Charleston Photographs

Hibernian Society Hall

Edmondston-Alston House

Adele remembering Granny Boyce

Angel Oak Tree

Bernie, Eva and Tom under Angel Oak Tree

Bernie and Tom crossing the suspension bridge

Charleston SC

Charleston is one of our most favorite places to visit; it is so vibrant and busy with tourism as one of its biggest revenue generators, as well it should be - it has such a beautiful setting, lots of history and, we get to visit with our friends Eva and Bernie.

We checked into what was arguably the best RV camp of our three year trip "James Island County Park" – since having had www.rvparkreviews.com recommended to him last year and now that we are almost finished our odyssey Tom has selected some great parks to stay at. As we drive in – almost a mile to the check-in registration – we pass through Christmas lights all along the roadway. That weekend marked the beginning of the annual "Festival of Lights" what luck? Adele pulls her bike off the back of the RV and heads off for a cycle around the many paths in the park passing workers busy putting the finishing touches to their designs.

The weather forecast for the next day was for 20% rain so we set the alarm to take the 9am (yes 9am!) shuttle bus to the Charleston Visitor Center, as we were walking around town we happened across the "Dixie Supply Bakery and Café” off the beaten track on State Street. There was a long line of people waiting to order but as the weather was getting cold and we were hungry we decided to wait our turn. As we were discussing what we would order the owner Allen Holmes heard our “accents” and came over to chat with us. His family history fascinated us; the Holmes have been in America since the 1600’s, Allen knew that they came in someplace up north and ended up in Charleston in 1698. The Café is situated about 100 feet from the original family business location, first called Holmes & Calder Leadworks, then William E. Holmes Paint Company and eventually Dixie Supply Hardware.  There was a photograph of Allen’s father and his brother outside the hardware store, the back door to the hardware store is now the back door to the café. Allen’s grandfather opened the Holmes & Calder Leadworks. Allen and his wife Kris owned Terrible Tom's Bakery & Café in the historic Charleston's City Market for nine years then in 1993 they sold the bakery and traveled throughout Europe and all around the United States until July 2007. Then it was time to return home to Charleston and the Dixie Supply Bakery & Café was born. Later on in the day Tom was asked by two ladies if he knew where the café was located and he was delighted to assist them; seemingly it’s a famous tourist spot.

Afterwards we toured the Edmondston-Alston House on the Battery which was built in 1825 by Edmondston; after the panic of 1837 (there was a depression in the 1820s and 1830s) he had to sell the house. Charles Alston who hailed from one of the successful rice plantation dynasties bought the house; his descendants still own and live in the house. By the time the tour ended the 20% rain had turned to 100% drizzle accompanied by a bitterly cold wind, so after a long and cold wait for the free bus that transports tourists around Charleston we returned to take the park shuttle back to RamblingRover.

That night we stayed with Eva and Bernie so that we could be up early the following day to start on the very full day they had planned. The sun was shining and it was hot outside as we drove to a bakery where we had the most delicious chocolate croissants for breakfast. Afterwards we walked across the new Arthur Ravenel Jr. suspension bridge and then drove out of town to see the Angel Oak Tree; a 2000 year-old oak tree which is enormous and quite impossible to describe its size, turns and twists of its branches - the trunk tells a story by itself. We then went to the Charleston County Fair where we just walked around trying to keep out of the hot sun. Rabbits and chickens were mostly the animals being shown, there were lots of rides and even more food stalls; we didn't stay long.

That evening James Island County Park was hosting a 2mile run/walk preview through the holiday lights so having earlier secured tickets for the four of us we bought dinner on our way back to the park and dined in the RV. At dusk 6.30 we joined several hundreds of people in the park and walked the 2 miles around the park marveling at the massive Festival of Lights – well over 700 displays and more than 2 million lights - it was spectacular and very enjoyable. From there we went to the cinema to see the Rolling Stones “Sweet Summer Sun” concert filmed in London’s Hyde Park London in the summer; one long enjoyable day for 4 seniors!

When we returned to the park even the Christmas Lights had been turned off!

