Just another day in Atlanta
October 30 We are having a great time puttering around the house when the family is at school/work. Most of the small jobs we had to do are now done, we are beginning to look at road maps and routes to Alabama, where we will visit with Fellette's relatives
I don't really have anything exciting to write about folks. I will tell you about our Saturday in Atlanta though. First we went to the Coca-Cola Building. Yes, Coke is headquartered in Atlanta and they have a very large and interesting exhibition area showing the evolution of Coke since inception. Skads of memorabilia, and a small theatre that continuously shows Coca-Cola commercials going back fifty to sixty years. I found it fascinating to see all the people riveted to the screen watching Coke commercials with a look of contentment on their faces. Coca-Cola is about as American as you can get.
We of course overindulged in the sample rooms. Over 50 kinds of drinks from Cokes library of drinks are there for you to have as much as you like. Talk about kids in a candy shop. The exit from the exhibit, [that costs $11 for adults] is through the Gift Shop of course where Coke fans are in their dream-world. It seems to go on forever.
Next we went to The Underground, a trendy Mall that was built on abandoned industrial property and is a tourist attraction in itself.
While strolling through the mall I was fascinated by the extreme clothing, hair styles and garish jewellery worn by some of the locals. It appears that the "Rapper Image" that we see on TV is not for TV, it is indeed the way a certain segment of the population here dresses. Their attire and accoutrements when combined with the extreme body shapes adds to my bewilderment. I guess I'm a country boy after all.
Today Fellette and I did a little scouting for Rob and Sophie on their ongoing deck dilemma. The truck, now cleaned and polished likes to run without the trailer. I now find myself keeping up to the Atlantians, or is it Atlantonians, going 65 in the 45 speed zones.
We also went shopping for a Turkey Dinner that Fellette and I are going to cook later this week. We missed the Canadian Thanksgiving and will miss the American one since our friends the Cutlers in California will be in NY. She, Gail, promised to cook one for us as we buzzed through California on the way home but time will not permit. We have to be home for the Family Christmas Party December 3rd. My birthday will also be on the road this year, somewhere in Arizona or Nevada???
I read the Atlanta paper today, and I could not find the word Canada, no matter how hard I looked. We are not as important as we think we are.
A Handyman's Paradise
October 26 I don't think that my writings will be of much interest for some time to you folks that read this thing.
We have adapted to "Big House Living" very fast! It as if we never left home, big bed, big shower, big table, always access to wireless, good food, good company and an endless list of little simple fix-it jobs to do.
We are here for about another 10? days, so don't expect too much in the way of riveting reading and high adventure. [Like the last seven weeks?].
A couple of photos of our highlights the last two days.
Madison after a hair wash, Amberly doing homework, and us at play.
Is Atlanta Burning, Scarlet? [No, its freezing!]
October 24 An exciting day for us coming up. Our time in Atlanta with my nephew Robin and his family is something we have been looking forward to for many months. While crossing the state line from South Carolina to Georgia we stopped in at the Georgia Visitors Centre.
Canadians are made especially welcome and given a bag of goodies. The bag has a Canadian flag on it with a Welcome Canadians Motif. There were four pins in it with crossed Canadian and Georgian Flags. Nice gesture.
A few hours of easy driving and we are in the north-east suburbs of Atlanta. Our trusty navigator Jane took us right to their doorstep by 3.30.
Please understand that Robin's household is a very busy and active place. Chaotic is a more fitting description of the situation.
When we pulled up to the house, Rob was at work, Soph was stuck in the airport in New Jersey, Amberly was on her way back from a three day school outing in Florida, [about 160 14 year-olds], and Madison was on the way home from school, where a neighbour was waiting for her. When Madison did arrive, she and her "best friend" Karla came and gave us a welcome hug.
We let ourselves in and started unloading what we needed for our 10-12 day stay here. Soon the laundry was in and we settled in. [The BIG shower was great.]
