Curtain call

Evenin' Campers!

Greetings from... Florida? Yep... Home in Vero Beach.

How'd that happen? Just last night I was sharing impressions of North Carolina from our landing spot in South Carolina. Well, as we set out this morning for our trip to Hunting Island State Park near Hilton Head we left early to allow time to explore Charleston (a city that neither Mrs. C' nor I have ever visited). Within an hour we had seen a couple of sweet little resorty towns between Myrtle Beach and Charleston and a paper mill and... a steel mill?.. yep the Arcelor Mittal Georgetown, SC wire mill which we learned unfortunately stopped production just a month ago. We took time to check in on things back home. About that time we ran into heavy rain from the low pressure system which is sitting off the southeast coast and has been threatening to become a tropical depression for the past few days. It is forecast to move right along our path. So, with the combination of thoughts about the responsibilities we have been shirking in Vero Beach for the past three weeks and the prospect of a rainy tour of Charleston, two nights of rainy camping and two days of rainy driving we decided to skip Charleston and head to I95 South. We outran the rain by mid afternoon and got home at 9:00. We backed the rig into its spot in the driveway and called it a day.

A note on shirking responsibility... I highly recommend it for a few weeks at a time as age closes in. We enjoyed the new places we visited and especially the old friends and family we got to visit. 

A special thanks to Mr. I in Vero who cared for the dog we left behind and looked after the house so we could get away for this trip!

I'll try to write a wrap up tomorrow night. Until then...

SC'

The North Carolina Coast

Hey, Campers!

After a few days on the North Carolina coast it seems like a good time to summarize our experience and perspectives on this place. A big part of our plan for this trip was the path along the Outer Banks and the the Southeastern North Carolina Coast. Now that we are in South Carolina, that part of the trip is complete.

So, let's trace the route we took over the past several days beginning Sunday morning in Virginia and completing this afternoon at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. It's back to Google Maps: SilverCliche' Route through North Carolina

The first point to observe about that route is the nature of the coast itself. Having flown over this area countless times in my life (especially the route from Washington DC to Florida) if you are on the left side of the airplane heading south or the right side heading north it is impossible to miss the succession of capes along the NC coast. On this trip, and with the map above, it is easy to see each and to name them, They form two major scalloped shapes with three points. From north to south those points are: Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout and Cape Fear (that's right... like the movie). Of the three, we only actually reached Cape Hatteras on this trip, but we came close to the others on the route.

This trip had several distinct segments. In order from north to south:

1. The transition to the beach: Leaving the Virginia coast we entered North Carolina
2. The commercial Outer Banks: The north end of the Outer Banks was a commercial vacation zone. Towns like Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills featured high density residential development, cheap national hotel chains on the beach and every imaginable fast food joint that are (or should be) in the cross-hairs of the First Lady's healthy eating campaign.
3. The unspoiled Outer Banks: Once the Cape Hatteras National Seashore begins south of  Nags Head, the world changes. Although interrupted occasionally by villages, the majority of this area is unpopulated and can be accessed by visitors at limited points or with off road vehicle permits.At this time of year it was hardly used and one of  the few places I've seen on earth where it is actually possible to have a beach to one's self with nobody else in sight.
4. The Sounds: The sheer size of Pamlico Sound which creates the Outer Banks surprised me. The distance from Hatteras to the mainland is significant enough to make it fell more like an isolated land than a part of a US State. Smaller, but as important, Albemarle Sound is also a significant body of water to the north of Pamlico. Here we are at sound yesterday returning from Ocracoke:
   
5. The coastal grasslands: As we left the ferry yesterday and approached Cape Lookout we drove through mile after mile or coastal grasslands. At one point the road was followed on each side by canals that were 10-20' wide and flooded to within a foot or so of the elevation of the road. Beyond the canals were thousands of acres of grass. I commented to Mrs. C' "this area has more nothing than anyplace we've seen since Wyoming". It was impressive. Here's a closeup of some of the grass and the water that surrounds it:
   
6. The transportation, industrial and military zone: After 30 minutes or so of driving through grass and swamps yesterday we came to serious civilization of the industrial type. Most significantly we passed through Morehead City which is located where several rivers (significantly the Newport and North) and larger bodies of water (Back Sound, Bogue Sound that the Atlantic Ocean) all come together. The benefit of that geography is evident in the development of Morehead City and its transportation activies. Today we also passed near Wilmington which is slightly less fortunate in the number of bodies of water that come together but is am economic hub none-the-less.
7. The low key coast transition back to vacationland: After passing Wilmington heading south there is a transition from economic activity to low key towns and vacation areas toward South Carlina. This change is foreshadowed by a place between Morehead City and Wilmington where people go to spend time in the sun and nature, but not vacation. Camp Lejeune, a major base for the US Marine Corps. Out trip today included a stop in Calabash, NC. Calabash is renowned for its seafood -- especially fresh seafood that is breaded with a corn meal mixture and fried. Of course we sampled some. It did not disappoint. Here is a picture of the dock outside the restaurant where we ate (outdoors on picnic tables):
    

So, that's our trip through NC.We met the Wright Brothers, saw empty beaches and busy industrial economy, saw evidence of our military in action, saw fishermen in action on both a commercial and recreation scale, ate what they caught and (mostly) enjoyed the experience.

At about 5:00 this afternoon we crossed into South Carolina. The first things we noticed were 1.) the traffic (even on a Wednesday in late September) was heavy near Myrtle Beach 2.) the gas prices were all below $2 even at national brand stations. Some off brand was under $1.90... the lowest of our trip and 3. Back to commercial vacationland. Myrtle Beach ranks up there with Kissimmee, FL and Pigeon Forge, TN a major center for the tee-shirt and adventure mini-golf industries. We stayed there last year (once was enough!).

Tomorrow its on through Charleston and to Hunting Island State Park, SC. That will place us near Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, GA.

Later!

SC'

Escape from Ocracoke

Ahoy sea campers!

If the doctor ever told me I should slow down... and he recommended a long sea voyage... I'd go to Ocracoke and back for a trial of the idea. This is a rare afternoon edition of "SilveCliche' on the Road" and for now I'm renaming the blog "SilverCliche' at Sea". As I write this, Mrs. C', the two dogs, the truck and trailer and I are on the North Carolina Ferry Systems RORO (roll on/roll off) vessel "Silver Lake" crossing the Pamlico Sound. We are headed to Swansboro, NC for the night and will be camping in the Croatan National Forest. No... this isn't the "lions and tigers and bears" kind of forest. This is an urban forest. Seriously. Here's how this works... at some point in the past, the government of the United States "acquired" some land. Don't worry about how they acquired it... that's not important. OK... it might be important. Maybe they took it from some Indians. Maybe they bought it from someone for a price that they (the government) thought was fair. It's doubtful that they saw a "for sale" sign on the land and called the realtor to see how much it would be. That would be very un-government of them. Let's just say this land fell of a truck and they were in the right place at the right time to pick it up. Anyway, when they "acquired" the land it probably was full of lions and tigers and bears. Over time, the privately held lands around the government forest became developed. As best I can tell, the land around the Coratan National Forest is very well developed including some nearby luxury-type communities. So, the government (this being a democracy, "the government" means "us" as in "you and me") has turned a portion of its national forest into a campground where folks like Mrs. C' and me can stay for a few bucks a night (it's half price for us seasoned-citizens) and let our dogs relieve themselves on the National Trees. If you are reading this and you have not gotten in on this racket you are missing out. The government has the best land in the neatest places and lets old people stay there for cheap and use their water and electricity. All you need is a tent... or better yet a deeee-luxe RV and a truck to pull it... and you are in! Check out our spot for tonight on Google maps (remember to turn on satellite view to actually see details of the areas and not just the roads): http://goo.gl/maps/fGN0i

