Beautifully appointed inside. Could have stayed here way longer. We were told that the little village had a great restaurant – famed around the region for their pork ribs but to make sure that you ordered one between two as they were big. They were not wrong – it was a good feed and very tasty and the place was buzzing. Not sure where all the people came from as the village only had a few houses.
Day 11 – No time to luxuriate in our surroundings as we had to have our car back in Valparaiso by 11am. All was straightforward until nearly into Valparaiso – our map indicated what looked like a direct route to the city – not sure what happened but we ended up going on a road which had no exits for about 30kms and did not seem to be going at all in the right direction. Finally an exit indicated Vina Del Mar which we knew was next bay around so it was with some relief that we got down to the coast and worked our way back towards Valparaiso amidst some chaotic traffic. We knew the Shell Station that we had to pass before making our way to the rental car company, but it took us two goes around the fast moving race track to actually get into the entrance. Phew that was the most stressful day of our entire trip. I think it was more like midday before we got there, but it didn’t seem to matter. The guy in the rental car office kindly delivered us back to the hotel for our last two nights in Chile. Same hotel – different room but just as quaint. Lunch beckoned after that harassed morning, so off up and down the surrounding streets to find another nice little cafe.

 

Down the Ascension Ascensor for a walk along the flat then up another to the Fine Arts Museum housed in one of the more interesting buildings in the area. Some nice works of art showcased by the lovely old rooms of this 18thC residence. Continued exploring up and down a few more steep streets – dogs abound here – mostly strays but very tame – so it is always one eye on where you are walking and one on the ever changing view.

Back at Manoir Atkinson, saw an horrifying sight on the horizon – in the valley betwen Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar huge plumes of smoke were billowing up into the air – a big forest fire but the winds were pushing it towards the urban area. Skipped dinner again as lunch was a tad large and settled again for a dessert at yet another little restaurant. As we returned, with darkness falling, you could actually see the flames on the ridgeline.

As we got back to our room and opened our window we got a lovely little surprise – on the street below were a troupe of about 10 musicians dressed in the old Spanish style complete with capes playing lovely classical Spanish music on guitars and mandolins. A crowd of locals and tourists had gathered around them and were dancing to the music.
Turned on the TV to watch the news, to learn that 16,000 people had been evacuated and a State of Emergency declared. The evacuated areas were mainly of very poor squatter type dwellings. The army was right now on its way to help fight the fire, which had now closed the road we had taken into town.
Day 12 – Another sumptuous breakfast got us fueled as we headed off down to the commercial area and along in the direction of the port, before heading up a hill on yet another ancient ascensor to the Maritime Museum. Another lovely old building but very much in need of some TLC. The museum was interesting with some even more interesting translations – the one that tickled us the most was the description attached to a beautiful model ship “thrown overboard in 18..” which can only have meant “launched”. There was a good display about Cape Horn and early discoverers. The museum had a commanding view out over the port which was still a little murky from the fire (it seemed to have been got under control over night with no casualties).

 

A huge cruise ship was tied up beside the container port and you could see right around to Vina del Mar. Back down the ascensor to the foreshore, which in it’s day would have been very grand, but now is all very grubby and neglected – a bit like all the dogs. Walked down to a local park with a little undercover market and had a sit in the shade and watched the world go by before tackling the walk back “up”. It is incredible to see the houses perched on the rocks, all in differing states of neglect but still lived in. In spite of the general grime, Valparaiso is a fascinating city; we felt extremely safe walking around and they had such neat cafes and restaurants.

Costa Rica – Pura Vida

Great start to our new adventure – United had us change gates as it turned out our original plane was not properly equipped electronically to land at Panama and as a consequence the departure got delayed by 50 minutes. With a connection time of just over one hour we didn’t think we would have any chance of making our flight to Costa Rica.  Luck was on our side, we got off our plane and made a quick dash to where our connecting flight was waiting, to be the last ones to board – Phew!!  An hour later we were on the ground in San Jose, Costa Rica and we even had our luggage!!  As always the inevitable immigration queues awaited us but we were through in less than an hour.  The relative calm inside the terminal was quickly replaced by the turmoil outside – tour/taxi company reps all lined up shouting, waving placards and just a mass of traffic.
Amidst the chaos we managed to find our hotel pickup and were quickly whisked away into the melee of rush hour San Jose traffic. Aggressive driving would be quite an understatement. Our hotel was well out of the city, fortunately, but will we ever find it again when we come back as the route was through tiny streets, twisting and turning with no street signs to help – our GPS had better be good. The Buena Vista certainly lived up to it’s name – lovely spreading views over the San Jose Valley. Just a small hotel with colourful gardens blooming with bougainvillea and many other vibrant tropical plants.
Day 2 – A nice warm start to our day but breakfast was a bit of an odd concoction – scrambled eggs, rice and black beans (together), toast and bits of fruit. Black beans are very much a staple here and they are not at all appetising – no flavour to speak of. Our rental car duly arrived at 8am but it took a while to get all the paperwork completed with lengthy explanations about what the insurance does and doesn’t cover, ie. loss of licence plates is not covered. If you park illegally over yellow lines, the police can remove your rear licence plate and you have to pay $100 before they will return it.
By 9.30 we were loaded up and our little Hyundai 4×4 was ready for off. Out the gate and up the road we went straight into the countryside – first impressions, not a particularly prosperous country but a few steps up from rural Indonesia/Philippines and without the smells. Interestingly, Costa Rica has no military forces, having elected some time ago to spend their limited resources on education of the young instead. We will be relying heavily on our GPS as street names don’t exist – finding everything is by Point Of Interest. First stop was the Poas Volcano National Park via an interesting route – climbing up to 2700m on narrow roads, big ditches really close to the side of the road, twisty, potholes, big trucks coming the other way and many one-way bridges, with a top speed of 30kph. A hefty entrance fee had to be paid at the gate before we walked up to the crater lake view. Really very impressive – large crater with steamy lake. There was a time limit of 20 minutes due to the fumes (which really didn’t seem any worse than Rotorua) and signs everywhere telling you what to do in case of an eruption. Did a little loop walk around the cloud forest which were a bit like the swamp forests in the southern US but with more colour. Treated to our first sight of hummingbirds feeding on the bright flowers.

Lunch stop at a little local restaurant, Bob chose the omelette and I opted for something that I had no idea what it would be except that it had white cheese – turned out to be a piece of toast with a huge chunk of fairly bland white soft cheese. Suitably sated it was on for another hour of mountain roads – this area is the spine of the mountain ranges that run the length of Costa Rica. Very slow going, with no engine braking capacity in our little vehicle. Nice drop-offs on the passenger side as well!! Passed by a couple of pretty waterfalls tumbling down the steep mountains.
Maria (our GPS) found our destination for the next two nights – Tirimbina Lodge – an ecological reserve/research facility with a few rooms for guests. Clean and fairly basic but with wifi and a small restaurant. Their park closed at 5pm so we only had a short time to do an exploration walk.  They have a 260m suspension bridge crossing a swift flowing river over to forest walks. Saw a few birds and a sloth way up in the trees. Dinner at the lodge was a simple but adequate buffet with salads, veges, rice, black bean stew, chicken or beef finished off with a coconut ice like dessert.
Day 3 – Up at dawn to search for the bird life and was rewarded with seeing a toucan. We joined the 8am chocolate tour – a good move to get started in the relative cool of the morning. Had a short walk to the traditional plantation where we got the rundown on the cacao trees. The fruit grows on the trunk and on old wood from the most tiny flower. The fruit changes colour when ripe but never falls from the tree – size can be anything from 6-12 inches and oblong in shape. We were then taken through the traditional process of making cocoa/chocolate with sampling encouraged along the way.

1. Opening the fruit – broken open to reveal the beans about 1in in diameter lying in a sticky white mucous. We sucked on the pulp which was very sweet and almost like a lychee in flavour.
2. Spit out the beans – the bacteria from your mouth is enough to start the 7 day fermentation process. 3. After fermentation the beans are dried in the sun and when dry roasted for just 15 minutes. This is enough so that the outer husks come off easily and are reading for grinding. At this stage they are quite bitter but when ground with a bit of raw sugar and cinnamon, along with the fats from the bean, they turn into a sweeter, much more palatable paste.

  
4. Boiling water was added to this paste so that we could sample hot chocolate with a variety of different condiments to try adding to it – cornflour, nutmeg, pepper, chili and vanilla essence.
5. To get to the chocolate bar stage – the beans are ground, conched and tempered. The completed product was rather nice.
Our knowlegeable guide made this a very interesting tour – on the way back she was able to explain all about the different plant and insect life we were passing.
Sitting back on our verandah relaxing in the heat of the day, we were treated to a steady flow of different birds flying in to feed on the flowers in the garden – like our own private aviary. The gardens around the lodge were stunning – planted to attract birds and wildlife. Some of the birds were quite plain, but others more vibrant – one black with bright red wings, another little one blue and grey, as well as the busy little hummingbirds.

Drove up to the next town for a look at local life. Managed to find a nice little bakery for our lunch then walked up and down the “main” street. A couple of nice looking butchers, appliance stores selling mainly TV’s and washing machines plus other general clothes/shoe stores. If you wanted some day old chickens you could buy these out of a cage on the pavement outside their equivalent of an RD1 store (only much smaller).

Returned back to Tirimbina to explore the forest some more. The suspension bridge passes through the forest at canopy height so that you get a bird’s eye view. The monkeys had arrived in the trees outside our room when we got back so they were fun to watch.
Decided to eat local for dinner – just down the road was a small Soda (these are family run kitchens in the front of the house and serve basic Tica fare) – our plan for a light meal didn’t quite pan out. After being shown in the freezer what we could choose from, selected fish and should have opted for one between us as in addition to a crispy fried fillet there was rice, slice of white cheese, lettuce and tomato salad, black beans, fried plantain and another concoction – I think another type of bean (yellowish and mush). Needless to say we couldn’t eat it all but what good value for just $15 for two, including a drink. I think we were a bit of a novelty to the locals.
Night-time driving isn’t recommended in CR and we saw why – proper lights on bikes and even motorbikes seems to be optional!! Fortunately we had only a very short way to go and made it back without incident.
Day 4 – Off to Arenal – we didn’t have very far to go and arrived way too early to check in so just waited in reception and read our books. The volcano was not visible due to low cloud and misty rain. Arenal Paraiso, our hotel, is one of probably twenty resorts in the region, with hot springs and thermal pools. Our room was a little cabin, nice and clean and would have had a nice view on a clear day. The hot pools layered down the hillside, getting cooler as they went down. Ate in the hotel’s restaurant – standard international fare and nicely presented.
Day 5 – Weather still a bit miserable so decided after breakfast to search out the nearby butterfly conservatory which was shown as being only 15kms away. How hard could that be!! Well we got our first taste of “minor” CR roads. The last 10 kms were on an unsealed road – no gravel, just a stony surface but the potholes were the challenge. We understand the need now for a 4×4 – if you had a lower ground clearance you could quite easily wipe out the bottom of the car. Made it eventually (it took nearly an hour!) but the place was quite manky – we did get to see come colourful butterflies though and also their amazing frogs. ‘Blue Jeans’ was the best – only the size of a thumbnail with a bright red body and vibrant blue legs. Another a little larger was black with bright green splotches. Both were highly toxic little beasties. The highlight of the place was a young Canadian woman back at the front office who took us through their display of mounted butterflies and insects imparting lots of information.

Battled our way back down the grotty road – feel very sorry for tourists who make this trip by bus – it would be an extremely uncomfortable ride. Back on the tarmac we did a circle drive around Lake Arenal – mainly farmland with the odd bit of forest and view of the lake, before going back down past our hotel to the nearest town of Fortuna in search of a cafe which we had noticed when we came up the previous day. After several goes around the town finally found it and it was worth it. Real hot chocolate made with frothed milk and a solid block of chocolate to stir into it – YUMMY!
Back home for a relax then out again just down the road for a light dinner, then returning home again for a soak in the pools under the stars.
Day 6 – Monteverde here we come!! We were warned that the last 35kms of our 100km journey would be rough. They weren’t kidding – unsealed, average speed 15kph, windy, pot holes and rough as well as steep hills both up and down. Finally got to Monteverde after a nice lunch stop at a German cafe in the middle of nowhere, but the challenge was to try and find our hotel. It wasn’t listed as a POI in our GPS. The town is on a very steep mountain side – one narrow sealed road goes through the middle, but all other roads are rough. Fortunately we just happened to spot a sign for our hotel as it was not an easy find. This was a little boutique hotel – again nice and clean with a little balcony but fairly basic – perched on the hill above the town and if you thought Wellington was windy, come to this place!! It was blowing a gale. Steep walk down to the town which didn’t have much to offer apart from a few souvenir shops and cafes. The walk back was a severe cardio workout. Dinner was back down the road (not quite so far as the main town) to a new restaurant associated with the hotel for a very pleasant meal. Saw some more wildlife today – coati on the side of the road and monkeys near the town.

Day 7 – With the wind persisting we decided that a coffee tour would take care of our afternoon, so just walked down to a nice cafe for lunch. Our scheduled pickup for the afternoon tour never eventuated so it was another relaxed afternoon. Found a nice restaurant for dinner, not far from our hotel, for one of the nicest meals we have had since leaving NZ. Not expensive, simple but lovely fresh ingredients and a good atmosphere.

Day 8 – An exercise in patience. We knew we had a long trip today so set off mid-morning through the town to search for the road to Punta Arenas. Found the road alright but after a short distance there were cones strung across it and a very disinterested road worker fiddling around with them. After about 10 minutes he finally acknowledged us and indicated that the road was closed for some time! OK what now – back into town and the information office revealed that the road is open only until 9.30am and then for 1/2 hour at noon – the rest of the time it is closed for road construction. The good news was that there was an alternative route that would be a little bit longer – YEAH RIGHT!! Firstly it took a lot of finding and what a road – the sign as we entered the road said trucks and buses were prohibited. It quickly became obvious why – it was incredibly steep, narrow and winding and only a bit of concrete on the excessively steep grades.

 

We traipsed for miles and miles up and around the mountains with no real idea if we were on the right route. We did finally meet up with a much better grade of metal road which gave us a little more confidence, before reaching a major highway – the Pan American Highway which starts in Alaska and traverses the length of central and south America. That was just the beginning of our frustration – road works, big slow trucks and Maria taking us through Punta Arenas on virtual donkey tracks before she finally got us on the correct road. She also doesn’t recognise one-way streets. The long and the short of it all was that our 3 1/2 hour trip took over 5 hours but Maria did find our hotel in Manual Antonio – a nice little place set in some tropical forest with 6 bungalows, a nice pool and restaurant. Treat for the day – at dusk the Titi monkeys came through and entertained us with their antics in the treetops. After a pleasant dinner in the restaurant wandered up the road to see what was around. Manuel Antonio seems to be like most of Costa Rica, built on a hill!
Day 9 – Down to the beach area which is a very popular tourist haunt but it was so crowded and touristy that we just had a quick walk on the nice beach, a fruit smoothie then came back to the hotel for a relaxed afternoon swimming in the pool and reading as it was too hot and humid to do much else.

Saw my first CR snake (and hopefully the last) outside and just below our balcony – about 4 ft long, bright green and skinny and hopefully harmless. We sussed out a nice place for dinner – no shortage of eating places in this town – sea bass with ginger in a light coconut curry sauce with fresh vegetables – very tasty.
Day 10 – Headed back into the mountains again. Had the luxury of a straight road for the first 30k before beginning our ascent up to 3300m. Just love Maria – we started out with a journey time of 3 hours, after an hour it was still 2hr 50 minutes. The last part of the journey was the most challenging yet – our itinerary said it was a well maintained “country” road – what it omitted to say was that it was an almost vertical drop into the valley with only one lane in places, so it was with some relief that we arrived at our destination. Savegre Resort Hotel was very new and exceptionally well laid out with stunning gardens. This area is obviously a bird-watchers paradise as most of the guests were on bird-watching tours.

It was a pity that we only had the one night here – the drive in warrants staying for several days to get the most out of it. We did manage to see Costa Rica’s poster bird – the Quetzal – in fact a breeding pair. Ended our day with a light meal in the bar/lounge and marvelled at how they would have got all the materials in to build the place with the only means of access – the one torturous road.
The gardens were just beautiful with so many plants that we are familiar with back home except that they are probably native to this region – hydrangeas, impatiens, agapanthus, cigarette plants and hibiscus. The hummingbirds were flocking in their droves to feed on all the different plants.

Day 11 – Back up that “hill”. The only saving grace was that we only encountered 3 vehicles coming the other way and all in places were there was room to squeeze past each other. 30 minutes later that 9km was behind us and we only had an hour or so to get to our next stop of Orosi. Well that was the intention – we were travelling along happily on the Pan American Highway only about 20kms from Cartago when we came across a road sign that we didn’t understand except the bit about roadworks – 5km later all was revealed – the road was closed and impassable due to a washout from several months ago. The workmen told us we had to turn around and head for Los Angeles – YEAH RIGHT AGAIN!! An hour later after traipsing around yet more narrow mountain roads with no real clue as to where we might be, we miraculously emerged on to the PanAm Highway above the washout. Poor Maria had no chance at all of finding her way on the detour and was continually confused. Challenge No 2 was finding a route through Cartago and the smaller town of Paraiso to the final destination of Orosi – an even smaller town in a mountain valley. Our little hotel with just 6 rooms and a cafe was again clean and tidy, owned and run by a German couple. TD decided it was time to strike me, so the rest of the afternoon was a right-off with just an apple and soda biscuits providing the gourmet meal.
Day 12 – Booked on an early morning coffee tour to an organic farm just 20 minutes from Orosi. It was interesting to learn about the process which was not really too different from growing cacao. The thing that surprised us was how unsanitory the processing conditions were – but as they said, the roasting process at 240degrees C kills anything anyway. The organics went as far as having their own bio-digester which provided them with enough methane to fire the roaster. It was a very small scale farm but it was good to see how it all operated.  They were having a difficult time though with the changing climate in their region – the plants had started flowering way before they should and they were getting rain at the wrong time as well.  All the beans were harvested by hand mostly by the local indian people.

Finished the morning with a drive around the lake and a little walk around the town – not much on offer – a small old church which they were very proud of and some local shops.
Day 13 – Time to head back to Alajuela and the Buena Vista Hotel. This meant returning through Paraiso with all it’s potholes and busy Cartago, then navigating around San Jose – great plus for us was it’s a Sunday so much lighter traffic, except for Paraiso. As we crested the hill from Orosi we encountered a huge line-up of cars – all Hondas – there must have been several hundred just parked on the side of the road and across intersections making progress through their one-way streets a nightmare. Once out the other side we had a hassle free ride back through Cartago and through the suburbs of San Jose. We popped out the other side and wonderously Maria got us back to the hotel. For the first time on our trip it took us a lot less time than anticipated.
There was not very much in the immediate surroundings of the hotel and of course no footpaths but we had a walk down the hill to get a better look at the city below us – got chatting with nice chap who was preparing a bit of land for building – commanding views. He was keen to learn all about NZ and we stayed talking with him for quite a while.

Impressions of Costa Rica – definitely a 2nd world country but very well educated and very keen to promote their Pura Vida way of life. Eco-tourism is very strong following their ‘Green Revolution’ some years ago. Very safe to travel around and lovely people. Lots of mountains, cloud and rainforests with abundant wildlife. Their climate is such that they have an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables. Roads are the biggest challenge and would be too daunting for many people to self-drive and not pleasant to bump around on in a bus. There was one American couple staying at our hotel at Orosi and he had freaked out on the short road from Paraiso to Orosi which was really quite good (sealed although a bit steep, narrow and winding) and wanted to pay for a driver to take him back. Loved the birds and all the amazing flowers – so colourful.

Full Circle Yee Haw!! back to Texas

31 January – We are still experiencing changeable weather but it was warm enough to venture out on our bikes down to the end of the peninsula, to Indianola. Along the way there were a series of information boards explaining the history of the Indian Point area. In the 1860’s this was a thriving port, receiving immigrant ships from around the world and within the US, all wanting to head west and explore and settle Texas. It is hard to imagine now as it is a very sleepy little village, no big wharves for ships to moor at and no old buildings. A series of hurricanes dealt a wicked blow to the area from which it never recovered. The sun came out for a little while to enable a short period of outdoor relaxation before it turned cold and it was time to head inside.
01 February – Boy the months are flying by – twelve of them since we set out on this journey! Left our idyllic spot and made off further down the coast to Aransas via some very long straight roads so typical of Texas. At Aransas we saw that there was a ferry ride to cross over to the Port but it certainly wasn’t what we expected. It was only a short distance across the water – only about 5 minutes but what an operation – six ferries plying their way back and forth continuously. No charge for the service and we even got some playful dolphins to accompany us across.
On the other side, we were into the town of Port Aransas in a few minutes and just off the main street we found our access point to the beach where camping is permitted anywhere along the beach for up to 3 nights in any one spot for the grand cost of $12 for an annual pass. A well packed sand road – safe enough to take any weight of vehicle stretched for miles with plenty of spaces where you could pull off and park. With the sea just a few metres away, the noise from the surf was a nice change from busy traffic. Had enough time before the weather turned to have a meander down the beach. We are now out of the protection of barrier islands so waves are the order of the day, although not very high – there were a few surfers and stand-up paddle boarders braving the cooler water.
After dark the wind got up and for the rest of the night we were buffeted quite a bit.
02 February – The winds had abated by the morning although still quite cool. Walked back into the town in search of a cafe – Yeah Right! Nothing doing on a Monday, so had to settle for a tackyish diner – something like you would have found back home 40 years ago – and got a decent enough feed. Winter is obviously a very down time here – not a lot was open, the golf cart hire depots weren’t doing much trade and not many people around. Late afternoon the rain descended upon us and that put paid to doing anything but turning on the furnace and reading.
03 February – Time to head off to Corpus Christi. More long straight roads with not a lot to see along the way. At CC we headed down towards Padre Island to check out the beach camping and visitors centre. The beach looked a bit wet and mucky from all the rain so headed back to CC over a very long causeway but first we just had to stop at the German Bakery for a lovely feed. The range of pastries, strudels, pies and breads had to be seen to be believed – we did manage just a small sampling which was very much to our liking. Wallies was to be our stop for the night as it was still pouring with rain and being on solid ground was our preference.
04 February – Back down to Padre Island to visit my ‘favourite’ place – a laundromat and then via that bakery again before going down to the beach which was looking much more attractive. Parked Wanda alongside three other Winter Texans (all from Canada), had a nice meander down the beach – much the same as Port Aransas – vehicles are allowed to drive the length of the beach, which is classed as a road with appropriate rules here.
05 February – Awoke to the sound of bulldozers on the beach and when stepping outside we could see why – Wanda had wet feet! Sometime during the night the tide had worked it’s way right back to where we were parked. Fortunately it wasn’t much but I guess as part of their road maintenance which was running in front of us, they needed to build up the tide line to stop it happening. Decided to visit the aircraftcarrier USS Lexington floating museum which was about 30 minutes from our overnight spot on the beach.
The whole afternoon was spent exploring this behemoth; although it is a lot smaller than its modern day equivalent, it is still impressive. Commissioned in 1943, she set more records than any other Essex Class carrier in the history of naval aviation. The ship was the oldest working carrier in the United States Navy when decommissioned in 1991. An Essex-class carrier, Lexington was originally to be named the USS Cabot. During World War II, final construction was being completed at Massachusetts’ Fore River Shipyard when word was received that the original carrier named USS Lexington (CV-2) had been sunk in the Coral Sea. The new carrier’s name was then changed to Lexington.

After training maneuvers and a shakedown cruise, Lexington joined the Fifth Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Fifth Fleet was established April 26, 1944; at this time it was Central Pacific Force. During the remainder of the war, the carrier participated in nearly every subsequent major operation in the Pacific Theater. Her planes destroyed 372 enemy aircraft in the air, and 475 more on the ground. She sank or destroyed 300,000 tons of enemy cargo shipping and damaged an additional 600,000 tons. The ship’s guns shot down 15 planes and assisted in downing five more.
The Japanese reported Lexington sunk no less than four times! Yet, each time she returned to fight again, leading the radio propagandist Tokyo Rose to nickname her “The Blue Ghost.” That name is seen as a tribute to the ship, the crew and the air groups that served aboard her.
After the war, USS Lexington was briefly decommissioned (1947-1955). When fully modernised and reactivated, she operated primarily with the Seventh Fleet out of San Diego, California. Although not involved in actual combat, Lexington kept an offshore vigil during tensions in Formosa, Laos, and Cuba.
In 1962, she sailed into Pensacola, Florida, and began training operations, eventually being officially designated CVT-16, Navy Training Carrier. Corpus Christi feels quite privileged to be selected as the permanent home to this national treasure.  Got thrown out at 5pm but we think we managed to see most of it and then had to do battle with the rush hour traffic to get back down to the beach.  The bulldozers had finished their maintenance and built quite a raised shelf at the water’s edge, so we will see whether the next high tide will get to us again.

06 February – Managed to keep dry this time but the bulldozers were our wake-up call again. Headed up the beach in the morning to take advantage of hot showers in the visitors centre before hitting Wallies in CC to stock up then going south down to the National Seashore Reserve on North Padre Island. Sadly we had to stop off at that bakery again as we hadn’t tried out all their pastries yet! From there it was only 10 miles to get to the entrance to the Park – for the most part there was nothing but grassy swampy dune land. With several options for camping available we settled for a spot at Bird Island Basin – on an inshore lagoon, much more sheltered than the Gulf side – primitive camping right on the shoreline with about 10 other rigs from all over the States. Still waiting for the weather to warm up. I went for an explore by bike (Bob’s bike is not rideable at the moment with a tyre problem, so not sure if Wallies will fix it for us).
07 February – Nice surprise to finally see the sun. The early morning mist burnt off and we had clear blue skies for the rest of the day. Had a wander along the shore to the boat launch area – it was packed with weekend boaters launching into the lagoon. This great lagoon, Laguna Madre, is one of only six ultra-saline lagoons in the world (or possibly the world according to Americans!) – the intracoastal waterway runs through it. Outside our front door it is very shallow for quite a while and very popular with windsurfers and kayakers. We have got an interesting load of neighbours – the immediate ones are from Germany and have just come back from Mexico with tales of how easy it is to travel there once you are clear of that first couple of hundred miles from the border. Wish we had met more positive people like this earlier, but have now already booked our time out in Costa Rica and Chile, with a cruise ship return from Valparaiso via the Panama Canal. Cruise and air travel came up on the internet as very good late booking deals which will be a great way to see some more aspects of the Americas. Had a glorious sunset over the lagoon followed by the sky changing from reds to oranges and finally fading out.

08 February – Time to head out again – so had to retrace our steps through to Corpus Christi and that jolly bakery was on our way again (for the fourth time!) and beckoned for lunch. With nice fine weather the route along the causeway was much prettier – the five miles over the water revealed mostly shallows with little islands dotted around. Nice to get out of the city on a Sunday while the traffic is a little lighter. We hit the I-37 freeway and travelled on it the full 170 miles through to San Antonio. Headed for a Walmart in the south of the city which was easy to reach off the freeway and once settled, established that we could get a bus from there right into downtown, which would be a lot easier than driving in and trying to find parking.
09 February – Our bus arrived after a few minutes wait at the bus stop and a 40 minute ride saw us right into the centre of San Antonio. Nice helpful driver made sure we got off at the right stop and told us where we would need to catch it on the way home. San Antonio’s main claim to fame is of course Mission San Antonio de Valero better known nowadays as “The Alamo” and that famous phrase “Remember the Alamo”. We had just a few blocks to walk to the actual site – which bears little resemblance to the original mission as the city has encroached on most of it, but the rebuilt church remains and also some of the inner walls, whilst a small area has been turned into a peaceful walled garden. In December of 1835 Texan Revolutionaries had a significant victory against the Mexicans quartered in the city, forcing their surrender. These victorious troops then moved into the Alamo and strengthened it’s defences, but in February of 1836 they were taken almost by surprise by the Mexican Army led by Santa Anna. The bombardment and siege began, with the almost 200 Texan defenders holding out for 13 days before becoming finally overrun, with all but the women and children killed. Among the Alamo’s garrison killed were Jim Bowie, a renowned knife fighter and Davy Crockett the legendary frontiersman.

With the Alamo explored, we then moved on to the other feature of San Antonio – their River Walk. What a wonderful asset for a city – the river walk in the city was lined on both sides with restaurants, with a lovely walking path through it. We walked up and down both sides before deciding on a place to eat – we chose Mexican and just had their basic fare of enchiladas and tacos with refried beans which was OK. Decided to take the little tourist boat trip on the river and discovered on the way what a small world it is. Walking along the path we were stopped by a German couple we had camped with back at the Everglades – spent a little while catching up before getting on our boat – a very pleasant half hour amble through the river trail – more like a little canal and about as deep – with the guide giving us a commentary along the way.

Time to find a bus back home – that was easy, but a bit of an eye-opener – when we climbed up from the river to the main street level we got into the real world. Lined up at our bus stop were some pretty seedy looking characters, the local joint dealer was doing a brisk trade and not too many white faces. The ride back to Wanda was uneventful, though interesting, travelling through the poorer suburbs of the city. Wanda had survived the day being parked at Wallies so it was here that we would stay the night again.
10 February – Mission today was the Missions along the river south of town. We started off at San Jose which was the most restored of the three we visited, but a good one to get an idea of what the missions looked like and how life was conducted within them. The Franciscan monks established these missions for the King of Spain in the early 1700’s – their purpose to convert the locals to Catholicism and seek out riches to be sent back to a hard-up Spain. The church was the focal point of these missions and by far the grandest building in the compounds – San Jose’s must have been stunning in its day as the front facade was painted with reds, yellows and blue on a white stucco background.

Mission No. 2 was San Juan de Capistrano, here the walls were only partially visible, but the lovely whitewashed reconstructed church was still standing.

No. 3, Espada, had even less structure remaining although it’s aquaduct was substantial and interesting. The churches in all of these missions still function as local parish churches and the Franciscan monks are still in attendance. The missions were all closed down in the 1790’s and were handed over to the local Indian population when the Kind of Spain decided that they weren’t producing the required wealth, and most then fell into disrepair. They make for an interesting visit and to see how far into what is now the States the Spanish influence stretched was amazing.

With our mission accomplished we took the inner ring road out of the city, which was fine until we got round to the north where we we hit quite a busy patch for about 30 minutes, then headed north to our destination of Boerne and another overnight stay at Walmart.
11 February – A truck arriving in the wee hours which left it’s engine running put paid to a restful night’s sleep. Left Boerne to head north to the historic town of Fredericksburg where we had a rendezvous for lunch with a couple we had met in Vermont. Diana has a thriving florist shop and our timing was not great as they are super busy leading up to Valentines Day. They kindly took us on a short tour of the town before heading out to sample a real Texas BBQ lunch where we had a nice time catching up before Diana had to return to her shop. Don led us back to their house so we could park Wanda on a nice flat concrete slab behind their house and even have power. We had the option of parking out at their ranch, but opted for town as it is a really neat town – it has streets that you can actually walk down and they are lined with lovely old stone buildings with stunning art galleries, boutiques of all descriptions and quite a few restaurants. Outside every shop are benches where jaded husbands can sit and wait while their loved ones browse for bargains. The town has a very German heritage and still a large German influence pervades.

We walked the town and returned back home to be joined by Don who offered to take us out to the ranch and show us around the area. Their ranch (150 acres) is 20 miles out of town in the hill country and such different scenery. Pink granite rocks abound and not much of the ranch land is cleared – most paddocks have trees dotted over them, so it is really a difficult terrain for farming. Don has just 15 head of Red Brangus heifers – nice beasts – a cross between Angus and Brahmin with lovely red coats. The block also has a small herd of wild deer which Don, who is an ex Iroquois helicopter pilot, allows the ‘Wounded Warriers to come and shoot when they get too numerous.

The whole county has been in a drought for four years so it looks pretty parched with not a lot of feed around, even for the low stocking ratio of a cow per 15 acres! The granite also has its drawbacks – it gives off radon gas and if houses are built on a concrete pad directly on top of the stone without ventilation underneath, then apparently the inhabitants run the risk of radioactive poisoning Water wells sunk are also radioactive so they can’t drink the water. We had a drive around the ranch and then came back via the scenic route, with lovely expansive views over the region and deer grazing. The sunset over the wide Texas sky was so pretty, the rocky outcrops were out of western movies and you could see the outlines of the Indians waiting to ride down and ambush you.

12 February – I had peace and quiet to get everything sorted for our ‘meaningful period’ trip outside the States, while Bob ventured off to the Nimitz Museum which features the life of Admiral Chester Nimitz and also WWII in the Pacific. This is a truly world class museum covering the events from as far back as the early 19th Century conflicts between China, Japan, Russia, US and the European powers which gave rise to that terrible 20th Century war, until the dropping of the atomic bombs which brought about it’s conclusion.

We will be leaving Houston on 17 February for 6 weeks during which time we will be armed only with one small smartphone to access emails but will not be posting any blogs until we get back in April.

The Big Easy and All That Jazz

15 January – Nothing doing today – too wet and cold to venture out of the campground, so hunkered down with the heat on, read books and surfed the net.
16 January – Much improved day – clear, sunny and not too cold. Set off to find the Point Algiers ferry terminal – that was a bit of a mission but we eventually got there and were able to park Wanda in a paid parking lot. For just $1 each we got a short ferry ride over the “Big Muddy” to the New Orleans French Quarter. A bit of shipping going upriver – two Chinese registered ships and a couple of barges being pushed but not as busy as we expected.
Landed in the French Quarter and walked down the riverside until we came to the French Market – it had a few nice eateries and food stalls, the rest was flea market type stalls selling all sorts of stuff – t-shirts, mardi-gras masks, bags, voodoo dolls, jewellery, etc. Headed back into the French Quarter which is about 8 blocks square – loads of neat buildings with wrought iron balconies, other narrow ones with shuttered windows. At infamous Bourbon Street we turned left and walked it’s length – once was enough! It is full of bars and the streets smelled of all sorts of nasties. Even at this time of the morning people were walking around with their drinks (you aren’t allowed to carry glass bottles) – drinks are served in plastic glasses. If you get caught with anything else the booze police ticket you and we saw this happen to one visitor.

Turned back down towards the river and took another street which was closed off to traffic where we found all the buskers. This was great – all manner of music from Jazz to backcountry blues and artistes plying their talents and even on a relatively quiet day they were raking in the dollars in their buckets. Duly entertained we headed for a genuine Louisana Kitchen for lunch as we had been told we shouldn’t leave New Orleans without trying their Poboys. We had one each – 8in grilled soft french bread roll filled with fried shrimp, lettuce and tomatoes and a nice sauce for me, spicy sausage for Bob. They came with our side of choice – fried onions and potato skins. Nice lunch, but don’t particularly like getting my meal on a plastic plate with plastic cutlery.
Went back along the street to listen to some more buskers before meandering back to the waterfront to catch our ferry home.

Didn’t quite time that right as we hit the west bound rush hour and the setting sun, making driving a nightmare – we missed the on-ramp to the expressway first time round, and the second ramp a little further on, but after a little circular route finally got on and then it was plain sailing back to the camp. Enjoyed the architecture of the narrow streets and the busking but the whole party culture is not really our scene so won’t be bothering to stick around after dark and from a lot of the reports I have read – it is not the safest place after dark.
17 January – Back into the ‘Big Easy’ – made easier being a Saturday and less traffic. Parked by the ferry again and zipped across the river. Getting change from a quayside machine, after a full twelve months here found that the US does have dollar coins after all, they just don’t use them much. Plan A was to go for a ride on the ‘Natchez’ steam paddleboat, only to find that the boat is out of action for surveying until Jan 30 (I am not sure why they had advertising but no notification at the mooring or booking office). Switch to Plan B, which was to visit the WWII museum, so trundled up the road a bit and hopped on a bus to take us right to the door. First up was a 4D movie – Beyond all Boundaries – detailing the US involvement throughout WWII. With that setting the background, we spent the rest of the day exploring the different buildings and their exhibits. Closing time of 5pm came around a bit too quickly but we were getting a bit hungry by then (somehow lunch got missed) so we walked back towards the ferry, stopping off at a small pub for some eats. Nice backdrop from the upstairs dining room, with the city lights and the main Mississippi bridge lit up as well. Wanda was still in one piece when we got back (not always sure of leaving her parked for that length of time) although there was a light on inside which was a bit of a worry until we realised that we had left one on – solar power kept us charged up. Nice easy trip back to the park.
18 January – Off again to catch the first ferry of the day (civilised hour of 10.45am). Walked up the road to catch the same bus as yesterday, but his time rode it out to the Garden District – an area of the most lovely old houses on leafy streets. The Lafayette cemetery was our first port of call – jampacked with family vaults of all sizes, sadly some in a very sad state of repair, but it is still in use today and some attempt is being made to save some of the graves and their history. This one cemetery had over 1100 vaults with over 10,000 people interred there.

On then to wander around the streets and admire the array of very impressive houses. This must have been a very wealthy area in it’s time, beautiful homes – mostly wooden with lovely examples of wrought iron work on their balconies and gates. Only a pity that their pavements are in such a mess – roots of the lovely old trees have turned them into cracked and dis-jointed walkways.

Caught the bus back to town and after a spot of lunch, walked back through the busking street to take in some different performances. There are some very talented people out there and what a neat atmosphere to watch and listen to them. Art galleries and very exclusive antique shops abound in the area. Back to the ferry and over “The Muddy” for the last time – we feel we have seen enough to get a feel for this city.

19 January – New Orleans – DONE! Time to head off again. After doing a last load of washing in their free laundry we packed up once again and set sail. It took us about 45 minutes to get finally clear of the New Orleans environs, before leaving the freeway and heading south on LA1. This was an interesting drive – for about 30 miles we followed a bayou (river) with water on our left and a ribbon of development on our other side. The bayou was lined with shrimp boats moored along the banks and the housing to our other side was fairly basic.

After about 30 miles we crossed over the Intra-coastal Waterway and very soon after we hit the most amazing highway built over the water – with a very large new toll bridge. This road took us right to the end of the world. Not like Florida Keys – the settlements from here on were just holiday homes (all on stilts – as this region got wiped out by Hurricane Rita) and then as we came within sight of the Gulf – all was revealed – this fancy road was built because just out in the Gulf are myriads of oil rigs and this road links to the port towns that service them. Right at the tip where the road comes to an end is the Grand Isle State Park – it was just getting dark as we arrived but we had time to get a quick glimpse of the Gulf and a nice sunset. Yet another nicely cared for park (Louisiana would have to rate among the best States for their parks). Will stay a couple of nights so that we can spend some time exploring the little town of Grand Isle as well as the park. Only one helicopter has gone over so far – hopefully they don’t run all night.

20 January – Great sunny day – warm enough to get back into shorts. Set off on our bikes to ride back into the town of Grand Isle, morning tea at a little diner and then a little bit of exploring of the side streets to view their historic homes (not nearly on the scale of New Orleans mind you!).

Back home for lunch and then a walk out to a pier a short distance from the camp where we got to watch dolphins before walking back along the beach. This area was greatly affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 5 years ago but you wouldn’t know it to look at the nice clean white sand beaches today. The owner of the diner told us that a lot of the work to clean up was done by convicts who were bussed in and put up in local motels, but they created havoc during the time they were there.

21 January – Returned back to the freeway today to head westwards towards Morgan City, Franklin and then down to Abbeville. The roads through this part of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi have traversed a lot of swamp land and for a lot of the time we have been travelling on roads raised up over the swamp on stilts or bridges. What a tremendous cost to put in infrastructure like this. To get to the State Park we had to go via a convoluted detour as a bridge was under repair on the direct route. 180 miles was one of our longer days that we have had for many a long while, but it was easy enough travelling. Palmetto State Park is only a few years old and again very impressed with the facilities. Decided to have a walk around soon after we arrived before it got dark – of the 100 sites only about 10 were occupied and by the time I had walked around them all it had started to get dark (can’t get over how early it gets dark!). Had a real treat though as the park is teeming with armadillos and at dusk they come out to feed.
22 January – Murky start to the day. Went out to explore the park and managed to see some of the wildlife. Nice walk through the palmettos and larger trees. The palmettos make up the undergrowth and have palm like fronds but are more like a shrub. Many of the armadillos were still out and about, but tricky little things to try and get a photo of. On reaching the last of the ponds we could hear a crashing around in the undergrowth on the other side followed by grunting and squealing. Caught a quick glimpse of the culprits – wild pig with piglets. Just got back to Wanda before the 80% chance of rain came to fruition. Nothing to be done except hunker down and do some serious investigations for our coming trip out of the ‘States for a second ‘meaningful period’.

23 January – With weather still cold and miserable we decided to stay on another day, bit the bullet and made some bookings for our next major adventure to Central and South America, returning via the Panama Canal. As the day wore on the campground got busier and busier with all the locals coming in for the weekend. It is good to see that these parks do actually get well patronised some of the time – by dark it was full.
24 January – The rain has been blown away and a clear albeit cold start to the day. Checkout time came around quite quickly as we were busy doing more internet planning. Set forth on a southern route running parallel to the Gulf coast, but a few miles inland. Through a lot of farmland with flooded paddocks which we think are for growing sorghum and then on a very straight stretch through marshland with nothing much to commend it but the odd drawbridge as we crossed over yet another river. Also crossed over the Intra-coastal Waterway again – what an engineering feat that is. Our hope of finding a diner for lunch was not met and it took a long while to even find a place where we could pull off the road, as it was basically a raised road with canals on both sides. One small spot did finally eventuate so that we could have lunch chez Wanda and then proceed on to Cameron, where a small car ferry was waiting to transport us to the other side for the princely sum of $1 and had Bob been driving it would have been free! Didn’t have far to go on the other side, where we came to the settlement of Holly Beach and a beach where we could park on the hard sand and setup shop for the night. What a backdrop – the Gulf of Mexico spread out all around us – oil rigs visible on the horizon and a perfect sunset over the water. If we had warmer weather this would have been a great place to stay for a while.
25 January – Another lovely clear day. Made our way along the Gulf and we could tell we were getting close to Texas because all of a sudden there were cacti growing in the fields. A nice drive along the coast for several miles with no habitation, then we began to come across the oil/gas refineries – not quite such a pleasant sight and the smells not too great either. Crossed over the Sabine River and hey ho we were in Texas. A whole lot more refineries at Port Arthur. We stayed on Highway 82 until it hooked up with the I10 via Tx73 to Winnie, and from then on it was the outskirts of Houston – what a nightmare to get through to our destination – one of the roads was in the process of being upgraded so we had to detour alongside the roadworks for several miles together with all the local traffic. Finally made it out into the ‘burbs and away from the heavier traffic (this was Sunday so I would not like to do this on a weekday). We are sure going to find a different way out of this city!! Our stop for the night was in the northern suburb of Cypress with a boondocker, Troy, who happens to own an RV rental/service business with a storage facility next door. Works out perfectly – we can leave Wanda there (whilst we are overseas) when we return here in three weeks time and it is not too far to the Houston International Airport for our flight out to Costa Rica.
26 January – ‘Work on Wanda Day’ – with access to assistance, advice, loan tools and a place to work – Bob spent all day getting all the niggly things tidied up whilst I took advantage of the time to check out flights, etc. for our forthcoming trip. Decided that it would be easiest to stay put in the carpark overnight so that Bob could finish up tomorrow. We were offered water and a power hookup, which was kind of them.
27 January – Bob got everything finished soon after lunch then with a quick trip back to Troy’s home to say our goodbyes we were off out of this busy city. We only had a short but slow way to go to Sugar Land on the edge of the city for an overnight at Wallies. Our computer decided it would have some sort of meltdown and started chewing up our data on the internet, so after a couple of calls to the Verizon tech’s, established that something serious needed to be done with the computer. That something needed a clear head, so put it aside for tomorrow.
28 January – Well, it took me all of the morning after trying unsuccessfully to restore to an earlier point in time, to bite the bullet and do a factory reset on the jolly thing. Of course once that is done it takes even more time to get all the emails and essential programs into a form that we can use. Finally got on the road well after midday and motored for a while to get properly out of the city (not really possible as it goes on and on!) so when hunger got the better of us left the freeway and parked up for a while. Our route once we left the outer environs of Houston got us into cattle country – nice to see livestock out in the open air enjoying the sunshine.

We are now back to using our very effective boondocking guide book with our first stop planned for a riverside park (really just a parking lot at a boat ramp) on the Colorado River. This is not the big river that goes through the Grand Canyon, but a smaller namesake that rises and empties in Texas. We could stay here free of charge for up to three days, but better places beckon down on the coast so it will be an over-nighter only. The river is still big enough for barges – one came through as soon as we were settled, an empty benzine tanker on it’s way to a refinery up river.
29 January – A nice leisurely day as we only had a short hop to our next camp. There was a steady stream of visitors to the boat ramp – some for fishing, others for dog walking and others just having a break. Had a chat with the fisherman – they were hoping to catch catfish (which can grow to the size of a person) but the river was quite muddy from recent rains further upstream which didn’t seem to be helping them. Another of the visitors – a woman electrician – was looking for somewhere she could park her RV while she was working at the nuclear plant just down the road (we didn’t know that was there!) but she had to have hookups so that she could leave her dogs with air conditioning!! They were two cute miniature Schnauzers (rather like Millie and Cooper – Trish). Visitor No. 3 who stopped to chat was working at a chemical plant and also living in an RV.

Set off down the road and out to the Matagorda Nature Park again right on the Gulf. Free RV parking is allowed in their beachside carpark overnight despite the nearby campground and we had the place to ourselves. A long pier out into the water was lined with fishermen and they were having reasonable luck. The Intra-coastal waterway comes out to the Gulf here and extensive work had been done to create a stabilizing seawall either side – huge blocks of granite each about 1.5metres cubed lined the banks – the cost to transport them in from up north would have been enormous but I guess the oil company made a big contribution to get them built.

