Possums and palm trees

Sunday, January 15, 2012

POOLER, GA – This town is a suburb of Savannah, and we found a nice hotel here just off the highway and right next to a Cracker Barrel restaurant where we had our dinner. This restaurant chain provides home cookin’ in a cozy atmosphere with a roaring fire in a huge stone fireplace and flickering hurricane lamps at each table. We enjoyed juicy chicken with steaming biscuits, buttery carrots and mashed potatoes, and yes, an indulgent dessert of hot apple pie and apple dumpling with melting ice cream! Delicious!
While we’re on the topic of food, I should describe our breakfast experience at the hotel in Greenville. Every place we’ve stayed so far has offered free breakfast, and much more than just a croissant and a coffee. Today, along with bagels, muffins, cereal, yogurt, fruit and hot and cold beverages, there were three hot covered serving dishes. One was oatmeal and the second was cream of wheat, but we couldn’t tell what the third dish was. Finally another guest explained that the thick, greyish sauce with little chunks of sausage in it was to pour over hot biscuits. It’s a new one on us, but clearly a southern delicacy of some popularity!
We had another beautiful, sunny day for traveling, as we headed southeast through South Carolina toward the Atlantic coast. We entered Georgia only in the last hour of our trip today, but it was interesting to see evidence that we were in the southern US as we drove along. There were lots of evergreen trees, but the other vegetation included deciduous trees that had shed all their leaves for winter, plus smaller shrubs that had not. On some, the leaves were brown, but others had kept their green leaves. I also glimpsed a few trees with branches dripping with moss – which I have always associated with the deep south! I really knew we’d left the north behind when I saw palm trees – the short, stubby type with fan-shaped branches – planted in front of hotels or public buildings.
We saw several small possums. Unfortunately, they were dead ones by the side of the road. But they had little pointed snouts that told us they weren’t racoons. Poor little critters. Again, we knew we were in the south.
“How y’all doin’?” was the greeting in the hotel lobby as we checked in. We figure we must sound quite different to the locals, because they sure sound different to us! It’s lovely to hear that southern drawl, and everyone is really friendly. We’re going to spend two nights here so we can have a tour of Savannah. We’ll tell you more tomorrow.

Twinkies!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

GREENVILLE, SC – Today we added North and South Carolina to the list of states we have visited in the US. The number of states yet to go is getting smaller all the time.
Weatherwise, it was a lovely day today. The sun was shining and the temperature was mild, and there were only a few gusts of wind to remind us of what we had struggled through yesterday. Our route took us west and south as we work our way ever closer to Florida. We continued to see mountain terrain for the most part, mostly devoid of snow except for a few places at higher elevations. Sometimes we saw patches of green grass, and here outside our motel there are actually pansies in bloom and green clover with tiny white flowers in the courtyard!
When we pulled off Interstate 81 at midday to refuel and grab a bite to eat, on a whim I picked up a package of Hostess Twinkies for our dessert. We had heard on the news that the company had declared bankruptcy, so I thought it would be good to have a taste of the iconic confection before there were no more to be had. I’ve heard that Twinkies are so full of preservatives they have a shelf life of years, but I figured one each wouldn’t kill us. Now that I have tasted one, I probably never will again. Once was enough!
Traveling on US interstates really gives an idea of the massive size of this country. The system of highways was a legacy of President Eisenhower, with north-south arteries given odd numbers and east-west ones even numbers. A map of the whole US shows multiple spiderwebs of interstate highways from coast to coast, studded with cities of major proportions. When I think of the Trans Canada Highway, one thin line from Newfoundland to BC, it really demonstrates how much smaller and how sparsely populated, relatively speaking, Canada is.
Even at a service station here, you can choose between more than half a dozen kinds of milk – chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, plain, two per cent, whole, skim – where a similar establishment in Canada might have two choices. We just don’t have the population to support that kind of variety.
We are staying tonight in Greenville, South Carolina, a region where peaches, pecans and peanuts grow. Michelin Tires is headquartered here and BMW has a central office nearby as well. But checking out the sights was a bit lower on our list of priorities than ensuring we had clean socks and underwear for the coming days, and our motel has a guest laundry, so we got that chore out of the way! Only problem was, the dryer didn’t quite do the job, even after an hour, so our room is festooned with slightly damp T-shirts and socks that need just a little more time to dry completely.
Our dining options for tonight were Burger King, Waffle House or a Mexican restaurant, so it was Whopper night for Val, and a fresh salad with grilled chicken for me. We are looking forward to preparing our own fare in our own home-on-wheels before long. Only a few more days till we get to Florida!

