'Occupy Our Van' Has Been Shut Down

After two months of camping out in our van, we have decided to end our protest (against cold weather) and return home. The stock markets just completed their best week in a while so we feel our task of stimulating the American economy is complete for now and we will start preparing to do the same for the SE Asia region next month.

The drive home from Texas (Thursday morning) was a quick one since cold weather, from Canada apparently, had made it's way down to the Panhandle and the threat of snow was in the air. We had the van winterized to protect the water lines and started the long journey home. Other than some stretches of black ice and a bit of blowing snow, the roads were dry so we were able to make good time, arriving home yesterday afternoon. The timing also worked out well for an evening stopover in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday night where we were able to catch a SK6ERS concert (one of our favourite bands).

While we were away it was interesting to watch the Republican - Democratic infighting on U.S. soil and hear the views of the locals who were clearly on one side or the other (no middle ground) with each side blaming the other for the sluggish economy. And the GOP leadership hopefuls (Cain, Perry, Bachman, Gingrich, Romney) all rising and dropping in popularity as their backgrounds and personalities became more public. At home we just missed the birth of another niece (welcome to the world Violetta), the finish of Caity's bathroom renovation which we helped her start, and my dad's 90th birthday......but I will be out there next week to help him celebrate....every day past 90 should be celebrated and hopefully we all live that long and continue to enjoy doing so.

Another wonderful trip has come to an end. The U.S. east coast is quite different than the west coast which we have become more accustomed to in recent years. The more rugged, cliff side views of the Pacific Ocean were replaced this fall with the flat, more populated but equally as scenic coast along the Atlantic. The history in the region, especially Williamsburg, was fun to re-live and kept the journey interesting. It was also an eye-opener to see how fragile the Outer Banks area is, with Hurricane Irene damage still evident more than two months after hitting the area (and it was only a category 1 storm). It makes you realize that if the sea level rises several feet (quite possible with global warming) this whole area would gradually disappear and the Intercoastal Waterway would become the new coastline. But the people there are very resilient, love their homes on stilts and are prepared to live with the risks in return for a very relaxed lifestyle beside the ocean. Nashville (Music City) was also a highlight and has been added to our must return list. The history of the careers that started there and the ongoing 'live' music scene make it a very vibrant place to hang out. And it all started out with many wonderful Thanksgiving re-connections with family and friends in Ontario. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality along the way.

Mike Takes a Bath

I know what you are thinking.......Mike goes shopping, Mike takes a bath........what happened to Mike? Perhaps it is time to return home. But today we were on Bath House Row in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas and what else could I do except visit a 1912 bath house that was still in operation. The Buckstaff is still providing services like they did many decades ago so the experience consisted of a whirlpool enabled bathtub with cooled down 100F natural hot springs water, followed by a one person steam room, then hot packs on a bed and finally a needle shower with water coming at you from every conceivable direction.......all of this with no clothes on in a men-only environment. Rhonda had a similar experience on the female side of the facility. The staff didn't seem amused with our bodies so I suppose they have seen much worse over the past 99 years.

The water from the hot springs is apparently 4,000 - 6,000 years old having traveled 8.000 feet underground over most of those years and then quickly being returned to surface level through crevices, arriving at a temperature of 147F. The water is continually tested and it's purity is renowned for both healing powers and drinkability.....once it cools. There is an abundance of water so fountains are available in various parts of the city where the locals fill their 5 gallon jugs and use the water in their homes. I filled my water bottle and had to be careful not to burn my hands.....I'll wait till tomorrow to check out the healing powers. In the afternoon we wandered around the downtown streets and it was amazing to see steam coming out of the ground in so many different places. There are lots of health rehabilitation facilities in town but many of them are looking very dated as thier business has suffered with faith in modern medicine supplanting the aura of the hot springs.

Tomorrow we begin our long journey home. The evening temperatures are dropping rapidly....even the lure of a final campfire couldn't keep Rhonda outside for very long this evening. We will need to get the camper van winterized in the next day or so to avoid any damage from ovenight freezing.