So, we have been at sea (or "at sound") now for an hour with another 1 1/2 to go then an hour or so by car and we will be one with the trees. So far, I can report that ocean voyages are boring. Maybe that's why doctors recommend them (or used to before Valium was invented). Unfortunately, it's raining here so there are not even any deckhands applying paint to the ship anywhere to give us something that we can watch drying. Fortunately, the Silver Cliche' home on wheels is under an awning formed by an upper deck where passengers are enjoying burned coffee and over-priced stale snacks from the vending machine. The four of us are in the truck listening to the drone of the diesel engines, the swoosh of the waves on the hill and the caws of the seagulls a which are following us. Oh, and we have been listening to two guys talking for 45 minutes about motorcycles. Actually, it was one guy talking and the other guy standing there thinking about everywhere he'd rather be than here listening to a stranger drone on about motorcycles. Poor fellow. At least if they were in front of a Home Depot ashore he would have been able to say after 10 minutes "Oh, geez, look at the time, I've got a doctor's appointment and need to get to" or "I sure could talk about motorcycles all day long but I have to pick up my kid at karate lessons". I was watching his face. I could almost see him start to say something then stop. I have a hunch those were moments where he realized that the escape plan he was about to execute was going to be foiled by the fact that it was based on an excuse that would be torpedoed by our presence on a ferry. I'm thinking if he had some Syrup of Ipecac or a Luger he would have used it to escape the droning of the motorcycle man. Mercifully the attack ceased for all of us after about 75 minutes.

Back to the subject of Ocracoke. Mrs. C' and I were talking about it just now. We both concluded that we didn't connect with the place. Maybe it was the weather (yesterday's rain subsided but was followed by steady wind with gusts up to 30 mph all night and all morning), maybe it was the chance encounter we had with some waitresses who missed their calling in a line of work where silently mocking people around you pays off... something like street mime, maybe it was the layout of the town or the types of shops and restaurants which made it difficult to park and wander. Clearly, Ocracoke has lots to offer. Especially the well preserved landmarks like the lighthouse and the beaches, beaches, beaches which must be a surf fisherman's paradise. The sheer remoteness of the place creates an atmosphere where one can decompress. For us, it didn't click and when the ferry showed up at 12:45 to unload the next batch of victims and load us for our 1:00 departure and we gladly drove onto the ramp and followed the deck hand's instructions.

Tonight we will still be in North Carolina but tomorrow it's on to South Carolina with only Georgia between us and Florida. Sometimes at this point of a trip I start to feel the pull of home. That has not hit quite yet. Maybe getting back to the mainland will plant that seed.

Later!

SC'

Lots of beauty and a little beast

Hey, Campers!

SilverCliche' here with you... still on the road... still living the island life on the tiny piece of land known as Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.

I may have shared last night that we are staying at a National Park Service campground within the Hatteras National Seashore. Generally (and here is no exception), National Park Service campgrounds are "no frills". No electricity at the camp sites. No water at the campsites. No amenities (that part is no issue for us... I wouldn't enter a campground hot tub without fresh inoculations and a dry suit and neither Mrs. C' nor I have tuned up our game enough to play miniature golf in public.). What you do get from the NPS is a place to park your trailer, a nearby dumpster for your trash and a bathroom/shower (which ranks just behind the hot tub on my list of "must see" campground sights... plus, we have our own onboard so we are all set). Most significantly, at a NPS campground you get direct access to our country's most amazing natural places (and a few man made ones). In this campground that place is the Hatteras National Seashore. It is... well... right over there... about 100 yards from our place of temporary residence to the top of the dunes and another 100 yards from there to the surf line. 

Today we explored Ocracoke. There is only one population center on the island. Out here it is irrelevant to ask "what part of the island did you see?"... there is only one part to see. You may have heard of "a one stoplight town". Ocracoke is "a no stoplight town". However there are probably more miles of shoreline than there are permanent residents (I made that up... it's probably an exaggeration... but not much of one). While every other resident and visitor here is staying in some sort of house, cottage, shanty, hotel, motel, apartment or what-have-you, we are staying a short walk from the beach itself. Thanks NPS!

I was up before the sun this morning. With no electricity, we make coffee in the electric drip machine by boiling water in a pot on the propane galley stove, then opening the section with the filter and coffee in it, pouring the boiling water in there, closing the filter section, waiting for that load to drip through into the carafe then opening, filling and repeating. Sound slow? It is, but we used to use a French press. That was nearly as slow but a heap more work to clean. So, I made the coffee and started my morning reading. I could see the eastern sky through the window. The darkness was starting to burn off. I said "naw... I'll stay here and read today" then a few minutes later "how many sunrises can a guy capture on film before there isn't anything new to see" then "this doesn't look too special". A few minutes later I was out of my PJs, into my cargo shorts, had a coffee in one hand, camera in the other, a telephoto in my pants pocket and was scaling the dunes. Was it worth it? I don't know... you be the judge:

 

And while I was there (surprisingly, with about 10 other people from the campground... all of whom were standing at the surf line looking out to sea) I decided to turn around and photograph the dunes in the glow of the sky before the sun had broken the horizon to shine directly on them. Here's what that looks like:

As I said, if you want a place with movie night, a camp store, and ghost tales around the the campfire to scare the kids before bed don't come to a National Park Service place. If you want to live in close proximity to beautiful spots of nature for a few days at a time this is your place. 

After Mrs. C' got up and we had breakfast and read some more we got bored. It was out intent to spend the day exploring Ocracoke, so off we went. The little town is delightfully unpretentious. You can see the evolution of the place from an even sleepier beach town to its present drowsy state. Along that path of development there has been some effort (but not too much!) to add some buildings that are pleasing to the eye of the tourist. Mostly shops and restaurants. Some of the old island function and life has been lovingly preserved including this place... The Ocracoke Lighthouse.

 

Nice, eh?