Triskaidekaphobia?

Friday, January 13, 2012

ROANOKE, VA – The stars and stripes on the flagpole outside the hotel this morning cracked in a stiff wind as we trolleyed out our luggage and prepared to depart. It was bitterly cold, but we were actually relieved when we first looked out to see that the freezing rain and snow people were predicting for today had not transpired. The weather experts did warn us about high winds today, however, and it wasn’t exactly comfortable as we hitched the car back up to the motorhome.
We are getting gradually better at hooking up the flexible arms, electrical cord, backup coils and breakaway cord between the car and the RV. The other part of the process involves placing the box-shaped brake buddy on the floor in front of the driver’s seat and clamping the pedal-pushing arm to the car’s brake pedal. Once it is switched on, it performs three brake-pressing actions to determine that the installation is correct, and flashes an OK sign on the display panel. Then, after checking that the RV turn and brake signals are coming through to the car’s rear lights, we’re good to go.
Of course, this time, we had to thaw out our frozen hands and faces after performing these tasks. But we didn’t have to worry about black ice or drifts of snow as we headed out, and that worked for us. What we – or I should say Val, because he drove – did have to contend with throughout our drive today was that severe wind! It pushed against our tall RV and our not-so-sleek Honda FIT from the right side the whole way, and every time a tractor-trailer whizzed past on our left, a counter-balancing swoosh of wind came at us from the other side. So Val was correcting the steering all the way from Pennsylvania, through Maryland, through West Virginia and into Virginia and our destination today, Roanoke.
The dips in the highway increased somewhat when we got to the Blue Ridge Mountains, providing short spells of relief from the wind. The rises made up for it by exposing us to other gusts, which were never predictable. But the scenery of rolling hills, small farms and grazing cattle was very pleasant, and once or twice we saw some sunshine as well.
You can almost see us shivering in today’s photo, taken by a kind traveler when we stopped to fuel up.
Still, all told, Friday the thirteenth was an OK day for us! We chuckled though when Kendra, at the hotel reception desk this evening, handed us the key to our room – number 113! We are still looking forward to getting to the warm places. Tomorrow, perhaps? Warm-ER would even work…

The pink lady

Thursday, January 12, 2012

GETTYSBURG, PA – We had a schedule to meet this morning, as we had to catch the bus at the Visitor Center to visit the farm of President Eisenhower. Once again, Val and I got a personal tour, as we were the only passengers on a bus that could hold about 40 people!
Dwight D. Eisenhower went to West Point military academy in 1911 to take advantage of the free education it offered. Instead of the overseas service he had hoped for when World War I broke out, he spent those years at Gettysburg training soldiers for the army’s tank corps. He liked the area so well that he bought a farm there in 1950 for his wife Mamie and their family – the only property they ever owned.
Since we were the only two visitors to the farm this morning, our guide let Val and me step beyond the velvet ropes into the Eisenhowers’ gracious living room and see, up close, the signed portrait of Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the Persian carpet given to them by the Shah of Iran and the Ming Dynasty vases on the mantelpiece of the marble fireplace that had once belonged to Abraham Lincoln.
In spite of many expensive gifts on display from world figures the Eisenhowers met during Ike’s presidential years, the house was not palatial or ornate. We got a real sense of their down-to-earth tastes in the sun room where Mamie watched “As the World Turns” on TV in the afternoons, or in the small bedroom where Ike doffed his slippers and took his daily afternoon nap on doctor’s orders after a heart attack in 1955.
The pink toilet, sink and bathtub, plus towels, bathmat and accessories, showed us what Mamie’s favourite colour was! Even in their pale green master bedroom, the bedspread was pink, and the linen closet had more quilts and towels of the same hue on its shelves. The portrait in the living room of Mamie showed her wearing the dress she had worn to the president’s inauguration – pink chiffon with long, pink gloves up past her elbows.
In Mamie’s front hall display case was a whimsical collection of tiny carved wooden angels, Hummel figurines, gaudy miniature tea cups and even six plastic figures of presidents and their wives (including herself and Ike) that she had collected from cereal boxes!
It was really interesting to follow Dwight D. Eisenhower’s remarkable achievements, as Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in the Second World War, president of Columbia University, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Supreme Commander of the newly-formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the first Republican US president in 20 years. We saw photos of General Montgomery when he visited the farm, as well as Nehru and Churchill. We also watched a video of the aging retired president strolling through the farm with Walter Kronkite that CBS used to eulogize him after he died in 1969.
It was a privilege to see the personal surroundings of such a great man, and walk through his home as if we were just dropping in to say hello.
We spent our afternoon following the auto tour of the Gettysburg battlegrounds, following the signs to the different locations and reading the plaques on some of the hundreds of monuments scattered throughout the entire region. They even call some of the trees in the area “Witness Trees”, as they stand where they were growing when the historic battle took place.