30 January – The end of the nice weather for a while. Destination today is Magnolia Beach – to reach there we retraced our steps past the boat ramp camp of yesterday then on through on Hwy 35 to Port Lavaca – stocked up on supplies then back down to the Gulf. Lots of open farmland through this region, even recently harvested cotton fields.
We have a spot right beside the beach – no limit to how long you can stay – the view out of our dining window is across to Port Lavaca, with strings of barges cruising past in the bay. As night is falling the lights of the town are starting to twinkle at us. Quite a few other rigs parked here, but rather cold to be too sociable – in warmer weather I am sure this beachfront site would be packed.

Bayous and Battleships

01 January – A New Year and a new destination.  Had a lovely drive along the Gulf of Mexico coastline – the road for the most part went right alongside the sea.  Stopped off at Carabelle for supplies and lunch at a nice picnic area. The sand throughout this region is so beautiful – so fine and white – almost like talcum powder.  The water however around Carabelle was a different matter – not the azure colours like down in Key West but dark brown from the tannin laden rivers that feed into the gulf around here.

Continued on around the coast – not too much in the way of large settlements – a lot of holiday homes – the building style here must be to accommodate the wave action in hurricanes as they are built on stilts – the ground floor being often quite open to the elements.

At Apalachicola we turned on to St Joseph’s Peninsula – a very narrow spit of land with the gulf on one side and St Joseph Bay on the other.  About 8 miles along is the State Park Campground.  What a setting – two separate camps each with about 50 sites, the Gulf just across the road and over the dunes on one side, and probably no more than a couple of hundred metres the other side is the inlet bay. Not sure why people would want to stay in commercial parks (we saw several coming along the coast road – they are parked sided by side with no trees or any break between the sites) when you can have a nice place like this at a cheaper price.  Our neighbours are not as close, plus we also have a screen of trees and shrubs as well.

Did a short explore on our bikes – again lovely flat roads so easy biking.  All the way down the peninsula is a biking path so will attempt to do a bit of that tomorrow – weather permitting.

02 January – The sea fog is persisting today – so not very good visibility, very humid but at least it is not raining.  Took the bikes out for an airing on a short ride out of the park; for seemingly flat roads we seemed to be going slightly uphill all the way to an ice-cream shop where sadly the coffee wasn’t up to much.  Back home after some five miles and I can’t say that it felt like we were going downhill returning (obviously something to do with the curvature of the earth!), but it was easy enough riding.

Took a walk later in the afternoon on to the wilderness at the end of the peninsula.  The trail was accessed by a hike along the beach; we had that to ourselves – lovely firm white sand for as far as we could see in either direction with flat calm sea on the gulf side.  Over the dunes at the designated crossing and into the the trail in the middle – it was now harder going though, as it was on soft loose sand.  Plenty of evidence of deer even right down on the sea shore but none to be seen in the flesh until we were almost back to camp where we surprised a white tailed buck.  That was enough fresh air for the day – nice to get back home and relax.

 

03 January – Off on the road again – nice drive for the first half hour or so, not very built up, but from Mexico Beach onwards it deteriorated.  We stopped for lunch at a local diner which had basic but nice fare. On again along the coast road into Panama City and beyond to Panama Beach.  Yuk – high rise hotels, apartments, tacky theme parks but it did have a Wallies who were happy for us to stay, so it is redeemed.  Decided it was time to cook up the lobster which has been sitting in the freezer since Nova Scotia, so spent the best part of an hour trying to find the suitable ingredients in Wallies.  Lo and behold after nearly a year in the good old USA I have finally found where they keep cooking cream (it is in the Hispanic section!).  In NZ, Kraft make a really nice light cooking cream but it is just not available here – they only make all manner of cream cheeses none of which are really suitable for cooking with.   Disappointed with the lobster – quite chewy but at least the sauce was nice.  Still have the heavy foggy air sitting around us – at times the 18 storey hotel across the road has shrunk to only a few visible stories.  Everything feels damp and sticky.  We are keeping an eye on the weather reports as there is forecast to be a very cold snap or “polar vortex” on the way, so we are planning to be in a campground with power on the projected cold days and nights.

04 January – After a sticky hot and quite noisy night, awoke to a very queer coloured sky – yellowy grey – the reason became clear quite quickly as the heavens opened and we got a thunderstorm.  Waited around until after lunch for the rain to clear before continuing westward.  Bob read in our USA guide book that road 30A along the coast from Panama City was not be missed as it was Florida’s most lovely drive.  No wonder the writer of that little gem comes from a Lonely Planet – it was a ghastly drive – 40 miles of beautiful coastline decimated first by highrise apartments, followed by lower level townhouse/condo’s and ‘villages’ with perhaps two glimpses of the Gulf in the only places that weren’t built on.  The speed limit was between 25 and 35mph with an occasional 40mph if we were lucky.

The price of petrol has been dropping ever since we got back into the States and our last fill was down to $2.19, but Murphy always prevails when we fill up and of course just down the road it was down to $2.15: this is for a US gallon (just 80% of an Imperial gallon or about 3.6 litres) for those poor folks back home.

We followed this coastal highway almost to Navarre where we got back on to Highway 98 before heading north up alongside the Eglin Airforce Base and to a FWC camp a bit off the beaten track.  It entailed nearly 5 miles of red dirt road (we could have been in OZ or East Africa!) before we reached the Bayside Campground – a primitive camp with 12 sites right on the Blackwater Bay in the Yellow River Marsh Aquatic Reserve – pretty spot, our front door is only a few feet from the water’s edge.  The storm that we had just a few hours earlier in Panama Beach had been through here and the dirt road was a little dodgy in places; poor old Wanda is now a pretty shade of pink.

05 January – Nice lazy day, with a walk along the beach at low tide.  Checking out all the different animal prints in the sand – decided after studying our book that one lot was from an otter and the others were from a coyote.

 

06 January – Bob a bit incapacitated today with a painful foot so it was a driving day.  The road out had dried out a lot so it was a much easier drive back to the main road although we still managed to pick up a lot more red mud.  Stopped off at Navarre for drugs for the foot and then at Camping World managed to refill our propane.  Had a drool over some of the new RV’s on display – for a cool $90,000 we could have easily swapped Wanda for a very flash rig.  It was then on to Pensacola and the Big Lagoon State Park.  Very impressed with Florida’s Parks – this one was a little way back from the lagoon in pine trees and sand dunes.  With only about 10 of the 70 sites filled it was pretty quiet. Booked in for a few nights as the cold snap was on it’s way and we wanted to have power so we could run the heater during the night and not freeze to death.

07 January – R&R for Bob while the inflamation subsides.  I went for a nice bike ride around the park which took me through to the Lagoon and through a nature trail.  The nature trail was a hiking trail and I had to push the bike for a lot longer than I would have liked as it was really soft sand which kept trying to throw me off the bike.  Forecast tonight was for a hard freeze, so we blocked up the windows and cranked up the heat.

08 January – Brrrrhhh! That was a cold night at 19 degF (-7 degC) – our test pot of water left outside was frozen solid along with something in our internal water pipes (that wasn’t meant to happen as we kept the inside warm all night!).  Fortunately as soon as we got moving it cleared and no damage was done.  Drove down to the US Naval Air Station and their museum for the first of our visits.  What an amazing place – greeted at the door by docents dressed up to the nines in navy blazers and ties, welcomed and asked where we were from and had a nice little chat before moving into the museum.  First up was an IMAX film – on the Blue Angels – the Navy’s exhibition pilots.  It was like being in the plane as they did all their manoeuvres in F18 Super Hornets.

 

Spent the next part of the morning in the mezzanine floor going through the various exhibits.  Another movie experience complete with wind and motion shook us as we sat on the deck of an aircraft carrier and watched the planes coming in to land and take off.  That would take nerves of steel – they have to land on this tiny deck and catch the plane’s tailhook on the third out of four wires which brings them to a screaming halt.  If they catch the first line (they are way too low, the second not quite as low, and the fourth – too high).  If they miss altogether it is called a bolter and they have to go around and try again.  After each squad has landed they all go to the ‘ready room’ and each pilot’s landing results are listed on a board, green for wire No. 3: no-one wants to have the black marks against their name for everyone to see!

There were some excellent models of the Air Craft Carrier Enterprise (both the modern and the WWII versions) with a good documentary on a smaller screen.  Further on was a mockup of a Pacific WWII base and another doco screening.  It was time for lunch after all that excitement and then back upstairs again to the wartime displays until it was time for the next IMAX movie on D-Day.  A very comprehensive and interesting doco-film – again spectacular on the enormous screen.

09 January – Another cold night with a good freeze – we were prepared this time. As recommended, we hooked up our water to the mains and let it run very slowly through our inside tap and all was well.

Back to the museum – first up this time was the guided tour through the ground floor with all the planes.  An ex-pilot and incredibly knowledgeable docent led us on a 90 minute odyssey of their treasures extolling the virtues of the “world’s” best museum and of course their totally unbiased view of America’s involvement in the World Wars.  The museum is privately funded (around $90 million raised from corporates, state and private donations of which over $20 million alone has come from Enterprise Rental Cars.  No borrowed money is used for their restorations, the work is done by volunteers – they have over 1100 aircraft with only about 100 on display here and several hundred on loan all around the nation.

 

After the tour we then went through it all again on our own to check out the ones not covered in the tour as the extension hanger was closed for the day, after which it was home time.  What a great place to spend a cold winter’s day.

10 January – A much warmer night with no frost.  Back again to the museum to inspect the second hangar which was closed yesterday.  First did a tour of their ‘waiting for restoration’ boneyard via golf cart. The wind was a bit parky but at least we had a nice sunny day.  Only a fraction the size of Pima but still interesting to see them close-up with a good explanation as we went around.

The second hangar had more modern planes, but again a lot of screens with doco’s going on so it was quite time consuming.  One of the good things about this museum was that they didn’t mind if you touched the planes and you could get up close and personal with them all.  Many exhibits had an additional cockpit section sitting beside the full plane so that you could sit in them and play at being a pilot.

The Naval Air Station itself is set on a beautiful bit of coastline – those pure white dunes and blue seas.

11 January – Overcast but a lot warmer.  Time to move on again, so left our nice camp setting, travelling along Perdido Key with a lot of high rise apartments and non-stop development all the way to Foley, where we changed to Highway 98.

Had a real bit of “CULTYAH” when we stopped for lunch at Lamberts Cafe.  Saw signs coming into Foley saying it was ‘home of the hand throwed bun’.  We expected that meant home made buns – they were, BUT the hand throwed was literally that – they threw the buns at you.  The place was a bit like Wall Drug in South Dakota that we visited quite a while ago.  The meals were “BIG” and they had what they called the ‘pass around’ – on a continual trail around the restaurant was the bun thrower, someone with molasses or apple butter to spread on your bun, fried potatoes and onion (YUM), fried okra, black eyed peas and cabbage.  You could have as much of any of those as you wanted on top of your meal which came with two sides of your choice.  Just as well they supply take-home boxes as it was way too much for us.  Suitably replete it was then on up to Daphne and a nice quiet Wal-Mart stop for the night.  Back again in Alabama and even cheaper petrol – it is down to $1.89 (that is nearly half what we were paying at the beginning of the year and we like it!)  We are close to Mobile and the WWII battleship USS Alabama which we will have a look around tomorrow.

12 January – Phew, it has finally warmed up again but the fog has descended and our trip over to the Alabama was a bit eerie as we couldn’t see anything.  The USS Alabama was also shrouded in fog when we arrived and it was not even possible to see from one end to the other when on board.  We spent 3 hours going from top to bottom on the ship – a battleship housing 2500 sailors.  Three huge triple 16 inch gun turrets fore and aft with many 5 inch guns as well as an impressive array of all sorts of other weapons.  The noise when they were all in action would have been terrifying.  Went up about eight levels from the deck up to the bridge and conning tower and had good views out over the city once the fog finally cleared, and down several decks to the bowels of the ship where the sailors mainly slept and worked.  Were also able to go inside the big gun turrets to see how they operated and to view the early electro-mechanical computing systems which enabled the guns accuracy up to 21 miles.  Two Kingfisher float planes were also carried for target spotting, being launched from rails and picked up again after landing alongside the ship.

As well as the Alabama, there was a hangar with about a dozen aircraft including the evil looking Blackbird and a B52 Stratofortress bomber (many of the planes were on loan from Pensacola Naval Museum).  Also there the WWII USS Drum submarine which you could tour through.  On outside display was a replica of the Confederate submarine ‘Hunley’ from the US Civil War, which was powered by eight men turning handles to achieve 4 knots!  With all that completed we decided to head back to Wallies for another night as it was too late to try and find somewhere new.  Tiring work walking around all day!

13 January – Departed from our Wallies camp and headed over the border to Mississippi.  Stopped off en-route at the Welcome Centre and on picking up brochures decided that Plan A would need to go to Plan B as there were some things to see in Biloxi which meant that we wouldn’t go straight through to New Orleans.  First stop was a Sandhill Crane preserve and a small walk which turned out to be not very interesting as it was just through some pine trees and a small glimpse of a bayou.  Travelled along to Biloxi – found a good spot over the road from a casino in their parking lot – nice and quiet with about 10 other rigs.  It was too cold and miserable to even bother leaving the warmth of Wanda and heading over to the casino so settled in for the night.

14 January – Time to explore the 3 things on our ‘to do’ list for the day.  Seabees Museum at Gulfport Naval Base was a disappointment as most of the museum had been damaged and relocated to California after Hurricane Katrina, with just a small number of poorly presented exhibits left to view.  Although attached to the Marines, this group would be equivalent to our  Army Engineers, building bridges, airfield, camps, etc. in the war zone.  Next stop a small car museum with an unusual collection of British and American cars as well as a handful of motorbikes.  Final stop was a collection of 4,000 models of aircraft, ships, cars, military weapons and vehicles.  This was a collection of a lifetime of one gentleman – he passed away several years ago but his son had rehoused them as his father’s house got destroyed in Katrina.  It was only open on request – the son came down and opened up for us and took us on a little tour – tickled pink to get his first Kiwi visitors.  The models were mostly plastic kits which his father had painstakingly constructed throughout his life.

On the road along the coast evidence of Katrina was now becoming obvious, with many vacant lots showing just the foundations of buildings.   The beaches all along here still have the lovely snow white sand and were deserted (too cold for beach activities).

With all our visits finished sooner than expected, we were left with enough time to tackle the New Orleans traffic before rush hour to get to the Bayou Segnette State Park about 11 miles to the east of the city.  Crossing over into yet another state, Louisiana. with a short visit to their visitor welcome centre to get the guff for New Orleans.  Our aim is to stay here for a few days and drive down to the ferry over the Mississippi River each day which will take us straight into the French Quarter – the most historic part of New Orleans.  Our warm weather has been short lived and thankful that we are again hooked up with power – the rain has also just started to fall on our roof.

Camping at Christmas

16 December – Casino parking was much better this time around – no noisy patrons or traffic going on into the night.  Muddled around for a while early on to make sure that I got the blog posted in case we didn’t have Internet at our next stop.

Finally headed off from Immokalee continuing up H29 via La Belle until we came to Palmdale, where it switched to H27.  Left the main drag at the small town of Lake Placid and on a much smaller road skirted Lake Istokpoga  to link up with 98W for just a short distance until we came to the gated entrance of the equestrian camp.

The whole trip was spent going through farmland of one sort or another – first grazing land with beef cattle, then probably about 20 miles of orange groves and then into more intensive agriculture.  The towns are very much service towns for this industry and very Latino.

The big surprise was how nice the camp is – I picked it up off our free camping app – it is ostensibly an equestrian camp but they let anyone use it.  Hickory Hammock is it’s name (a hammock is a vegetated land area in a swamp or flood prone district in local parlance); it is full of palms and mature live oaks laden with Spanish Moss, has impressive facilities for those who come with their horses but otherwise is fairly basic. We have the camp to ourselves; all I had to do was register with the South Florida Water District to get the combination to the gate lock.  There is a camp host who has been here for 5 years and that is it.

17 December – Nice staying put for a few days again – can have lazy starts and generally kick back.  Did the 6 mile round trip to the gate and back on our bikes – nice flat ride on a compacted shell/sand road.  We might have mountain bikes, but I don’t do hills so it is on the flat we will stay.  On the internet we came across an RV excursion going down to Mexico from Texas which looks interesting, so will spend the next few days doing a bit of research to see if it would be right for us, rather than having to fly to one spot in Mexico and staying there for our next ‘meaningful period’ away from the US.

18 December – Staying put in Paradise, catching up on news and generally lazying around.

19 December – Time to set forth again- decided to cover half the distance to Homosassa and stock up on supplies for the season.  Initially lots of orange groves lined the road northwards, but we then hit civilisation and miles upon miles of built-up area.  Were heading towards Groveland with the backup of a WallMart if we couldn’t find a nice freebie.  Luckily saw a sign pointing to the Van Fleet State Trail and followed the signs until we came across a great parking spot part-way along the 32 mile trail.  Decided that we would stay put, and with nothing to say we couldn’t, settled in for the night.

20 December – A knock on the door greeted us at breakfast time – just a polite ranger saying that no overnight parking was allowed – he had noticed us when he left last night and as we were still there in the morning he had to do his duty and advise us.  Our excuse was that we wanted to bike the trail and were too late last night, which was fine with him.  Nice gentle ride on the old railway right-of-way; this trail may go 32 miles, but we just did 8 miles on it, as a gradual  build-up is required!).  It was good timing as the sun came out quite strongly after we had got back so any further would have been really hot riding.

Continued on through much more farm land, cattle ranches and orange groves, and past the Sebring motor racing track, with a break at a promising looking local cafe for a spot of lunch.  What a feed we got – their special of the day was stuffed avocado so we had one each (should have shared one as it was really a bit too much for one person!).  They really tried with Bob’s coffee and he got something approximating a flat white (one day we will succeed).  Northbound again on the road to Homosassa Springs and our destination for the next week – an RV park much in the same vein as that at Titusville – a lot of permanent mobile homes as well as rigs.   For the first time since being here we actually have a cable TV hookup, although of the 30 channels available only a couple are worth watching.  Clive next door would be proud of these people – loads of homes/rigs decorated for the festive season.  Having a look at the social calendar – we can play bingo, cards, pool, street golf, take part in the golf cart decorating contest or even Karaoke as well as carol singing – our options are limitless..

21 December – Yucky wet day, so we just had to stay in – read books and watch some old time movies on the only channel worth watching.  Evening came around pretty quickly – and lo and behold “The Sound of Music” was on, so had to watch that.  The rain progressed over the evening to thunder and lightning – nice to be tucked up in our little home – it wouldn’t be nice to be in a tent.  They are having a Christmas dinner in the recreation hall on Christmas Day so we will sign up for that – the only challenge will be to make a side or dessert to take with us – no doubt I will come up with something.

22 December – Another lazy day getting our little house in order.

23 December – Decided to do the State Wildlife Park today even though the weather was looking a bit inclement.  Just had a short drive to get to one of the entrances where they take you on a tram or boat to get into the park proper. We took the tram there and once at the park made our way first to the Manatees – they have four captive manatees (having been injured, these are unable to survive in the wild so stay in the care of the park).  We got to hear a talk about them and see them being fed.  Even though they look like a seal/walrus their big fat looking bodies are not surrounded with blubber and hence they are extremely sensitive to the water temperature – once the outside ocean gets below 68/70F they have to head back south to warm springs or nuclear power station outlets; the Homosassa Springs are one of their favourite sites as the water remains between 72-74F all year round.  If they get caught with the temperature going down to 62F they can die, so it is a fairly fine line they tread.  After watching them being fed we wandered around the other animals they were taking care of in the park – a large number of birds – pelicans, storks, flamingo, owls and raptors; alligators, bobcat, panther and bear and also something very non-native  – a 60 year old hippo.

 

The highlight for us had to be the springs themselves – there was an underwater viewing chamber right where the springs bubble out of the ground – very clear and teeming with fish – I have never seen so many fish – they were swimming around the observation chamber which was probably 12 feet under the water and took up all the viewing space – one species was going in a clockwork direction, probably 20 high and 20 deep, with another layer above them going the opposite way – it was amazing.

The special treat was when a wild manatee with her pup came in and swam around for several loops – as they are completely vegetarian the fish weren’t at all bothered by them.  With that done – we had a bite to eat in their small cafe before heading back to Wanda – this time by the little boat through the swamps.

 

24 December – Another not so nice day, good for book reading with just a short outing to stock up on fruit to make a fruit salad for Xmas dinner.  Just made it back from shopping when the heavens opened up again and we had an evening of rain and more thunderstorms, whilst a tornado tore apart Columbia, Mississippi.

25 December – Happy Christmas and the bad weather has cleared away.   Joined about 120 of the residents for the dinner later on.  What a lot of food – cooked ham was supplied by the camp with all the extras bought in by the residents.  Some very interesting sides appeared and an awful lot of very sweet desserts which got reasonably well demolished except for our fruit salad – looks like we will be eating very healthily for the next few days.

26 December – Met up today with Sue and Wayne, a couple we had met way back in June in South Dakota.  They came and picked us up, took us for a little drive up to near where they were staying at Crystal River and we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch at a local seafood restaurant.  Yum – I had crab stuffed shrimp and Bob crab stuffed Turbot.  There were so many nice choices on the menu (even frog’s legs), it was hard to decide.  Frogging is quite a popular pastime in the swamp areas and you do see them quite often on menus.  It was nice to catch up and share our respective travels since our last meeting.  Spent the evening searching out our next spots to stay.  Tried a different tack this time – I used Google Maps to have a look at the quieter roads available to us going north and from there drilled down to the satellite view to look for something suitable. Identified a boat launch/bird watching area that looked like it had a decent parking spot with no habitation near – so plugged the co-ordinates into Sally so we can try our luck tomorrow.

27 December – Time to get back to reality and leave the cushy life – no power or TV now for a while now and no great loss.  Made our way up past Crystal River on Highway 19 and spent about 100 miles travelling in a very straight line on a quiet four laned highway.  There were a couple of bends in the stretch, a few towns and at Chiefland stopped at Wallies to try and get a top-up card for our prepay wifi – they couldn’t oblige but Radio Shack next door were able to do it directly so we should be set for another 30 days.

From Hwy 19/98 out of Chiefland we turned off on to a minor country road through Steinhatchee -this place was teeming with boaties as it is right on the Gulf of Mexico.  Not far up this road we came to our destination – boy what a triumph!  Magical place, with picnic tables and plenty of places to park (nothing says we can’t).  Parked by the boat launch on a small estuary only a very short distance from the open Gulf.  Plenty of palm trees and only one ute with trailer parked waiting to pick up a boat.  Turned out to be a small airboat and the owners encouraged us to stay and watch the changing tides in the coastal swamp – so here we are.  We have witnessed the most gorgeous sunset and apart from the few inevitable mossies, it is a perfect spot.

28 December – Another day at this lovely spot was the order of the day.  Bit funny weatherwise – it started off a little overcast but by 11 a sea fog had rolled in and everything got a bit clammy.  Went out for a bike ride on one of the many tracks in the area followed by a walk later on.  This region of the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area, with many birding trails was once a Cypress Swamp but it was clear felled a long time ago and all that is remaining from this era is a lot of tram track footings raised above the swamp.  Pelicans, wading birds and hundreds of fiddler crabs were in abundance in the immediate area.  A little more activity from locals coming and going today including the local sheriff, but no-one seemed bothered by us being there.

29 December – The sea fog came in again during the night – there is so much moisture in the air that it was gathering on the trees above us and every time there was a bit of a breeze we would get showered with the accumulated droplets.  Time to move off again and back on along Highway 19 to Perry to pick up supplies before heading off in search of our next sojourn.  Turned out not to be such a great choice – a Hunt Camp in the forest – we gave up after driving quite a long distance on a forest road which got progressively less driveable.  Could have stopped on the side of the road, but the sound of gun shots continually ringing out made the decision for us and it was off to Plan B – the Ochlockonee River State Park.  Definitely the better choice – only about 30 sites in an open pine forest area bordering on the Dead and Ochlockonee Rivers, with hiking and biking trails.

30 December/31 December – Staying put and enjoying what this camp has to offer – especially the unique wildlife – white squirrels, masses of grey squirrels, gopher tortoise and white tailed deer.  The bikes are getting a good workout on the easy rideable paths through the forest. Took me two phone calls to Verizon technical support to finally get our new period of wifi sorted – going to Radio Shack didn’t turn out to be the best option – I will go back to buying a refill card for the next month’s data.

 

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year – we will begin our journey westward around the Gulf Coast aiming for Texas late January.

Rockets and Reptiles

02 December – Nice little jaunt today.  Headed off to Merritt Island, the wildlife refuge attached to the Kennedy Space Centre.  Got quite a surprise at the visitors centre!  As we were doing their little boardwalk through the nearby swampy area came across an armadillo.  Really weird little creature – about the size and shape of an american football.  Grey and pinkish scales all over it’s body and a segmented middle section.  A face like a rat but with pink scales, a nose like a pig and large elongated rounded ears. They are meant to be nocturnal so not quite sure what it was doing out during the day, but it was having a great time digging in the muddy areas.  I didn’t have the camera so no cute pictures unfortunately.

On from the visitors centre and around the Black Creek Wildlife drive – only 3.5 miles but it probably took us the best part of 2 hours with the constant stops to observe the different bird life and also an alligator quite close-up.

On the way back to Titusville there was also a manatee viewing area, but the water had dropped a few degrees below the optimum 70F so they were not in attendance.

03 December – Up the road again to Dayton and the Ford Agency for Wanda to go back under the knife.  The Agency took us in their courtesy car into Daytona Beach and dropped us off at the raceway so that we could do the tour of the complex. It is currently undergoing a huge revamp but is still being used in the meantime. We were taken into the driver’s briefing room, around the outside of the track, up into their special sky suites which had a magnificent view of the whole complex (currently it seats 140,000 and with the new revamp they are going to drop this down to just over 100,000).  Got to see the pit area and watch some of the cars doing test laps, and others offering rides for spectators.  If you wished you could drive yourself around for only $550.  The tour filled up our time nicely and by 4pm we were back at Ford and ready to pick up Wanda.

Headed back down to Titusville (a little detour because Jilly miscalculated and got caught on an exit only lane – ended up half way to Orlando before we could get off the freeway and back in the right direction!) .  The new heavier steering damper has made a bit of difference, but not sure yet whether it was really worth the cost and effort.

04 December – An exercise in patience today. Up at 6am (yes, you read right!) and a short walk down the road to the seafront to join dozens of others lined up to wait for the launch of the Orion spacecraft on it’s Delta rocket.  Countdown No. 1 got down to 5 minutes before high winds and a wayward boat called a halt.  A wait of over an hour before countdown No. 2 got to 5 minutes then was abandoned again because of sticking booster valve.  The window was extended from 9am to 9.44 but at 9.30 it was finally called off for the day.  A load of disappointed people, including us, returned to their normal activities – we had a great view over the inlet to Cape Canaveral about 6 miles away and the launch pad was visible.

Oh well, we didn’t get to see history in the making, but the sunrise was worth it.  We decided not to hang around for another day for a repeat attempt, so headed southwards again.  Made for a spot we had identified on our way back from Key West and had a hassle free drive down the I95 before leaving it at Fort Pierce and heading into Lake Okeechobee and a boat launch on a canal running alongside the lake.  Boats are also able to enter the second largest lake in America via a small lock just opposite our pretty parking spot.

05 December – Nice quiet night followed by another fine day.  Had a walk along the embankment separating the lake from the canal and a nice chat with a chap who comes down from Michigan for the winter.  Plenty of fishermen out and about.  Didn’t have too far to go to our destination for the night – Miccosukee Casino where they very generously gave us $30 each to play with.  Managed to retain $30 at the end of the day, which went on dinner!

06 December – Very noisy night on the black top – being a Friday night the casino was really packed and people were about until the wee small hours.

Set off on the Tamiami Trail in search of an airboat ride, as this is apparently what you do when you come to the Everglades.  Found a smallish operation, had the obligatory talk about the alligators and wildlife before petting the baby alligator.  Bit dismayed to see the poor conditions that their captive alligators were kept in – very small concrete pond enclosures and grubby.  Boarded our boat – capable of holding around 30 people – and set off into the Everglades.  The 45 minute ride did a bit of the fast stuff – skimming over the shallow water, and a bit of quiet contemplation to look for the alligators.  Interesting landscape – for the most part we were going through the saw grass, which in places can be a few feet high, and others not much more than a few inches.  Over the whole area, water depth varies from a couple of inches to at its deepest about 5 ft, and mostly around 2 ft.  There are occasional islands (they call them hammocks), created from birds dropping seeds which germinate and trees take root,  the leaf fall gradually building up into silt for more plants to grow.   Along the natural channels there were water lillies which seem to be able to tolerate being run over by the boats.  All in all it was noisy but interesting and we were pleased we had done it.

Carried on a little further to a National Forest primitive campground at Burns Lake – just 10 sites around a small lake complete with little alligators milling about in the middle of it.

 

07 December – Our little campground proved to be very quiet overnight and such a pretty spot to wake up to.  The small lake still had a single alligator floating in the middle.  We headed off after mid-morning to continue on the Tamiami Trail – this is an incredible piece of road put through in the 1920’s with the aid of a walking dredge which cut a channel and then used the spoil to build the road and basically dammed off the swamp (which is really a very wide and slow moving river), changing the nature of the Everglades from that point on.  It is 60 miles of very straight road, with swamp on either side of the road.  We were in the Everglades National Park for half of the road – this had a channel on our right side and marshland beyond, with marshland coming right up to the road on the other side.  In places (probably installed after the initial road build), breaks were put in to allow the water to drain through.  When you look at diagrams of the original flow of the water (all out from Lake Okeechobee), it mostly went south and south-west out into the Everglades and finally to the ocean.  Nowadays only a small portion of the flow goes into the Everglades with the rest being diverted for farm irrigation and out to the East Coast and all the development from Miami north. As a result of this over 90% of the wading birds have disappeared – we could still quite a lot, but it must have been magnificent in the past.  In the channel on the right side, alligators could be seen every half minute or so, just basking on the banks.

On leaving the Everglades we came into the Big Cypress National Preserve – it was like a line drawn in the sand – on one side of the line the marshes were grassy, then over the line suddenly it was Cypress territory – tall trees and ferns but still swampy. We took a boardwalk through the swamp – quite a dark and eerie place.  A few birds and when it opened out into a clearing with a pool, an alligator resting in the distance.  I must admit I would rather see an alligator than come across any of the snakes that abound around here.  It is supposedly black bear territory as well – so hard to imagine that a bear would be able to survive in this sort of territory.

Made a small detour down to Everglades City and Chokoloskee – what a nice area, not spoilt with high-rise abominations, very colonial looking with loads of palm trees, and best of all, Bob found a nice coffee shop where he was able to get proper espresso coffee made by the owners the way he likes it.

Our stay for the night was in the Collier-Seminole State Park Campground in the Ten Thousand Islands Wildlife Preserve – again really impressed with Florida’s State Parks – nice sites, clean facilities and we really haven’t struck one that is very busy.

08 December – Bit of a foggy start but that cleared off by late morning.  We decided to drive down to Marco Island for a little look see.  Not for us!  Very pretentious, full of high class shopping, very flash cars and houses.  Only 50 years ago it was untouched and now to look at before and after aerial photos of the place, there is not a single bit of it that is not built on.  Came back ‘home’ and decided to do some laundry instead, and a bit of socialising with campsite neighbours.

09 December – Earlyish start to the day to get down to the boat launch area in time for our canoe trip through the mangroves.  We had a real treat – Bob and I were in a double canoe and had four guides in kayaks with us – Bob and Nancy were the “old hats” and were taking newbies Ben and Rose through the steps.  With a few pointers on not getting caught up in the mangroves, we were off.  First off we went through a fairly open channel and had a following tide so paddling was relatively laid back.  Stopped about 30 minutes in where Nancy gave us a talk about the flora, then entered into a canopied channel with the mangroves meeting above us.  I thought you would have to worry about snakes dropping down off the branches, but when told that wouldn’t happen, was able to relax and enjoy the atmosphere.

Not much in the way of bird life but just going through the mangroves was so peaceful and what a neat way to see them.  The further on we went, the more the level of the water dropped revealing more and more of the mangrove’s roots.  About 1 1/2 hours in we pulled up on a sand bank and Guide Bob took us through the history of the area and the early Indians, who were virtually wiped out by the diseases brought in by the white man.  It was then homeward bound through the same route, but looking different with the still dropping tide.  It needed a bit more work going back against the tide but nothing too strenuous.  What a great way to spend a morning – certainly whet my appetite for more such adventures.

10 December – Decided that we would have early Christmas presents and get a bike each, as we have seen many places along our travels where a bike would have been good to have.  Checked out of the State Park after lunch and headed West towards Naples.  Three Walmarts later we finally had settled on ones that would suit – for the grand price of $100 each we got 18 speed pseudo mountain bikes.  We also needed a rack to put on our tow hitch, but found that the one we bought would not fit securely, so decided that Wallies would have to put us up for the night so we could find a trailer specialist who may be able to supply a reducer so that the rack would fit properly.

11 December – Found a trailer specialist and that was a good move – we were able to get the right part and they did the little bit of work needed to adapt to our hitch correctly.  With that settled we headed back to the State Park and checked in for a few more days. It took a while to get the bikes adapted to each of us, but with that done it was a relaxing end to the day.

It is nice to be stay put for a few days, gives you a chance to socialise with neighbours.  Had a nice chat with a German couple who had also been to Africa, travelling the world in a Mercedes Unimog type vehicle shipped from Europe – all equipped for off-roading in the roughest of conditions.

12 December – Set off after lunch to try out our new bikes on an off-road trail just up the road from the camp.  Nice ride – it was the old road to Marco Island, just a sandy surface in among palm trees and the swamp.  The alligator warning sign was correct – saw one basking in one of the ponds as we rode by.  We are told they are not interested in humans unless you torment them.  The bikes still need a bit of fine tuning – I bought a different sort of seat and still trying to get a comfortable position for it, but the bikes performed well on the differing terrain.

13 December – Nice lazy day, another book out of the way and with an exchange library in the camp common room, was able to pick up a stock to keep me going for the next few weeks.  Nice treat in the evening – the ‘Friends of the Park’ put on an ice-cream fundraiser in the common room.  They got plenty of takers, we spent a pleasant evening chatting with our other neighbours – nice young couple travelling in a large brand spanking new rig.  They live near Tampa and had come down for the weekend to try it out.  Those rigs are certainly very nice inside – all the mod cons including a washer and drier and nicely appointed.  Not quite so sure that I would like to be driving around in something that size though – Wanda has her good points!

14 December – Had a short run back down to Everglades City so that Bob could get another coffee fix.  Took our bikes off and rode down to Chokoloskee Island and lunch at the very popular Havana Cafe.  Nice food – I had the shrimp special and it was delicious (the shrimps here are what we would call prawns).  Biked back along the cycle track to Wanda, loaded up and returned home.

15 December – Fully loaded with fresh water, empty tanks and clean washing set off in a new direction – up Highway 29 bordering the Big Cypress Refuge for about 30 miles.  Several of the areas we passed through were in panther territory – not the sort of animal you would expect to be domiciled here.  The edge of the road was bordered again by swamp on one side and a canal on the other – alligators were prolific in this stretch, just basking on the banks.

Immokalee Casino was the destination of choice – amazingly they even provide power hookups for RV’s here, although they were all in use when we arrived.  A cheap night for us – our $10 limit lasted for several hours before we eventually came out even (though Bob pointed out that we could have left earlier and come out with $40!) – it is a bit of fun and makes a change from our normal routine.

Swamps and Shuttles

13 November – First, we stopped off again in Georgetown to visit their small maritime museum which had several intricate models on display and some very early photos of the Georgetown port.  In the late 1800’s early 1900’s it was a thriving place due to rice production; the pictures showed that the port often had a large number of ships moored. Walked around the historic streets back from the port which had some very elegant homes from the late 1800’s.  The plantation owners had a grand home on their plantation, a ‘townhouse’ which was equally as grand and often a summer house elsewhere.  Many of the townhouses in Georgetown were quite nicely preserved, but there were others a few blocks further back which were in very sad states of disrepair.  As we have been travelling through this region, we have often got glimpses of the old plantation homes – down long tree lined driveways and very grand.

Next stop was a few miles north at Brockgreen Gardens.  These gardens are on a 900 acre property which was the accumulation of three former rice plantations brought together by a very wealthy couple, Anna and Archer Huntington, in the 1930’s.  Anna was a renowned sculptor and throughout the gardens there were many sculptures, both her work and also from other prominent artists. The gardens were getting ready for a special Christmas Display – A night of a thousand lights – although it probably would be more like 100,000 lights (our home neighbour Clive would just love this place).  All over were the most gorgeous live-oak trees, well over 200 years old, draped in lovely hanging Spanish  Moss (which really isn’t moss but an air plant strangely related to the pineapple).

We walked around the gardens and then headed down to the Lowland area of the gardens for a docent talk on the native animals of the region.  Got to handle a couple of snakes (harmless ones), one in particular had the most amazing markings – it had red hues on the top but underneath it was chequered black and white.  Their skin is smooth and feels very cold to the touch.

After that presentation we wandered through the zoo area, firstly through an aviary full of heron and egret in the cyprus swamp.  They are really dark and eerie places and being up close and personal in the middle of one was quite an experience.  The zoo also had an alligator exhibit, although they had gone to ground for our visit. But did see one in the wild from one of the observations points looking out over the swamps.

Headed a little further north in the direction of Myrtle Beach to a Wallies so that we could go back to the Gardens the next day.  Yuck – miles and miles of built up area – what a difference from a day ago – a different racial mix, exclusive resorts, golf and country clubs.

14 November – Wallies provided us with a quiet night, but they couldn’t help with the weather – cold, grey wet morning with a chill wind.  Decided against going back to the Gardens and headed south back through Georgetown, then Charleston (another YUCK) – the city stretched on for miles and miles, and finally ended up near Beaufort. Followed a sign to a boat launch to find a perfect parking spot overlooking the river.  This area is full of the open swamp land you see on Discovery Channel where they go ‘gator hunting.  Not sure what they were fishing for, but it would have been a miserable day to be out on the water.

15 November –  Oooh, another cold start to the morning but at least it was a beautiful cloudless day.  Left our peaceful spot and headed firstly in the direction of Beaufort before turning south and onto the road to Savannah. Crossed yet another spectacular bridge this one over the Savannah River, just before getting into the city and finally found our destination of the Visitor Centre right smack in the heart of the historic district.  We found that you can park overnight here so it was great to be able to have a base from which to explore the city.  We walked down to the waterfront through picturesque streets, every few blocks are garden squares which make it really attractive.

Decided to eat ‘Southern’ at the Bayou Cafe.  Thought it was about time I sampled Gumbo and as they happened to have Alligator Gumbo I was able to kill two birds with one stone.  The gumbo was a lightly spiced stew with green peppers, alligator sausage and also tail meat.  You couldn’t really get a feel for the taste of the alligator, but the texture was akin to a cross between pork and chicken.  It was served with some rice and cornbread – that was a bit different as it was sickly sweet.  Fully replete, we did the waterfront tram trip then wandered back towards home, coming across an artist’s fair with about 30 exhibitors showing painting, sculptures, jewellery, photos and glassware. Some very nice pieces, especially the ones portraying the local scenery.

After a spot of dinner chez Wanda, we hit the town for an evening walk (this is perhaps the first time we have been out walking in a town after dark – it is a bit hard when you are in the middle of nowhere!).  Loads of shops open, restaurants and bars were buzzing and Bob managed to get a decent coffee in a real coffee shop!  I had a hot cider and the first whiff of the fumes nearly knocked me out – it was quite potent.  Saw one of those “only in America” sites on the walk back – an all chrome sports car – you can hazard a guess on the race of the driver!

16 November – After a quiet night at the Visitor Centre, decided to brave the cooler weather and walked back into town for a coffee before trying out the city free shuttle which goes on a circuit around the town. What a surprise – we got on the bus to find that we were the only white faces and we definitely didn’t have the right sort of baggage with us. We had managed to get on the first bus of the day which must start quite near the night shelter as it was full of good folks laden down with all their belongings on the way to the large park in the middle of the town for the day. They were extremely polite and wished us a good day when they hopped off (not like the sullen faces you get on the Hamilton Shuttle bus!).  We didn’t get to see too much from the bus, so got off back at the Visitor Centre and headed on out to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum so that Bob could go look at more planes and I could curl up with a good book.  Only had a short distance to go after the museum closed, to Pooler Wallies and another night on the blacktop, shared with quite a few other rigs.

17 November – First stop Camping World to get our replacement inverter (we now have two working ones so that should keep us going for a while), then on to a few plumbing supply stores to see if we could get a different type of hose for our water connection.  Didn’t manage to find anything suitable so hit the Interstate in the pouring rain and headed towards Florida.  Managed to get off the freeway for a while and take the old road which was much more enjoyable driving, before rejoining it to cross the border and into Florida.  Pulled up at Yulee to keep five other rigs company for the night at Wallies.

18 November – Had to get around Jackonsville to get south, so opted for a spurt along the I95 and the belt road which was the most efficient way to avoid the great metropolis.  We managed that without any holdups although it is always a relief to get off the Interstate and away from the trucks and traffic.  Got back to the coast to travel down the A1A to Palm Coast and checked in to the Faver-Dykes State Park to be in reach of a Ford Agent for a regular service in the morning.

19 November – Despite being booked, the Palm Coast Ford people decided they couldn’t take Wanda as the only hoist capable of lifting her was going to be in use all day, so they sent us down the road to Daytona where we were able to book a service for the next day.  Made our way to a nice State Park – Tomoka, with spotless facilities and with time on our hands were able to have a nice walk around the campground and down to the water’s edge – signs this time telling us not to swim as it was alligator territory.  Lovely setting for the campground in amongst the trees.
20 November – Made our way back to Daytona to the Ford Agent to get her service.  A huge dealership and the service area was massive – customer service lounge even had its own cafe where you could get a reasonably priced lunch.  After a couple of hours the manager came back and gave us the bad news – they considered the ball joints were shot and then he also did a good sales job in advising us to get a decent steering damper fitted.  Our normal $45 service was now looking as if it was not going to be quite so cheap this time.  With that news delivered we then had to make a decision of how we would handle the next few days while they did the necessary work.  With a rental car agency next door it turned out to be quite simple – we booked a car for a week and decided to do our Key West experience straight away and get it over and done with at off-season prices before the Thanksgiving holiday, whilst Wanda would have a  holiday at Ford’s.

We loaded the necessary gear into a brand spanking new Chrysler and set off south.  How different to be sitting so low down on the road – you can’t see anywhere as much as being nice and high up.  Being smaller though,it is easier travelling on the interstate and easier to keep up with traffic.

21 November – A new day in sunny Florida (yeah right!).  Made sure we had a good breakfast courtesy of Best Western before getting on our way.  Interstate travel was the order of the day and we had a couple of things on our wish list to do.  First stop was at Boca Raton about 80 miles south of Fort Pierce where we stopped off at the Gumbo Linbo Rehabilitation Centre (we needed counselling for having to leave Wanda behind!).  Actually it was a centre for aiding sick and wounded sea turtles.  Run by volunteers, there were a few turtles in residence awaiting return to better health so that they can be released.  Currently they were expecting 11 new arrivals to come from New England – these ones had been caught out in the cold weather and instead of swimming south to keep in the warm water they had beached themselves and gone into shut down.  They will be checked out at the centre and then released into the warmer waters down here.  As well as the turtles, there was an interesting boardwalk right through the middle of a mangrove swamp – this is in a really built up area of the coastline – complete with many spiders hanging from the trees – a bit creepy.

Listened to another talk on snakes – this time the ones found in this region and witnessed a rat snake having a feed on some dead mice.  Spent a while talking with the volunteers at the turtle enclosure learning all about the troubles that the turtles are facing at the moment, often after boat strike or ingesting marine plastic.  Based at the centre was the Florida University’s research centre as well – they had a bunch of baby turtles that they were raising.

We finally left the centre around 3pm with what we thought would be a straightforward 70 mile trundle down to Florida City – some hope that was!  We struck congestion soon after getting back on the Interstate and all the way through the metropolis area of Miami it was just crawling along.  The Interstate ended just beyond Miami and then it got really slow – traffic light after traffic light for 29 miles and very heavy traffic.  We finally arrived at our prebooked hotel at 6.45pm – oh boy we would never want to live here if this is what you have to contend with every day.  Miami itself is full of high rise apartments and really did not look to be an appealing city.

22 November – What a difference a day makes – the cold has disappeared to be exchanged for warm humidity.  Our first visit before setting off down to the Keys was the Fruit and Spice Farm a few miles out of the city.  We made it just in time for the tour around the farm – with a really knowledgeable guide we were taken around in a little trolley stopping off every so often to be shown an interesting plant or tree.  They had a lot of different specimens from around the world, tropical fruits to spice trees.

Headed back into Florida City – so much nicer today with a lot less traffic – got on to US1 and followed it down as far as Marathon – 50 miles from Key West.  The road down through the Keys was in most parts only two lanes wide with a nice easy speed limit of between 45-55mph.  Even though we were a lot warmer today it was still overcast but the water was still surprisingly blue.  At places we were just on causeways over the water and others just on small islands.  Wherever there was land both sides of the road were lined with all sorts of shops, restaurants and hotels.  It is not as flash as I had imagined – a bit like many iconic places we have visited, rather stuck in the 60’s.  Found our motel (also a throwback to the 60’s but at least it was clean).  Had a little drive around Marathon – nice beach areas and quite a few marinas.  Walked to a nice little restaurant for some local cuisine – they are definitely not into haute cuisine over here but it was very tasty – so much food we had to take some of it home for dinner next day.