So we explored a few stores that seemed interesting. By the time we got to number 4 in sequence we were down to gift shops with seashells, pictures of lighthouses (no thanks... took my own) and new age jewelry items. The intended placement of some jewelry items I couldn't quite determine. Eyebrow? Nasal septum? Upper lip? Cheek? Navel? "Down South"? I concluded that Old Age and New Age are not meant to meet. I'm comfortable with the Neanderthal knowledge that I have and decided not to explore the acquisition of new knowledge that I might later wish I didn't have. One statement I did not want to come away from Ocracoke muttering is "I regret that in my remaining life I can never "unsee" that!". We moved on. Having arrived in town for our "explore" at about 10:15, it was now ten minutes to noon. Time for lunch before heading back to the campground 3 miles away to attend to Kailey and Romeo. We don't worry about the two of them alone in the trailer. It's kind of like leaving Justin Bieber alone with Betty White. Nothing's going to happen.

So, lunch was at a spot near the middle of town. It was a "beach jumble" both architecturally and gastronomically. They had an open air beer bar, a patio with picnic tables outdoors under the oaks and an indoor section with starched white table cloths. The service was "island rude". We even saw the waitress and hostess mocking other diners behind their backs. Despite high praise from reviewers on Trip Adviser (we we use a lot and even write for occasionally) the food was mediocre at best. We've been in small towns where we were clearly outsiders (when SilverCliche' rolled into Cabool, Missouri nobody had to ask "Are you folks from around here?") and yet the townsfolk accepted us as visitors, put up with our stupid outfits (yes... I do wear Hawaiian shirts, cargo shorts and white sneakers everywhere I go), answered our silly questions ("No, that's not named 'Washington Street' because George Washington slept here"), took our money then made fun of us after we left town. This one Ocracoke business gave us the feeling that Ocracoke has a side to it that usually only appears in Stephen King novels... the surface and the core don't always match at least in one business on this day.

So, we returned to the part of the island that the Park Service claimed for itself to share with us (they always have the best ground, unless the Army Corps of Engineers or some other Federal or State agency got there first). As we were leaving town we stopped at the US Post Office. I failed to mention that in the time we were in town we noticed that on this little island, most people don't get around in big ass trucks like we drive. That makes sense. The dominant vehicle in town is the electric golf cart. Close behind is the bicycle followed by gas powered scooter then a range of cars. When local residents were polled about vehicle preferences, "big ass truck" finished lower than Scott Walker in the Iowa pre-caucus polling. Oh, that's right, he dropped out today. Electric golf carts can be rented at a dozen or more places in town. They are so common for residents and visitors alike that I had to snap this picture when we pulled into the post office. Note that the sign in front of this cart (which is in Postal Service blue and white) reads "Postmaster Parking Only":

I can almost hear a school girl in Ocracoke nagging her mother when she knows a birthday present is coming by US Mail: "Mommy, I'm so excited! Do you think the mailman is going to need to bring a big golf cart to deliver my present from Grandma this year?" Sorry sweetheart... 

We got back to the trailer... chilled... started the generator to charge the batteries on the trailer and before long... rain. Quite a bit of rain. And wind. Between that and the earlier experience we decided to hang here, make dinner and chill some more. An unplanned, relaxing second half to the day. Maybe that's what we needed after all!

So, tomorrow I think we'll go out for breakfast then prep the trailer for the return to the mainland. We'll be taking the 1:00 PM ferry to Cedar Island. That positions us to move south and towards Florida.

Good night!

SC'

Ocracoke addendum

In last night's post I mentioned a Google map link, but forgot to include it. Things like that happen when we are not plugged in and I rush to do the whole blog before the battery on my PC dies, or else turn on the inverter and watch the trailer battery charge levels fall faster than Hillary Clinton's approval ratings or Donald Trump's hair in a windstorm (please ignore whichever of those metaphors offends you!).

Anyway, here's the link: http://goo.gl/maps/SKemj

SC'

At sea, but not lost

Evenin' Campers!

Greetings from the Outer Banks... the waaaayyyyy outer banks... specifically, Ocracoke Island, NC.

I think today's dispatch is mostly about the day's trip which began at First Landing State Park in Norfolk, Virginia. Im not feeling much like ranting, raving, complaining or criticizing tonight... although something snarky may flow to the blog without me seeing it approach until it hits the Internet.

I think I have to declare Norfolk the most humid place I've ever been, or at least noticed. That means it ranks above Singapore (Which I believe translates from the original Malay as "sauna at dawn". It's the only place I did business where your suit can become drenched in sweat during the short walk from the hotel lobby to the taxi that pulls up under the hotel's awning). It also ranks above Charlotte Amalie in the Virgin Islands where you don't need to tell a new business associate that you have flown in to meet with them... they can see it on your brow and feel it in your handshake. Norfolk was so humid that when I went out at dawn to take pics my camera lenses fogged up to the point I couldn't use them without wiping the fog off between each shot. That would be unremarkable if we had the trailer closed up last night and the air conditioning on. We had the trailer windows open and my camera was out on the table. Everything was the same temperature +/- a fraction of a degree and that was just enough to force the moisture in the beach air to condense on any surface including the lens of the camera. It was humid.

I did get some pics, though as the sun rose. Here's a shot of sea oats with the pink glow of dawn in the background:

So we packed, made the mandatory stop at "ye olde dump station" (even with the colonial touch of First Landing State Park you can't take the stink off that duty) and we were off, heading south! Sunday morning traffic was light and the trip was smooth as we set the GPS to the gateway to the Outer Banks... Kitty Hawk. Here's a line no one has ever uttered "Half the fun of the Outer Banks is getting there!". The trip was boooorrrrriiiinnnggg. Not much to see on that route however the draw of the day's activities kept us moving. We stopped for supplies and dropped $113 at Harris Teeter on "essentials" which included goat cheese, chocolate bars, six kinds of Indian food, dental floss and a bag of ice.... oh, and Diet Coke which keeps the trip from overheating on warm days or cold days or just about any days. On we went to our first stop where we also prepared lunch... the Wright Brothers Memorial at... class?.... did anyone say "Kitty Hawk"?.... well, that's incorrect. The Wright brother's first flight was at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk. It's lucky their first flights were short because apparently their sense of navigation was so bad that even they didn't know where they were at takeoff. In modern navigation terms that's called "a sure fire screwup" and guarantees that landing will not be where you intend it to be. Their mistake is actually understandable, since: Kill Devil Hills didn't become its own incorporated city until the 1950s; it is the next town south of Kitty Hawk; and the Wrights probably couldn't bring themselves to send a telegram that read "JUST MADE FIRST POWERED FLIGHT AT SOME PLACE THAT HAS NO NAME YET stop TELL PRESS stop BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS stop O&W ". But if you want to see the most hallowed ground in aviation, don't stop in Kitty Hawk to look for it.