Ghostly fields

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

GETTYSBURG, PA – Tall brick buildings have red, white and blue bunting hanging from the windows in the historic part of this town, which we drove through on the way to the Visitors’ Center this morning. Most bear a small brass plaque, indicating that structure was there when the battle of Gettysburg took place in 1863. Some of them are even scarred with pock marks, to this day, from shots that were fired in battle.
The large museum complex was built in 2008, and thousands visit every year. We went inside to arrange for a guide and buy tickets for the museum presentations. Lucky for us, at this time of year, there was no lineup! Our guide’s name was Jim, who chauffeured us in our car to the various sites of the battle that took place from July 1 to 3, 1863. It meant we could both concentrate on the statues, monuments and terrain where some 51,000 men were killed, wounded, captured or went missing in a few short days.
Val knew a lot more than I did about what happened, having read several books about Abraham Lincoln and the divisive aftermath of his election as President of the United States. But we both gained an appreciation for the military challenges faced by the Confederate southerners and the Union northerners when we looked at rolling fields, forested areas, boulders and split log fences, not to mention the chaos that resulted when rifles and cannons on both sides spewed great clouds of blinding smoke everywhere. Jim told us about key characters, such as Robert E. Lee and George Meade, and shared details, like the names of their horses or how the cannons worked. He said that the field hospitals housed doctors and patients from both camps, side by side. Even though the war continued for two more years, this battle was the turning point that gave the Union side the upper hand.
We got out of the car to look at the site where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous address to the crowds who had gathered, four months after the battle, to dedicate the Gettysburg burial grounds. Jim showed us a large bush which he believes marks the spot where Lincoln stood (and not where the plaques are on display!), based on sketches by eye witnesses.
After our outdoor tour, we got back to the Visitor Center and warmed ourselves with hot chili and soup in the cafeteria before going in to the theatre for a film. We then took an escalator up to see the Cyclorama, a huge 360-degree painting of the battle with a sound-and-light show to explain what we were looking at. The painting had been commissioned in the years just after the Civil War. It has been more recently restored, but we couldn’t detect a seam anywhere. At the base of the painting, leading up to the circular platform where we stood at the centre, were real cannons, muddy roads, bushes and battlefield debris that blended in to the painted scenes perfectly. Apparently, Cycloramas were very popular in their day. There was even one in Quebec depicting Jerusalem, we learned!
As we browsed through the museum, we could hear rain pattering on the roof, and we were glad it held off while we were outside. We also had a look at the bookstore where there were hundreds of books on every aspect of the battle and the Civil War, from personalities to military strategies, right down to recipe books for peaches such as the ones which grew in an orchard on the battleground.