Concord NC & Columbia SC

Trick or treaters in Concord Mall

Adele at the entrance to the Reed gold mine

250ft below ground

South Carolina State Capitol

Historic downtown Columbia

Wall graffiti in Columbia

Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord NC and Columbia SC

Once again Tom surprised Adele with his choice of RV Park…at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Adele could not believe it we were right in the middle of things; Drag Car Track in front of us, Dirt Track off to the side of the same complex and the absolutely huge NASCAR stadium just across the road. On arrival we learned from neighbors that the only reason we could get a reservation was that there was no racing that week, in fact the couple were real NASCAR fans and regular visitors from Illinois yet could not remain on for the following weeks racing as they were too late reserving; they did find a nearby RV Park. Most definitely the largest RV Park we’ve stayed at; they are set up to cater for big numbers and the facilities were excellent. Concord has lots of shops and restaurants so we went shopping and got the best deal ever in the Olive Garden; we ate two dinners and brought two dinners home all for $12.99 each.

We spent Halloween at the Speedway RV Park where Adele displayed her witch on the dashboard together with a few other new Halloween purchases; our neighbors got the prize as they had far more decorations. While talking to them we discovered that there was nothing in the area 15 years ago; amazing the growth that the NASCAR Stadium has spurred. As we had spent the better part of a day visiting and exploring the historic Reed Gold mine – believe it or not the first gold rush in North America was in North Carolina, we did not see Charlotte other than as we passed by on our way to Columbia.

Lexington, South Carolina was where we had reserved an RV site for a few nights this turned out another surprise when after breakfast as we were doing our chores we discovered a Flea Market in full swing on the neighboring property; we walked through some trees and had an enjoyable morning walking through massive warehouses while browsing hundreds of stalls. On almost every corner it seemed that those stalls were selling the new steam-inhaler cigarettes and of course we stopped and watched a demo. One can have all sorts of flavors, lilac, peppermint, citrus more like a perfume counter than a smoker’s paradise. Now you may wonder who puffs on these things as it is certainly not smoking as we know it; yet we did see a fisherman puffing on one as he cast his line into the river, but then he also had pink and purple hair.

We visited Columbia the Capitol City of South Carolina. Not a big city but it certainly is striving to gentrify the downtown area; it’s a very safe place to walk around. The Capitol building is in the center of town with all roads radiating from it; the Capitol is also the center of a very nice historical district which includes one of its old railway stations (in the time of segregation this was the whites only railway station) the platform is about a half a mile long and is now populated with pubs and eateries. We had a very good lunch in the refurbished station house, in its heyday Columbia had three different railway lines passing through it. One of its major industries is the historical Adluh Flour – Allen Brothers Milling Company which has been in continuous operation since 1900.

Whirligigs

Awaiting additions

With some additions

An early model

A wagon in the sky

Spot the guitarist

Mr. Simpson's last big piece

Giddy-up

Whirligigs

Adele had her mind set on seeing these Whirligigs ever since her California British friends gave her a present of an “Off the beaten path” book. On our way north in June we missed seeing them due to a communications snafu. After researching the Lucama, North Carolina area for an RV Park Tom fixed on Wilson and what a great selection that turned out to be.

The morning after we arrived we headed into Wilson to visit the Visitors Center to obtain more information on where to find Lucama and the whirligigs. As our luck would once more have it the town of Wilson was busy setting up the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park (Mr. Simpson died in June of this year in his mid-nineties) for a weekend " whirligig festival " event; over we trotted and watched workmen busily hanging pieces onto an enormous whirligig, there were four other whirligigs already erected with another sixteen to follow. A multimillion dollar project, the park will be landscaped to become the focal point of the town. The whirligigs are in different sizes with some as high as street lamps with enormous additions, sometimes as wide as 25ft hanging vertically and horizontally from them; when the wind blows the different components turn in opposite directions. At the park we learned that a refurbishment facility was a couple of blocks away so we walked over and started chatting to a gentleman named Mel who invited us in and gave us a personal grand tour explaining how difficult it was, due to age and corrosion, to dismantle the whirligigs, the challenge of sourcing the correct paint and how they replaced some very rusty moving pieces with newly fabricated pieces. He had photos of what the whirligigs looked like when Vollis Simpson originally made them. The town is also opening a museum to display and archive the smaller pieces that are beyond repair.

