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Silver Springs and Juniper Springs
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Drive to Wildwood, Florida
March 11, 2017
Along the way we went to the Farmer’s Market in Ocala, which was nice. We found lost of muffins, bread, farm eggs, fruits and vegetables.Then we drove the back road to Wildwood, passing beautiful horse farms.
Arriving at a typical KOA crowded campground in Wildwood, we settled in, took a nap and went for a drive, ending up to The Villages. What an amazing development. It is huge, and all similar houses, but very well landscaped and many golf courses. There are shopping centers with everything you need right in the development.
WIFI in campgrounds where we like to go is sparse or non-existent. This KOA had pretty good WIFI, but I am also writing a book on Elliewood Keith, a great lady who taught me to ride horses. I am so into researching her genealogy right now that any time I get WIFI, I work on that site.
Sante Fe River Hike and Ichetucknee Springs
March 10, 2017
We hiked a very pretty trail in O’Lena State Park along the Santa Fe River. A very unique aspect of this river is that it goes under ground for about five miles, then pops back up. This provided a land bridge for travel for thousands of years. After lunch we drove to the Ichetucknee River in Ichetucknee Springs State Park. This river is fed by lots of springs and has a good flow of crystal clear water and joins the Santa Fe. This is a smaller stream and absolutely gorgeous. We hope to float it on our way back north. It can be a two-hour trip or a six hour trip if you float into the Santa Fe. Kayak rental is $20 and a $10 pick-up fee. This is a popular spot for tubing in warmer months.
We enjoyed the sandy campground in O’Lena State Park. They are large sites, and we enjoyed our neighbors. We would certainly love to return.
Kayaking the Santa Fe River
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Heading South
March 8, 2017
The first trip of the year started with a few glitches, mostly because I didn’t winterize adequately. There was first a crack in the plastic toilet valve, which quickly leaked all over the floor. Trying to fix it, I removed the toilet and all the fittings before finding the crack. My great neighbor, Danis, after a hard day at work, got down on the floor under the toilet with his flashlight and found it. This is not a part you could find locally, so Martha looked up Airstream dealers along our route.
Trying to remove the TireTracker sensors to check air pressure, I broke a valve stem. I couldn’t believe how easily it broke! I had to take the tire off, put it in Martha’s car and took it to Settle Tire for a valve stem. $110! Are you kidding me? They have pressure sensors in them that relay to your car’s computer. The service man said 80% or automobile accidents are due to improperly inflated tires. (I thought it was texting.) TireTracker tells you to put anti-seize on the connection so they won’t corrode and get stuck. The service man said be careful when you take it to the car wash where the tire scrubbers frequently break these valve stems. Obviously it is a very weak metal.
Finally, we set off to North Carolina, stopping in Greensboro at a very nice Airstream place, Out of Doors Mart. Might get awnings put on when we come back through. They very efficiently replaced the toilet valve. We also got some brackets to replace the broken plastic ones that hold a base speaker on the floor, got a shower door seal and he repositioned the refrigerator sensor.
Arriving at Morrow Mountain State Park, we were ready for a drink. This was just a nice stoping place for us, but it looks like a very nice park and a nice campground, one of the few places where the campground host came to greet us. Now we discovered another glitch since we didn’t have water hookups. The water pump was working, but there was obviously a hole in the line somewhere as we were getting more air than water. Finally I discovered a broken filter laying on the floor in front of the pump – likely having been filled with water and frozen in the winter. Strike two for my winterizing technique. I hate putting that antifreeze through all the lines, preferring to blow the lines out with air, but obviously I found two places that don’t blow out.
Now on to Charlotte and the next Airstream dealer, Tom Johnson Camping Center for our broken filter. They didn’t have one, but directed us to the competition down the road, even calling ahead to make sure they had it. Once I screwed it on, the pump worked fine:} That night we discovered another problem. The refrigerator wasn’t working when on gas. I examined everything, but could not find a problem. The igniter wasn’t igniting and there wasn’t any gas flow to the igniter. I started to take it apart, but the nice thing about being on the road most traveled is there will be another dealer down the road.
Meanwhile we enjoyed four days at Amicalola Falls State Park, home of the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi. We hiked up to Hike Inn, a five-mile hike to a nice inn on top of a mountain where you can stay the night, or more. They serve breakfast and dinner. We didn’t stay, but ate our lunch in Adirondack chairs overlooking the mountains and then hiked back down. Martha got a taste of what it is like to hike the Appalachian Trail, only we didn’t have 35 pound packs on. This is a great concept. My favorite is still the Hike to the Tea House at Lake Louise, but this was cool too.