23 November – Key West here we come.  Clear sunny day but still very humid; guess that is par for the course when  you are living on the water.  The seven-mile bridge out of Marathon was spectacular and ran beside the original bridge which was built 90 years ago as a rail bridge with a road later built over the top.   Lovely blue seas, mangrove groves and as we got closer to Key West the apartments got flasher.  First stop in Key West was the remains of a small fort and gardens right on the beachfront.  A small local market was going on, found a small food stall to get some breakfast and sat in the cool of the gardens. We are constantly amazed by the friendliness of the locals – had a good chat with a nice young couple who had been on the road for the last 4 months and of course, wanted to visit New Zealand.  Drove in a little closer to the centre of the town and found a suitable parking spot.  The Butterfly House was on our list of to-do’s and it was lovely to stroll in amongst a variety of colourful butterflies.  After that we spent the next few hours walking the length of Duval Street – the historical part of Key West.  Mostly bars and touro shops but the old buildings were gorgeous in such pretty settings, with palm trees lining the streets.  The harbour had a huge cruise liner in port and boats of all sizes tied up at the marina.

With Key West “done” we headed back up the highway, stopping off at Bahia-Honda State Park to watch the sunset and get close up to the old bridge.  A very nice state park with good beaches and facilities.

24 November – Time to head back up the Keys on another sunny but very humid day.  Nice to see the road on a clear day – the water on either side of us was a lovely blue interspersed with mangrove swamps. Struggled to find somewhere open for breakfast on the way, consequently it was after 11 before we finally stopped at a small marina with a cafe of sorts offering typical breakfast fare of eggs, bacon and the like.  A little further up the road was a small wild bird refuge, run by volunteers who try and rehabilitate injured birds and look after those that can’t go back in the wild.  A mix of pelicans, egrets, hawks and owls were in residence.

Next diversion was just north of Key Largo and the James Pennekamp State Park – this is mainly a marine park, but had a nice little swimming beach and concessionaires offering snorkel, glass-bottom boat trips and canoe hire.  We decided to treat ourselves to the glass-bottom boat tour – it was an interesting trip – took us out about 45 minutes into the Atlantic to the Molasses Reef where we stopped for about the same length of time and had a commentary on the reef life.  Although not quite as colourful as we had expected, it did have some really pretty colourful fish.  The trip out and back from the reef spent about 15 minutes going through the mangroves; great to see it close up and definitely not an area to get shipwrecked on, as there is no way you could make land or progress through the dense mass of roots and the lurking nasties within.

The sun had just about gone down when we got back to land and from there it was a quick flit up Highway 1 back to Homestead and the same Best Western that we stayed at on the way down.  Interesting bit of road – only a single lane each way divided by a concrete barrier painted a bilious blue.  With  the speed limit of 55mph and only a few places to pass everyone just ambles along at a relaxing speed and you are able to take in the scenery.

Some observations about the Keys: no high rise buildings – I think the tallest structure I saw was 3 stories high; you get all the advantages of the tropics without the smells!; not nearly as flash as I expected; a lot of the holiday homes are like the seaside baches you would find back home; incredible roads over the water.

26 November – Decided to avoid the metropolis of Miami this time and headed way out west and on a much nicer smaller road which probably didn’t take us any longer.  After passing miles of sugar cane plantations, ran around the edge of Lake Okeechobee and sussed out a few camping spots for when we come back down this way.  Into Daytona and the Ford Agent only to find out that Wanda was still not quite ready and that the steering damper had not arrived and we would need to come back after the Thanksgiving holiday.  We had already booked to stay a week at Titusville, so headed off 50 miles back down the freeway to the Whispering Pines RV Resort (??) – not really our cup of tea and not really a resort but it is close to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre, and it was available over the holiday weekend.  It is  mainly permanent mobile homes with a few RV’s – people winter over here from all over the country and there are all sorts of activities supposedly available.

27 November – Thanksgiving Day and a home day for us – just a little walk down to the sea front and a walk along to the only place open (Macca’s) for a morning tea.  Nice fine day and no humidity.  From the sea front we could see across to the NASA Space Centre and launch pads.

28 November – Another lazy day, with some computer writing completed.

29 November – Headed off early to the Kennedy Space Centre and our entertainment for the day.  The Centre was only about 7 miles from home across a causeway to the 140,000 acres that make up the site.  Included in the site as well as the launch pads and vehicle assembly buildings are huge natural reserves.  Our first activity for the day was the bus trip to the Apollo/Saturn V exhibit via the huge Vehicle Assembly Buildings (where they build the rockets), past the huge crawlers on which they transport the rockets 3 miles to the launch site.  At the Apollo/Saturn Centre you enter firstly into a movie theatre for an introduction to the programme and then into a huge hangar housing the restored and sectionalised Saturn/Apollo launcher.  Amazing to be able to see it close up and how all the pieces fit together (and come apart).  All sorts of exhibits including a moon rock, astronauts suits and various short films relating to Apollo took us the best part of the next hour to look around.

Back on the bus to the main centre (saw an alligator sunning itself on one of the canals as we drove past) to be dropped off at the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit – the shuttle Atlantis on display had made 38 space missions and again to be able to get up close and personal with it was really interesting. It was over an hour before we could extract ourselves and get a spot of lunch.

Had a little wander around their ‘Rocket garden’ with about 8 different sorts of rockets on display then headed in for the first of the very impressive IMAX 3D movies – The International Space Station  – 45 minutes of footage shot from the shuttle whilst the station was being built and then from on board the station itself.  The views of earth were amazing and you felt like you were right there with them.  The film shot of the space walkers was breathtaking and you can but admire the courage of those guys to be out there at -200०C with just a space  suit and a thin line tethering you.

We had a short break and then it was into the second of the movies – The Hubble Telescope – from its release into space to the final shuttle mission to try and save it from destroying itself through malfunctioning parts.  Again spectacular filming and really showcasing the patience and skills of the astronauts having to work out in space with absolute precision where an inch the wrong way could completely destroy the workings of the telescope.  We were also treated to the wonderful sights that the telescope has been able to capture and how very insignificant our little planet Earth is in the scheme of things.  Daylight had turned into dark by the time we got out of the last movie and it was time to head home.

30 November – A couple of things on the list today – first up the Valiant Warbirds Museum housing yet another impressive display of flying machines.

On to the Astronaut Hall of Fame dedicated to the courageous men and women who have made the space odyssey possible.  Some interesting displays and many interactive exhibits.

 

 

Southern Comfort

01 November – Uggh!!  A cold wet day with snow on the higher ground and not really nice enough to warrant trying to get back on the Blue Ridge Parkway which had been closed overnight, so headed south-west on Interstate 81 along with a constant stream of trucks.  Leapt off to visit a bit of the Wilderness Road – one of the main wagon roads taking early settlers westward into Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap.  At the small settlement of Newburn decided to go into the warmth of their little Regional Museum.  Again another enthusiastic volunteer manning the museum which was in the founding family’s original house.  Some interesting displays and a short video kept us occupied for quite a while.  Bob discovered later that what they didn’t tell us at the museum was this was the area where the Ku Klux Klan started.  By the time we came back the sun had burst through but it hadn’t done anything for the frigid wind temperature.  Decided that we would try a small WMA we had listed on our favourite website.  It was a really pretty drive through rolling farmland, but as we climbed a little we noticed white stuff on the ground and in the paddocks – snow!  Decided it probably wasn’t going to be the best place to stay overnight with more snow forecast and a very steep access road, so opted for Plan B and Wallies at Wytheville.  Plenty of other rigs joined us through the evening and it was so cold that we even spent some time inside Wallies just to take advantage of the heating.  Boy racers were hooning around until about 11pm and then it all went nice and quiet.
02 November – Daylight saving has ended and so has the warm weather.  It was -1C this morning and a bitter wind was blowing as well.  Best thing is just to get on the freeway and get the heaters going to keep warm.  Trundled down I81 crossing over yet another State border, this time into Tennessee.  Their welcome centre had a swathe of brochures on the different regions so we took them back to Wanda to digest and sort out where we might like to visit.  On checking the weather overnight for the immediate region and with expected lows of -5, decided to move a bit further south and westwards to Morristown and the Panther Creek State Park so that we could have electricity for the night and be a bit more comfortable.  Nice place – they do 50% discount in the off-season, so for $11 we get power, water, waste dump, free clean showers (no spiders!) and there is also an inexpensive laundromat which I may try and use as well.

03 November – Decided to stay another day and do a bit of exploring of the park.  Nice hiking trail took us to the lake’s edge – it was a dammed lake and the level was quite low.  Made use of their super cheap laundromat and spent the rest of the day trying to plan what we can do for our visior “time-out” and finally narrowed down our choices.  Nice sunny day but the air still a bit chill so nice to be “plugged in” so that we can run our small fan heater and keep the inside temperature at a more comfortable level.
04 November – Headed out of Panther Creek and got filled up with propane in nearby Morristown, had lunch in the local greasy spoon diner before finally getting on the way.  Noticed an Air Museum sort of on our way south at Sevierville so Bob got his fill of yet more planes and was thrilled to witness the owner taking out one of his Republic P47 Thunderbolt WW11 fighters for a spin, complete with close passes over the airfield.

Got quite close enough to Pigeon Forge, thank you (the billboards advertising all sorts of shows and attractions were enough to put one off) and bypassed Dollywood – that would have been too much excitement for Bob in one day!  Daylight saving caught us out and we ended up driving in the dark on quite narrow roads to get to Maryville and Waldorf for the night.
05 November – Grey English sort of day but not too cold.  Stayed on the 411 stopping off at a nice State Park in Tennessee for a break and little walk before crossing into Georgia.  Have been watching the gas prices as we go through each state and we have been fortunate to be able to enjoy quite cheap (relatively) motoring since coming back into the States (almost half of what we had to pay in Canada) and even cheaper than when we first arrived.  Gas prices have dropped by about 50c a gallon with the fall in crude oil prices getting passed on to consumers.  It makes about $300 a month difference to us – from high prices of $3.40+ a US gallon, the lowest we have seen in the last week was $2.55 and average around $2.70.  Stopped off en route at an RV store to get yet another replacement inverter (this is number 4) and do some running repairs to our fresh water inlet fitting which was leaking every time we filled up.  Nothing much of interest to see along the way so motored into Georgia and Calhoun for yet another night at Wallies.  Seem to be making a bit of a habit of them at the moment, but it is hard to find anything else suitable on the routes we have been taking.
06 November – Target today was to get close to Barber, Alabama to be in a good position to hit the motorsports complex the following day, so on a combination of freeways and other major roads via Rome, Cedartown, Anniston, finally arrived at Leeds for our stop for the night, again at the local Wallies.  Ugggh – we crossed over into Central Time at the Alabama State line – back the clocks go yet another hour so it was dark just after 5pm.
07 November – Just a short hop down the road and we were at the fabulous set-up that is the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum.  Even I was blown away by the number of bikes and how nicely they were displayed.  With 5 floors of displays, all of which were easy to get around so you could see the bikes from all angles, and bikes in all sorts of other display stands and cases it was an interesting visit.

 

The afternoon was well gone by the time Barber was over and done with and we headed back out of the environs of Birmingham on the I20 to Oxford.  Had a short diversion to Helfin in search of a website published campsite, but the last leg of the journey to reach it was not suitable for an RV so it was back the way we came to Oxford and that W place again.
08 November – What a different couple of days, we headed eastwards today back into Georgia and luckily got back that hour from a couple of days ago.  Started the day with a rather large breakfast for us of bacon, eggs, hash browns and as if that wasn’t enough a waffle to finish it off.  We stopped off along the way for a break at a US Army Corps of Engineers recreation area and then made our way to Warm Springs and our contrasting museum visit for the day.  Barber was well organised, clean and spacious and today’s visit was the complete opposite – dingy buildings, grotty displays but very unique. Not quite what we expected from the website description.  When we entered the museum it was like stepping into a sideshow – the owner delivered his spiel almost like in the old fashioned carnivals when they tried to get the public to come see the bearded lady.  We got a guided tour of the bike museum and its other oddities – this is the sort of place where they follow you around and turn off the lights as soon as you are out of that room so that they can save on the electricity.  The owner and our guide was quite a character and he had amassed quite an eccentric, eclectic range of stuff including: Houdini’s padlocks from his various performances, hoards of early movie posters, a range of different motorcycles including a very early Pope, many nicely restored Triumphs, old Indians, an Ace combination, Henderson and a 1973 Harley AMF still in it’s packing crate.  Also a fantastic array of huge and valuable music boxes, novelty automatons and pinball machines to name but a few.  The museum says on its website that he only opens when the temperature is over 50 Degrees and we now know why – they are so cold inside with no heating that it would be unbearably unpleasant.  With that tour finished we were taken up the road to his other establishment, the “Follow the Leaders” wax museum.  This was housed in a 1920’s house with a different historic scene in each room of the house.

The collection had been obtained from a liquidated museum in Kentucky and a lot of the figures had been created by Katherine Stubergh who was well known for creating wax busts of famous individuals and even had many individuals “sit” for portrait busts such as Charlie Chaplin, Mae West and Albert Einstein. In this museum was a signed figure of Albert Einstein who had actually allowed her to make a “death mask” of his face (while he was still living) and was so impressed he signed a thank you note right on the neck of the figure.  Some of the figures were incredibly lifelike and good likenesses of their subjects, whilst others in the collection were not of the same standard and were tacky by comparison.

We had a guided tour for this museum also from yet another interesting character who gave us stories for each of the different scenarios.  Our day was totally gone by the time we were released from the wax museum – it was dark and we had no where planned to go, so it was on with the GPS to find the nearest Wallies which happened to be about 45 minutes away.  Fortunately the roads we had to take were better than our last night time drive and we managed to find the store easily enough.
09 November – Just a cross-country motoring day and nice to be off the freeway and onto quieter roads.  Had a lovely chat with a local couple from Atlanta when we had stopped for a cuppa along the way.  They had driven from Florida that morning and were heading home.  Crossed over the I75 at Forsyth and continued our way eastward through Eatonton.  Stopped off at Wallace Dam where Georgia Power have a nice picnic area with walks and protected rock effigies of Hawk, Eagle and Snake.

Sadly the campground at the dam was closed due to budget cuts, as it would have been a nice place to stay, but not too far down the road we found a perfect spot beside the Oconee river – a small boat launch area with a spot large enough for us to park for the night.  One fisherman came by late in the afternoon and that was the sum of our visitors.
10 November – Moved on eastwards, first stop Sparta where Bob was in his usual optimistic mode of finding a cafe – ha ha!!  Downtown Sparta probably had about 30 shops lining the main road and not one of them was occupied – everything was boarded up.  After that, spent some time trying to find a nice pull-off for lunch – what a difficult road – it was either forested or inhabited, so in the end had to settle for a church car park which is one thing that is not in short supply in this area and they are not modest buildings either, despite the obviously parlous state of the local economy.  Our target for the day was just out of Millen at the Magnolia Springs State Park.  What another nice park; although a bit pricey it had immaculate facilities and another nice cheap laundry.  Magnolia Springs is advertised as having a crystal clear spring – the small area around the spring was clear, but probably only about 20 feet in diameter and the rest of the stream was clear but had a lot of weed as well.  The neat thing was it’s wildlife – dozens of turtles, many different sorts of fish and if we had timed it right there would have been alligators.  That was a surprise – supposedly they are around in the warmer months.  The turtles obviously are used to getting fed by humans as they all swam up as soon as we got to the bridge to look into the spring and looked up at us with their little beady eyes.

11 November – after fluffing around trying without success to stop our water inlet leaking when filling, it was nearly 1pm before we got on our way.  Headed off, bypassing Millen and on into Sylvania where we managed to find a small bakery/deli to stop at for lunch.  Cotton fields abound in this area – it is harvesting time at the moment with about half of the fields denuded of their cotton buds and the other half waiting.  Funny things, cotton plants, they only grow about 3ft tall and are ready for harvest when the leaves fall off and all that is left is their spiky branches with the bolls on them – haven’t actually seen a harvesting machine but it is a big machine with rollers that pull the bolls off the plant and onto a conveyor – like a big combine harvester – each plant probably has 20-50 bolls of cotton and the harvested crop is left on the field edge in huge bales – some round and others of conventional shape.  The latter are so big, heaven only knows how those get picked up!  There is not much going on in the backwater towns of Georgia – very run down – businesses boarded up, motels derelict and the towns are fairly bleak – hardly any open petrol stations either.
Crossed over into South Carolina and the story is much the same – following Highway 301 through Allendale and Bamburg, before stopping at a boat launch site just north of Bamburg for a quiet night beside a small dark river.

12 November – Continued on our journey to the coast, first on 301 with very little traffic through to Orangeburg, then joined the Interstate 95 for a while which was a different story – loads of trucks and a lot more traffic – this Interstate goes straight down to Florida and there was a constant procession of ‘snowbirds’ heading down to the warmth.  A lot more cotton fields dotting our landscape as we progressed along the road.  At Manning we left the Interstate back into the peace and quiet, stopping at our destination of Georgetown on a river delta near the Atlantic coast.  This is more our sort of town, not touristy but with a quiet charm.  Walked the small harbour boardwalk before visiting the Rice Museum – the country around Georgetown was first renowned for cropping indigo for it’s blue dye properties, but later made famous for it’s rice growing up until the early 1900’s, so the museum told that history.  Headed out of town for Wallies so that we can do some more exploring in the morning before moving south.  Have been watching the cold spell hitting the north near Michigan and dumping 3ft of snow there overnight; it is due to move south but at the moment we are basking in the warmest weather we have had for a few weeks.

Battlefields and Plantations

21 October – After a pleasant evening in our woodland campsite not far from Jamestown and a nice lazy start to the day – headed off up the James River to view “Plantation Row”.  In this area were a large number of early plantations (originally tobacco) built up from the mid 1600’s.  We chose Shirley Plantation to visit as it has been in the same family for 11 generations from 1619.  The main house built in the 1720’s was still being lived in by the current heir of the Hill-Carter family, but they open the ground floor up to the public for tours (they live in the upper two stories).  The tour was quite informative, focussing mainly on the family history and some of their historic furnishings.  The other buildings on the property had some explanations in them but were mainly bare of items of interest.  Originally the farm grew tobacco with the assistance of over 100 slaves, but by the 1800’s the land became unsuitable to continue with this, so they changed to winter wheat, corn and soy.  Now a much smaller operation, just recently they had added cotton as a crop, which had just recently been machine harvested, sitting on the edge of each field in huge bales.

After exploring all that was on offer, we made our way to view a different part of the history around here – battlefields from the American Civil War of 1861-1865.  Had hoped to visit the nearby Malvern Hill battlefield, but the road had a 4 ton weight limit so we found another a bit closer to Richmond – Fort Harrison (Confederate name) or Fort Burnham (Union name).  The original earthen battlements, along with explanations of the particular battles that occurred were interesting to walk around and try and imagine what it would have been like to be a soldier in those times.  Decided then to head back towards Williamsburg and return to the same campsite in the forest.

22 October – Another quiet night in the forest was followed by a grey morning.  Made our way towards Williamsburg and a look around the historical colonial part of the town.  We decided just to walk around the town and not bother buying the expensive tickets which get you into some of the buildings. What a neat place, the entire old part of the town had been restored and buildings reconstructed to take you back to the 1750’s.  With shops, taverns and residential houses it was very well done – again a lot of Rockefeller money had been put into this venture (when you see the donor boards they have spaces for one million and up, and twenty million and up so there is serious money here!).  The town was beautifully laid out, and there were some gorgeous old trees which must have been from the time when the town was originally built.  There were loads of volunteers in period dress acting out their parts.  The rain held off for the most part while we wandered around.

Headed off later in the afternoon to battle with the traffic down to Virginia Beach to finally arrive at the Military Aviation Museum, which was closed by the time we got there, so parked beside the gate under some trees to await the opening at 9am the next morning.  We are only a few miles from a huge Naval Air Base with the constant thundering of jets which thankfully abated later in the evening.

23 October – Wakeup call this morning was the roadworking gang, so needed to get out of their way – fortunately the gate to the museum had opened so were able to shoot into their parking lot and wait for opening time.  Bob got to have his fun for the day checking out all the interesting planes from the 1940’s and 1950’s, including the DH.Mosquito that had been restored at Ardmore just a couple of years ago.

Headed out of Virginia Beach towards our stop for the night at a parking spot beside the Dismal Swamp Canal.  A couple of yachts had just moored up – both from Canada on their way down to Grenada (they set out in August and hope to make it by May) – nice life for some!!  The Great Dismal Swamp is aptly named – the canal water is nearly black and looks quite sinister.  The canal gives smaller vessels a direct protected route from Chesapeake Bay down to the protected waters long the coast of Carolina.  Great place to stop – there is a biking/hiking trail right beside the canal but otherwise very quiet.  Movie night tonight chez Wanda was Wyatt Earp – quite neat to see it was set in some of the places we had visited in Arizona.

24 October – Nice restful night and another clear morning.  Retraced our steps back up the swamp road in order to cross over it at the north end, and then ‘westward ho’ to Suffolk, Waverley and Farmville.  Mixed farming through here – cotton, soy and even tobacco farms.  A lot of tree lined roads and many more swamp areas.  Noticeably poorer communities through this region.  South of Farmville was another WMA area where dispersed camping is allowed besides a small lake with several parking choices – we chose the boat ramp lot with nice lake views.  For just a $4 per day access fee, these are great spots to camp overnight.  May even get to see some wildlife – notice on the board lists all the hunting that is allowed in this area including bear, deer, coyote and dove.  Trapping for beaver, otter, mink is also allowed, and trout fishing in the lake.

25 October – Another lovely day in paradise – clear blue sky and not too cold.  Had a very pretty drive to Appamatox and spent a couple of hours at the historic site where Robert E Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army under Ulysses Grant.  Once again the historical talks were very interesting.  The first was a ranger led one who went through the whole history of the few days surrounding the battle and surrender, and the second was a historical characterisation of a Confederate soldier who came from a farm right on the site.  The Confederates lost 30,000 men klled and wounded in various engagements in just six weeks leading up to this battle, which must have been devastating to their morale and fighting power.  The politics of the time meant that very generous surrender terms were offered to Lee and his men – they were allowed to keep their horses/mules if they could prove ownership and after giving up their arms were all given parole papers and bound not to take up arms against the Union.  Robert E Lee finished his days as President of what is now the Washington & Lee University in Lexington but only lived for 5 years after the end of the war.

Had a wander around some of the reconstructed houses of the small settlement that was called Appamatox Court House before setting off through some of the prettiest countryside we have seen for quite some time. Rolling hills with a lot of fall colours still left, and glimpses from time to time of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Our drive took us to Charlottesville and after picking up supplies headed off in search of another WMA spot.  Not such a great find this time – first lot of co-ordinates had us in the middle of the lake!  Finally found a place to park at the end of the road but not a lot of room to manoeuvre Wanda into a comfortable spot for the night so as t was nearly dark, had to settle for being on a slight downward slope.

26 October – Pleased to leave our camp site after a not very comfortable night.  Headed into Charlottesville which is not an RV friendly town.  Had to park a little way from where we wanted to visit but it was the only place we could find with suitable sized spaces.  Walked down to the University of Virginia, which is synonomous with Thomas Jefferson, to view all their historic buildings.  What a lovely setting – mostly red brick buildings with serious portico columns on many of them. The renowned rotunda was in the process of being repaired so couldn’t get too close to it.  From there walked to their historic downtown mall – a bit of a disappointment as the buildings lining both sides of the pedestrian mall didn’t seem that old.  It was a thriving place, with restaurants, cafes and upmarket shops so interesting to walk around.  Caught the free trolley bus back up to the University so we could get back to Wanda.

Left Charlottesville on Highway 69 – a freeway which crosses over the Blue Ridge Mountains.  What a lovely drive – just about as much colour as we had seen in Vermont and an easy climb up and over the mountains (I think the pass was just under 2,000ft).  On the other side we entered the Shenandoah Valley and another pretty area.  At times we could have easily been back home, and other vistas were reminiscent of English countryside.

Our destination was the George Washington National Forest and a dispersed camping area off Highway 250 on Braley Pond.  Neat place with a very tidy picnic area and to the side about 6 sites for free camping.  Our chosen spot had a small creek at our back and a few pine and oak trees around us.  The oaks had mostly lost their leaves so it was reasonably open.  Arriving nice and early gave me a chance to make use of the water from the creek and get our washing done – what a treat to be able to dry our washing in the open air solar dryer!   We are experiencing abnormally warm fall weather but we definitely won’t complain about it.  It has been so nice to have such clear blue skies and warm (almost summer) days.

It was also good to be able to use our BBQ for another gourmet meal.  You can buy really nice pork fillets over here and they cook very nicely on the BBQ, so with an accompaniment of baked onions, carrots and courgettes it turned out a nice meal.

27 October – Another beautiful day in this paradise although it got really cold in the early hours and wasn’t warm enough to poke one’s nose out in the air until the sun was well up.  Nice excuse to have a lazy day.  Another culinary treat for brunch – crispy bacon, eggs and hash-browns.  Took a small hike around the pond that followed on to a circular trail which eventually came back to camp after about 5km.  Most of the oak trees had lost their leaves and we were walking on a thick carpet of crackling brown leaves – at least we made enough noise to make sure that the bears would hear us coming for miles.  Quite a few different landscapes as we walked along – some open meadows, pine forests and deciduous forests.

With the sun still beaming away – decided to get other chores done on Wanda – first a clean inside, then Bob tidied up a few loose bits around the vehicle whilst I gave it another wash.  Leftovers of the pork fillet made another delicious meal, followed by BBQ’d bananas drizzled with maple syrup, cinnamon and ginger.

28 October – Another lazy start to the day.  Left our peaceful spot and headed back onto Highway 250 for an interesting drive over several mountain ranges, leaving the beautiful Shenandoah behind us.  Crossed over the Appalachians through several small towns with not a lot to offer.  At the foot of the Cheat Mountains we were into yet another State (No 23), this time West Virginia.  The route through the mountains although slow was a great road, twisty but really well engineered on the hairpin bends giving plenty of room for wide turning vehicles.  Went from late autumn to winter at the tops of the ranges.  Quite different to see all the bare trees and definitely a message to us that winter is a coming.  This part of West Virginia dubs itself ‘Wild West Virginia’ and seems to be the poor relation, many small farms and a lot of much poorer settlements.  As we passed through the small town of Durbin, noticed a steam train all fired up and ready to go, but by the time we had parked and got to the station it was pulling out and we weren’t able to get it stopped.  A pity, as it would have been a neat little two hour exploring trip.  Decided to hit the local bar instead and had a late lunch. That was definitely stepping back in time!

Satisfactorily fed we headed on up and down a few more large hills to Huttonsville before turning south and following valleys instead of going up and over them (mountain ranges here again run south to north and we had been travelling westward so couldn’t avoid the ups and downs.)  Had hoped to find a nice pulling-off stop on the way to Marlinton, but the valley is pretty well settled all the way through, so went past there and found a State Park about 30 minutes down the road on the Greenbrier River.  Lovely spot with about 50 sites and as it was nearing dusk when we came into it, the white tailed deer were bobbing about everywhere.  All in all a good day for scenic roads with not too much traffic and reasonably relaxed driving.

29 October – The screams you heard this morning were from me – I decided to have a shower in the camp’s facilities and it was like something out of a horror movie.  As I entered the block there were black spiders all over the place so I gingerly made my way through them and found a shower which didn’t seem to have any – how wrong was I!  As soon as I turned on the water several popped up, so I waited until they had drowned and thought all was safe before hopping in under the nice warm water only to notice a few moments later two of the monsters climbing up my leg – hence the shrieks.  I can tell you I was in and out of that shower like greased lightning.

After that horrible start to the day it was nice to get on the road despite the light rain.  We made our way to Lewisburg and had a walk around their town.  Quite an interesting town centre with several interesting antique shops, a few nice cafe’s and some upmarket clothing shops.  The farmland in this valley is just like home – fences and cattle in the fields but the housing conditions are much more basic.

Leaving Lewisburg we hit the Interstate 64 to cross back over the Appalachians and into the Shenandoah again, stopping at Lexington and their Waldorf for the night.  Another stunning drive to a lower altitude – we went from bare trees back to trees with leaves and some nice vivid colours.

It looks like our unseasonably warm weather is coming to an end – forecast for the next few days is much colder weather and even possibly a snow flurry, so we will be keeping a watchful eye out as we don’t want to get caught out.  If do we experience freezing temperatures we can get into problems with the water lines bursting so have to be careful to avoid those situations.

Found out yesterday that the company we had been getting our internet services from was not going to exist from the beginning of November and that we would have to transfer back to a direct service with Verizon.  Two hours of waiting on the phone (just as well I have the patience of Job) finally got through to a real person and established that we couldn’t transfer easily as we are not US Citizens and they can’t do a credit check on us, so the only way that we keep on with Verizon is purchase another hotspot (there goes $250 down the tubes for the original one we had to buy) and go on to a prepaid service.  The only plus is that the replacement one was $60 and we will still be paying the same as before for each month’s data.  Wallies had the devices in stock so come the beginning of November we should be able to activate our new one and continue with coverage.

30 October – Down into the heart of Lexington and first stop was in the grounds of the Virginia Military Institute and the George Marshall museum. George Marshall is most well known for his part in the Europe Recovery Plan after the end of WWII which became known as the Marshall Plan.  The museum revealed so much more about the man and his many achievements.  He devoted his entire life to serving his country both in the military, becoming Army Chief of Staff and a Four Star General during WWII with overall control of all US theatres, commanding Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, MacArthur, etc. and Secretary of State under President Harry Truman, before being warded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, the first military man to be so recognised. During a hoped for retirement post war he was made President of the Red Cross, but was almost immediately recalled by Truman to deal with America’s interests in China and during the Korean War, then later became Secretary of Defence.  For his work with the Marshall Plan he won the gratitide of many world leaders, including Winston Churchill, but has been largely ignored by history, perhaps because he always refused to write any memoirs.  We emerged several hours later and after a spot of lunch headed to the nearby VMI museum.  Virginia Military Academy is the State equivalent of the Federal ‘West Point’, but from which graduates can enter any of the US armed services.  This collection had some good displays on former graduates from the Academy – the main feature being TJ ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.  There was the horse (stuffed) he was riding when he received injuries (shot by friendly fire) which were to prove fatal a few days later, as well as many of his personal items.  Downstairs was a large gun collection – so many of the guns were still in their original cases with their various tools and bullet making equipment.  Of particular interest was the air-rifle taken by Merriweather Lewis on his (Lewis and Clark) expedition across the continent at the beginning of the 19th Century, which so astounded all the native indians they came into contact with.  The grounds around the VMI were stunning, with the centrepiece being the barracks building.  With the day pretty much over we headed out of town and in the direction of the Blue Ridge Parkway – crossing over it and a few miles down the road found another dispersed camping spot in the George Washington National Forest to be nicely placed to start our exploration of the Parkway tomorrow.

31 October – Cold start to the day so a nice little walk up the valley to get warm before setting off.  A few minutes up the road, we got on to the Blue Ridge Parkway and commenced a day of gorgeous motoring – the road climbed a little up and down and although a bit curvy, the 45mph speed limit ensured a relaxing drive.  We had splendid views in places where the road went along the ridgeline – valley bottoms on both side of the road were visible.  The leaves came and went as we changed elevations with still some patches of vibrant colours.  The campground we were heading for was closed for the season so had to get off the parkway towards Roanoke and Wallies.  We may not hit the Parkway tomorrow as the weather is forecast to have some snow showers.

Kindness of Strangers

10-12 October – HERSHEY. Say no more!  Bob got to spend another full day exploring a few more of the 9000 sites and returned home a rather weary wee thing. He had managed to find a few little treasures which won’t weigh us down when we do have to fly home, but one book from the Stanley museum stand scotched that idea – he will have to take it on as hand luggage.  I had a more fleeting run around  before hitting the Stadium to watch the scheduled high-wheeler display, but it was running so late and after watching the racing cars for a while got bored and returned to Wanda with a good book.

Saturday was the car show, so we both wandered way over to the far side of the complex to view the several hundred vehicles that had travelled from far and wide to be judged.  So many cars, a huge variety of classes and probably upwards of 100 judges all busy inspecting them.  Weather not so great for these last two days but at least it wasn’t raining any more.  After spending a good few hours viewing the show cars, we spent the rest of the afternoon picking through the remnants of the stall holders treasures.  Because of the inclement weather a good number of the stall holders had packed up on Thursday night so it was slim pickings.

This RH drive 1912 Rambler was for sale for a very attractive price!

Sunday was a lazy start to the day and as we didn’t have to vacate the camping area until 11am we took it easy – almost too easy in fact, because when it came time to leave Wanda decided to be unwandaful and not start.  Even our auxiliary backup battery couldn’t budge her into life.  It seemed that 4 days of running the radio and a cold morning was enough to flatten the battery.  Luckily for us there were a couple of campers still left and Bob was able to get a kind gentleman to give us a jump start.

Before leaving Hershey altogether we visited the AACA museum – special displays were the 100 years of Dodge and Indian Motorcycles – both of which were nicely presented. They even had ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ film playing on the Indian display.

13 October –  After spending a quiet night at Walmart in Shrewsbury, today was Columbus Day and a public holiday.  Good day to tackle the mad freeways necessary to get between Baltimore and Washington for our final destination of Annapolis – and luckily it was a relatively easy drive.

This is where the kindness of strangers comes to its fore.  When we crossed over to Maine from Canada six weeks ago, we met a lovely couple in the picnic area just after the border; after chatting with them for a while we received a very kind invitation to park in their driveway once we got to Annapolis and they would help us to explore the region.  We duly arrived in the afternoon to a lovely welcome – they have a stunning home and property on several acres, nestled among the trees.  Our first treat was to be offered the use of their guest apartment under their office/workshop.  For the first time since starting out in Wanda, we abandoned her for the luxury of a real bed, comfy lounge with TV and a real bathroom.  We felt very fortunate.  Scott and Donna had also come up with a variety of ideas on how we could get to see some of the sights.

14 October – Scott ran us to the airport train station about 20 minutes from home so that we could get into the heart of Washington DC.  What a neat journey – the train took around 30 mins to deliver us right to Union Station for the princely sum of $3 each.  The two storied train was so smooth – none of the clickety clack of NZ rail and we had great views as we whizzed along.  Our agenda for the day was the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum  which was a nice stroll past the Capitol building (unfortunately a lot of the latter is covered in scaffolding for repairs) down to Independence Ave, where most of the myriad of Smithsonian museums are located.  Bob was able to indulge himself all day looking at planes, but I took myself off after a couple of hours to see what else was around. First stop the Botanical Gardens and their amazing conservatory with an orchid display that was out of this world.   I also had time to do a quick whizz around the American Indian Museum before meeting up with Bob to return to the train station.  We managed to find the correct train and before we knew it were back at the Baltimore Airport with Scott there to pick us up and take us home.

15 October – Miserable weather so caught up on some chores and then took a drive over the impressive Chesapeake Bay Bridge on to the Delmarva Peninsula (it’s shared by the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) for a bit of a wet look at Oxford and St. Michaels.

16 October – Drove close into Annapolis where we were able to make use of special parking for the Boat Show and just get a shuttle down to the city centre.  First stop was the US Naval Academy – 4,500 young men and women are undertaking a 4 year degree under a military lifestyle, which can be taken in a range of fields, after which they have to serve for another 5 years.  They graduate as ensign officers of the highest quality.  The Academy was a huge affair with impressive buildings and we were lucky to arrive in time to take one of the walking tours.  Also caught the “Noon Review” where about 200 of the recruits gather ceremoniously and march into lunch to the sound of the band.  Lunch is a feat in itself – all 4,500 gather in their mess and are fed and back to studies in just 20 minutes.  Long days and short nights give little time for mischief!  A huge emphasis is placed on forming great leaders and one of the disciplines to build this was 2-3 hours each day being spent participating in team activities.

The chapel was another lovely building with the organ playing in full voice as we went in to view the memorials and the crypt, where their great naval hero John Paul Jones (actually a Scotsman) is interred.   We had time for a quick zoom around the Preble Museum which houses one of the world’s largest displays of shipbuilder’s models from the late 1600’s onwards, including also a huge collection of French POW carved ships from the time of the Napoleonic Wars.

Lunched on soft-shell crab, which was a bit different, in the local Annapolis Irish themed pub before setting out on an exploration of the interesting streets and buildings surrounding the Capitol building (Annapolis is the capital of Maryland).  A lot of the buildings were red brick and very substantial.  The small streets had neat boutique shops.  After taking a free circular trolley around the historic centre of town and walking back down to the harbour area, boarded our shuttle back to the parking lot and back home to our hosts.

17 October – Another day “doing” Washington DC.  Caught the same train and decided to do the Hop on, Hop Off touro bus tour so that we could catch the best that the city had to offer.  It was a good move, although at times the heavy city traffic rather slowed us down.  Managed to hop off to see the Lincoln and Washington Memorials, Arlington National Cemetery (where an eternal flame burns beside JFK’s grave), The White House and Georgetown before it was time to hit Union Station and return home.  Very impressed with DC – very leafy, loads of green spaces and their building ordinance doesn’t allow buildings to be over 15 stories.  Apparently nothing is allowed to exceed in height the ‘Freedom’ statue atop the Capitol building!

18 October – Time to move on and leave the lap of luxury.  What a treat it had been to sleep in a ‘real bed’, spread out on a sofa and enjoy pleasant evenings with Scott and Donna.  We were sent off with some home baking and best wishes for our journey ahead.

Headed south once more through quite a built up metropolitan area around the town of Waldorf before the traffic thinned out and farmland appeared once again, crossing over the Potomac River and leaving Maryland for Virginia at Dahlgren.  Stopped for the night at Tappahannock Wallies and a very different cultural experience.  Not too many white faces and the boom boxes belting out rap music in the carpark is an indication of the different although still pleasant area that we are currently in.

19 October –  After a nice quiet night continued our southward journey through pleasant alternately farmed and wooded countryside before crossing over the York River and onto the historic site of Yorktown where the last major battle of the American Revolution was fought and the Anglo/German military garrison surrendered to the superior American/French forces.  We just happened to arrive on the very day of the battle 233 years ago and were lucky enough to be a part of their annual celebrations, marked with much colourful pomp and ceremony.

Both modern and historical re-enactment armed forces took part in the parade, with a particularly impressive display from the fyfes and drums brigade of youths aged 12-18, as well as a thunderous thirteen cannon salute.  By the time all the marching and presenting of flags had finished, it left us with just enough time to explore the rest of the site and do the drive around the battlefields before they closed up for the day.  Managed to find a Waldorf with a vacancy for the night nearby in modern day Yorktown.

20 October – More history today – had intended to “do” Jamestown and Williamsburg today, but as usual these things take so much longer to visit than anticipated, so it was just Jamestown, which was the site of the first British settlement of America in 1607.  104 original colonists (only men and boys) arrived in May of that year and within a year were dying in large numbers from disease and starvation.  By 1610, nearly 300 colonists had settled, but in that year only 60 managed to survive the “starving time” during the winter.  These final survivors were relieved with supplies from England by Lord de le Warr (Delaware state is named for him) and the settlement began a slow recovery.  The  discovery that tobacco could grow well was the boost it needed and from then on it became a very prosperous region which would not have been possible without the labour provided by slaves transported from Africa.   We followed the living history tour presented by a retired lawyer in period attire which was riveting.  He took the part of one of the “gentleman” settlers and took us through those initial years.

On site is an archaearium – a museum with all the artifacts found from the archaeological digs that have taken place over the past 20 odd years. Fascinating what they have been able to find.  Several skeletons were on display, and from these they have been able to establish quite a lot about their life, including one young woman who had been a victim of cannibalism during the “starving time”.

One of the local Indian chief’s 400 children, Pocahontas, also comes into the history of Jamestown although the guide went to great pains to say that Disney’s depiction of her is not correct and the true story was much more interesting.  After being captured, she married one of the settlers named Rolfe, had a child and left on a trip to England with her husband, where she died at the age of about 22.

Another day over – we headed off in search of a place to stay – our book had come up with a local Wildlife Management Area which we found and was ideal.  A nice cleared parking area in the forest well placed to visit Williamsburg on the morrow.

 

Goodbye New York, Hello Pennsylvania

30 September – Left the State Park after a couple of relaxing nights and set off on a longish day of motoring leaving the green hills and forests of Vermont to enter New York State.  Travelled via Troy, bypassing the city of Albany and westward on highway 20 through a myriad of small towns as far as Ritchfield, then north up to Herkimer for the night.  We had booked Wanda in for a service the next morning at Ritchfield so it was just a matter of finding somewhere in the vicinity to stay for the night and Herkimer draw the short straw as it had a Waldorf.  First noticeable difference upon entering NY was the billboards, which are banned in Vermont; how much more pleasant the countryside is without them.  The densely forested hillsides gave way to much more open vistas, a lot of farmland and an awful lot of hills.  It seems that NY State has masses of deep valleys, especially in the Finger Lakes area, which run north to south, so by travelling east to west we seemed to spend all our time going up and down them. If they were gentle climbs it would have been fine, but these are steep long drags up and down into each valley.

We also know that it is harvest time as we see farm produce for sale at the roadside and bright orange pumpkins in their hundreds.  People are starting to decorate their houses with them already and Halloween stuff is in all the shops although it is still a month away!  Note to self – make sure that we are well away from civilisation during Halloween celebrations.  We still have some nice fall colours but the leaves are dropping quite quickly and we will need to keep going south to keep up with them.

One thing that is really noticeable in rural North America is that folks do not put up fences between their property and their neighbours very much and most of the time there is not even a hedge separating them.  They don’t go in for gardens around their houses very much either, but do have huge areas of lawn which in most cases are very nicely manicured.

01 October – Wanda got her service, once again impressed with the Ford Agents and especially with their charges.  There must be some sort of subsidy paid by Ford to their agents as the labour charge is nothing like the charges posted, ie. this last place it was $68 per hour but we only got charged $20 for labour and they spent more than hour on it.

Another long day of motoring took us through Auburn and down to Ithaca intending to use another Waldorf for the night, except that when asked they said no, so we just moved next door to Lowes, a big hardware store which closed at 10pm and had no objections.

02 October – Had a nice quiet night, made even better by the fact that Lowes turned off most of their floodlights in the parking area once they closed shop.

First stop today was the LDS Family History Centre at Ithaca to see if Bob could do some further research on his lost relatives.  Once again, very helpful volunteers kept him occupied for quite a while.

I spent those hours trying to perfect how to edit videos off the camera and load them up into the ether.  Made some progress and hopefully will now be able to produce some better ones.  Also loaded a lot more of my pictures on to the cloud as another storage place in case of computer disasters.

Before leaving Bob called ahead to the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport to see if they would mind if we parked overnight, as we wouldn’t be able to make the museum much before it closed.  They were completely fine with that so we set off back into Ithaca and then out west again on a series of country roads, up and down, up and down until we reached the museum late in the afternoon.

The Director of the museum came and introduced himself and made us most welcome, even kindly offering a power connection if we needed it.  So after another gourmet meal (Wallies rotissiried chicken with fresh sweetcorn and salad) settled in for the evening.  The setting sun lit up the few wispy clouds and with a bright half moon shining overhead we look to be in for a clear and probably coolish night.

03 October – Spent the best part of the day enjoying the Glenn Curtiss Museum.  Nicely displayed exhibits of the motorbikes, air planes and boats that featured in his wide ranging career, as well as some local craft exhibitions of miniature houses and embroidery plus an interesting display on women aviators.  We got to spend some time with one of the restoration guys doing a WWII P-40 (Warhawk or Kittyhawk fighter) which had been salvaged from a Florida swamp after it had been involved in a mid-air collision some 40 years ago.  Glenn Curtiss was quite a guy, largely overlooked by history but instrumental in some of the initial important inventions and developments of the motoring and aviation industries as well as breaking a series of speed and ‘first’ records.  In 1907 he achieved a world land speed record of 137 mph on his 8 cylinder specially developed motorcycle, then in 1908 he was also the first to publically demonstrate sustained level flight of 1 km in his ‘June Bug’ aeroplane.  It was Curtiss designed JN1 (Jenny) training aircraft that most early US airmen first learnt to fly in and Curtiss designed seaplanes operated by the US Navy that first made an air crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1918.

More photos from the Museum

Decided after Bob had visited the previous LDS centre that it might be beneficial to try our luck up at Batavia were the local library had a specialist family history researcher.  So he made an appointment to check out their records and we made our way from Hammondsport up to Batavia for another fun night at Wally’s.

04 October – Another extremely helpful and knowledgeable woman spent a lot of time investigating things for him but still more questions than answers.  He did however get the name of a Don Hayton who had made enquiries about some of the same leads several years ago – this turned out to be the American man who has the same DNA profile as Bob.  We were given an email address and from that we established that he was in the nearby town of Dansville – a small town to the south where we would be passing through.  We sent off an email and before we could get a reply we were in Dansville anyway, so put in his address into GPS and rocked up at his front door.  He happened to be home and his wife invited us in and called their daughter Sally from across the road, as she is the principle investigator of their genealogy research.  That was a bit of a shock – she was definitely of the Hayton lineage- a cross between Bob’s two sisters Sally and Margaret.  Sally spent a while taking Bob through all her family history discoveries, during which we at least established that one of the main leads in the connection between the UK and US sides of the family was the subject of a US transcription error and thus a dead end.  We took our leave a couple of hours later and hit the road south all the way to Painted Post and the inevitable Wallmart. In this region it is too populated to try and find nice off the beaten track overnight spots, so we take the easy option.