So, what did we see at first flight central? It is amazing how the magnitude of the accomplishment they achieved there is dwarfed by the area in which it took place. The Wrights made three flights on December 17, 1903. Each was longer than the prior one. The National Park Service has thoughtfully reconstructed the Wright's hanger ("shed" says it better) and workshop/quarters (I think the Unibomber patterned his living quarters after the Wright's... And certainly, Orville and Wilbur are in no way related to Frank Lloyd). Here is a pic of that:

They have a replica of the 1903 "Flyer" and an earlier glider in the visitors center. It looks like this:

They have also erected a huge monument at the top of Kill Devil Hill and three stones to show where each of the three flights on that first day landed. Here are the stones followed a pic looking the other direction of the first stone with the monument way up there on the hill:

Now, it would be easy to believe that the three flights ending at these numbered stones began up on that yonder hill... right? Wrong! All three began at the rock just beyond the first stone. That's right. The first flight was 120 feet long. 40 yards. A distance college quarterbacks can easily throw a football with accuracy. 120 feet that changed the world.

After lunch we continued south... into the Hatteras National Seashore. Most of the drive is unimpressive. The moving map on the GPS told us we were on a very narrow spit of land, sometimes only 1/2 mile. Most of the time the road is sunken between dunes that block the view of either the Atlantic Ocean to the east or Pamlico Sound to the west. Occasionally those views are available and are spectacular... Especially on the Pea Island Bridge which came up suddenly and was gone before a pic could be snapped. The towns which started as modern beach kitsch (mini golf, DQ, cheap national hotel chain, etc) to the north became more funky and beachy to the south. Only when we reached Cape Hatteras was their a clear modern town with full services. We saw Hatteras Light from a distance. This is the iconic lighthouse of the Outer Banks. Tall, tapered and painted in a helix of two navy blue and two white stripes, it helped sailors to avoid becoming permanent residents of "the graveyard of the Atlantic". We agreed we'd stop to take a real pic to share with you, our blog friends, when we got closer. We never saw it again even though we drove through Hatteras and later took the ferry from Hatteras to Ocrakoke. What the hell? We thought lighthouses were tall and painted in high contrast so they could be seen from far and wide! Not this one! I'm not sure why North Carolina needs an invisible lighthouse but as far as we could tell they have one.

At 3:40 we pulled into line for the ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke. I asked a few questions of the attendant who reacted as if he had heard those questions so many times before that his ears were connected directly to his mouth - bypassing the brain - and the answers simply flowed from a reflex action. Here's what we looked like waiting in line with the other Ocracoke-bound vehicles:

While the cars were placed on two rows on the port side and two rows on the starboard, we were loaded on the inside with no vehicle beside the truck or the trailer. Here we are in place for the trip:

The trip was about an hour dock-to-dock. Not rough, but the experience showed that neither Puggles nor Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers were seafaring breeds of dogs. No accidents, but both dogs were clearly annoyed by the experience.

My initial impression of Ocracoke is that it isn't so much in North Carolina as it is near North Carolina. Take a look at this map link which shows our precise camping spot. Zoom out until you can see the North Carolina mainland. We are on land, but essentially still at sea. The trip from the ferry dock on the east end of the island to here was about 10 minutes. Along the way we saw where sand dunes blow onto the road so often that they keep a road grader parked ready to clear the road for travel. It was easy to see that it gets a lot of use. I walked over the dunes from our campground to see the surf. As residents of a barrier island in Florida which is not dissimilar to this one, I can confirm that the Atlantic Ocean here looks the same as the Atlantic Ocean in Florida. The sand here is a finer grind, though. The difference between the two places is that anywhere you go in Florida on the Atlantic shore there is obvious sign of development. I stood on the beach here and saw.... nothing. There were people visible at a distance and far down the beach I saw headlights (beach driving is permitted in the National Seashore by permit). Other than that... nothing. If you have a longing to stand on a deserted beach come here to Ocracoke. If you come at the very beginning or very end of the season (April to October) I'm thinking your odds of being alone are even greater.

Here's today's panorama of a view from surf to dunes on Ocracoke at sunset:

So, boys and girls, that's it for today. Tomorrow we will explore Ocracoke Island and sample it's cuisine and shopping.

Until then....

SC'

Horses, Marshes, Bridges and Tunnels

Evenin' Campers!

Greetings from the Old Dominion State... Virginia... we've been carried back to the Southland... a sure sign we are heading home one state at a time.

We started the day in Maryland on Assateague Island. When I left you last night we had seen precisely one horse (Assateague is famous for its wild horses which roam completely free around all parts of the island) and zero mosquitoes (which, according to legend outnumber the horses by about 10 million to 1). That all changed today. Mrs. C' slept in a bit while I rose before the chickens. The eastern sky was just barely showing its glow along the horizon. Venus was rising and the sky was so clear that the light of Venus was enough to read by (maybe... I didn't actually try). I don't normally put pics here that belong on the cutting room floor, but tonight I'll make an exception. I stepped outside to take some time exposures of the sky to share with you. One problem: I don't have a tripod with me. I used the picnic table as a brace and voila! Blurry pics. Here's the best of them anyway....

That's Venus at the top and the horizon formed by the dunes behind the trailer. This is literally the view from our door at dawn today, at least if you need glasses and didn't have them on.

Anyway... the horses and mosquitoes. Before I stepped out to take that I was hoping that a quiet dawn might bring horses to the campground and as an early riser I might be the one to see them. What a coup! Then I saw the dawn arriving, stepped outside to take that pic (and several others that were longer exposures and technically even worse) and discovered that dawn doesn't bring horses to Assateague campgrounds... it brings MOSQUITOES! For the next 45 minutes in the trailer I scratched more often than someone who found a pile of unchecked lottery cards. Evidently, mosquitoes are either very quick to find an entrance or stick to one's clothing and skin (using their needle beaks, no doubt) and piggy-back on the humans they encounter. In either case, there were a bunch in the trailer after my photo expedition that were not there before. I tracked down a few and dispatched them in splots that looked like they came from Jackson Pollock's "red period". I am certain it was O-negative given the welts and scratching on my exposed skin. After that I lost all interest in sunrise photography for the day and if a wild horse came up to the trailer I would have said "Get the hell out of here and take your damn mosquitoes with you!!!!!". Fortunately for me, no horses arrived and the sunrise was unspectacular so I didn't have to test my resolve to keep the Airstream between me and the enemy.

Mrs. C' rose, we had our coffee, read and enjoyed flapjacks from the galley stove with raspberries. For some reason I do the most elaborate cooking when we have the least sophisticated campsites. Without electricity to power the microwave or toaster (unless I fire up the generators which was out of the question given that they were surrounded by mosquitoes) I can't simply microwave something from the fridge... I have to use pots, pans and open flame. Breakfast was hot and fulfilling. Checkout time was 11:00 so we planned to slip out under the wire and not much earlier. While I was walking the dogs I spotted my quarry... wild horses... in the camping loop next to us about a hundred yards from our camp site. I returned the dogs to the safety of the trailer. The material given to us by the National Park Service ranger (I knew they were official from their forest green and khaki uniforms, the patches on their sleeves and most of all the hats they stole from Smokey the Bear) told us that the horses are dangerous and nobody should approach one within 100' or they would be cited and fined for "harassing a wild beast of some sort" (that's probably not the full name of the crime in the US Criminal Code... but I lost the flyer so I'm working from memory). Anyway I grabbed the camera with both lenses and headed back to Camping Loop A. There they were... two of them... they were beautiful specimens of horseflesh. Here, let me show you....

