Archive for Places to go
October 25, 2006 at 8:31 am · Filed under Places to go
Well, not quite as much progress as I expected yesterday, but in keeping with our new “go slower” philosophy, that’s OK.
Before we even left Onley I got a couple of calls with urgent business that mandated me finding an Internet connection right away. Sprint had no coverage at the house, so we pulled out and started war-driving. That means Eleanor had the laptop open while I drove, and when we spotted a likely location for open wi-fi, I slowed down while she monitored signal strengths.
Eventually we settled at the clam shack (mentioned in my previous post). Unfortunately, there were programming problems on some of our new back-office software and other delays that kept me there for hours, working with our programmer in California. Eleanor said she didn’t mind and Emma stayed busy, so I sat until I got as much done as I could, and then we headed out again. At that point it was nearly 4 pm, so our plan to drive to Kitty Hawk NC yesterday was blown.
We decided to just cross the bay and then camp in Virginia Beach at First Landing State Park, where we are now. This shorter trip gave us time to enjoy the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which is really amazing. Driving it with an Airstream is no big deal, except that the winds were blowing fiercely today. Our rig handles very well with a cross wind, fortunately. I have to give the Hensley hitch most of the credit for that.
The route goes like this: bridge – natural island – bridge – tunnel – bridge – tunnel -bridge. It’s about 17.6 miles in total.
Looking from one island to the next. Between is one of the two tunnels.
We stopped on one of the man-made islands that connect the tunnels and bridges for a few photos, but the wind was unbelievable. The Airstream was getting hit broadside and rocking like the top car on a Ferris wheel. I would have been tempted to park overnight with stabilizers down, just for the experience, but parking is limited to 7 a.m. -7 p.m.
The trailer got coated with salt spray even this far from the water!
I’ve got business calls all day today, so we’ll be parked here in the state park two nights. We are waaaay behind the schedule I thought we’d keep, but so what? Our only real deadline is to be in St Augustine FL for Halloween (so Emma has a place to trick-or-treat) and Orlando by Nov 2. Eleanor and Emma will explore the beach.
Solar-wise, we didn’t do very well yesterday. It was partly cloudy all day, and combined with the low sun angle this time of year, and my hours of work on the laptop, we netted only about 25 amp-hours in the batteries. That would be fine to extend us a bit, but not sustainable over more than a few days. It doesn’t matter today because the state park has electric, but in the future it seems we need to get our furnace use under control.
I’m thinking we will need to install a catalytic heater, which uses no electricity. I’ve owned two of them (in our Caravel and in Vintage Thunder) and they are great. The only problem is finding the right place to mount it.
Finally, a shameless promotion. Check out this video on YouTube.com, entitled ” ‘Dog’ Sledding”. It comes from my brother’s company that makes the Hammerhead sled. (I co-founded the company with him in 2003.)
The sled has been picked up by Hammacher-Schlemmer, LL Bean, REI, and many others but still nobody seems to know about it. So he made a video of the Hammerhead in action, which is pretty fun to watch. Check it out if you’ve got broadband. We’d like to sell more sleds this Christmas!
October 21, 2006 at 10:34 pm · Filed under Places to go
Our trailer has been invaded by little girls lately.
These are all local girls playing with Emma in her bedroom area in the Airstream. They seem to really like the cozy little space in the back, with all of Emma’s toys, white board, the bunk bed, and her various collections. After school on Friday they all showed up and piled in. It’s interesting to see how readily kids take to the trailer. I’ve never seen a kid who didn’t love it.
I think Emma would say that a day at the zoo with another six-year-old girl is the best way to go.
It was pretty fun for us adults too. The National Zoo is, like all Smithsonian museums, free. It’s pretty good, with an extensive new exhibit area called the Asian Trail, and enough creatures to see and learn about to absorb most of a day.
For Emma, a big part of the fun was riding the Metro rail system. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with subways, since we usually avoid major cities when we travel.
The red pandas were only one of the many beautiful animals living in the zoo. I’ll be posting a new album on Flickr with many more pictures, as soon as I can get access to broadband Internet. I haven’t been able to find any wifi from the houses in this cul-de-sac! 😉
The only sour note of the Zoo is the food … I guess they make up the free admission with the food markup. A soda from the machine is $2.50. A hamburger (lacking lettuce, pickles, condiments, cheese, etc.) is $3.25. Movie theater prices.