05 October – Oh boy, the temperature plummeted last night – down to 3C and it was cold.  Our stop for the night was marred somewhat by inconsiderate NY RV’ers who came in and parked right next to us, then proceeded to run their noisy generators all night long, so it didn’t make for a very peaceful night.  Spent a bit of time in the morning trying to plot out the next few days activities before heading down Interstate 86 to cross over into Pennsylvania  and on to Williamsport, then crossing to I-80 for a museum stop at Bloomsburg – Bill’s Old Bike Barn.  Well it was something else, that’s for sure.  60,000 sq feet of the most amazing collections of mainly bikes and junk, displayed in a very kitschy way.  There were numerous bikes, many of the HD variety, but the other stuff was set out in streets and shop fronts – it was just mind boggling the amount of material that Bill has collected.  For it’s novelty factor alone it was worth the visit, and there were some really neat little gems amongst it all.  My favourites were the collection of 17thC children’s model riding horses and also some early carousel figures.  It took us most of the afternoon to look around before we headed back onto the I-80 for Hazleton and yet another Wally’s.

05 October – Much quieter night was had and not so cold either.  The list of museums in this area was consulted before deciding on Old Spokes Museum as the first stop for the day.  This was only available by appointment so a quick phone call to Bernie established that we would be welcome.  We set off through the town and ‘burbs of Hazleton (this is a coal mining area and not very prosperous nowadays) but once over into the next valley it was like being in another world – nice houses and rolling countryside.  At New Smithsville, we came to Bob’s Auto Orphanage and Hudson museum.  He has all sorts of premises on both sides of the road – including a huge barn from the 1870’s.  First stop was the Hudson display room with a lovely collection of Hudson and Essex cars from 1916 through to the 1950’s.  Some very rare and intriguing vehicles.  Over the road was his workshop with another 8 or so cars – including the twin of our own 1922 Essex.  Bernie spent a lot of time talking with us and showing off all his treasures and his future projects.

It was then a choice of the next stop – Mack Truck museum or Air Museum – Bob chose the air museum just 30 minutes away as they were restoring a P61 Black Widow from WWII.

With that out of the way we headed for Hamburg and our first overnight stop at a Cabela’s store.  These stores are huge hunting/outdoors stores and this happened to be the largest one in the country, sitting on 6.5 acres with the largest parking lot that we have ever seen.  A special area is set aside especially for RV’s and trucks are parked way over the other side – they even have a waste water dump, horse coral and dog kennels.  The inside of the store had to be seen to be believed.  As well as all the outdoor stuff, hunting and fishing supplies, there were several stuffed wildlife set piece displays. The first one had African animals including a large elephant, gnus, antelopes, hippo’s, rhino’s, crocs and lions – all shot by the owner of the store.  In another display were animals from the mountains – bears, big horned sheep, moose, coyote, musk ox, mountain lion and even polar bears.  The third display was their deer display with probably over 50 deer as well as mounted heads all along the walls.   I guess if you are a hunter you appreciate these sort of displays, but it just seems such a sad waste.  They did have one live display and that was a huge fresh water aquarium.

07 October – After a relatively quiet night (apart from the constant hum of traffic from the freeway) set off towards Allentown and our first stop, the America on Wheels museum.  I left that one to Bob as one in a day is enough for me.  Allentown didn’t hold much of other interest and it was nice to get clear of the city.  Made our way to Boyertown and a little Antique Auto museum set up in an old truck manufacturing plant.  They had an interesting range of vehicles – most manufactured within 50 miles of the town.  Amazing how many car companies there were around here that went out of business in the depression years.  Also there was a diner that had been rehoused from a local town – it looked really cute.  One impressive vehicle was like Mr Toad back home – a one of a kind Rhino based also on the American La France chassis – loads of brass and a superb restoration.

More photos from the last few days

Left Boyertown via Birdsboro to finally come to rest at the French Creek State Park near Elverson and a large campground in the forest with nice facilities, but only a handful of occupants.

08 October – Amish territory was the order of the day as we headed towards Elverson then south down Highway 82 to reach Lancaster County and a westwards journey toward the city of Lancaster.  First stop was an Amish quilt shop – lovely young woman manning the shop.  The quilts were superb – machine pieced by women in the village and finished with hand quilting. Around $800 for a king sized piece.  Finally saw our first horse and buggy buzzing along the road – this particular highway was really busy and quite narrow, so they had to contend with huge trucks and fast moving cars all the time.  The village of Intercourse was a huge tourist stop – bus loads of touro’s pour into this town to go for buggy rides and shop in the small shops.  We went into a nice craft shop and managed to come out with just an Amish cookbook and postcards – they were such keen salespeople!  The town had a large canning company – canning is huge in America although it is not cans but preserving jars. Beets, pickles, vegetables and even eggs were available in jars as well as jams, sauces, mustards and relishes.  Nice to wander around the shop and be able to taste the wares.  Very  orderly countryside in this area – the Amish farms tend to be smaller, the farm where I stopped to look at the quilts had only 80 cows and was just 70 acres.

Down the road at Bird-in-the-Hand was a farmers market, although it was more a selection of baked goods and confectionery with only one stall selling local veges.

Picked up our supplies in Lancaster and headed north again towards Lebanon and a county park which was listed in one of our apps; annoyingly the info was out of date and it ended up being a rip-off for what was offered, but a pleasantly quite night.

09 October – Only a short trip down the road to guess where?  Hershey!!  They are having their Fall Meet over the next few days so it could not be missed (at least not by Bob).  Found where we had to park the RV for overnight camping very easily – traffic was very light into the area and the RV area is across the road and a few minutes away from the meet.  Duly registered, we made our way to start looking around.  It is now obvious why you need several days here as there are over 9,000 sales sites plus all the special events and displays.  By lunchtime we had done about 10% and that was enough for me, so I left Bob to it and wandered back to Wanda, but first I thought I would have a look at the car corral – this is where they have all the old cars for sale.  The only criteria is that they must be at least 25 years old and have to be driven in.  Well, I went up one long road and back down the other side – 400 vehicles and I had only covered half of them.  A good range with the majority being from the 1950’s, but a handful of earlier cars.  Nothing particular stunning except maybe the early Roller, but at $145K it was a bit out of my price range!

Autumn Leaves are falling

 

18 September – A grey cold day for our first day in the forest.  So cold in fact that I needed to give Wanda a wash in order to keep warm.  That took the best part of 3 hours but it was good to get all the road gunk cleaned off before it took root.  The sun didn’t make a showing all day, so it required a good forest track walk later in the afternoon to stay warm.

19 September – After a very cold night we at least had a nice clear day, so with good clean water in the nearby brook got all the washing done and then tried to find a sunny place to get it to dry – that was a bit of a challenge as the trees were quite close in, but managed to get it done eventually.  A small hike in the White Mountains following a cross country ski trail occupied us for a while in the afternoon.  Another cold night looked set to descend on us, so we closed up early to keep the warmth in and settled for a night of thrashing Bob (at Scrabble).

20 September – Headed west toward the Vermont border stopping at Bath (along with several coachloads of tourists) to view America’s oldest country store and a quaint covered bridge.

A flea market along the way also attracted our attention and we picked up some fresh sweetcorn.  It was then on to Woodsville and Walmart to pick up supplies and get a flu injection each – thought we should get one as we are coming into winter and some protection is desirable as it is no fun being sick in an RV.  That was a bit of a performance while they filled out the necessary forms and diddled around preparing the injections.

Duly vaccinated, we headed for our next destination over the state line and into Vermont, through Groton on 302 and then turning north to the Groton State Forest for a campground, as we are nearing the limit on our waste and water tanks.  The Riker Pond Campground was the first one we came to that had the necessary facilities.

The roads around New Hampshire are dotted with stone-wall fences – very similar to the Glenburvie region in Whangarei, although more forested. They were used here to keep in the sheep in the late 1800’s but now there are no sheep and the walls are falling into disrepair.  We were told that we would see a difference in the towns between NH and VT – it was noticeable in the first town we came to, the houses were quite close to the road but yet again we see many rural homes abandoned and a lot of sub standard houses.  It was amazing what an effect a couple of cold days had on the foliage – a lot more trees have started turning.  Enjoyed a campfire to see the evening out as the cold front had disappeared to be replaced with much warmer air.  Very impressed with the campground and how it is looked after – each site is cleaned and raked after each camper departs, and the sites are nicely placed well away from each other.  Another neat thing they have as well as tent/RV sites and cottages is wooden floored lean-to’s.  I guess that these are generally used by tenters so that they have a nice dry place to congregate, or if you don’t have a tent you could easily sleep in them and be under cover.

21 September – After duly making use of the facilities in the campground, went a little up the road for a walk in the woods.  These forests are mostly deciduous trees so it must be quite different to see the trails in the winter – they would be much more open and you would get nice views.  Came back on to the main highway V2 and at East Montpelier headed north again on a smaller road following small lakes and through the settlements of East Calais and Hardwick, before finally finding a fishing access parking lot to make our home for the night.

We are now following a route we picked up off the internet as being the best roads for viewing the Fall colours.  We are still a little early but even over the last few days we have noticed the change.  Nice to be back to warmer weather again – it is a little hard to get warm at night when the temperature drops down into the low 30’s.  Did manage to find a hot water bottle (not a very substantial one but it will work for now) in Walmart.

22 September – Had quite a bit of rain overnight and it didn’t really brighten all day.  Continued on our ‘autumnal leaves’ route which took us up and over a small mountain pass at 2333ft which was covered in low cloud, so not too much to see, and a front was passing through with quite a lot of wind.  We have had patches of quite vivid colours.  Passed through some small settlements and it is quite depressing yet again to see how many abandoned houses there are.  As we went a little further north we got into serious dairy country – Vermont is renowned for it’s cheese production.   The size of the barns has to be seen to be believed – a few were quite modern looking but there were just as many very old ones.  Stopped off in Newport for morning tea, but as it was still raining we were not too inclined to do much exploring and soon continued on westwards on pleasant rural roads.

Our stop for the night was pre-arranged at a harvest host dairy/maple sugar farm near Swanton.  They have 250 mainly Friesian cows which are kept in barns in quite large individual stalls – the owner was very defensive when questioned about this way of farming and went to great pains to inform us of how humane their system is.  They can be milked two or three times a day in situ and all the production goes to a local co-op of around 400 farmers; this past year they have been getting record prices.  Their milk is nearly all used in local production as fresh town supply or for cheese – if any is sent for powder, the farmer has to pay for that to be done!  She couldn’t quite get the concept that nearly all of our NZ milk goes into milk powder for export.  The huge silos on these farms are for silage for winter feed and they also feed home-grown hay plus grain and trace elements which is often bought in.  The manure from the barns is collected and gets spread at a later stage on their fields.

The maple syrup/sugar production is very interesting.  They have 12,000 trees scattered in the woods on their property which are tapped in springtime – the taps are linked to a pipeline so there is no need to manually collect the resin sap during the 30 day production period.  Inside their sugar barn they have a large evaporator which gets rid of the water and reduces the resin sap to syrup, which is further processed to make sugar.  It takes 40 litres of resin to get 1 litre of syrup, which they bottle and sell locally or off their website.  The warmer weather has gone west again, so it is back on with the gas furnace tonight.

23 September – Spent the best part of the morning chatting with the farm owners, tasting the maple syrup and learning about their farming methods.  Their son manages the trees and at the end of winter he has to go out with another worker and put in new taps in all of their trees.  He can tap up to 600 per day, which consists of drilling the hole and inserting the plastic tap.  Each tap is connected to a network of small bore plastic tubing.  These tubes end up like a spiders web through-out the forest and link into a central vacuum pump.  A sugar maple tree has to be 40 years old before it can be utilised – the minimum circumference has to be 10.5 inches for one tap; if you can reach around the tree and your hands don’t meet then the tree can stand two taps.  Each year new taps have to be inserted and the old taps heal in time.

Finally got underway and took the route that our hosts suggested through the Grand Isle islands in the middle of Lake Champlain, which turned out to be quite a well-to-do district.  A road follows down three of the larger islands; we stopped in the middle one at North Hero and had a walk in their nature park.  What should we come across in the woods but a maple sugar setup – plastic pipes all over the ground, wound around trees and connected to a vacuum tank, all set for the next season.  Had a nice chat with a local man who was parked alongside us, who kindly gave us some homegrown tomatoes.

 

Continued doing our loop and hit interstate 89, then north again up to St Albans.  Pretty road for a freeway – unlike the smaller roads which follow the hills up and down, interstates tend to cut through some of the hills – in this case it was quite spectacular as they went through sheer sided granite cuttings.  The forests in this area were peppered with the changing colours.  At St Albans it was eastward again through to Bakersfield and to complete the loop, south to Jeffersonville where we found another wilderness access parking lot beside a small river which was destined to be our home for the night.

24 September – Traffic going both ways was our morning wake-up – we are surprised how much traffic there is on these small roads.  Another loop of scenic roads was the order of the day.  A mix of small country roads and interstate took us through Cambridge, Jericho, Richmond, Waterbury then on a middle sized road north again through to the pretty ski town of Stowe.  A really nice little town with interesting art & craft shops.  Had a nice lunch in one of the cafes after wandering around the town and taking in the period buildings.  Didn’t travel too much further, with a short drive up to Morrisville, turning east and near Wolcott stopping at yet another Wildlife Access parking lot – this one again beside a small stream and also an historic covered railway bridge.  Being such a nice day, had a relaxing afternoon sitting in the sun and reading.  We are not too far from our parking spot of three days ago.  We have been doing these loops to make sure that we take in all the scenic roads and as the days progress we are seeing more and more colour in the foliage.  The reds being joined by oranges and yellows now.

25 September – Dawn chorus was the continual trail of cars going to and from who knows where – poor things must have been going to work.  We headed for Montpelier down a road travelled a few days ago.  As it is the State Capital, we thought we should stop and have a walk around but we couldn’t find a park for an RV for love nor money, so flagged that idea and took off on the Interstate 89 westwards as far as Duxbury and then down on another scenic drive, Hwy 100, to the Green Mountains.  Pretty route through a mix of farmland and as we got closer to the mountains – ski resorts.  The mountains are not very high and covered with forest.

Stopped for a nice nature walk around a snow-making pond and as we walked around it, noticed tracks leading from the forest down into the pond and pondered about what it could be.  Our questions were soon answered when we came across a large tree which had been half gnawed through, as well as the stumps of several smaller ones, very obviously by a beaver.  A little further along we came to the lodge – piled high with small trees and branches.  I can see where the saying ‘busy as a beaver’ comes from – they certainly put a lot of energy into building their homes.

Had a couple of free dispersed camping sites on our list for staying in the Green Mountain forest, the first one near Granville turned out to be not very suitable, so carried on to another area a little further south off on a side road from Hancock.  Texas Falls was were we found a perfect little spot beside a brook.

26 September – Time for another lazy day.  Had a little walk down to the Falls and back along the forest nature trail; though currently there was not a lot of water in the falls, the rock formations that have resulted from the spring melts and storm flows were dramatic and interesting.  Lots of beautiful clear pools were all down the path of the brook.

27 September –  Nice clear start to the day and back again to warm weather.  First stop today was the little settlement of Hancock where we noticed a book sale going on in the local library.  The libraries are a great place to stock up on cheap books so we now have enough to keep us going for a few weeks.  In between times I work through the 10,000 books that I have on my kindle.  Had a nice chat with the librarian, Caroline, who gave us a few tips for some local roads to sample.  Thanks Caroline – really enjoyed the road up to the quarry.  This quarry was harvesting a lovely green granite known as serpentine and the pit looked to go down about 200ft.

This would have to be the only place we have ever come across where the outdoor public picnic table had a granite top – very posh.  After that we continued down to Woodstock.   It was jam packed with weekend visitors and we couldn’t find anywhere to park, so had to drive through.  It’s main claims to fame are an association with the Rockefeller family and that all the services are underground, which seems to be quite a novelty for this country.

Next stop was to have a look at a remarkable furniture and pottery shop – Shackleton and Thomas.  Everything is hand crafted and comes at a very remarkable price (when you see coffee mug seconds at $42 you know it is a rather special place).  The quality of all the pieces was amazing.

From Woodstock headed westwards yet again towards Rutland, with fall colours making a stunning show.  We have been told that we have timed it right and are getting to see the best show.  Another week in this area and they might disappear as they are quite visibly falling already.  Walmart was the target as we needed supplies.  Not such a great location, right in the middle of the town beside the Amtrak station, but we have pleasant neighbours from Texas, so nice to have a chat with them and hear about their particular travels and learn a bit about their corner of the world.

28 September –  Amtrak was our alarm clock this morning – the train must have been parked up overnight, but at 6am it started it’s engines and by the time we left at 9am it hadn’t moved from the station.   Spent a fruitful hour at the Laundromat and a less fruitful time looking for propane.  Some states you can get it at most gas stations, but Vermont is not one of them – so it becomes a challenge to find the right sort of business that may be able to fill the tank.  Went out of Rutland on V4 – the same road as yesterday but going the opposite way and retraced our steps as far as West Bridgewater before heading south on Route 100.

Another pretty road, going up into their small mountains before dropping back down to Londonderry and just before Jamaica was our target – an Army Corps of Engineers Campsite along the West River.  A lovely place – over 100 sites but plenty of space between them and really nicely cared for grounds.  Decided it was a nice place to stay for a couple of days – especially as they gave Bob the senior’s price (in reality you have to be a US resident but they let it go) of a whole $11 per night with water and power.  A real treat to use our awning and sit outside and enjoy the lovely warm afternoon.

29 September – Walked a small trail following the river – it must have been an old railway judging by the grade and width of the trail.  The walk was mainly tree covered with carpets of fallen leaves to soften the road.

This is my first attempt at loading a video onto the ether.

http://youtu.be/wBNusoZ-YwE

 

Mainely Museums

10 September – Left Brewer and headed down the Acadia Peninsula to Seal Cove and a surprising little Brass Era Auto Museum which had a stunning array of vehicles from early steam and gasoline vehicles through to a brilliant 1913 Mahogany skiff bodied Peugeot and several early motorbikes.  A couple of hours later we emerged to head off down a dreadful road surface to Seawall and the National Park Campground.  Basic camping (ie. no power or water on the sites and no shower facilities) but in a nice setting in the woods, plus the essential weekly dump station.

11 September – Made the most of the facilities at the campground and hit the road.  Stopped off at Eagle Lake and did a mile or two of the carriage way which encircled the lake.  In this area of the park there are masses of carriage trails – they must have been used by the hoi poloi to go for picnics as this was a very wealthy part of the State in the early 1900’s.  Headed then into Bar Harbour – a real tourist town with loads of art galleries and souvenir shops.  Broke the bank and had a lobster lunch because that is what you have to do in Maine.  Not sure that I am that enamoured with lobster – I think I prefer crab (or at least the crab we had in Norway) but it was OK.  Note to self again – when it says it comes with chips, that is not the french fried variety but snack-pack potato chips – a strange thing to serve with a meal!  The weather turned to custard whilst we were eating and was quite miserable for the rest of the journey around the park, which put paid to any enthusiasm for an afternoon walk.  Made for Ellsworth and joined several other rigs for the night at the Waldorf.

12 September – Another night passed in 4 star luxury at the Waldorf.  A bit cooler this morning with a bit of fog which had cleared by the time we were ready to set sail.   Our first stop was a visit to Fort Knox – not the one housing the nation’s gold – that is in Kentucky – but a small granite structure intended to protect the Penobscot River settlements from British naval attack.  It was started in the 1840’s and building continued for 25 years. When work was finally stopped in 1869 it was still not completely finished.  It had a huge number of cannon emplacements.  Originally it was built for the smaller 32 pound cannons, complete with furnaces to heat the cannonballs so that they would set the enemy ships on fire when they landed on the deck, but these were never used as before the fort was completed a more sophisticated type of cannon had been developed.  This was the Rodman which was capable of firing a heavier ball over  greater distance of 3 miles.  These were huge guns with a 15in bore using a 450 pound ball and needed 12 men to load the cannon.  Size wise, the fort was much smaller than those at Halifax or Louisbourg, but still a great feat of engineering ingenuity.

To get to the Fort we had to cross an amazing suspension bridge over the Penobscot River, with the country’s highest bridge observation tower – the lift to the top of the tower was closed for repair so sadly we couldn’t go up to the top for the view.

Carried on down the coast road to Camden, a nice little port town although very touristy.  While wandering along the dock, we came across several sailing ships which were offering cruises; after a little deliberation decided we would go on the sunset cruise which gave us just enough time to check if we could stay at the Waldorf a short distance away in Rockfield.  GPS Sally took us to the site of an extinct Walmart and the new tenants didn’t want us to stay, but just opposite was a Home Depot (US answer to Bunnings) so we gave them a try and they were fine for us to stay.

Back into Camden to catch our ship – a nice 86ft two masted wooden schooner – looked old but was built in 1978.  She has sailed around the world and now spends her days between Camden in the summer months and Key West in Florida for the winter.  A crew of three guided us out through the harbour and around the coast of Penobscot Bay.  A beautiful time of day, with only wispy clouds and a slight breeze although it did get a bit cool on the way back.  We had a lovely sunset which strangely transformed the eastern horizon from clear blue through to reds, pinks and mauves – quite breathtaking.  The sea was beautifully calm and if it was always that calm I could quite easily take to sailing.

13 September – Must say that the Home Depot is a step up from the Waldorf – we may try another one in our travels further down the line.  Treat for the day was the Owls Head Transportation Museum and their special car and antique aircraft action day.  The museum had another stunning display of early vehicles and wonderful planes.  We got to watch several of the older aircraft soar into action and spent the whole day taking in the exhibits.  With a Rockefeller listed as one of the founding members and of the trustees, it is no wonder it is such an impressive museum.  They also had a vehicle of choice for this show which was Porsche, so there were a lot of modern Porches as well as Volvos, MG’s (LH drive so they didn’t look quite right) and many other sports cars on display.  The museum had also recently been donated a collection of 28 MG’s including several rare models.  The MC nearly fell off his chair when a modern three-wheeled Morgan came in (it would have been nice to spoil his day and tell him how many of the original version the club has at home.)  There were not many of the brass era vehicles which were having a large rally in the area and were expected to be on show at this event.  Thanks to Pat and John (our new friends from Australia) who recommended a visit to this museum, as it hadn’t really featured on our radar.

Needless to say, with that visit taking up most of the day we didn’t get very far from Campden, ending up at Thomaston and another Waldorf. Sampled their hot rotisseried chicken for dinner which was really quite tasty and at only $4.95 was good value – big enough to have another meal for tomorrow.  The rain which had been threatening all afternoon finally arrived and dropped the temperature a little more.  Might need to break out the thermals soon!

14 September – After mulling through the maps and guide books, we set off for the Maine Marine Museum in Bath – the book said you would need 2 hours – we took the better part of 4 hrs and probably didn’t see everything.   While we were there, a bus tour group came and went in no more than 20 minutes!  This museum was based at old wooden ship building yards and centred around the building of the wooden schooners in the late 1800’s right up until 1920.  Bath was an impressive place – around 30 ship building yards in days gone by and today it is home to a huge iron works yard building the new generation of smaller US Naval ships.  The displays centred around the trade routes out of Maine, the lobster fishing, the boat building and period housing.  From the very yard where the museum is sited the last and largest of the wooden schooners, the Wyoming, was built in 1909 at a cost of $162,000.  With six masts, each 170ft high and a deck length of over 350 feet, it was a massive ship as displayed by the full-scale on-site sculpture, and was built and ready for sailing in just 9 months from start to finish.  It was the world’s largest wooden schooner.  It was primarily used as a coal delivery vessel and could hold 6,000 tons. The run down the coast to Virginia to load the coal and back to Maine would take a month.  At times when the ship was being built there were upwards of 250 men working in the yard – covering all the trades from lumbermen, blacksmiths, carpenters, painters etc.

With the day nearly over by the time we got out of the museum, headed off in search of our next nightly stopover.  Went through Brunswick and left the coast heading towards Pownal; just outside of the small settlement of Gray we found a trailhead on public lands which looked suitable, so stopped and parked up for the night.

15 September – Glorious clear start to the day but wow the temperatures have certainly dropped.  First off, took the trail from where we were parked – met local man, outdoor guide Brooke, who had come to walk his gorgeous dog and walked the trail with him.  Yet another American with impeccable taste – he had visited NZ in March this year and had also visited previously in earlier years – he was a keen fisherman and had really enjoyed our back country and fishing streams.

Another local hiker we met suggested that we visit Pinelands which was just down the road – it was originally a mental hospital but had closed down many years ago and the buildings had got quite run down.  It got rejuvenated a few years ago, the buildings refurbished, a dairy farm, creamery and hothouses established and now it is a thriving place.  All sorts of hiking, skiing and snowshoeing trails as well as a lovely indoor market selling all their homegrown produce.  Did a small walk which was quite cute – every 100 metres or so there was a page from a kids story book written by a local author and the big kids just couldn’t resist reading them.

Headed north from here through Oxford, Norway and Paris, following a very pretty scenic route skirting the edge of the White Mountains and climbed a little higher to run again into the Appalachian Trail where it crossed the highway and a pleasant chat with several more ‘all the way’ trail hikers.  Stopped en route to have a small walk to a lovely waterfall – had it been a warmer day a swim in one of the many clear pools would have been nice and refreshing.

Passed over the Grafton Notch and found a parking area near a trail which was suitable for overnighting.  At the slightly higher altitudes we are getting to see a bit more colour in the leaves.  When walking up to the falls, was thinking how nice it was to walk in these northern areas as you don’t have to worry about snakes when lo and behold what was right beside me on the track – a snake!  Only a small one – about 18 ins long and about the thickness of a finger – it didn’t want to move away and seemed completely disinterested in us.

16 September – A bit of a cold wet start so we weren’t in a hurry to get moving.  Had no visitors overnight – not even a moose.  Continued our travels through the White Mountains on a variety of scenic roads.  Another European tour today, passing through Milan and Berlin.  Very nice road following the Androscoggin River, a lazy tree lined river which travelled first through a fairly narrow valley then it opened out to a more rural outlook.

There are a lot of trees in this area and the first ones to start changing colour are the maples; they look pretty against the dark green of of the evergreen pines and firs.  Some nice scenic overlooks on the road with sweeping views over the valleys to the mountains.  Went past Mt Washington but the cloud was quite low and so the top not very visible and the auto route up there not really an option.  The towns in this area are geared to the winter season and quite touristy.  Picked up a few essentials in Conway and then it took quite a long time to finally find a place to stop overnight.  This area is populated – not densely but just a string of small villages or ribbon development with not a lot of empty space between them.  Finally came upon a sign indicating a hiking trailhead near Moultonborough which had a decent area for us to park, with no restrictive signage, so made that our lonesome home for the night.

17 September – A bit of low cloud and fog cleared reasonably quickly, so we made a circular route through the White Mountains – firstly with a northwards dash on the Interstate 93 to Lincoln and then on to one of the not to be missed roads in the US – the Kancamagus Highway.  What a pretty route that was – it followed the Pemigewasset and Swift Rivers from West to East, with some stunning views along the way.

 

Did a couple of short hikes along the way.  Were particularly enjoying the peace and quiet of the forest to have it rudely interrupted by army helicopters and the grumble of fighter jets.  We went back through Conway and Glen and then hit another scenic route back East to West through the middle of the White Mountains ranges.  Went past Mt Washington, from the other side this time, and at Bretton Woods – the venue of the famous wartime conference of world leaders which resulted in the establishment of the World Bank and the IMF – stood the famous Mt Washington Hotel on a superb site with a backdrop of the major mountains of the eastern states.  The white landau carriage drawn by a pair of grey horses along the hotel driveway as we viewed the scene was a nice touch.  A mile down the road stood the base station for the mountain cog railway, the first such facility ever to be built and still in regular use, but at $60 each for a trip to the peak, a little outside our budget.

Our stop for the night is just a little further down the road at a National Forest Service dispersed camping area at Twin Mountain. The area is up a small road and has 11 sites spaced about 200 metres apart where you can stay for free for up to 14 days.  We found one where we could get reasonably level and although it is in the trees it was a bit more open than others.  Down the back of the site we have a little stream and supposedly bears and moose for company.   It is good to have reliable internet on hand again – makes it easier to do our research on our future travel routes, to listen in to Radio NZ so that we can follow what is happening back home and check up on our emails.

Aurevoir Canada – GOOD MORNING AMERICA

29 August – The Digby Waldorf settled down later in the evening and they even turned the flood-lights off for us.  There were probably about 8 rigs/toy haulers parked overnight getting ready for the motorbike rally.  Left Digby and continued on the Evangeline Trail heading through the Annapolis Valley – the road left the coast and continued up the river valley with more farming communities.  Stopped off at Annapolis Royal for a wander around the former French then British strong-point of Fort Anne, then around the pretty little town.  On the edge of town is a tidal power electric generating station – only a small axial flow turbine with an in-line generator of a few MW’s, but makes use of the 8m tides that happen twice a day in the Bay of Fundy, and which has run as a trial without major problems for ten years.  A much larger station is apparently planned for the future.

Greenwood was our final destination for a visit to the aviation museum attached to the large Defence Forces Air Base.  Arrived just on closing time, so got permission from the MP’s to stay overnight and are now parked among some interesting aircraft including Lancaster, Neptune and Argus, all types used for Canadian anti-submarine activities.

30 August – Had to wait until 10am for the museum to open, but the wait was well worth it.  From the outside it didn’t look like there was much in the museum but a couple of hours later we finally emerged.  The museum traced the history from an RCAF Station in 1942 to it’s present day status as the largest airbase in Atlantic Canada. There was lots of information about various individuals and their heroic deeds as well as the various aircraft types that they had utilised.  Left the museum and by chance there was a free dump station and fresh water supply just up the road outside the local mall which we were able to make use of.  Back on the road and onto to highway 101 for a few km’s of nice smooth running to Grand Pre and another UNESCO listed historical site dedicated to the Great Upheaval of the French Arcadians.  Interesting area around here; the area was then and still is farmed using dykes to drain the wetlands and manage the irrigation.  

We followed on from Grand Pre down to the sea at Mosquito Point where we found a perfect spot to park, overlooking the Minas Basin.  A group of 3 couples arrived complete with picnic table and firewood and invited us to join their campfire, which was kind of them.  We spent a pleasant evening with them – they were all involved in the local Canadian Film industry in various forms – director, editors, etc.  One woman had a nice tale of how she had to manage Ed Hilary’s press engagements when he visited Canada for a week and how much she admired him.

31 August – Not too much happening on the road today – we headed for Truro and went in search of propane but had no luck there, being a Sunday.  However we did find it at a camp-ground about 20 minutes away.  It was quite late (probably only the second time we have ended up driving in the dark) before we finally found a place to stay – a little local Veterans Memorial Park at Bass River which had another small rig parked up there for the night as well.

01 September – Labour Day Holiday today and for Canadians the last day of summer!  School goes back tomorrow.  Wet and miserable start to the day with pouring rain so waited for a while for the sky to clear before setting off.  Only one stop of significance today – the Joggins Fossil UNESCO listed Heritage Site.  Arrived just in time to take one of the guided tours that they offer – a very knowledgeable woman explained the history of Joggins, from the carboniferous period to the coal mining times which ended around 1960.  The cliffs around Joggins have a high fossil content embedded in the limestone layers and Tammy took us down to the beach and was able to point out all sorts of different fossils.  The high tidal action in the area is always uncovering new finds as well as destroying others, so it is a constantly changing landscape.  We were able to see trees, leaves, tracks of very early centipede like creatures and beds of tiny molluscs.  There were a lot of coal seams in the area and it was mined quite heavily, with some of the miners having to travel under the sea in tunnels a mile long.

After our talk we were free to wander along the cliffs and explore for ourselves – now knowing what to look for meant that discoveries were made when hitherto we would have missed them.  They had a good interpretive centre as well, with more displays of the fossils found in the area – the footprints from weird looking mammals were the most impressive – to think that these animals were around nearly 300 million years ago.

With Joggins done, there wasn’t much more to do than hit the road up to Amherst and another Waldorf for the night – being a holiday the store was closed so it was nice and quiet.  The landscape through this region had opened up with a lot more farming but not really very prosperous looking; a lot of the hills were growing the wild (low bush) form of blueberries and they were in the process of harvesting them.  The bushes are just starting to change colour, so the hills are tinged with red.

02 September- Spent the morning studying the next part of our journey and sorting out the best places for the fall colours in USA and then blatted along the freeway for a bit of smooth(ish!) stress free motoring through Moncton to Petitcodiac, where Bob quickly disappeared into the local Motorsport Museum.  The late afternoon brought on a drive to St Martins on the Bay of Fundy coast to view a couple of covered bridges.  The road was part of the Fundy Trail and yet again we were subjected to a real mix of road conditions.  Finally arrived in St Martins – had a look at the lighthouse – the fog was steadily rolling in which had set off the fog horn, so not somewhere to linger as those horns are quite loud up close.  The ocean was a swirl of nasty looking currents with little islands as well which would make for a treacherous shipping lane.  Back down into the village, found the covered bridges – not as old as I thought they would be – these two are from 1935 and 46 but there are older ones to visit in the New England Region.  Sampled the local marine takeaway specialities – done that now and don’t need to have a repeat performance.        

03 September – Another damp and miserable start to the day, after we had been on the road for about 30 minutes the rain come down heavily so decided to stop and wait it out – very conveniently the local church carpark had wi-fi so we did the email stuff while we were waiting.  Headed for Fredericton and their publicised Botanic Garden (should have taken note that it was garden singular), had a walk around the garden and adjoining park – the park was more interesting than the garden which didn’t really have anything to commend it.  The area had a nice carpark where we were able to watch the ‘mounties’ going about their business of apprehending a local miscreant.  By this time the sun had come out and we had a very lazy afternoon reading and cooking up anything that might create an issue when returning across the border.  After rush hour had been, we headed for the last Waldorf stop that we will have in Canada – USA tomorrow and hopefully back to our own wi-fi hotspot which makes keeping in touch so much easier.

04 September – Quick run this morning down to the border post at St.Croix; a great decision to come across at this point as we drove straight up – no queues.  The two border guards who looked at our passports got quite excited as they finally had something interesting to do.  We got the very happy chappy and I don’t think we have ever had such a pleasant border encounter – the fact that it took nearly an hour wasn’t a problem – he just wanted to talk and he was also having trouble with his printer, so things took a little while.  Anyway after all the pleasantries we got our next lot of 6 months stay in US, were able to keep our kiwifruit and fresh beans and were on our way into Maine.  The road alignment sadly did not improve greatly on the Maine side but we carried on down the road to stop for lunch at a very pretty lake.  Had a chance meeting with a lovely couple from Maryland who obviously had very good taste as they had been to NZ for a holiday and greatly enjoyed it.  They kindly offered to look out some ways that we could get into some of the cities in their area, including Washington DC, without having to take Wanda into heavy traffic.  A few more miles on improving roads brought us to the small town of Lincoln.  No sooner had we parked in the carpark than a woman came running up to us – she had heard all about us at the border crossing!  They were travelling behind us, so just had to come and say g’day – yes they were from Qld, Australia but we will forgive them for that,  Had a nice chat – they had driven from LA in 20 days across to Halifax to drop off a family member at ‘varsity – that is a lot of motoring in a short time, but they were looking to have a slightly more relaxing drive back.  They only have the 3 month entry so have to be careful that they are out of the USA by the stipulated date.

From Lincoln we meandered down a river valley with the hope of perhaps finding a nice boat launch site or similar but not to be, so ended up in Bangor and at Sams Club which is Walmart’s special store for members only.  We need to get our front tyres replaced and Bangor was the closest city we could find.  Most noticeable difference on entering back into the USA – the amount of derelict houses, dead cars and rubbish that some people here accumulate around their homes.  Spoke too soon about having wi-fi access – no decent coverage in this region so far.

05 September – Task for the day – get new front tyres fitted (and a wheel alignment) as the current ones have become very misshapen and worn, and are so noisy when running on the road.  It took a few takes to finally find someone who could supply and fit them without having to wait for several days, but we managed to succeed.  What a difference – silent motoring again!  Sought out the AAA office to see if we could get some more maps and info on Maine under the US/NZ AA reciprocal agreement.  There we were recommended to view the Cole transportation museum and so set off across town.  It was a really interesting museum – the Cole Family had for many years operated a transportation company and had built up a huge collection of all sots of vehicles.  Fire engines, snow ploughs, delivery vehicles, cars and bikes, rail, army and agricultural machines as well as a great number of ephemeral exhibits.  As seems to be usual in these places, several extremely knowledgeable volunteers kept us informed and entertained.

We decided that we would move northwards after perusing all our guff and try some forest camping for a change.  Our road north was through a mix of farm land, forests and rolling hills.  Stopped off at Dover-Foxcroft for supplies and then a little further on to a State Park at Peaks-Kenny.  Quite a large organised camp-ground with some of the essentials that we need occasionally – dump station, water and real showers.

06 September – We know we are back in the good old USA – it isn’t birds that create the morning chorus but low flying fighter jets!  Took a little wander down to the lake front and met up with a lovely family from Augusta, Maine.  Hiked a little of one of the bush walks with them.  Nice to talk with locals and get their take on things.  Really surprised to find that their 6yr old daughter Violet had a favourite film from NZ – ‘The Queen’ – she really liked the way that we talk.  Spent a nice hour or so before heading back to Wanda to do a bit of cleaning while the weather held, although it got really humid.  Left the camp and headed back into Dover to find the laundromat and get the washing done – joy of joys, that is a really fun job!  At least it was a reasonably wholesome one.  Was standing outside Wanda watching the cars go by and got a surprise when I heard my name being called out – it was our Maine family heading back home – I think that they must have seen the threatening thunderclouds and decided to give camping for another day a miss.  Headed out of Dover and towards a State Forest free camp-site – we did manage to find it, although the GPS co-ordinates from our book had us stopping in the middle of a lake!  The road down to the site was a little hairy but at the end there was a boat launch and about 4 rigs, permanently set up although unoccupied.  Got Wanda sorted with a nice view of our little lake.

07 September – Lovely peaceful night and lazy start to the day.  Destination Kingfield was only an hour or so from our site and the museum we were heading for didn’t open until 1pm.  Kingfield is only a small town but it’s claim to fame is as the residence of the Stanley family, Stanley’s of Stanley Steam cars and photographic renown.  The museum is in the old school house which the boys attended, although this is no ordinary village school house; with two enormous columns outside the front door it looks more like a stately home.  Inside the museum was full of details of their family’s life and their achievements.  They started with wet plate photography and thought that there had to be a better way, so invented the dry plate system which proved extremely popular and became the target of Eastman who kept trying to buy their business and they decided eventually to suggest some outlandish sum which they thought would scare him off.  Eastman wasn’t deterred and they sold out to him.  The twin’s sister Chansonetta was a world renowned photographer and her daughter an accomplished artist, so it seems that the entire family were extremely talented.  The museum was preparing for a Stanley consignment auction the next weekend so their cars were not on display, but a handful of later models were in for the auction along with a large array of steam and motoring parts.  Bob was really keen to speak with the archivist who only comes in on Tuesdays so, as we had decided that this area had some good hiking, we could afford to hang around till then.  What a beautiful area this part of Maine is – we travelled westwards and were within site of Canada again – not far from the border, in Quebec, is Lac Megantic where they had a dreadful railway explosion a few years back which killed nearly 50 people in the town.

We have now come into a more mountainous region – as we had descended into Kingfield we had glorious views of the northern end of the Appalachian chain of mountains.  The westward road that we took through to Stratton followed a pretty river valley then climbed up a way to a chain of lakes.  We had hoped to be able to stop here as our book had lots of state forest and waterside camping in the area, but the side roads down into these idyllic spots were more suitable for 4wd than our 24ft rig so we settled for a road-side rest area beside a pretty small river for the night.  We are starting to get a glimpse of the ‘fall’ colours in the higher elevations – with yellow and the odd splash of red showing in the greens, so looking forward to when it becomes more pronounced although with that will come the inevitable cooler weather.  

08 September – Morning chorus this morning was a procession of trucks which must have started around 5am.  Not far down the road we stopped off at a trail-head for the Appalachian Trail and hiked a small part of this 2,181 mile mountain trail which stretches all the way from Georgia to Maine.  We came across several groups of young men with long beards and after talking to them realised why – they had been hiking the full length of the trail, in some cases since April, all the way from the start in Georgia!  It was a nice wilderness hike, through forest which was a mix of deciduous and evergreen, with some of the maples starting their colour change.  Further down the road stopped at another trail-head for an easier walk along an old narrow gauge railroad track which had been turned into a walking track.

 

That was enough exercise for one day – stopped further down the valley road at yet another trail-head, where overnight parking is allowed – this one at the end of the little local airfield runway.  The change from Atlantic to Eastern summer time since coming into USA has meant that we gained an hour, so nightfall comes much earlier and the nights have suddenly got cooler.

09 September – Headed back to Kingfield but unfortunately the archivist for the Stanley museum wasn’t able to make it in, but Bob was able to prepare a list of questions and he will get answers back via email some time in the not too distant future.  I had a little walk around Kingfield, many lovely old houses but a lot of run down ones as well.  The town must have been bustling in its heyday – it had a very grand Railway station (no railway) and hotel (not operating) but nothing else much in the way of shops.  I had a look in the real estate’s window – you could pick up a large house on several acres from around 300K and family houses from around 150K.  We headed back towards Bangor, stopping off in Skowhegan for wifi as we are still frustrated by not being able to get a Verizon signal.  Picked up emails and final stop for the night in Brewer just across the river from Bangor in a Walmart and yeah!! affordable wine and creme caramel puddings again.  Bob lives in hope that one day he will find a nice little country cafe whilst we are travelling but I think it is a forlorn hope.  Stopped at one yesterday which was a very tired diner but had a very bubbly waitress.  I found out from her that there were bears in Maine and that the ‘season’ had just started this weekend.  The ‘season’ is of course the hunting season, it seems so sad that these lovely creatures become the target of hunters.

Bumps, Bogs & Beaches

19 August – Just down the road from our overnight spot was a small Provincial Park with a coastal walk, so we did the 3km walk before getting on the road.  

Today I felt like printing out a whole lot of Tui Beer’s ‘Yeah Right!’ posters and pinning them on each 80km speed limit sign we came across – the coastal roads in Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore have been the worst yet and getting above 50km is a bonus.  When you see grass growing up in the cracks and potholes you know they haven’t been looked at for quite a long time.  One little surprise was another car ferry – just a 10 minute hop across a small inlet for another $5.50 run on a cable and capable of just 12 cars.  

 

It took a lot of perseverance to find somewhere for the night, but finally found a spot in a bit of forest which backed on to the water.

20 August – After an undisturbed night we carried on the Marine Scenic Drive – today’s roads have been much improved which made for much more relaxing travel.  Lake Charlotte was our first stop and Bob got to reminisce at a village recreating village life in the 40’s and 50’s.  Only a small museum but still quite well done, with a couple of early vehicles and fuel bowsers setting the scene.  

Got the next blog posted with their nice strong wi-fi signal and then carried on to Oyster Pond where they had a little local walk.  Next stop was at Cole Bay – a 400 acre park with a series of walks.  The drive today has been really scenic; the coast as far as Lawrencetown followed a series of inlets and protected harbours before finally opening out on to the Atlantic Ocean.

 Another historic walk past Cole Harbour and then at Cow Bay found a free campsite listed on one our apps – a small parking area beside the water – again a sheltered bay looking eastwards towards what should be a nice sunset, but also seems to be an evening gathering place for the local youths in their hot cars so we will see how long into the evening that lasts.

21 August – Not long as it tuned out!  Just a short hop this morning to Dartmouth and found that the ferry had a park and ride carpark which was ideal.  We could park for free and get the ferry across to the centre of Halifax without having to drive through city traffic for just $1.75 and a free bus transfer at the other end.  Nice ferry ride across the harbour and connected with a short bus ride to take us up the hill to the 18/19th Century military Citadel.  Spent most of the day looking at the exhibits and re-enactments that were happening.  They had a special programme representing over a century of Canadian Military History, especially commemorating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 between England and it’s Canadian interests against the New England states.   They had volunteers recreating the 78th Highlanders and 3rd Brigade of the Royal Artillery during the period 1869-71, consequently some neat drum and piping displays as well as general military drills.  Listened to a lecture given by a doctor on the medical conditions/practices going on in the late 1800’s – it was a bit dry so not as interesting as we had hoped.  

Walked back down to the waterfront and after a short walk along the quayside got the ferry back to Wanda.  The local show and shine for the hotrod club was just getting underway in the park & ride carpark, so while we waited for the rush hour traffic to disappear had a wander amongst the vehicles.  My favourite had to be a brand new Cobra (red of course), that was some mean machine.

Made our way to the Waldorf for the night and met up with some fellow down-underians from Queensland.  We thought we were good only staying at camp grounds very occasionally, but they far surpass us – 3 years without a camp ground!  They had just come back from Newfoundland and found the roads there to be even worse combined with awful weather, so had not had an altogether enjoyable time – perhaps we made the right decision not to go there.

22 August– Nice lazy start to the day, swapping info with our Aussie neighbours and then on to the Atlantic Canadian Aircraft Museum.  Interesting array of aircraft including a replica of the Silver Dart, a Canso (similar to the Catalina), the almost obligatory Caadian designed and built CF100 and a CF101 Voodoo fighter.  We had that done and dusted by early afternoon.  Pat & John had also come to the museum and we spent the rest of the afternoon having a nice time putting the world to rights and before we knew it, it was time for dinner.  We decided that we would both stay at the museum for the night as everyone else had left; it was very quiet and we wouldn’t be bothering anyone so then proceeded to spend a very pleasant evening over dinner reminiscing about our respective travels and finding how many places we had both visited and the differences experienced.

23 August – Into Dartmouth to take a different ferry across the harbour into downtown Halifax and the Maritime Museum.  Great displays of earlier shipping, with an awesome display of model ships – in particular a 1:48 scale model of the Mauritania.  A large part of the museum was dedicated to the blast they had in 1917 which destroyed a huge area of the waterfront and killed over 1600 people.  It was the largest man-made explosion to have occurred in the world until Hiroshima.  It was caused by a collision between a munitions ship loaded with nitro-glycerine and a collier – the blast blew out windows 100km away and was felt 400km away. The injuries of those who weren’t killed were horrific.  There was also a large display around the Titanic sinking, as Halifax was the port that received all the survivors and bodies.