Unknown to us, Robin, has this crazy tradition where he, and I say he, does not put the furnace on until the temperature in the house hits 60 F. It was 61 when I tried unsuccessfully to get the heat up, unaware of this "insane" tradition, as Amberly later called it. Our threat to go back out to the trailer fell on deaf ears.
Fellette prepared dinner from goodies in the fridge and soon Rob and the girls arrived. Shortly Soph came home and we settled in for an evening of catch-up as some of us huddled in the "Sun Room" where the lights from the plant lights offered a bit of relief from the chilly Atlanta weather! We did a bit of homework with Madison, [grade one], I handled arithmetic while Fellette did the reading part.
We awoke in the morning to a hearty congratulation from Rob for surviving the tradition, the temperature was below 60 so the heat was going on!
By 7.30 AM, Rob, Soph and Madison were out the door while Amberly recouped from her outing. We are left with instructions to get her up at 9.30 to do homework.
This is a bit of a change from our travel routine but nice. We have a few handyman jobs to do around the house, but Rob does not want the deck-rebuild project to happen. He fears an incomplete project!
Factoid of the day: Did you know that 5,500,000 Americans are employed as a result of US trade to Canada?
Down the Shenandoah Valley...
October 23 The road heading SW from Pennsylvania to Atlanta takes us down the Shenandoah Valley with the Appalachian Mountains off to the side the whole several hundred mile route. The mountains are gently rolling softly rounded more hills than mountains. They are beautiful with fall colours this time of the year.
For lunch we stopped at a place called Natural Bridge in Virginia.
It is a limestone arch with a small river running below, over which a highway runs. The land around was bought by Thomas Jefferson for about $2.40 in today's money, from King George lll, [they were still talking at the time obviously]. It is now a destination for outdoor enthusiastics to hike the canyon and the kids will enjoy all the attractions made to make it more than just a natural bridge. Fellette and I did a one hour power-hike to "The Falls", that are more cute than spectacular.
A Japanese woman took the photo.
There is a nearby "Foam Henge",
a wax museum, Convention Centre/Hotel, Toy Museum, mini-golf and on and on. The gift shop inside is about the size of today's major supermarket stores. Only in America!
After lunch we continued down the corridor to our destination for the night, Charlotte, North Carolina. The weather is very chilly, close to freezing. You know Vancouver takes much flak for its weather, but at least it is temperate. My nephew in Atlanta, our next stop, says it is cold down there. Somehow I always expect the South to be warm. Not so. At least we have avoided hurricanes so far.
We seem to be on a "fly-way" for snow-birders heading south for the winter. The camp is packed with 40 foot long diesel-pushers with every modern convenience possible. [See photo of one that passed us towing his Cadillac?]
I bought gas in Virginia for .59c C$ a litre today.
Tomorrow, Atlanta, Lord willing.
The Amish, Gettysburg and Ryans'...a full day indeed!
October 22 Good weather and an early start to the day. Soon we were in dairy farm country. The landscape is littered with silos and barns, the property must be deep in length because the farms are every few hundred meters in width. Possibly divided amongst families over the years.
In the county and city of Lancaster is the apparent centre of Amish Country. We navigated to an Amish Farm Museum, where we took the tour of the home and then wandered the yards. Our guide was very good explaining in detail the basics of present day Amish life. In particular explaining how they manage in today's modern world without violating their religious beliefs. Do you know they can's use zippers?
The community is still reeling from the recent tragic shootings in the area.
After that we zipped down the road to Gettysburg. The town/city is an absolutely wonderful place to visit. Full of well kept buildings of mixed eras, some back to the civil war era. It seems strange to see the side of a building with pockmarks from a battle that took place over 140 odd years ago.
We went to the National Parks Information Centre and took the two hour Battlefield Bus Tour. Our guide was very enthusiastic. Obviously a Yankee, as he used the "we" word frequently. His exuberance made the tour seem as if the battle was actually unfolding as we toured the various battle sites. [The battle was a three-day event, involving about 60,000 men.]