October 12, 2006 at 5:13 pm · Filed under Places to go
The lecture yesterday went well. None of the students fell asleep while I was yammering, anyway.
So I celebrated by riding the MBTA train into Boston’s South Station, and looking up Adam at the Gather office in the financial district. He took me for a great street hike, through all the neighborhoods of downtown Boston. We hiked from the towering glass monoliths of the Financial District to the tony shopping of the Back Bay.
Paul Revere is buried in this Back Bay graveyard.
Then through the brick townhomes of the South End, Boston’s South Side (being converted from industrial to residential slowly), the elegant waterfront hotels, and finally the Italian-dominated North End with its endless wonderful food.
“World Shaving Headquarters” — Gillette’s downtown offices
Boston is a great city for walking. When we lived in the suburbs I loved coming into the city for a day of hiking all around, seeing the architecture and sampling the edible treats at cafes. The walk was a good way for Adam and I to catch up and regain our personal perspectives on everything, so by the time we ended up back at Gather around 4 pm, we were in a fine mood to sit and chat with Susan for another hour.
Eleanor and Emma spent the day visiting people north of Boston, so they had a nice day too. We’re having a great time on the road again, and I only hope we can keep the fun going. This weekend certainly looks good, since we will be meeting some recently-found friends in Connecticut. With a little luck, we might even cross paths with Bert and Janie.
Budget update: We have been cautious about our spending lately because we got whacked with expenses in August and September, including the expensive 30,000 mile service on the Armada and the new tires. I’m trying to get the budget back under control. Fortunately, we’ve had tremendous success at courtesy parking, mostly thanks to having mooched six weeks from friends, family, and neighbors. Our total expenditure for camping since mid-August has been a measly $100 (which was three nights at the rally last weekend).
Our fuel cost has been a fraction of what it was before as well. Lower gas prices have helped — we’re paying $2.15 per gallon now versus a high of $3.96 when were on the west coast in June! But the biggest relief is coming from traveling more slowly. Our total mileage towing in the past week has been less than 400 miles, and we’ll stretch the remaining 1100 miles to Florida over three weeks time.
October 3, 2006 at 8:23 am · Filed under Places to go
Brett and I drove over to Plattsburgh yesterday. Our route took us across Lake Champlain on the ferry, so we broke out the cameras and hunted for good foliage shots along the way. The pickings were slim, due to a persistent overcast (and a cold wind on the lake that kept us in the car most of the time). Still, here’s a picture of the quaint hamlet of Essex NY from the water.
Colin Hyde and Susanne Brown met us in Plattsburgh to discuss the Vintage Lightning project, a 1952 Airstream Cruiser. Colin is the project manager, and Susanne is the interior designer. Colin is also into a lot of other types of vehicles, including this old school bus that he plans to turn into a custom Airstream tow vehicle.
Colin works on a lot more than just Airstream trailers. Lately he’s picked up a few 1940s Vagabonds, and below is a Spartan trailer that a client brought in for a new frame and floor.
The interior of Project Vintage Lightning is being mocked up for the client right now. All of this is subject to change, of course, but the temporary structures inside gave us a good feel for the interior space. It’s excellent — plenty of room for living, lots of storage, and a comfortable bath and bedroom.
It is distinctly October weather now … gray, windy, cool. The last few days haven’t broken 60. I’m starting to feel ready to start heading south. Some areas around here have already had freezes overnight.
August 17, 2006 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Places to go
We pulled in around 2 pm today, having taken an easy morning. We only had about 80 miles to drive today, which is much more pleasant than the miles we’ve been putting on lately.
It happens that the Museum of the National Road is in Richmond, IN, just a mile or so from where we parked last night. I have been working with a freelance writer on an article about the National Road, so it was fortuitous indeed that we were there. We dropped by and took some photos, and got a chance to meet the staff. You’ll probably see that article — and today’s photos — in the Fall or Winter issue of Airstream Life.
Now we are in the Airstream Terra Port, which is the courtesy parking that Airstream provides on its grounds for customers. If you are a service customer, it’s free, otherwise $10 per night (honor system). All the sites are full hookup and Airstream provides free wi-fi too. Not bad.
Airstreams on the assembly line, May 2004. Click for larger
August 11, 2006 at 9:51 pm · Filed under Places to avoid, Places to go
First official day of the rally has been mostly nice … Creede is an interesting old mining town with a historic downtown butted up again towering rock walls. We took Rich C into town and did some exploring.