Ferried back over the harbour and ventured down to another Aviation Museum – mainly Canadian naval aircraft including a Fairey Swordfish (sink the Bismark!) and a Fairey Firefly, a Banshee jet fighter and several WW2 planes under restoration. Pat and John also returned to the Waldorf after their explorations and another social evening was pleasantly passed.

24 August – Took a while to get going and say our final farewells to Pat & John.  It has been such a nice couple of days meeting with such like minded folks.  Continued on the Lighthouse Trail through some nice little villages and stopped at what we thought would be for the night at a small harbour similar to many we had used previously without trouble.  But we later had a visit from a local who said we had parked on his private land (it wasn’t obviously private) and if we were to set his coolstore on fire his insurance wouldn’t cover it (but for a small fee of $25 that risk would miraculously disappear).  Stuff that! We moved on and found a nice flat area beside a small electrical substation which was nicely off the road, for a peaceful night.   

25 August – First stop next day was the UNESCO town of Lunenburg.  A picture postcard waterfront town with buildings dating from the 1820’s, some lovingly restored and some a bit more rustic.  The protected area is 5 blocks square from the waterfront and up the hill.  We spent the morning at the fishing museum with a good talk on one of the motor/sailing fishing schooners which the museum is centred around – ‘Bluenose’ – which became very famous in the US/Canadian fishing fleet races, never having been beaten.  Also moored were a couple of fishing boats which were open to wander around on and we got the tour by retired fishermen.  Had a treat of lunch before meandering the streets to inspect some of the charming buildings and making our way back to Wanda parked way up on the top of hill.  No decent stopping places were forthcoming on the Lighthouse Trail so ended up at Bridgewater and their small Walmart.

26 August – The Waldorf were very accommodating as they turned off the floodlights at 11pm so we had a nice quiet night.  Our South Shore odyssey continued with a half hour of highway smoothness before getting back onto the “scenic lighthouse” road. Scenic yes, road, no!  Our first stop was at Port Medway, a brilliant little harbour sheltered by many  offshore islands.  This coastline really is quite beautiful and sheltered making for what must be boating heaven.  Another first for us today, we watched a couple of small boats bringing in seaweed.  They harvest it from the shallow waters and it gets sent to Yarmouth about 2 hours away where it gets dried, crushed and used for many things including fertilisers, makeup and icecream,  Talking to the guys harvesting it, it takes around 4-5 hours to rake in 6 tons and another hour to unload to a skip, for which they get $48 per ton, so it is a hard earned dollar for them but they have to have an income when they aren’t fishing.  The locals of Nova Scotia have an interesting accent – not like mainland Canada at all.  

On from Port Medway we bumped around to Liverpool and at Port Joli we went down to the Kejimkujik National Park which was out on a small peninsula.  A nice 4km hike to the Harbour Rocks area was really pretty.  We had views of both sides of the peninsula as we hiked through a mixture of bog and sparse forest.  Once at the rocky coast we were rewarded with brilliant blue ocean, seals and birds basking on the rocks and little sandy beaches.  I got to dip my toes in the Atlantic ocean for the first time on this trip – lovely, refreshing and sparkling clear.

Back on the main road for another little stint and then down on another peninsula to Little Harbour which was just that – too small to consider stopping.  Not too long after that the road headed inland through the pine forests and we found a small lay-by in trees suitable for the night.

Down the road today with a stop at Shelburne for supplies; this part of the road mainly through the forest and swamps. Back down on the coast and a stop at the Port LaTour Provincial Park.  Walked down to the beach – quite a rocky beach although people were swimming in quite rough water despite the warnings of tidal rips.  After lunch headed back up the other side of the peninsula stopping at Barrington to have a look around their Woollen Mill Museum.  Very interesting – the mill was in operation from the mid 1800’s right up until 1963.  It was water powered and had the full gambit of machines right from washing, dyeing and carding through spinning to looms for the finished product.  They produced material from fine shirting through to blankets and tweeds.

From Barrington headed down to Cape Sable Island, the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia and a brilliant parking spot right out on the tip overlooking the ocean.  Met Brenda from Halifax and had a lovely chat with her, while watching the tide coming in.  Had a little walk around the settlement after dinner, including the local bird sanctuary, and came back to watch the sun setting.  As we were walking around we could hear the fog horn from the nearby lighthouse and didn’t think much of it, but as soon as the sun went down, the fog rolled in limiting visibility down to probably only about 30 metres and the air got really sticky.  Had the usual stream of locals including the Mounties (sadly they don’t wear red coats or ride their horses round here!) coming down to see who was parked up.  

28 August – Awoke to a very foggy damp morning.  Our lovely vista from the previous was non-existent.  Headed back up Cape Sable Island and as it was still pretty miserable kept to the main road all the way into Yarmouth.  Not quite like it’s counterpart in Jolly England, but they did have a great little Firefighters Museum with the most  stunning collection of steam firefighting engines.  By the time we had been through the museum the cloud had lifted and we were back to the nice sunny weather that has been with us for most of the time. 

Got back on to coastal road – this time we are following the Evangeline Trail – Evangeline was a poem written by Longfellow about the Arcadian expulsion and describes the betrothal of a fictional Acadian girl named Evangeline Bellefontaine to her beloved, Gabriel Lajeunesse, and their separation as the British deport the Acadians from Acadie in the Great Upheaval. The poem then follows Evangeline across the landscapes of America as she spends years in a search for him, at some times being near to Gabriel without realizing he was near. Finally she settles in Philadelphia and, as an old woman, works as a Sister of Mercy among the poor. While tending the dying during an epidemic she finds Gabriel among the sick, and he dies in her arms.

Stopped off for lunch at a Provincial Park at Port Maitland overlooking a lovely sweeping beach with small waves gently breaking on the shore.  There was even some water available so I took advantage of that and gave Wanda a quick wash.

With plenty of time on hand we carried on to Digby and out to the lighthouse at Port Prim just in time to watch the ferry sail out of the bay over to New Brunswick.  We had the faint hope that we might be able to stay there but that wasn’t to be the case so came back into the town and to the Waldorf for the night. 

Digby is hosting their Wharf Rat Motorcycle Rally this weekend – they get thousands of bikers from all over for the event and they are everywhere. All we can hear is the constant roar of mainly Harleys (not that you would call them real bikes!) and if you want to take part in the tattoo competition, arm wrestling and view the custom bikes then this is the place to come. 

Highlands, Hills and Harbours

09 August – We continued on the PEI Eastern Coastal Route in pretty murky weather, stopping at a couple of farmers’ markets – these markets are usually very small and we have yet to find one that has a good stock of farm products – lucky if we can find two tables selling produce – but did manage to pick up some cheese, bread and fresh beans.  Meandered on until we reached Murray Harbour and found a little dead end road finishing at the beach with a small parking spot just right for Wanda.

10 August – Left our beach-front park and headed towards the settlement of Wood Island to get into line for the ferry across to Nova Scotia.  One ferry was just leaving as we arrived, but we only had a wait of just over an hour for the next sailing and even without a booking we had no trouble getting a space.  The short 75 minute ride with calm sea quickly had us in Caribou, Nova Scotia giving us plenty of time to get started on the Northumberland Shore Coastal scenic drive. The roads haven’t improved with a change of province, so we continued to bump along through New Glasgow and along the coastal road to Merigomish, stopping off later at Arisaig at a small provincial park.  Took the walk down to the beach where we had a fossil hunt in the stone layers on the cliff.  Managed to find just a young 400 million year old brachypod (tiny scallop like shell) but didn’t discover any dinosaur fossils.  Carried on up to Cape George before coming down alongside St Georges Bay until we came to a suitable little harbour with restaurant to stay for the night, after Lakevale.  The weather turned to custard as the night progressed and we had a lot of rain and wind overnight, with waves crashing over the sea wall.

11 August – Decided that Wanda was coming up for her next service so decided to head for Antigonish and managed to get an appointment with the Ford agent for later in the afternoon.  Filled the time waiting by time-out at Walmart carpark, using the internet connection to update emails, banking and news.  The service was duly performed with no issues being found and although a bit dearer than USA it still seemed quite reasonable at around C$60 including consumables.  On our way finally around 5pm so didn’t travel far out of Antignosh and ended up not far from the causeway to Cape Breton Island in a pull off near a railway line.

12 August – Just one visit from the trains overnight – there were a whole lot of oil wagons parked near us and they got collected around midnight, but after that all was quiet.  Crossed over the causeway to Cape Breton Island to continue with the scenic(?) route – lots of trees and not much else.  At St Peters we stopped off to have a look at the historic canal and locks which were originally built in the 1860’s.  Later extended, they are still in operation today and link the Bras d’Or Lake with the Atlantic, although today it is mostly pleasure craft which use the locks.  They have around 1,000 boats through each year and there is no fee for using them.  Parks Canada manages the area as it is listed as a National Historic Monument.  Had our lunch overlooking the locks before continuing towards Sydney and oh what bliss, a smooth road for at least 40km in one single stretch.

Didn’t stop off at Sydney as we will come back that way in a day or two, but headed east towards Louisbourg where there is a National Historic Site – being quite large it will need a full day to look around so scouted for a suitable parking spot – fantastic place at Main-a-Dieu (it is well named in the French, translating as ‘Hand of God’) overlooking the small fishing harbour.  Chatted with a couple of locals who didn’t see any problem with us staying overnight.  Our nice camera decided to stop working so I tried the Walmart hotline for making a claim – spent the best part of 15 minutes going through all the automated answers before they connect you with a real person, only to be told they were experiencing technical difficulties and call back later – grrrr!  Will try our luck at an actual store instead, but at least we do have some backup in a phone and an el cheapo camera for just this eventuality.

13 August – Camera obviously didn’t like being talked about because it works OK today.  We only had a short drive to get to the Louisbourg Historic Site and we actually arrived before the opening time.  What an amazing site – the fort area is out on a spit and you take a short shuttle bus to get to the site.  This was a working fort in the 1740’s, first French and then British and what Parks Canada has done is recreate over 25% of the buildings to the original specifications for the 1744 period, just before it was besieged by the New England and naval troops and had to surrender.  They have been done to an incredibly high standard and the site was such that we spent right up until closing time at 5pm working our way through it.  The buildings were all staffed with volunteers in period costume and were fully conversant with all the details surrounding the inhabitants in each of the dwellings.  As well as this, there were cannon firings, military musical displays, fairy tale sessions and street-side re-enactments; food served in the café was also period fare.  With no huge crowds it was great to be able to wander around and take everything in., with explanations when needed from knowledgeable guides.

With the day taken care of, we headed off back towards Main-a-Dieu and found another bay not too far from the previous night’s stay, parking on a bit of land overlooking the water.

14 August – Followed around the coast to Glace Bay and the site where Marconi made the first wireless transmission across the Atlantic to Poldhu in Cornwall.  There was a small museum taking you through the timeline of his experimenting and final success and a few bits of equipment that were used along with photo’s and a short video.  Next stop was Sydney and a search for a waste water dump which proved fruitless so carried on the next leg of the journey around the coast to Baddeck, including a little trip on a small car ferry at Whycocomagh, where we decided that a campground would have to be the venue of choice for the evening, so that we could dump and refill our water before setting off around the top of the Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail with no such facilities.

15 August – Into Baddeck this morning to have a look at the Alexander Graham Bell museum.  Interesting information detailing his life and times, all his inventions and his work with the deaf and helping them to speak.  He no sooner had invented the phone, then he was off designing planes and hydrofoil boats.  It seems that he was always working on something new, had a brilliant, enquiring mind and was always keen to share his knowledge and encourage others.  The museum with a replica of the first plane to fly in Canada, the Silver Dart, as well as the remains and a reconstruction of his record breaking hydroplane powered by two Liberty aeroplane engines took up a few hours and then we were off to start out on the Cabot Trail.

We got lulled into a false sense of security as the road started off so nice, but only too soon we were back into the land of bumps and humps.  The road picked up after a fashion and then we had a steep climb up to Cape Smokey. Stopped at the top while a front came through with fog and strong winds – on a clear day we would have had a nice view.  Down the other side of the hill and just before Ingonish Beach we found a small unused wharf area so pulled up there and decided that it would be a nice place for the night.

16 August – The wind and rain pommelled Wanda through to the early hours of the morning and in the morning we awoke to a lovely calm harbour.  Not far along the road enters the National Park and there we took the first of several nice walks for the day.  This was just a sort but steep climb up to a lookout over a freshwater lake and out to the sea beyond.  A little further up the road, we did the Freshwater Lake walk and then out over the natural boulder-bank causeway that created the lake.  The oceanside had a nice beach, with the first decent size Atlantic waves we have seen.  The Cabot Trail then continued to follow the coastline, with us doing another walk which first went into the pine forest then came out on to the coast.  Very rocky coastline – easy to see why so many ships came to grief around here and why they built so many lighthouses.  The rocks are quite pink and had some very unusual streaking running through them – the explanation was that the original rock had cracked from underground pressure, then hot volcanic lava flowed into the cracks and solidified.  The effect was quite artistic.

After a spot of lunch we had a steep climb as the road wound up and down the other side of a small mountain – 13% grade is quite a hike – first gear on the downward leg and it still struggled to hold Wanda back.  At the bottom of the hill, there were another couple of walks – one through to a replica of a Scottish crofter’s summer stone shelter in a 350 year old sugar maple forest, the other following a small brook through forest up to a waterfall. The forest wasn’t too thick and allowed the sun to filter through the canopy leaving a dappled light on the ground.

The road went out of the park for a short while, so we took this as an opportunity to try and find somewhere to stop.  On the side of the road about 30ft above the sea, found a pull off with room enough for us, so decided that it would be a good spot from which to watch the sunset and stay put for the night.  There was only a small settlement a couple of miles up the road, but a steady stream of traffic seemed to be going somewhere!

17 August – Last day in the Cape Breton Highlands Park today – after a bit of rain overnight the morning was nice and fine.  A short board-walk through another bog area and the closest we will ever get to a moose – you could see where it had laid down for a rest beside the board-walk!  The bogs have an interesting array of plants – bladderworts, orchids and pitcher plants which are quite common although they are not like their tropical counterparts – these are only a couple of inches tall and the pitcher itself forms at the base of a strange looking prominent reddish-brown flower.

Further down the road and over another steep hill, we stopped off to do a walk which followed an old horse-cart trail down to ruins of early French Acadian settlers houses.  Only five families but between them they had 50 children with none having less than nine in those isolated and primitive conditions – what good Catholics they must have been.

Passed through Cheticamp which had a handful of very colourful houses and shops lining both sides of the street before finally leaving the park and continuing through coastal and forested roads to arrive at Little Judique – a tiny fishing boat harbour with loads of neat parking for Wanda.  Chatted with a group of locals who were heading out for an evening of mackerel fishing with their kids and they promised us some fish on their return.  Around 9pm they turned up as promised, with a whole lot of freshly caught and filleted fish for us.  They had had such a great time and the kids were pulling them in four at a time.  Was asked to bring out a bowl which was promptly filled to the brim – so now we have some fish in the freezer as well as for dinner this evening.

18 August – With the threat of our propane running out we had to move on from this friendly, peaceful spot and head on down the coast to Port Hawkesbury to get it filled up and now will be OK for another couple of weeks. Because our fridge/freezer only runs on AC or propane, we really don’t want to run out.  Propane for RV’s around Cape Breton was non-existent; caravans are okay as they use bottles which are readily available.

Crossed back over the Canso causeway to mainland Nova Scotia and commenced the Marine Scenic Drive through a variety of settlements – most noticeable is that they are not nearly as prosperous as their counterparts around the Cape.  Stopped off at Guysborough – the guidebook touted it as having a really neat lot of gaily painted old houses along the waterfront – poetic licence again!  We had it done and dusted in 5 minutes flat.

Right out to the eastern tip at Canso for a mull over their historic site – a small island settlement formerly big on fishing which was razed by the French in the 1740’s.  There were a few artefacts, some dioramas, tableaux and a short video.  There was too much modern settlement to contemplate staying at the port area, so returned back the way we came and took another little side road down to Little Dover and at the very end found a spot in a turnaround with a view of the inlet. Thunderstorms forecast earlier came to fruition with the growling starting just as we got settled.  Mackerel for dinner!

Fish & Chips

27 July – Spent a day in the surrounds of Campbellton – first up a trip back across the river to Quebec Province and the Restigouche Battle Museum.  Another really well presented museum – this one detailing the last sea battle the French had with the British on the St Lawrence which eventually led to the defeat of French interests in Canada. They had on display the remains of the Manault from 1760 which was one of the ships scuttled in order to prevent the English from claiming the prize.  There had been a lot of treasures salvaged from the ship, as well as portions of the ship itself.  What wasn’t available was recreated so that you could see what life was like on board these ships.

Back over the river and after a nice lunch of crepes a la Wanda we went in search of potable water to fill up our tanks, which was done at the local provincial park.  Next, into town and Wallies carpark to connect to the internet and get the next blog uploaded, by which time it was getting on and we still had to try and find a laundromat.  Our first lead turned out a dud so it was back to the Tourist Information Office and pointed in another direction – a local Motel 8 let the public use their single washing machine and dryer, so hour and a half later all was done and dusted and we headed back to the waterfront for another night.

28 July – On we went today along the coastal road – a few small towns along the way and still almost continuous housing.  The coast changed after Bathurst to small cliffs with little harbours every 20 or 30 kms.  Saw one that looked quite neat from the road so drove down and found a perfect place to stop for the night.  There are about 15 small fishing boats tied up in the harbour and a couple were fishing off the wharf.  The boats are gearing up for the lobster season but also fish for mackerel in the off season.  A big storm system was visible on the horizon and also behind us which finally converged on us with a bit of thunder and lightning followed by miserable rain – nice to be cosy and snug watching it all.

29 July – Another quiet night was had by all.  Only had a short distance to cover before we came to our target for the day – an historic Acadian village museum.  It was a neat place and started off with buildings from the early 1700’s – inside each of the buildings was a volunteer dressed in the costume of the period and explaining all the details of their respective building and recreating the crafts from those times. There were small houses, barns, workshops belonging to tinsmiths, woodworkers etc., general stores. The various crafts that were being undertaken were barrel building, shingle making, weaving and spinning and baking.  Nearly all of the houses had women baking traditional foods either over an open fire or as the era of the buildings got more modern, then the cooking apparatus changed to cast iron wood burning stoves which got more fancy as the years wore on.  One home had a demonstration of the entire process of taking flax and turning it into linen.  The flax used was not like the flax that we are used to – just a very slender plant grown as a crop which was first dried and then dragged through nails embedded on a piece of wood to draw out the fibres and remove the pith.  The fibres were spun like wool but had to have water added when spinning as there was no natural lanolin like in wool to help keep the fibres together.  After spinning, the fibres were then woven on a large loom – it was much finer warp than for wool and the finished product very hard in texture and only softens after several washes.  It took us all morning to get through the early period buildings, so by lunch time we had arrived at a suitable cafe within the grounds – again in an old building and serving meals of the period.  We opted for a hearty vegetable soup made with produce all grown in the gardens around the complex, followed by a scrummie piece of blueberry cake topped with warm brown sugar sauce.  Being an Acadian experience, the visitors to this museum were predominately French speaking Quebec/NB people so the initial explanations were in that language, but people here are bi-lingual and an English translation was quickly forthcoming if necessary.

After lunch we were treated to a mock Acadian wedding and dancing before we crossed over into the buildings from the early 1900’s, which included a house which had come from a Sears catalogue and a very elegant hotel which had burnt down in the 1930’s but someone had come across all the original plans so it was built exactly to these plans inside and out.  You could even stay the night here for about the price of a normal hotel room.  The weather started to close in just as we were finishing our look around and we made it back to Wanda before the rain set in.

Continued with our trek around the Acadian Peninsula, passing through some small villages and the larger town of Caraquet before taking off on a more minor road up to the Acadian Isles – a series of small islands on the tip of this peninsula.  Spotted another likely looking wharf to park up for the night just before a bridge crossing over to the the last little isle.

30 July – Apart from one hoon about midnight doing wheelies in the gravel it was a good place to stop.  Made out way to the end of the road and the Miscou lighthouse, stopping on the return trip for a walk around a peat bog with explanations of all flora and fauna.  Back onto the main highway and the continuation of the Acadiaen Coastal Drive – we notice that once we were off the islands it became a little less parochial in as far as there were not Acadian flags flying on every house and it was back to the signage being more bi-lingual.  Stopped off at Miramichi to get emails sorted and then out along a narrow dead end road to camp overlooking the Miramichi Bay (after asking permission from locals who were now speaking English as their first language).

31 July – Back into Miramichi to have a look at what was listed as a historical ship building site.  The interpretive centre was well laid out and then it was a 5 minute boat trip across the river to Beaubears Island – a tiny island in the river only 1mile long and 1/4 mile wide where the shipbuilding had occurred.  Nothing to see there anymore – when the era of steam ships came in, the industry here just shut down.  Had a walk through the bush along the length of the island and apart from the voracious mozzies it was a nice jaunt.  Back on the road along the coast stopping for the day at Escuminac – a small settlement on a dead end road.

Parked on the quay and had a walk on the jetties, where we got chatting with an Ontario couple who were wandering around by boat.  They had come up the Rideau Canal from Lake Ontario to Ottawa and down the Ottawa River to the St. Lawrence, going through the 100 or so locks on the canal system.  After dinner we got asked to move on by the Port Authority, so just went back up the road to an abandoned church and parked there for the night.

01 August – Short drive firstly to Kouchibouguac National Park to do a couple of the small hikes available.  The first was mainly through forest with occasional glimpses of a river inlet on one side and the estuary on the other.  The other was a boardwalk out over the lagoon to the coastal beach.  At 15 degrees water temp I wasn’t tempted to go swimming.  Finished the day continuing on the Acadian Coastal Drive at St. Edouard de Kent and parking in a small carpark at the entrance to the beach.

02 Aug – Nice start to the day with a walk along the deserted beach – the views of PEI (Prince Edward Island) were not visible this morning as the clouds were obscuring it.  Continued on the Arcadian Coastal Drive stopping off at an ecological reserve on a 12km sandspit near Bouctouche.  Did the boardwalk which went out about 1km along the spit – it did originally extend quite a bit further but successive weather events over the last 10 years, bad storms and ice surges, wiped it out.  It is hard to imagine that the serene sea that we have been seeing all around this coast could be so harsh.  There was a small farmers market at Bouctouche – picked up some nice freshly baked bread and lovely pastries for later.  Had our lunch at a picnic area attached to the Tourist Info centre which also had a dump, fresh water and wifi so made use of all of them..  The road continued on around the coast bumping along (the roads just seem to get worse as we progress around) and a detour in search of a place to stay was fruitless so decided to head straight over to PEI – by way of the Confederation Bridge.  This is no ordinary bridge – it was 14km long built ten years ago and in parts rose up quite high over the water – its free to go over and only $50 to come back!  The other alternative returning off the island is a toll ferry which costs around $90.  We headed for the town of Summerside for a spot on the quay beside a fresh fish shop.  Picked up some nice haddock and cooked chez Wanda (gently sauteed in breadcrumbs and garlic butter – mmmm!).  The abundance of fresh fish is really great and it is quite reasonably priced – 2 generous fillets for just over $5.  Finished the evening with a walk down to the hub of the harbour – some neat brightly painted shops linked with a boardwalk overlooking the water and marina.

03 August – Quiet and lazy start to the day – being a Sunday there was not much happening in the area.  Started off on our next odyssey, this time following the North Cape Coastal Scenic drive.  From time to time we hit the coast and got glimpses of little villages and views of the sea, the rest of the time we were travelling through farmland. PEI is famous for its potatoes and they are just coming into season – so it will be nice new potatoes for the next couple of weeks. PEI has red earth similar to that of Pukekohe and seems to be very fertile. Stopped off at a small wharf to have a gander at them gearing up for the lobster season and finally made a stop at Howards Cove on the West Coast, another small fishing boat harbour.  Spent an interesting hour or so talking with a couple who were just getting their brand new $300k boat ready for Friday when lobster fishing begins it’s short 2 month season.  A really nice looking boat – 45ft long with a huge Volvo Penta 700hp engine.  Each fishing boat is allowed to set 250 lobster pots and they fish Mon-Sat during the season.  There is no limit to how many lobsters they can catch, but they are governed by size, whilst certain sized females and those with eggs must be returned.  The lobster pots can get cleared several times a day so that the lobsters are at their freshest for the market.  Currently the retail price is $8 per lb for a live lobster so the fishers would only get half of that.  With only two months for the season, it must be hard to make a decent living after paying off the boat, crew wages and fuel.  They might pull in between 30,000 – 40,000 lbs in the two months.  Parked Wanda for the night on a lookout above the wharf with lovely views up the red cliffed coast and out to sea.

04 August – Northward this morning to North Cape and a look around the wind farm experimental area.  The interpretive centre explained the progress of windmills and wind farms.  PEI has two major wind farms, one with around 50 windmills at the village of Norway and a smaller one at the North Cape.  We couldn’t get over the size of the new 3MW machines – each blade 47m long and the tower 100m tall.  Not too much else going on – but had a nice chat with an Ontario couple who turned out to be part of the same boondocking club as us.  Interesting to learn that we had been to some of the same places and we got a nice surprise later in the afternoon to find that they had decided to stay at Tignish as well.  Our boondocker host was away until 2015 but happy for folks to stay behind his house.  Had an interesting happy hour with Rainer and Grace.  Got a bit of rain later in the evening which cooled the air a little.  Tignish is just a small rural community with a supermarket, large church, garage, inn and a bakery but not much else.  Our boondocker’s home backs onto the village cemetery and come nightfall it looked quite magical – many of the gravesites had solar lights, so there were different coloured sparkling lights all over.

05 August – Nice relaxing start to the day.  Continued following the scenic road – mostly through farmland – fields of potatoes, corn and wheat today.  At Alberton stopped to view the town murals and enjoy their bakery before continuing on the route finally arriving back in Summerside.  Made use of Maccas wifi before parking back in the spot by the fish shop that we used the other day.  Explored some more of their waterfront boardwalk in the evening.  What a nice asset for the town, a wide wooden boardwalk with historical information panels along the way.  Summerside is a nice protected harbour with a yacht club and small marina plus a couple of large commercial wharves.  Large volumes of potatoes are treated and shipped out of here.

06 August – Out today on the north part of the Central Coastal Drive through Kensington, yet another Hamilton and through to Cavendish.  This is Anne of Green Gables territory and the whole of this area is devoted to all things Anne with an ‘e’.  It was here that L M Montgomery got her inspiration for all the Anne novels,  Canada National Park owns the historic site with the actual Green Gables house which inspired LM, and has restored it with period furnishings etc.  The walks such as Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Woods are within the park.  It was of course packed with touro’s and was nice to see but good to get away again.

Stopped for lunch at another National Park with a lovely long sandy beach (the sand here has pink tinges from all the red soil).  A short hop southwards through Cornwall to Rocky Point and our destination for the night – a local boondocker Bob.  He is one of the many Canadians who spend their winter down south – they can go out of Canada for six months each year without losing their medical benefits and getting caught up in US tax demands, so they get the best of both worlds. Canada’s short summer is lovely and when the weather turns they can continue with summer down south in the USA.  The lovely fine day that we had started to cloud over, and growling could be heard of thunderstorms approaching.

07 August – Just around the corner from Bob’s place was a national historic fort which had first been French and later British.  It had held a prominent spot overlooking the harbour, although only grassy mounds were all that was left of it.  Started on the Points East Coastal Drive after passing through Charlottetown, it headed north for a while until it hit the coast.  Stopped at the Greenwich National Park and took their amazing floating boardwalk which went out over a lake before coming to the dunes and the sea.

We then bumped our way along the coast road and stopped off at yet another harbour with a nice spot to park for the night.  The harbour watchman didn’t have any problem with us wanting to stay.  We treated ourselves to dinner at the little Shipwreck Point cafe, which was really busy up to about 7.00pm, then everyone seemed to disappear.

08 August – Meandered up to the East Point of the Island, stopping off at the local railway museum which had some interesting memorabilia.  The trains stopped running in 1969 and all the tracks have been pulled up to make way for the Confederation Trail combined biking and snow mobile route.  At the top of the Island was a nice old lighthouse; quite severe currents occur at this point and the first waves we have seen (only a couple of feet high though) have resulted in major erosion.  Treat of the day was to go to New Zealand.  By chance I happened to see it on the map so we deviated a few km’s off the coast and lo and behold came to NZ.  Population about 5.  Apart from the sign and the few houses that was it.  The railway did once pass through here but the station is now long gone.

 

Followed the drive which alternated between coastal and rural views  Still lots of spuds being grown, also wheat and soy beans.  Today’s news is that the local McCain’s french fry factory is to close with the loss of 120 jobs.  The dairy farms are quite small but still keep their cows inside for the most part, and if they do go outside it is just outside the barn in a muddy area.  Launching Harbour was our stop for the night, another small harbour leading into a lake.  There is a lovely clean beach on the coastal side with the pink sand and pink rocks.  Neat, fine, bright green seaweed growing on the tideline rocks looked like wigs.  Chatted with one of the local lobster fishermen – on this side of the island they only have the spring season – May and June – to fish and an average haul for that period is about 20,000lbs.  The boats here are noticeably in poorer condition than those in the western harbours.  He was very scathing about their marketing in PEI, as they only get around $4 per pound whereas he said in New Zealand they get around $30 per pound (I am not quite sure they get that much, or if it is for selected parts or the complete body as here) but he was very complimentary about how NZ manages to get into the Japanese and Chinese markets.

Quintessential Quebec

 

 

18 July – Left Ottawa after a lazy start to the day and after a quick stop at a CAA office to pick up some maps of the region headed off on the freeway to clear the city environs and up to Hawkesbury to cross over the Ottawa River into Quebec and Oo La La, everything changed.  No more bilingual road signs, everything is in French, the style of houses are different – villages are built right onto the road so that you literally drive past people’s lounge windows, the farms are smaller and loads of roadside stalls. Followed a minor road hugging the northern bank of the river.  Stopped off at St Andre Argenteuil for a look at an historic barracks and canal from the early Canadian period, before getting back on the road to St Jerome (the aim was to keep well north of Montreal) and the hunt for Walmart.  Found it OK, but it was right next to a really busy freeway – we had been told that Wallies in Quebec don’t allow overnighters, but there were quite a few rigs there so we guessed it was allowed.

19 July – The traffic did finally die down around midnight so it wasn’t too bad a night.  Took the freeway to get out of the city again and then stayed on minor roads through to Joliette and touched back down on the river bank – this time the St Lawrence River and nice minor roads through quaint villages.  Our main destination was Quebec City but we made a small detour along the way to an old iron forge historic museum north of Trois Rivieres where iron had initially been produced for the French navy before the English ‘conquest’.  

Then returned to the freeway in order to enter into the big smoke.  I don’t think we will complain so much about the roads in the US in the future – we have had some atrocious roads since coming into Canada – the really harsh winter has apparently been the cause of a lot of it causing frost heaves which leaves the surface broken open for water to intrude and really uneven, but I am sure that a lot of it is just lack of money for maintenance.  Even on the freeways we have come across some really bad patches.  Road works made it a bit trying to find our pre-booked campground, but we finally got there around 6pm and this one, the first we have used in Canada, blows our budget completely at $45 per night.  It is not a particularly nice place – facilities are really tired, but we do have power and water and it has been 3 weeks since our last formal camping so these are appreciated.

20 July – In the campsite blurb on their website it claimed it was close to the Old Town of Quebec via bus – I guess they must have been using Quebec time and a fair bit of poetic licence in their description as it took us 30 mins on the bus and then 15 mins on the ferry to finally get there.  Not to worry – we had an interesting trip getting there – the ferry across the St Lawrence afforded nice views of the old city towering above the cliffs and all the lovely old buildings.  Once on the other side, you have an option of walking up loads of stairs to get you up to the higher level or a ride on the funicular – we chose the latter.  The city has ramparts all around it, with various places of interest like the Citadel and the Artillery Park.  We walked around for a couple of hours taking in the sights before a nice cafe lunch.  After lunch we spent a while touring the Artillery museum – they were making ammunition there from late 1680’s right up until 1958.  There was also a Redoubt/Barracks building which had some interesting exhibits.  We had a self guided audio tour which bought it all to life really well.  Ticked that off and proceeded to wander around the very touristy part of the town – steep streets, amazing old stone buildings (the oldest we saw was 1683) and many fancy stores.  It reminded us a bit of Carcassonne in the South of France, but with wider streets and not shut off to traffic.  It was jam packed with locals and tourists alike and the many bars and restaurants were doing a roaring trade.  With feet starting to get a little weary we caught the 5pm ferry and didn’t have too long a wait for the bus to come which dropped us off right at the entrance to the camp just in time as the skies were getting quite ominous.  Spent an interesting evening around the campfire with two lovely Ontario couples – the only other non-Quebec people staying in the campground.  After putting the world to rights, Norman regaled us with tales about his early life in the mining industry on the North Shore of the St Lawrence near Labrador and the hardships they faced establishing mines or railways in such a remote area.

21 July – Time to set off again but by the time we had said goodbye to our new friends, had a long chat with a local Quebec man who spends his winter in Florida and gave us some more helpful hints for when we get down that way, it was getting on for noon.  Got out of the city on the freeway but as soon as we were clear jumped back down to the coastal road for another pretty drive.  The villages are so French in appearance, quite quaint and each one has at least one very substantial church – not just your ordinary run of the mill one but very fancy with spires and often around 250 years old.  The Roman Catholic presence in the whole of Quebec is noticeable – there is hardly a town or settlement that isn’t named after a Saint – I just can’t believe how many saints they have!  The road follows the bank of the river with nice views across to the north side which is more hilly and less populated.  Stopped off at St-Jean Port Jolie for a look at the only decent motorcycle museum in Canada, which has a nicely presented eclectic display from manufacturers from around the world.

Then went down into the village for a walk around the quay side.  Found a suitable overnight park-up in a large carpark between a church hall and a supermarket, alongside several other fifth-wheel rigs, so parked up there for a quiet night.  Had a nice promenade around the town and down to the quay later in the cool of the evening which was nice after such a hot day. It seems that this is thing to do here – the whole village was down there doing the same thing – waiting for the sunset – a very nice sight as it went down behind the hills on the other side of the St. Lawrence River.

22 July – Another nice fine start to the day.  Continued along on Highway 132 which followed the coastline through many more neat little villages.  The St Lawrence is now much more of an estuary and the muddy river waters have been replaced by blue sea water.  Passed by Riviere-du-Loup and Rimouski, with a detour down to a small marine park.  Outside of Rimouski we made for the Pointe-au-Pere lighthouse.  As well as the lighthouse, a Canadian navy submarine decommissioned in 2000 has been setup here for people to go on board, as well as a museum dedicated to the Empress of Ireland sinking which happened in early 1914 with the loss of 1042 lives (only 2 years after the Titanic).  This modern ocean liner was hit amidships by a coal steamer in the early hours of the morning in thick fog and sank in just 14 minutes.  Around 400 people survived, which in the circumstances was quite remarkable.  We were amazed by the number of RV’s at this site and realised that most were set up for staying the night – upon asking we were told that it wasn’t advertised anywhere but it was quite OK to stay.  We did the self guided audio tour of the sub – it must take a certain type of person to want to be confined on one of those things for months at a time – space is definitely at a premium and privacy non-existent.  Museums all closed at 6pm so it was back to Wanda for wine and chippies with a view of the bay outside our dining room window. 

  

23 July – Started the day with a climb up the lighthouse – this one was discontinued in the 1950’s when automation did away with manual lighthouse keeping.  Nice views out over the bay and up and down the coast from the top.

Carried on up the coast, the road hugging the river bank for the most part.  Quaint little cottages dotted the side of the road with the odd larger settlement from time to time.  Made a short stop at Walmart in Matane to check emails and see what was happening in the world (no English radio stations round here).  Still getting through the Saints – I think only two settlements have not been named for a saint. We were expecting that the development would taper off after Matane but not to be so.  At Ste. Anne de Monts, turned inland to have a look at the Parc National du Gaspesie.  The road climbed a little and soon was into forest.  Following the St Anne river every few kilometres were fishing spot signs and the odd parking/picnic spot.  Found one at the entrance to the park which didn’t appear to prohibit camping, so parked up for the day.  It was a bit like Grand Central station though, what with the amount of vehicles going in and out of the park.

24 July – The knocking on our door at 7.30am wasn’t room service but the Park’s Service informing us that we shouldn’t have parked overnight and didn’t we see the sign – what followed was like a French farce, as he was a bit bemused to find there was no sign and promptly tripped over the kerb in his agitation.  But unfortunately we were still considered to be on Park Land so he issued us with an “Infraction Avis” – basically a warning notice.  Suitably chastised we finished our breakfast and then started on our way for the day.  Made our way back to Ste Anne for some supplies and more internet catchup before continuing on the Gaspe Peninsula road.  The road did for a while come to resemble more of what we had thought the Gaspe would be – ie. a remote area. The road stayed on the coast for the most part and after the ribbon development ended, the hills got larger and we were soon travelling with the sea on one side and cliffs on the other.  The remoteness didn’t last for more than about 30km before we got back into ribbon development again. The small villages were more modern now and several were working fishing villages.  We stopped off for some fresh fish at a poissonerie – got some nice looking turbot and a look at the shrimp boats loading their catch.  With a stop for lunch on the roadside overlooking the sea we progressed towards the National Parc Forillon on the very end of the Gaspe Peninsula.  Took a short walk to observe the cliffs and all the birds nesting on the sheer edges.

The road took us over to the other side of the Peninsula and then we set about finding a camping spot – this was quite trying as there is just so much development and after a while eventually settled on a turnaround where the paved road ended beyond some houses at St Majorique.  The road onward was gravel and an ATV route and also a road to the local fishing spots, judging by the utes with their gear going by.  No signs at all this time but not too soon after we had got settled the inevitable string of nosy locals went past.  Nice to know that we are providing them with their entertainment for the evening and even better that they think we are crazy Americans!

25 July – No problems during the night apart from the mossies which seem to be able to find their way in with monotonous regularity.  Carried on around the coastline through Gaspe and non-stop ribbon development right through to Perce.  We stopped in a little rest area overlooking a lovely bay – as well as picnic tables there was an electrical hookup point!  We shook the continuous housing for a little while and then the scenery was much more what I imagined we would find.  But that didn’t last for long.  At Port Daniel we took off inland for a few k’s to see what a Wildlife area might have in store for us.  A walk was signposted where we had parked, so we embarked on that and had a pleasant hour walking through mostly forest which followed the bank of the river.

 Thought we might like to stay in their campground but the cost was astronomical – $35+tax for an unserviced site – so it was an easy enough decision to carry on.  That decision was well rewarded as we found a perfect spot about 20 minutes along the coast – down a steep lane with a turnaround at the end we managed to find a nice level spot right on the water.  The Gulf of St Lawrence spreads from left to right as far as we can see – perfectly calm – hard to imagine how rough it can get here but if the tidal marks on the beach are anything to go by it must really kick up sometimes.  Unfortunately the beach is too rocky to swim or fish and the big red and mauve jellyfish washed up don’t look like something that you would care to swim with either.  As the sun went down the stars all came out along with a myriad of flashing red lights on the horizon – they were in the direction of New Brunswick so maybe they were navigational lights.

26 July – The clear skies of yesterday gave way to quite a murky haze over the bay.  I took advantage of the small freshwater stream flowing next to us to give Wanda a bath while Bob did a bit of R&M.  Had a steady stream of visitors coming down for a walk on the shore as t was a Saturday morning.  Set off towards New Brunswick following the coast – the towns around here do not have the same French feel that they did on the first part of the Gaspe.  With a few more accessible beaches in this area it was home to a lot more holiday places and RV camps – if you can call being parked cheek by jowl with a hundred other rigs camping.  Stopped off in one town to visit their farmers market but it was 12 noon and they had all but packed up.  Left the coast for a while and we could have been back home – rolling hills and farmers fields and the houses looked a lot like home as well.  Back we continued down the coast to Pointe-du-Croix which is the border town between Quebec and New Brunswick. Crossed over the river and into a new time zone – Atlantic and almost got Wanda beheaded as we entered town.  Absolutely dreadful signage warning of a 3.6m bridge clearance just as we were about to go under it (we are somewhere between 3.7 & 3.8m), so it would not have been pretty!  Our target for the night was parking on the waterfront (as directed by the free camping website) – great place – probably 20 other rigs parked here looking out over the bay back to Quebec. Had a walk towards the centre of town before coming across the Information office which was still open so picked up a whole lot of maps and guff for the next part of our adventure.  It was a brisk walk back to Wanda as a storm was fast approaching and we made it back just in time.  Pushed the boat out and picked up some takeaway fish and chips (that was the second time in 6 months – better watch ourselves!) on the quayside and watched the rain come through.  Nice enough, but still haven’t had fish and chips as good as Eric’s in Cambridge though.   Main observations to take away from the small part of Quebec that we travelled through – the Catholic influence from the naming of the towns to the huge churches that you see in every settlement (in the US you could tell when you were coming to a settlement by the huge water tower visible in the distance) but here it was the church spires.  The people have been really friendly, contrary to what we had been told in Ontario, and quite ready to speak in English if we asked.  There were not many Canadian travellers in the region from outside of Quebec and even less from out of Canada – we were certainly a rarity.

 

Pine Trees and Pageantry

08 July – After waiting in Owens Sound until the rain stopped, we took the scenic route around Georgian Bluffs, but only got small glimpses of Lake Huron as most of the land between the lake and the road was covered in rather splendid homes with lakefront moorings and substantial numbers of pine trees.  The road climbed up slightly to an overlook at Colpoys Bay where we decided to stay for the night as the wind and rain had increased.  We were afforded good views across the bay to the Niagara escarpment.

09 July – Had to move along fairly promptly this morning as the lawn mowers arrived (they did that to us the previous morning as well).  Stopped off in Wiarton for morning coffee and a walk through the main street before heading up to Lions Head.  This is in a pretty little bay with a small marina and beach.  The marina let us fill up our fresh water tanks, then we did a small walk on the Bruce Trail – this trail extends from Niagara Falls to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula through all sorts of terrain.  We only had about 40km to get to Tobermory, so puttered up there stopping first at a picnic area to suss out if we could stay overnight then onto Dorcas Bay and the Singing Sands for a walk around their small fen.  The fen had some interesting native plants including a tiny pitcher plant.  Down into Tobermory to make a reservation for the ferry in a couple of days – just as well as they have limited space for over height and wide vehicles like us.  Back to the picnic spot where we hope we won’t get bothered.  This spot is in the Bruce Peninsula National Park and has several things to beware of – rattlesnakes, bears, poison ivy and wild parsnip; even though it hardly seems the type of territory that you would see the first two, they did have bear proof rubbish bins.

10 July – No visitors overnight and a lovely sunny start to the day.  Ventured back into Tobermory for a walk around the Little Tub basin – a dinky little harbour with quite a few tourist boats and sumptuous local craft moored.  The water in the lakes is amazingly clear and clean.  Sampled the local coffee while watching the ferry load and take off over to Manitoulin.

Decided that we would walk to Big Tub bay and the lighthouse there and have lunch at the pub – took us about an hour only to find that the pub didn’t open until 4pm.  The young woman in the pub took pity on us and offered to run us back into town which was a lovely gesture and most welcome.

 

Made for a fish and chip restaurant for our rather late lunch, which was made even later because they forgot about serving us after taking the order. Back to Wanda and then on to the National Park Visitors Centre – decided to buy an annual pass as it will encourage us to stop at more sites just to make sure we get our money’s worth.  One more stop on our way back – at Cyprus Lake for a little wander around the lake side.  Pretty lake with trees right down to the lake’s edge.

11 July – Another uneventful night at the picnic area. Back into Tobermory to queue up for the ferry.  It takes around 170 vehicles but only the centre lane is suitable for high vehicles – that is because the cars go on sling type carriageways two high on the outer edges.  We were first in our line and were made to park right at the stern just where it lifts up to let out the vehicles – a bit unnerving when it came to get off as it opened out before we docked and there was only a chain between us and the water.  The journey was only 1 3/4 hours.  It was really pretty as it sailed past many small islands with cute lighthouses.

Upon reaching Manatoulin Island we disembarked and made our way through many country roads – first through Mindemoya and then down somewhere in the boondocks where we thought we might find a place to park but the road petered out.  On the way back stopped at Perivale Gallery – a really lively gallery with many local artworks.  It only opens for a few months in the summer selling the artwork on consignment – items go back to the artists in the winter and they start all over again with a different set of artists’ work the next year.  Headed back down towards Providence Bay and out into the country again – finding somewhere was proving to be quite a challenge.  Eventually settled on a cleared patch of land that didn’t look like anyone owned – come dinner time we were put straight!  A banged up old ute came and parked in front of us and a friendly but rather scruffy gentleman came to tell us we were camped on his land.  We asked if he would mind if we stayed overnight and he was OK with that so long as we didn’t leave any rubbish.

13 July – Back into Providence Bay in the morning and we actually found a spot down by the water which would have been perfect – c’est la vie!  Not much happening there so it was back to Mindemoya for a look at their farmers market – mainly crafts but did buy some cheap books and local marmalade.  Headed north to Little Current and stopped there for another market and a walk around the harbour basin.  What a neat little town – the inner harbour was really protected and entry into it was only possible when the swing bridge opened every hour.  Managed to get some farmer’s produce although it is still a little early for a lot of veges.  Hit the mainland and headed north towards Espanola and then east to Sudbury where Walmart and wifi were awaiting us.  As soon as we crossed onto the mainland it got noticeably rockier, with the Niagara Escarpment limestone replaced by granite of the pre-Cambrian Shield and in places could have been Norway, with lots of little lakes, fringed with rocks and trees.

