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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Gettysburg…Friends from the past!


One of the last things we did in Gettysburg was to meet Cliff and
Cliff and JoBeth with the Presidential
Mountains in background!

JoBeth Carr. They were to tour the northern New England states including New Hampshire. We offered them a place to park their truck camper, if they were in our neck of the woods. We had exchanged email addresses and phone numbers. Time passed on as we were home for about a week when Helen and I were talking about our Gettysburg's gateway adventure and the subject came up about Cliff and JoBeth. We
Looking North to Canada with
the Cog Railway Train coming to the top.
knew that they were visiting upper New York and Vermont. It wasn't long after an email was sent to them, a response came back that they were about 50 miles from us in St Johnsbury, Vermont. They took us up on our invitation for a visit. Their timing couldn't have been better for weather and nearly full color in the leaf foliage department. 
They rolled into Berlin a little after noon. Helen had prepared  lunch and we got better acquainted. After all we only talked for a
At the Summit!
short time around the community campfire at the Gettysburg Campground. This is another example of how friendly truck camping people can be.
The sun was bright, warm, the leaves were stunning in their reds, orange and yellows. We surely couldn't spend the afternoon inside talking with mother nature begging us to visit her majesty. I called the Mt Washington Auto road to see how the auto road conditions were up on Mt Washington. The lady said, “temperature at the
The Observatory and observation deck
summit was 44 degrees with a 3 to 8 mph wind. Visibility 100 miles.” As perfect as it gets on Mt Washington. Remember, this mountain is noted for recording the worlds highest wind speed of 230 miles per hour. Just last Tuesday, the auto road was closed for having 6 inches of rime ice at the summit.
We all piled into the Lexus and headed south towards Mt Washington. The temperature here in the valley was close to 70 degrees. We shared stories of our adventures and they in turn gave us insight into their home town of Miami, Florida. I stand corrected Miami is no town, but a large city.
Turning off the main highway into the auto road, we could see that we weren't the only ones who had the idea of climbing the highest mountain in the northeast. It wasn't too long a wait until we got to the ticket agent. I had a rain check from a previous visit back in 2011. I was wondering if they would honor it and of course they did…they are great people at the Mt Washington Stage and Auto Road company!
The ride up first starts up through a hardwood forest with a variety of trees. The diversity of  leaf colors with a few
Chug, Chug to the summit!
conifers of green is just a splendid view. We couldn't really stop at the turnoffs because others had already taken up all of the parking spots. I knew, on the way down we would have a better chance to get those unforgettable photos of the (red berry) mountain ash trees along with everything else. The road on the lower elevation is comfortably wide enough for meeting cars. This changes as you start to get above the tree line. The remaining trees are now only two to three feet high, but make up in age as they are two to three hundred years old. The road now
Four Truck Campers at the TOP!
has many switch backs and is narrow. When we met an oncoming vehicles, there was this feeling that our mirrors would click as we passed each other. No one wants to give an inch because it’s either a two to three thousand foot drop-off on one side, or a two foot deep ditch with a rocky ledge outcrop that would do a number on the side of your car. I could feel our newly found friends a little more quiet, along with Helen, as we slowly snaked up to the over 6,000 foot mark.
Ah! At last the summit! A parking attendant directed us to a full parking lot, but luckily we grabbed the only empty spot close to the exit. Our ears had popped a couple of times and we actually could feel a
Eye Level with the clouds!
difference in breathing as we got out of the car and started to walk up to the “Tip Top House”. The temperature wasn't bad at all...a balmy 54 degrees. The Tip Top House was an old hotel for guests who visited back in the eighteen hundreds. It has been restored, as it was back then. It certainly was not a five star hotel by today's  standards, but I’ll bet it was a lot better than trying to use a tent for over night accommodations! The beds were stacked much like book shelves with a little sphagnum moss for a mattress. Four bunks from floor to ceiling, with a sheet
Cliff and JoBeth at Glen Ellis Falls!
hanging vertically for privacy. After watching a short video on the atrocious weather at the top, we headed outside and waited in line for a few minutes to take a group picture at the sign indicating the summit's highest level of land in New England.
Our next stop was the roof of the Visitor Center with its panoramic views. To the north, we could see Canada, East was Maine and nearly visible Atlantic Ocean one hundred miles away... to the south, New Hampshire and some of Massachusetts. The western view was of Vermont and the white cliffs of upper New York State. The curvature of the earth was also visible. It was neat to be at the same elevation as a few clouds to the north west. A quick run into the Visitor Center and museum was our last stop before heading down the mountain in low gear.
Going down slowly in first and second gear, we were able stop here and there for those promised photos. The traffic had dissipated and it was more relaxing to drive. I was also surprised that my brakes smelled even with the slow pace coming down. In the end, we safely made it to the main highway without incidents.
It was now a quarter to five in the afternoon and twilight would soon catch us. I had a few more mountain views to show Cliff and JoBeth. We would only have time for one last mini adventure. About two and a half miles south on route 16, Glen Ellis falls was our destination. This required a few minutes walk down a well travel path along the Ellis river. This is usually a perfect spot to shoot pictures, but the sun was already setting behind Mt Washington. This is not to say it isn't a spectacular seventy-five foot high water fall, but I've been there when the sun just shimmers across the cascading falls. We hiked down to the bottom of the ravine using the switchback trail with it’s well guarding handrails. The pictures we took there actually came in better then expected because of the lower light conditions. The camera compensated and the water blurred into a bridal vale type of picture.
Visit the link below to view more on Mt Washington's deadly fatal attraction!