Mike Goes Shopping

It was 6:30 am. The Headmistress announced it was time to go shopping. I looked out my bedroom window (in our one room mobile apartment) and tried to declare a 2 hour frost delay on a chilly morning. Apparently the malls don't have any greenskeepers with clout. So off we went. I suppose I had options......I could have read my book at our picnic table wearing all the clothes from my en suite closet......as my house drove down the road. The newspaper I had purchased on U.S. Thanksgiving Day weighed several pounds, consisting primarily of discount deals from every store you could think of, many of them opening their doors at midnight. I knew I was in trouble when Rhonda started mapping out a strategic path the night before. But it was Black Friday and an opportunity to observe the busiest shopping day of the year in this country so away I went.

It was not difficult to get caught up in the buying frenzy with the incrdible offers being presented. I entered the ring. 5 hours, lots of stores and many hundreds of dollars later, the adventure was over and our Christmas lists got a little shorter. We expect to be contacted shortly by several countries from the European Union to come and help re-start their economies.

Fortunately, by noon the temperature had risen to 20C, as we have become accustomed to, allowing for a leisurely stroll around Opryland. It is a massive operation with several large hotels and guest rooms facing inward, overlooking indoor gardens and waterways covered in glass ceilings 10-15 stories high. It was all dressed up for Christmas and families were out en masse working off their turkey dinners from the day before. Once we had explored the entire 9 acre indoor complex, then the surrounding area including the newer Grand Ole Opry theatre, we headed into downtown Nashville where the real action was.

The regular Opry show is transferred to the Ryman Auditorium in Nov-Dec so that the Rockettes can perform their annual Christams show in the larger theatre. It was a break for us since we how had a chance to experience country music in the original old-style theatre situated in the heart of Music City. 13 different artists, several older ones already voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, performed 1-2 songs each in a 2.5 hour show that is still broadcast 'live' on the radio to many more people than the 3,000 people crowded into the show last night. Before the concert we had a wonderful dinner at Demo's, an institution with a constant wait line, and walked by (& into) over 25 bars, all with 'live' music going on. There were plenty of street musicians as well. If we hadn't started our day so early in the morning we definitely would have returned to boisterous clubs after the show. Certainly a place to return to especially if you enjoy music as much as we do.

Supporting The Tourism Industry

Some fellow Canadians we met in Myrtle Beach recommended a nice mom & pop campground / golf course in Cochran, Georgia (The Woods), between Savannah and Atlanta, so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be great advice. The overnight rate was $16 and it was $15 a player for all-day golf with a cart. I played 36 holes one day (Rhonda stopped after playing all of their 27 holes) but I could have easily set a new personal record by playing more golf since there wasn't much traffic (even though it was 20C) and my 10:30 am start ended at 4 pm including a half hour stop at the campground for lunch. The course doesn't have a liqour license so they allow personal coolers and provide the ice, along with free coffee (if you are so inclined). Charlie, the very hospitable owner, even told us to keep the golf cart as long as we were there and that we were free to use his truck parked in the campground (keys left in it) to go into town if we wanted. I suggested he might want to expand his concept into Alberta but I'm not sure he is making a lot of money doing this on the old family farm. In any event he is a very happy man and everyone we met, workers and guests, were very friendly so it is a must-do for anyone travelling through that area.

We then moved on to Atlanta and had another wonderful couple of days. Our base was at Stone Mountain, a 30 minute drive from downtown. Stone Mountain is named because of a large exposed granite rock, 1000 feet high with a 5 mile perimeter, which we hiked both up (1 mile) and around while doing a few geocaches along the way. They also had a theme park at the base, oriented towards young families, but with a recent shift to a Christmas program we paid the tourist fee and spent a full day enjoying the thought of being grandparents some day.

Another day was spent in downtown Atlanta where we toured the CNN headquarters (watching live programming in several studios) and the World of Coca-Cola (including 64 sample drink opportunities from around the world) which were both located around Centennial Olympic Park, site of the 1996 medal presentations (and crazed bomber). There was also a Pancreatic Cancer fundraiser and awareness walk / run happening, starting and finishing there, so it was a fortunate day to be there (although Rhonda somehow knew to wear purple that day.....guess I will have to expand my wardrobe).