14 July – A very quiet night passed at Walmart.  Target for today was a boondocker couple near North Bay at Callander on the eastern shore of Lake Nipissing, but we did manage to make a detour on the way.  I happened to notice that we were going to go near Lavigne – Suzi had told us that the Norton Club secretary for Canada had a pub there so we headed there and found the pub together with Judy and Guy both in attendance.  Passed a pleasant hour or so whilst having pub lunch and sampling the local brew before moving on.  There is not much in the way of population in these rural settlements but the pub is a real drawcard as they have live music nights throughout the summer.  Our boondockers Janis and Lorence have a neat property on 26 acres of forest with trails and gardens.  They have a nearly identical RV (MIRV – Merve) on the outside but with a little different layout to Wanda inside.  Must hope little rv’s don’t appear overnight from being parked together.

You wouldn’t believe the stacks of firewood they have out the back – they use wood for winter heating, not propane which was really common in the States, and with winters lasting for quite a few months I could imagine that you would go through some wood.   Spent an interesting evening with Janis and Lorence learning about the region and getting some good pointers for our trip further east.  Surprised a skunk as we were heading back out to Wanda for the night – but it turns out that was a good thing as it ran away instead of possibly spraying the region which can makes things very unpleasant for a very long time, especially if it comes in contact with your vehicle – the smell can last for up to a year.

15 July – After a lovely quiet night we headed out towards North Bay again armed with a list of useful addresses of essential places we needed – first the dump station, next Hairdressing College to get a haircut (couldn’t get in straight away so went back later in the afternoon), Walmart carpark to get internet sorted then our propane got filled a little further up the road.  Next it was back to North Bay’s waterfront to have a look at their really neat old fashioned carousels.  I even got a ride on one after taking a whole heap of photos.  The animals on the first one were all Canadian native animals and the second were all horses.  The figures for them all had been created by artists in the region and some were even from wood taken from our host’s forest.  The driving mechanism for the carousel with the horses dated from 1908 but the horses were just recently made.

Walked into the town centre for a nice lunch then it was back off to the College to get shorn for the princely sum of $8.25.

Left North Bay and headed back to Callander to the local laundromat to get the washing sorted, before finally heading back to our hosts.  They have two lovely grandsons aged 7 and 3 staying with them so it was good to catch up on their day.

16 July – Time to move on again.  First stop a call on a Norton owner in Callander for a quick cuppa and reconnoitre of his sheds which revealed a few little treasures – Indian, Norton, Ariel, Triumph, Harley motorbikes, a spiffy yellow Corvette and an Austin A40.  Rain set in again for a while as we headed eastwards to our stop for the night at Walmart in Pembroke along roads lines with pine forest.

17 July – Another quiet enough night and only 100km’s to travel made for a leisurely day. Our destination was the capital – Ottawa and boondockers only a few miles from the city centre, but stopped off at the Air Museum for the afternoon before making our way there.  Didn’t have a good map of Ottawa and Sally did not do a very good job of getting us around the city, so it was quite torturous getting through the traffic.  Our hosts are in a nice quiet street with a lovely home and verdant vege garden.  They updated us on the local sights and made sure that we were comfortably settled.

18 July – Wanda was left to her own devices today as we headed into the big smoke via public transport.  What a well organised city – dedicated bus lanes go for quite a few miles making it a very quick trip into the centre.  We got lucky as we arrived just in time for the colourful ‘changing of the guard’ ceremony held out in front of their Parliament buildings.

  

With the show over we headed down to the local market – a mini version of Melbourne’s market but lots of well displayed local produce.

Back to Parliament buildings for a 45 minute tour of the inner workings – the current building was built from 1916-1920 following a fire which destroyed the original limestone Gothic style building (except for the library) and is quite ornate inside and out with room decoration in Revivalist style.  Canada has a bi-cameral government system with a Commons and a Senate chamber.

That done we headed down to the riverside and spent a while watching some boats coming through the locks on the Rideau Canal – about 8 locks in succession which take an hour to come down and one 1/2 hours to go up.  The locks can accommodate four reasonable size launches/yachts at a time.  Walked a little further around the river before making our way back into the hustle and bustle of city life.  Managed to easily find our bus stop and after a short wait were headed back to the peace and quiet of our hosts’ garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bienvenue au Canada

27 June- 02 July – After crossing back into Michigan, we arrived in Stockbridge market to seek out our host Suzi who was running a stall there, and who made us so welcome.  We had a listen to the jazz musician playing while the market was running and had a walk around the village until it was time to pack up.  Followed Suzi back to her home – a 1930’s farmhouse on a couple of acres surrounded by cornfields.  We had a super place to park under the trees and even had electricity connected.

The next few days we got to sample local Michigan – Saturday we were invited to a graduation party followed by a 50th wedding anniversary.  The wedding anniversary was in the couple’s home – an elegant two storied affair from the 1850’s with wonderful gardens which they both tend themselves. One interesting barn housed a Morgan which ran on propane.

Sunday was Norton day (Suzi is President of the International Norton Owners Club and secretary of the local Michigan chapter).  First off it was breakfast with a few interesting bikers then back home and in the afternoon we shot off to Jackson and a neat micro-brewery for a Norton get together.  Mark & Ian (Norton owners and friends from Hamilton, NZ are well known to this crowd and we got to hear all about their antics while they are away from home).  Bob gave a short speil about his bikes which was well received and as they don’t have many very old bikes in their club they were interested to hear about them.

Monday, Suzi so kindly lent us her van so that we could brave the freeway into Detroit and the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn.  We spent all day there – it is not what we thought it would be – it was not all about Ford but more about the history of technology advances and industry in America and included planes, steam engines, furniture, agriculture and even the whole power plant from one of Ford’s early factories.  Suprisingly the traffic going into and out of Dearborn was not heavy and even in the 5pm rush hour there were no jams.  We did read that the population of Detroit was about 20% of what is was 50 years ago, so that probably accounts for it.

Tuesday – Bob got to meet up with Joe (from the Sunday breakfast meeting) who spent the day with him at Lansing, visiting various museums and places of interest, including the RE Olds collection and the largest specialist book retailer in North America.  I spent the day enjoying Suzi’s company as she bake d (scrumptious breads for her market stalls) and later drove into Mason for supplies.  Wine and dinner were the order of evening events as Suzi regaled us with tales of Nortons and other escapades.  Our trusty Dell laptop failed us today – we are of the opinion that Microsoft got into it and deleted the file required to turn it on because we were still running XP!  The computer shop told us it is happening all around and can’t be fixed;  the only solution seems to be to buy the new Windows 8 or an alternative – such is free enterprise!  It was almost as cheap to buy a new machine fully loaded, so now we have to come to grips with the HP15 as well.

Wednesday – Bob set off back towards Detroit for the Hudson car and American warplane museums at Ypsilanti – the latter is housed in the old wartime Willow Run bomber factory operated by Ford, where they produced a new B17 almost every hour!  I got to give Wanda a bath and then joined Suzi for her Wednesday Farmers market at Grass Lake.  That was a bustling wee village – about 12 stall holders and went from 5-8 with live music from 6pm onwards.  There were plenty of buyers and people all bought along chairs to sit out and listen to the music.  A great day with loads of friendly people.

03 July – Said our grateful farewells to Suzi and started on our way to Canada.  Hope we didn’t outstay our welcome – it was so nice to be able to relax, get washing done, swim in a refreshing pool, borrow  the van, enjoy Suzi’s bubbly company and get to spoil some cute cats.

More corn and wheat fields accompanied our journey north-eastwards.  Stopped off at a small town to dump our waste water (that was a bit steep, they wanted $10 to dump and $10 to fill up with fresh water).  Only a short hop through to Port Huron and then we were on the bridge separating US and Canada.  Immigration on the other side was quick – only had two cars in front of us.  Only got asked if we were carrying firearms and where we were going (my ‘friend’ Bob obviously thought we were at a US post and said Canada – duh!!).  We had cleared out Wanda of all fresh fruit and veges before leaving Suzi’s and they didn’t even ask about that or even to see the car papers.

First stop in Canada – Sarnia and we tried to see if we could get a similar wifi hotspot to the one we had in the USA to use here, but unless you have a Canadian address it seems impossible to get (and they are quite expensive) so we have decided that it will be free wifi and while we were sitting in Walmart were surprised to find that we had access – so we don’t expect to have too much trouble whilst we are travelling around.

Going out of the US there was no border post, so we are not quite sure how they will know that we have left the US by our prescribed deadline – it might be interesting trying to get back!  Canada don’t put any restrictions onto NZ passport holders  – just an entry date stamped in our passports.

04 July – Had a relatively quiet night at Walmart – no big trucks around us and the freeway was pretty tame.  First stop today was the the Tourist Information Center where we got loaded up with brochures on Ontario.  The centre was a really flash building, well laid out inside with brochures for each region, but the access from the freeway was awkward. They weren’t getting much business and they were just alongside of the entrance gate to Canada.

Sorted and read the brochures for the immediate area to make sure that we didn’t miss anything then got on our way up the coastal road on the east side of Lake Huron.  The road didn’t touch down at the lake very often, and wandered through more corn and wheat fields.  Major differences on this side of the border – we are now back in metric measures, speed limits are a lot slower (hopefully we will get better mileage), petrol is way more expensive (but still less than NZ – it is around $1.35C per litre), roads are a little better and they have different coloured plasticised banknotes for each denomination.  There is much more use made of brick for house building and the typical farm house seems to be 2 or 3 stories tall but quite narrow.

Stopped for lunch in a church carpark outside of Bayfield and then headed on towards Goderich,  The town was having their annual arts and craft market which was set up around their town square.  Some interesting stalls and a pretty town.  After studying the price of campgrounds and almost having apoplexy at the prices decided we would have to see if there are alternatives.  One of our brochures listed all the nature and ski trails so we picked a likely one and lo and behold it was perfect,  Down the end of a one lane gravel road was a small turnaround with room enough for Wanda to sit on the side of the road out of the way,  There were two trails leading off left and right for cross country skiing and ATV use running beside a small river and apart from the inevitable mosquitoes a nice quiet place to park for the night.  Had a wander on both trails – one petered out at the river’s edge but in winter of course if would be frozen so it would be easy to carry on, the other was more sheltered in the trees but more flying pests as well.

It looks like we are going to have to be quite inventive in this state as far as camping goes, once we get into Quebec it should be less populated and there are more public lands around where free camping is allowed, which should make life a little easier.

05 July – Had a change of plans and decided to head back towards Toronto and be in the vicinity for Monday to get our chores done so that we can head north again and out of the rat race.  Came through on mainly country roads – more corn fields and even a few small hills.  Tried to find the farmer’s market in Stratford to no avail so continued on to Brantford and the Military Museum where Bob spent a few hours on a personally guided tour before they closed.  On our way to find Walmart, stumbled across a Casino which offered a quieter alternative for overnight parking.  Brantford has a river running through the city and many kilometres of walking/biking trails so went for a very pleasant riverside walk in the cool of the evening.  Weather the last week or so has been really changeable – last night was a cool 10C but tonight feels a very muggy 20 something.

06 July – The Warplane Aviation museum was the order of the day and only about 30 minutes from our overnight stop.  They had on display around 40 wartime planes with many of them airworthy, flights on the Lancaster and B17 Fortress bombers being offered if you had a cool $2,500 to spare (someone must have donated some bucks as there were a whole load of school kids boarding the Lancaster).  With that out of the way we had to get a little closer to Toronto at Mississauga where Bob had some stuff to pick up.  The first Walmart we tried was in a horrible area – dirty and not at all conducive to staying overnight and dare I say it, a white face was also a rarity.  Went a little further out and found a much better proposition in a predominantly Indian area. Not very impressed with the whole Toronto area – huge apartment blocks, and built up for a long way in all directions.  The housing areas in the suburbs are very much like English housing, rows and rows of townhouses with only a few feet of separation and a small backyard.

07 July – With the chores done for the day it was time to get out of the metropolis and head for the Grey Bruce area.  It took a while to clear the city but once out the terrain started to change – no longer do we have miles and miles of flat farmland stretching out in front of us – we have hills and nice views from time to time.  Not much to see along the way as we passed through Orangeville and Shelburn and a few other small settlements.  At Eugenie Lake we thought we might find somewhere to park but it was very busy with local holidaymakers so headed on a bit further to Beaver Valley and finally found a lookout/picnic area which doesn’t say No Overnight Parking, so parked Wanda with a nice view out over the Valley of a mix of woods and farmlands.  With the crows and squirrels for company it would be idyllic but for the mossies and other flying pests that abound outside.  That might be the order of the day from now on so we might have to invest in some mosquito coils to burn outside so that we can enjoy the outdoors.  Listening to the news in the last afternoon, it was a good move to get out of the city when we did – traffic jams were blocking up the freeways that we had used, with delays of up to 30 minutes or more.

08 July – Moved from our nice spot on towards Georgian Bay on Lake Huron to  Owen Sound for a wifi stop at Walmart to pick up emails and get this blog updated and loaded.  Pouring with rain so really nothing else to do with our time anyway.  Our target will be the Bruce Peninsula National Park area later today then we should take a ferry to Manitoulin Island the following day. Sorry pictures will be limited on this blog – still trying to come to grips with Windows 8 and not much in the way of scenery to show you.   HSBC bank had left an email message regarding the use of our debit card and possible fraudulent use, but upon contacting them it was because charges had started to appear from Canada (we have a US debit card) so they had put a hold on our card.  We were able to satisfy them that all the charges were legitimate and they were happy to take the hold off – just as well as it might get a bit more costly if we had to put everything on the credit card instead.

Large Lakes and Little Lakes

08 June – Spent much of the day again travelling through Minnesota via Highway 23, passing through Pipestone, Florence and Paynesville to Eden Valley.  We had several attempts to find a nice camping spot beside one of the many lakes in this region but finally after getting a bit mislaid by road closure detours had to settle for a tiny private campground beside a smallish lake.  Only a handful of mostly full-time RV’ers at the site but we were invited to join them at their campfire and spent a pleasant evening.

09 June – More steady motoring on Highways 23/35 with not much to see, via St Cloud, Milaca, Mora (for a quick provision stop) and to stop for the night at a roadside rest area near Duluth.  This region is reputed to hold over 15,000 lakes, but we saw only a few of them mostly through the trees.

10 June – Just a short hop from our overnight rest area on the Interstate into Duluth which is an important shipping destination for Lake Superior.  Here we spent a few hours at the fine Railroad Museum.  It had some interesting trains – one lovely old steam train straight out of the old Westerns with the big can-like spark arrester on top and cow-catcher out front. The other impressive train was the Mallett – it was a huge black beast with wheels as tall as me, built during WW2 to pull huge iron ore trains.  There were quite a few period carriages and a mail sorting car from the 1940’s.  The mail would get sorted in the train as it went along and thrown out as they went past various mail drop off points.  At these same points the mail to be collected was hung on a pole which was captured by the guard as they whizzed past.  Around the edge of the train tracks on the original platform were a series of recreated shops from the early 1900’s with original articles lining the interiors and many recreated station scenes from the era.

Left Duluth after lunch and started on the North Shore road along the north side of Lake Superior for around 100 miles, stopping off at Gooseberry Falls to admire the waterfalls during a walk, then on to Grand Marais and up the hill to the home of George and Lesley (boondockers who had been so helpful with information when I was researching this trip before we left).  They have five acres surrounded by rivers, lakes and trees.  They are a bit higher above the lake and the difference in temperature must be about 10degrees C – Lake Superior which had only recently given up the last of it’s winter ice keeps the air really cool down at the lake level.  Lake Superior is huge – from the shores it is like being at the seaside – you can’t see anything but water on the horizon.  The road follows the coast and although it hugs the water side – there is a band of trees blocking the view in a lot of places.

Spent an hilarious evening with George & Lesley – depleting their wine and beer stocks and sampling home smoked trout and moose brat (like salami).  It is illegal to kill moose here but they are on a list that if one should happen to be killed on the road, they get the call.  At 1am a few days ago they were asked to pick up this moose and because the night was warm they had to get it all butchered before daylight, all 600lbs of it!

11 June – Dropped down into Grand Marais town for the day – sampled the local food and walked out to the lighthouse.  Nice town with many cute art galleries and eateries.  Drove back up the road on the Gun Flint Trail and stopped for a short walk up a hill for some great views over to some of the many lakes and more forest.

Had an extra treat today – George & Lesley have a red Alfa-Romeo sports car and they took us each out for a little blast.  What a neat little car – blats along very nicely and just the thing for a summer’s day.  It can’t come out in winter though as the roads get snowed in and at -20 below you would get a tad cold around the ears.  The day was topped off by a lovely home-cooked meal with our hosts.

12 June – After yesterday’s clear blue skies, we awakened this morning to rain and fog. After saying farewell to our gracious hosts, we set off back towards Duluth – the first 50 miles were in fog and rain, then that cleared and we had another 50 miles of strong winds.  We had just one stop to make in Duluth and that was the maritime museum which is alongside the aerial lifting road bridge.  We had hoped to see a ship come in via the canal and see the bridge lifted but not to be.  Weren’t very impressed when we got back to Wanda to find we had a parking ticket, despite the fact that we had paid at the kiosk – it seems that we should have paid for two spaces as we extended a little into the adjoining space.  If the car-park had been full it would have been more palatable, but there was hardly anyone in the huge park. Crossed over into yet another state – the very northern tip of Wisconsin and the small town of Superior for the night.

13 June -Travelled via Ashland into Upper Michigan and another small town, Wakefield, where we found an RV storage place offering camping places for a small donation.  It was right beside a small lake – very picturesque and pleasant apart from the inevitable mosquitoes.  West Coast NZ sand-flies have nothing on this region, there are just swarms of the things and it is a real battle to keep them out of the van despite our fly screens.  Ventured out for a wander around the town but couldn’t actually find very much of a town centre so returned back home.  There are often subtle differences when you move from state to state – like the speed limits and petrol prices will change, new chains of supermarkets and even the road rules can be different.  When we came into Michigan the traffic lights, instead of being on poles, are suspended on overhanging wires.

14 June – Mosquitoes seemed to have found their way inside overnight so any chance of a sleep-in was out with those little blighters buzzing in your ears. Set off on a long day of straight roads through lots and lots of trees, coming occasionally to the shores of Lake Superior.  Stopped off at the Painted Rocks, colourful cliffs on the lake shore, before heading south to stop for the day at a Forest Park Campground beside Lake Colwell. If we thought the ‘mossies were bad yesterday, they weren’t a patch on the swarms here.  The poor camp hosts who had come down from Alaska to man the campground had only been there for a couple of weeks and were ready to turn tail and go back home.  It is impossible to sit outside as the crafty beasties seem to be able to find ways in despite the screens on every opening, often hitching a ride on your clothes if you venture outside.

15 June – Covering quite big mileages each day at the moment as we try and tick off the last few things that we need to see before crossing over into Canada.  The wind was up again today which makes driving a challenge.  Travelling on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan following Highway 2 through Manistique and then we crossed the bridge over the straight between Lakes Michigan and Huron.  That was a little worrying – we had parked up for lunch just in view of the bridge and happened to see that there was a wind advisory in effect for RV’s and trucks – speed had to be reduced to 25mph.  It turned out not to be quite as bad as expected – it is one of the longest suspension bridges in the country and goes quite high over the water.  Our camping book had us headed ultimately for Mancelona on the other side – we were inland for a few miles before we hit the coast of Lake Michigan and again it is like being at the seaside – sandy beaches, sand dunes and heaps of very flash resorts.  Left the coast at Charlevoix to make for Mancelona and their city park, which turned out to have closed down for camping. In the end we decided that we wouldn’t see that particular sign if we parked behind it and stopped there overnight anyway.

16 June – We had no problems overnight and set off again next morning towards the coast at Empire – on the map it looked as if it would be a nice scenic drive along the lake shore, but for ages we were in forest instead.  Finally made it to the lake at Frankfort and stopped for some lovely fresh smoked trout. We then selected a route which would take us past many small lakes in the hope of finding a suitable spot to camp, but this is such a popular holiday area that all the lakes had holiday homes around them ruling out staying there. Continued on in the direction of Twin Lake – our trusty book had a spot listed there but after some toing and froing in the village, had to ask for directions to find our camp – a motorcyle trail ride staging park – ideal place in among the trees with heaps of parking.

17 June – Another of those storms during the night – the lightning just seems to go non-stop for ages and quite a bit of rain. Not too far to go today – we skirted Grand Rapids and made for our friends place at Plainwell just north of Kalamazoo.  We met Dave and Dixie in Arizona where they spent some of the winter and had an invite there to call in when we reached Michigan.  They have a home in the country on a couple of acres, surrounded by trees, so it feels like you are in the forest.  We had a lovely evening catching up on our respective travels.

18 June – Just as well we weren’t in Twin Lake today – another huge storm front passed through; as we were watching the weather radar the lightning strike count was 10,000 and increasing by the second.  Dave and Bob took Wanda down the road to get rid of our waste-water and we all had a lazy day.  Dave and Dixie had dinner planned that evening with friends and relatives and very kindly invited us along.  Boy what a meal – a Texan steakhouse – huge tender steaks with equally huge sides.  It was nice to meet with their friends and to enjoy the local lifestyle.  Stopped off on the way back at a local Best Buys store – these stores sell every electrical appliance imaginable – we were in the market for a replacement dash-radio, so checked them out with the intention of going back the next day to get one fitted.

19 June – Our radio must have had burning ears, because today when we switched on our ignition it decided to behave and run better than it had been doing for ages!  Not far down the road in Portage was an Air Museum called the Air Zoo which had very well laid out exhibits interspaced with some themed rides and activities suitable for children, and also a busy restoration hangar.  We spent the best part of the afternoon wandering around the complex before returning back to Dixie and Dave.

20 June – A few miles in another direction took us all to the Gilmore Car Museum and what a place that is.  We met up with Nancy and Dennis (they were also camped out in Arizona a few months earlier) and we all spent the entire day wandering around this huge complex.  Set on 90 acres of beautifully manicured grassed area are currently 12 buildings ranging from a large heritage centre to vintage barns and even a genuine 1943 diner.  The range and standard of vehicles was incredible.  A large Franklin collection; Model A Ford Museum (this was in a building designed to look like a Ford Dealership in the 1930’s); Classic Car Club of America (this housed many elegant vehicles from mainly the 1930’s along with a large collection of hood ornaments); a large collection of pedal cars; small collection of motorcycles and a replica Shell Gas Station.  We had our lunch in the original diner and returned home quite weary after a fun day.

21 June – Sadly, time to depart today and keep on with our planned destinations on the list before heading towards Canada.  Headed down to Ohio, via a short stint through Indiana to stop for the night at Bryan in the trusty Walmart carpark.  The area through here is mostly agricultural growing corn and soy beans and is very luxuriant with all the rain they have been having.

22 June – Continued on towards Dayton, stopping off at some interesting towns along the way.  Van Wert advertised a famous coffee shop in operation since 1920’s, so we stopped off there for some coffee, cherry pie and donuts – the decor hadn’t changed from then and the food was excellent, but no espresso machine!  The town itself had some impressive buildings, especially their courthouse from 1874 – a multi-storied brick building with huge columns and a clock tower.  Next stop Greenville and as we had a few hours to spare we visited their local museum – this was another of those surprising finds – our two hours there was not enough and we got thrown out as they were closing at 4pm.  They had two big exhibits centred around locals Annie Oakley (‘Annie get your gun’) and Lowell Thomas, a radio journalist, adventurer and world explorer.  He shot to fame in the USA when he covered and authored an account of Lawrence of Arabia whilst filming the campaign in which the Turks were driven from Jerusalem in WW1.

We then hit the road and freeway to Dayton – just as well it was a Sunday as the freeway had all sorts of road works happening and it would be diabolical on a weekday.  Our destination was a boondocker stay on the east of the town – chosen for their close proximity to the US Air Force Museum.  Found their house with the help of Sally the Garmin and were warmly welcomed in – the offer of showers was gratefully accepted and got to watch the USA-Portugal world cup soccer match on a big screen TV.  USA nearly had that game won, just lost concentration in the dying seconds of the game and it ended as a draw to the disappointment of Roger and Lyn.

23 June – Our hosts served up bacon and eggs for breakfast which set us up nicely for the day.  We were told that we would need 3 days to see the museum and that wasn’t far off.  We spent all day there and didn’t manage to cover off everything.  They have three huge hangars with the most planes we have yet to see in any one place – even I found it interesting.  With displays of WWI and the Wright Brothers planes right through to current day – each era had a huge amount of additional displays.  We got thrown out at 5.00 and just made it back to our host’s place before a huge thunderstorm hit and the heavens opened.  Finished the day with ice-cream and coffee courtesy of our hosts.

24 June – We could get accustomed to this – eggs and bacon again!!  We had 3 hours to spend at the museum before we had to make a rendezvous at the Ford agency for another 4k service.  On the way to the museum we passed through a lot of carnage created by the storm overnight – downed trees and branches everywhere.  The 3 hours just flew by and still there were displays not visited.

Our service took a while but they advised us to get the ball joints checked out, so tried an RV place first – if we could wait until August then they could help.  They did however suggest another Ford agent in London about 30 mins away so off we trundled. They were very good and put Wanda up on the hoist – seems things will be OK for the foreseeable future.  With no question of letting us pay for the inspection we headed back northwest to Springfield to pick up supplies and then find a new overnighter to try out – Cracker Barrel.  Yet another deluge and thunderstorm hit while we were in the store, the rain continued to fall, and the heat and humidity were quite oppressive.

25 June – Not one of our better nights – the traffic on the Interstate thundered by all night long and the humidity stuck around until the early hours. Made up for the bad night with a breakfast treat at Cracker Barrel’s restaurant and that was a good feed which saw us right through the day.

Decided that we really needed to get some vent covers for Wanda so that we can keep some ventilation going when it is raining – currently if we leave our roof vents open the rain comes in.  The other good thing about them is that we don’t have to remember to make sure that we have them closed before setting off (that has the potential to rip them off their hinges!).  Managed to find the right things at Walmart in Bellefontaine and then motored on to the small town of Lakeview to a RV wholesaler and picked up a few other things that we needed to replace (one of our light fittings had conked out and a window latch had broken).  Also treated ourselves to some levelling blocks so that we can throw away our broken bits of wood.  With Wanda sorted we went a little further up the road to Neil Armstrong’s birthplace at Wapakoneta and The Armstrong Air and Space Museum.  Interesting artifacts like the Gemini VIII spacecraft, Neil Armstrong’s spacesuits and many items from life on board a spacecraft as well as memorabilia from his early years and Air Force career.

Sat tight for a while after coming out of the museum as we could see a storm ahead of us and we have learnt that it is better to wait until they clear.  Our stop for the night is a very neat and tidy county camp ground just a little way out of Lima.  Nice friendly camp hosts and campers alike.

Big Horns, Black Hills and Badlands

28 May – Not a bad night at Wally’s.  Spent the entire day at the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West – a huge complex with over 7 acres of buildings housing 5 different museums.  We commenced with the Western Natural History exhibit – several levels taking us through different aspects of Yellowstone Park and the flora and fauna of the region.  From there it was on to the Buffalo Bill museum – with exhibits taking you right through his life and career promoting his shows throughout America and Europe.  Quite a fascinating man and what was amazing was the places he toured with his Wild West Show and the sheer size of the entourage that he took.  It was not just cowboys and real Indians, he had Cossacks, Chinese and Arabs.   We then had a short break to listen to a talk on raptors and got to see close-up – horned owl, turkey vulture, peregrine falcon and golden eagle.  Next museum was the Cody Gun Museum – literally thousands of firearms from the 1500’s to present day.  On loan here was a huge collection from the Smithsonian Institute and these were presented in pullout glass cabinets so that you could see the gun from both sides.

Needed a lunch break after that and then tackled the other collections in the afternoon.  The Western Art Museum had a mix of sculptures and paintings – many depicting scenes from Yellowstone which we had seen on our trip through the park.  There was a whole section dedicated to Remington, with a recreation of his studio furnished with all the original décor and artistic paraphernalia.  The artwork was period and modern and there was also an artist in residence doing lovely pastel works.

Final museum was the Plains Indian Museum – again done in period stages from early civilisation to current.  Some interesting artifacts and the handiwork on the clothing was so intricate – the women were able to make such beautiful articles of clothing with such basic tools.  The beadwork especially was really fine.

After such a full-on day we just went up the road about 20 miles to Powell and parked in their purpose built rest and overnight area.  A couple of trucks came in before dark to share the spot with us.

29 May – After a rude awakening at 2.30am by another truck coming in alongside and leaving its motor running – we had to move house a bit further down the park to get away from it’s noise, so a bit of a disturbed night.  First stop today the Pryor Wild Horse Centre at Lovell – no horses there but were given a map and sent off up the valley for about an hour into the protected area and managed to see about 6 of these wild horses.  They are leftovers from when the Spanish were here and there are only about 200.  They have quite distinct characteristics some even have stripes on their legs and the colours are also unusual.  Returned back down towards Lovell, stopping off at Devils Canyon and wow that was spectacular, a deep canyon with sheer orange coloured walls and way down in the bottom a muddy looking Bighorn River.

 

 

    

Back down at Lovell we then set off over yet another high pass – 9400ft.  The climb up through the Big Horn Mountains was through arid, desert like scenery with rocky outcrops and was a very steep grunt up, but a good road.  At the top it levelled out for a while and we were again in the snow and forest before it opened out into alpine meadows and our first sighting of moose.  What goes up must come down, so it was an equally slow journey going down.  The views were just spectacular as the valley below appeared and after a while we got down to about 3,000 ft and the small settlement of Dayton.  Our wonderful camping book told us of a free campsite up the Tongue River Canyon a few miles.  We found the road and followed the gravel road for a couple of miles when we reached the first campsite listed and decided to stay put there – the road further up the canyon narrowed and when we ventured up there later on foot, we had made the right decision.  It was quite rough, but the worst of it was that the far camp was partially flooded so would not have been a viable option.  The Tongue River has a flood watch alert on it and we can see why, in places today it is nearly up to the road and it is flowing very torridly.

Over the weekend it is meant to get even higher with thunderstorms predicted in the mountains and higher temperatures as well which combine to make the snow melt rapidly and it has to go somewhere. Quite a neat canyon – quite narrow with high sided rock walls interspersed with forest and this wild river running through it.

30 May – No noticeable rise in the river level overnight so we had no trouble getting back to the main road.  Quick stop in Dayton to fill up and then along Highway 451 which ran parallel to the Interstate but was fairly free of traffic and much more relaxing.  Crossed backed into Montana yet again and our aim for today was to visit the Little Big Horn Battlefield and site of Custer’s last stand.  We had been told that the ranger led walking tour was not to be missed and they were right.  Ranger Bill is a retired history teacher and the 45 minute walk and talk was really informative and interesting.  After that there was another ranger talk on the battle, again enlightening.  The Visitor Centre had a small museum about Custer, the battle and the Indians.  After that it was a drive around the 4.5 mile loop of the entire battle site with interpretive signs all along it and one short walk right at the end of the loop. The hill where the last stand happened has a mass grave to the 220 soldiers that died on that fateful day.  Custer himself was dis-interred and reburied at West Point.   It seems that the three day battle was the result of a lot of bad decisions on the army’s side as well as the questionable politics back East, and quite an unfortunate episode in US history.  It resulted from yet another deliberate move to renege on their previously signed treaties with the Indians.  Nearly half of Custer’s troops were immigrants from Italy, Germany and Ireland and many young local boys.  With the lure of $15 a month and 3 meals a day, it was a seemingly attractive opportunity as the US as that time was going through a severe depression.   Many of them could not even speak English.  It must have been so terrifying to be pitted against an overwhelming number (about 2,000) Indian warriors.

After seeing all there was, we moved on down the road past Ashland and stayed in a lovely campground in Custer National forest – free and we had it to ourselves yet again – where is everyone? This one had about 12 sites, each with picnic table and fire grate and the usual vault toilets.  These are always lovely and clean – I don’t think we have come across a dirty one yet neither do they seem to get vandalised either.

31 May – Explored all around the camp before setting off – 140 miles of open plains – through the Indian Reservations of the Crow and the Cheyenne.  Acres and acres of lovely green grasslands and hardly any stock in sight.  Good areas though if you are after a car restoration project – the backyards of the houses that we did come across had great collections of dead vehicles.  These high plains were once home to the roaming bison herds.  Nowadays they are settled by ranchers with just long straight roads dissecting it.  Each time you get to a high spot – all you can see for miles and miles is your road stretching out in front of you.

Target today was back in Wyoming and the Devil’s Tower – a huge columnar rock tower sticking up in the middle of nowhere.  867ft high and quite a way around it too – the short walk around its girth was 1.3 miles.  Camped at the bottom in the National Park campground and even managed to shift some of the grime off Wanda’s exterior with a quick wash. Also got the walk done before the threatening weather arrived.  Thunder and lightning entertained us – fortunately the hail stayed away.  There is a cute prairie dog town just over the road – entertaining little critters – a bit like meerkats in appearance and mannerisms except more squat in appearance.

 

    

 

01 June – Another month gone by. Hit the freeway today a few miles away from Devil’s Tower and we could have been in NZ again – green pastures and rolling hills.  Entered yet another state – we came back briefly into Wyoming last evening and are now in South Dakota.  Headed for Sturgis – this is where the big Harley get together happens each August – the rest of the time it is pretty quiet.  Bob had a look around the motorcycle museum and was surprised to find it wasn’t all about Harleys  they even had a Norton in there and many interesting early Indians!

After Sturgis the rain came down in bucketsful just as we were about to explore Deadwood. – that was short lived – the town is full of casinos and not a lot of character so after the rain cleared we went off down the road a bit further into the Black Hills Forest and found a quiet spot at the start of a trailhead to park up for the night.

02 June – Had a quiet night in the forest and after the weather yesterday, a pleasant surprise to have a nice sunny day.  Set off back on Highway 385 towards Hill City, where we had a treat for the day – took the steam train ride up to Keystone and back.  The two hour trip wound up through the hills past all the old mining settlements which are now private landholdings. Scenery varied from forests, to meadows to rocky outcrops.  Interesting diversion and a different start to the day.

Next stop Crazy Horse Monument, what a slick operation that is.  The monument is the Indian’s answer to Mt Rushmore although supposedly on a much larger scale. It is still way off completion (it was started in 1948) but in the meantime there is a huge complex dedicated to getting the money off you – a large collection of Indian artifacts, the sculptor’s house and workshop as well as oodles of native arts and crafts people selling their wares along with a huge souvenir shop.  Outside there was a group of 3 Indians telling the American audience what they really didn’t want to hear about the wrongs that had been done to them in the past, afterwhich they did a couple of dances.  The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkawski who made this project his lifetime work, was fortunate to have seven children and a dedicated wife who have carried on his work since his death.  His wife just passed away last week.  This is true dedication on their part to the project and to the Indians.

 

Continued on through the Black Hills – they get their name from the Pondersoa Pines which have a flat side on their needles which doesn’t reflect the light and therefore they look black from a distance and also the bark on the young trees is also black.  The pines are suffering though – there was a big winter storm which knocked over a lot of trees – evidenced by being snapped off half way up their trunks; the pine beetle also is prevalent around here and that gets under the bark and kills the trees – swathes of brown trees amongst the green.

We have felt very much at home the last couple of days, it could be anywhere in NZ – very green rolling hills.  Continued almost on to Hot Springs where we found a Corps of Engineers camp at Cottonwood Dam – nice place with only about 10 sites plus a camp host and even flush toilets – $4 wasn’t a bad price to pay for this.

Have been keeping a very watchful eye on the severe weather which fortunately is just keeping to the East of us as there was a tornado risk advised in the thunderstorm cells amassing, although we are currently basking in clear blue sky and nice warm temps.

03 June – Nice warm temps of yesterday have disappeared and it is an overcast start to the day.  Drove to Hot Springs and stopped off at the Mammoth Museum – impressive building covers the entire area of an ancient sinkhole which is now a mound due to erosion, which was discovered by a contractor in 1978 clearing ground for a subdivision.  It was established fairly early on that this was a special find and the developer sold the land to a newly formed Mammoth trust at cost.  With a cover over the site, paleontologists have been able to painstakingly work through the layers and so far have uncovered 60 mammoth skeletons, all but a few are the big Columbian Mammoth with just a few Woolly Mammoths as well. We had a young guy giving us the spiel on a short tour before being left alone to look in more detail.  In the exhibits hall were reconstructed skeletons as well as complete beasts – they were huge things – today’s African and Indian elephants looked quite small in comparison.

Weather had got even more dismal as we set off towards the scenic loop up through the Windcave National Park and Custer State Park through to Keystone.  Allowable speed through both parks was only 35mph which gave us plenty of opportunity to view the various wildlife – good tally today – elk – nice stags with big antlers, pronghorn’s – one with new twin fauns, white tailed deer, prairie dogs, bison and a small band of wandering burros begging for food.  In the Custer Park we came across a large herd of bison on their daily migration from one area to the next – nearly every cow had a lovely little ginger calf.  They are a bit more advanced into the calving here than in Yellowstone.

Just as we got out of the park and had found a neat spot for camping in the National Forest the heavens opened and we got treated to a very loud thunderstorm – fortunately it passed by in about 10 minutes and we were able to settle down to the important stuff of the day – wine and chippies!!  We had intended to go to Mt Rushmore this afternoon, but with the low cloud on all the hills, I doubt that we would have seen much anyway.  Rules for camping in the National Forest are quite liberal – we just have to be no more than 300 feet from the road and not within ½ mile of a campground and then we can camp for free.

04 June – Good choice to wait to see Mt Rushmore as the weather was lovely again this morning.  Stopped off first at Keystone – had a wander along the boardwalk with all its tourist shops and looking for some cops!  Even found a dump station which we made use of. Up the hill about 10 minutes and there was Mt Rushmore in full glory.  Joined the masses to get a closer look (although you can only view from the bottom of the mountain) and went around the museum and watched the short movie on the making of the sculptures.  It is a wonder how they managed to get such great likenesses using jackhammers and dynamite, all the while hanging down from the top secured by ropes and harnesses.

Just on up the road a bit, we stopped off at Bear World – our only real chance to see bears close-up.  It was about a 30 minute drive through various fenced off areas – with wolves, bison, elk, pronghorns and probably about 40 black bears.  The bears are all bred and reared in captivity so not the real thing, but good to get to see them really close and even though they look pretty docile, still wouldn’t want to mess with them.  Although they are black bears they come in a lovely range of colours from black right through to a light cinnamon.  Outside of the drive-through enclosures were some outside exhibits of young animals – bear cubs were the cutest – only born in January and were full of mischief.

We had one more stop on our day today and that was just outside of Rapid City – the South Dakota Air museum.  About 30 aircraft on outside display, all in great condition and including an example of the US heavy bombers, the Super Fortress and the current impressive B1B.  On inside display there were a small number of light military aircraft and several cabinet collections of memorabilia from the past duties of squadrons based at the Ellsworth Air Force base. While Bob was in there, I was busy checking out camping stops for the next few days as well as keeping an eye on the weather.  A severe thunderstorm had gone through Mt Rushmore soon after we left and it was tracking eastwards.  It seemed to split and miss Rapid City but was heading in the direction we wanted to go.  We left the museum around 6pm and as we headed down the road – all we could see in front of us was a huge wall of black, with lightning shooting from cloud to cloud, and forked lightning hitting the ground.  As we were just on the rear end of this and catching some rain , we decided to pull off and let it get away from us before progressing, which was a good move as while we waited a fairly strong wind came through followed by clear skies. This same storm front caused enormous damage in Nebraska with hailstones the size of baseballs which did $16m in damage to one car storage yard alone – scary stuff, so we do realise the importance of checking out the weather and paying attention to the severe warnings when they are released.  We only had about 40 miles to go and the storm front was well out of the way before we got to our neat little camping spot.  Just off the I-90 but there is not much traffic on this section of the road, in a little place called Wasta – the Mobil station has set up about 6 sites all with power for just $5 and with the added bonus of a military museum.

05 June – Another beautiful day in paradise – storms all gone and nice and clear.  It seems that they build up over the plains during the day and expel their full fury every evening.  A real treat to be able to have nice long (3 minutes is such a treat!!) shower in Wanda as we know we can refill with water before we go.  Sent Bob off to explore the museum and took advantage of having power to do a bit of baking for the freezer and give Wanda a nice clean inside, do a bit of washing and generally air everything out.  The military collection was one man’s hobby for which he built the museum and prepared all the exhibits himself to an extremely high standard.  He covers US military history fromWW1 and WW11 to Korea and Vietnam, with some interesting personal stories and equipment as well as a few major weapons and vehicles.  Well worth the free entry!

Back on to the I-90 to our next stop at Wall – this is so kitchy that you just have to stop.  The only thing at Wall is Wall Drug.  Wall Drug came about in the 30’s when the new drug store owner came up with idea that free ice water should be served to travellers during the hot weather and they have never looked back from there.  It is full of little shops selling the most amazing tacky souvenirs but it draws the people in.  They have several different dining places, loads of paintings and historic photos lining the walls of the halls, especially of Indians from the late 1800’s.  Ticked that off the list and got on to the Badlands Loop road to drive around the National Park and see all the amazing rock formations.  It is really odd – one minute you are driving on the green prairie and then suddenly all these eroded rocks features appear at a lower level.  I suppose we spent a couple of hours winding up and down through these formations.  The colours were pretty – fawns, reds and browns in horizontal layers.

The loop road came back to the I-90 and it was another blat down this freeway to Murdo for a stop at their auto-memorabilia museum.  This is not the first time that we have come across major collections put together by one man which have been left to molder by the next generation.  Valuable and interesting cars sitting in rickety sheds often on flat tyres, historic buildings falling into decay and often the contents left to be cared for in trust.  The collection was truly eclectic and quite interesting, but left a sad aftertaste.

We went through a time zone just before Murdo and have had to put our clocks forward an hour – officially in central time zone now so at 9pm when the museum closed we set off down that mighty freeway for another 50 miles to Kennebec where another free campsite awaited us.  We didn’t quite beat the failing light and had to take the last couple of miles on the dirt road a bit gingerly.  Great spot by a small lake, but we got inundated with mosquitoes as we were trying to find a spot to park, so it took a good half hour to exterminate the pests from inside of Wanda.  Now all we have is the chirping of the frogs.

06 June – Lazy start to the day and back onto the I-90 to flit through the prairie land to Chamberlain  on the banks of the Missouri River to have a look at the Lewis and Clark expedition presentation there.  There is even a replica of the boat they had specially built to get their large group through the twists and turns of that great river.  Only one person died on this momentous three year expedition, and that near here from appendicitis.  On again to Mitchell and stock up on supplies, propane (which was quite hard to find a business with a filling station) and petrol.  Left the I-90 and headed on a smaller road through more farmland to Freeman to stay at the County Park overnight so that we are well placed to visit their Pioneer Museum in the morning.  Met up with a couple from Florida and spent a very pleasant evening in their lovely 5^th wheel rig – going back to Wanda is a bit of a come down spacewise!  We hope to meet up with Wayne and Sue again further on in our travels.

07 June – The museum was something else – we spent over 4 hours there wandering around the eclectic collection of local history memorabilia from this area settled by German/Russian Mennonites.  Vehicles, buildings, taxidermy and domestic bric-a-brac, along with a knowledgeable custodian made for an interesting visit.  Some of the displays were a bit tired and unfortunately the Plains Indian display which was on loan to them was closed as it was up for auction.  Nothing much to see after Freeman – just a quick stop at Sioux Falls to view their waterfall then headed north into Minnesota towards Jasper (population 430) where we found a local city (all settlements are called cities once they become incorporated) park which had been set up by the Lions Club – so for $10 we got a site with power and water (nothing else in the park!).  Downtown Jasper on a Saturday night was a bit different – there only seemed to be about 6 buildings in the main street and nothing was open.  The buildings however were really impressive – double storied red stone and quite substantial.  Our after dinner walk around the town didn’t take very long – nice leafy streets with a mix of housing.  The boys from the local volunteer fire brigade were having a streetside session and we could see that they have a nicely restored 1928 Reo fire truck in the building.

08 June – From Jasper through agricultural country – not quite as open as the plains and a few more trees – mainly in clusters to protect the houses from the roaring winds.  Passed one huge wind farm – must have had at least 500 windmills atop a low range of hills which separate the Missouri from the Mississippi water catchments – it stretched from one horizon to the other!  Stopped off in another tiny settlement – Hanley Falls – and wandered around their museum.  Different influence of settlers in this region mainly Scandinavian with a lot from Norway whereas in the Freeman area it was the Mennonites from what is now the Ukraine.  This influence is quite noticeable in the style of barns throughout the country side – in the Freeman area we could have been in Poland, and around Hanley we could easily have been in Norway.  The Hanley Museum was in an old double storied school as well as some large outbuildings housing cars, trucks and old tractors as well as three large traction engines.  There was an interesting letter written from a Norwegian immigrant back home, describing how much better life was in America – he went to South Dakota first then finally settled in Minnesota and told of the difficulty of moving with wagons and 100 head of cattle which obviously had a mind of their own.  They didn’t have much spare cash either and had to sell one of their beasts to get enough money to buy lumber to build the first house.  They were impressed with the fertility of the land and once settled on their plot of land, I think they could buy it after 5 years for $20.  We had a nice long chat with the curator and were particularly interested in how such a tiny settlement could keep a large operation running – it seems that it comes primarily from council funding; 15 of the local businesses; donations mainly from out of towners especially past pupils of the school and they have a Threshing Day (bit like an agricultural show).

Not much to see on the road after that – finally laid up for the night at a small private campground on one of the 10,000 lakes that are in this region.  It seems that there is great fishing on the lakes, judging by the number of boats around.  We are only a short distance from St Cloud and last night according to CNN they had a dazzling display of the Northern Lights – that would have been a great sight.