Monday, September 23, 2013

The North East Truck Camper~Jamboree!

Monday, Sep 23/2013
What a fun filled busy week! I usually can have enough time to

North-East Truck Camper Jamboree ~ Gettysburg 2013

write on the blog daily, but the activities at the campground, along with Gettysburg were enough to keep me away from the keyboard.
Let me start by the beginning of our arrival at Gettysburg Campground…Driving into the campground a day early, we got a site in close to the proximity of all of the action. Driving
 
from the office to our site, a truck camper couple waved us down and said “Where are you from?” “New Hampshire” I said! “Berlin” she hollered. “What!” I said. I was


They call this the "Plumber Butt Shot"
That's me under the large hat!
thinking, how in the world would she know we were from Berlin, NH. Well, here is the answer. Phil Slocom AKA (Muffin Man ~ known for his fabulous homemade muffins) lives in Groveton, NH, a town not far from Berlin. Phil is well known in the Northeast Truck Camper Jamboree group. He knew we were coming and sent an email ahead for them to give us a warm

welcome. (They certainly did!) Rob and Jayne located on a strategic corner lot greeted every truck camper and their campfire was open to many. Thanks Phil!
The Jamboree was our first dedicated jamboree. Mikeee ( a super organized person) had plenty of activities from Solar panel seminars to obstacle course dog races. He also had left time for us first timers to Gettysburg to visit the many Civil War memorials.
A perfect night for "Ghost Stories!"
We made many new TC friends and were invited to visit them at their home locations and in turn invited them to visit us up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
I don’t have the official numbers for attendance, but it was over a hundred truck campers and somewhere over two hundred and twenty people. (I think it is a record number for the East coast!)
The campfire get together was especially a good time to meet and share all kinds of stories. Angela and Gordon White from Truck Camper Magazine were parked just two sites down from us. They travel with their cat “Harley” who travels around the campground in an enclosed carriage. We actually thought at first glance that they had a (human) baby, but it was their special fifteen pound cat!
On Friday night, it was: a bring a desert to the pavilion…Yummy! On Saturday night it was potluck dinner and again there was plenty of vittles to chow down on. The raffles were next on the agenda. Oh, I forgot at five fifteen we took a group

picture and then one can see the whole TCJ entourage.
The weather was good all week except for Saturday evening when it started to drizzle all night. Sunday morning the skies were clear for our early departure after church service at “St Joseph The Worker” Catholic church. The ride from Gettysburg was sort of neat. We stayed on the interstate for a while, but soon I decided to parallel the fast interstate and travel a more country style highway and see the real Pennsylvania, New