From Atlanta we headed to the NE corner of the state, to Lookout Mountain which expands into both Tennessee and Alabama. We stayed overnight at a state park (Cloudland Canyon) which is at a gorge with a 1000 foot drop near the campground. We hiked down to two waterfalls and along the ridge with great views along the canyon. The next day as we drove north to nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee we spotted many beautiful homes perched on the edge of the steep canyon wall........incredible views but their decks were suspended over the gorge so it wasn't a life-style for the faint hearted. Lots of hang-gliding opportunities along the way but I suspect the locals do it from their own backyard.

Ruby Falls was our first stop in Tennessee. Hundreds of miles of advertising, and friends back home who saw the signs but always wondered what it was all about, intrigued us enough to spend some more tourist $. It was another good decision. The falls consist of a 145 foot waterfall inside a cave which is a half mile walk underground, 1120 feet below the mountain-top. The guide warned us to 'duck' many times along the way but the slightly expanded tourist walkway was an improvement over the 2 foot (high) by 4 foot (wide) crawl when the original explorer discovered it in the late 1920's. He named the falls after his wife who crawled in with him on a second visit........my wonderful spouse deserves a similar prop for surviving the 30 second, 260' drop elevator ride and the ensuing 1 mile walk in enclosed quarters in an environment that she dreads.......a big step up from the mine in Bolivia!

Off to Nashville tomorrow for a visit to the Grand Old Opry and apparently the shopping opportunity of a lifetime.........Black Friday.

Showed Up Late For Our First Flash Mob Event....Ooops

Driving south from Myrtle Beach we stopped into Charleston for our 2nd visit to this charming ocean-front city. We took an early evening stroll past the waterfront parks and beautiful colonial homes initially used by the plantation owners for their summer retreat. After that we dropped into a popular oyster bar (standing room only) and eventually managed to get two seats at the bar in front of two master-shuckers who were working non-stop to keep up with the demands of the patrons....fun to watch and even better to taste.

The next day we drove further south to Savannah, Georgia, another one of our favourite places. Our original intent was to stay at Skidaway Island State Park but to our dismay we discovered that it was way past sold out due to a Going Coastal geocaching event organized by both the Georgia Geocachers Association and the Georgia State Parks. Being an avid geocacher I was even more disappointed after finding out that beyond the geocaching events they had planned a Flash Mob to kick off the w/e, a Cache In / Trash Out clean-up, a Johnny Depp Pirates movie and several other special activities all taking place in the state park, and all set up on the geocaching.com website. Apparently 600-700 people participated at a campground with only 87 sites so a lot of people must have stayed overnight in their vehicles outside the state park....which perhaps we should have tried to do. Instead we spent two nights on nearby Tybee Island which was also magical......25C weather, dolphins 20 metres from shore while we were sitting on the beach (which was a block from our campsite) and more fabulous seafood........shrimp ( a local specialty and film site for Forest Gump), crab, scallops and a bucket of oysters (minor shucking accident for the author).

Following the w/e we spent a day re-walking around the Savannah historical district and port area, complete with it's cobblestone streets. Then we arrived a few days late into Skidaway Island SP. The massive crowds had all departed by then, and we were the only ones at the Flash Mob co-ordinates site which was unfortunate since we didn't know what we were supposed to do....timing is everything :) However we had the park mostly to ourselves and we hiked around all the trails (approx. 10 km's) and did several geocaches including a 7 stage park sponsored hunt that let to a 'locked' treasure chest at the end which we were successfully able to open (none of Blackbeard's gold but we found a geocoin which we will transfer to a foreign destination). An evening campfire (with Campfire FX) completed a wonderful outdoors day.

We are a little sad to be leaving the coast where we have experienced above-average temperatures most days but we have a few more inland destinations to hit before starting our long journey back home.