The next day we drove out to Lucama a farming community about 15 miles from Wilson and where Vollis Simpson had his home and workshop. On arrival at the farm we parked beside a gate to a field where four geese set up an almighty racket – particularly the male, the other three were female. They made so much noise that their owner came by; he happened to be Michael Simpson one of Vollis’ sons. He told us some interesting anecdotes about his Dad Vollis who went to his workshop every day right up to a few weeks before he passed. The field the geese were in had several enormous Whirligigs (Vollis called them Windmills) as Michael was feeding the geese he invited us to admire them and then gave us a tour of the workshop; it was like a scrap metal barn full of all sorts of knick-knacks, small, big and gigantic, there were lots of little Whirligigs dotted around on every surface. Vollis made these when he got too old to climb up the enormous poles; this was his pastime hobby, to make his living Vollis farmed and moved houses and barns.

Four whirligigs commissioned from him for the Atlanta Olympics are still on display in Atlanta with other pieces in Baltimore, Raleigh and Greensboro. The US Embassy in Moscow has a whirligig in its lobby.

This was a very enjoyable stop made all the more so as everyone was so welcoming.

Virginia Photographs

Pam on the boat deck

Lake Anna

Enjoying afternoon tea

Tom raking leaves

On the Civil War trail

Confederate cannon

Washington, DC Photographs

Adele at the White House

Washington Monument under repair after eartquake

Smithsonian Castle

Drones in the Air & Space Museum

Dinner at Pam & Charlie's Country Club

View to the Lincoln Monument

Pam and Charlie's near Washington DC

Once again we parked RamblingRover and BlueBug in our friends driveway while we slept indoors in a welcome warm bed on these cold nights; the days are warm but cold weather is on its way. We were lucky to meet up with Pam and Charlie as their plan was to be visiting family in Colorado but the devastating storms that hit Colorado and nearby states including our adopted state South Dakota in mid-October prevented them traveling. This allowed them watch all the politicians misbehave as they ignore the people they’re elected to “serve” and cause the government to shut down. Because of the shutdown we thought that we would be bypassing Washington however a few days before our planned visit all was back to Washington normal – mayhem, confusion, frustration as the problem was “kicked down the road”. In spite of all this we found that it was business as usual in a calm Washington.

Wednesday we took the Metro into Washington to spend time around the White House area; we started at the White House visitor center where we watched a movie of its history presented by several First Ladies, President Obama also said a few words also. Afterwards we took a short Park Ranger narrated tour – the White House is a National Park tour and saw one of the many permanent Christmas trees in Lafayette Park. On the roof of the White House we could see heavily armed agents standing guard. Later on our walk-about around the back where dignitaries arrive under a portico we asked a uniformed Secret Service Agent for directions and having spotted Scotland on his name tag we , it turns out he was born in Scotland to American parents; an agents country of birth is part of their ID. Protesting seems a way of life in Washington and the White House environs, on the day we visited there was a protest by a group of Pakistani people; we learned later that the Pakistani Prime Minister was in town.

We found a great spot for lunch called "Potbelly Café" awesome sandwiches! It was so busy that we had to cross the road to Starbucks for a coffee and a table. After lunch on our way to the Air and Space Museum the protesters had been moved back a block being filmed and interviewed by a Pakistani TV team.  Adele wanted to see the Drones that are causing so much controversy in Pakistan and other parts of the world in the Air and Space Museum; first we went to the IMAX cinema and heard Whoopi Goldberg narrate a documentary about the Universe, truth to tell we needed to sit down. At the end of the day we took the Metro back to Pam and Charlie’s; no senior concessions here, the fare was $10.00 return.

Thursday was a really cold day so we spent the day at the National Geographic Headquarters viewing an excellent exhibition of photographs; again we had lunch in Potbelly's and later on afternoon coffee in Starbucks.

On Friday Tom and Charlie headed off in RamblingRover while Pam and Adele traveled in Pam’s car to Lake Anna to spend the weekend at their lake house and earn our keep by raking leaves. However, when all four of us arrived we decided to go for a lake trip in their boat; the sun was shining, but the weather was cold, so we wrapped up well under blankets. We had a lovely view of Lake Anna from the water – the highlight was that Tom spotted a Bald Eagle landing on a tree within 100 yards of us – spectacular! Lake Anna was created by flooding the area to provide cooling water to the nearby nuclear power station. We raked leaves to warm up when we got back. Saturday all four of us were serious about leaf raking but as everyone knows nature wins every time.