The lodge and campground were totally booked up, which was a surprise for early March. It turns out this is the beginning of the Appalachian Trail season, so there were all sorts of events and lectures on the topic. We listened to a couple of lectures in the morning, including one gentleman who had hiked the whole trail in 1977 with his wife and 10-year old daughter!
We drove close to the beginning of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain and walked the mile to the start. There is an access trail from Amicalola Lodge that is 8 miles long with some difficulty. We had a nice talk with a young man, Lawrence, from England who had just hiked up from the lodge. He plans to walk the entire trail and blog it in connection with schools along the way. Another 8 people came up as we talked. All were nice, so they would enjoy the first night on the trail together.
Back on the road, we drove to the north of Atlanta to Southland RV to see about our refrigerator issue. Again, very nice people at Southland, right off I75. They were very busy, but took the time to check our problem. First checking the outside where the back of the refrigerator can be accessed through a door, he confirmed there was no gas or ignition. Then we went inside and turned the refrigerator off and then back on. Going back outside, he stuck his head in the door saying, “Now she’s lit”. Are you kidding me? All I had to do was turn it off and back on? Yep, just reboot. “Everything’s a computer now days”. No charge. The hardest thing was now to turn the trailer around in a very tight place, but they helped us and sent us on our way. Three Airstream places and all very nice. Surely now everything would be working fine.
It was late in the day when we arrived at Reed Bingham State Park for the night. It was just a stopping place for us, just the right distance off I75 to be peaceful. It is a very nice park with a 375 acre lake. We took the time to do laundry in the morning, put the new anchors on the base speaker and took a nice hike.
Day 8 on the At, Pass Mountain to Gravel Springs Hut
Saturday, November 19, 2016
It wasn’t as hard as some other days, but it was long – 13 miles. Sweating all morning, by the time I rested at the top of Hogback Mountain, a front was coming through. Nick had taken a long break at Elkwallow Wayside, and he caught up with me at the top. Neither of us liked the front coming, although people had told him it was just going to be wind. We met again at a spring, and you could feel the cold air coming over the top of the ridge, so we pressed on. Nick left me in the dust. By the time I got to Gravel Springs Hut, I was whupped again. It was a 13-mile day and I felt it. Two guys were getting water from the spring as I passed, but they said there was good water flow. As I got to the hut, two guys were sitting on the roof enjoying the sunset. Nick was building the fire and welcomed me to camp. “Well big time at Gravel Springs on Saturday night”, I said.
The two guys, Matt and Phil were in their fourth year at the Naval Academy. Matt was from Maine and Phil was from Kentucky. They had just come for the weekend, hiking in about seven miles. Matt has hiked through the park a couple of times and likes to come back to this hut when he can. He asked us where we were getting picked up. Nick and I both thought we had one more day and a half, but Matt said we would be out of the park in seven miles, and then the trail went through boring private property from there. Otherwise, you walk the parkway to Front Royal. The wind was blowing up a gale now, and it was cold. I put on my long johns and ate some Thai chicken for dinner. Freezing, I crawled into my sleeping bag to keep warm and stretch out.
Nice guys, Matt and Phil told stories of how the Academy sent them to some very interesting places during their summers. Matt was going to go on nuclear submarine duty after graduation, while Phil was going to be a marine. They were set up to sleep in Hennessy Hammocks, which they swore by. I am going to have to check that out. Thank God for guys like these to do tough jobs for our country. It was fun spending an evening with them. It was also very fun to think tomorrow would be our last day. The wind was howling and it was very cold. So much for the perfect weather week.
Day 4 on the AT, Hightop Hut to Bearfence Mountain Hut
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
I woke up early feeling pretty good, but it was so nice just to lie there for a while in the quiet. Sure there were noises in the night. Mice scrambled around the hut. Squirrels combed the gutters for nuts, and something walked around outside. The big full moon was great because you could see just like it was daylight. I had my bear spray beside me and a flashlight, but I never had to use the light. You could see fine – just open one eye and peek out to see if a bear was there or not. Didn’t see anything. I also kept a pot beside the bed. If a bear came, I could bang it on the wooden floor and scare anything within a mile to death.
I tore myself out of bed and got ready, but it was 9:00 before I was ready to get going – late! Maybe I was overconfident that I had made this hut in good time. Turns out, it was a shorter trip.