Jersey, New York states. The back roads brought us into scenic farm lands, both Amish and commercial farms in the Pennsylvania area. New Jersey and New York were filled with many small ponds and lakes. The shore lines were dotted with, in the old days, would be called camps, but today they would be called lake shore properties and would be worth hundred of thousands of dollars. These properties were probably held in families from generation to generation. The trees were extremely large and no doubt

several hundred years old. The maples, oak, beach and ash seem to dominate the hardwoods. The ponds, some clear, others with Lilly pads were naturally in pockets of land that shot up to rocky outcrops. Now and then, one would find an old farm house abandoned and falling in. This was not the norm though.
Helen was doing the driving and was getting her road course training. It was not a fast road, but a road with many curves going up and down. She already had done the interstate portion of her hands on driving challenge and now it was the cornering, braking and switch backs. She is no stranger to driving trucks as she has, in the past, driven my F-550 Ford, six speed standard dump truck to some of my job sites. She is some lady! We finally decided to call it a night around eight o'clock and pulled into a Cracker Barrel Restaurant parking lot. We had dinner and confirmed that it was OK to park in the rear parking lot for the night. Winding down a little by checking email and around ten, it was time to turn out the lights and hit the sack. It was especially quiet all night, or, we were so tired that we didn’t hear anything all night.

That is what we did and saw!

Medal of Honor…A Special Event



Pennsylvania Civil
War Memorial

A few of the Truck Campers at the Jamboree gave us a heads up on a very special event for Friday evening at the Pennsylvania Civil War Memorial. It was to honor fifty Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. (Past, present and future) We needed tickets to enter the ceremony. We got two of the 1,800 tickets online and they were free! A good thing I had my printer because that was one of the requirements that a physical ticket had to be scanned at the gate.

Medal of Honor
Ceremony
We arrived at the National Park Visitor Center very early and had dinner in the camper. A line of school buses shuttled guest about a mile away to the Pennsylvania Civil War Monument. The area was protected with fencing and security. The monument was lit with special colored lighting.
Former "Secretary of Defense" Robert Gates
reading "The Gettysburg Address"

Marine playing a tribute
for fallen heroes!

The Presidential Marine Corps Band along with the West Point Glee Club and a US Army Field Artillery unit was present along with their 105 mm howitzers to sound off cannon fire before the start of the concert. The fifty “Medal of Honor” recipients arrived by special VIP buses and were given a special war
A night to remember!
m welcome from the audience. The Marine Corps League presented the colors followed by the concert. Former “Secretary Robert Gates” read President Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg  Address”
The evening was weather perfect with a huge orange moon rising to the rear of the ceremony. I took many pictures of this (for me) life time event. The large “Jumbo Tron” monitors displayed many of the deceased recipients from past wars. At the conclusion of the concert was a barrage of fireworks that must have awakened the spirits of the many fallen soldiers on this hallowed  battlefield. It was an evening that I will cherish for a long time.





Outstanding fireworks!!
That is what we did and saw!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Gettysburg…The Battlefield Remembered!


