The drive from Paducah, KY to Hot Springs, AK was long. Lots of highway and when we got to Hot Springs, the streets were jammed and there was no parking for Stargazer. Visiting Hot Springs on a beautiful Saturday was not a good idea. The grand architecture of the historic bathhouses balanced with natural curiosities was fun to observe, but Stargazer was happy to be out of the city. For the evening we camped at the base of Lake Ouchita,…
The trip from Asheville, NC to Cave City, KY was wet but uneventful. Stargazer had a full day of no functional or human challenges. At this point in the trip we are getting about 18 miles per gallon. In Cave City, outside Mammoth Cave National Park, our camping location for the evening was Rock Cabin Camping. Nice guy running it, but no work had been done on the campground in over 50 years. We do not care much for comforts,…
We left DC at the crack of dawn and arrived in Shenandoah National Park before it opened. We stopped by Mom’s Restaurant for breakfast and then headed into the Park. All three of us hiked the Compton Trail. Because No Dogs Were Allowed, I hiked Stony Man Summit myself. The day was beautiful and the views spectacular; not many people at the Park. That night we stayed at the Spacious Skies Campground in Luray, Virginia. The location was perfect and…
We finished packing Thursday morning and hit the road. The previous week we had Stargazer tuned up and the oil changed. Within 30 minutes of leaving Jackson, the oil light started blinking. After manual research and checking in with RV Guru, Jay Kelly, we discovered we had too much oil. We made an appointment with Miller’s Truck Service in RI and brought Stargazer in first thing Friday morning. MTS was great and we discovered we had two quarts of extra…
On Thursday, March 16th (tomorrow) Stargazer heads west. Melinda, Otto and I will be on the road until Sunday, May 7th and our goal is to get to Portland, Oregon and back. Since Stargazer’s trip to Nova Scotia last fall, we have been busy. While the snow has been inconsistent, we have been able to cross-country ski, snowshoe and hike with friends and family. We have had lots of visitors and we are making many new Jackson friends. Melinda has…
A wishing rock is a beach stone with a perfectly unbroken stripe all the way around the circumference of the rock. My grandfather, J. Harold Williams, taught me about wishing stones as we hiked the beaches of Rhode Island and Cape Cod. He always carried a wishing stone in his pocket. We made it home Friday afternoon. The rains poured all the way home from Abbot, Maine and the rivers we passed were rushing like we have ever seen them…
After a last cup of Tim Horton’s coffee (Melinda) and hot chocolate (Greg), we headed to Baxter State Park, the home of Mount Katahdin. While driving we prepared for Park activities and learned that pets were not allowed at Baxter State Park, so we shifted gears and headed to Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, the home of a 17 mile bike loop with great views of Mount Katahdin. The ride into KWW was long (12 miles) and the road…
We spent two nights at Kejimkujik National Park (meaning Little Fairies); located south and in the middle of Nova Scotia. Our campsite was on Kejimkujik Lake with spectacular sunsets. The weekend before we arrived was a Halloween Event, thus the carved pumpkins. We hiked the Hemlocks & Hardwoods Trail along Big Dam lake and learned lots about hemlock trees. Then we biked 25 miles to and back from Eel Weir – a popular fishing and canoeing spot. We rose early…
We arrived in Halifax on Saturday, October 8th and staid with Melinda’s cousin Jack Crowley (Melinda’s dad Ed’s nephew) and his wife Marian. They live right next door to Dalhousie University where they both worked. Back 10 years or so ago I did work with the DU Continuing Education Department. Our hosts treated us like royalty with an amazing fish chowder, an in-depth tour of Halifax (we ended the tour at a local club where Jack keeps his sailboat), and…
We staid an extra day at the Fundy Woods Campground. We wanted more time to explore the Fundy Trail Parkway. This time we drove Stargazer and stopped at outlooks and Interpretive Centres, as well as hiking a five-mile trail past a waterfall to a breathtaking outlook. The trail started off easy, but soon we were climbing down steep stairs and crossing rivers multiple times. Melinda did great and Otto of course pushed us to go further and faster. The following…