These two horses were grazing right next to a campsite where a man and woman were attempting to hitch a travel trailer to a Jeep. They were loud as she shouted commands to guide his back-up. "Another foot! A little to the left! Two more inches!" I believed they were unaware of the presence of these two horses or the fact that they were within the 100' perimeter and therefore this woman's shouts of guidance put her in legal jeopardy of an imminent "beast harassment" charge. Suddenly, she shrieked! A third horse had come up behind her and if it didn't actually touch her, it got close enough to startle her significantly. In response to this commotion (the Jeep moving... the barking of orders and the shriek) the three horses did... NOTHING. They acted as if they live in a parallel universe which we can see clearly while their view is all grass to graze on. Now, I'm not saying the guys and gals with the Smokey the Bear thing are exaggerating the danger these animals represent. They are large... and untamed... and in close contact with people. I'm guessing some jack-ass from New Jersey decided to show his 10 year old twins how he used to earn as living as a Hollywood stunt man doing stand-ins in Western films and got himself kicked in the gonads precipitating the brochures and addition of the beast harassment line to the criminal code. But these three horses on this particular morning could easily have been waiting for their turn to take 4 year-olds on a lap of the pony ring at the county fair anywhere in America. Later in the morning we saw more horses even closer to our campsite. Cool stuff.

By 11 we were off... pressing south... to First Landing State Park in Norfolk. Today's drive took us down the Delmarva peninsula which sits like an arrowhead pointed south with the Chesapeake to the west and the Atlantic to the east. As we moved south, the land mass on the GPS got progressively narrower. By 12:30 we decided to stop for lunch. We picked a place that sounded interesting and took a detour off US 13 to get there. We wound up at the Island House Restaurant on the Wachapreague Channel in Wachapreague, Virginia. At this point on the coast, the last solid land is several miles from the beach and ocean which are essentially a series of narrow sand bars off the coast. Wachapreague is that last solid land. We sat on a balcony of the restaurant right on the channel and here is the view we enjoyed over our midday meal:

If you want to see precisely where we were, here's a Google link. If you don't usually use "satellite view" with Google maps, turn it on for this and you can see the very table we sat at with that spectacular marsh to the east. Google Map -- Island House Restaurant. Oh... the food didn't live up to the view, but if you are ever in Wachapareeague (which is best pronounced by talking with your mouth full) go there just for the view. Actually, that's the only restaurant in that little town, so go there to avoid starvation... and take in the view as food for the soul.

We pressed on... south... toward a point of interest that I was really looking forward to seeing...The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This amazing structure inclides one arch bridge, three extensive roadways constructed on piers 25' or so above the water and two tunnel segments each of which is about a mile long. It spans over 17 miles shore-to-shore connecting the far southern end of the Delmarva penninsula with Norfolk, Virginia. Literally when you are on this roadway the Chesapeake is on one side and the open Atlantic ocean on the other. It was clear today but in even the slightest haze or fog a traveler on this bridge would be out of sight of land. It's hard to photograph from a moving vehicle. Pics abound on the internet if you want a birds eye view of the bridge/tunnel. However, here is a pic I took of just one tunnel and its pier-supported approaches from the beach near our camping spot (which is only 4 miles from the Norfolk end of the bridge/tunnel:

Those two bumps are the tunnel entrance and exit. That panorama is 5 separate pictures pieced together. I could see the entire bridge/tunnel from where I took the above pic even though the other end was 17 miles away. I photographed the entire bridge which was over 30 separate pics. I elected to just show you the one section above. As we passed through the tube in the picture above about two hours or so before I took this pic a 600' long container ship passed over us. Here is a pic of the moments before we dropped into that tunnel with the ship straight ahead and over the tunnel segment:

So, we arrived at First Landing. This park is so-named because in 1607, the shipload (read that carefully...  it refers to the quantity of people who fit on a sailing ship... not a random large number) of people from England who would come to be known as the Jamestown colonists first dropped anchor here, at Cape Henry in what is now Virginia at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.We are camped in the far corner of this park. Here's another Google Map link showing our precise camp site: First Landing State Park site C10

Here is a panorama I took from the beach about 1/4 mile from the campsite. It shows the beach as it is now.... which is likely what those first English colonists saw as they set foot on North America for the first time 408 years ago.

As I walked back to the trailer for dinner I had a rare opportunity. I don't carry gear for wildlife photography and I don't get much practice, but with limited skill and tools I snapped this: 

A lone Bald Eagle soaring over the place where English colonists first set foot on what is now the US. Ok... so eagles are not a British symbol and the people who came here would never hear of "the United States of America" plus many of thier countrymen in red coats would give their lives in an effort to prevent the birth of the US anyway...  but let me enjoy the moment of symbolism which was presented to me however mixed it is.

Tomorrow for a time we abandon roads and bridges and take the SilverCliche' to sea on the North Carolina ferry system. I understand that we may or may not have internet for the next two nights while on Ocracoke Island. if we do I'll post an update tomorrow and Monday. If not, expect more on Tuesday night when we'll be nack on the mainland and near Camp Lejeune (Oorah!)

SC'

Ass-a-what?

Ahoy, Campers!

That's right, SilverCliche' has made it back to the shores of the mighty Atlantic. We last gazed upon her silvery waves as we pulled out of Vero Beach a little over two weeks ago. Today we saw her again as we crossed onto Assatague Island, Maryland. More on that later... first an update on where we've been and what we've been doing.

When last I posted we were in Frederick, Maryland visiting the grands... well, visiting the three that we can't visit near home in Florida. We saw high school marching band practice, made 'smores, ate ice cream, practiced reading and writing (with the first grader...), ate at a BBQ place near them and generally had a good visit. During the two days we were there we hung with our daughter. She and Mrs. C' checked out consignment shops from Bethesda to Thurmont while I did trailer maintenance or crosswords. If you've followed along with me you know we went to Houston's in Bethesda. I highly recommend the French dip.

We stayed at a campground owned and operated by the Montgomery County Parks and Recreation department in Clarksburg, MD. It's called Little Bennett Regional Park. We stayed there last year, too. It's well wooded and isolated. Campsites have electricity but not water hookups. No worries... with judicious use of water and restricting ourselves to "navy showers" (turn on water; wet; turn off water; lather, shampoo, scrub, etc.; turn on water; rinse) we can easily go three days with our onboard supplies. Little Bennett is a bit creepy. Both times we've stayed there I've suspected that some of our camping neighbors actually live there and their campers might be incapable of ever hitting the road again. I was reading postings on the Airstream Forums recently. A newcomer asked the long-time members for advice on how to select campgrounds. One old timer said "don't ever stay at a campground that offers spaces on an annual rate". Good advice! Little Bennett isn't there yet and as a public facility it probably won't ever be... but I'll keep checking to make sure. One of our camping neighbors was walking down the street one morning and asked me for directions to the shower building. I told him I didn't know... we live onboard and don't use campground facilities... but together we used my camp map to figure out which way he should be going (which was the opposite of the way he headed). I told Mrs. C' about him and said he was an old guy who looked a lot like Hal Holbrook when he played Mark Twain. The next day driving to our site I noticed that the camper in his spot had a sign on the side that read "An evening with Mark Twain". You never know who you will meet in a campground among the travelers, outdoors types and near homeless. We set out to see America and we are sure doing it! I helped Mark Twain find the bath house.