September 19, 2013
One of many battlefield sites
A rifled cannon two mile range
Time has been flying by faster than a speeding train. The road trip from West Springfield… “The Big E” to today has been a busy time for us old travelers. Helen did a good share of the driving down here to Gettysburg. I didn’t plan on letting her drive in a construction area, but before we could switch drivers she was in the middle of road construction with those extra high Jersey Barriers and ten feet on the other side of the road guard rails. This, with traffic going at 60 miles per hour, was nerve racking, but she did just fine. The only time she really got up tight was when a tractor trailer to her left and a another TT came in on her right off a ramp put the squeeze on her. She held her own and plowed on up the middle of them.
Our arrival time in Gettysburg was around 3 pm, actually a day earlier than planed. We checked into our campground and they accommated us for an extra night. I will talk about the North East Truck Camper rally in the next blog.
The Battlefields!
Typical fence on the battlefield
Helen standing next to a Confederate Cannon

There are several ways to tackle the Gettysburg battlefields. By tour bus, by biking, by car and even walking. (Time permitting). We elected to buy the full tour CD and auto drive the route. This a 6000 acre site with several miles of intertwining roads. The CD narrates and lets you pause and walk the different points of interest. It worked out perfectly for us. This we did on Wednesday. Well actually, we did about 3/4 quarters of the battlefields until the sun took its toll on us! We headed back to Gettysburg Campground for a rest. The above describes what we did and below will describe what we saw.
There is so much to learn about a battle that only lasted three days. There were 57,000 soldiers that died in the Gettysburg outskirts. I won’t try and spell out facts, but only I must say it is very dramatic to walk this ground with an amazing 1,400 monuments dedicated to a lot of brave soldiers that died on both sides. Today, we went back and finished the last quarter of the battlefields on our bikes. There is still a very small hilly area to explore near Copp’s Hill. Doing this last quarter on bikes gave us another opportunity to actually feel the terrain. While it does look fairly level there are many swells in the landscape.

Our truck on the end without camper
For souvenirs we got our National Parks cancelation stamp in our NP Passport book. Of course, I picked up a hiking stick pin for my nearly half full hiking stick. (Pride possession) The best souvenir, for me is just being able to visit such a historic site.

That is what we did and saw!


 







Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The Big “E” and Gettysburg!


100' up!
 
Here we are again traveling the byways of this great country. One of the biggest differences on this trip is that I am modeling our heroes Gordon and Angela White, publishers of Truck Camper Magazine. What exactly are we modeling?  In a past article in TCM, Gordon wrote an article about having a fender bender with their truck camper. I believe he backed into something and scratched the camper. He said he was so mad that he told Angela to drive. The rest is history. Angela has been doing the bulk of the driving since. Hence this is a major change for us Boomers. Helen is now driving at least this first leg of our journey down to West Springfield, MA. For the very first time, I am writing the blog “live” in the passenger seat of the truck. It feels great!Thumbs up
The weather is damp and appears that showers had proceeded us. A quick stop at McDonalds for a senior coffee and a restroom break and Littleton, NH was behind us. Writing as we go does present a new challenge for me. Present, past and future tense seem to be intermingled, but it’s fun to write nearly live as we go touring down the highway.
The time is now 9:20 am and Wells River, VT is our location. Being in the passenger seat, I am able to view so many things that were not possible behind the wheel. The river that meanders down from the mountains is full of water falls with ponds that fan out before the next drop.
Two Pumpkin Heads having a good time!
Hartland, VT is our present location. Another stop at the Interstate Rest Area for a needed restroom stop, (all that coffee). Helen pulled into the truck parking area, parked and as we started for the restroom. She notice this guy walking out. It was Tim Eastman, a local truck driver from our hometown area. Tim is hauling a load to Fredericksburg, PA. very close to Gettysburg. We exchanged driving directions and talked about our truck camper for a few minutes. He departed and so did we. It is a small world as we always say. The sun is starting to break through now. Helen is doing very well behind the wheel. She is getting used to all of the truck controls and feel of the heavy truck handling.
In Brattleboro, VT, we stopped for lunch and a two mile side trip to Truck Camper Warehouse to say hello to Bill Penny, the owner. He wasn’t there, but the side trip wasn’t wasted as we talked to this lady who was buying a truck camper and planned on heading New Mexico alone. She also owns a tag along trailer, but didn’t want to toe it across country. We also bought a “donut” or a boot seal for between the truck and camper.
The “Big E” …. With many signs pointing us in the right direction our arrival time was midafternoon. The attendants at gate 9 (main gate) soon pointed us to our area for overnight camping. We wasted no time to enter the Exposition. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent checking out the hundreds of exhibiters. I spotted several things that I might build when I get back home. When I see an artist, I am fascinated not with art, but with how it was made. I would ask questions like “how did you bond that glass crystal to that brass?” How did you carve those letters, with a template?