On this day I was struck by tree tumors looking like beehives in the middle of trees. I also was struck by graveyards of beautiful Chestnut trees. I quote from https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/nature/diseases.htm:
American Chestnut Blight
The American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) once dominated the eastern forests from Maine to Alabama and comprised 50% of the mountain forests of this country. It is estimated that if all the chestnut trees alive at that time had been in one pure stand, there would have been a forest of nearly 9 million acres. In size they were the “redwoods of the east” growing to a height of over 100 feet and a diameter of nearly 10 feet. Renowned for their weather resistant wood and dependable crop of nuts, chestnut was of great value to man and wildlife.
These giants are now absent from the landscape: a tragic loss that has been said to be one of the worst natural calamities ever experienced by this nation. In the early 1900’s a fungus (Endothia parasitica) was accidentally introduced into New York City from trees imported from Asia. The blight quickly spread on its new host, the American chestnut, destroying it throughout its range.
Today, chestnuts can only be found in the understory, as shoots from the blight resistant roots. By the time they reach 20 feet in height the blight attacks and kills them.
All you can tell from the trees lying on the forrest floor is they were magnificent. I’m no good at telling which trees are which, especially when they lie dead, but I was struck by the beauty of so many of these big trees. What troubles man has caused!
I finally made Bearfence Mountain Hut at 6:00. Again no one was there. Oh happy days! Still couldn’t eat, still queasy and losing weight. The spring was good. There was ample firewood. I was tired, but in one piece.
Stony Man Hike, Shenandoah National Park
November 8, 2016
Martha and I decided to take a hike in the park, so we drove up through Sperryville, which is a beautiful drive. Once on the parkway, we chose The Stony Man hike as it was pretty short and easy with a good view. We went down to Skyland Lodge and walked around. The place was busy. Leaves were past peak, but it was the middle of the week. We saw two backpacks from through hikers who had left them on the trail while going down to the lodge for a good meal, and maybe to restock their supplies.
Aerial maneuvers by crows
The Squirrels are eating well
Bear in the woods
Driving back along the parkway, cars were stopped along the road. It was a “bear jam”! All across Canada and no bears, but here we are back in Virginia and we find a bear.
On the way home, I started thinking about doing more. The weather forecast was perfect with temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s. Martha had had enough of me, so it might be best to get out of her hair for a while. I thought about the Great Smokies National Park along the Tennessee and North Carolina border. I thought about taking the Airstream and doing day hikes, but all the campgrounds were closed, so I thought about hiking the Appalachian Trail. It is 70 miles through the park, and they say most people walk about 10 miles a day on the trail. Shoot, who can’t walk 10 miles a day?
On to Baltimore
31℉ at 6:00
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
We drove country roads to Merry Meadows Campground north of Baltimore. It is a campground with great ideas, but in need of serious updates. It suits our needs of visiting my sister in Baltimore. After riding in the car all morning, we took a short bike ride on the Northern Central Railroad Trail that connects with York County Heritage Trail. We got on in Gunpowder Creek State Park (an 18,000 acre park). The part we rode north is very pretty, and still has railroad tracks on parts of it. On the York County Trail, a steam engine does tours using the same trail, which I think adds some character to it.
We went into Baltimore to see Gayle. It shocked me to see her deterioration since I saw her last six weeks ago. Chronic Progressive Aphasia is a rare, but devastating disease. I just wanted to take her home and “fix” her, but the reality is there is no “fix”. So sad! Martha read her the two cards next to her bed, one from Mazzie and one from Harriette and Cary Fishburn. Her friend, Janet Hurd came in to visit. I missed the name of another lady who also came to see her. Of course Saints Laura and Willy were there as always.
Laura, Willy, Martha and I then went to the Baltimore Museum Restaurant for dinner. The wine and great company helped. This is a great restaurant, with Tuesday night specials and $20/bottle wines. I had the best catfish dinner ever with the best grits ever and kale. Fried chicken and crab cakes were also great. We exchanged stories of Laura’s hikes in Great Britain, our trip and Willy’s upcoming cruise on the Danube Thursday.
We will return home tomorrow. Martha is quite happy to get back to flush toilets, her own shower and laundry and bed. She is anxious to see her friends. I look forward to cleaning everything, reorganizing, updating some things, taking care of some business and getting to the duck marsh. It has been a great trip, and we have seen many things and great places. We have met some very nice people I hope we will meet again. We look forward to getting together with Eddie and Roberta and Randy and Xan to exchange Airstream travel stories. With so many places to go, I look forward to the next trip.