Did we see interesting places, you ask? Indeed. The city of Frederick, MD undertook a plan to spruce up the center of town a few years back... even before we moved there in 2005. It's all finished now including some adjacent commercial and residential space right downtown. The centerpiece is Carroll Creek which now flows in a channel surrounded by shops, dining and a pedestrian promenade. Here, take a look...

Nice, eh? Fredrick is loaded with pre-Civil War homes and shops throughout the downtown district. It was cross crossed by both armies through the Civil War. It now hosts a macabre attraction that is trapped somewhere between medieval and modern times with a dash of torture history... The Museum of Civil War Medicine. As creepy as it is historically significant.

Thurmont is another interesting place and somewhat more creepy even than Frederick. It sits north of Frederick near the Maryland/Pennsylvania border. It, too was well trodden in the Civil War and it has that mid-Atlantic, brick-and-clapboard look too, but on a small scale with the old Main Street being just a couple of blocks. It's claim to fame today is that it is the closest town to the Presidential retreat at Camp David and it has been the site of the headquarters of the Ku Klux Clan. What a country!

Main Street, Thurmont, MD... no Klan spotted today...


So, this morning we said goodbye to Frederick and Montgomery Counties... places where we lived for a total of 18 years... and started our journey south back to Florida. Mrs. C' and I both felt sadness to be leaving our grand kids and our daughter. We felt no sadness to be leaving the rush-rush-rush of suburban Washington. Just to make sure never forgot about that, we left the campground and headed down I270 and across the Beltway. These are roads we had the misfortune to travel regularly... even daily... when we lived and worked in the area. If you have not been introduced, I-270 begins as a 4 lane interstate spur heading from Frederick south-southeast toward Washington. As it snakes along the rolling hills of Frederick and Montgomery counties it swells... eventually becoming a 12 lane behemoth then splitting in two sections to disgorge the cars and trucks (and occasional Airstream!) onto the Capital Beltway in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. If I-270 was a river, it would be the Mississippi, starting modestly in the far reaches and becoming an unstoppable force of moving mass at its mouth. Except it isn't a river and at two times of the day it is entirely stoppable. The morning (southbound) and evening (northbound) rush hours have grown over the years. I predict that at some point soon they will merge to become continuous gridlock in at least one direction or the other. I believe it will be on a Friday in November a year or three from now at about 12:40 PM when the clog from the morning commute southbound will not have cleared as the glut of cars trying to beat the rush home will halt the flow of traffic northbound. Driving around Washington makes Civil War Medicine look sophisticated and civilized. We were happy to make it through and be on our way east and south.

The ride to Assateague was pleasant. We headed east from the beltway and passed through the capital of Maryland... Annapolis. It's a beautiful little city on the Chesapeake which also hosts the US Naval Academy. Maryland was first settled in areas around the Bay in the 1630s. It's old. The Maryland flag features an image of the statehouse (in which George Washington resigned his commission as the commanding general of the revolutionary army) and several legislators drawing blood from a single taxpayer... ok... that's not actually true... but only because Lord Baltimore's niece wasn't as good a seamstress as Betsy Ross... Maryland has a log history of governmental bloodletting which is another reason Mrs. C' and I left for Florida and took our 401(k) with us! The trip across the Bay Bridge is a notorious affair for Marylanders. It is at its worst on Friday afternoons in the summer as throngs head to the beaches at Ocean City, MD and Rehoboth Beach, DE, both of which are accessed by that bridge. That escape route lives in vacationer's infamy with the likes of the Bourne Bridge in Massachusetts which tortures travelers attempting to reach Cape Cod from Boston. We made it across with ease at noon on a Friday after Labor Day. I have never been so fond of compulsory public education!

Drivers Eye View starting up the Bay Bridge

The land over the bridge is known as the Maryland Eastern Shore. It sits along with parts of Delaware (ok... all of Delaware... the state is too small to be thought of as having parts) and Virginia on a piece of land known as the Delmarva peninsula. Del-Mar-Va... Get it? I think a government committee must have named that. I can hear the discussion "the people of the great state of Maryland think we should call this land 'Maryvirgdela'" "nay, nay say th people of Virginia... It shall be 'Virgindelmar' ". It's sad that the Delaware proposal was the best available... but it could have been much, much worse. The Eastern Shore and Delmarva are historic, quaint (except the part we were on which looked like US1 anywhere between Maine and Florida even though we weren't on US1) and a big agricultural area. At the end of our route was Assateague Island.

Assateague is south of Ocean City Maryland and includes the point where the Atlantic coast of Maryland meets the Atlantic coast of Virginia. We are north of that junction and camped at the Assateague National Seashore which is part of the US National Park Service. Assateague is noted for its wildlife. Most significantly wild horses and mosquitoes. So far we have seen only one wild horse and no mosquitoes. We know the horses are around because we see pile of hoses s... er... ah.... droppings everywhere in the campground and on the beach. We are dry camping (no electric or water... just an asphalt pad on the beach). The campsite is 100' from the dunes and the dunes are 100' from the surf. We can't see the water from the trailer, but we can see the surf. Here are two pics taken from the same spot. One looking east toward the silvery ocean and one looking west toward our silvery home on wheels.

I'll finish off with a shot of a snow fence (or maybe a sand fence) completely buried except for the to 6". This was taken between the dunes and our campsite...

So, tomorrow we head north for a few miles to get back off Assateague (we can't travel the length of the island southbound because the Virginia section is a wildlife refuge and pets are not permitted even in transit). The we head south across the Chesapeake bay bridge tunnel and will camp near Norfolk at First Landing State Park. I'll know and write more about that tomorrow, but I'm thinking that is the sight of... well... the first landing of colonists in Virginia.

SC'

Gone fishin'

Hey, campers!

Today was a family focused day here in Maryland... Time spent with our daughter and grand kids. Not much seen or explored outside of family stuff. Tomorrow looks like more of the same. I'll be back on Friday night when we will be parked on the sand on Assateague Island, Maryland (yep... with the wild horses) boondocking (no water or electric hookups... just us and the Airstream).

Until then...

SC'

Moving south

Howdy Campers!

We started the day today in the hills of Western Pennsylvania and now we're in Maryland.