That is what we saw and did!








Sunday, September 1, 2013

August…The Dog Days of Summer!


With summer flying by every good weekend should be enjoyed to the fullest. That is exactly what we did. My brother, Richard and his wife Monique invited us to spend the weekend at their home in Manchester.

Today's Adventure Foursome!
The sun was bright and the temperature in the mid seventies made the traveling down through Franconia Notch a delight. This particular Friday afternoon seemed filled with tourists stopped at all of the attractions in the mountains. It was the last weekend before the kids returned to school and families took advantage for one last summer outing.
Richard got out of work at three and we arrived shortly thereafter. They live on the third floor of a condo complex overlooking the Merrimack River. Their balcony is always a cozy place to sit, watch the river, wildlife and people walking about the neighborhood.
Shady place to eat and relax!
Later, Monique prepared some Chinese dishes that would rival any Chinese Chef. From the “Egg Drop Soup” to the “Spicy Chicken Bundles” presented on a wrap of lettuce. Of course, Monique and I love the Chinese “Hot” mustard.
Flowers were well taken care of!
After dinner, we took a ride around Manchester with my brother describing many landmarks in the downtown. He always comes up with a different tour of interest which keeps us looking right and left as he explains the new buildings. We parked the car and walked on Elm street. It is fascinating to see how many restaurants have sprung up on Elm street. Many of them have tables on the sidewalks with people enjoying the warm weather and of course, the food and wine. A lot of young city adults only start to come out to dinner around 9 pm.  Us older Boomers start thinking of that recliner around 9 pm. We headed for the condo and chatted for awhile before going to bed. It was a good “Dog Day of Summer”.


Beautiful Harbor
Saturday, we would head south to the coast. The Massachusetts town of Newburyport was our destination. Helen and I have never explored this community. Richard and Monique have and this was a perfect day for this outing. Driving across the high arc drawbridge we could see countless boats on both sides of the bridge. The town sets directly on the other side of Merrimack River. We took the exit and entered a parking lot by the park. The stroll through the park down to the harbor and dock was full of people and their dogs. I must note that there was an usual amount of dogs with their owners. This must be a regular place for walking dogs because the canines were all well behaved and seemed to enjoy the other dogs company. 
Next, we headed for the town square. This a typical New England port town, with street going askew in different directions with motorist waiting for traffic lights to turn green. Meanwhile, tourist delightfully walking around admiring the architecture, people, shops and of course the flowers in full bloom! In one British shoppe, I asked the lady if she had a British accent? "No" she said, "Scottish", "Ah, I see" or I should have said I heard. The little shop had a good selection of teas from around the world. It was nice to smell the samples.

On the Draw Bridge!

Vintage Downtown... Newburyport, MA
Flower Galore!
 It was time for lunch and Richard suggested Michael's Harborside Restaurant which is situated right on the water front. We were early and had our choice of tables to view the harbor with the drawbridge and sailboats cruising by. The lunch menu was loaded with many appetizing choices. We were each happy with our choices from lobster to a half rack of spare ribs.
After lunch, a short walk up onto the drawbridge to see it open and watch tall sail boats easily pass the channel towards the ocean. The view from on the bridge was stunning!  The summer is winding down and this weekend here in Newburyport, people were taking advantage of this fine time of the year.
We headed back to Manchester and again relaxed on the deck and watched the day come to the end.

That is what we saw and did!
Window Boxes and the bricks!
Perfect Day...Thanks Rich!