Found the Beach, Can't Find Myrtle

We have had a wonderful week in Myrtle Beach. The daytime highs have been in the low 20C range and we have been enjoying the many reasonably priced golf courses ($40-50). There are very few that allow walking however (and even then only in the afternoon, and at the same cost as with a cart) so we have been taking turns with the cart..........Rhonda on the odd numbered holes and me on the even ones. Then we have had several lovely beach walks in the afternoons to complete our normal walking pattern. The beach stretches forever with very few people around at this time of year. We stopped into a beach bar for happy hour today and the bartender......the only one serving drinks today......told us they have 8 people serving drinks in the summer time. It is a great time to be here if you enjoy golf. I ran into a Calgary friend a few days ago who was down here with some golfing buddies and their $550, 7 night package included accommodation at a beach hotel and golf every day at any course they wanted.Our RV park is right on the coast as well so the beach is less than 100 metres away. The water is a little cool (15-16C) but I have been thinking of an apres-golf dip but three things have been holding me back....1) no one else has ventured into the water beyond calf level....2) the number of Jelly Fish washed up on shore is very significant with many of them looking 'fresh'.....3) and today we chatted with a couple collecting shark teeth for their jewelry making hobby, and they displayed many that they had found today. Perhaps it's a good thing that our park has a wonderful set of showers!We also spent an afternoon at a local winery that was featuring a local musician playing Jimmy Buffet style tunes so after the obligatory wine tasting we enjoyed a bottle of their wine outdoors listening to the music and chatting with some locals.The weather forecast is calling for 2 days in the 15C range so after tomorrow we are going to drive a little further south along the coast. Sorry to hear about the snow back home.......we are fortunate to have alternatives.

OBX - At Your Own Risk

From Virginia we drove to the extreme eastern shore, the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina. It is made up of 320 km's of a long string of barrier islands with endless beaches. The average wind speed is 20-30 km/hour and while the area receives almost no snow they still have a significant number of plows which are used to clear sand from the roads that is continuously deposited there from wind blown beaches on both sides of the narrow strip of land. The regular wind, and sandy landscape, were the primary reasons that Orville & Wilbur Wright travelled from Ohio to Kitty Hawk to successfully complete their first engine-driven flight at the beginning of the 20th century. We spent an afternoon at the very interesting Wright Museum while we were there.

Unfortunately, these same conditions make the area very prone to significant hurricane damage. All the way down the OBX we were constantly reminded of the carnage inflicted by Hurricane Irene (Aug. 27). Many sections of the highway were washed out by the hurricane but with recent re-paving efforts and a temporary new bridge, the roadway was re-opened just 2 weeks before our arrival, otherwise we would not have been able to take this route. On top of that, the side of the highway was used as a dumping ground for damaged household items (furniture, mattresses, rugs, decks) that the owners had been instructed to leave there for pick-up. The county could not keep up with the garbage volume.........and it was clear that many property owners (2nd homes) had not been there yet to deal with the devastation. In talking to the locals we were told that Irene wasn't even in their top 5 nightmares so it was evident that their love of the area was greater than their fear of hurricanes. One of the campgrounds we stayed at, operated by a wonderful couple in the 70's, had incurred a flood 5 feet above the level of the sites, and a foot above their home and office floors (every property is elevated with no basements). They still had items stored up high, which we offered to help them put back, but they refused saying they had plenty of neighbour support which always happens when these types of disasters occur. Great people, and a lovely area especially if one loves to fish, but with our weather patterns becoming more irregular and severe each year, it seems much more of an emotional decision rather than a logical one to remain a resident in the OBX.

From the OBX we took at 2.5 hour ferry back to the mainland of North Carolina and we have continued driving down the coast. Lots of Civil War history and a few nice beach strolls along the way but we are now ready to find out if our golf swings are still part of our muscle memory. Myrtle Beach beckons and we are about to find out.

History Lesson

Chesapeake Bay separates Maryland from Virginia along the coast. Rather than taking a ferry like we did across the Delaware Bay, we were able to use the Bridge / Tunnel route this time. The same 30 km distance was covered in 20 minutes, shaving more than an hour off our previous ferry ride. It is an engineering marvel, completed in 1964. It is primarily a highway built on concrete trestles and also includes 2 different one mile tunnels that facilitate a passage way for large ships to enter the bay and access ports. Tunnels through mountains seem a lot safer than a 50 year old one mile tunnel under a significant amount of water.....somehow we survived.

Once we were back on solid ground we drove straight to Williamsburg where we have spent most of the past week working on American history in the colonial era (1700's). Within historical Williamsburg (3 days) about half of our time was spent on interactive events including a fabulous "Conversation with Thomas Jefferson" conducted by an excellent actor who was very knowledgable on his TJ history and quick on his feet to deal with various questions from the audience in a town hall type meeting. The 90 minute long afternoon re-enactments.....different each day.....were also entertaining. We took a short drive down to Jamestown, the first established town in North America (by the English in 1607)......apparently the Vikings just drank and ate in Newfoundland then left??? More importantly though it is the home of Pocahantas (the one before Rhonda) so we had to check whether her life was nearly as interesting. Apparently it was.