The National Parks is doing a tremendous job in restoring the 20 odd square mile park back to it's original condition. Houses, motels, trees and other non-battle era additions have been removed. The actual fences as they were are being reconstructed. There are over 3000 monuments, statues and plaques that are in the park. By far most were put up by the survivors of the military units after the war, sometimes many, many years after the war.
We still had an hour or so left in the day so we headed out again, to Maryland for the night, closer down south to Atlanta.
We arrived a bit late in the day so we whipped into town for a treat out, a store-bought dinner.
After getting lost in the dark countryside for ten minutes we arrived at the destination as instructed by our camp host. The Chinese Restaurant we sighted was soon encompassed by four fire trucks so that was out, really.
We passed by MacDonalds and Wendys in favour of Ryans, which we thought looked and sounded like a steakhouse. Not to be. Ryans is an all-you-can-eat buffet. We stalled for a few seconds and then said, "we can handle this, we musn't get stuck in a rut. "Sometimes ruts are good. It almost seems to be a contest in there, who can eat the most! The place was packed, soon we were seated and warm sweet sticky buns and sweet iced tea was in front of us. I must confess that even we ate more than we normally/should have.
If anybody is to blame for the overweight population in North America is the food merchandisers who have found a way to make money by offering too much food at modest prices. The cost of this food contest was $9.60 each, kids are $6.00 something. The family of six that was behind us left the table and floor with enough food and debris on it to feed a hungry adult.
Pictures: Half Amish, half Gettysburg.
Rolling, rolling, rolling...
October 21 Enough lollygagging around, time to get some miles on! 611 kilometres today, [about 370 miles]. Great roads and weather. PLUS the fall colours were about the best we have seen. The photo did not capture the best of it, but gives some idea of the route today.
We left north of Boston about 8.30. Today we decided to take Interstates and Turnpikes, [toll roads]. The cost is not great and it certainly makes a difference in time, frustrations and wear and tear on you and the vehicles.
We passed through parts of the following states in our eight hour day; Mass, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and finally we are in Pennsylvania, within striking distance of Gettysburg. By far the best roads in the entire trip were in New Jersey.
We had a somewhat scary adventure while zipping along after lunch. In spite of all the navigational aids and maps in the world we got turned around and found ourselves hurtling at 105 Ks/HR on the freeway straight to the jungle of downtown New York, my worst nightmare. Finally I pulled off and found a golf driving range and explained our situation to a gentleman there. He asked where we wanted to go and then said, "do you want to go over the George Washington Bridge?" I would rather walk on glass than drive down through that mess. So he directed us to the Tappen Zee Bridge, very close by that would get us heading west again. Soon we were pulled over by a very nice New York State Trooper. Apparently we were in an area where only 'passenger cars' could be. He somewhat apologised for the by-law in our case, he then confirmed our directions to Pennsylvania and wished us a safe journey.
As we passed over this very impressive bridge we got a very nice view of the skyline of New York City. Scary!
We arrived at the campsite for the night to find it chock-o-block full of New Yorkers and locals. We found out from one couple that people just like to get out and be in the country in the fall, sitting by a smoky campfire as the kids go on hay rides and ride their bikes or play by the stream running nearby. The owner of the camp could not explain the crowds either, they are sold out this and next weekend, then they shut down and go to Texas for the winter.
I wonder if it has something to do with the US involvement in Iraq? You realise down here that there is a war on. Flags, yellow ribbons and "welcome home" banners on overpasses, etc. Maybe some nesting instinct with the kids that now are more precious than ever? Who knows, but it is nice to see.
I turned on the computer and checked the weather. "Cold Front Sweeps the Nation and Heads South", really! Too much information Doug.
Gas prices for you that are interested...the lowest we saw was in Mass. at .62c C$/litre. Ranging up to .74c/litre. We passed the 11,000 kilometre mark today.
Only three photos today folks, you got them all! Taken at 100 kph.