I would love to list the top 10 places we have seen, but I can’t. Every one had its own special things. In general, if it’s a true national park, it is a very special place. What Quebec lists as national parks are really provincial parks, but we loved every one of those too. For me, I like remote places so I still like Faunique Mauricie even with its rough gravel road in. Martha liked Lac St. Jean because of the variety of things to do. It has a national park – Point Tallion, great biking, maybe the world’s best blueberries and ice cream, cute towns and boulangeries. So many cool people we met, but Frèderick takes the prize. We loved the kayak guys who gave Martha all the advice of where to kayak in Mont Tremblant, and Page and Jeremy with the little camper Jeremy made in Lancaster County. I certainly prefer remote places and camping in provincial or national parks, but in a tight campground you meet and talk to more people, all of whom are doing the same thing. This makes it almost like a club. People are ready to give advice on where to go, where to eat, what you must see, what is the best hike or bike ride, where is the next best campground. Your next tip might be in the bathroom or at the gas station.
We aren’t in great shape, but certainly better than when we left. A two-three-hour hike or bike ride seems to be the limit for us. Sometimes we can do two exercises in a day, but its nice to have one be a bike ride. When Kelly and I were on our fishing trip, at least when we were into the good fishing part, we were walking up trout streams all day, and then you walk back, and many of those streams were rivers with heavy currents.
Martha has done great! She has done great with cooking in a variety of circumstances and methods. She hiked some rough trails, camped in remote places and biked a lot of places. She navigates well, although tensions can be high when you have to make split-second decisions on which way to go while pulling a trailer. We have been very fortunate not to have any dings, scrapes or tire issues. I can’t wait to go again!
Jim Thorpe
32℉ and raining at 5:00 am
Thursday, October 27, 2016
It was raining hard with a mix of ice. We read for a while, but by 11:00 I was stir-crazy, so we drove to the Boulder Field in the park. I’ve never seen anything like it. It looks like a lake when you drive up, but it’s a huge lake of boulders. It looks like the end of where the glaciers pushed rocks, but they say the glacier ended a mile to the north. The theory is it was a huge rock that through freezing and thawing for thousands of years, it broke up into these boulders. There was plenty of water when the glaciers melted and that smoothed them. OK.
Then we drove to the town of Jim Thorpe. A small park greeted us with two statues of the great Jim Thorpe. He was an indian of the Sac and Fox nation in Oklahoma. His given name being Wa-Tho-Huk, which means bright path and it sure was a bright path. He was christened Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe. His father was a great athlete, beating all challengers in running, jumping and throwing in the Indian Nation. Jim was sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.
Quoting from Jim Thorpe on biography.com:
“Growing up, he never liked being inside. He learned to hunt and trap at an early age, developing his legendary endurance via extensive excursions through Indian territory. His aversion to the classroom was exacerbated by the early deaths of his twin brother and both parents, and his stints in the Haskell Institute in Kansas, the local Garden Grove school and the Carlisle Indian Indistrial School were marked by long bouts of truancy.
As a student at Carlisle in the spring of 1907, Thorpe joined a track-and-field practice session on campus. Clad in his work clothes, he launched himself over a 5’9” high bar to break the school record, catching the attention of coach Pop Warner. Thorpe soon became the star of the track program, and with his athletic skills he also enjoyed success in baseball, hockey, lacrosse and even ballroom dancing.
However, it was football that propelled Thorpe to national renown. Starting at halfback, place kicker, punter and defender, Thorpe led his team to a surprise victory over top-ranked Harvard in November 1911, and fueled a blowout of West Point a year later. Carlisle went a combined 23-2-1 over the 1911-12 seasons, with Thorpe garnering All-American honors both times.
Named to the U.S. Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, Thorpe burst out of the gate by winning four of five events to claim the gold medal in the pentathlon. A week later he overwhelmed the field in the decathlon, winning the high jump, the 110-meter hurdles and the 1,500 meters despite competing in a pair of mismatched shoes. Finishing the three-day event with a total of 8,412 points (of a possible 10,000), a mark that bested the runner-up by nearly 700 points, Thrope was proclaimed by Sweden’s King Gustaf V to be the greatest athlete in the world. (from Jim Thorpe Park: he was awed and humbled by the ceremony and replied, “Thanks King”)
Thorpe was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City as part of his hero’s welcome home. However, a newspaper report the following January revealed the Olympic champion had been paid to play minor league baseball in 1909 and 1910. Despite his handwritten plea to the Amateur Athletic Union, Thorpe was stripped of his amateur eligibility and forced to return his gold medals, his historic performance stricken from the Olympic record books.”
I can’t remember what the sign in the park said, but I think he made $2 a game. In his plea, he said he didn’t care about the money and had no idea of the ramifications. He just wanted to play sports. I won’t write it all here, but biography.com has an excellent write-up, and you can read a bit of his incredible athletic and personal traits from the pictures. It’s a wonderful story.