Today, that vicious weather from the west arrived, dropping the daytime highs from 80F to 50F and rainy so we did some shopping and went to see a movie (Rum Diary) at a new theatre called the Movie Tavern. It is a very interesting concept. They have 10 theatres that each hold 100 people.......10 terraced levels with a long countertop in each row and comfy office type chairs on rollers. You can pre-order reasonably priced meals (good food) and drinks ($4 pints) and they deliver it to you while the movie is on, including a second beer 30 minutes later. They now have 15 of these in the eastern U.S. and hopefully the trend will continue into Canada.

One more day in this area and then we will be heading back to the coast to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Scary Campground

On Friday morning we took the ferry from Cape May, NJ to Lewes, Delaware. Everyone made it on board that wanted to for the 90 minute, 18 mile voyage. After arriving we headed inland to Easton where we had read about an Amish Market. The food was excellent....what we ate for lunch and what we consumed over the week-end.......and we wished later that we had purchased more.

Our next stop was Ocean City, Maryland, back on the coast. It is basically a long, narrow sand spit filled with hotels on both shorelines with a road down the middle containing bars and restaurants.......with 10 miles of sandy beach it looked like a real party city during the summer but it was very quiet in late October. There was no available space left for campgrounds so we took the bridge back over to the mainland and found a place not too far away called Frontier Town in Berlin. To our surprise there was a line-up of vehicles to register for sites at the campground and when we got to the front of the line there were only 10 sites left out of 600+. This was quite strange to us since everywhere we else we had stayed had been less than 25% full. As it turns out, the schools were closed on Friday so it created a long week-end for families and with good weather forecast everyone was trying to squeeze in a final camping w/e..........much like we do in Alberta........around Labour Day. What we did not know until we settled into our campsite was that the campground was also hosting Halloween activities all week-end. More than 50% of the sites were decorated, most of them much more elaborate than homes usually are at the end of October. It was quite incredible to walk around the campground viewing the sights and watching the young children enjoying themselves while touring with their parents. We quickly went back to the registration office and booked another night while it was still available. The next night we walked around again seeing even more scary scenes that we had missed the night before. It was also obvious that families had grouped together for the trip (close to Baltimore) as had many young adults since there were often 10-15 people around each campfire.

This morning we continued south along the coast into Virginia, another long, narrow piece of land seperated from the mainland by several bridges and called the Eastern Shores region. We stopped at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge Park for a 7km hike including a walk along a small part of the 10 mile sandy beach with very few people around on a sunny day approaching 20C. The ocean water was a little cooler but I had to venture calf-high into the Atlantic to complete a coast-to-coast touchdown (we were on Vancouver Island in early spring).

We have settled into a campground by the water which is only 10% full but apparently it was totally full this morning (Sunday) as they also had Halloween activites all week-end........and we are still a week away from the real thing.........not sure what we should expect!

Size Matters

When we last signed off we were in Cape Cod. Starting out at 2 pm we took a leisurely drive along the coastal roads through many pretty villages (minimal store signage, no big retail / food chains) and beautiful properties. We were told that the Kennedy compound in Hyannis was only visible from the water so we made no attempt to locate it. Realizing that our daylight was disappearing we made a dash to arrive at Provincetown (the northern tip of the peninsula) just in time to see a lovely sunset on the beach. The town itself had nice looking shops and restaurants but the streets were very narrow, catering to walkers, and since the only parking lot wasn't eager to accept our 20' beheemoth we moved on and found a wonderful restaurant (Montano's) just outside of town.

The next day was filled with constant rainfall so we abandoned our plans for a ferry ride and bicycle tour of Martha's Vineyard, driving south and narrowly avoiding the afternoon rush hour as we bypassed New York City. We spent the night at a campground just outside of Atlantic City where we were several days too early for a Joe Walsh / BB King concert that would have been a fun time.......but Atlantic City, which is working hard to improve it's image, is still not a place that you would want to spend a lot of time walking around so we continued driving down the coast.