 

Craters, Cauldrons and Critters

16 May – What a delight this morning to be entertained by marmots on the river bank as we were having breakfast. Cute little critters about the size of a rabbit with small ears and a bushy tail.  Set off from Shoup Bridge and continued following the Salmon River for about an hour as it wound through the valley.  Driving beside the river when the vehicle is on the bank side needs a good deal of concentration as there are no railings or run off and it becomes quite hypnotic with the river running beside you.  The valley through here was very lush, lots of farming going on and the towns look very prosperous.  Stopped off in Challis to have a look around their local museum – another very well presented one focusing mainly on the early mining history.  Watched their short video and then admired all the collections.

From Challis we started to climb on the easiest mountain pass yet – the road just went straight up, no bends and no drops, for about 30 miles climbing firstly on to a high plateau which was full of cattle ranches and huge irrigated paddocks growing stock food. On either side of this huge plateau snow capped mountains ranged above us.  The pass at 7200ft didn’t have any snow but was a bit blustery.  Came down slightly in elevation to another plateau which started off with more cattle ranches and then the landscape changed into sage brush (the land cover before it is broken in for cultivation or ranching) with rolling hills; the deep folds looked liked Shar Pei wrinkles and then changed again into rocky outcrops.  At one stage the road ahead disappeared from sight but as we got closer it went into a huge natural gulch between two rocky ranges and came out the other side into more plateau like country.

From here on the features were more desert like and the towns very much more frontier looking.  Over both mountain ranges there looked to be quite significant thunder storms going on and fortunately they both stayed put.  Listening to the weather forecast a few hours earlier we heard that somewhere in the region we were travelling to a storm was predicted with hailstones expected of 1½ inches diameter and 50mph winds!  The radio weather band that we listen to is all automated and sometimes it is hard to follow what they are saying as the automaton speaks really fast and sentences are often disjointed. Anyway we didn’t run into it. I am not sure what hailstones that size would do to our solar panel, but probably would not be good for it.

Went through many small settlements and at Arco we turned westwards to head for the Craters of the Moon National Park.  Coming into this area is incredible – it is an immense lava field formed during eight major eruptive periods between 15,000 and 2000 years ago.  The vegetation is in various stages of regeneration and the rock formations just amazing.  The campground on the site is right in amongst all this lava and has about 50 sites.  This would have to be the most people we have seen for some time.  Being a Friday people obviously flock down here to spend a weekend camping.  Took a short walk on one of the tracks through the lava fields, but will leave the rest for the next day.

17 May – Started the day with a drive around the loop road within the park and stopping off at the different features to do the little associated walks.  With names like Devil’s Garden and Spatter Cone they were worth a visit.  Interesting to note that in the park are Lumber Pines which when left to grow naturally pick up a parasite like mistletoe which has the tendency to contort the limbs – early on in the park’s formation the rangers decided that they didn’t “look right” so set about felling and poisoning 6,000 of these trees only to learn later on that the contortions were part of the life cycle.  There are such a great variety of formations in this lava area.

With that ticked off our list, we continued on the Parks to Craters Scenic Byway – quite a lot of very long straight roads weaving through the lava beds which early settlers in their wagons had to cross to avoid crossing paths with hostile Indians – they go for 53 miles in the direction we were travelling (and 618 square miles in total).  As we progressed down the valley the lava beds were replaced by fertile valleys and with much irrigation this area was full of green fields, growing hay and wheat and quite a few dairy feed lots.  One more stop along the way was the Ice Cave at Shoshone. It was a bit amateurish but still interesting to see.  The Ice Cave was formed in the bottom of a lava tube – big pools up to 20ft deep all solid ice.  The temperature inside the cave remained a constant 25°F even when it gets up to 115°F outside.  This was another example of National Park ignorance – when the caves were discovered in the 1880’s the ice was cut up and transported down to the town of Shoshone, so instead the National Park people thought it should be included in the park as an attraction but the entrance into the cave was not easy – they just blasted a big opening at the cave mouth only to find that the airflow balance had been disrupted and the ice all melted! They agreed finally to lease the land to a private enterprise that set about getting the balance readjusted and now the ice is there all the time but still not at the levels when it was first discovered.

Continued down the road to Bliss and then joined up with yet another scenic byway – this time the Thousand Springs which follows the Snake River Valley.  We took a side road up to the Hagerman Fossil Beds lookout (where scientists have found 200 pre-historic zebra like skeleton fossils) and decided to stay put as it doesn’t get used that much and the road is reasonably quiet.  In saying that we just got dinner over and a car loaded with a family came and parked up to go for a walk on the trail!  The wagon wheel ruts of the Oregon Trail (the wagon train route of thousands of people travelling to Oregon and California) are visible from here.  The view out over the Snake River and to the vast plains in all directions is breathtaking.  Just up the road is a windmill farm, so it also gets pretty windy up here.

18 May – The wind all night was a forerunner for non-stop wind all day today.  Retraced our steps back to Highway 30 and followed this through to Heyburn where we joined up with Interstates for a direct route towards Idaho Falls and Rexburg.  A long day mileage-wise for us: 230 miles and for the whole of that we have been travelling through irrigated arable farm land for as far as the eye can see on both sides of the road inside an Indian Reservation. The amount of irrigation is phenomenal – huge paddocks with mobile irrigators on – each one can be up to 500 metres long and we must have passed many hundreds of them in this stretch of road.  The dairy farms still don’t use the paddocks for grazing – economics must mean around here that it is far more profitable to grow the feed and keep the cows in the feed lots.  For the first 100 miles or so it looked like alfalfa, hay and some sort of beans were being grown then potatoes were thrown into the mix.  Idaho is famous for its spuds.

Destination of Rexburg was chosen so that we could get another 4k mile service on Wanda, so found a cute little county park just 10 minutes or so away from the Ford agent with a spot almost entirely out of the howling wind.

19 May – Very impressed by the Ford Agents in this country.  Our 4k service was again only $41 (inc. 6 quarts of oil, new filter and all vitals checked or topped up) and the service guy was so polite and obliging.  With a stop at Walmart to pick up bear spray (all the locals insist that we need it!) and the store next to it for lovely fresh veges and fresh baked bread, we left Rexburg and followed the Snake River Valley through yet more farmland although not on such a grand scale as that yesterday.  Also came in to the world’s largest potato growing area.

Crossed over a pass where the river narrowed into a gorge and then out onto another farming valley at Driggs. Bob spotted a Warbirds Cafe and Museum sign so we had to check that out.  The display was just four really well presented US Navy aircraft of different models in a large hangar.  There were masses of large hangars at this small airport and it would have been interesting to have a peek in them as I am sure there would have been many more treasures.  It was a pretty exclusive sort of outfit – in the cafe there were some very interesting magazines available to take away – one was of aircraft for sale and if you had a cool $30million you could pick up quite a nice jet plane!  The other magazine was of real estate in the area and this really is a rich man’s playground – $60million will buy you 1,000 acres with a really nice house. This is a scenic road to travel on, the snow capped mountains of the Grand Tetons formed almost a horseshoe from our left round to our right.

From Driggs we carried on to Victor then into the Swan Valley in search of our campsite supposedly at Palisades.  The first sign we saw was for Palisades Creek campground and it was 2 miles up a gravel road – we went part way up that but it got too rough so back down to the main road and then a little further on came to another camp on the side of the Snake River with a boat launch and about 9 sites in the trees.  Perfect spot, free until 24 May so we just squeaked in.  The Snake River was running really fast and there was a lot of birdlife in the area.  Spotted a bald eagle with prey in its claws and sighted its nest over the river. Strange contraption – almost like a stork’s nest but built of twigs and branches and can supposedly weigh over 500 pounds.  Little hummingbirds were also buzzing around – almost impossible to see as they are so fast but the noise as they whizz past is quite distinctive.

20 May – Left our camp in search of an RV dump, only to find the campground where we had intended to stay was just a few miles down the road!  It was at the foot of the Palisades Dam in a beautifully laid out site.  We were able to do our RV dump and get water there for a small fee and had a good chat with the camp host.  We could see the reason for the Snake River running so well – the dam was spilling a huge amount of water and all generators were running.  Once on top of the dam the road ran alongside the reservoir for ages – they must expect a huge amount of water to come off the mountains in the spring melt as it was probably down to about a third capacity.  Highway 26 took us into Alpine where we branched off onto Highway 89 and up to Jackson to now be in Wyoming on the Eastern side of the Tetons and the start of the Grand Teton National Park.

Stopped at Jackson, a very popular stopping off point for the Tetons and the centre of the town was full of very exclusive art galleries – I counted at least 12 and we went into a couple to be completely blown away with the huge artworks available with equally huge price tags.  The bronze sculptures depicting western scenes, Indians and wildlife ranged in size from about 12 inches to life size and were stunning in their detail and intricacy.  The paintings were equally large and imposing but my favourite was a beautiful full face portrait of a donkey!!

 

Left Jackson before we were tempted to spend all our trip money and headed up the valley in brilliant sunshine with the mountains towering above us and the sage brush plains spreading out before us.  There are massive herds of elk which winter here (around 7,500) but they had all moved on to higher ground and the fresh spring grasses that the thawing snow reveals. The plains soon gave way to stands of trees and quite a lot of standing snow on the ground. At Moose, stopped at the massive visitor centre to get some info on the area so that we can plan the next few days and then continued up along the foothills to Signal Mountain Camp and were fortunate to find a site – of the 86 sites, probably only about a third are suitable for RV’s and many of these still were covered in snow.  Managed to get into one spot and get sorted before it started to rain.  Beside my dining room window is a tree which has been visited by a bear – the bark has been scraped off and you can see the marks from it’s claws.  A few little mammals are hopping around as well – a pika, a tiny squirrel and signs of deer prints in the snow.  Not very cold yet, but no doubt we will be in for a cold one later.

21 May – After a bit of rain overnight and a drop in temperature, the morning dawned clear and bright. First up this morning, a walk down and around the shores of Jackson Lake below our campground.  There was just a bit too much breeze on the lake to get a perfect mirror image of the mountains in the lake, but it was pretty just the same.  We set off in Wanda to do the 50 mile loop around the whole of the Teton Park with the aim of doing some of the smaller walks on offer here.  First stop Leigh Lake, but couldn’t even find the start of the trail as the trailhead was all covered in quite deep snow.  Then on to Spring Lake and again couldn’t venture very far on that trail as it soon became covered in snow.  On to Jenny Lake and we managed to do a bit more around that trail towards Isolation Point.  Jenny Lake has a boat trip that crosses over the lake to another trail – but the lake is still partly frozen so no boats running yet.

The road down the west side of the loop is breathtaking as it goes along the bottom of the ranges and all you can see towering above you is these dramatic mountains.  Finally after lunch we came to the Taggart Lake trail which we were able to complete. The track went up for about 20 minutes following the mountain stream and then out onto a small plateau. At the end of the clearing we had to traipse through snow about 4ft deep in places – but with a track of packed snow over much of the trail.  You just had to be careful of your footing so that you didn’t sink into soft stuff or go for a slide on the slippery bits. Our reward at the end was a still partly frozen lake, so picturesque with mountains above it. No wildlife to be seen apart from the tiniest of chipmunks and quite a bit of evidence of deer.  Watched the park rangers getting their mule train ready (palamino mules must be quite a rarity) for a trip into the mountain wilderness – no motors allowed here.

 

We continued down the west side of the loop road to Moose and then on to the eastern side of the loop with a small detour to see some bison.  A herd of about 30 were making their way to a water source (I think they also get fed as there were several tour buses there and how else would they know what time to arrive?)  Still great to see these mighty beasts close up and how amazing it would have been to see them when they roamed in herds of tens of thousands.  Continued around the east loop with storm clouds brewing in several directions – we got a little drenching from one but then it cleared again.  There are mountain ranges on the left, right and in front of you on this road with the Snake River flowing alongside.   I can see why so many Americans are happy never to travel abroad when there is so much variety to see in their own home country.

22 May – Lucky again with the weather – lovely clear day although a little colder this morning.  Left the Teton National Park after a quick visit to Colter Bay and then it was ‘hey ho Yellowstone’.  Entered via the South Gate and because we knew we needed to secure a campsite at Norris we didn’t bother to stop at anything en route and just motored on up and were surprised how high we got.

The first part of the journey was high mountain motoring – deep snow everywhere and frozen lakes – even the west arm of Yellowstone looked frozen.  We crossed the Continental Divide three times and then finally came into the basin containing the Old Faithful Geyser, through upper, middle and lower geyser basins to Madison and a short hop from there around to Norris and the campground.  We made it by about 1pm which was good timing as there were not too many sites left.  The campground is on a ‘first come – first served’ basis so we secured our site for 3 nights; it is not terribly level but the pick of what was left.  Had our lunch before setting off on the first of the roads that need conquering in this park which meant back to Madison and out to the West Gate.  This area is so different from the South Gate – no snow to speak of for starters, quite a lot of marshy meadows and a lot more forest as well.  Got our first taste of the wild animals in the park – a herd of bison wandering on the road – and yes, it is like you see in the movies, all cars come to a halt and despite all the warnings to keep your distance from these and all wild animals, people are out of their cars trying to get as close as possible.  Quite a few of the cows had wee ones and they are cute little ginger things.  Passed by several more herds and then followed the Madison River out to the West Gate and the village of West Yellowstone.  Picked up the info on the area that wasn’t available coming in the South Gate, so now we know how to plan our next few days.

 

Entered back in the West Gate and this time took our time admiring the scenery along the way, back over the meadows and past the bison again although they had moved a bit from when we last saw them.  Also some herds of elk on the meadows in places.  Stopped at the Gibbon Falls – quite a lot of water passing through this canyon with plenty of force.  Went to our first geothermal area – The Artists Paintpot – interesting little area, which from above the various pools look like an artist’s palette.  Made it back to our camp after 6pm and got Wanda levelled up as much as possible.

23 May – Today’s little outing didn’t cover as much ground as we hoped.  The road up to Mammoth Springs was a bit slow with road works on part of the road reducing travel to one lane.  That road was not one of the best – no seal beyond the white line and in places the edges were just breaking away.  The scenery made up for the road – out of Norris we went through a small wooded valley with a bit of snow and then it opened out a bit into a marshy area with small willows – these are pretty at the moment because even though they haven’t come in to leaf – the new stalks are yellow and they make a nice contrast with the older brown stalks.  Dotted through here were various thermal hot spots.  A bit more forest and then onto grassy meadows and a few bison grazing and then we climbed up over a small pass which was a complete contrast – rocky cliffs and a rapidly running river coming over some small falls.  Onward towards Mammoth we reached the Golden Gate Upper Geyser Basin.  Stopped and had a walk on the boardwalks.  One area was like a mini Tarawera with orange and white terraces, these cascaded down over quite a steep cliff which could also be viewed from the road at the bottom.

At Mammoth we decided that we would take the hiking trail to the Beaver Ponds – ‘mildly strenuous’ at 2-3 hours in length so the brochure said.  Nearly 4 hours later we got back to Wanda.  It was a bit more than mildly strenuous in places so the ice-cream store back at Mammoth was very welcome.  We hiked through forest areas, open meadows and did see the Beaver Ponds with a couple of ‘lodges’.  We had great views up the valley towards the North Gate and to mountains the other way.  A lot of evidence of bear, bison and elk but no sightings.  We joined up at one stage with another couple when the bear signs were looking a bit fresh and walked with them for an hour or so.  Nice couple from the East; he had spent time in NZ and I think was trying to persuade his better half that they should spend their next vacation there, or even shift down.

It was too late to continue with Plan A, so settled on Plan B which was just to drive out to the North Gate and back and then go home to Norris.  Good plan – got to see the Roosevelt Arch commemorating the inception of the Park in 1872.  On the way back in those grassy meadows we came across a traffic jam and lo and behold saw our first bear – it was some way off grazing in the meadow – just a smallish black bear, but a bear nonetheless.

24 May – Got to do Plan A from yesterday – first eastwards to Canyon Village then up and over the Dunraven Pass which had only been open a day and what a perfect day for it – can’t believe how lucky we have been with the weather.  I think we did the pass the right way around – it was a short steep grade up and although we were on the outside of the mountain – there was a comforting 3-4ft of snow banked up beside the road instead of a steep visible drop off and down the other side of the pass we were on the inside and it was a much more gradual decline.  Stopped off at Tower Falls – twice as high as Niagara and with the spring melt were impressive as they thundered down the canyon.

From there it was down into the Lamar Valley and supposedly the best area for wildlife viewing. We saw a lot of bison – some groups with at least a couple of hundred in them.  Stopped for lunch in the valley overlooking the Lamar River, with many herds of bison as well as a few pronghorn deer dotted around the place.  Carried on a bit further on the road out towards the Northeast entrance and were reward with a special sight of a group of about 40 bison crossing the river.  The river was quite swift and it seemed that they had to swim for a short bit of it.  Did a U-turn and then headed back towards Mammoth to complete the loop we didn’t do yesterday.  The only other excitement was coming across some big-horned sheep on the hill beside the road (their presence indicated by the usual traffic jam).  Parked up in Mammoth village to check emails as we don’t have a signal in our campsite, then back down the road towards Norris. Stopped off at a nice rest area to have dinner with the eternal hope that we might see more wildlife as it got nearer to dusk.  Not to be. Had a short thunderstorm and a bit of rain instead. Every corner of this park has such different scenery and it is a treat to go over a pass or around a hill and find that you are looking at a new landscape.

 

25 May – We left our run to Old Faithful too late!!  It is Memorial Weekend and the traffic has built up considerably since we came into the park on Thursday.  We had so much trouble trying to park the RV at some of the different geyser basins on the way down to Old Faithful that we had to flag some, and when we got to the Village the queues of cars trying to get in was more than a bit long so we opted to park on the side of the road outside of the village and walk in on the cycle trail.  Managed to join the hordes with a front row seat to watch Old Faithful erupt on cue, and then did a loop track of the area before heading into the Inn for some lunch.  What a mighty place it is – when you go into the lobby and look up it is like a gigantic tree house – four floors high with balconies on each floor.  This would have been some place to stay in its heyday and would still be quite unique.

Headed back up the road to Norris – one more treat in store on the way – a coyote hunting in the marshy meadows right beside the road (traffic jam again!). It didn’t seem to be in the least perturbed by all the vehicles and was quite intent on finding a feed.  Stopped at another lovely overlook for a lazy afternoon to let the crowds diminish before tackling the Norris Geyser basin.  A good move, as there were only a handful of people on the track and it was much more enjoyable.  I don’t much go for the bus loads of tourists that descend en masse in these places for a brief experience.  The only wildlife we encountered on the tracks around the Norris Geysers were two cute hares with white feet and white tips on their ears – possibly snowshoe hares undergoing the winter to summer moult.  We did try to get into one of the other basins on the way back but were prevented entry by the rangers as there had been an accident and the area had been closed for a few hours.  Only hope it wasn’t serious, but the way that some people flagrantly disregard the danger and warning signs around these geysers, it possibly was.

26 May – Checked out of Norris and redid the road to Canyon Village.  Nice bit of road this – the forest through here was devastated in 1988 by a huge wildfire, but in the ensuing years it has regenerated miraculously.  The lodgepole pine needs the fire to regenerate and its new seedlings really take off – they germinate really closely together so all you see is a mass of new green pines.  The rate of growth though is fairly slow – these trees would not have been more than about 4 metres tall.  As they mature they seem to loose all their lower limbs and all you see is a forest of bare trunks with just a tiny bit of foliage at the top.

We didn’t realize when we passed through a couple of days ago that there was actually a magnificent canyon at Canyon Village.  It is known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and what a sight.  The lookout over the canyon was something else.  Sheer drops down into a narrow gorge with a large waterfall at one end.  The colours, although not quite as spectacular as the real Grand Canyon were a mix of buffs and orange.  It was a bit spooky standing right on the precipice – especially when the sign tells you that several years ago a large earthquake sheered off some of the cliff right in front of you.

Continued in a southerly direction this time, following the Yellowstone River through a picturesque valley with quite a lot more bison.  Stopped off at a Mud Volcano area for a walk around the various different types of mud pools before we finally hit Yellowstone Lake at Fishing Bridge and then followed the lake side for 20 0dd miles all the way down to West Thumb.  This huge lake was still mostly frozen, with just a small amount of thawed water around the edges.  Framed by snow capped mountains it is certainly a pretty sight.

Visited the last of the Geyser Basins at West Thumb before retracing our steps back to Fishing Bridge Village  for the exciting diversion of doing the laundry and back to our campsite for the night at Bridge Bay.  This campground had over 400 sites and was probably the busiest campground we have been to.

27 May – Farewell to Yellowstone.  Headed out of the park via the East entrance after going over the Sylvan Pass at 8,500ft.  The forest along the road from Fishing Bridge nearly all the way out to the entrance had been decimated by yet another forest fire – this must have been reasonably recent as the bare pines were still all standing like sentries and there was hardly any sign of regrowth.

  

Once over the pass we followed yet another green valley – spring again!!  We followed the north branch of the Shoshone River – flowing swiftly with spring melt until it ran into a large reservoir.  The green hills changed into orange rocky bluffs and at the end of the lake we came to an impressive dam – Buffalo Bill Dam.  In 1910 when this dam was built it was the tallest concrete arch-gravity dam in the world at 325ft high and what a feat of engineering to build it.   The visitor centre ran a short movie on the building of the dam which showed how difficult the conditions were that they had to contend with, but with perseverance it was completed in just 6 years.  The dam holds water to irrigate the southwest of Wyoming – turning desert into arable land.

Followed the gorge out to Cody, Buffalo Bill’s home town which we will explore tomorrow after settling for another night with our friends at Walmart.

Sun, Snow and Scenic Byways

07 May – What a nice surprise to wake up to sunshine instead of dreary rain.  The day was full of surprises.  The aim today was to drive towards Spokane so we set off first in a northerly direction on Highway 2 which took us through more apple and pear country and then 2 headed eastwards up over a pass at 2800ft and then down slightly to plateau country which was growing some sort of grain.  Our first surprise was the wee settlement of Douglas – it had a really neat little RV camp with an old fashioned general store (now turned into a private residence) and all sorts of odd and old machinery lying around.  Had we known about the RV camp we would have gone on from Wenatchee yesterday as it looked so quaint and sociable.

 

After stopping to take a few photos we continued down the road a little and found a pull off for morning smoko.  Whilst stopped there, a passing motorist in a Rug Doctor van stopped to make sure that we were OK and then he told us a much better way to get to Spokane avoiding the main road, and was sure we would find that a much more pleasant trip. We consulted our map and decided by going the way he suggested down to Moses Lake – we could even bypass Spokane altogether and continue eastwards on a different route.  It was a good choice – the initial part of the road took us through a small canyon and then opened out onto the prairies for quite a distance until we came to Moses Lake – we had our lunch at the top end of the lake, in a pretty spot with boat or kayak launching facilities and a small beach safe enough for swimming as well as picnic tables.
After Moses Lake, headed south as far as Connell and then turned eastwards again.  The prairies continued for about 10 miles and then we came into some really different scenery – deep river valleys very reminiscent of the Manawatu region but with different sort of rocks.

 

These valleys had obviously been formed a long time ago and there was not much sign of major rivers in them now due to upstream dams.  We stopped at the bottom of one of these river valleys which had a gigantic railway trestle bridge bridging the gap.  There was a salmon hatchery open to the public so stopped and had a look around and then went on just a mile or two and came across a nice Corps of Engineers park at Lyon’s Ferry.  It didn’t look as if it got much use any more, but had such a nice setting, by the lake with picnic tables and lovely trees.  Debated as to whether we should stay there, even though it said no overnight camping and that the park was open only from dawn to dusk.  In the end decided to press on and only a few miles down the road, came to another COE rest stop – this one had no signage preventing camping so decided that this would be fine. It was right beside a small swiftly flowing stream where people had obviously been fishing.

Not knowing what the fishing regulations were but keen to have a go, decided to put in my line and to my complete surprise I caught a fish – not sure what is was or if it was edible – apart that it was obviously a bottom feeder – so released it back to the stream.  It was a good size – about 15ins long but ugly.  I caught it on a sea lure with some of my magic bait made from flour and water.  There are bound to be salmon and trout in the river but I don’t have any flies.  Quite a lot of bird life around abouts merrily making pretty music and I also saw what may have been an otter on the other side of the bank.

08 May – No traffic came by the road last night so it was a very quiet repose.  With the sun rising early it also encouraged us to rise early.  We proceeded on our way along the river where we passed by Starbuck and then climbed up a little onto a plateau of wheat fields with rolling hills which looked just like a tapestry.  Paddocks were in varied stages of growth – some brown from being harvested, dark green of the maturing wheat and light green of the newly sprouted plants.

This scenery continued for about 30 minutes until we came back down into the river valley and followed this until we reached Lewiston where a stop was made for refuelling and restocking of essential food items (cashews and craisins were getting low!!).  Continued following the Snake River and made a stop at the Nez Perce information centre and small museum.  The Nez Perce are the local Indian tribe who used to inhabit the prairies and plateaus of north central Idaho, Oregon and Washington.  They fished the streams, hunted in the woodlands and gathered abundant roots and berries of the high plateaus.  They underwent a profound lifestyle change with the arrival of the white man.  A treaty was signed in 1855 which created a large reservation that included most of their traditional homeland as their exclusive domain, but upon discovery of gold in 1863 a new treaty was forced upon them reducing their land to just one tenth of the original treaty.  The small museum had some interesting early artifacts from the Nez Perce.  Had a walk around their small interpretive park which was on the site of the first Christian mission. The graveyard makes interesting reading as you peruse the headstones.  In the 1850’s there were so many deaths of infants and young people – it must have taken great fortitude to carry on with life.
The road changed course after Lewiston and from Washington to Idaho (Yea!! cheaper fuel and less sales tax), to follow the Clearwater river and first it meandered through farmland but a few miles short of Orofino the landscape changed again to more wooded hills on both banks of the river.  Just over the river from Orofino, found a BLM camp on the banks of the Clearwater just below the Dworshak Dam – the largest of its type in the USA and towers right above the town.  With just a couple of what look like semi-permanent campers (there is supposedly a 30 day limit at these spots) it was very quiet.

09 May – A bit of a damp start to the morning and nothing of interest to see in Orofino, so we carried on along the river to Kamiah (population 1285) for an interesting stop.  Originally we were just looking for a Post Office, but we happened to park outside a 2nd hand bookshop – you know you are in a small town when the sandwich boards advertising shops that are normally on footpaths – are actually in the middle of the road and you have to drive around them!  Spotted a bakery and cafe on the other side of the road for apple pie and hot drinks, then stopped off at the library which had a notice selling DVD’s for 50c – that sounded like a bit of us so we picked up a few more for our collection.  With a clean load of clothes courtesy of the local laundramat, we set off on Highway 12 again.  This  road is a long winding scenic byway along the Lochsa river and is one of the 10 most famous motorcycle roads in the country.  Unfortunately the rain started coming down quite heavily so decided to stop after about 20 miles in a Forest Service campground alongside the swiftly flowing river. If you have heard the expression that the river is running, well this one is – May-June is obviously when the spring melt happens so it is a dramatic sight.  There were about 6 camp sites – all free with just the usual pit toilet but all very clean and tidy.  The camp was in among the trees just a couple of feet above the river.

10 May – Waited for the weather to clear until we set off – still following the Lochsa River for another 60 miles, we climbed slowly up to the Lolo Pass, the river was never more than about 20ft below us and the road was good.  This is a really popular river for rafting, came across many different types of craft floating down the rapids.  One weird looking contraption was like a raft made out of two inflatable hulls, sitting really high in the water and just one person with long oars and facing forward, sitting perched on what looked like a chair.  They looked mighty dangerous if you went off course in the rapids.  Some of the rapids were quite fierce.  Had a couple of stops to wait for the rain to stop and then again at the pass- around 5400ft and a lot of snow still around.

 

The visitors centre run by the Forest Service was a nice haven – free hot coffee and chocolate available for visitors.  Watched a short DVD about the Lewis and Clark Expedition which is a big thing in this region.  They were early explorers who came across from Missouri to the Pacific coast in 1805 and their tales have been etched into the memories of the area.  Lolo Pass is the border between Idaho and Montana – no visible difference except that the speed limit on the road has changed from 50 to 70.  Highway 12 which we have been following is part of the Lewis-Clark historical trail. Thought it would be a bit too cold to overnight there so descended down the valley a little and found a perfect spot right beside the beginnings of a small mountain river – there have been deer along the side of the road so possibly some may come to the little flat area of meadow beside us.  We have lost spring again – here there are no new leaves on the trees yet (we are at about 3,900ft) so we will be in for a treat as we descend even further.  Just for now content to look out our dining room window and soak in the ambience of our little stream.

11 May – OOPS!! That gentle patter on our roof this morning was not rain.  It was that white fluffy stuff.  That necessitated a hurried exit from our beautiful spot in case it was going to make exiting our campsite difficult, or sit on the road and make driving difficult.  It snowed until we got down to 3200ft and then turned into rain.  Thankfully we could crank up the heater in the cab and keep nice and toasty.  Headed into Missoula and seeing as we missed breakfast after our hasty departure, headed for the airport where we were able to eat in the airport cafe, everywhere else being full due to it being Mother’s Day.  Next stop the Elk Foundation HQ, to look at their impressive display of Elk Preservation and Hunting.  Loads of stuffed elk trophies on the walls and some were massive. Watched their promotional movie on how they as hunters were doing a great job of conserving public lands so that the Elk can thrive.  Filled up with gas and propane at a station that also had an RV dump and fresh water.  We like Montana – petrol is even cheaper than Idaho at 3.38 a gallon.

After that it was on to the Historic Museum and brighter, warmer weather.  They had an impressive display of the local history including a large display about the internment camp that was there during WWII which housed 1,000 Italians, 1,000 Japanese and 22 Germans.  The Italians were off boats that were seized when they landed in NY and also a whole lot of labourers who had come out to assist with building the NY World Fair.  The Japanese were mainly from California and had been forcibily removed from their residences and businesses as they were thought to be a threat after Pearl Harbour.
Had a look around outside at some of their restored buildings and then on to Walmart where we can park overnight without a problem.  We don’t want to head further south today as all the towns are at a higher elevation than here and are likely to be even colder than the -2 that is predicted for here and we run the chance of also running into snow.  It will be a nice dinner chez Wanda and then maybe settle down for another movie.

12 May – After a cold night comes a beautiful morning – clear blue sky and brilliant sunshine.  Left our Wally stop and headed south first through Lolo and then down the Bitterroot River valley through Florence, Victor, Hamilton and the quaint ‘wild west’ town of Darby before starting our ascent up over the Lost Trail Pass.  The valley up to here was wide open with mountains on either side and as we got closer to the pass it narrowed markedly and became a little more wooded.  The spring colours were stunning again.  What a great day to choose to go over the pass – at 7200ft it still had quite a bit of snow around (but not as much as Lolo Pass) and the trees still had remnants of Saturday’s snow fall sitting on the branches.  The road was dry and although quite a steep climb was not unduly windy and going down the other side was no hassle either – just engage 3rd gear and not go over 40mph.

 

Once over the pass we were back into Idaho and the North Fork of the Salmon River.  We had arranged a rendezvous with local Salmon woman Cathy at North Fork and what a lovely surprise and great welcome to Idaho we had.  Cathy greeted us laden with a bag of Idaho goodies – wine, cheese, local jam and biscuits and then once loaded up with takeaway coffees we piled into her ute and she took us up to a picnic spot up a side road which followed the Salmon river proper.  Cathy had suggested that the camping up this road would be something we would really enjoy so after farewelling her we hopped into Wanda and set off up the road for 16 miles until we came to the end of the seal.  All the way up the road were spots where you could just pull off and camp beside the river – there are no restrictions apart from a 16 day limit.  At the end of the seal was Spring Creek Campground and just outside of this are numerous sites where you can park.  The river is popular at this time of the year when it is running as it is the only time when it is high enough for rafting.
We were lucky enough to meet Cathy when we were in Wickenburg AZ.   She was the docent at the Museum and we got chatting there and have been in contact ever since.  Cathy and her man spend from Nov-Apr in Wickenburg – she at the museum and Rob is a farrier and with the non stop roping that they have going on in Wickenburg he is fully occupied, but they come back to Salmon for the summer.
The area around Spring Creek was a homestead until the 1930’s and there is still much evidence – with fruit, berries and nut trees all around.  The valley is so pretty, the surrounding hills are not that high and fairly sparsely wooded.  The flat areas are covered in spring grass growth and the undergrowth around the trees is also lovely and green interspersed with yellow flowers (they look like mini sunflowers but grow in big bunches) and purple lupins.  The river is about 30-40m wide here and we did see some elk feeding on the hill over the other side this evening.  We plan on staying here a few days and just doing some gentle walks along the river.  What a treat – we also got to put out our awning and sit outside before the sun set and partake of our wine and cheese – thanks Cathy, they are all delicious.

13 May – From snow to brilliant sunshine – the weather can changed quite quickly around here.  Finally able to ditch the thermals and its back to shorts again.  Decided to move Wanda a bit closer to the river so that she could have a wash later on.  Just a couple of miles up the road was Shoup and you could get coffee there so we made that our plan for the day.  First a walk the couple of  miles to Shoup (population about 3) to the general store, cafe and cabin rentals.  It’s main claim to fame is that it has one of the  last working hand cranked gravity fed fuel pumps in the country.   The area was also a prosperous mining site up until the 40’s.

Got ourselves morning tea and then wandered up another mile or so to Pine Creek junction (this is where the Lewis-Clark Expedition finally realised that the Salmon River was not going to be the route to the ocean).  At Pine Creek the river narrows into a canyon and for the next 20 miles or so would be impassable by their horses or by dugout canoes.  It is not called the ‘River of No Return’ for nothing.

By the time we got back to Shoup it was time for lunch – so we sampled the home cooking – turkey melts and pulled pork sandwiches gave us more than enough sustenance to get back to Spring Creek.  Wanda got her wash in the late afternoon and now looks a bit whiter than before.  We have this huge area all to ourselves, a few pairs of Canada Geese with their babies and elk wandering by in the late evening.

14 May – Bob down with a head cold so a good day to stay put and rest.  I went for a trek for a couple of hours up another side road which climbed steadily for a couple of miles up to a small settlement.  Coming back was much easier.  Finished the day off lazing around and reading.

15 May – Time to move on again.  Still lovely warm weather.  Meandered back down the river and into Salmon to pick up some supplies and check on emails etc. before having a walk around the Sacajawea Interpretive site.  Sacajawea was a young Indian woman who helped guide the Lewis-Clark expedition for some of the way.  Only 5 miles outside of Salmon we have a nice developed BLM campsite right beside the river.  For $5 a night we can’t complain.

Wanda into Washington

27 April – It’s official folks – after some coercion from friends and great consideration on our part, our great white elephant of a van now has a name – Wanda, the Wanderer!!  Overnight we got buffeted quite a few times by some windy, rainy squalls which have been another good test for the leak repairs and thankfully we are still dry.  Set out early from Tillamook and with a stop overlooking a nice beach for our morning tea, proceeded straight through to Astoria.  The scenery was at first very West Coast and the last 30 miles were all built up, with a succession of small beach settlements.

Astoria is the border town with Washington State and sits on the mighty Columbia River.  We headed straight for the Columbia River Maritime Museum – the best place to be when the weather is so inclement.  What a neat place – housed in a very spacious, modern building were displays associated with river life around Astoria and the Columbia River.  The bar across which all boats enter from the Pacific Ocean into the Columbia River is one of the most dangerous on the planet and has seen the demise of hundreds of ships with huge loss of life over the years.  In winter the seas can be up to 40 ft high and it is the job of the ‘bar pilots’ to get ocean going vessels over the treacherous bar and into the safety of the river so that they can then progress upstream to their ultimate destination several hundred miles inland – nowadays via numerous locks and dams.

This lovely boat was moored at the Museum – you can cruise on her up the Columbia River
Astoria was another of those towns that flourished during the days of salmon canning (before the salmon were fished to almost extinction).  There were up to 60 factories in the area and people flocked from all over the world to work in them.
We spent several hours at the museum before it was time to leave Oregon and cross over the wide Columbia River on an incredible bridge and into the state of Washington.  We had meant to go only a short distance in search of their ‘Welcome Centre’ where we hoped to stop for the night, but this turned out to be a small display in a rest area and not at all what we were expecting.  Drove on for about an hour before coming to a small estuary at Bay Center, where we managed to find a nice secluded pull-off beside the estuary which looked good for boondocking.   

28 April – a very quiet night with the most noise coming from the frogs on the mud flats.  Headed off into Raymond to pick up some guff from the tourist office.  Raymond is very much a timber town with a bit of fishing and oyster dredging thrown in.  We took a walk down to the river dock with the hope of visiting their neat looking carriage museum, but sadly they were still on winter hours and not open Mondays & Tuesdays.  The local historic museum was open though and we were treated to a personal tour of it’s artifacts, from both the logging and maritime periods.  It had a plethora of different stuff and our guide was very informative.
After our bit of culture we headed up through about 30 miles of forest to Aberdeen – not a very appealing town – I haven’t seen so many derelict, abandoned and sub standard houses in a town since New Mexico.
With nothing to entice us to stay, we continued up 101 through Humptulips (don’t you love the name?) and on to Lake Quinault in the southern part of the Olympic National Forest.  A large lake, up to 1,000ft at its deepest with forest covered hills all around, and in the distance we can see the snow capped peaks of Mt Olympus.  We are in the heart of the only protected temperate rain forest in America with rainfalls akin to the NZ West Coast; it feels very cool and damp.  Not much opportunity to boondock around here so settled for the park camp – its got flush toilets but nothing else apart from nice views of the lake and a good supply of ‘mossies.

29 April – Couldn’t work out what the round yellow thing in the sky was – it has been hidden away for quite a while.  Made the most of it and went on one of the rainforest trails – very much like being back home except the trees are different and somewhat larger.  There were several interpretive boards on the trail explaining the nature of the forest.  Throughout the trail were fallen giants, some of which were 400-500 years old and once on the ground can take up to 200 years to return to the soil; during this time seedlings take root on the fallen tree and it looks a bit odd seeing these trees growing as if on stilts once the nurse tree has rotted away.

Left the lake and headed back on to the 101 and made a stop to get propane (we have been having the furnace on a lot so ran it down a little more quickly than normal), then did a dump of waste and filled up with fresh water and a little further down the road stopped at Forks and a car wash to give Wanda a lick and promise, and joy of joys, a laundromat was across the road so got the washing done as well.
Back on the road for another 30 minutes or so and managed to come across a primitive DNR camp with about 20 sites and found a level enough site.  There was no way to pay for this camp – normally there is an iron ranger (honesty box) where you can pay, but all it said was that you need a Discovery Pass – we figured our multi-agency National Pass should suffice for now as we don’t have one of them.
With coming north so quickly we have gone back to early spring, the leaves are that lovely fresh green on the deciduous trees and plenty of spring blossom. The contrast of the new spring growth in among the dark evergreens is spectacular.  There are a lot of trees in Washington State – all the way up this coast both sides of the road are trees – mainly managed forests, and a huge number of logging trucks on the roads.  Good roads though don’t make this a challenge, and for the most part they seem to be going south.

30 April- What a lovely drive today, for the first 30 miles it was through forest and then we ran alongside Lake Crescent for another 30 miles.  What a gorgeous lake, a very deep turquoise, lovely and clear and the road hugged the shoreline all the way around.  Stopped halfway along and had lunch at a large meadow which ran down to the lake shore. 

On again towards Port Angeles, with glimpses of the Olympic Mountains on our right and we descended a long hill, the view was amazing – it was like a corridor of trees and at the bottom the window view was across Puget Sound to Mt Baker – a huge 10,800ft snow clad mountain in the north of Washington State.  It was a beautiful clear day – all the islands in the Juan de Fuca Strait were visible, including Vancouver Island in Canada and the sea was so calm.  Our final destination was Dungeness and the wildlife refuge area.  Dungeness has a huge 5 mile long spit and perched near the end of it is a lighthouse.  You can walk all the way out there, but you have to contend with tides and all the shingle and rocks on the beach – the tide was almost fully in, so we settled for a stroll down to and along the start of the spit.  The spit is strewn with huge driftwood logs and is a natural refuge for huge numbers of birds and seals at different times of the year.  You are only allowed to walk on the ocean side of the spit at this time of year, to avoid any interference with nesting birds. 

Had an interesting chat with the two docents manning the desk – they lived locally and as well as being volunteers for the wildlife refuge, they also volunteer for the lighthouse as well – they don’t run the actual lighthouse which is automatic, but do run tours for the folks who do the walk out along the spit.  Stayed in the county campground right beside the refuge.

01 May – Into another month already.  Had a great drive today through Sequim to Kingston, stopping at Port Gamble to have a look around.  What a neat little settlement – just like a chocolate box picture – quaint, tidy houses with perfect gardens.  The area was a mill town and the owner built it just like his home town back in Maine. The area between Port Gamble and Kingston was so green, lush paddocks and very neat and tidy.  Spring blooms still in evidence so that made it extra special. 

On to the ferry at Kingston for the hop across the harbour to Edmonds on the north side of Seattle, and to Everett. The crossing was only about 40 minutes and with a lovely clear day again – the views of the Cascade Ranges at the back of Seattle made a nice backdrop.  $50 for us and Wanda to cross over on the ferry which seemed reasonable as it would have cost us more than that in fuel to go the long way around. We saw a Dreamlifter taking off as we drove towards the Boeing complex – this is one of four purpose built planes, each constructed from parts of two 747’s, which ferry in all the parts of the 787 that are made in different locations around the States and around the world, and are brought here for assembly.  It looks like a beluga whale with a very odd shaped front end.  Found the Boeing Factory but were too late for the last tour, so after getting information from the docents, headed back into Everett for the AAA office to pick up some maps and road information and then to Walmart to park for the night.

02 May – Walmart’s hospitality worked out well yet again – traffic noise died down around 11pm and then it was relatively quiet for the rest of the night.  Headed back out to Boeing and took ‘The Tour’ – 90 minutes around the inside of the building (biggest in the world by volume) where they build their jets in six enormous bays.  Currently 747,767,777 and now the 787 are all being built here with military like precision.  Our guide was like a walking encyclopedia running off all sorts of facts and figures about the building and the aircraft.  He also told us that the first of the Air New Zealand 787’s had been painted and was undergoing flight testing.  A plane is put together in as little as 3 days, some types on a moving conveyor line with others at movable work stations – but it did surprise me that they still paint them by hand.  Seeing the building from the inside is awe inspiring – 42,000 people work there and it is like a mini city, with restaurant chains, coffee shops and even a dry cleaner.

To our surprise, the Boeing tour was not all that was available to the aeronautical enthusiast at Paine Field.  Of course Bob wanted to see the collection at the Historic Flight Centre nearby that he was told about, who in turn put him onto the Warbirds Heritage Collection of Paul Allen (one of the Microsoft founders) and there he found out about the Restoration Centre nearby who have their main collection on display at the Museum of Flight complex at Boeing Field to the south of Seattle city.  Well, I think we should rename this van ‘Patience’ but at least the plans for the next few days were easily formed!  Each location has it’s quite knowledgeable docents who just love to explain all the ins and outs, facts and anecdotes of the collections to an interested visitor, which all takes time.

The Historic Flight has about a dozen mainly WWII machines all airworthy and lovingly restored, some of them of little known types that were never called upon during that conflict – the Grumman Bearcat and Tigercat were due to go into service at war’s end, but were never finally produced in great numbers so are rare indeed today whilst the almost obligatory Spitfire and Mustang were genuine surviving combatants.  ‘Grumpy’ the flight’s Mitchell B25 medium bomber was opened up so Bob could do the boy thing inside; piloting, gunnery and bomb aiming all got a work-out in the confined spaces more suited to the slimmer version of fifty years ago.  And for a mere $450 you too could do something similar up in the sky! 

Paul Allen’s Warbirds are also almost exclusively WWII veterans housed in well lit clean and tidy surroundings, again in pristine and airworthy condition.  The most iconic, principally fighter machines of the Japanese, German, Russian, British and American forces are all represented together with very detailed supporting information – even examples of the V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket bomb which terrorized Southern England towards the end of the conflict have a place there amongst the twenty or so aircraft.  Probably the best chance around to see all the competing military aircraft of the period together at one location.  At the end of that long day, Walmart again provided a safe haven.

03 May – Next day, the Restoration Centre was on the agenda for a short visit – initially all went to plan as the machines undergoing work were inspected, including a polar flight Antonov, a Chance-Vought Cutlass navy fighter, Boeing 247 airliner and a very complicated version of the Link trainer.  That was, until they found out that Bob had once flown in a de Havilland DH106 Comet airliner similar to the one they currently have under restoration.  After endless questions, out came the video recorder for an interview session of memory stretching proportions.  Everything he could dredge up from the depths was eagerly taken note of and resulted in more requests for details on tape, he being the first person they had ever met that had been a passenger in one of this type.  After more common ground was discovered in vintage cars and bikes and the offer of a job had been politely turned down, all too soon the day was nearly done and we headed down to Auburn south of Seattle in torrential rain and horrendous traffic to find another accommodating 24 hour Walmart store carpark for the night.  There is not much in the way of other low cost camping options in this city!

04 May – This day motorbikes were first on the agenda at Hinshaws Motorcycle Store in Auburn.  Rather surprisingly they are the local agents for all of the principal Japanese brands, as well as the new Indian and Norton revivals.  But the main reason for going was their collection of vintage machines, principally Honda but also including some fine British marques from the 1950’s which Bob was allowed to inspect and photograph at leisure – then they too offered him a job!