There’s a lot for such a small community: a historical society, a museum, hotel, general store, “self-service B&B”, a dozen or more shops, a lot of rental cottages, and “the best doghouse in Creede.” We went to the dog house and got some bratwursts for lunch.
From downtown you can drive a few miles up into the former mining country and see abandoned mines everywhere. We were told the rockhounding was good, so we took the drive.
In 15 minutes of hunting we found some colorful stones and a lot of rocks flecked with iron pyrite (Fool’s Gold). Eleanor and Emma are planning to head up again tomorrow to do some real searching. Emma wants to find a piece of fluorite.
The road makes a grand circle up into the mountains to well over 10,000 feet, and then winds down with views of Creede and our campground.
This evening’s rally events were great, too. Tonight was the chili dump, a notorious event where everyone brings a portion of homemade chili and it all gets mixed into a big pot and served. It came out pretty well …
It’s a shame that the evening had to end on a bad note. When we returned to our campsite, after dark, we found our new friends and next-door neighbors pulling their vintage Airstream out of their campsite. They had only arrived this morning. I was told that the campground management was rude to the mother over some minor issue, and their 13-year-old daughter spoke back, saying “You can’t speak to my mother like that.” The management, unable to deal with a 13-year-old, evicted them on the spot.
We’ve been here only one day and it has become obvious that this campground is not family-friendly. Every child attending the rally except Emma has had a run-in with the management. The campground is busy selling long-term leases for campsites (reportedly for $60k!) and apparently would prefer that children not be part of the scenery.
The transition to leased campsites is not attractive anyway. Rich C was bitched at by some busybody “owner” (lessee) for pulling up in the wrong spot while registering for his site. I (and several other people) got lectured for using a “private” walkway alongside the campsites. Some of the people who are buying lots here have crossed the line from happy campers to possessive fools. If that’s what “campsite ownership” turns people into, I’ll never do it.
Our other Airstream neighbors are leaving tomorrow — three days early. Even though they don’t have kids, they no longer feel comfortable staying here. I am wondering if we’ll be next. We would hate to leave the rally, but ethically we are caught between supporting our friends who put a lot of effort into organizing the rally, and disagreeing with the policies of the campground management. One thing is certain, I cannot recommend the Mountain Views RV Park in Creede Colorado to anyone with children, and if you don’t have children, be sure not to set foot on an “owner’s” campsite.
August 8, 2006 at 9:43 pm · Filed under Places to go
After Eleanor and I got a few hours of work done this morning, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, about 50 miles west of here.
Along the way we saw all the great campgrounds we would have liked to have stayed in this week. The Blue Mesa Reservoir starts just a few miles west of town and there are several great National Park and commercial campgrounds right along side it.
A little further down, we spotted a pair of vintage Airstreams parked in a tiny roadside campground. Linda Hogan was there reading a book next to a burbling stream. We last met Linda in Sisters OR at the vintage rendezvous just before the International Rally. She and her fellow travelers will be at the Rocky Mtn Vintage Rally later this week.
Once again, Colorado has amazed us with its splendid scenery. Just the drive along Rt 50 is worth the effort, but then once you arrive at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, the vertical scale of the canyon is downright stunning. My pictures can’t possibly do justice to the incredible overlooks. The walls of the canyon are decorated with crazy lines of pinkish pegmatite amidst the darker schist.
This is our kind of park — uncrowded, photogenic, and remote. We spent over an hour in the Visitor Center alone, and of course Emma scored another Junior Ranger badge — her 13th, I think.
By the time we left, it was past six and we had to hustle to get back to camp by 7:30. I grabbed a quick bite for dinner and headed up to a nearby Recreation Area with Rich C to get some sunset photos.
The light and the scenery were unbelievable at sunset — a photographer’s paradise. Both Rich C and I shot dozens of photos while we were up there. All of these photos were shot without filters.
The area is riddled with mountain bike trails, 4WD trails, and fantastic rock spires. We may go up again tomorrow, since it is only five minutes from the campground. The dirt roads generally require a high-clearance vehicle, but they go on “forever” according to the locals, from the recreation area to BLM land to National Forest. We’ll take the Nissans and go exploring.
« Previous entries ·
Next entries »