We drove through many beautiful seaside towns (Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbour, Wildwood), all with populations in the 1,000 - 5,000 range that swell to 25,000 - 200,000 in the summer. It was a good time to visit (unless you are a party animal). In Wildwood we saw numerous kites on the beach so we stopped and wandered over, discovering 30-40 kite buggies being propelled by the wind. We had observed kite surfing before but this was a first for us. Talking to one of the enthusiasts we found out that it was a perfect time of year for them since no one else was on the 5 km beach and they could reach speeds of 50 - 75 kmh (they wore helmets!).

After reaching Cape May, the southern tip of New Jersey, we toured the town and had a tasty seafood lunch, then drove over to the ferry terminal for the 2:30 pm trip to Delaware. We arrived 30 minutes early since several locals had advised us that it was a quiet time of year and we would have no trouble getting on. Unfortunately we ended up being the second vehicle in the standby lane........the vehicle in front of us made it on, and then the attendant advised us that we were too big but the 16' sedan behind us would still fit! It wasn't a significant problem for us since we aren't in a hurry to get anywhere at this point (unlike the other 10 vehicles behind us) so we found a fabulous seafood market and enjoyed a campsite dinner of shrimp and lobster. Life is good.

Family & Friends

We left Ontario with some more wonderful memories of visits with family and friends........3 Thanksgiving dinners and many more fabulous meals, libations and conversations. We are fortunate to have so many people that we desire to be with even though time constraints limit our time with them and others that we didn't get together with on this trip.

Heading out of Toronto on Sunday we took the opportunity to go down memory lane. Our first stop was in West Hill at our old family home (the first one owned by my parents). It has been 35 years since I lived there but nothing has changed on the exterior of the house.........other than my memories of a decent sized hockey rink beside the house (before the carport was built) were proportionately misguided. Our next stop was in Port Hope at the farmhouse that her grandparents purchased in 1914 (built in the early 1900's). That house also looks just like it did when it was sold in 1986 except that the barn, large vegetable and flower gardens, and surrounding farmland have been replaced by a new community that surrounds the existing house, the only reminder that something special was once there.

Following an overnight visit at a cottage north of Kingston with Rhonda's girlfriend Diana and Mojo, her 220 pound English mastiff (a beautiful dog) we began our journey into the U.S. We drove through the Adirondack Mountains which seemed more like small hills compared to our Rocky Mountains. The fall colours were beautiful but it was very quiet with almost all of the campgrounds closed. Since it was overcast, cool & windy we kept driving to the southern edge where we spent the night in Lake George, a destination area in the summer but seemingly in hibernation when we arrived.

With a weather forecast of 20C on the coast we decided to drive straight thru to the coast this morning and we made it to Cape Cod by the early afternoon (the navigator won that round....for those that inquired about our planned destinations). I will provide more details of our east coast adventures in the next blog........right now we are working on understanding this strange Boston dialect that the locals seem to speak.

The Mother Ship Has Landed

Our Fall 2011 tour of the U.S. East Coast is off to a successful start, landing us in Muskoka after 5 days and 3400 km's with great driving weather. The wildlife was a little sparse along the way, perhaps a good thing when you are on the highway, although we did spot two large moose very close to the Trans Canada in the middle of the prairies surrounded by wheat fields.......a very strange place to see them. In Winnipeg we had dinner with our niece Lorie, and met her fiancee, Josh, a wonderful young man. They are both working for social service agencies and troubled youths, a very stressful but rewarding career........hopefully it won't make them grow old too quickly.

We were intially disappointed with the fall colours heading into Ontario, north of Lake Superior (all yellow and green that we are too familiar with in Alberta) but by the time we got to Wawa the reds and oranges were evident and further south to Sault Ste. Marie we had the full range of colours. There are still many trees in transition so our colourful experience will continue over the next several weeks.

We are now enjoying some rest at Scott & Andree's new home on Tondern Island, not far from the old family cottage in Port Carling that holds some wonderful memories for our family. They have done a great job building it with only a few finishing touches remaining. Today we are headed to Rhonda's other brother's cottage where Jeff & Patty will be hosting our first of several Thanksgiving dinners. We are looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labour at their rapidly expanding cottage on Harris Lake and a visit with their family.