I haven't talked much about geography. Today is a good day to remedy that. If you have ever been to central Pennsylvania you may have noticed long mountain ridges running generally from the southwest to northwest direction. One of those -- Mt. Nittany -- is the reason the local college mascot is the Nittany Lions. These mountains are the reason most roads in that part of the state don't go where you wish they would. Any that cross those peaks and valleys have the dual displeasure of trucks moving slowly up the mountains because they are so steep followed by trucks moving slowly down the mountains because they are so steep they might lose control if they go any faster. We experienced both phenomena yesterday.

These are not ordinary mountains. They are some of the world's best examples of a place where the earth's crust was squeezed together (from the northwest to southeast) until it buckled and formed the shape of a corrugated panel (think the middle layer of a cardboard box... or the wavy panels of a piece of fiberglass roofing... or a ridged potato chip). To geologists, these are syncline (peak) and anticline (valley) mountains. To a traveler in a truck and Airstream they are a.) beautiful examples of the wonders of nature to be witnessed and appreciated and b.) a pain in the ass if you would like to cross Pennsylvania from northwest to southeast to get into Maryland. Oh... and to make matters worse, the guiding hand that shaped the surface of Pennsylvania this way slipped a bit and smeared a few synclines and a couple of anticlines into Maryland.

The forces that shaped this portion of our trip also helped to position coal, oil and natural gas near the earth's surface where humans have been extracting it for about 200 years now. All three forms of energy are in view of travelers such as ourselves today. The first oil well in the US was in northwest Pennsylvania. Oil is still moved there (by rail mostly nowadays) and refined in Bradford, PA.

Enough about geography. We came to Maryland to visit our daughter and three grandkids who are here and visit we did. Our day included delivery of a truckload of treasures acquired in Florida and elsewhere to the tribe in Maryland, visiting two schools. The first visit was to pick up our granddaughter -- who is the youngest of the three -- upon dismissal from first grade at the end of the day. The second was to watch the oldest practice with the high school marching band where he carries and plays the largest drum in the band. I feel like Mrs. C' and I had an easier time than any other grandparents who might watch the band practice or perform. While other grandparents looking for... oh... say.... the third piccolo player might struggle to first find the piccolo section then determine which player is first and count two more, we have no such challenge. When one of us asks "Where is he... can you see him?" the other simply says "Of course... he's behind that giant drum in the back... what's up with you? Do you need stronger bifocals?" So we watched and enjoyed. And we felt envious of youth. If I carry too many groceries from the store I risk throwing my back out. Our grandson carries and plays a musical instrument the size of a kiddie pool and then runs for fun during the breaks in the practice session. Youth!!! We saw a reminder and confirmation that it's wasted on the young by watching marching band practice... and appreciated every minute our bony butts spent sitting on a concrete curb in the practice parking lot.

A couple of thoughts about Maryland before I call it a night. This is an interesting place. Mrs. C' and I lived here for 18 years including 5 in the neighborhood where our daughter and grandkids now live. I was taking some pics during a break in the band practice and took one that is a real clunker (ok... I actually took a ton that were clunkers, but I'm only admitting to one in this story.) I looked at it later and said to myself "Wait a minute... this pic tells the story of Maryland... I'll use it." Here's the story....

Places like Buffalo paid a high price for economic stagnation in the second half of the 20th century and now have the charm of large segments of their city being lovingly preserved and only slightly spoiled by the worst innovations of urban life in the 20the century. Places like downtown Atlanta and portions of Chattanooga that I've written about before are pure modern and lack both charm and ease. Maryland is different. It has visible traces of the old ways of life and abundant modernity (some well done... some not so much). The closer one gets to Washington or Baltimore the less old charm and the more modernity. Here in Frederick County residents looks almost equally at Baltimore and Washington as the nearest city. History oozes out of this place but is steadily being overtaken by modern development. Frederick County is close to two of the Civil War's most noteworthy places -- Gettysburg, PA and Antietam (Sharpsburg), MD. It has at least one Civil War battlefield of its own just 4 miles north at Monacacy Junction where Confederate troops marching south out of Pennsylvania towards Washington DC were stopped from advancing by Union troops moving north to intercept them. Try to find another battle where the southerners were coming out of the north into battle!

Anyway...history. The hills and woodlots of Maryland seem alive to me with ghosts of Union and Confederate troops who crisscrossed this land on foot for year after year. I can't see a clearing adjecent to a farmer's field here without imagining hundreds of soldiers who at one point came from those woods and across that field before disappearing as they moved forward. So what about the clunker of a picture? Take a look:

That's really bad... eh? Yes, I agree. But its not the quality of the pic I want to show you (we agree on that). Its the content. At the top of the hill in that picture, among the trees highlighted in the sunset is a three story building. You can see the gable end clearly and the roof and some chimneys. That's "Landon House". It's listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It has stood on that site since about 1850 (having been moved here from Virginia) which means it saw the Civil War and the soldiers I mentioned above. It saw a lot of Civil War including training cadets before the war and falling into the hands of both sides at various points. The Condederate General J.E.B. Stuart hosted a ball there. Union troops rested there en route to Antietam. Rebel wounded were cared for there when it served as a field hospital. In the foreground are modern buildings including the recently opened Royal Farms which describes itself as "Your go-to place day or night for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner." and I would add "gas" (for your car!). If I had included a panorama with that in the center, you would have been able to see the Catoctin Mountains (yes... more syncline/anticline geography) to the right and 30 miles distant. That's where US Presidents since Eisenhower have slipped away to Camp David.

That is the story of Maryland in a picture... a really, really clunky picture.. Amazing history, beautiful nature and encroaching urbanity.

Before I sign off, let me show you the real pic taken from the same spot as the clunker. A Maryland sunset (I left Royal Farms and Landon House in this one when I cropped it... they are in the gap between the two largest trees on the horizon on the left :

That's it from Maryland for tonight.

Later...

SC'

Buffalo and beyond

Welcome back, Campers!

BUFFALO! 

That word probably means something different to each of you. To Mrs. C' and me it's the place we met, married and eventually moved away from to seek better economic opportunity. It's been over 32 yeas since we left Western New York. The fact that we were drawn back says that the place and its people have some sort of pull on us... a magnetism that brings us back now and again.

So, what is that magnetism? Mostly it's the people and to some extent the mood of the place. Buffalo is a city with roots and connections. Those bonds are between people and between individuals and the place. I've seen that a few places in my travels but only a few. St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands was one. It seemed that there were two types of people there... natives and visitors. The really wasn't another category. No "in-between", no "been here a while". Buffalo is that way. That isn't to imply that being a "Buffalonian" is a status determined at birth. Quite the contrary. One can become a Buffalonian at any time. It's a status that is self-declared and confirmed by other Buffalonians who are open and welcoming of people who flip over the "just visiting" sign.. Mrs. C' and I both felt like Buffalonians when we lived there. We felt like that again this weekend. If you remember the TV series "Cheers", anytime a member of the cast entered the bar everyone called out their name. Buffalo is like that. We felt the city call our name.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... a little rusty perhaps after taking the weekend off. We started out on Friday morning at Shenango Recreation Area on the Shenango River Reservoir between Pittsburgh and Erie. I posted pics of the campsite and the sunset we saw there Thurday night. I have not talked about the sunrise on Friday. It was foggy. Very foggy. So foggy that if our Airstream had been a boat we would have been confined to port, unable to navigate. Here's what it looked like from the trailer as the sun tried (and failed) to burn through the mist that had accumulated overnight:

Genuinely beautiful!