Three good things

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

GETTYSBURG, PA --- At the close of our second day of travel, several things have fallen into place and added to our comfort level! The first is a sparkling clean car. The Honda FIT we’ve been towing along was so covered with dried spray that when we unhitched it tonight and tried to drive toward the setting sun, we had to open the side windows to see around the corner. The muddy windows were virtually opaque. Fortunately there was a car wash just a block or two from our hotel, so that was the first order of business.
Our second success is the cheap cellphone we bought last year in the US. We had been unable to activate it before returning to Canada, so we weren’t sure it would work for us on this trip. (We found out that having such a device would save us a ton of money in roaming charges on our Canadian cellphones. We just buy phone time on a card at any WalMart – no contract or bills in the mail.) With a new phone card, we made the call to activate the phone and add the time we purchased, and it actually worked. Very satisfying!
The third success is figuring out why I couldn’t log on to the blog spot to post our travel journal. Turns out I was starting from the wrong e-mail address (mine, instead of Val’s), so the site didn’t recognize me. That’s been resolved, so we are back in communication once again. Yay!
We had an excellent travel day again today. The temperature was mild and the roads were clear and bare, so no complaints. We passed into Pennsylvania shortly after leaving Binghamton this morning and have been enjoying the rolling hills and peaceful scenery of farms and little towns.
We’ve been sharing Highway 81 with the dozens of semi tractor trailers, busily moving goods in both directions. When we were switching to Highway 83 toward Gettysburg, we passed a harrowing scene where one of those behemoths had missed a downhill curve, slammed into the concrete berm separating the two sides of the highway and split apart, spilling its cargo and twisting its frame. There were at least a half dozen emergency vehicles working on the cleanup. The most chilling part was the quick glimpse I had of the driver’s cabin, with the roof so caved in that it made me wonder if the driver could have survived. I was glad we hadn’t passed when the incident was actually happening; it must have been terrifying.
We are at a very nice hotel on the outskirts of Gettysburg – I guess you could call it our Gettysburg address (had to say it!!). And we’ve had a tasty dinner at a nearby restaurant with excellent service. Small things, but there are so many such things to appreciate every day.

January 2012: Florida awaits!

Monday, Jan. 9, 2012

BINGHAMTON, NY --- It took a couple of extra loops off Interstate 81 to reach our destination Best Western hotel, thanks to our new GPS unit. But here we are after our first day on the road, headed for a Florida adventure that will take us to as many corners of that state as we can squeeze in.

The weather cooperated by not sloshing us with rain, freezing us with wind chill, or burying us in snow as we trucked out the last items from the house to the motorhome and hitched our Honda FIT to the RV so it could tag along for the journey. It was a bit of a challenge to get the brake buddy settled in place inside the Honda. It’s a gizmo the size of a bread box that sits on the car floor and automatically presses the car brakes whenever the driver of the RV hits the brake pedal. We only installed it once before, some five months ago when we bought it, so it took a bit of time.

It was great to be on the road again, passing snow-striped farmers’ fields, black silhouettes of leafless trees, and roadside rocks with cascades of ice, all reminding us of the wintry landscape that we won’t be seeing for the next nine weeks or so! We stopped for one last Tim Horton coffee just before turning off to cross the Thousand Islands bridge to the US at lunch time.

The route was quite familiar, as we came this same way last February when we traveled to Arizona. Our hotel is within sight of the one we stayed in last year, in a suburb of Binghamton called Johnson City. Our new GPS unit guided us through the intersection where it was located, instead of telling us to turn right, so we went some distance before both of us started wondering what was going on. Our confidence was further undermined when we were told to turn left at Grey’s Crossing, but when we got to the corner, it was a really tight underpass under the Interstate that looked like a culvert! No way we were going to venture through that! So we pulled over and started over again with the GPS. This time we were directed in a wide loop back the way we had come, and when we were on the right road again, the screen flashed the black checkered flag indicating our arrival when there was no hotel in sight. We finally reverted to old-fashioned navigating by house numbers on the street until the Best Western came into view! Not a great way to initiate a brand new GPS unit.

Anyway, we’re safely here, had a nice supper at the restaurant next door, and are pleased to have Day One squared away.