The British, historical enemy of Bostonians
October 20 Early morning rain woke us from an otherwise restful sleep after our Lobster Feast the night before. We left a bit early to get out of the pelting rain in the trailer. Within minutes we are in Salem, where we are a bit early for the museums and points of interest. The small city looks very ominous in the early morning mist and drizzle. It is very tourist friendly and would be a neat place to walk about on a sunny day.
Rather than linger till opening times we pushed on to Boston, wanting to stay north of Boston itself and stop in the area of the Navy Yard where the USS Constitution is moored. Unfortunately we found ourselves on a terrible route through less than desirable neighbourhoods that seemed to go on forever on dreadful roads.
To our utter horror we soon found ourselves irreversibly caught up in the early morning traffic heading into the gut of Boston! You do not want to drive in Boston. After going in every conceivable direction and going over the same bridge in both directions then going through a toll both that was restricted to pass holders only, we sought sanctuary in a Dunkin Donuts drive in because I needed to use the toilet! It turned out to be the drive through line! I eased out and looked for a place to park, finally going into a private company lot, risking the wrath of the owners as I trotted to Dunkin's, leaving Fellette with nothing but a smile to explain our situation.
Inside Dunkin's, after using the facilities I decided at least we had to have a reason to come to Boston so I ordered coffee and three donuts. A very nice woman in there explained where we were on the map I was clutching. Back to the car to get reorganised. Fellette and I were both ready to go back and read in the trailer when we pulled into Dunkin's. We had been two hours in the rain and had gone about 50 Ks, [30 miles]!
Apparently we were five minutes away from our intended destination. In ten minutes we were parked and in the Naval Dockyard Information Centre.
The rest of the day was great, the rain eased and we settled down and thoroughly enjoyed our visit of USS Constitution, the museum, dockyard and the Trolley Trip we took to beautiful downtown Boston. We strolled and had lunch, then continued our History lesson. I never realised how much of the build up to the Revolutionary War took place in Boston. We could spend days here, even though we are not patriotic Americans, it is like walking through history.
The English portion of my blood flowing through my system did shudder somewhat as the 19 year old US Navy black female guide on the Constitution told of numerous naval victories over the British in the war of 1812. There were many school buses visiting the dockyard and the Boston Common when we were there. I can see why in many cases some Americans are so knowledgeable on American History, but in some cases lacking on world history. In the case of local residents I can completely understand it, it took place in Downtown Boston!
The return to our camp was not as unpleasant as the run in, but I got a refresher course on why we don't go into big cities.
After a decent night's sleep I felt that I could write the blog with an unbiased mind, [it was fogged by the driving conditions]. I hope I did. Boston is a great city, a must-see for history buffs. Just don't drive in it. The streets look like they were laid out 300 years ago, which they were!
Not a good day for photos folks.
Gloucester, Massachusetts
October 19 No wonder it is called Mass., what a hard name to spell!!! We said a fond farewell to Jack and Noreen after a very hearty breakfast. Soon we were on the turnpike heading in the general direction of Boston, where we will visit tomorrow.
Unfortunately, there is only so much time and we must push on regardless of all there is to see in this general area. We were soon in our campsite for the next two days near Gloucester, on the coast just below the New Hampshire border. Our site is again in the woods in a somewhat lonely spot, but very nice.
After setting up and a bite to eat, we nipped down to the town of Rockport, about 10 miles away, on the coast, founded around 1636!!! [in spite of this sign with a later date].
It was a fishing village, and still is but with an artistic slant to it. Skads of galleries in town. After revenue from their parking meters I would say that tourism and fishing are a toss-up for income. It really is a different place from the run-of-the mill coastal towns.
We bought two cooked lobsters there and Fellette made a salad, and peace and tranquility reign in our little home on wheels. [Do you think that one of the lobsters was right handed and the other a lefty?]
Looking out through the trailer window after supper, in the pitch darkness, as I type this I see a long-term resident about 100 meters away with their patio lights on around the trailer, the neon palm tree really does look sort of cute from this distance
That's it folks.