We could at least see the road so we packed up and headed north toward Buffalo!

The day and the drive were spectacular. Clear, warm but not hot, and dry. The backroads of western Pennsylvania were hilly, curvy and presented us with a moving picture of rural beauty. We saw fields, farms and an idyllic country lifestyle.

The backroads led to interstates including the granddaddy of them all... The New York State Thruway! I think New York State has been collecting tolls from motorists since my pappy was knee high to a grasshopper. And still they are not done building them... there was construction everywhere and no sign of the tolls letting up.

The views between Erie and Buffalo include panoramas of Lake Erie. When the earliest Europeans saw the Great Lakes they must have thought they reached the sea. It's a sight that never fails to impress me. Along the route vineyards lined the highway and slowly gave way to suburban sights then the sprawl of the city as we entered Buffalo.

We parked the rig in the driveway of our dear friends who had invited us back to the city that so shaped our lives as young adults. At this point I need to make clear something you may have already concluded is a part of the "Silver Cliche' Style Guide". I don't use real names, nor include pics of people (other than strangers who play the part of "extras" by getting in the frame from time to time) in the blog. So we needed to come up with a "nom de blog" for our friends. Let's call them "Buff" and "Mrs. Buff". I think they'd accept that since both have been born, raised and still live in "the Nickle City" (so called because of the buffalo pic on the 5 cent piece of old). We see them as inseparable from the city and vice versa. In contrast to our nomadic lifestyle (not just the Airstream portion... even before retirement and traveling Mrs. C' and I moved from here to there and yon) the Buffs have stayed close to their roots.

So... Buff and Mrs. Buff welcomed us to their home at mid day Friday. We broke bread and got right to the serious business of seeing what's happened to Buffalo since our last visit. Mrs. C' and Mrs. B went to inspect the retail sector of the economy while Buff and I went to see the recently opened Darwin Martin House complex a few blocks from their home.

Let's talk about Darwin Martin. You've probably never heard of him. He was a self made man who rose from soap salesman to become a senior exec in the Larkin Soap Company of Buffalo over 100 years ago. That achievement might have been a short mention in a lost history of a forgotten company if not for the fact that Mr. Martin was among the strongest benefactors of an amazingly talented man who you probably have heard of. Frank Lloyd Wright. Their relationship around the turn of the last century produced the Larkin Company Administration Building in Buffalo (since demolished), a home called Graycliff which was built for Mr. Martin's wife as a summer cottage on Lake Erie outside of Buffalo and which still stands and the work known as the Darwin Martin House Complex comprising two homes, a barn/carriage house and an adjacent gardeners house. Several years ago a project was commenced to restore the portions of the complex that still stood and recreate those that had been demolished back to the way they appeared when the Martins occupied the home in 1907. That restoration is nearly complete now (to the tune of nearly 50 Million dollars) and shows for the first time in 75 years why the Martin House Complex was revered among the top handful of Wright's works and perhaps the best example of his prairie style residences. It is spectacular. Let me share a few pics Buff and I took (note that the owners of the property do not allow pictures indoors, although you can find some authorized pics through Google if you search for them).

 

Buff took this wide view with the panorama feature of his iPhone. Nice tool... great detail in the sky and building!  Note the visitors center to the left of this frame. An impressive work in its own right since it's job is to not detract from the master's work next door. It's functional and nearly invisible.

I took this similar shot of just the house:

and this one from a different angle with the home of Mr. Martin's sister (part of the complex) on the far right in the background

and this one through the portico of the main home showing the carriage house/barn and the portico connecting it to the house. Those elements had been demolished and were reconstructed as part of the renovation. Brilliant work! Note the brown FLW clothes line poles in the courtyard!

A great afternoon!

We reconvened at our urban campsite, went out for dinner, toured the city and enjoyed catching up. Buffalo is a compact city. A place with 100 year old lovingly cared for homes, easy access to shopping and dining, excellent restaurants covering the culinary traditions of the waves of immigrants who have landed there from the late 1800's to the present. Because the city hit its last economic peak in the first half of the 20th century, it does not have some of the crowding, traffic and urban design issues of cities that boomed in the post WW II era. That's a benefit of the sluggish Buffalo economy over the past 50 years (a minor offset given the cost a city pays for economic stagnation). In recent years, Buffalo has started to find its stride economically. The combination of old money, community pride and resurgent industries - including education and medicine - has set Buffalo up for its next run for a championship. The city has the feeling of the opening day of the 2004 baseball season in Boston. For those Red Sox it had been 86 years since their last World Series title but the ingredients were in place and maybe this was going to be their year.

 

Here we are on that Friday night ready to camp...

 

The rest of the weekend was fun, relaxing, filling and WET. It rained. Then rained. Then rained some more. Saturday set a record for rain in Buffalo. It didn't slow down Buffalonians (who would not have slowed down much even if that amount of falling H2O had arrived as snow). Since we self-identify as Buffalonians again, it didn't slow us either. We found time to fit in all the activities we had planned despite (and sometimes between) the raindrops.

By the time this morning arrived we had two last goals before packing, hitching up and moving on. The first was a trip to the Towne Restaurant in a section of Allentown... a happenin' neighborhood and home of the annual Allentown Arts Festival. The Towne Restaurant is Greek and didn't get any stars from the Michelin guide, nor do I suspect it is mentioned in Fodors Guide to Buffalo. It is, however 1/2 block from the apartment that I occupied when Mrs. C' and I met. It was the scene of many meals for the two of us in our earliest days together. Our staple was the souvlaki breakfast: 2 eggs, a skewer of souvlaki, pita bread toast and hash browns. It was just the same this morning as it was 35 years ago! The second was a stop at Wegmans to reprovision. While Wegmans may have reached the neighborhood far from Western New York where you are reading this blog post (or may soon reach you), they started in nearby Rochester, so stopping at Wegman's here is like eating NY Style Cheesecake in... well... New York.

Those tasks done and we were off. A 4 hour jaunt straight south from Buffalo down US 219. We made a stop at a picturesque small town, Ellicottville, NY, for lunch (a ski town that reminded me of Steamboat Springs, CO but just with smaller mountains and a much shorter main street) and on into western PA where we settled for the night near State COllege at Bald Eagle State Park. So far, no eagles, but plenty of bald in the mirror, so we're covered.

Tomorrow it's on to Maryland and part of our Mr. and Mrs. C' history tour. We lived there for 18 years and are ready to see more sites from our past including our oldest daughter and 3 of our grandchildren!

Later,

SC'