Further south, at Tacoma, the newly opened ‘LeMay – America’s Car Museum’ had been recommended to us as just about the largest in the country.  The modern four storey building houses a magnificent collection of American automobiles in the very finest conditions imaginable, with plenty of supporting information on each exhibit available on individual flat screen displays – no more scrappy bits of paper here!  A substantial number of the 350 cars on display are from the personal collection of Harold and Nancy LeMay, which is reputed to have reached 3,500 in number.  Harold was an eclectic sort of collector – if he liked the look of something, he would buy it regardless of it’s make or provenance.  The project to establish the museum and entertainment complex, which opened less than two years ago, required some US$65million to be found.  There was in addition, the story of American motoring in displays and murals,  and several interactive corners for children including slot car racing and video challenges – the place was well patronized on a Sunday afternoon.

A return north towards Seattle and the Boeing Field brought us to the Museum of Flight where Bob again got himself immersed in airborne history – the Wright Brothers, early Boeing machines, Amelia Earhart, World Wars I and II fighter heroes, bi-planes and spy planes, the moon landings and space exploration.  Nobody with an interest in things aeronautical could come out of this place in less than a day, so the two hours we allowed means we will be back again tomorrow after yet another Walmart stop-over. 

05 May – Walmart kindly had a host of trucks parking near us last night – but despite the noise from them, the trains and the freeway we still managed a restful night.  Had to wait for the rush hour traffic to clear before setting off back up freeways to the Boeing Field so that Bob could indulge himself for a few more hours.  Amongst the exhibits in the great hall is a replica of the first two aircraft built by Boeing and sold to the Walsh Flying School then operating at Mission Bay in Auckland.  The remains of these are reputed to be stored in natural tunnels under the harbour in Auckland!  Peeks inside a Concorde, Air Force One, the first 727, 737 and 747 as well as the last Lockheed Super Constellation were in addition to all the detailed displays housed in the first proper Boeing aircraft factory.  To get out of Seattle and on to our eastward journey we still had to be subjected to a few more miles of freeways – they are really stressful to drive on, we drive in the ‘slow’ right hand lane, but keep finding that it goes into an ‘exit only’ lane so have to try and get out into the faster moving lanes, and off ramps can be quite confusing when you are travelling at high speeds.  Finally got off the busy Seattle roads and made it over to Monroe where we found a County Park at the local fairgrounds and Speedway track.  With just one other rig parked up it was a nice quiet spot (after the local boys doing slide practice on the speedway track finally went home).

 

06 May – Highway 2 today was one of the prettiest roads that we have driven on to date.  We left Monroe around 11ish and climbed up over the Stevens Pass at 4,000ft on a lovely road (nice and wide with actual shoulders on the side of the road).  The rain and clouds came in at the pass, but we stopped up there amid the snow covered mountains for a spot of lunch chez Wanda.  The drive up the pass had lovely views of the high dome shaped mountains – still covered in a lot of snow and the sides of the road still had unmelted snow piled up about 5ft.  Down the other side of the pass was just magical – we followed the Wenatchee river all the way down (the road still so easy to drive on – this has to be a first – mountain pass with no switchbacks or scary looking drop-offs.  The river was so pretty, in places it went through narrow canyons with frothy rapids and opened out in other places to look quite calm. 

We finally came down into an open valley at Leavenworth – this town completely ‘remade’ itself, after the logging declined. into a Bavarian town with buildings reminiscent of a Swiss Alpine town complete with Bavarian music playing in the town square.  As we came down from the pass we came back into early spring again – trees just coming into leaf and tulips still in the gardens.  From Leavenworth (after partaking of Danish Pastries – not quite sure what they were doing in a Bavarian town!) we descended a bit more and into a much wider valley full of apple/pear orchards until we reached Wenatchee and the Confluence  State Park – this would have to be the most beautifully manicured campground we have stayed at – the grass is thick and lushly green, tents have to park on sand areas (not on the grass) and it has masses of trees.  Wenatachee is at the confluence of the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers and seems to be the Apple Capital of the region.  After the lush green of the apple valleys, the hills around us here look very dry and barren with all the greenery closer to the river.

Onward to Oregon

19 April – Managed a peaceful night in our boondock spot – there was no traffic on the road after about 11pm.  Back down into Fort Bragg first and then back on to Highway 1 which followed the coast until we got to a very gnarly bit of road (only 20 miles) but it took going on an hour, being narrow, steep and windy all the way.  At Leggett the road then joined into Highway 101 and we followed this to Garberville where we went off on to the ‘Avenue of the Giants’ – the original 101, which is supposedly one of the worlds most famous roads.  It is a 30 mile stretch of road which goes right through the redwood forest.  These are no ordinary trees – these are truly giants – towering up to 300ft tall with wide girths to match.  This was a very famous route in the 50’s but it seems that time has stood still, because all the tourist outlets look like they haven’t changed with the times and are now quite dilapidated, but they don’t detract from the wonder of the road.  All along the highway are pull-offs with small tracks to points of interest.  We managed to find one that was off the road enough to stay for the night.

 

Across the road was a small river – the Eel River – we were able to get down on to the banks.  This little river had the capacity to be quite a raging torrent judging by the debris that was quite high up in the trees.  We read later that it had caused torrential flooding in 1964, wiping out entire settlements in its wake.
We were joined by an English couple in an “Escape” rental camper – a small van which just has a small fridge, toilet and tiny cooking space and a pull out bed – but as they said, it was cheap and was getting them around.

20 April – Very gloomy weather again today.  Headed through more of the forest road – these giant trees tower on both sides of the road which weaves this way and that between them; you wouldn’t want to have had a few when driving here as a roadside tree would take you out for sure.  The little settlements along the road don’t have a great deal to offer so we just stopped off in the forest to do a short loop walk around some points of interest.  The forest hasn’t been logged since civil action put an end to it in the early 1900’s.  It is now left to it’s own devices, so as trees fall they are left to rot down in their own time (which can be several hundred years) and there is little human interference.  When you see these giants on the ground – you get an appreciation for just how big they are.
After leaving the “Avenue” we joined back up onto the 101 and then left again to visit the small town of Ferndale.  A very pretty town with a street full of Victorian buildings.  It was Easter Sunday, so not a lot was open – just one incredible gallery with wrought iron sculptures and all sorts of other items also from wrought iron. Had lunch in a little cafe with an interesting menu – Bob had quite a job trying to get through how he would like his coffee.  The food was good though and the atmosphere quite unique.

 

Back out on to the 101 and next stop was Eureka – another town with an interesting ‘old’ part.  Not much was open, but the one shop that was, was a bookshop with new and old books.  What a find – it was incredibly well stocked.  Managed to get a true English dictionary (a necessity for playing scrabble), a couple of interesting books for Bob and a couple of free ones as well – these were advance copies of new publications intended for dealer feedback comments.
Continued on the road again and near Trinidad we came across a rest area which allowed stays of up to 8 hours, so we made use of that and although we were a bit longer than the 8 hours, nobody came along to check.  There was another large RV there as well; looked like a family with a load of teenage kids – the teenagers all got out and set up tents in the bush alongside the carpark.  A truck also came in later-on, but fortunately didn’t run it’s engine all night.

21 April – Moved on from the rest area and went through another smaller scenic drive – the Redwood Scenic Byway – similar to Giants but a little more open in places.  Passed by an open meadow with wild elk grazing.  A few stags were sitting down but there were about 10 or so smaller elk (females and last year’s young) quite close to where we stopped.  Weather mixed again today, with sun, rain and everything in between.  Crescent City was the last settlement in California before crossing the state border into Oregon.  Stopped off at the welcome centre in Oregon which was a massive new building built right near the beach, but unfortunately it was closed for the Easter Break and not due to open until the 23^rd.  The lobby area was open and from there we could see inside that there was screeds of information that would have been really useful to us. We tossed up whether we would stay in their carpark overnight which is often allowed, but decided against it and went into Brookings.

Just outside of Brookings booked into our first State Park in Oregon at Harris Beach, with some sites overlooking the water and others sheltered in the trees; we opted for the latter as it was quite blowy and wet.  Good facilities, this one even had a laundry which makes it so much easier than having to find one in the towns and often they are pretty mucky.

22 April – After getting all the domestic chores out of the way, we checked out of the camp towards lunch time and headed back down into Brookings township to stock up on food; a new supermarket chain – Fred Meyer – meant we had to explore all they had to offer.  The Azalea garden was next on our list – just a small park with a whole collection of azaleas and rhododendrons – all in flower and looking a very pretty picture.  A quick drive down to the wharf area and then back out on the main road to continue northwards.  Commenced a leisurely run up the coast on good roads with pretty coastal scenery.  Settled on Cape Blanco lighthouse campground for the night – it was in a lovely sheltered area back from the coast a bit – which was just as well as the wind was blowing a howling gale out at the lighthouse itself.  The State campgrounds are well maintained and their facilities are very nice and clean and seem to be of a similar standard from camp to camp.  Nearly all of the campgrounds that we have stayed at have ‘Camp Hosts’ – normally a couple who volunteer to stay for the season in their own fifth-wheeler or sometimes a bus.  Their job seems to be to keep the facilities clean, check that people have paid, sell firewood and deal with enquiries.  In exchange for this they get to stay for free for the duration which can be several months.  Not a bad idea.  This particular camp had two sets of hosts – one ‘off-duty’ and one ‘on-duty’.

23 April – Another wet day in Oregon. Left the rather windy Cape Blanco camp after making use of their hot showers and headed towards Coos Bay.  The road meanders back and forth to the coast and is much easier travelling – as Bob says, it is amazing what a difference another 18 inches of road makes.  Quite often we are travelling through forests – spruce, cedar, fir and alder abound here.  They are not as majestic as the redwoods but are certainly plentiful.  Our guidebook informed us that the region around Coos Bay was known as Little New Zealand because of the thousands of sheep that graze the hills and meadows – I should say it is more because of the gorse, which has been quite prolific around here and looks quite pretty as it is in flower at the moment.

This area is also known for it’s cranberries and we passed several large ‘bogs’ where they are grown.  It seems that big artificial bogs are created – like large ponds with high sides, the ponds are kept significantly wet to create a bog like atmosphere for the plants to grow (they are only tiny but grown together en masse). I guess that come September when they harvest them, they flood the ponds completely and just float off the ripe berries.

It was still wet when we passed through Coos Bay – primarily a logging town on a big inlet.  Only stopped off at a hardware store to buy an electric heater – for those times when we are at campgrounds where we get electricity.  The hope is that it will be a bit more effective than our gas furnace.  Time will tell – but it should just take the dampness out of everything when we have this constant rain.

Headed out to the mouth of the harbour at Charleston for lunch – treated ourselves to fish and chips from a small stall on the wharf.  Enjoyed them in the warmth of the van as we watched a great blue heron fishing on the banks of the marina.

Decided that we would try and get our generator looked at; it suddenly conked out the last time we tried to use it with symptoms of fuel starvation and wouldn’t start again.  Managed to find a very obliging place – the poor guy had to work out in the rain but he did manage to fix the problem.  The wire to the fuel pump had broken – that area is very cramped to work on and he couldn’t find the other end of the wire as it came out of the control box, but managed to hook a new one in without taking out the entire generator, which would have been a very costly job.  Good American service again!

It was quite late in the day before we were ready to head north again, so meandered further up the coast – this time we had big sand dunes on the coastal side of the road – this area has been turned into a state recreation park so people can take their ATV’s and play in the dunes.  Couldn’t easily find a place to free-camp, so ended up at another large State Park campground besides a very pretty lake, which in the season would be packed with campers enjoying boating, swimming and fishing in the lake.

24 April – It is very hard to get motivated when it’s cold and miserable in the morning, so we had a slow start to the day, spending the morning sorting emails and reading, before deciding to move off.  Continued meandering up the coast, going past one of the many lighthouses on this coast and then stopping for lunch beside a small lake.  We have timed our run up this bit of the coast badly as a month either way and we would have been sure to see the grey whales migrating.  In the peak of the season there can be as many as 20 an hour sighted from the beaches and vantage points.  The scenery changed today, the coast is still visible, but we also have many little lakes to our right (very pretty and fringed with forest), also we crossed several large rivers with quite elaborate ‘art deco’ period bridges on them.  From 1933-42 Roosevelt’s New Deal policy came up with the idea that work needed to be found for the thousands of people who had lost their livelihood, so alongside the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) for single young men,  programmes were set in place to build roads, bridges and all sorts of socially beneficial projects to develop the more remote parts of America.  The bridges that we crossed today on the Oregon coastal road were built under these contracts and were impressive.

The small town of Florence was another stop for us – a selection of old buildings along the waterfront were quite quaint and after chatting with one of the local shopkeepers for a while continued on our way.  I have seen ‘salt water taffy’ advertised a lot at seaside towns, so finally decided it should be tried – it just seems to be soft toffee available in all sorts of colours and flavours and doesn’t seem to taste particularly different to regular ‘candy’.

The coast after Florence became decidedly built up, with settlements every few miles – lots of accommodation places and restaurants and interesting coastal houses.  Tried for a while to find a suitable boondocking site and settled on a rest area just off the highway where hopefully we won’t get moved on.  It does say at the entrance that it is open from 9am-10pm but I can’t see why anyone would bother to check up at this time of the year.

25 April – An uneventful night apart from a lot of rain – Bob’s DIY fix back at Santa Cruz seems to have done the trick – so far no more leaks from the bathroom ceiling.  The temperature dropped considerably overnight: on with the layers again!  Coastal driving again today, this time taking a 30 mile (supposed loop road) out along the three Capes of Kiwanda, Lookout and Meares.  The coast along here is well settled, with holiday homes and fishing villages.  Our first stop was at Cape Kiwanda and a walk up to the top of a sand dune for some spectacular views of the ocean.  Funny weather today – sunny one moment, wet and windy the next.  Made the most of the dry intervals to get out and about.

Last stop of the day was Cape Meares and a visit to the lighthouse.  Built in 1890 to run on kerosene and later converted to electric operation, it was fully operational until 1963.  The glass came all the way from France for the lenses and the whole building was erected kitset style – the numbered pieces still visible today.  There were several volunteers on hand to give us a guided tour.

Our loop road turned out to be closed at one end so had to backtrack a little to get to our intended stop for the night – a Harvest Host freebie at the Tillamook Air Museum.  This place is not easy to miss – coming down the road all we could see was this huge building with Air Museum on the roof. Getting up closer and we could see just how massive it was.  Built in 1942/3 it was a hanger for blimps – the photo on the wall shows eight of them lined up inside.  Altogether the US Navy had 17 of these hangars covering both coasts; the blimps were used as surveillance on the oceans looking for submarines (both Japanese and German) and fleet protection.  The US lost no ships whilst they were under the escort of these blimps. The other outstanding feature of it is that it is built mainly out of wood because the steel and aluminum materials had been diverted to the war effort.  A few of these hangers still stand, and remain the largest open span wooden buildings in the world – it took several months to complete the first one in very trying weather conditions, but it’s partner was built in just 29 days as they had worked out all the obstacles associated with constructing such an immense building.

The aircraft which dwarfs our camper in the picture below is a B377 ‘Little Guppy’ built from two Stratocruisers and intended to carry general freight.  The tail section of the plane hinges right up to allow loading.  Similar sister aircraft were built specially to carry Saturn booster rockets for the moon landing programme.

Following decommissioning of the Tillamook Naval Air Station in 1948, the giant hangers were put to a variety of uses, including aircraft storage, timber processing plants, more recent airship developments and simple storage.  It was whilst storing some thousands of hay bales that Hanger A caught fire in 1992 and was burnt out in a great inferno.  Hanger B remains and in 1994 took up a new role as the current air museum, which is shortly to be closed in order to remove the precious and still flying exhibits to a more suitable inland climate at Madras in inland Oregon.  The huge hanger has been placed on the historic places register, so it will be interesting to see what becomes of it in the future – a wintertime store for recreational vehicles is it’s only current secondary use.

26 April – Apart from some rain overnight our campsite was quiet with no traffic.  Bob spent the morning having a leisurely look around the museum while I got started on our tax returns – great that we can do all this online from over here.  Whilst planning our route, Bob had to choose between this visit and another air museum at McMinville which has the ‘Spruce Goose’ on display.  As we had seen that aircraft some thirty years ago at Long Beach, and Tillamook has one of the remaining airworthy Lockheed P38 Lightnings as well as an A26 Invader medium bomber from the Korean War period, a modern era Tomcat and a German WWII Focke-Wulfe 190, this was his choice.  When it was set up this museum would have been a hive of activity getting all the displays and exhibits in order and developing the collection, but the passage of time has seen the attention wane somewhat and it is now looking a little dated and tired.  The thirty mainly WWII aircraft on display were complemented by some interesting but eclectic wartime exhibits from different theatres and a few tired looking military vehicles.  These precious remnants of once huge fleets of equipment deserve the improved attention that apparently awaits them in the near future.

We had an extremely short distance of only 6 miles to go from one Harvest Host to the next – Blue Heron Cheese company.  With a short stop in the town of Tillamook to pick up supplies we headed out there to get settled for another night.  The shop on site was wonderful – wine, cheese, preserves, sauces and relishes were all able to be sampled and as well as local produce there was a lot of imported items as well.  Couldn’t resist getting a bit of local cheese, along with some nice mustard and special blue cheese dressing to keep our taste buds zinging.   We settled in for another wet night.

Coastal Capers

08 April – This is take two of my attempt to post this blog (I got it all typed in via my tablet and then found I couldn’t save it – grrrr!!).  We left our spot in the hills at the FairPlay winery and found our way back down to Highway 49 via Pleasant Valley lined with many boutique wineries and stopped at Placerville.  The little museum had some historic records which Bob checked out and then it was suggested that he try out the local library who in turn suggested the Mormon church.  That took a bit of finding – original  Placerville is in a very narrow valley with steep narrow streets so was quite a mission to navigate the RV.  The ladies at the Mormon centre were extremely willing and spent a lot of time with Bob sifting through any possible leads they could think of.  Nothing concrete was to come of the search but several leads found for future research, so it was worth a try.

Left Placerville and headed out via Coloma (site of the original gold find in 1848) and Auburn to our camp for the night at Bear River near Colfax.  The road in to the camp was torturous – really narrow and windy and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when we finally arrived (only to find that there was a much quicker and gentler road in to the camp from the other end – Murphy reigns supreme again!).  Bear River campground was really pretty, only about a dozen sites along the banks of a small river, with forests up both sides.  An eclectic mix of campers – prospectors, alternative lifestylers and ordinary folk like ourselves.  With the sound of the gently flowing river it was quite idyllic.

09 April –  Made our way out via the easy road to Colfax and then back on to the 49 at Auburn through Grass Valley and stopped at Nevada City.  Another town with steep streets and loads of history.  Had a wander around the old shops and houses and paid a visit to their local historical records room housed in an early settler’s house which had nothing relevant but sent us on to the local library archive room.  Once again, very willing people who are so keen to help out.  More local records were consulted but nothing could be found that was of any help to Bob.  The library itself was very original from early 1900’s with dark ornate wood inside.  The volunteers at this library were digitising the local tax records from the early 1850’s – what a task, but interesting work to undertake.  Trying to fathom handwritten documents from that far back needs a lot of patience.

 

From Nevada City we headed towards Marysville and our campground was a county park in Browns Valley.  What a nice find – this had been a commercial RV park but had gone under and was now run by the County.  For $20 we got electricity, water and free hot showers and a picturesque spot to boot.  In among Sycamore trees, with a serenade of frogs from the little creek and abundant birdlife as well as grey squirrels (bigger than their brown counterparts which have been  common until now – and with bushier tails).  The maintenance guys passed by and had a chat – they were so proud of their camp and pleased that we had found it.

 

10 April – Another year older today!  After filling up with fresh water and dumping the old we continued our journey.  First stop Marysville and on the hunt for more historical records in the county records office.  It was a bit hard to find, the address we had had us ending up at a juvenile detention centre, but there was a local education office nearby and from there we got directions to the right place (the lady insisted on leading in her car to make sure we found it).  Bob’s first stop was nearly his last as he went to the local courthouse and on going through the metal detector set it off with his pocket  knife which didn’t impress the officious security guards.  He couldn’t make it past the door, but it obviously wasn’t the right place.  He finally managed to get an address but after walking up and down the street was not able to find it , so the search was abandoned for the day.  We decided to park down by their little lake and had lunch and a relaxing walk around the lake before heading on towards Sacramento and our stop for the night at the Thunder Valley Casino near Lincoln on the outskirts of the city.  My treat for the night was dinner and gambling – an ‘all you can eat’ buffet – good job we don’t do this every night as we would be the size of a house.  With so much to choose from you just had to try a little bit of everything!  Didn’t make my fortune on the pokies but didn’t lose my shirt either.   Our parking spot was a huge empty parking lot with a few other campers and truckers for company.

11 April – Into Sacramento and amazingly we were able to find a carpark right next to the Railway Museum which could fit our RV.  Bob got a chance to go and play trains whilst I explored the Old Sacramento town.  A really neat area, with loads of restored old buildings complete with wooden boardwalks.  There were stores, bars, hotels and many little restaurants.  Sacramento is a river city and the early town was built right on the river banks.  It was originally about 20 feet lower than it is today, but with constant flooding in the early 1900’s it was decided to raise the town, so the original buildings all built a couple of stories on to their existing single stories which then became the basements.   Met up with Bob for lunch and then visited the new part of town and their public library and another search for leads.  Helpful staff were able to point him in the right direction but no new evidence was forthcoming.  Problem seems to be that good records only started after 1850 when California became a state of the US, and he is looking for records during 1849 when the territory was casually administered after annexation from Mexico.

I had been told that there was an old car museum in the town and it was only a mile or so down the river from the museum so we set off to find it.  A lovely walking and biking path goes along the river so it was a very pleasant walk.  The museum was housed in some large warehouses and was well done.  It had some interesting displays of some very early plus 20’s and 30’s cars including Clara Ford’s (Edsel’s wife) Lincoln – obviously owning a run of the mill Ford was not for her – she had to have the best!  One car that Bob hadn’t heard of before was a friction driven Cartercar.  There was a good number of later model cars as well as a small collection of racing cars.  A special feature was a display of electric/hybrid cars with about a dozen of these different vehicles.  My favourite was the Ford Tesla sports – a really nifty looking red (of course) machine.   Each month a different car club is allowed to put on a display of about ten vehicles, which allows for a regularly changing exhibit.  We returned to our RV via the river walk and managed to find our way to our boondocking host for the night.  A quiet suburb where we parked in the driveway.  Our host Linda had a lovely rose garden and she insisted I pick a bunch, which lasted for several days along the way.

12 April – Left our quiet digs to head for a road that looked interesting that followed the river.  Getting there was a bit of a chore – sometimes what looks like a little backwater on our map turns out to be completely different.  Elk Grove was like this, we went through an endless stream of traffic lights – all turning red as we came to them before we managed to get out the other side.  We passed by Hood and then on to Highway 160 – the river road.  What an interesting road – it was on top of the levee, so a bit disconcerting driving along with drops on both sides.  Dotted along the road were little settlements, a bit what I imagine the towns are like along the Mississippi.  We stopped at one which advertised an historic town centre.  It was a few old shops and buildings mostly shut up.  You could still see through the windows of the Chinese Store – not open or trading but you could see all the shelves stacked with boxes.  You know how in days gone past all merchandise was not on display but in boxes, well that was what this was like.  The top shelves had all sorts of hat boxes and lower down, gloves, scarves etc.

It was a fairly slow trip along the levee as it did require some concentration on the narrow uneven road to stop from driving off into the drink.  Made our destination which was Sherman Island basic campground – just a parking lot really but different.  The  area had a huge wind farm on the other side of the river and because of the wind was a favourite haunt for kite and wind surfers.  We couldn’t escape the wind but it did abate during the night.

13 April – Back up on the levee to complete the rest of the road and then up and over the Antioch bridge – and I mean up – it seemed to go steeply uphill for an eternity and with only single lanes we ended up with a nice queue of traffic backed up behind us.  Our task today was to cross back over to the coast  – we did this by way of the San Mateo bridge over San Francisco Bay and several freeways before finally hitting Highway 1 again at Half Moon Bay.  We had organised to stay at another Harvest Host, this time in Pescadero about 15 miles from Half Moon Bay.  It was at a small farm with produce shop attached.  The farm grew mainly beans for drying and had over 50 different varieties of dried beans available for purchase.  The farm itself was a bit run down and the owners had sold off some of their land to neighbouring farms, so I guess times had been pretty tough for them.  We parked in a small area next to the shop and had one other RV for company.

14 April – Stopped off in the village before heading south, but we were a bit early as none of the establishments were open for business.  Only had a short haul down the coast to Santa Cruz, where we filled up before heading up the hill to Bonny Doon and Ken and Sharon’s place again.  The last of our expected mail had arrived and we had another pleasant night of home cooking and good company.

15 April – Bob had a bit of DIY to do before we could set off from Santa Cruz.  With the loan of Ken’s ladder and some caulking compound it was up on to the RV roof to see if the source of a leak could be found.  Nothing was obvious, but a fresh seal was put around the possible area and hopefully that will solve our problem.  It was farewell again to Ken and Sharon and off we went to retrace our route back up Highway 1 to Half Moon Bay and our most expensive campground yet.  Needs must however and Half Moon Bay was the closest we could get to San Francisco so that we could get through the city without striking peak times.  Also the town had a laundromat (joy of joys – we can have a stock of clean clothes!!).

16 April – Set off from Half Moon Bay and timed it pretty well – we managed to get right up to San Francisco city quite easily but the last little bit to get to the Golden Gate Bridge was tedious, continuous sets of traffic lights along congested narrow roads.  We hit the freeway just before the Bridge and crossed over – a bit hairy as the lanes were narrow and we had to travel in the right lane so it felt like being a sardine.  Once over we thought that Sausalito would be a good place to go though, but with no RV parking to be had and no street parking in the very narrow streets we had to be content with a drive through.  To get back to Highway 1 and our journey northwards, we had a very nerve wracking trip over the Mt. Tamalpais road, a steep, winding road with loads of traffic but once we hit the coast at Stinson Beach the road improved and we could relax.  This part of the coast is much more open than Big Sur, the road is winding in places but not so narrow and many more sandy beaches.  Our stop for the night was in a boat launch carpark overlooking the harbour and Tomales Bay.  Had it not been so windy, I would have enjoyed a spot of fishing from the wharf.

17 April – The wind had abated overnight so it was a nice calm start to the day but still a little chilly.  First stop was coffee and fresh bread from the bakery at Tomales –  a small settlement with some lovely old houses and a nice looking restaurant only open on the weekend – obviously a great place for a weekend drive from San Francisco.

Stopped off at Fort Ross, this was the site of the southernmost Russian Colony in what was then(1812)  Spanish Alto California.  The Russians came down from Alaska and set up a fort and colonised the area with only 25 Russians and 80 Alaskan Alutiiq natives.  They formed the Russian-American Company and with the abundance of sea otters in the coastal area set up a lucrative fur trade.  The other purpose was so that they could grow crops and wheat for the Russians in Alaska.  In addition to farming and hunting the sea mammals, Ross colony industries also included blacksmithing, tanning, brickmaking, barrel making and even ship building.  The Russians sold off the Fort Ross holdings in 1841 to John Sutter (whose fort and farming empire was located where Sacramento now stands) ending the Russian involvement in the area.  The land was bought by the State of California in 1906 and today many of the buildings have been preserved and restored.

18 April – Continued northwards with nice coastal views as we meander up the coast.  Although windy in places, the roads are good and not too narrow which makes for a much more relaxed drive.  Stopped off at Gualala and a top-up of provisions from the small supermarket and then lunch stop overlooking Point Arena Lighthouse and a more rugged bit of coastline.  Topped up with gas at Mendocino (ouch – nearly 40c a gallon more expensive up here).  This was a bustling little town, loads of restaurants and boutique shops and obviously a popular destination for the tourist traffic.  We had in mind that we would stop at the Jackson Forest Campground but on arrival at the road to the camp found a sign to say it was closed for the season, so opted to boondock on the side of the road and hope we don’t get asked to move on.  It is a bit hard to be inconspicuous in a 24ft White Elephant.

Following the 49’ers

02 April – Left the reservoir campground and continued towards the foothills of the Sierra Nevada via Los Banos and Chowchilla with a stop at Los Banos to replenish supplies (the wine was getting down!).  Our stop for the night was our first at a Corps of Engineers campsite and wow was it flash.  There was more guard rails on the little bit of road into the site than we have seen on the whole of the other main roads we have travelled.  Each site was super flat with it’s own metal ramada (sun shade with picnic table) and we had a great view over the reservoir.  The facilities were lovely and clean and had free hot showers plus fresh water supply and waste dump thrown in – all this for $20 a night.  Again the reservoir was only about 10% full and we can see why all the farmers in the irrigated areas are worried – there just isn’t nearly enough water to keep them supplied.  Water (or lack of it) has become a very political affair here, but from what we can see they have converted so much of their dry areas into irrigated farm lands that it has just over extended the capability of the water storage systems so they are rapidly running out of water – the snow falls have been low and not much in the way of rain over the last two or three years has resulted in these reservoirs being run right down.

03 April – Today was the start of our trek along Route 49, following the gold rush towns which sprang up from 1849 onwards.  The first part of our run today was through very picturesque rolling hills (so very much like home) with green pastures and spreading oak trees dotted here and there.  The spring flush was definitely upon this region.  After about 30 miles on this road it was like we had gone over an invisible dividing line and the rolling hills gave way to steeper inclines and the oaks to pines.  We had reached the Sierra Nevada foothills and although we climbed a bit the road was good and an easy drive.  One surprise was that at 3,000ft there was snow on the sides of the road.  After passing through Raymond and Oakhurst we made a stop at Mariposa to visit the Historical Museum there.  Bob had decided that he would see if he could find any trace of a relative of his who reportedly came out to the goldfields around 1849 from New York and supposedly died out there.  The museum had an incredible array of archives including an 1852 census of the region as well as all the recorded graves from right around the region.  The ladies at the museum were so helpful and let us sit down and sift through the records to see if anything came to light.  The result was a negative but Bob was encouraged to go visit the Public Records Office around the corner and see if they had anything, which he duly did but nothing was gleaned from there either.  While he was doing that I managed to go and get a much overdue haircut.  Our destination was Bagby Lake camp, which we found closed due to fire concerns when we got there but we parked in the carpark anyway and were not disturbed.

Babgy Lake – you can see where the lake level should be

04 April – We must have started earlier than normal today because we got to Coulterville before anything was going and had to wait for the museum to open.  Another very informative woman manning the museum.  Coulterville’s population today is 150, but back in the goldrush days it was 10,000 with 15 pubs and 25 mines.  There was also a large Chinese community of over 1,000 who made an indelible mark on the area.  One of the main merchants at Coulterville was the house of Sun Sun Wo.  Sun Sun Wo also supplied miners in the mountains, they would send their pack mules over the mountain roads and trails carrying food, tools, blasting powder and other necessities to the isolated prospectors and mines.  Leaving Coulterville we continued along 49 passing though quaint little towns of Jamestown and Sonora.  The towns through here have retained a lot of the buildings from the 1850’s and are great to stop and walk around.  Nearly all of the towns had one, two or even three disastrous fires doing the gold rush times and were rebuilt again and again.  They often have little museums and they nearly all seem to have several antique shops, which make interesting browsing. Ironhorse campground on New Melones Lake was our target and again this was at an irrigation reservoir (nearly empty again) but a very pretty setting and with the sun shining and weather improving decided to stay here for a couple of nights, to catch up on washing and air everything out.

 

Coulterville 

05 April – An unusual alarm call to start our day – wild turkeys gobbling outside our windows.  Enjoyed a nice little walk around the area on one of the many trails, it would be very pretty if there was more water in the lake but lots of trees and very green.  The larger part of the lake had a whole lot of houseboats moored and also a floating storage shed for speedboats.  The most interesting thing was floating portaloos – a sensible idea when you have a lot of boats.  This must be a very popular place in the summer – there were about 200 campsites on the lake but only a handful were occupied.

 

New Melones Lake

06 April – Carrying along on the 49 again today, it is such a pretty drive – green hills, more spreading oaks and good roads.  First stop Angels Camp and a visit to their carriage and mining museum.  The display of carriages was impressive and the docent (a new word we have learned along our travels used for their volunteers) gave us an interesting spiel on their history.  Their other building housing the mining displays was still in the process of being constructed but what was there was very informative.  The region churned out huge amounts of gold during those gold rush years and it is no wonder that people flocked there from all over the world to try and make their fortunes.  Carried on from here via San Andreas and Mokelumne Hill (little towns) and onto Jackson for a night of luxury at the Walmart carpark!  

 

07 April – Apart from the floodlights, our night was very quiet and we awoke to a bright sunny day.  The temperatures have increased over the last couple of days to be in the very pleasant 20’s after the cold snap we have had, it is most welcome.  Set on our way today first to Sutter Creek for a walk around the town – very pretty with some lovely old houses with magnificent gardens.  Main street was full of early buildings and quite quaint.  Had lunch outside of Plymouth and then made our way up into the hills again for our first visit to a Harvest Host stop.  The Harvest Host programme lets you stay at vineyards, farms and other places of interest and instead of paying a fee you buy something from their shop.  Our stop is a vineyard, so unfortunately we had to do the mandatory wine tasting and buy some local wine which was a real bind!!  We have a lovely site looking down over the valleys and vineyards (although it is a good thing we weren’t here this time last week as as they had snow) and are looking forward to a pretty sunset.  We have not done a lot of mileage in the last few days (a whole 30 miles today) and at this rate it will take us over 3 years to get around the States.  I think I’ll need to win lotto to keep us going.  At least I get a chance to update blogs and photos when we go at this pace (that assumes we can get an internet connection of course).

 

Sutter Creek

25 March – Pacific Coast Highway here we come!!  Left the peaceful campground of Montana Del Oro and into Los Oso for a few supplies and refill of propane and then had lunch just up the road looking across to Morro Rock with a pretty sheltered bay in the foreground.  The first leg of our trip up the highway was through rolling countryside, so reminiscent of NZ that it felt like we were still at home – cattle were grazing on the paddocks and quite green.  Destination was only about 40 miles up the road to San Simeon Park and a campground back from the sea which was in a nice setting.  We wanted to be within striking distance of Hearst Castle and this was the ideal location.

Our RV parked at Montana Del Oro campground

 

 

 

Nice fire engine sitting in the foyer of the Hearst Movie Theatre.

26 March – Overcast day and much cooler as we headed off for the spectacle of Hearst Castle.  Unfortunately it wasn’t visible as the clouds had descended right down the mountains.  We stopped off at the visitors centre and watched the movie about the building of the castle and a little about the man they called the “Chief” – William Randolf Hearst.  He certainly had some vision to build his castle and with unlimited money it shows that anything is possible.

The rain had decided to fall as we left the castle and the next 40 miles of the Pacific Highway were not the most memorable – all I can say is that thankfully we were going from South to North and the road is on the inside of the cliff – it was narrow and windy for most of the 40 miles and with low cloud and rain we probably didn’t see the best of this part of the road.  The road however is a real feat of engineering the way is just carved into the mountainside and must also be a beggar to maintain as the mountainsides are full of very loose material with rock slides a continual danger.  We passed several trucks with snowplough like shovels on the front and they just continually ply this roadway making sure that the rocks get cleared.  The road was built with convict labour during the depression.

Only made a stop to have a look at the elephant seal colony conveniently right beside the road.  The colony was full of pups which had been born in January and a whole load of juveniles which had come in to moult.   We made to our campground perched on the edge of a smaller cliff with a lovely view of the sea.  The rain had cleared by the time we were settled so went for a little stroll down to the water’s edge – no beach just a rocky foreshore.  The small campground had mainly people in tents and we were very thankful to have our little warm house to spend the night in rather than a little cold tent.

 

27 March – Quite a bit of rain overnight must have been really unpleasant for the tenters and also demonstrated that we weren’t completely water tight either – we have a small leak coming from somewhere in our bathroom ceiling and dripping through the light. This is the first real rain that we have experienced.  The 60 miles today was far more enjoyable – the road opened out a little more, we had nice clear weather so the coastline was visible all day, and was far less winding than yesterday.  We passed through Big Sur and stopped off at a gallery and cafe.  The artwork on display was beautiful – stunning glassware, wood wares and paintings and leatherwork.  Before we knew it we were at Monterey and our stop for the night at a small campground a couple of miles from town. Monterey is a bit deceptive – we had a look on our map and thought we would walk into the town, find the AAA office and then walk around the town.  We walked down from the campground OK – it was a steep path down and then it looked like it was just a short walk up to the AAA office – not to be!! – it was a long way away and all uphill so all though of returning back to explore the rest of the town was totally off the agenda.  That was more than enough exercise for one afternoon!! Monterey is like San Francisco – full of hills!! Resorted to a cab to get back to our home on wheels.  The campground only has a bout 40 sites and it is very pretty with trees, squirrels and interesting birdlife.

28 March – Spent the day exploring Monterey – first a walk around Cannery Row where the sardines and squid from the Monterey Bay where processed into cans  – in it’s heyday if was a very bustling (and smelly) area.  Needless to say the fish stocks were depleted by overfishing and the canneries had disappeared by the 50’s.  It was very lucrative while it lasted and people came from all over the world to work there including Japan,Philippines and Sicily.  Today most of the old cannery buildings have been pulled down and replaced with modern buildings but made to look like the originals.  We parked at a marina housing Coastguard and scientific research vessels and out the end of the marina was a rock wall which was covered in sea lions and the noise was incredible.

 

Typical cannery worker’s house                    Monterey Beach

Monterey has put in an 18km biking/walking path along the seafront so we walked from our carpark into Monterey town and out on to Fishermans Wharf – a bustling place with restaurants lined along both sides of the wharf.  We had our wedding anniversary treat of lunch at one of these and sampled the local seafood delicacies in a quaint restaurant jutting out over the water.  Had a further wander around the wharf areas and made our way back to the RV.  Spent the night back again at the Veterans Park.

29 March – Left Monterey and headed up the coast toward our next stop at Santa Cruz which was to visit friends of Howard and Diane Porteus- Ken and Sharron – who had kindly allowed us to use their address for forwarding mail.  What a lovely spot they live in – high up in the hills from the town of Santa Cruz – their house sits in among a grove of huge redwoods and all around there are huge oaks and pines so it is like living in your own personal forest.  With the kind offer of a place to park the RV, we managed to get it parked in position just in time as the weather changed and the rain began.  We had a lovely lot of mail awaiting us including a replacement tablet and spare part for our fridge.  With the rain also came a big drop in temperature so we were quite spolit to be able to enjoy the warmth of wood fires burning and home cooking.

30 March – As we were still missing one vital piece of mail (our registration plates for the RV) our hosts suggested that we wait until Monday and the next mail delivery on Monday, so with a bit clearer weather Bob and Ken did some running repairs on the van.  First getting our bathroom door to close properly (after 3 goes it finally agreed to play the game) and we now have a door that doesn’t stick.  The fridge got it’s replacement thermistor fitted so hopefully that fixes our frozen milk problem.

31 March – Horrible weather – rain, rain and more rain and another temp drop.  We were going to set off after the mail came but our kind hosts made sure that we stayed another night so that we didn’t have to drive through it.  A pleasant afternoon in the warm watching movies and again more lovely home cooking. The loan of an electric heater ensured that our wee home was nice and snug come bedtime (it doesn’t have much in the way of insulation so quickly cools down).  Our  plates did arrive today so that is one less hassle and we should now avoid the eagle eyes of highway patrol vehicles.

01 April – a little bit of weak sunshine greeted us this morning and after breakfast we made our farewells to Ken and Sharron – what a lovely break we have had – nice company, good wine and food.  We will have to pop back in a couple of weeks as there is one more book that we are waiting on.

Down back into Santa Cruz and then we headed in a SE direction in the hope of improving weather and different landscapes.  First stop was at Hollister where we got some more maps from the AAA and then another lot from the BLM which will help us to find the out of the way places to camp in.  Didn’t have very far to go to  find out camp for the night – we are at an arm of the San Luis reservoir in a BLM camp and made it just in time as the heavens opened up and we have had several thunderstorms along with hail.  The reservoir was 32 metres below it’s normal level and this water has to supply irrigation for a huge area of California so it plays a vital role in the region and with it being so low every gets affected.  We stopped for a while at the visitors centre at the dam -interesting chap on the desk kept us amused for quite a while.

California Dreaming

20 March – The isolation of the desert was all but left behind as we headed back towards civilization and Victorville before going on to the Saddleback Butte State Park to the north of the San Gabriel Mountains which are themselves north of the LA megatropolis.  There were only a handful of people staying at this site, and the wildflowers were actually playing ball here.  There were swathes of yellow coreopsis scattered around and the scent was devine.  We had a walk up in and around the park to take advantage of this sight.  There must have been a bit of rain around here to bring them out in flower. 

20 March – After doing a dump and fill up with water we set off via Lancaster for the California State Poppy Reserve which sadly was a disappointment as the drought has had a severe effect on the poppies.  Where there should have been fields of these brilliant yellow and orange flowers, there were only a handful here and there.  Another planned stop at an Indian Museum also met with disappointment as it was only open a couple of days a week and this wasn’t one of them.  As we came down over the last range of hills we started to see a bit more farmland and the further west we came the greener it started to get.  Our stop for the night was in BLM land on the Carrizo Plains – right on the San Andreas faultline.  We parked on a barren bit of land beside the road with a small dry soda lake just up the road. 

21 March – Our progress today was by good road alongside the almost dry Santa Maria River through a ravine in the Sierra Madre Mountains first to Solvang – a community first set up by Danish settlers and the tradition has been kept alive – the town was full of windmills, Danish pastry shops and buildings very much in the Danish Style.  The main reason for coming to Solvang however was the motorbike museum run by Dr Virgil Elings, which Bob had been told not to miss – so after establishing where it was located and having it opened up for him he was able to spend a couple of hours drooling over the great range of bikes including a Britten, and a few Nortons of course.  With that appetite satisfied all that was needed was a nice coffee and pastry to finish off – which we duly did.  Had hoped to stay the night in the Indian run Casino down the road, but although their website said they had RV parking – it was off in another location and you had to get a shuttle to the casino – not what we had in mind so we ventured off down the road to a State Park on the Cachuma Lake.  This had a large campground and was quite busy with lots of families who had come to enjoy a weekend of boating and BBQ’s. 

22 March – Finally made it to the coast at Gaviota Beach west of Santa Barbara – this small state park had a campground (which turned out to be closed for maintenance) and a small picnic area.  The beach accessed from here was just a small cove with a large trestle railway bridge above it.  There was a jetty going out into the deeper water utilized for boat launching, but that was also closed.  The weather has changed since hitting the coast – quite a bit cooler and much cloudier.  The visibility out to sea wasn’t that great but we could see four oil rigs on the horizon.  We had our lunch and went back up the road to Lompoc in search of somewhere to stay – a small River Park campground (although the river it borders was completely dry) had a spot for us so we reserved our spot and then went off just a little further up the road to visit La Purisima Mission.  This mission had been completely restored by the CCC – California Conservation Corps in the 1950’s after it had been abandoned and almost ruined completely.  The Corps were a bit like a cross between our Taskforce Green and conscripted army boys.  They were housed in barracks and for a few dollars a week set about reconstructing the entire mission.  The reconstruction was done using as original methods as possible (with underlying modern supports) and it is a real credit to them.  The mission itself was in its time a huge place with around 15,000 cattle, sheep and mules.  The monks were of course in the business of converting the local Indians and they provided a lot of the labour needed to make the mission self sufficient.  In the course of bringing in all the stock and grazing the land, it then became unsuitable for the Indians to carry on with their traditional way of life.

The mission started off in a completely different area but it was destroyed by a large earthquake, so was rebuilt in its current location.  The original mission was built in the standard layout of a quadrangle, but because of this layout the loss of lives was great during the earthquake; when they rebuilt the mission it was done in long blocks instead.  The mission had its own weavers, blacksmiths, leather workers, candle makers, olive press, orchards and gardens.  Passing visitors were able to stay at the mission in quite luxurious accommodations and were always assured of good food and wine.

Before going back to our park – we stopped off to stock up on provisions at an amazing grocery outlet store and stocked up on quite a lot of very cheap food – compensation for having to pay for camping!!

 23 March – Started on our progress up the coast.  Driving around this region it is so much like NZ – there are green hills, lots of trees – the only difference is the sheer size of everything.  We came through a heavily irrigated market gardening area – and the size of the strawberry fields make our’s look like pocket handkerchiefs.  We bought some strawberries yesterday and they were a complete disappointment – they looked nice and red but they were as hard as the hobbs of hell and not terribly sweet – I am not sure what they do to them to get them red but it certainly didn’t enhance their flavour.

Drove for quite a long time through the Vandenburg Airforce Base area and then hit the coast at Oceano and Pismo Beach – not to our liking at all – packed with people and built up.  We had heard you could stay right on the beach but weren’t willing to risk getting stuck in soft sand and as I said the area wasn’t that appealing to us.  We instead opted to head out to a more remote State Park – Montana del Oro and were pleased with the choice.  A small campground set back a bit from the ocean in a pretty setting.  Our budget is going to take quite a hit all the way up this coast as there is no BLM land and State Parks all have set fees of around $23-25 per night – hopefully this should only be for 10 days or so and then we can get back to more frugal options and make our dollar last a little better.

The weather has been the greatest change for us – since hitting the coast, the temperature has dropped several degrees and the mornings are often quite cloudy with the sun not showing until noonish.  We may even be in for a speck of rain in a few days time.  Once away from the built up areas the coastline is quite rugged with some great rock formations.

24 March – Day two at Montana del Oro – nice lazy start to the day and then had a nice walk out along the coastline.  Loads of little ground squirrels have made them homes in the soft sandy soil and the power of the air and sea was also present with large areas of the cliffs eroding away.  The sea was not too rough and with the tide out we were able to explore some tidal pools.  There are big beds of surfgrass on the rocks and kelp in the deeper parts.  The rock pools had quite a lot of pink and white pieces of coral which had been broken off by the surf – and the usual crabs and mussels.  The sun has been in and out all afternoon.