On Sunday we went to nearby Chancellorsville an 1863 Civil War battleground. We watched an excellent movie in the visitor’s center where we picked up a self-guided tour map to view different individual skirmish areas. Chancellorsville is where Confederate General Robert E Lee with a total of 64,000 troops defeated the Federal General Hooker who had 134,000 troops. This is also where Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson was shot by his own troops, what we now call friendly fire; his arm was amputated and is buried locally. General Jackson died of pneumonia 10 days later and is buried in Lexington, VA. We managed to view 8 of the 10 highlights on the map at which stage we felt we were experts on General Lee's strategic and tactical battle plans. Without “his right-hand man General Jackson” General Lee marched on to Gettysburg and the rest is history!

Philadelphia Photographs

Reading Market - on Monday!

Wurlitzer organ in Macy's

Meet me at the Eagle

Fred and his admirers

City Hall

Looking towards New Jersey from the top of City Hall

Philadelphia, PA

The fall colors were still spectacular, although we thought that maybe the season might be near its end, as we made our way from Allentown to Philadelphia to visit our friends Carole and Fred. Our timing could not have been better - Fred had both his knees replaced two weeks earlier. Having parked the RV on their driveway we joined Carole in visiting Fred at his rehabilitation hospital; he was due home the following day.

Pennsylvania is a very big state with a shore line on Lake Erie and access to the Atlantic by way of the Delaware River. The states founder William Penn’s father was a friend of King Charles 2nd; the younger Penn became a Quaker much to the King’s displeasure and was summarily sent to the colonies to sort himself out – Penn’s Charter pointed the way for freedom of religion among other things in the US today. Pennsylvania and America certainly benefited from his banishment. Interestingly, the name Pennsylvania means Penn's woods.

While Carole dealt with bringing Fred home we took the Metro into Philadelphia for which the senior fare was $1, the adult fare is $7 so being a senior has some advantages. Two years ago when we last visited the 99percenters were camping around the City Hall which prevented us taking a tour as there was no access. We got off at Reading Market a wonderful fresh food market with its many Amish produce stands and wonderful home cooked food. From there we walked around the city which was very busy hosting the International Police Chiefs Conference. It was not that we were lost, we just did not know where the entrance to the Metro was so we asked a policeman and ended up being escorted by him to the entrance; of course we got a few funny looks from passersby who must have been wondering where the handcuffs were. When we got back to Carole and Fred's we found him walking slowly up and down the hallway on his walking frame; he was in great pain but not complaining as he is determined to get well as quickly as he can.

Sunday was spent relaxing and marveling at the various pieces of equipment Fred had been given to help him dress; different contraptions for socks and shoes all very innovative and amazing. That evening their son Steve joined us for dinner and entertained us all with his stories.

On Monday we headed once again for the city center stopping first at Reading Market for coffee and muffins; Adele's hazelnut coffee needed to be brewed, and…yes she waited for it! By the time (at least 10 minutes) Adele arrived at the table Tom was having a great time chatting up two female Police Chiefs. Tom asked one of the Chiefs if she would arrest this bothersome woman to which she replied “just how long are you guys married?” Foiled! By noon we were comfortably seated in Macy's listening to a Wurlitzer Organ recital in the great hall which has a giant eagle statue; this is the infamous meeting place for locals – “meet you at Eagle!” Then at 12.30 we embarked on a tour of the magnificent City Hall which architecturally resembles a French Chateau it has a huge statue of William Penn on top – the City Hall houses over 400 Courts. After a quick lunch we walked to the Barnes Foundation Art Museum which houses the largest collections of Renoir in the world; Dr. Barnes was a patron of Renoir and started his vast collection well before Renoir was well known. The museum has an eclectic collection of art and artifacts all displayed exactly as Dr. Barnes had them in his home. By the time we finished studying the art it was time to return to Carole and Fred's where we discovered that he had progressed to using a walking stick to get around.

The weather was warm and sunny in the middle of the day but cold at night. We had autumn colors all around us as we walked around the countryside where Carole and Fred live - it is lovely here.  We like really Philadelphia; it’s a lovely historical city.

Lake George to Hawk Mountain Photographs

Lady Golfer

View from the Top of the World Golf Club

Binghampton

Orthodox Church in Johnson

On the top of Hawk Mountain

Profound!